Opposites Attract

BLEED IT OUT!!!-Buzz-DIG IN DEEPER JUST TO-buzz-THROW IT AWAY!!!-buzz-BLEED IT OUT!!!” My phone was ringing in my ear. I picked it up and answered the call.

“Hello?” I said groggily.

“KELLY! IT’S ALREADY 7:55!! YOU’RE GOING TO BE HELLA LATE!!” Zoey yelled into the receiver.

“What the fuck Zoe? I was kind of sleeping here.” I said a little awake now because of her screeching.

“Yea, that’s why I called you. Now get your lazy ass out of bed and get ready for school!!” she yelled, but luckily not nearly as loud as last time.

“Dude…stop yelling…” I said with a yawn at the end.

“Oh, my God! Kelly, you’re impossible! Just get to school” she said defeated and then hung up.

I set my phone down on the coffee table and tried to sit up. I say tried because when I attempted to get up, I remembered that I had fallen asleep in Tyler’s arms ( I know, it sounds like there’s something between us but that’s just how we’ve always acted together…it means nothing) so half his body was sprawled on top of me and I was trapped. Let’s see, there are two things I could do:

*stay here and let him sleep while school goes on… (The nice way)
*wake him up and get ready for school… (The fun way)

As much as I would like to skip school, I decided to wake him up. So I slowly, making sure not to disturb him, moved my hand to the back of his head and then…WHACK!!!

“OW!!” yelled Tyler as he fell to the floor. I started cracking up so hard that I fell off the couch too. I landed right on top of Tyler, who—being the nice person he is *please not sarcasm*—took advantage of this opportunity by squeezing my tickle spot that only he knows. Tickling me just made me laugh harder, which was clearly his goal and I could tell because he was now smiling like a little kid with candy. He only stopped ticking me when I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe.

Once I finally caught my breath, I turned to glare at Tyler. He was still smiling like a 5-year-old. As I was raising my arm getting ready to smack him again, he grabbed it, put it over his shoulder and then wrapped his arms around my waist. “Now, now, Love. Don’t get feisty with me, save that for later” he said in his perfected British accent that he’s been practicing for years. I growled in defeat and pulled him along to the kitchen for breakfast.

“Cereal, eggs, or pancakes…or waffles?” I asked him pretending to be a good host even though he usually just helps himself to everything, which is perfectly fine considering it means less work for me.

“Which one takes the longest? 'Cause I don’t want to go to school and I know you don’t either.”

“Um…I think pancakes would take longest. Especially if I made bacon with it…” I said trying to think of other breakfast options.

“Okay, then let’s have that” Tyler said as he made his way to the fridge to help me get the ingredients for what we were making.

“So what do you think Zoey’s going to do when we show up…if we ever go to school today?” I asked as he rummaged through the fridge.

“Who knows, but I’m sure it will be something along the lines of kill you…or scream at you till you’re deaf…”

“Oh, well that’s encouraging” I said sarcastically.
* * *

“Ahh…” I said as I entered the land of blissful peace. Me and Tyler had taken out time and gotten to school in the middle of 3rd period, which is the class I have with Ms. Holmes. Neither Tyler nor I had any interest in joining class, especially because we would have the entire class’s attention for coming in late. We headed to the little alley below the staircase known as the famous ‘druggie alley’ (*note sarcasm* It’s not actually famous. Only the druggies and their friends know about it).

After what seemed like a few minutes, the bell for 4th period brought us all back to reality. Because it’s only the second day of school, everyone is rushing to their classes (except us of course). Nobody wants to be late on the first week of school because they all want to be on their teacher’s good side. There are only a few exceptions to that: the druggies, the emos, and the badasses. Although some of those people fit into all three categories. My friends and I are mainly the druggies and badasses. We’re not that Emo, but we could pull it off if we wanted to.

I could faintly hear three pairs of footsteps getting louder, and since our little alleyway is in a secluded corner, it could only mean 1 of 3 things:
*they are lost
*they are friends and have come to visit
*or we’ve been caught

One of the pairs of feet sounded either really energetic, or in a hurry. I’m guessing the latter. Why would any energetic people want to come over here?

