Pride

Summer ended quickly and it was time for school. The first Monday that I awoke at 6-fuck-me-with-a-cactus in the morning seemed to be incredibly dreary. The sun didn’t shine as brightly as it did from June to August. The birds didn’t sing as beautifully and the air tasted stale. My body felt tired and weak, like it was meant to go into hibernation for the next 9 months but when my mother appeared and started to holler, I knew that hibernation was way out of the question.

Grumbling, I move from room to room preparing myself for the first day of my senior year. Part of me is thrilled to know that this is my last year, another part not so much. After high school it’s time for “responsibilities,” mother says, it’s time to “grow up.” I scoff at the mere thought.

Me? Grow up? Those two words should never be in the same sentence or thought really!

After putting on my school uniform, I head down the hall to the kitchen as slowly as possible. It’s no surprise what, or should I say who, I find in the kitchen. Along with my mother and younger sister, there’s also a boy, my neighbor and best friend who goes by the name of Kai McFallen.

He’s the same age as me. The ass is at least 4 inches taller than my 5’8 self. His shoulders are broad, waist slender and legs long. With dark brown hair and nearly pitch black eyes, he has the whole brooding look on a damn golden platter. To say that the ladies love him would be an understatement, a large understatement.

“It’s nice to see you’re finally up,” my mother says from her spot in front of the stove. I hear the sizzling of bacon and the smell is intoxicating. I inhale deeply and take a seat between my little sister, Shania and Kai.

I grunt in response to my mother and impatiently tap my fingers across the table. Beside me, Shania is giggling like the brat that she is while Kai is silently playing with his fingers in his lap. From the corner of my eye I can see his teeth chewing nervously at his bottom lip. His eyes are staring at his fingers, the way they curl and twist around one another and he’s swaying slowly from side to side.

“Calm down, you’re such a baby,” I sigh, shoving his shoulder hard. The boy nearly topples out of his chair at the force I use and mother scolds me for it but I ignore her. Kai is looking down timidly at me.

“S-Sorry,” he stutters and brings his nails up to chew on. I smack them away, nail-biting is a bad habit I told him that a thousand fucking times. I swear he has some type of brain damage. “I’m just…s-so nervous.”

Yeah, bet no one thought Kai would be a stuttering idiot, huh? Well he is. Since Kai looks the way he does, girls assume that the reason he makes good grades is because he studies and he's responsible. Everyone assumes the reason he doesn’t talk to anybody unless completely necessary is because he’s stoic and mysterious.

L-oh-fucking-L! Every time I hear them talk about him like that makes me want to fall over with laughter. Kai is not stoic; he isn’t mysterious or responsible. He’s incredibly shy and gets scared easily around other people so he tries his best to avoid them and not talk to them. When he does finally speak, he says as little as possible and with a low voice because he’s too frightened to do anything else.

He isn’t mysterious. Every time the wimp has a bad dream he calls me in the middle of the god damn night to cry to me about it. Hell, sometimes he even hops from his balcony at the apartment next door to mine so he can come into my bed and practically hold me like a teddy bear because he’s too scared to go back to sleep! He really pisses me off.

And let’s not forget to mention he’s incredibly indecisive. He can’t go shopping for anything alone. I always have to come with him, like some damn babysitter or something. Even if he’s buying groceries, he’ll stand there forever trying to decide what to get and once he decides, he’ll find a way to put it back and debate on getting something else.

I don’t know why I’m his best friend. I guess it’s because no one else can understand or handle him. He’s too shy to talk to anyone but me. Hell, he has known my parents and sister forever and he still hardly talks to them! If I were to pass him onto someone else, they’d probably go nuts so it’s up to me to watch over the idiot. I sigh. Oh the joy of babysitting.

“Shiloh,” Kai stutters from behind me. I can feel him breathing down my neck, he’s so close. “I’m n-nervous.”

“I know, you told me this morning, you big idiot.” Growling, I stroke my fingers through my hair and look back to the boy behind me. He reaches out and entangles his fingers in the fabric of my uniform. Like a child, he holds onto it tightly and looks down at me through large, watery eyes.

“W-We’re seniors now.”

“No shit.”

“T-This is our most important year! What if…w-what if I fail?” His voice rose in panic but it’s all right, I’m prepared for this. Every year he has a mini panic attack on the first day of school. He freaks out about the idea of failing or doing something idiotic and then I have to comfort him because he’s a giant baby.

“Shut up. You freak out about this every year and you still pass with the highest grades so stop freaking out. You’re such a brat!” I shout and shove him back. He stumbles slightly before regaining his composure. Frowning, he nods his head shyly. “Good. Now hurry the fuck up or we’ll be late and I am not getting in trouble on the first day because of you.”

“S-Sorry.” And once again, the boy is practically clutching onto me for dear life. I sigh once again. This is going to be a long year.