The Dark of the Night More Inviting Than the Sunlight

Sky’s Point Of View.

I closed my eyes and groaned, Mr. Howard had just given us an extra assignment to do in English.
“Mr. Howard, can you just say the first letter to your name?” I pleaded, I wanted so badly to know his name, I didn’t know why though. “J” he said simply and I started to think. “It’s Jeremy isn’t it?” I exclaimed. He just laughed and told me to work.

****

I walked through the corridors at school – alone for once - when I heard footsteps ahead of me, I looked up just in time to see a blonde boy running in my direction. I groaned when his body hit mine, I was so going to have bruises tomorrow. I was expecting to land hard on the ground, but no… I landed on something soft that also groaned in pain.

Quinn laughed and said “Hey! It’s apple-week!” I sighed and said “Would you get off me? And who’s the unlucky bastard under me?” I figured out that it was a guy since, One: it didn’t have boobs and Two: There were no whines and girlish whimpers. “That unlucky bastard would be Bert McCracken, Sky. And, Quinn what the fuck do you mean with apple-week?” He said somewhat confused as I stood up and helped him.

Quinn sucked on a red lollipop as he said “Well, Sky uses different shampoo and conditioner every week. This week it’s an apple scented one. She usually only switches between apple and strawberry though…” he said thoughtfully.
I sighed and asked Bert if he was ok, and apologized for falling into him. He just laughed it off and said that it was okay.

The day went by very slowly, and would get even slower after that.
****

After school we all sat down in some park and talked. I groaned and complained about how bad I was at math and that our math teacher had given us so much homework. Both Quinn and Bert were good at math; Bert said that he could help me… Quinn on the other hand rubbed it in my face.

After about half an hour my mom called me and told me that I had to watch my younger sister Melanie, who was eleven years old. I sighed and told them that I had to go home. “Anyone who wants to help me with the monster?” I said hopefully and looked at them, Dawn laughed and shook her head, she had experienced this before and knew better than to say yes. Everyone else said no, and I pouted childishly.

“Fine, I’ll do it by myself!” I said and faked a sniffle. Bert laughed at me and said “Fine, fine I can help you. But not for long okay?” I smiled and shouted “Thank you!” And turned to the other guys and said jokingly “See, someone’s nice to me!”
“Call me later, Sky!” Dawn called after me and I raised my hand as to say “yeah, don’t worry, I will”

“So, this “monster” you were talking about, what’s its name and how old is it?” Bert said jokingly as we walked to my house, I laughed and told him about Melanie. It was actually the first time that I was alone with Bert, what if he murdered me in my sleep? Hm…

****

We really had a blast taking care of Melanie, which is very unusual. We even got her to go to bed on time! “Hey, Sky. It’s getting late, I should probably go home” Bert said after a while, it was almost 1 o’clock at night. “You can just crash here if you want to…” I offered. He thought for a while and said “I don’t have anything to sleep in”

“Sleep in your shirt? Or just boxers... if you’re wearing any?” I said with widened eyes at the thought that he might not have. He laughed and said that he’d sleep in his shirt. “Um… where do I sleep?” He asked “Well, there are two options. You can either sleep in the guestroom on the couch, or on a mattress in my room.” I replied, he chose the guestroom even though I warned him that it was really uncomfortable.

“Good night, Sky!” He told me when I walked out of the bathroom; I smiled and waved a bit, not being able to form words because I was so exhausted. Let’s just say that I was sleeping before my head hit the pillow.

****

I woke up later that night by my door opening. “Who’s there?” I asked nervously, knowing that there was only Bert, Melanie and me in this house at the moment. “Hey, sorry if I woke you up… but you were right… the couch was really uncomfortable” He said nervously as he scratched the back of his head. I laughed quietly and said “Come on in then” he closed the door making my room pitch black.

“Fuck!” he cursed as he hit his foot on something; I choked a giggle and held my hand out for him to take. “Where am I supposed to sleep now?” he said with a laugh and I shrugged and said “In my bed? I just can’t be assed to drag out the mattress now!”

I groaned and let myself fall down on the bed again. He chuckled and sat down on my bed. “Lay down, so that I can sleep, Bert” I mumbled sleepily as I closed my eyes. The last thing I can remember is Bert putting his arm around my waist.
****

“Melanie… wake up honey” I said to my baby sister. She groaned and mumbled that she’d get dressed.

I walked down the stairs and started to make breakfast, when I was done Melanie walked in. “You know, your boyfriend’s still asleep, Sky” She said.

“He’s not my boyfriend, Melanie!” I said quickly and walked up the stairs to wake Bert up. As I shook him lightly he turned around and said sleepily “A few more minutes’ mom…” I giggled and said “I’m not your mommy, Berty Boy.”

His eyes shot open and he sat up quickly “Sorry, Sky…” he mumbled as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. We ate breakfast, dropped Melanie off at school and hurried to school ourselves. I hadn’t had the chance to drink my morning tea before leaving so I had a cup of tea with me to school.

I walked into English class and sat down beside Dawn. “What do you have in the cup, Ms Stevens?” Mr. Howard asked me “Uhm… well, its tea sir.” I replied. He laughed and said nothing more about it. Wow! He let it slide!

I smiled to myself and sipped my tea; maybe Mr. Howard isn’t so bad after all.