The Seven Day Gangster

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that the light above me was turned on and was shining right in my face. The second was that I was staring directly into a pair of dark blue eyes.

“Oh my God,” I gasped, leaping up in my bed. I nearly knocked myself off the bed, but swung my arms wildly around until I caught my balance at the edge.

Randy smirked and burst out laughing. Next to him, Alex looked similarly amused and pointed at me. “Your expression was hilarious,” she laughed.

I glared at both of them. “Is there some reason you’re in my room?” I checked the clock. “At 9 am?”

Randy shrugged. “We were bored, so we decided to come screw with you. And I guess it worked, judging by your reaction.”

“I thought I locked the door,” I wondered aloud.

Alex shook her head. “Nope, you didn’t,” she said cheerfully.

“Well yeah, I kind of had that figured out on my own at this point,” I replied grumpily.

“Jeez, you’re so cranky in the morning,” said Randy with an annoying smile. “Stop acting like you’re some old lady who has a reason to be pissed at the world and get up.”

I scowled at him through the light and pulled the comforter over my head. “No,” I said childishly. “Go away.”

There was no point, really in doing that. I was wide awake at that point, and I wasn’t just about to fall asleep knowing that two people were watching me.

A pair of hands reached over and pulled the blanket off me forcefully. “Oh come on, Ari,” pleaded Alex. “Just get up.”

I stared grumpily at her then swung my feet over the side of my bed. “What are you guys doing anyways?”

“We’re headed to this carnival a little less than an hour away from here. It’s pretty cool; and it’s far away enough from here so you won’t have to worry about seeing anyone.”

I deliberated this for a second and decided that I wasn’t doing anything important anyways. It wasn’t like I had some schedule set out for myself every day anyways. I just did whatever was going on in the moment. So that piece of info paired with my impulsive behavior made this carnival idea sound pretty good to me.

I shrugged and hopped out of the bed towards the bathroom. “Okay. I’ll meet you downstairs then.”

As Alex and Randy headed out the doorway, I shut the bathroom door and turned on the faucet.

A carnival actually sounded fun. I mean, the last time I had been to one was, well, like ten years ago literally. I only remembered getting cotton candy stuck all over my face. It wasn’t really a nice memory.

Was anyone else going with us?

Probably Logan, I thought. I was actually starting to really like him. Aside from being a Wii tennis aficionado, Logan was a pretty nice guy to hang around with. He didn’t have some complicated background, but he was a sweet guy under all that weirdness and we both loved Nutella together.

And then, when I thought about Nathan and if he was going, my gut dropped.

Last night’s events came rushing into me, and I remembered the argument we had. Mainly, I remembered bitching at him at the end then running up to the room.

I put my hand on my face and sighed. It wasn’t his fault that he thought my mom was sick with the flu. I mean, that was what I had led him to believe earlier.

But seriously, he didn’t have to be such a jerk. Was that how he treated everyone else when they tried to talk to him about his mom?

I mean, it didn’t freaking make him look weak or whatever. There was nothing wrong with letting someone else in on your suffering.

I shook my head. I guess it was a guy thing or something.

I dabbed my face with a towel then after pulling on some clothes, headed downstairs where Alex, Sam, Randy and Logan were waiting impatiently.

I smiled then looked quickly around. “Is there anyone else coming?” I asked, not wanting to straight-out see if Nathan was here or not.

Randy rolled his eyes. “No, Nathan isn’t coming with us.”