Bad Luck Hannah
You Get What You Get
Josh POV
"Guys, hurry the fuck up before they call our names!"
"How do.you even know we're on the list?" Ricky huffed, wobbling as he tried to keep up with our longer strides; he was still high as fuck, he wouldn't even he able to aim into a cup right now.
"Because Hannah said so."
"And you trust her after your shitty date?" Ryan muttered, nearly tripping over the flag pole as we all got our asses to the parking lot where the cars waited, Chris leaning across the hood of his like he was trying to hug all of its blue elegance.
Poor sap.
"You got my text?" I asked as we neared, and he nodded, slowly raising his head from the hood of the car, his forehead red where it had been pressed against the cool metal.
"Yeah. Where's the girls?"
"Jessica had to pee," Ricky sighed. "And Kylie went with her. Girl code or whatever."
Ek, Jessica.
I'd woke up the other morning with her in my bed and both of us naked, so it didn't take much imagination to figure out where that had went. It made me feel bad, she was Rickys girlfriend, and if I'd been myself I would've told her she could keep her legs closed, I wasn't interested.
But Ricky knew she was a whore when he started dating her, he knew her reputation and everything, so you get what you get, man.
Though I wasn't gonna tell him we'd slept together.
And neither was she.
She liked him, of that I was sure, she just liked sleeping with me more, I guess. Didn't make much of a difference, I would never be with her if that was what she was going for. In fact, I'd basically kicked her out of my room the other night when I woke up.
You didn't sleep over during a booty call.
She fucking knew the rules.
Though I have to admit getting off had relaxed me a lot.
Well, that and being high as a kite seemed to help too.
Otherwise I doubt I ever would have been so chill when Hannah had walked over to the table, her face hesitant. She'd been looking for Chris, it didn't take a genius to figure that out; she hadn't wanted to talk to me, and I didn't blame her.
I was an asshole.
But she was a prude.
So there.
"We need to do something nice for Hannah," Chris sighed, still sprawled across his car. "That was so nice of her to warn us, yknow?"
"Yeah, super nice." I said dryly, helping him sit up. "Are you even okay to drive?"
"Hell yeah, we're just going home." he shrugged. "Not far enough to be any danger, right?"
Right.
"So are you and Hannah gonna make up?" Devin asked me, jingling his car keys in his hand nervously. "She did just do us a solid."
"I dunno. She's a bitch."
"She's not a bitch because she doesn't wanna sleep with you," Chris scoffed at me. "She's an angel, man. A sweetheart, and she has it hard. You gotta be easy with her."
"Do you fucking like her or something, is that what this is about?" I scowled at him, my hands going to my hips. "You're always doing shit and standing up for her."
"Well someone has too," he snapped back at me. "She needs someone to protect her when guts like us make shitty bets about her and her brother beats her."
I winced at the reminder
there was an uncomfortable shuffle, and then we all looked up as it thundered, loud and shaking the ground under our feet.
"That looks like a bad storm, we better get going," I muttered, stepping towards the car.
I heard the intercom rattle, and we all glanced at the brick school building.
"Will the following students please report to the library? Christopher Cerulli, Ryan Sitkowski, Richard Olsen, Devin Sola, Jessica McCarthy, Kylie Devyn, Andrew Radke, Ronald Biersack, Alexander Williams, Hayley Gaskarth ..."
So from the sounds of it they were only calling out all the known stoners or troublemakers from our old school, Red Heights.
Judgmental assholes.
I heard sudden laughter, and mentally cringed.
The bitches were coming, the bitches were coming.
I glanced over, seeing the girls were walking in our direction, their voices loud and giggly as they carried across the lot. God, could they be any louder or more attention drawing? I mean it wasn't like we were trying to skip out of school or anything.
"Hurry up," I snapped at them, both of them sending me a nasty look as they climbed into Devins car, muttering. Ricky hastily joined Jessica in the back seat. I sighed, slipping into the passenger seat of Chris car while Ryan climbed in the back.
Me, Chris, and Devin were the only ones with cars, and we didn't see a point in all three of us driving every day, so we usually switched back and forth carpooling. Usually Kylie and Jessica rode together since they were neighbors back in the old neighborhood, but I think Kylies car had broke down, so Devin was driving her around like the whipped little puppy he was.
"I saw Jessica talking to Hannah's brother today," Ryan said after a moment, Chris carefully pulling out of his parking spot, which he'd parked crooked in anyway.
"When?" I frowned, swiveling around in my seat to look at him.
"Before lunch. She was with some of the cheerleaders and shit. She looked into him."
"That girl is into everyone," Chris sighed, shaking his head. "We all know it, so does Ricky. I don't know why he's with her."
