A High School Story

The bowl of cold cereal stared back at me as I sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen.
“You’re going to be late unless you get going,” Angelica said as she walked into the kitchen, her thick Spanish accent clearly audible.
She looked at me for a moment before allowing her eyebrows to creep together.
“Didn’t I tell you to start going to bed before two in the morning,” she scolded me and I sighed before getting up and walking over to the stainless steel sink with my cereal bowl in hand.
“I had a lot of work to finish last night,” I tried to protest fully knowing that it would do no good.
“Maybe all of these advanced placement classes are too much for you to do at once,” she took the bowl from my tired and worn out hands easily before turning on the faucet and rinsing it out thoroughly, “You could always take a few next year, do even do what most teenagers do, save them for college.”
“Try running that one past my mom,” I mumbled and rubbed my eyes before picking up my over sized book bag and throwing it over my shoulder.
Angelica grumbled something in Spanish before placing my bowl into the dish washer and then leaning against the counter as her eyes scanned my face. Angelica may just be the house keeper that my parents paid but she was the closest thing I had to a family. My parents were rarely home due to the extent of traveling they did for the business they worked for and even when they were home, they were too busy on their phones to even consider any daughter bonding time. They of course tried to make up for that, with expensive gifts.
“You’re mother is flying back from Paris this afternoon, you should talk to her about transferring into that creative writing class before she leaves for China next week,” she pulled her hair back into the tight bun that she always seemed to be wearing before she started scrubbing the counters.
“I’ll think about it,” I lied before turning on my heel and heading out the back door that led to the driveway.
I knew she meant well, but my parents have had my life planned out for me since they found out my mom was carrying me. I was going to get accepted into an Ivy League school and get a masters degree in Business before I went and worked for the business that both of them had worked for all of their lives. That was the plan, their plan.
“Have a good day!” Angelica yelled out the open kitchen window and I waved over my shoulder before climbing into 2009 Jaguar XK Convertible, like I said before, expensive gifts.
The engine of the car roared to live as I put the key into the ignition and then threw my book bag into the back seat. The radio automatically switched on and the song that was playing on the my favorite station started blasting through the speakers as I retracted the hood of the car; one of the good things about living in Dallas is that almost every day is a hood down day as long as you have your sun glasses with you. A barely manageable feeling of exhaustion coursed throughout my body as the familiar road rushed by me as I started to make my way to my best friend’s house a few blocks down the way.
“Hey sexy!” an all too familiar voice called from the lane next to me and I turned my head stiffly to see Mike Webster smirking at me from the driver’s seat of his old beat up truck, “Why don’t you skip first block so you and I can have some fun in the back of that car!”
I rolled my eyes behind my sun glasses before looking forward again to see that the light had turned green.
“I’ll take that as a rain check!” he yelled after the car before turning onto a different street and the sound of his perverted friends laughing along with him chased after me.
The wind whipped my hair out behind me as I hurriedly drove around the corner and down Keyla’s street. If this girl made me late again then I swear on my life that she’ll be finding a new friend to give her a ride to school.
“I’ll be back Sunday night mom!” Keyla yelled back into the house as I pulled into her driveway and she shut the front door behind her before jogging down the walkway with her book bag over her shoulder and duffle bag in hand.
“Hurry up before I drive away without you,” I joked and she threw her bags into the back with mine before opening the side door and letting herself sink into the passenger seat, “Are you getting new neighbors or something?”
“Yeah, some family just moved here from New Jersey I think,” she answered and we both watched as a rather large moving van pulled into the driveway to the house next to hers, “I’m sure they’ll get tired of the screaming within the week and then call the police.
“Your parents still haven’t worked things out have they?” I asked, even though she had meant it partly as a joke, and she nodded her head, “I’m sorry babe, I wish there was more that I could do besides let you crash at my place every weekend.”
“You do as much as you can,” she replied and I sighed before turning into the school parking lot, this girl would never have any clue just how much I wanted to help her, “So when does your mom get back from where ever?”
“She gets back from Paris later this afternoon,” I repeated what Angelica had told me earlier and Keyla nodded as I put the hood of the car back up and grabbed my book bag from the back seat, “I’m telling you Keyla, she loves you so she won’t care that you’re there all weekend.”
“I know that your mom,” she put extra empathize on the word as we both started walking toward the over sized double doors that lead into the school building, “loves me, but your dad has never been my biggest fan.”
“He won’t be back for about another week,” I reassured her.
“Are your parents ever home at the same time?” she questioned as the cool, air conditioned air of the school met our skin and the warm, Texas morning air left at our backs.
“Mom leaves for China the day before dad comes back from Brazil but she’s only there a week and he’s home for about two weeks so we all have a week together,” I answered while we walked down the hallway as most of our fellow classmates ignored us, like usual.
