Sweet Misery

"So are you going to tell me about this Garrett kid or what?"

Candice sat in the passenger seat beside me as we drove to school. She rested her hands on her stomach, which has surprisingly started to grow inch by inch every day. The whole thing was still amazing to me. My fifteen year old sister was pregnant. A living creature was harvesting inside of her. Like, holy shit.

Maybe her stomach was a surprise to me because I had been avoiding the girl. Throughout the week, I steered clear of Candice, making up excuses to why I couldn't drive her to school or why I didn't feel like watching T.V with her at night. And the reason for this? The exact question she had just asked me. She obviously knew who Garrett was now and she was obviously going to question my new friends and where the hell my old friends were. And even though the truth was unknown to me, "I don't know" really isn't the greatest excuse.

I shrugged, stopping at a red light. "What is there to tell?"

She sucked in a sharp breath, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe like, where the fuck did he come from?"

"He's a friend."

"Since when?"

I pursed my lips, "A month ago- I don't know."

"Well I'm sure Tessa and Carrie hate him." She raised her eyebrows.

When the light turned green I drove forward. "Why would you say that?"

"Because he dresses like a slacker and those girls are judgmental as fuck."

I shook my head, "You know, once that baby comes along you can't cure like a trucker anymore. I think it's time you start eliminating certain words from your vocabulary. "

She snorted, "Oh, please. We both know I learned it from you. And anyway, you are far worst than I am. But back to the subject at hand. This Garrett guy, I think he likes you."

I rolled my eyes, "Shut up. He does not."

"You're blind. He's obsessed. When are you hanging out with him next?"

"Tonight."

My sister grinned mischievously, "And what are you guys doing?"

"I think we're going to a movie."

"What movie?"

I turned into the school parking lot, picking out a parking spot. Glancing at the dashboard I realized we were a whole twenty five minutes early. "Um, I don't know. That alien movie? I think."

"That movie has been out for weeks."

"So?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

Candice groaned, "Don't you know what that means?"

"No, I don't."

"It means he's most likely already seen it and doesn't actually want to watch the movie," She paused, reading my face, "Do you get what I'm saying?'

I felt my face heating up just as my mind began to wander. Garrett and I sitting in the movie theater-not watching the movie.

I shook my head, "That's not happening because his friends are coming too."

Candice rolled her eyes and opened the car door, "Jesus Harley can you please just get on that kid? He seems nice and that's coming from me." She stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut behind her.

I let out a heavy breath, closed my eyes and rested my forehead on the steering wheel. Garrett just wanted to be friends. I just wanted to be friends. That's all there was to it. I bit my lip, eyes still closed, and listened to the soft music that played out of car radio.

Maybe I shouldn't go to the movies tonight. I mean, John will most likely be there and that's just going to make things horrid. That is unless I avoid him. Maybe I can just stay by Kennedy the entire night. Yeah, Kennedy is a nice kid. Jared seems pretty cool, too. Pat is nice, too. There. I can do this. I'll just stay far away from John.

I found myself dreading Garrett now. I was afraid of him because of my stupid sister. Shit. God dammit.

A soft knock on the window on my side caused me to jump up in fear. I placed a hand over my heart and sucked in a deep breath. I looked up to find Tessa smiling and waving. Less than eagerly, I grabbed my backpack from the back seat, shut off the car, and opened the door. As I stepped out I recognized Marshall and Devon Halem, another football player, standing behind Tessa.

I really wasn't in the mood to deal with this. I needed a cigarette.

"Hey!" Tessa greeted me, cheerfully.

"Hi." I responded, falling into my natural spot next to Marshall.

As we walked into school, I watched on as Devon took hold of Tessa's hand and occasionally pecked her on the cheek. Just as we got to the entrance and moved into a somewhat single filed line, Marshall, who was behind me, placed a hand on the small of my back, causing all the small hairs on my body to stand up straight. As we got through the entrance and eventually walked down the hallway, Marshall kept it there and amazingly I didn't protest. At one point, Tessa looked back and grinned.

Marshall walked me all the way to my locker. I'm not quite sure how he knew where it was exactly, but he walked me there. I put in the combination and opened it. As I did so, a folded piece of loose leaf paper fell out. I caught it just in time and looked at it curiously.

