One of the Boys.

I woke up, completely tangled in the sheets. The sun shone through the slits in the blind, bouncing off the walls in all directions. It was like the light was lost and didn’t know which way to go.
My door burst open and in walked Katarina, my older sister, holding a megaphone.
“GET OUT OF BED NOW!” she screamed in my ear. I jumped out of bed and pressed her against the wall, one arm twisted behind her back.
“Drop the megaphone.”
She did as I said. I picked it up and shouted: “THANK YOU BITCH!”
She walked off in a huff, clutching her head to emphasize how much her ears supposedly hurt.
I sighed and kicked the door shut. If I could lock it I would, I hated this fucking family, and they hated me. At least it was mutual.
Luckily I had my own bathroom that was joined onto my bedroom, so I rarely had to leave when I had to be at home.
I jumped in the shower and quickly shampooed and conditioned my hair, scrubbed my body then got out. I quickly dried myself and threw on some underwear, then plugged in the hairdryer, bent over so my hair was hanging down, and dried it for the most part.
I put on some loose fitting denim jeans which hung half way down my butt, the way I like it. I know, guys normally do that, but I wore boxers, so it’s fine. I put on a studded belt and an old Metallica shirt. I looked in the mirror and sighed.
Oh great, it was one of those days.
‘One of those days’ meant that I wanted to change my look, be at least a little bit pretty for once. Most days, I didn’t give a damn about what I wore, so I wore this crap in order to not be a conformist. No way was I conforming to all the little sluts.
Maybe if I wore skinny jeans and a slightly less baggy top I would look better without being the same as everyone else? And maybe if I wore my hair down, and put on a little make-up I would-
Hah. That wasn’t happening, my mood was over. Okay, I was better now.
I ran down the stairs, slammed a hot pocket in the microwave (yes you can eat them for breakfast) and poured myself some orange juice. I packed my bag for school, pulled on some vans and quickly ate the hot pocket. I brushed my teeth speedily, slung my bag over my shoulder and shouted: “Je vais au college, maman!”
She flipped her perfectly manicured hand at me and I rolled my eyes, slamming the door and getting on my board. I heard someone coming up from behind me and it was Brendon. He smiled at me.
“Hey Em.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “No, YO HOE?”
“Shit, no!” he shouted and I smirked.
We’d greeted each other like “YO HOE!” and “YO BASTARD!” ever since we learned how to swear. So we made a bet to greet each other like that, and who ever forgets first, has to ask out someone of the same sex.
I laughed. “You gotta ask out a boy!”
I pushed my right leg along the road and started skating. He soon caught up, also on his board.
“No way! Please can I do something else?”
“Ask out two boys.”
He frowned and hit me playfully round the head, making sure I wouldn’t fall off my board.
“You could ask out a senior girl.”
“Y’know, I’d rather stick with the boy thing.”
“Good.” I smiled and increased pace as we went down the hill. He soon caught up with me and the school was in sight. A car of seniors drove past, all honking at us and shouting insults.
“LOOK IT’S THE LESBIAN AND HER LITTLE PUSSY FRIEND!”
Ooh, get us where it hurts why don’t you.
“HEY CHAD, I SAW YOUR GIRLFRIEND AT THE PARK GIVING HEAD TO A COLLEGE KID. EVEN YOU CAN’T SCORE A SLUT.” chuckled Brendon.
“You’ll pay for that Urie.” he spat.
We smirked and arrived at school, jumping off our boards and walking into the main hall. We parted ways because our lockers were at different parts.
25-07-32.
My locker clicked open and I put in my board, pulling out my calculus books.
I was slammed into the lockers and I smirked. The festivities had begun so soon.
I looked up and it was Chad, Reggie, Greg and Kat (my sister).
“Hey you guys.” I waved.
“What was that you were saying about Kat?” snarled Chad.
It was actually Brendon who said that. Idiots.
“Just how she’s an unfaithful slut. Nothing you shouldn’t know already, it’s not like you’re faithful either, is it?”
A fist collided with my face and I tasted blood. Meh, this wasn’t bad. I didn’t mind pain all that much.
“Leave her the fuck alone you cowards!” shouted Brendon from behind. “She didn’t say anything, it was me okay?”
Chad let go of me and turned around to face Brendon. “You little twerp.” he spat.
As no one was looking at me, and the hallways were pretty empty, I took it as a chance to do the same maneuver to Chad as I had done to my sister earlier this morning, arm behind back, twisting it. He cried out in pain.
“It’s stupid really, because no matter how much you hurt us, I’m always going to hurt you more, both physically and your reputation. Your ‘friends’ aren’t trying to pull me off of you, are they? What a fucking great set of friends you have, at least Brendon had the strength to stand up for himself and fight back. So leave us the fuck alone before I crush your surgically perfected face.”
I dropped him and he breathed a sigh of relief. I spat in his face, grabbed my bag and Brendon’s hand, then walked out of sight.
“Nicely done.” smiled Brendon.
“He had it coming. I should’ve done it years ago, really.”
“Can you let go of my hand please?”
I dropped it quickly. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to, I mean-”
He chuckled. “Calm down, I’m not offended by you holding my hand.”
