Drop Dead.

The weekend rolls on by and before I know it, it’s the middle of the school week. Laker and I still haven’t spoken to one another and I want to keep it that way. No I don’t. Louie hasn’t said anything else about me being “jealous,” which I’m not! And Brittany hasn’t made another move on Laker, if she does I’ll kill her.

Louie and I are heading from class to class collecting canned food. It’s a charity the school is doing. Kids are bringing in canned food and donating it to a homeless shelter and the class that brings in the most gets a pizza party. Louie and I were, sadly, asked to walk around and get the boxes.

“I hate this.”

Louie rolls his eyes. “Of course you do.”

“I feel like a mule.”

“You look like one.”

“I’ll kill you.”

“You’ll try.”

Scoffing, we turn into the office and give the secretary everything that we have. She thanks us and as we walk off Louie says, “Hey, tell the teach I went to the bathroom.”

I grunt. “Why should I?”

“Because you’re a nice person.”

We both laugh at that and I shrug, telling him that I will. He thanks me and heads for the restrooms while I walk back to fifth period. The halls are completely empty and silent. It irritates me because I can hear every sound my feet make when they hit the floor. It’s this constant clicking sound that makes my ears twitch in discomfort.

I reach the stairs and head up to the second floor. The moment I walk out into the hall I see Reed and two of his friends walking out of the bathroom. I can only assume that they were doing something that would get themselves in trouble. I try to walk around them but Reed notices me and calls out, “Hey, if it isn’t my best bud, Jinx. Where are you goin’ man?”

I keep walking. I’m not getting into another fight. Mimi will be furious, I just know it.

But someone up there must really hate me because I feel Reed grab me by the arm and he shoves me into a row of lockers. I glare at him. “Fuck off. I don’t want any trouble.”

“Too bad because you got some.” He raises his fist and I just barely dodge it. The sound of his knuckles hitting the lockers echoes through out the hall. Quickly, before a teacher can come out, he orders his goonies to grab hold of me from behind.

I try ripping away but before I can Reed’s fist makes contact with my gut. All the air is knocked from my lungs and at the second punch I begin gasping. I told Mimi I wouldn’t get into another fight but I’m not getting my ass kicked either.

I bring my foot up to kick him in the gut. Reed stumbles away and from the corner of my eye I see a classroom door open. A teacher is shouting at us, telling us to stop while running down the hall. Reed’s goons throw me into a row of lockers and one punches me in the face. I feel the blood running from my nostrils and I growl angrily.

The teacher grabs Reed and calls for help. Soon the security is up here helping pull me off one of Reed’s goons, which I managed to throw to the ground.

“You two again?” The guard asks angrily.

“The fag asked for it,” Reed snarls.

I roll my eyes. “Of course I did.”

The guards escort the four of us to the office where the principal shouts at us. Reed gives his side of the story and I give mine. Either way, both of us were suspended for three days. I throw my head back and groan. Mimi is going to kill me.

Stepping out of the principal’s office, I find Laker waiting for me. The moment he sees me he gets up and says, “Come on, Mimi asked me to take you home.”

“I’m not going with you.”

“Do you want to piss her off anymore than she already is?”

He makes a point. Sighing, I follow Laker out of the office and to his car in the lot. This is going to be a long ride.