After the End

I floated downstairs the next morning to the kitchen table. My dad was making pancakes, perfect for a sunny Saturday morning. He yawned as he flipped a couple of the flapjacks.

"Good morning sunshine" he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. My hair must have looked awesome, especially with the crust in the corners of my eyes.

"Good morning, hey dad..." I began.

"Yeah?"

"Julia is having a party this coming Friday to celebrate the end of school, can I go?" I looked at him with my big puppy dog eyes. Those always worked on him.

“Oh alright, I guess you’re old enough now.” I squealed with delight and went back to my pancakes. I heard David yawn as he came downstairs, Loki trotting close behind. Lastly my mom came downstairs and slumped in her chair at the table.

“Thank God there’s no school on the weekends.” she sighed as she laid her head down on the table. I laughed lightly and agreed, but I knew my mom hadn’t been joking. Her job was exhausting and she was just as excited as me for school to be over.

We went to the dog park and brought Loki to run around after breakfast. There was a big great dane that slobbered all over my leg, but I didn’t care. He was adorable so I forgave him, plus I love animals anyways. Animals, especially pets, are amazing creatures. They let you cuddle with them, talk to them, and they never talk back. It’s wonderful. And I don’t think I could ever go without having a pet.

After the dog park we stopped at the ice cream shop to cool down. I got my favorite triple chocolate, of course. Then we went home and I relaxed on the couch, reading one of my favorite books. Sunday went by pretty much the same and I went to bed early for my last week of school.

I rolled out of bed the next morning, fighting gravity with every step. I did not want to go to school at all, not one tiny bit. But I knew I had to. I threw on some random clothes and went downstairs to make breakfast.

“David!” I yelled “Get up I’m making scrambled eggs!” I heard a faint groan that let me know he was awake, so I starting mixing up the eggs. Once they were in the pan I grabbed my laptop and started playing music, All Apologies by Nirvana. Perfect music for dealing with the ridiculous people at school. Most of the people there are really nice, but they also really annoy me sometimes. Especially Trevor, that little asshole. My soon to be ex-boyfriend. I knew he was cheating on me with my “friend” Marie.

She had always been a little bit of a tramp but I didn’t think she’d go after my boyfriend until I saw them eating each others lips after school one day. Frankly, I’m not really sad about it anymore, I’ve already cried myself out over it. Now I’m just pissed off, and I’m not going to pretend to be ignorant anymore. I planned on confronting them about it in school today. I was going to break up with that loser and officially end my friendship with Marie. No longer was I willing to play the part of stupid, ignorant girlfriend, which is essentially what I’d been doing. But I wasn’t going to put up with that shit anymore, I deserve a lot better than both of them.

I explained this to David and he completely agreed. Since I had extra time after breakfast I went back up to my room and changed into the fiercest outfit I could create. Black skinny jeans with an edgy black lace top that shows just enough to make people curious while still showing off my figure.

To top it off I put on my knee high black leather boots and black dangly earrings. Oh yeah, Trevor was going to shit a brick. But of course I couldn’t do this without backup, so I texted Julia and explained.

“Hey I’m gonna break up with Trevor today, I need help, backup?”

“Of course girl, what r u wearing?”

I sent her a picture of myself in the mirror.
“Damn, you’re not gonna go easy on him I guess. I’m in, let me change my clothes. Meet you at the front door. Ttyl.”

I grabbed my backpack and opened up the door “David come on we gotta go!”. Not even a minute later he came running up with his bag on one shoulder and we got into my car.

“Hey David I need your opinion.” I said.

“Uh oh, what happened this time?” He said jokingly. I stuck my tongue out at him and continued.

“Well Trevor has been cheating on me with Marie, but I think I already told you that.” He nodded so
I continued. “I’m going to break up with him today I think, I don’t know, do you think that’s a good idea?” We were only about a minute away from school now, it wasn’t a very long drive but I wanted his answer before we got out of the car.

“I knew there was a reason you wore that outfit today. You should do it. You’re way too good for a scumbag like that. Plus then you didn’t wear that outfit for nothing.” We both smiled as I pulled up into my usual parking spot. I hopped out of the car and locked it as we walked towards the building, I could see people looking at me out of the corner of my eye and I smirked. It was working. Julia was waiting for me by the front door like she had said. As I was walking up to her David called out

“Hey sis…” he began so I turned around and looked back at him “kick some ass.” I grinned and waved goodbye, walking towards the building with and extra surge of confidence. When I got up to Julia she smiled and looked at me with that same fierce look she always get when we’re plotting something.

“You ready?” she asked.

“More than ready.” I responded with utter confidence in myself and my intentions. We walked towards the cafeteria where we would always meet Trevor and Marie, just like any other normal day.

They were shamelessly flirting with each other, laughing and staring into each others eyes. It made me sick, them clinging to each other like white fur on black cloth. I had a mission to accomplish though, so I swallowed my disgust and walked up to them happily.

“Hey!” I said, acting friendly and excited. “How are you guys? This weekend felt like it took forever, especially after what happened Friday.” Trevor looked at me with confusion, but I couldn’t tell if it was real or not.

“What happened on Friday baby? Are you okay?” His voice was soaked in mock concern, if he really just didn’t care about me why didn’t he break up with me before? Oh well, that’s irrelevant now that I was doing it for him.

I took on a more venomous tone “Oh you mean you don’t remember?” He shook his head. “Well, let me elaborate for you then. I saw you kissing Marie in the hallway after school Friday you asshole, so don’t pretend like you’re innocent.” His mouth fell open so wide it looked like his jaw might hit the floor, so did Marie’s. “Pick your chin up off the floor why don’t you, although I understand why you’re embarrassed. It looked like you were eating each others faces.”

Marie and Trevor both turned beet red and Marie began to cry. “I’m so sorry Daisy, you just don’t understand. You didn’t give him enough attention, he was lonely. And you know me, I help people in need…”

“By spreading your legs?” Her pleas were all pathetic to me, trying to justify stabbing her best friend in the back. It was disgusting. And I must have nailed my response because she was now left floundering, struggling to come up with more pitiful excuses. Then Trevor turned on me.

“Well maybe if we would have done more things together I wouldn’t have turned to her!” He was yelling now but nobody looked over. “I made plenty of advances towards you, gave you plenty of hints as to what I wanted, but you just didn’t get it.”

I scoffed scornfully “So you cheated on me because I wouldn’t have sex with you?!” He looked down at his feet, that was enough of an answer for me. “Well in that case I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I wasn’t a big enough slut for you, I’m sorry that I didn’t catch on to your mediocre hints and give myself over to you. Because that’s not what I wanted! That’s never what I wanted from you!” I began tearing up now, people were looking at us but I didn’t care anymore.

“All I ever wanted from you was love… I wanted someone who would text me every morning, just to say good morning. Someone who I could cuddle with while we watch movies. Not someone who just wanted me for my body… And you know what, you’re not even worth my time anymore.” I stormed off with Marie, wiping my tears as I went.

The rest of the day seemed to fly by after that. I was physically present in my classes, but my mind was somewhere else entirely. I was single again. Even though he was a jerk and I know that he was cheating on me for at least a month, I still felt like a part of me was missing. Like something had been ripped violently away from me and destroyed. It made me want to cry, but it also felt liberating, as if the thing taken away from me had really been a chain holding me back. I hoped Trevor would be at the party Saturday, just to see his face when I bounce back brighter than ever.