The Beginning of the End

I spent the rest of the morning before school officially started, listening to Gerard, Matt, and Ray talk and laugh. I'm usually not one to stay quiet but I'm trying to get a feel of them. I just want to see if I can trust these guys.

They're the first and only people that have been nice to me since I've moved here. How do I know they're only acting this way just to see me get hurt again? I bet that's it!

Everyone likes seeing me weak and vulnerable. You know what? I'm done with everyone pushing me around. Forget my trust issues. I'm only going to be able to trust me, myself, and I. No one else. See them try to break me.

I turned around, starting to walk away before I felt a tug on my arm. I snapped my head back, glaring at Gerard.

"What are you doing? We're going to be late for class!" he said in a hurry, dragging me along with him.

Damn him! Way to ruin my plan. Once we got to Alegbra 2, I found a seat in the front that I was going to claim mine. Lucky me; Gerard pushed me towards the back of the room. I scowled and whined the whole walk there. He acted like he didn't hear me and pushed me down into the seat next to his.

He talked to me for all of homeroom and into first period as well. I gave this cold front, giving one-word answers and not showing him my full attention. He still kept talking as if I was one of his best buddies. Why doesn't he ever give up?

I sighed, giving in. I'll decide to hurt him later on if necessary. I finally listened in to what he was talking about. Something about his little brother sticking a fork into the toaster. I giggled at first, it was funny. As I thought about it more and more, I pictured myself doing the exact same thing. The little giggles turned into a hint of laughter I couldn't contain.

Gerard shut up immediately when everyone looked at me. I stopped laughing and sucked in a breath. "Sorry! I just thought of a funny math joke." They all turned back to the dry erase board, thinking I'm stupid.

"Smooth," Gerard whispered, nudging my arm.

I couldn't tell what his intentions are. For now, I'll let it slide. I checked both of our schedules and we pretty much had all the same classes except for maybe one or two.

I was dying for something to eat as soon as the bell rang. Leaving Gerard to get his History book from under his desk, I ran into the cafeteria, waiting to get a sandwich to eat.

He caught up with me a few minutes later when it was about my turn to order my food. "Are you that hungry?" he asked, short of breath.

I nodded quickly, placing an order for a turkey and cheese sandwich with the works. I grabbed a Poland Spring and looked behind me, holding a second one up for Gerard. He shook his head. "What? Aren't you eating?"

"Nope."

"Do you ever eat?" I laughed.

He rolled his eyes. "I'm just not hungry today."

He waited patiently like a good dog for me to get my food. After I did, instead of walking over to sit at a table with Matt and Ray, he led me outside the school to sit on the freshly cut grass.

I leaned against the trunk of a tree, taking a huge bite out of my lunch for the day. We both sat in silence until I finished eating and drinking my water. Subconsciously, I dropped my body down to the grass, looking up at the sky. Gerard did the same.

I smiled, looking at the bright sun and the puffy white clouds in the sky. I couldn't deny today turned out being a beautiful day. It's been a while since I've had good days.

Totally ready to strike up a fun conversation with the boy lying next to me, my phone interrupted my chances. I cursed out loud, sitting up and checking who was calling. Of course, it would be mom.

"Hello?" I answered slightly annoyed.

"Hi honey, it's mom." Quite obvious. "I know it's early and everything but I have to pick you up from school. I have to tell you something important."

"Can't this wait? I would rather be in school getting my education." Okay, total lie. I just didn't like the sound of that something important.

"No, I'm sorry it's serious. I'll be there in a few minutes. The secretary at the main office already knows."

"Fine." I closed my phone and growled. I really didn't feel like hearing what news she was going to tell me. Somehow, whenever she has a spur of the moment and wants to tell me something "important", it always turns out to be something that gets me angry somehow.

"Who was that?" Gerard asks.

Who else would it be? "My mom. She's going to pick me up in a few minutes. And apparently, she can't wait until I get home from school. I have to go to the main office like right now."

He frowned when I finished. Well, I guess he heard the venom in my voice. "It's okay. I'll see you tomorrow in school. So you won't be away from me too long."

He smiled, all up in my personal zone. I couldn't help but to crack a smile. He's so silly sometimes.

I ripped out a piece of paper out of my notepad and wrote down my number. I gave it to him, letting him know that was my phone number and that he could call me whenever he wanted to.

I then left him to go to the main office. Mom walked into the office door a few minutes later with a big grin on her face. When she signed the release papers and confirmed she was my mom, we walked out to her car. That grin still hadn't flickered. Okay, now I'm really scared.

We drove in complete silence for 15 minutes. I kept my eyes on the dashboard of the car until mom killed the engine. I looked out the window, seeing a very 50's like ice cream parlor.

Ice cream places really only mean that something extremely good or something extremely bad is happening. If this is something bad, maybe we're moving back to West Plainfield! Wait...that would be a good thing, at least for me. Damn!

After we waited in line and ordered two chocolate ice cream cones, I ran over to a seat next to a window. Mom followed sitting across from me.

I waited for her to talk to me, I sure wasn't going to start talking first. She must've known because after she had half of her ice cream finished, she gulped and smiled. "I got a job promotion."

"What?! You got me out of school just for that?!" I was so close to dropping my ice cream but it was too yummy for me to do that. Seriously? She gets a job promotion and I have to get out of school just for something as non-eventful as that?

"There's more you know before you start killing me. I would have to go to Connecticut for two weeks."

"Why? Don't tell me like that time you had to go to New Hampshire for Christmas. I can't do that again."

"I promise it won't be like that. I just have to interview a handful of newly graduated lawyers and pick the top 10 to come work at my law firm. I think you should be happier about this. I'm letting you stay home alone for two weeks with no babysitter."

The last sentence took a while to sink into my brain. Once it did though, I couldn't stop smiling. "You're serious?" I asked, my voice high-pitched.

Mom nodded. "Dead serious. Just don't destroy the house please. You're growing up to be a young adult now. I'm going to have to face that sooner or later."

The rest of our conversation wasn't important. All I could think about was how much fun it'd be to have the house to myself for two weeks! All the silence, all the privacy, all of the craziness I can exert without anyone looking at me funny! Two weeks to myself is going to be massive amounts of awesome!