"Because she's a good fuck," I grunted, scooting down in my seat and buckling quickly when Chris glared at me, refusing to pull out into the road before I did so. "That's probably it."
"You would know that," Ryan sighed.
"Hell, we would all know it if you guys would sit still long enough for her to climb in your lap," I snorted. "Anybody with a dick, she's there."
The guys couldn't argue that and they knew it, so they both just shrugged in response. I was assuming Devin would be taking Kylie home instead of to the house, and it would be nice not to have them over for once.
God that would be nice.
We were quiet as we drove the rest of the way to the house, and I was relieved when we were the only one in the driveway. We all trudged through the over-grown walkway to the porch; we probably really did need to mow the lawn, that had been part of the deal.
We were to maintain the place while we lived on it, which meant mowing the grass, fixing anything that broke, keeping it clean and just basically treating the musty old place like it was a new house or something.
I think my great-grandparents had lived in this creepy old thing, probably died on the porch in the third century - looking rockers.
Wait, What even was the third century?
Whatever.
I glanced back as I heard a car coming down the drive way, and then I cringed, recognizing the gray pick up truck.
"Uh, I'll see you guys inside," I called, Chris and Devin hesitating on the porch.
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"Yell if you need us."
I nodded, slouching down on the sidewalk as I waited for my dad to pull to a stop, my hands drifting inside the pocket of my red hoodie.
The door opened, and my dad hopped out of the truck, an old 90's model that was shit on gas but more reliable then anything new. He was taller then me, broader too as he worked in construction, and his black hair had a lot of gray in it now. He had a scar on his nose he got in a bar fight defending my mom's honor on their first date twenty years ago.
He'd let his beard grow out.
"Hey, Dad." I said hesitantly, seeing he was wearing his work clothes; what was he doing here?
"Joshua." he grunted in response, heading toward the bed of his truck and letting the tailgate down. "I brought the mower over. You can borrow it for a couple days to get all this mess trimmed down before Lionel gets back."
"Yeah, okay, thanks, Dad."
"Sarah says hello."
"Er, tell her hi from me."
I hurried forward as I saw him start to lift the mower from the dusty bed, but he didn't need my help, and I doubt I would be been much use with the heavy as fuck thing.
I sighed.
I was basically useless to him.
"Well have it back to you by the weekend," I mumbled, inspecting my worn-looking shoes.
"Good.... How's the new school?"
"Uh, fine. A lot different, though."
"Yeah, Greneth has always been a little... Classier, then Red. Your mother went to Greneth though."
"She did?"
I'd honestly never asked. She'd died my freshman year from breast cancer, leaving it just me and Dad for a while until the secretary at his construction company had decided to move in on the new territory.
I didn't like Sarah, I felt like she was someone like Jessica, and I didn't think the marriage would last long. Dad would probably come home from work one day to find her fucking somebody in their bed, and then go to prison because he'd killed or beat the shit out of both of them.
I already had this planned out in my head.
"Yeah. She was the prom queen," Dad's face softened as he thought about mom. "I was just the poor kid from Red, yknow? I was surprised she even looked at me."
He smiled at the memory.
Mom had been one of the best people I knew, she was always thoughtful and would do little random nice things just to make your day, and she could make the best lasagna I'd ever tasted.
No one could beat it.
I missed her, a lot.
She'd only been able to have one kid, me obviously, because something to do with something that I couldn’t remember, and I knew Dad was kind of disappointed I didn't turn out all rough and stocky like him.
I didn't play football, I didn't get straight A's or make honor roll, and I sure as hell didn't have a great attendance record.
I could play keyboard, though, and the piano thanks to my mom's insistent piano lessons.
So I was good at one thing.
Though none of it really mattered in the long run, I guess.
"Why aren't you in school, Joshua? It's only one."
Oh fuck.
I blinked, staring at dad a few seconds, excuses running through my mind.
"Uh, it was an, um, early release day." I mumbled, shrugging and staring intently at my feet. "They let us out early."
"On a Tuesday?"
"Y-yeah."
He didn't believe me one second, but but he also didn't give enough of a fuck about me to be pissed that I was skipping or anything else.
Maybe he thought he could have more kids with Sarah and they turn out better, I dunno why else he would marry her; it wasn't like you couldn't fuck without the title anyway.
"Right, well, I've gotta get back to work," Dad grunted after a minute, looking like he felt uncomfortable standing here with me. "I'm on lunch. I'll... Well talk later."
"Yeah." I nodded, wrapping my fingers around the bar of the mower and dragging it across the gravel into the yard, thunder starting to really boom in the distance.
Dad hastily stepped up into the cab, giving me an awkward wave as he backed out of the driveway, turning around and flooring it down the gravel road as fast as he possibly could to get away from me.
When he looked at me, all he saw was a disappointment.
