Drop Dead.

As expected both of us are silent at the beginning of the ride. The only sound is coming from the car. The music isn’t even playing but neither of us move to turn it on. I reach into Laker’s glove box and take out some tissues to hold against my nose since the one I had is soaked with blood.

I wince but keep the tissue there to soak up the mess. The ride was long because of the tense and silent atmosphere but we make it back eventually. As expected, Mimi is waiting inside. When I open the door she starts yelling.

“Jinx, you got into another fight! Is it really that hard to keep yourself from hitting the boy?”

“Yes,” I reply angrily.

Mimi stomps her foot and shouts, “Damn it, Jinx! You can’t just keep getting into fights. If the boy is bothering you just stay away from him.”

Didn’t I try that?

“Tell a teacher or a friend or even talk to him. He’ll leave you alone!”

Apparently she doesn’t know what high school is like. She must have forgotten.

“You can’t get yourself suspended. Do you realize how much work you’re going to miss? What if you fall behind and fail?”

I honestly don’t care.

“Why did you even get into a fight with the boy? He couldn’t have done anything that made you angry enough to hit him!”

“He hit me first,” I snap. “He was going to kick my ass. It’s called self defense!”

Mimi frowns and rubs her temple. She’s glaring angrily at the floor but I can tell she wants to glare at me. It makes my chest sting with pain. I bet she regrets taking me in. All I do is cause her and Ken trouble. Maybe it’d be better if I just…left?

“You’re grounded.”

“What?” I ask, shocked.

“No TV, phone or internet until further notice. Got it?”

I nod in response and glance back to see Laker is still here. Mimi smiles at him and says, “Thanks for bringing him Laker. Are you going back to school?”

“Yeah, I have to,” he replies with a smirk. “I got a date.”

“Really!” The rest of Mimi’s words are blurred together because I’m too busy staring in shock at the ground. I don’t know why but suddenly I feel sick. My stomach is queasy and my head is throbbing. I’m angry, sad, shocked and sick all at the same time and I’m not entirely sure why.

My hands have clenched into fists, they’re shaking violently at my side. I’m breathing heavily through my nostrils and my heart isn’t sure if it wants to stop or hammer angrily against my ribcage. A part of me wants to turn around and punch Laker in that pretty boy face of his but at the same time I don’t because it’ll make him realize that his little date is affecting me.

It isn’t. I’m fine with it. He can go out on a date if he wants. We’re not dating. I don’t like him and he doesn’t like me. We aren’t even friends. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I do care.

I turn to face Laker. Mimi is hugging him and giggling. She pulls away and asks, “Who are you going with, sweetie?”

“Brittany,” he replies. Her name is like a knife, it slices right through me and for a moment I think my legs are about to give out.

He’s going out with Brittany?

“Jinx…what’s wrong?” Mimi asks, breaking me from my thought. I didn’t even know it but I was glaring daggers at Laker, just waiting for him to drop dead. Mimi and Laker are staring at me oddly, waiting for a response.

Snarling, I shake my head and reply, “Nothing…have fun on your date, Laker.”

I spit it out like bad food and turn before running upstairs, slamming the door shut behind me. I grab a pillow and scream into it before throwing it across the room. It lands in some unknown location and I don’t even bother to go look for it.

I simply take a seat on my bed. Although my entire body is sore from the fight I was just in, my heart was hurting far worse. I hold a hand against my chest and rub the flesh, as if that’ll help but it doesn’t. It continues to sting and throb and I don’t know why. Laker is obviously the reason.

Fuck him. I don’t care about him. I don’t care what he does…I don’t care at all.

Yes I do.