“Then how long will it be?”
“Who knows,” I laughed before we stopped at the same time as the door in front of us swung open, “Would you mind watching where you swing that thing!”
“Sorry baby, I’ll be more careful next time,” Mike smirked as his head appeared around the door and I groaned before pushing Keyla past him and down the remainder of the hallway.
“Do you think he’ll ever get the hint?” Keyla half laughed as we stop as our neighboring lockers and starting spinning our locks.
“He hasn’t yet and it’s been two years,” I yawned making my comment hard to understand but Keyla just nodded due to the fact that we didn’t have enough time to question what the other had said if we wanted to be on time for homeroom, “So has is Cooper?”
“Adorable,” she sang and I laughed as I took the un-needed books of the day out of my book bag before replacing them with the ones I would be hauling around all day.
“As usual,” I teased and she kissed the picture of her dog that she had in her locker before closing it and throwing her bag over her shoulder with me following seconds later.
“You’re so slow,” she mocked me and I stuck my tongue out at her, “Why is your tongue purple?”
“Skittles,” I answered innocently as we made our through the crowd that had clustered together in the hallway in a hurry to get to homeroom on time, “I ate a bag before breakfast due to the fact that I only got two hours of sleep last night.”
“Angelica is right Molls, you need to drop some of those AP classes.”
“Never mind, my mom just went to hating you for saying that,” I nudged her and she rolled her eyes as we turned into homeroom.

“I can’t believe you forgot your laptop, how do you forget your laptop? That thing is like your life,” I turned down Keyla’s street and she laughed.
“I won’t be more than three minutes,” she insisted and I scoffed at those familiar words, “Just grow some patience babe. I have to let Copper out and get him calmed down before I leave.”
“Just hurry,” I laughed as I pulled into the deserted driveway and she silently got out of the car and hurried up to the front door with her key in hand.
I took my sunglasses off since the roof of her house was blocking out the sun and I ran a hand through my thick blonde hair before shaking it out again and then letting my hand fall back against the steering wheel.
“Heads up!” a masculine voice called out and I turned my head in the direction it had come from just in time to see a football flying my way.
“Shit!” I yelled and hurriedly slid down the seat so that it flew half an inch over my head and landed in the back seat next to my back pack.
“Sorry!” the same voice called out as I unbuckled my seat belt and twisted backwards so that the ball was in reach.
“Nice throw Nick!” a different voice laughed and I rolled my eyes before turning to face the two strangers…the two very sexy strangers.
“I think this is yours,” I smirked and threw the ball to the one that looked closest to my age.
“Thanks,” he said and who I guessed to be his brother due to the resemblance stopped next to him before whistling.
“Nice car,” he acknowledged and I chuckled as I shut off the radio, “What kind?”
“2009 Jaguar,” I answered and he nodded lightly as he continued to scan the car over.
“That dog is crazy!” Keyla yelled as she pulled the door shut and relocked it after setting her laptop case down next to her.
“That’s because he loves you!” I joked and she scoffed loudly before turning around the see the boys who were next to my car, “I think I met your new neighbor’s babe!”
She picked her case back up before walking slowly back over to my car and placing it in the back seat with the rest of her belongings before getting back in, not once taking her eyes off of the older boy who had yet to stop staring at my car.
“I didn’t get your names,” I stated as I turned my attention back to the guys, mainly the younger looker one.
“I’m Nick and the one that’s fantasizing over your car is my brother Joe,” the younger one, and cuter in my opinion, introduced himself and his brother.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Mollie and the one who is fantasizing over your brother is my friend Keyla,” I replied and Keyla’s eyes widened before she started smacking me on the arm as I laughed, “I love you!”
“Bitch!” she called out and I forced a hug onto her, “Ugh!”
I saw Joe shoot Keyla a wink out of the corner of my eye and I could feel her face start to heat up on the skin off my forehead since it was pressed against her chin.
“Get off of me,” she laughed and I obeyed.
“So Keyla is our new neighbor?” Joe asked, staring at her now.
“Me and my parents that is,” she corrected and smiled a bit flirtatiously at him. Whoa! WHOA! What? There’s a side of her I had never seen!
“Nick! Joe! I need your help!” a female voice called from the open window in the front of the house and both of the guys turned and waved in acknowledgement.
“We have to get going anyway,” I sighed and looked at the clock, “My mom should be getting home from the airport soon and she’ll be upset if I’m not there.”
“That women had serious control issues,” Keyla mumbled and the guys smiled before waving and walking in the direction of the house next door.
“One of the qualities you grow when you work for a male dominant company I guess,” I sighed as I backed out of the driveway and then sped down the street in a hurry to get home before mom did.