And honestly?
That's what I saw too.
"Guys, hurry the fuck up before they call our names!"
"How do.you even know we're on the list?" Ricky huffed, wobbling as he tried to keep up with our longer strides; he was still high as fuck, he wouldn't even he able to aim into a cup right now.
"Because Hannah said so."
"And you trust her after your shitty date?" Ryan muttered, nearly tripping over the flag pole as we all got our asses to the parking lot where the cars waited, Chris leaning across the hood of his like he was trying to hug all of its blue elegance.
Poor sap.
"You got my text?" I asked as we neared, and he nodded, slowly raising his head from the hood of the car, his forehead red where it had been pressed against the cool metal.
"Yeah. Where's the girls?"
"Jessica had to pee," Ricky sighed. "And Kylie went with her. Girl code or whatever."
Ek, Jessica.
I'd woke up the other morning with her in my bed and both of us naked, so it didn't take much imagination to figure out where that had went. It made me feel bad, she was Rickys girlfriend, and if I'd been myself I would've told her she could keep her legs closed, I wasn't interested.
But Ricky knew she was a whore when he started dating her, he knew her reputation and everything, so you get what you get, man.
Though I wasn't gonna tell him we'd slept together.
And neither was she.
She liked him, of that I was sure, she just liked sleeping with me more, I guess. Didn't make much of a difference, I would never be with her if that was what she was going for. In fact, I'd basically kicked her out of my room the other night when I woke up.
You didn't sleep over during a booty call.
She fucking knew the rules.
Though I have to admit getting off had relaxed me a lot.
Well, that and being high as a kite seemed to help too.
Otherwise I doubt I ever would have been so chill when Hannah had walked over to the table, her face hesitant. She'd been looking for Chris, it didn't take a genius to figure that out; she hadn't wanted to talk to me, and I didn't blame her.
I was an asshole.
But she was a prude.
So there.
"We need to do something nice for Hannah," Chris sighed, still sprawled across his car. "That was so nice of her to warn us, yknow?"
"Yeah, super nice." I said dryly, helping him sit up. "Are you even okay to drive?"
"Hell yeah, we're just going home." he shrugged. "Not far enough to be any danger, right?"
Right.
"So are you and Hannah gonna make up?" Devin asked me, jingling his car keys in his hand nervously. "She did just do us a solid."
"I dunno. She's a bitch."
"She's not a bitch because she doesn't wanna sleep with you," Chris scoffed at me. "She's an angel, man. A sweetheart, and she has it hard. You gotta be easy with her."
"Do you fucking like her or something, is that what this is about?" I scowled at him, my hands going to my hips. "You're always doing shit and standing up for her."
"Well someone has too," he snapped back at me. "She needs someone to protect her when guts like us make shitty bets about her and her brother beats her."
I winced at the reminder
there was an uncomfortable shuffle, and then we all looked up as it thundered, loud and shaking the ground under our feet.
"That looks like a bad storm, we better get going," I muttered, stepping towards the car.
I heard the intercom rattle, and we all glanced at the brick school building.
"Will the following students please report to the library? Christopher Cerulli, Ryan Sitkowski, Richard Olsen, Devin Sola, Jessica McCarthy, Kylie Devyn, Andrew Radke, Ronald Biersack, Alexander Williams, Hayley Gaskarth ..."
So from the sounds of it they were only calling out all the known stoners or troublemakers from our old school, Red Heights.
Judgmental assholes.
I heard sudden laughter, and mentally cringed.
The bitches were coming, the bitches were coming.
I glanced over, seeing the girls were walking in our direction, their voices loud and giggly as they carried across the lot. God, could they be any louder or more attention drawing? I mean it wasn't like we were trying to skip out of school or anything.
"Hurry up," I snapped at them, both of them sending me a nasty look as they climbed into Devins car, muttering. Ricky hastily joined Jessica in the back seat. I sighed, slipping into the passenger seat of Chris car while Ryan climbed in the back.
Me, Chris, and Devin were the only ones with cars, and we didn't see a point in all three of us driving every day, so we usually switched back and forth carpooling. Usually Kylie and Jessica rode together since they were neighbors back in the old neighborhood, but I think Kylies car had broke down, so Devin was driving her around like the whipped little puppy he was.
"I saw Jessica talking to Hannah's brother today," Ryan said after a moment, Chris carefully pulling out of his parking spot, which he'd parked crooked in anyway.
"When?" I frowned, swiveling around in my seat to look at him.
"Before lunch. She was with some of the cheerleaders and shit. She looked into him."
"That girl is into everyone," Chris sighed, shaking his head. "We all know it, so does Ricky. I don't know why he's with her."
"Because she's a good fuck," I grunted, scooting down in my seat and buckling quickly when Chris glared at me, refusing to pull out into the road before I did so. "That's probably it."
