We Are an Example of Why Not to Fall in Love

Oli's point of view:

I'm woken up by Tom gently shaking me. He's dressed for school already.

"Fuck, did I oversleep?!"

"Sure did," Tom answers. I mutter a curse as I pull myself out of bed and get ready for school. Fuck my phone for dying. Fuck me for forgetting to put it on the charger.

When I'm ready, I look for Tom.

"Want me to walk you to school so you're not all by yourself?"

Tom nods and I follow him out of the house.

We both go to different schools because he did something really bad and wasn't allowed at our school anymore. No one ever told me what he did, and I don't exactly care to know anyway.

"Is Josh treating you good?" Tom asks to break the silence. The mention of Josh's name brings a smile to my face, and that makes Tom smile too.

"Very good," I answer truthfully.

"Good. Just making sure my brother is happy."

The rest of the walk is silent as neither of us know of a topic to bring up, but the silence is comfortable.

<><><>

Everyone else is already seated at the lunch table, talking happily. Their current conversation is dropped as I sit at the table, gaining their attention.

"Where were you this morning?" Josh asks, Alex and Jack offer a look that looks like they ask the same.

"Overslept, walked Tom to school," I answer with a shrug.

"What school does he go to anyway?" Alex asks.

"Doesn't he go to that ugly school by Karsen's house?" Jack asks.

"...Who's Karsen?" I ask confused. Josh looks uncomfortable by the mention of this Karsen person

"Rachelle Karsen. You don't know her?"

I shake my head, giving them an expectant look. I want to know who she is since apparently she makes Josh uncomfortable. Jack turns to Josh, expecting him to tell me. Josh shrugs, and Jack returns it. Alex rolls his eyes at the two idiots and turns to me.

"She's Josh's ex. You'd probably dislike her, though, since she can kinda be a bitch, but we're cool, since I kinda grew up with her," Alex explains, but that confuses me. How come this is the first time I've heard of her if she grew up with Alex? I mean, we've been friends for maybe three years or so, so it's kinda weird.

"Oh... Alright."

<><><>

I lock my front door behind me as I enter my home, lazily throwing my bag to the couch. I’m way too lazy to hike up the stairs so I throw myself to the couch, failing epicly as I bounce off the edge and fall to the hard, dirty floor. Like seriously, someone should really vacuum this bitch. And it smells like... (sniff) piss? Who pissed on the floor?

“Um, Oli?” I hear the concerned voice of my mother from behind me. “Are you alright? You’re kinda just planking there.”

“Fell off the couch,” I mutter into the carpet before rolling onto my back.

“Well, are you… gonna, like, get up? I mean, I would…”

“Yeah, yeah,” I answer her sheepishly as I pull myself up. It’s slightly embarrassing, actually.

“Good. I’ll be in the kitchen making dinner, if any of you need me,” she tells me before disappearing back into the kitchen. I plop down onto the couch, successfully this time, and pull my phone out of my pocket. I play on the minimum amount of apps I have until I’m called in the kitchen for dinner.