"What is that?" Marshall asked.

"I don't know." I unfolded the piece of paper to find the words "PICK UP AT 7" sloppily written across. I held in my smile as I folded the paper again and shoved it into my back pocket.

I grabbed the books I needed and placed them into my backpack, then closed my locker and face Marshall. "I was going to meet up with some friends. I'm sure you want to go see yours." I hinted.

He nodded his head, "Uh, yeah, but I kind of wanted to ask you something first."

My eyebrows raised, "Oh. All right. Okay."

He sucked in a deep breath, "I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date with me tonight. We could go to dinner or something."

Guilt stuck me in the chest. I placed a hand on my stomach and looked at Marshall with a sorrowful expression, "Oh, I'm really sorry but I already have plans for tonight."

His head lit up and he shook his head, "Don't be sorry! Tomorrow is Saturday so maybe tomorrow night?" He shrugged.

I gnawed on my bottom lip. Truth be told, I wasn't sure if I wanted to go or not. Either way, I was starting to feel bad for this kid. I mean, this is I believe the forth time he has asked me out. And again, I haven't ever been asked out by anyone aside from him. Plus, using Marshall as an excuse to hopefully get John off my back might work. I sucked in a sharp breath and forced myself to nod my head. "Sure. I'd love to."

He smiled widely. "Great! I'll call you, okay?"

I nodded my head, "Okay."

We parted ways. As I walked down the hallway, I felt my cheeks heating up. Wow. Okay. Oh, God. Wow. I couldn't help but feel flustered and overall, dizzy. I walked down the hallway in a complete daze, almost forgetting to stop and sit down next to Pat and Garrett.

Sitting next to the two of them every morning had sort of become a new routine this week. I would come over here to avoid Tessa and Carrie and to, well, be with people I actually enjoyed the company of. After not talking to either of them for three weeks, I felt horrendous. So, naturally, Monday morning after the hospital incident I came straight over to this spot next to the gymnasium to hang out with them. Since then, I've been here every day.

"Did you get my note?" Garrett smiled.

I almost didn't hear him. I was still lost in my thoughts. "Huh? Oh yeah. It was very nice."

I hardly noticed how his smile faded and he sat straight, not looking at me. Garrett and Pat talked for the next ten minutes, but once the bell rang all three of us separated and went to our designated classes.

The rest of the day seemed to go by quickly. I hadn't run into Garrett or Pat or Marshall at all. After the last bell, I drove myself and Candice home. When I got home, almost forgetting about the movies tonight, I fell asleep for a good three hours.

Candice woke me up at six by strolling into my room and saying, "So what are you going to wear?"

I barely raised my head, eyes still closed, "What?" I mumbled.

"What are you planning on wearing?"

"Clothes, probably."

My sister groaned, throwing her head back slightly. "Can you please try to look nice?"

I furrowed my brow, "Why? It's just the movies."

"You're going to be surrounded by guys."

"Why do you care?" I asked, sitting up straight and resting my back on the wall behind me.

She rolled her eyes, opening my closet door as she started her rant, "Because I'm fucking pregnant and everyone hates me so I'm living my life through you. Plus, this is the first time stuff like this is happening to you and I think you need some coaching."

I shrugged, "I feel like I'm doing fine so far."

She looked back at me, "Trust me, you aren't doing fine."

I lied back down on the bed, letting out a heavy sigh, "The things I would do to you if you weren't pregnant-I swear to God." I mumbled.

"Wear this." Candice turned around with glowing eyes and a devious smile. In her hand she held an orange sundress that I never actually once wore.

I scrunched my nose, "Not my style."

"If you want to get some action you need to show some skin."

"I don't want to get action! I hate action!" I declared, sitting back up and throwing my hands in the air.

"You've never had action, Harley!"

"I have too!"

She rolled her eyes, "Like what? You haven't even had your first kiss yet. Don't give me your bullshit."

I stayed quiet, my eyes on my sister. Watching her come to the sudden realization about my past endevours was quite amusing. She dropped the dress in her hand as her eyes narrowed in on me. I watched as her jaw loosened slightly, then restraint itself. "Harley?" She nearly growled.

I didn't say anything.

"Fuck Harley who kissed you?"

I shook my head, staring down, "It was horrible."