"You would know that," Ryan sighed.
"Hell, we would all know it if you guys would sit still long enough for her to climb in your lap," I snorted. "Anybody with a dick, she's there."
The guys couldn't argue that and they knew it, so they both just shrugged in response. I was assuming Devin would be taking Kylie home instead of to the house, and it would be nice not to have them over for once.
God that would be nice.
We were quiet as we drove the rest of the way to the house, and I was relieved when we were the only one in the driveway. We all trudged through the over-grown walkway to the porch; we probably really did need to mow the lawn, that had been part of the deal.
We were to maintain the place while we lived on it, which meant mowing the grass, fixing anything that broke, keeping it clean and just basically treating the musty old place like it was a new house or something.
I think my great-grandparents had lived in this creepy old thing, probably died on the porch in the third century - looking rockers.
Wait, What even was the third century?
Whatever.
I glanced back as I heard a car coming down the drive way, and then I cringed, recognizing the gray pick up truck.
"Uh, I'll see you guys inside," I called, Chris and Devin hesitating on the porch.
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"Yell if you need us."
I nodded, slouching down on the sidewalk as I waited for my dad to pull to a stop, my hands drifting inside the pocket of my red hoodie.
The door opened, and my dad hopped out of the truck, an old 90's model that was shit on gas but more reliable then anything new. He was taller then me, broader too as he worked in construction, and his black hair had a lot of gray in it now. He had a scar on his nose he got in a bar fight defending my mom's honor on their first date twenty years ago.
He'd let his beard grow out.
"Hey, Dad." I said hesitantly, seeing he was wearing his work clothes; what was he doing here?
"Joshua." he grunted in response, heading toward the bed of his truck and letting the tailgate down. "I brought the mower over. You can borrow it for a couple days to get all this mess trimmed down before Lionel gets back."
"Yeah, okay, thanks, Dad."
"Sarah says hello."
"Er, tell her hi from me."
I hurried forward as I saw him start to lift the mower from the dusty bed, but he didn't need my help, and I doubt I would be been much use with the heavy as fuck thing.
I sighed.
I was basically useless to him.
"Well have it back to you by the weekend," I mumbled, inspecting my worn-looking shoes.
"Good.... How's the new school?"
"Uh, fine. A lot different, though."
"Yeah, Greneth has always been a little... Classier, then Red. Your mother went to Greneth though."
"She did?"
I'd honestly never asked. She'd died my freshman year from breast cancer, leaving it just me and Dad for a while until the secretary at his construction company had decided to move in on the new territory.
I didn't like Sarah, I felt like she was someone like Jessica, and I didn't think the marriage would last long. Dad would probably come home from work one day to find her fucking somebody in their bed, and then go to prison because he'd killed or beat the shit out of both of them.
I already had this planned out in my head.
"Yeah. She was the prom queen," Dad's face softened as he thought about mom. "I was just the poor kid from Red, yknow? I was surprised she even looked at me."
He smiled at the memory.
Mom had been one of the best people I knew, she was always thoughtful and would do little random nice things just to make your day, and she could make the best lasagna I'd ever tasted.
No one could beat it.
I missed her, a lot.
She'd only been able to have one kid, me obviously, because something to do with something that I couldn’t remember, and I knew Dad was kind of disappointed I didn't turn out all rough and stocky like him.
I didn't play football, I didn't get straight A's or make honor roll, and I sure as hell didn't have a great attendance record.
I could play keyboard, though, and the piano thanks to my mom's insistent piano lessons.
So I was good at one thing.
Though none of it really mattered in the long run, I guess.
"Why aren't you in school, Joshua? It's only one."
Oh fuck.
I blinked, staring at dad a few seconds, excuses running through my mind.
"Uh, it was an, um, early release day." I mumbled, shrugging and staring intently at my feet. "They let us out early."
"On a Tuesday?"
"Y-yeah."
He didn't believe me one second, but but he also didn't give enough of a fuck about me to be pissed that I was skipping or anything else.
Maybe he thought he could have more kids with Sarah and they turn out better, I dunno why else he would marry her; it wasn't like you couldn't fuck without the title anyway.
"Right, well, I've gotta get back to work," Dad grunted after a minute, looking like he felt uncomfortable standing here with me. "I'm on lunch. I'll... Well talk later."
"Yeah." I nodded, wrapping my fingers around the bar of the mower and dragging it across the gravel into the yard, thunder starting to really boom in the distance.
Dad hastily stepped up into the cab, giving me an awkward wave as he backed out of the driveway, turning around and flooring it down the gravel road as fast as he possibly could to get away from me.
When he looked at me, all he saw was a disappointment.
And honestly?
That's what I saw too.