Purpose ❆ Benny Rodriguez

06 | confession

09/12/2015

chapter six ;
CONFESSION

♡

THE NEWS SPREAD quickly after my fight with Nickie – whoever she was. The next morning, upon my wake, I was met by eight pairs of eyes. The house, contrary to my expectations, was not empty – aside from Luke.

　The boys had managed to squeeze themselves into the sofas and chairs in the living room. To my surprise, the television's screen was black. They all stared at me, stars in their eyes – DeNunez was the only boy not present.

　"The class that I don't have with you, and I miss out on all the fun," Bertram finally spoke, the moment my feet hit the floor.

　"Not that big of a deal," I shrugged, casually making my way into the kitchen, as if the boys' sudden and unexpected appearances didn't faze me.

　"Not that big of a deal?" Ham shrieked. "I don't even go to the high school, and I've seen the videos. Kayla – "

　"Okay, okay, I get it," I waved Ham off. In truth, the cockiness had worn off. All that mattered at the moment was breakfast.

　The boys followed behind my heels as I gathered a bowl, spoon, and a box of Cookie Crisp. Each of the boys made their own remarks, in which I found hard to keep up with. My attention was focused on the cereal I poured.

　" – I mean, look at your eye!" Squints was saying, pointing to me. "It looks bad, but I bet it's nothing compared to Skylar's sister!"

　My entire body froze; no one else seemed bothered. Slowly, I turned to face Squints.

　"Skylar's sister?" I drawled, brows furrowed in disbelief and confusion.

　"Yeah, Nicole Roberts," Squints confirmed. "You didn't know?"

　"I didn't even know Skylar had a sister," I replied, my frown deepening with each passing moment. "So you're telling me . . . I beat the shit out of my brother's girlfriend's sister."

　"Correct," Squints said. "They have different dads, though. I don't think they live together, but still."

　"Oh, my God," I grumbled. "She's going to hate me forever."

　Benny, who had finally made his way to throw an arm over my shoulders, said, "Who cares? She's not exactly someone you'd want to be friends with anyway."

　"Yeah, she's kind of crazy," Bertram added. "The way she's always fighting with Luke, then making out with him the next second kind of creeps me out."

　Benny nodded in agreement. "Yeah. And then she gets mad for whatever reason – I have no idea."

　Skylar's opinion should not have mattered to me; I just feared that she would start something, dragging my brother into it. In truth, I believed that he deserved better – much better. And Skylar had turned into something of a psycho.

　"It's just gonna cause drama," I sighed, returning to the bowl of cereal I poured. As I closed the box, Tommy approached me with the jug of milk. "Thanks, Tommy."

　The boys followed me back into the living room, in which I munched on my cereal. The split in my lip made anything involving my mouth painful, but my hunger overruled.

　"So . . ." I said after swallowing a mouthful of Cookie Crisp, "are you guys here just to talk about the fight?"

　"Pretty much," Timmy confirmed.