She shrugged, "That's fine. All first kisses suck."

I shook my head yet again, "No, like, he shouldn't have kissed me for at least... two reasons that I can think of."

"Who?"

"You won't believe me."

"Who?!"

I tucked my chin in, avoiding my sister's intense stare. My jaw ached as I forced the words from my mouth, "John O'Callaghan."

She screamed.

She shrieked.

She jumped.

She fell on top of me.

"Are you kidding me?! What? Oh my fucking God, Harley. You have got to be kidding me!? Johno?! Fucking John fucking O'Callaghan and you kissing?! Oh my GOD!"

I placed my hands in my palms, "It's horrible! I'm ashamed! I hate him!"

My sister grabbed my hands and looked at me, "Why is that horrible? John O'Callaghan is a God. Consider yourself lucky."

"I can't. You don't even know, Candy. He's such a dick and a half. And I feel like suck a weakling in front of him and he's like the one person that actually intimidates me and I hate him for that. And I don't even know how it happened but he just started kissing me and I started kissing him. Then I realized what I was doing and I left."

She shook her head, griping my hand tightly. "But why is that so bad? So what? You kissed him. What were the two reasons why you shouldn't have kissed him?"

I sucked in a breath, "Well, one, he's Tessa's ex-boyfriends."

Candice rolled her eyes, "Pssh. Please. That bitch won't find out."

"And," I started, "He's Garrett's friend and that-"

She cut me off by holding her finger up. A small devious smile implanted itself on her lips, "And why does that matter?"

I shrugged, "I don't know it's just-"

She cut me off again, "It's just that you don't want to hurt Garrett's feelings?"

"Yeah, I guess."

My sister let out an exasperated sigh, but never stopped grinning, "You're in deeper than you know."

I scratched the back of my head, "You need to leave my room."

She got up from my bed, still grinning and slowly walked to the door, "Oh my very prude sister. You will learn one day."

"You know I could say a lot of shit about you not being prude right now so get the hell out." I snapped.

She held onto my door frame for a minute, smiling still. "Oh boy."

"Leave." I demanded.

She waved, then winked and then was gone.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I leaned against the front door's frame while waiting for Garrett's yellow car pull up in front of my house. Every time my mother of George passed by I would hold my breath and pray to God they wouldn't ask me who exactly I was hanging out with tonight. Lucky for me, the topic never popped out.

After what seemed like five minutes of waiting, I glanced down at my phone to catch the time. By the time I looked up, however, the yellow car was parked outside. I pushed open the front door and walked across the lawn, the tips of the grass tickling my bare feet on top of my flip flops. I smiled as I opened the passenger door and slid in.

Garrett was smiling right back at me, "Hey."

"Hi," I said as I buckled my seat belt.

"So, there has sort of been a change of plans."

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at him, "Oh?"

"Yeah. You see, there's sort of this thing that all the guys have been dying to do and yeah. If you don't want to do it we could totally just go to the movies it's fine."

I shook my head, laughing lightly, "No, it's fine. What is it?"

"Well, um, this new Laser Tag place opened up."

A wicked smile started to form on my lips, "Laser Tag?"

Garrett cringed, "Yeah..."

"I'm in!" I exclaimed.

His eyes widened, "Really?"

"Sure!" I laughed.

"Great! Let's go." Garrett started the car and we drove off.

The car ride there was quiet but not uncomfortable or anything. I liked Garrett's goofy car. The smell inside was wispy and nice and the seats were comfortable. He always had enjoyable music playing too. There really wasn't anything to complain about.

The Laser Tag place was about ten minutes away. As we pulled into the parking lot, I recognized Pat, Kennedy, and Jared's faces standing right outside the door. I waved to them sheepishly as we passed by them.

"Harley!" Pat shouted as I stepped out of the car.

I simply chuckled, for some reason becoming nervous just as I was approached by all these people I already knew. I soon found Garrett by my side and we walked towards the rest of the group. "Where's John, Trey and Halvo?" He asked.

My stomach dropped at the sound of his name. I sucked in a steady breath, calming myself down and somehow managing to focus on the people around me instead. However, that was quite hard when three new faces came out of the place called Laser Castle.

