High School Has Its Perks

"MOM!" Bryan opened the front door and let the gang into the house. They were all excited.

"Yes?"

"Can you get us some ice"

"Tough practice?"

"Major" the gang sat in the living room completely exhausted, expect for Joe who just watched the last try out day of ice hockey.

"I totally think you'll be on the team" Bryan said to Joe.

"I only tried out today" Joe said. "And I happened to do better than Leena at goalie" Leena rolled her eyes.

"Thanks to you I might not be on the team at all" she said. "The coach hates me cause I possess a vagina" Ross chuckled.

"I might not be cleared to play" Joe said. "Even if I am the goalie"

"Still, you kicked ass today" Sean said. "97 out of 100 blocks. Incredible!"

"I made 91!" Leena said. "I'm still awesome too..."

"You're the bestest" Bryan kissed the top of Leena's head. Bryan's mom came into the living room with a bag of ice. "This is good" He put the ice bag on his knee. "so, thanksgiving is next week. Do we have official bro plans?"

"I'm going out of town" Ross said. "Don't try to reach me until Black Friday"

"Noted, Sean, Joe, Leena?"

"I'm going out of town too" Sean said. "And by that I mean I'm going like ten minutes away"

"I'm staying" Joe said.

"Me too" Leena said.

"Ok, so Black Friday we will hang out" Bryan said. "I want to go shopping but I'm working all morning and afternoon"

"Me too" Leena added. "Don't try to contact me until 9 p.m at the latest"

"All day?" Sean asked. "Who needs shit at Stop and Shop on a friday?"

"It's a holiday and we're doing sales" Leena said. "Which means me and Brooklyn will spend our entire day dealing with customers and their lame coupon obsessions. Yay!"

"You try working at Toys R Us, though" Bryan said. "Last year I only worked for five hours and it was insane all day!"

"I can only imagine what Wal-Mart will be like" Ross said. "Good thing I'm not working"

"Fuck you" Leena spat. "Anyways, I say we take a weekend trip that weekend"

"Yay!" Joe exclaimed. "Where would we go?"

"We can do to Canada or we can go to New York City" Bryan said. "Personally I'd like to go to Canada where we can drink"

"I'm not 18 yet and neither are you" Sean said. "So we can't drink"

"Good point...I guess New York City will be fun too"

"So I need your honest opinion on something" Ross started. "I've noticed that you guys told Bryan what you thought of Ericka. So can you tell me what you guys think of Sam?"

"Uh..." Bryan turned to Leena who shrugged, she turned to Joe and Sean who shook their heads.

"What's wrong?" Ross asked. "You don't like her"

"No!" they all shouted at once, it was very suspicious.

"I mean, Sam's a great girl" Joe said. "She really is. She's sweet and funny and cute!" he said.

"But what's the catch?" Ross asked.

"It's not her" Leena said. "I'm going to hurt your feelings now..."

"Ok, I can take it"

"It's you" Leena said. "Sam's great and if this was last year I would say you were a match in heaven. But no a days you're always drunk or high and...you're broken" she said. "you're broken and we're all broken inside but we were grieving. You didn't grieve with us at all this summer" Ross stayed quiet. "It's not like it's a bad thing. It's normal" she said. "But you can't be in a relationship if you can't deal with things"

"So what do I do?" Ross asked. "How do I become unbroken?"

"Break up with her" Bryan said. Ross wasn't comprehending this. He was already with her after all this trouble, why leave her? He was fine, she was fine. He wasn't hurting anyone.

"Fuck that" Ross got up and grabbed his things. he walked out the front door. The gang stayed quiet for a few seconds.

"That could have gone better" Joe said softly.

The front door opened again, all their heads snap to the door. Ross walked in and closed the door behind him.

"I wish I could storm out, but my mom took my car privileges" he returned to his seat. They stayed quiet for a while. The silence was very awkward and uncomfortable. "Your right" he finally said.

They stayed in silence for a few more minutes. Sean looked down at his watch. It was 7:35. "Oh look at the time!" Sean got up and went to the bathroom. The gang started chuckling and smiling, once they heard the toilet flush they burst into uncontrollable laughter.