School Comes First But Where's A Future Without Him

Mandy always laughs when I act stupid
I am unaware that I’m a nuisance
With her it’s never wasted time…

I jolted out of bed and whipped my head around the room in search for that sound. Then I quickly put my hand on my forehead and laid back down. Ah!! I got up too fast!!

Once I recovered, I sat back up and went back to looking around the room.

Mandy always knows exactly what I’m
Thinking and she’s always on my mind and I’m
Never gonna let her go
‘Cause Mandy always knows…

Finally, I realized the noise was coming from my phone, which was on my pillow. No wonder it was so loud. I picked it up and looked at the caller ID. It flashed Kristen. This is how the conversation went:

Me: Hello? (My voice was still groggy, since I jut woke up.)
Kristen: Hey. Oh my God, did I just wake you up? I’m so sorry.
Me: No, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. It’s only 3:30 in the morning…
Kristen: Okay good. The last thing I need is for you and Rachel to be mad at me.
Me: Why? What’s wrong?

I heard muffled voices coming from the other line. Or was it yelling? I was too sleepy to make them out.

Kristen: Um… I’ll tell you later. I was thinking me, you, and Rachel could get together at Starbucks or something. I need to talk to you guys.

My stomach tied in knots. Could she be talking about her parents getting a divorce?

Me: Yeah. Sure, I’ll meet you guys there.
Kristen: Cool. I’ll see you there. Bye.

We hung up.

I quickly jumped out of bed and quietly ran downstairs. I know what you’re thinking. “How can this girl possibly run quietly?” Well, for your information, I am a very quiet person. Surprisingly. I have small feet, which results in me having quiet footsteps, which makes me able to run quietly. I use as an advantage most of the time. He he.

I slipped my converse on and ran out the door and closed it. I opened my car door and got in. Suddenly, realization hit me. Keys.

I sighed then got back out of the car, but left the door open. Don’t ask. I was too tired to close it. This is way too early to be waking up for me.

I went back into the living room and saw my keys sitting on the coffee table. I grabbed them and closed the front door for the second time. Then I got in my car, closed the door, and started the car. Now, if only I could stay awake long enough to get myself to the nearest Starbucks…

Jeez… where are these guys?! They wake me up early in the morning to make me wait?! Trust me, I am not a morning person! Joe should know… If I don’t wake myself up in the morning and someone else wakes me up, I’m an evil bitch. You don’t want to see me when I’m in bitch mode.

Finally, they pull up in the parking space next to me. Rachel, who was driving, looked like she just took a shower. And Kristen, who was in the passenger seat, looked like she went to sleep in her clothes and just woke up. I got out of the car along with them.

I went up to Rachel. “Why do you look like you just took a shower?” I asked her.

She gave me an odd look. “Because I didn’t want to look like that.” I looked down at my clothes.

I was in my pajamas. I guess I was too tired to realize that I left the house in my pajamas. Told you I’m not a morning person…

“Whatever. So, what did you want to talk about?” I turned my attention to Kristen. She looked startled by my question, but then calmed down.

“Um… let’s go inside first.” Rachel and I followed her through the doors. She walked over to a booth and sat down. I slid in next to her, while Rachel climbed in on the opposite side.

Kristen looked down at her hands. “Well… I brought you guys here because… um, because my…” She was stumbling to find the words. I started rubbing her back gently to relax her a bit.

“Kristen, I don’t want to force to tell us, but you know you can always tell us anything. We’re your best friends and we’re always here for you. Just take your time.” I told her. She smiled at both of us.

“You guys are right. I should just come out and tell you.” She looked at her hands again and took a deep breath. Suddenly, a waiter came to our table.

“What can I get you guys today?” She sounded as if she didn’t want to be here right now. Perfect. I hate crummy waiters.

Wait a minute… since when does Starbucks have waiters?!

I turned and glared at the fag of a waitress. “We’re not ready yet! Can’t you see we’re a little busy?!” I snapped. Then turned back to Kristen, nodding for her to continue. The waitress just glared back at me and walked away. Yeah, you better be scared! I’m in my bitchy mood!

“My parents are g-getting d-d…” Just then, she started bawling. She put her head in her hands and just cried her eyes out like there was no tomorrow. Poor girl.

“Sh… Just breathe Kristen. Everything’s going to be alright.” Rachel said. I could see in her eyes that she knew what Kristen was trying to say. Ha! I found out first!!

Wow. That was really unnecessary. Especially at this moment in time. What’s wrong with me?!

When Kristen finally calmed down, she tried again. “One night, I overheard my parents talking. They were fighting about how they can’t live with each other anymore. I couldn’t really hear all of it, considering my walls are like metal, but I head them mention something about a divorce.” She said it quickly and just above a whisper. You could hardly tell she even said it. But Rachel and I knew her too well.

“You know what, I’m not going to tell you to just not think about it, because no shit Sherlock you’re going to think about it! But don’t worry about it as much. Some people just don’t know how to sort out their problems, so they end a relationship. You just get annoyed with living with the same person for a while. You get bored waking up to the same face every morning. Trust me. I get annoyed by Joe all the time. Every single day he does something that makes me want to slap him senseless.” She laughed at that, and so did Rachel.

They know it’s true though. Joe annoys everybody. They all want to slap him senseless. I’ve been asked numerous times how I deal with him. I really don’t know. I guess I just love him so much, that all his flaws don’t matter to me. It’s like, the more he gets on my nerves, the more I love him. It’s weird, I know. He just has that affect on me.

“Very true. I guess I should just wait and see what happens. I mean, they haven’t even told me yet…” She said, now finally gaining control over her tears.

“Yeah, just wait.” Rachel said. “Maybe they could change their mind and decide to go to counseling.” Kristen smiled at Rachel.

“Yeah. You guys are the best, you know that?”

“We know. But, of course, I’m better.” We all laughed. Then Rachel climbed in our side of the booth and we hugged each other. When we stopped, I saw the fag of a waiter staring at us.

“What are you looking at?” I snapped at her. I was out of my bitchy mood, but I just felt like being mean to her. I heard Rachel and Kristen start cracking up while the fag and I had a stare down.

I always win at this game!!