"Harley," Garrett turned to me, his hand finding a spot on the shoulder farthest from him. Quick chills rushed down my arm and I'm sure he could feel them just as I could feel his arm tense up. "You remember my brother Trey, right?"

I nodded my head, looking over at Trey, "Yeah, I do. How's it going?"

Trey nodded his head, "Pretty good."

"You remember me, right?" John's voice caused all the hate in me to bubble in my gut. You could cut the tension with a blade.

I gave him a thin smile, "Of course."

"Okay, this place is totally sick," Halvo started, "Basically no one is here and the whole inside is dark and it's sort of a abandoned planet set up."

"Well let's go!" Jared exclaimed and we all rushed inside, Garrett never leaving my side.

After we paid and went over instructions we began to get suited up. "Wanna be on my team?" Garrett leaned over to me, smiling.

I couldn't help but smile back. He really was adorable. Every time he smiled my stomach twisted gleefully. I bit my bottom lip and nodded my head, "You know it."

We both put on the blue vest signaling that we were on the blue team. By the time we were all suited up and ready to go I could make out the teams as this. Red Team: Jared (that one was inevitable), Pat, Kennedy, and Trey. Blue Team: Me, Garrett, Halvo, and John. Yes, John.

"Ready to kick some ass?" John whispered to me.

"Yep." I replied dryly, not looking at him. I took a couple steps back and moved onto the end of the line so I was just next to Garrett.

After a coin toss, it was decided that the blue team was allowed to enter the "War Zone" first. The doors opened and all four of us entered into the dark area. Immediately, Halvo and John separated from us, off to find a hiding spot. Garrett and I, however, decided to stick together. Different obstacles in the shape of rocks were set up all over the zone. Garrett and I took cover behind one in the back corner. We listened closely for the doors opening and the Red team entering.

"I think they're in." Garrett whispered.

I sucked in a breath, "I'm ready to go ape-shit on their asses."

He held in a laugh, "Ditto."

I nearly snorted. I held a hand over my mouth as I fell out of my crouching position and right onto my butt. I could barely make out the amused expression Garrett held, "What?"

"You said ditto." I laughed quietly.

He shrugged, "And what's wrong with that?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. Who says ditto?"

He looked at me, his voice rising. "Well excuse me."

"Shhhh!" I held a finger to my lips.

Just then, someone-I'm assuming it was Jared-jumped out from behind the rock. "Gotcha!" He yelled and began shooting.

"Take cover!" Garrett shouted.

I started off running, thinking that he was behind me. Turns out, he wasn't. I rushed up the stairs onto the platform area, taking cover behind some wall. From where I stood I could see a couple people on the Red Team below me. I stood there for a good three minutes with my gun gripped tightly and pressed against my chest. I steadied my breathing and began strategizing carefully as I found myself getting more and more into the game. Every now and then, I would hear the guys shouting and screaming and guns going off.

Finally, I moved from my spot, walking slowly and carefully down the platform some more. I then decided I could find some more action if I went down the stairs and back on the ground. Once I did so, I found myself hiding behind yet another rock. I peered over the side of this rock, finding a Red Team member walking. I aimed and shot at them. Their head popped up as the device on their vest lit up, signaling that they had been shot and lost a significant amount of power. "What?" They said, glancing around, "Who was that!?" I laughed as I realized that my victim had been Pat.

I quickly ran off to find a new hiding spot and hopefully find Garrett. Instead, I found John. I nearly crashed into him as we both rounded the same fake rock at the same time. He grabbed my arm pulling me along with him, "I have the perfect hiding spot. Come on." He whispered.

Reluctantly, I followed.

We arrived at a spot that seemed pretty normal. However, after moving to a different angle, one can see a pretty large hole in the wall behind a rock. John climbed in and then motion for me to follow. I climbed in next to him and hid behind the rock, holding my gun outside the edge ready to shoot at whoever walked bye.

Sure enough, another Red Team member walked bye and was unfortunate enough to get shot by me. Just like Pat, they looked around in confusion and then sadly continued on. John snickered from next to me, "Nice spot, right?"

I hated having to respond, but I really couldn't argue. "Not bad."

"It's pretty secluded back here too."

I rolled my eyes, "Don't make me leave, O'Callaghan."

He chuckled softly, then let out what seemed to be an overdue breath, "Oh, that's the last thing I want to do."