Life Isn't All That Bad

I woke up to the feeling that I was being watched. As soon as I opened my eyes, I realized why. Danny was at the end of my bed, sitting Indian-style, staring me down. When he saw that I was awake, a grin spread across his face.

“We’re going to the mall today!” He exclaimed, jumping on top of me and sitting down on my stomach.

I rubbed at my eyes, trying to wake up a bit more. I never was much of a morning person, especially not when there was a person sitting on me. “What are you talking about?” I asked, before letting out a yawn.

“Well,” he started, and from the tone of his voice, I knew he’d done something stupid. “I sorta stole your phone this morning, and told all the guys that we should hang out at the mall today, and so yeah. You should probably shower, you’re starting to stink.”

I shot him an annoyed look. “Hygiene isn’t my number one priority when I’m avoiding people, which is apparently something you won’t let me do,” I told him, trying to get him off of me.

He just rolled his eyes, and flopped over so he was lying next to me. I took this as an opportunity to roll over and attempt to fall back to sleep. “Your mom is gonna make pancakes! You need to wake up,” he whined, poking my nose.

I pulled the blankets over my face. “You are so obnoxious!” I complained, burrowing deeper into my blankets. But after a few minutes of nonstop pokes, I finally threw all the covers off, jumping off my bed. “That’s it! I’m up!”

Danny grinned. This is exactly what he had wanted. “You go shower, I’m gonna help your mom with breakfast.”

The shower felt heavenly. The hot water relaxed my muscles, washing away all my trouble, all my worries.

I quickly dried off, and headed back to my room, changing into a pair of acid washed shorts, and a tank top with stars on it, before heading downstairs.

Danny had changed, and was currently wearing a blue and black plaid shirt, and black pair of skinny jeans. He was helping my mom pour chocolate chips onto the pancake batter as they started to cook.

He glanced up when I entered the room. “Well don’t you smell lovely now,” he grinned. I stuck my tongue out, before sitting down at the kitchen table. I quickly braided my wet hair while they finished up with breakfast.

Breakfast felt so normal. It was like having the family together again.

“We can borrow the car today, right?” I asked as Danny and I cleaned up.

My mom looked a bit surprised. “You’re actually getting her to leave the house? Good work, Danny,” I shot her an annoyed look. I was not that anti-social. “But yeah, you can borrow the car.”

“We need to go. I told the guys we’d meet up at 11, and it’s now 11:15,” he said, glancing at the clock.

“But I still need to get ready!” I whined, shooting Danny a death glare before running upstairs to do my makeup quickly. Once I finished that, I threw on some jewelry, and grabbed a pair of boots from my closet before running back downstairs.

Danny was pulling on a pair of checkered Vans when I got downstairs. “Ready to go?” I nodded, grabbing the car keys before heading out the front door, Danny trailing behind me.

“You’re not gonna make a total fool of me again, are you?” I questioned as I started the car.

“I would never make a fool of you! I love you too much for that,” he said with an innocent smile. I just flipped him off and continued to drive.

When we got to the mall, I was surprised to find them all waiting outside Hollister, a bored expression on their faces. Kennedy and Liz were missing- I assumed they were in the store while the rest waited outside.

When they noticed Danny and I approaching, they all smiled.

“Beau!” Pat screeched in his Rat Boy voice, running over and jumping on me. His weight sent me tumbling to that hard floor. He sat down on top of my stomach. “I’ve missed you so much!”

I managed to push him off of me. “But you just saw me yesterday, Pat,” I reminded him, before turning my attention to the others. I introduced Danny to Halvo, since he hadn’t been at the house for yesterday’s disaster. “So, I’m guessing Liz is the reason you’re all waiting outside of Hollister.”

“She brought along her annoying, popular friends. They don’t like us at all,” Halvo whined.

“You are so much cooler than them,” Jared remarked, and the others nodded in agreement.

Danny started laughing. “Wait, Liz as in our old neighbor? How does she have popular friends? She was so nerdy when she lived in New York!” he snorted.

I slapped him across the arm. “I’m nerdy too, you jerk. You don’t make fun of me behind my back, do you?”

“Of course not, love,” he sighed. Before the conversation could continue, Liz, Kennedy, and three other people walked out of the store. I suddenly felt so boring in comparison to Liz, who looked like she should be on the cover of Seventeen. Her shorts showed off her thin, tanned legs while her shirt showed off her perfect, flat stomach. I tugged at the hem of my tank top, feeling ashamed of my small tummy.

I recognized the one girl as Genevieve, the girl who had thrown the party I’d gone to. I didn’t know the other girl, but she looked like a clone- blonde hair, tan skin, revealing clothes. I finally took note of the third person, who has his arm wrapped around the clone’s waist. He was suddenly all too familiar. It was the giant who had attacked me at the party.

I took a step closer to Danny, squeezing his hand. “Danny, that’s him… the guy who attacked me at the party. He’s the reason John kissed me!”

Before he had the chance to say anything, the group had joined us. The brute, whose name was completely wiped from my memory, stared at me. I tried hiding behind Danny before he realized who I was, but it was too late.

“Well, well, John, isn’t that your girlfriend? Why is she holding that faggot’s hand if she’s supposedly dating you?” he remarked, sarcasm dripping off every word.

The group fell silent, and I wished I could simply turn invisible.

“Relationships don’t last long,” John lied easily. “Just like I’m sure you and Rebecca won’t last long when she finds out how disloyal you are. Attacking innocent girls at parties? I mean that’s just low, even for you.”

The girl pulled away slightly. “You did what?”

“Oh, yeah, he corners them in hallways. If I hadn’t come along, who knows what he would have done,” John remarked, glaring at the brute.

The girl yanked herself out of his grip, slapping him across the face. “You pig!” She cried, before storming off. Liz and Genevieve went chasing after her, while the giant glared at John.

“You’re a dead man, O’Callaghan,” he seethed, before stomping off in the other direction.

Everyone glanced around awkwardly, unsure of what to say about what just happened. Finally, Danny broke the tension.

“Well, that was eventful. Now, how about we go shopping?”