The second sounded a little more calm and laid back, but trying to keep up with someone.

And last, but not least, the third pair of feet sounded…hesitant. At least that’s the only way I could describe it.

“Dude, slow down! You don’t even know where to go. You’re the one that asked me to lead you there.” Wait a minute that sounded kind of like…Josh. Crap! Why is he coming here? Oh yeah, he’s friends with some of my friends. Damn, why did they have to be friends?

“Well, then hurry up!” Okay, whose voice is that...?

“Why are you guys going so slow?!” came the oh-so-familiar voice…Zoey. Oh crap! Oh crap oh crap oh crap!!! She’s coming to kill me!!

“Calm down, Zoe. We’ll get there!” said Josh. “So, Matt, why did you want me to take you here anyways? I thought you hated this place?” Ah ha! So it was Matt’s voice I couldn’t figure out!

“Because I just do…” and with that all three of them stepped through the smoke cloud that flowed freely between the walls of the alleyway. Matt coughed, not being used to the essence of the drugs.

“KELLY!!!” Zoey screamed. Once I could see her clearly, I saw that she was giving me a look that basically said ‘what-the-hell!!’

“Fuck” I muttered under my breath. Tyler snickered behind me.

“Zoe, what did we say about all the yelling?” Frankie said, pushing off the wall and going to stand next to Zoey.

Matt stepped up to me before Zoey could yell at me some more. “Kelly” he looked up and gazed into my eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Um…about what?” I asked, totally confused by now. Josh looked just as surprised and confused as me. I thought he hated me? And I’m guessing Josh had the same thoughts going through his mind, because his face was practically identical to mine.

“About yesterday…” he said. I gave him a look saying ‘continue please’. “About what happened in 4th period with Ms. Holmes…?” he said it in as more of a question.

“Um…thanks, but it wasn’t your fault. Why are you apologizing?” I asked, still just as confused.

“Um…I-I’ve been in similar situations and I-I kind of know a little bit of what you’re feeling” he stuttered. He was now staring at his feet as if there was something new about them that he never noticed.

“Oh…well in that case…um, thank you, I guess.” I said the last part really quietly, so nobody could hear, although I think Tyler did because he quietly chuckled to himself.

“Okay…well, I don’t want to be late. So, um…I’ll see you later Kelly.” Matt said looking up into my eyes again.

“Um, yeah…see you later” I said, and with that Josh walked over to where Matt and I were standing.

“Okay then, Matt let’s go. See ya around Kelly!” Josh yelled at me while walking away with Matt.

On their way out, Matt leaned over to Zoey and said, “Go easy on her; you didn’t see what happened yesterday with Ms. Holmes.” I could see the pleading in his eyes.

Zoey’s eyes softened a bit and then she whispered back, “Tell me later.” And with that Josh and Matt walked away while Zoey made her way towards me.

“Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?” she asked comfortingly, which took me by surprise. I had been preparing for the start of World War Three and I get this. I swear Zoey is bi-polar sometimes.

I hugged her and whispered in her ear, “No, I’m fine. Now you know why I skipped yesterday.” She pulled back and examined my eyes. That’s the thing that I both love and hate at the same time about her. She can tell just about anything—whether I’m lying or not, if there’s something wrong, if I don’t want to talk about something, pretty much anything—about me just by looking in my eyes. I love it because sometimes I can tell her something without actually saying it. But I hate it because I can’t ever keep anything from her, like when I tried to plan a surprise birthday party for her 13th birthday…she found out about it like a week before it took place.

Once she was done searching my face, I told her “Ask Matt or Tyler, they both know. But I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“Okay” and she pulled me in for another hug. Then she grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the railing I’m leaning on. “Let’s go! We have Art next!” she said enthusiastically.

“Ugh” I mumbled as I followed her towards the buildings.

“Hey, at least it’s better than any other class. Plus, the teacher is awesome; she doesn’t care what you do!”

“Fine…” I grumbled. “See you later guys!” I yelled behind my shoulder to everyone