Weird. I’d never hugged, nor had I held hands with a guy before, and now I’d done both in two days, with Brendon, as a friendly thing. Not exactly how I’d planned it, but never mind. It’s not like there was sparks and shit, so it was a little disappointing if I’m honest.
We walked into calculus and sat down. I sat next to Ryan, who smiled at me.
“You’ve got a cut on your cheek.”
I touched it and it stung slightly. “Shit.” I cursed, my mom would be onto this later.
“Chad?”
“Yeah. I doubt he’ll bother me anymore though.”
“Sweet!” he said, knuckle-touching me.
Mr. Horne, the teacher walked in and we all stood up.
“Sit down, class.” he sighed and we did as he said.
------------
“I hate school.” I grumbled, getting my board out of my locker. Suddenly someones arms slipped around my waist from behind.
“Brendon?” I asked, tensing up a little. I turned around and came face to face with Greg, head of the football team and official jack ass.
“Nah, s’not him. What’s up babe?”
“Get off of me you bastard.” I spat and slammed my locker, pushing him away. He followed me anyway as I started walking away, pushing through the school doors and sitting down on the last stair, waiting for Ryan and Brendon.
Greg sat down next to me and put a hand on my knee, which I shoved away quickly.
“What the fuck do you want?”
“What have I ever done to you to make you hate me?”
“Be an all round douche bag?”
“Name one specific thing.”
“For starters, you let your friends beat the shit out of me. You so gracefully painted lesbian all over my art work which I’d spent fucking hours on- I don’t need to explain myself to you.”
He leaned in closer and kissed me once. I kicked him where the sun doesn’t shine and he broke away.
I stood up and wiped my mouth with disgust. “Are you fucking retarded? What the fuck is wrong with you? Leave me the fuck alone you twisted bastard!”
He laughed and walked off.
Brendon and Ryan ran down the stairs.
“Why were you screaming? What’s wrong?”
“Greg just kissed me…”
“Did you want him to?” asked Ryan.
“No! Of course not!”
Brendon shrugged. “It’s just a kiss.”
Yeah, but my first kiss. That bastard stole my first kiss.
“Yeah, but it’s, just no!”
Ryan’s eyes widened as he suddenly realized what was wrong. “Was that your first-”
“Don’t be so loud.” I blushed and looked down, stuffing my hands in my pockets. “But yeah, it was.”
“Oh, so that’s why you’re so pissed off.” said Brendon, smirking. “You’re 16 and that was your first kiss?”
“Excuse me, have you ever been kissed?” I asked him.
“That’s different.”
“How so?”
“I, well, you know.” he sighed. “No, I haven’t.”
“Exactly. Ryan?”
“Only like twice, when I was ten, so it doesn’t count.”
“There, so stop being a dick Brendon and let’s go home.”
The atmosphere seemed to have to changed between us, it was really, really awkward.
I jumped on my skateboard and started skating. Ryan soon caught up and when I turned around, Brendon was walking quite a while back.
“What’s wrong with him?” I asked.
“He’s really conscious about the kissing thing.”
“Why? Not having kissed anybody isn’t the end of the world.”
“We know that, but to him, it is. Don’t tell him I told you this though, it’s all confidential okay?”
I nodded. “Maybe we should set him up with someone?”
Ryan laughed quietly. “We don’t really know any girls, and we definitely don’t know any that would consider dating Brendon.”
“True…”
“It was a nice thought, though. He’ll get over it by tomorrow, don’t worry.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure, he’s been like this ever since he hit puberty.”
“He hit puberty?” I gasped in mock horror.
He laughed again. “Definitely don’t tease him about puberty, he’ll cry.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Really? How come I didn’t know any of this until now?”
“Because… don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re kind of butch-”
“Butch?!”
“Let me finish! And un-emotional, like I wouldn’t want to come to you with my problems and shit because I think that you’d laugh and call me a pussy.”
I went to speak, then thought about it. Actually, I probably would do that.
“Man, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was like that…”
“No it’s fine, I’m just saying. Even though you are a girl, we both know you don’t fit the emotional girl stereotype.”
“That is true. It’s not like I don’t wonder it would be like to be a girly, or at least a little feminine-”
“Don’t change yourself just because of others.”
We arrived at Ryan’s house.
“I’m not heartless…”
“That’s not what I’m saying Emma, I’m saying that you’re not very emotional, big difference. I know you care for us and that’s great, but sometimes the other’s don’t see it because it’s not all that obvious. I know, but they don’t.”
I half-smiled at him.
“You want a hug?” he asked.
“Sure.” I smiled and hugged Ryan tightly. He stroked my back softly. “I’ll try and be more affectionate if you want.”
“The occasional hug would be nice, I’m sure the others would appreciate it too.”
“I hugged Brendon yesterday ‘cos he was hurt… does that count?”
He chuckled. “Yes, sure that counts. But he’s going through a shit time at the minute so don’t tease him too much, yeah? And don’t tell him any of this, that would crush him if he knew I’d told you.”
“It’d crush him? I’m really that bad?”
“Don’t worry about it.” he said and let go of me. “I’ll see you later, but text me okay?”
I nodded. “See you, Ryan.”
He walked into his house and shut the door. I skated back home and ran up the stairs, slamming the door.
Am I really that horrible?