Just One of the Boys

Do you have any idea what it feels like to have a seventeen year old tackle you at seven thirty in the morning? You don’t? Too bad. I do, because both Zack and Jack decided to come wake us up for breakfast.

“Get the fuck offa me,” I growled, shoving my head further under my pillow.

“Get up!” Zack shouted, prying my hands from the headboard while Jack attacked my feet. “I have to tell you about my date!”

“Date?” I heard Alex abruptly sit up, his hair mussed and clad only in boxers.Not that I was looking, or anything. “With whom?”

“Ya know that hot chick from the Starbucks next to the other hot chick?” Jack lisped, leaping onto Alex’s bed. “That one! They got it on last night!” This time I sat up, smashing foreheads with Zack. Seething, I fell backwards, clutching my skull.

“I did not get it on,” Zack corrected after cursing properly and rubbing the offended body part. “We merely went out to dinner and then I took her home.”

“That better have been all you did,” I growled, shoving him off my bed with my foot.

“Ouch!” Zack yelped, smashing to the floor.

“Wait, Redheaded Friend of Mystery Girl?” Ales questioned, shoving Jack away from his personal space. “That same girl?”

“Um, yeah, why?” Zack questioned from his position on the ground.

“Because, dude!” Alex snapped. “You can find out Mystery Girl’s name and number for me! Geez!” I stealthily lifted my leg, pulling it over the side and placing it atop Zack’s hand, pressing down.

“Um, I guess…” Zack replied before he cried out in pain. My heel was crushing his fingers, and the pressure wasn’t going to relent until he made his stupid mess right. “Wait, I can’t!”

“Why not?” Alex whined, jumping onto my bed. “C’mon, Zack, it’s Mystery Girl! You know, her!”

“Yeah, I know, I just…Look, Alex, maybe it’s best if you try not to go after Holly,” Zack sighed. Alex perked up, eyes wide.

“What did you just say?” Alex commanded, bending down and grabbing him by his shoulders. “What did you just say?”

“I said maybe you shouldn’t try getting together with Ho--” We both caught it at the same time, our eyes growing wide as I started panicking.

“Holly,” Alex breathed, standing up on my bed and twirling around. “Her name is Holly.” He bent over, grabbed my hand, and dragged me into standing position. “Holly, Holly, Holly, HOLLY!” Alex twirled me around, humming some kind of waltz. “Her name is Holly!”

“Okay, why are you going crazy over learning her name?” Jack wondered, sitting on the edge of Alex’s bed. “It’s just her name.”

“Don’t you see?” Alex cried. “I now know her name!”

“Why don’t you look right in front of you?” Zack muttered, rubbing his hand. My foot ‘accidentally’ kicked him in the face, causing him to tip over with a cry of pain. “Ouch, what the hell, Ho--”

This time, I tackled him.

“Dude, that looks painful,” Rian commented, laughing at Zack’s swelling cheek. Did I mention my fist got in the way after a comment of me ‘hitting like the girl I was’? Normally, I’m not the fighting type. Then again, I never did say I was a morning person.

“Can it, Dawson,” Zack snarled, shoving Rian away from poking his cheek. “It hurts like a bitch.”

“Cry me a river,” I retorted under my breath. “You’re just mad a girl beat your ass.”

“I let you win. See, my mother taught me never to hit girls,” Zack sniffed.

“And yet, you hit Jack almost daily.” Zack stuck his tongue out at me, and I merely smirked in response.

“Ladies first,” Zack muttered, opening the cafeteria door open for me. Glaring, I stepped passed him, stomping on his foot while entering the giant room.

The cathedral ceilings were strung with bright chandeliers, while the slopping windows stretched from ceiling to floor. Four thick oak tables were placed through the hall, the boys were seated by grade, while a table was set atop a platform for the teachers to sit at. All in all, it was purely majestic.

“Dude,” Jack snickered, slinging an arm around mine and Alex’s shoulder. “I’m hungrier than a hippo.”

“Okay, Jack,” I sighed, rolling my eyes and jumping over the bench to sit down. “Whatever you say, just give me some eggs.” The steaming plates of food before me could have never looked better as they did in that moment. I was starved, and ready to chew off my hand if it meant my stomach would stop screaming for nutrition.

“Doesn’t this look like the Great Hall of Hogwarts?” Rian randomly asked as soon as we had sat down. “I mean, look at it!”

“I’m lookin’, and I kinda see it,” Jack shrugged. I nodded, my cheeks full to the brim of various breakfast foods.

“Is this were Hogwarts,” Alex cut in, grabbing a slice of toast and stuffing it in his face. “I’d be Harry.”

“And what about us?” Zack raised an eyebrow, while Rian and Jack crossed their arms over their chests. “Who’d we be?”

“Jack would be Ron, for sure,” Alex informed us, a grin on his face. “Zack and Rian, you two would probably be Fred and George, because you’re so alike when it comes to pranks. And Henry, because you’re the smartest…you’d be Hermione!”

Zack, who had been sipping orange, spat it out all over Rian, who was sitting across from him, while I slapped my palm down on the table and laughed. Zack pointed at my face, his lips moving wordlessly while laugh after laugh poured from him mouth. The others laughed as well, but stopped after about a minute, while mine and Zack’s hysterics continued.

“It wasn’t that funny, guys,” Alex frowned, staring at us. I nodded, still laughing, before dropping my head to my arms. Tears of laughter fell from my eyes, while Zack was turning red and choking on what appeared to be air. Watching him choke, made me choke.

“Are you okay?” Rian questioned, slapping my on the back. Gasping for breath, I shook my head, still laughing and choking. “Jesus, he’s still laughing!”

“I’m…good,” Zack choked out, his laughter stopping. “M’okay.”

“Ditto,” I finally managed to get out. “M’kay, m’kay…”

“You guys are so weird,” Alex laughed, shaking his head. “So weird.”