Poison and Wine

"Brynna, Antoinette, you have school today," Chris hollered up the steps.

God dammit. Why is he like this? Why does he try to act like our father? We haven't even been here for a week and he's already on my shit list.

"Is it too late to emancipate myself?" I questioned, putting the finishing touches on my makeup. Brynn snorted. "I'd say so. We're here already," she spoke.

Sighing, I slipped my blazer on and then my pentagram necklace. "If you wake up one morning and I'm not here, just know that I love you and wish you the best in life."

She reached out and slapped me. "Gee thanks, fucker!" She exclaimed. "Not like I shared a damn uterus with you for nine months."

I sent her a sickly sweet smile before I bounded down the narrow set of stairs. I grabbed a granola bar out of the bowl on the kitchen counter and tossed a wave over my shoulder as I passed Chris. As soon as I got outside and saw my car, I grinned. That thing was my baby. It was our dads car but ehen him and mom died, I got it. Brynn didn't want it so I got it. Every now and then she would drive it, but that wasn't very often.

"Have a good day girls!" Chris hollered from the front porch. "Make some new friends! And be nice!"

As soon as I backed out of the driveway, Brynn and I scoffed. "What are we, seven?" We spoke together. Brynn messed with the radio for a few seconds before settling on hooking her phone up to it.

Too tough
We won't break
Enough
'Cause when you make

Dark shadows
The young pros
They blow and come back ten fold

We don't need ropes to climb the walls you build
Ideas and passion break the brinks with you
Man up

Machines
Without any rust
Machines
Turn us to dust

When you make a mistake
The scarecrow break up its stake

We don't need ropes to climb the walls anymore
My mind is stronger than it was before
Man up—

People still rode the bus? In high school? Some of them don't look like freshman either. What sophomore, junior, and senior would willingly ride the bus to and from school? I sure as hell wouldn't. Not if you paid me. And they're all staring. Do we have stuff on our faces?

"How long do you think this staring will last?" I asked, shutting my car door. Brynn got out, shut her door, and stared at me over the top of my car, then did a quick scan of the students all around us. "When someone new comes to town," she replied.

"Great," I mumbled.


I know every teenager says this, but school sucks. Like, it literally sucks. Every kid in this godforsaken school is annoying. They have staring problems. And they're rude. Being from New York, I didn't take too kindly to being blatantly stared at and talked about. Us New Yorkers were foul mouthed, short tempered people. You don't mess with us unless you have a death wish.

"Explain to me why we have to be here again?" Brynn groaned. She rested her head against her palm while her elbow rested on the table to hold her head up. "If we want to get into any good colleges, we have to be here," I mumbled. "We don't want to be stuck in this Podunk town for the rest of our lives, do we?"

She went to respond, but was cut off. "Who said anything about this being a 'Podunk town'?"

Looking to my left, I saw the tall lanky guy and the shorter scruffy guy from the store earlier this week. What are their names again?

"And who the hell are you?" My New York accent was thick now.

"Roman Godfrey." Oh yeah, that's his name.

"Peter."

My eyebrows rose. "No last name?" Brynn asked.

He stared back at her with dull eyes. "Rumancek."

"Well, nice to meet you. Buh-bye now." I gave them a little wave and went back to messing on my phone. They walked away after a few seconds of standing there in shock. This school was a joke. This whole town was a joke. Everyone in this town was a joke.

"Can we skip this class?" I questioned. "I really don't wanna be here." I was whining. Like a child. But then again, I am a child. I'm only seventeen.

Brynn rolled her eyes. "Want some cheese with that whine?"

"Fuck you," I snapped.