Life; For Dummies

I woke up to the right side of my head pounding like a bitch and my ribs aching. Sun light was shining through the blinds and right onto Jade's bed. She stirred in her sleep, her eyes tightening and then moved around a bit. Finally, she sat up, letting out a little yawn and stretched. She looked over at me, giving me a small smile before waving. I tiredly waved back. She got out of bed and made her way to the door. I soon got up after her, wanting to make her breakfast.

I got out a bowl and cereal from the top cabinets as she sat down on the couch, turning on the small, old TV. I noticed that the dinner I brought home for Jade last night was cleaned up, Mom must have done it when she got back in at God knows what time. After pouring Jade her Fruity Pebbles and putting in some milk, I walked back into the bedroom, pulling out some clothes for me to change into after my shower.

I walked to the bathroom, clothes in hand. After stripping down to my birthday suit, I looked into the cracked mirror, seeing dark blue bruises all over my ribs. The side of my face was a little swelled up, and it throbbed when I touched it, but these injuries weren't really anything. I got into the shower, washing away my dirtiness. Ten minutes later I was out and getting dressed in a pair of regular jeans that had rips in them, a studded belt, a black Police band shirt, with my checkered vans that were so beat up the rubber of the shoe was staring to come off along with the checkered canvas.

I heard a knock on the door and decided that I was running late, that's why Joe was at the door. I opened the door, telling him to come inside.

“Dude, what happened to your face?” Joe whispered, astonished, “Did that happen after you came home last night?”

“Yeah, dumb ass and I got into a fight,” I shrugged, “No big deal.”

Joe threw his head back and nervously laughed, “No- n-no big deal? I told you to stay at my house last night! Now look at you!”

I sighed, pushing my forehead against his so our noses were touching, “I’m fine. Stop worrying! And besides, who would have fed Jade?”

“I know, you’re right. But you know I can’t help but worry about my husband,” he joked, placing his tan hand on my pale cheek.

“Aww! Hubby!” I yelled, throwing my arms around his neck and pulling his even closer to me.

This is what I loved about Joe and my friendship. We could always joke around about being gay lovers and it would never be awkward for us if we did stuff like this. Sure, his younger brothers found it weird, but Kevin fully understood that we were just being JoeandRyan, the inseparable duo.

"Where's that permission slip?" he asked suddenly, pulling away.

I completely forgot about that, "Oh! Here, hold on!"

I quickly got the permission slip, forged my mother’s signature, and stuffed it in an envelope along with a check that Joe handed me. I hugged him after I placed it into Jade's bag, giving him a playful wet kiss on the cheek.

"Ewww!" Joe yelped, quickly bringing his hand to his face and wiping off my saliva.

“You love it!” I laughed, pulling away from him, just as Jade walked into he room. She was carrying her cereal bowl in her left hand, a pink bunny in the right.

"Joey?" she asked, a small smile gracing her adorable face.

Joe turned around, quickly scooping her up off the ground and bringing her into a great big hug while screaming, "Jade!"

I quickly took the bowl out of my little sisters hand before it dropped and shattered on the ground. Jade squealed in delight as Joe gave her a kiss on the cheek and tickled her sides in his arms. I stared amused. Finally, Joe let her down and Jade ran over to me, hiding behind my legs. I smiled down at her and then caught a quick glance at the clock. We had little time to get to school and Jade still wasn’t dressed.

“Shi-shoot, Jade come on. We need to get you dressed and ready,” I said, quickly ushering her into our bedroom.

After getting Jade dressed into a pair of jeans and a pink and turquoise 3/4 sleeved shirt, while she brushed her teeth, we were finally done. I helped her slip on her pink checkered vans that Mrs. Jonas had bought her and we were out the door, her Barbie backpack on one of my shoulders, my messenger bag on the other, and Jade in Joe’s arms as he carried her to the car on his hip. Joe helped buckle her in before getting into the passenger seat.

“Hey Kev,” I said, from the back seat.

“What’s up, Ryan?” he asked, looking at me through the rear view mirror as he pulled out of our muddy driveway.

We made small talk on our way to Jade’s school. After dropping her off, we sped, meaning probably about fifty miles per hour over the speed limit to our high school. Miraculously we didn’t get pulled over, somehow. After pulling into a parking spot, we all got out of the Jeep, slamming the doors behind us and starting our walk to the school.

“Ryan!” I heard from behind me.

Kevin and Joe turned around while I just kept walking, trying to ignore the voice. But the girl just kept shouting my name, trying to catch up with us.

“Ryan Stone! Wait up!” the girl huffed.

I stopped, turning around to face the lanky red head as she took out an inhaler, trying to catch her breath. She pushed up her glasses up her nose with her pointer finger, before giving me a large brace-face smile that reached her ears.

“Hey Ryan!” she said, hugging her books tight to her chest.

I scratched the back of my head before blushing and looking away as Joe and Kevin laughed at my embarrassment. I mean, how would you feel if the dork of the school that had the biggest crush on you ever was talking to you? To be honest, I felt bad for the poor girl.

“Oh, uh...hey Valerie,” I said, watching as Joe and Kevin held onto eachother, laughing their stupid asses off.

Her smile got even bigger, if possible, and her eyes lit up. She jumped up and down in her spot for about ten seconds, I guess because I remembered her name...weirdo...

“So, um, I typed up a study guide for you!” she said, handing me a large packet, “You know, for today’s test in Spanish?”

Joe howled with laughter planning to walk away, patting Kevin’s shoulder while still hanging onto him. She turned around, turning towards Joe, her smile still planted on her pale face.

“I made one for you too Joe!” she said, handing him a packet as well.

Joe stopped laughing, his eyes turned into saucers as he stared at her, taking it. I guess he was trying to be polite. Too bad that wasn’t working out for him.

“Oh gee! Thanks Val!” he said with a large smile on his face while he walked over to me, “You know what? I think you deserve a hug. Ryan, why don’t you take care of that while I go put this in our locker?”

With that, he disappeared along with Kevin. Valerie and I just stood there, her looking at me with a hopeful stare while I was trying to look at anything and everything but her. To my luck, about a minute after Joe left, the bell rang.

Saved by the bell!

“Well, look at that, gotta go! Thanks for the study guide Valerie! Doubt I’ll use it but I guess it was the thought that count!” I said, running away.

I left the poor dorky girl standing in the hallways with a broken heart. And I really couldn’t have cared less. I just wish that things wouldn’t always come back and bite me in the ass.