Dear Diary,
Today feels like the last normal day I'll have for a long time.
-----
Shiro, Keith, Lance and I are all in my garden. Croquet has been set up. Shiro is black, Keith is red, Lance is blue and I'm green. There's a conversation going on, something about that party tonight but my thoughts are occupied with that boy. I smirk slightly. Rax and Rolo deserved that beating. Shiro looks at me and raises his eyebrow.
"Hmm... you seem amused about something." I pull a face.
"Yeah right." Lance rolls his eyes and smirks.
"Right. Don't think I didn't see you checking out that boy earlier. The one who beat up Rax and Rolo? You're totally into him." I feel myself flush slightly but force myself to scoff.
"I don't even know his name." Mostly because he didn't tell me...
"Neither do I. He's in my American History I think?" I shrug, even though the question was rhetorical. Keith rolls his eyes.
"We're off topic." Shiro knocks his black ball into Keith's red one.
"I thought you were giving up on high school guys?" He says, ignoring Keith.
"Well, you know what they say, never say never." Keith looks up at Shiro.
"Are you taking the shots or knocking me out?" We all stare at him.
"Keith. I play to win." Shiro places his foot on his black ball. He swings his mallet down hard on the ball, sending the adjacent red one rocketing into one of the flower beds. Keith pulls a face and sighs.
"Damn." He walks over to where the ball landed. Shiro shrugs and takes a shot. He just misses the wicket.
"Whatever. Your turn Keith." Keith shakes his head.
"It's Lance's turn." We watch as Lance takes his shot. It goes through the wicket and he cheers. He then proceeds to miss his next shot.
"Yo, Keith! Your go." We all turn to look at him. There's no way he can make that. He looks at the ball, at the tree next to him, then at the wicket. He shuffles round and hits the ball so it bounces off the tree. It goes straight through the wicket. Lance and I cheer. Shiro claps slowly.
"Well done." There's the honk of a car horn and Matt steps outside.
"Lance, your mum's here." He puts down his mallet.
"Come on you two, I'll give you a lift." As they leave Matt walks down to stand with me. Just before he goes through the door, Shiro stops.
"I'll pick you up at 8. Be ready." Then he leaves. Matt pulls a face.
"He was nicer as a kid." I laugh and swat his arm.
"He's not that bad!" Matt raises an eyebrow and I shake my head. "Let's go eat. I need to get ready soon."
-----
I jump out of Shiro's car. Lance leans out the window.
"Make sure to get the corn nuts, it's not a party without them." I nod.
"BQ or plain?"
"BQ!" Three indignant voices reply. I smile slightly and shake my head as I walk in. I grab a couple of bags of BQ corn nuts. Suddenly I hear a voice behind me.
"Greetings and salutations. Are you going to get a slushie with that?" I turn, it's the boy from earlier.
"No, but, if you're nice you can buy me one." He pulls a face.
"That's like going to McDonald's and getting a salad." He sounds... deeply passionate about it. For some reason. I shake my head.
"My name's Katie. Katie Holt." I hold out my hand. He looks at it then up at me and smirks.
"I know who you are." I blush slightly and start to draw my hand back. He reaches forwards and shakes it. His hands are warm and slightly rough.
"Lotor Galran." I smile.
"Hmm... what's a Baudelaire-quoting badass like you doing in Sherwood, Ohio?"
"Eh. My dad's work. Maybe you've seen the adverts for it? Zarkon Galran. The deconstruction guy?" I giggle.
"At the end he presses a button and the screen blows up?" He nods. "That's your dad?"
"Yep. In all his toxic glory." I sigh.
"Yeah. Everyone's life has static." I wince as someone, probably Lance, presses down on the car horn, hard. "Like, for instance, I don't really like my friends that much." He pulls a face.
"I don't like your friends much either. Why don't you ditch that party and hang out with me here?" He spreads his arms.
"At 7/11? Swanky first date." I chuckle. He shrugs.
"I like it here."
"No offence, but why?"
"Well, I mean, I've been through ten high schools and they start to get a bit blurry. There's no point planting roots because, well, we're always gone in a hurry. My dad keeps two pre-packed suitcases, so, really, it's only a matter of when. I don't learn the names and I don't bother with the faces. All I can really trust is this concrete oasis. The thing is, every time I'm about to despair there's a 7-11 right there. The beauty is, each store is the same from Las Vegas to Boston. These linoleum aisles that I love to get lost in. I pray at my altar of slush; yeah I live for that sweet frozen rush." I try to stifle a giggle but he still notices. He raises an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"Nothing... it's just, you're literally waxing poetic about 7/11 of all places." He sticks out his tongue at me. He walks over to the slushie counter and fills it up.
"Just freeze your brain. Suck on that straw and get lost in the pain. I've found that happiness appears when everything numbs. Who needs cocaine?" He grins at me and holds out the cup. "Care for a hit?" I smile back and take a sip before sitting up on the counter.
"Does your mommy know you eat all this crap?" He smiles again but his eyes are sad.
"Not anymore." I freeze slightly and the smile starts to slip from my face. His back's to me as I silently freak out. But, by the time he turns back, I've smoothed out my features. "When mom was alive we lived halfway normal. But now it's just me and my dad, so, we're way less formal. I learned to cook pasta and I learned to pay rent; learned the world doesn't owe you a cent." He gestures at me. "You're planning your future. You're going to go to some high-end college and marry a lawyer or something. But just remember that the sky's gonna hurt when it falls so you better begin building some walls." He looks slightly frantic.
"Are you okay?" He nods.
"Just freeze your brain. Swim in the ice and get lost in the pain. Shut your eyes tight, till you vanish from sight. Make sure nothing remains. Do whatever it takes." He grips my shoulders. "Shatter your skull, fight pain with more pain!" He let's go and spins then turns again. "Just forget who you are and unburden your load. Let yourself forget that, in six weeks, you'll be back on the road again. And, when the voice in your head says that you're better off dead, please don't open a vein. Freeze your brain instead." He goes back over to the slushie machine and fills it up. Cherry. He holds it out to me. "Try it!" He's looking cheerful again, like he didn't just let out a bunch of emotional baggage. I take it from him with a smile.
-----
As we stand by his motorbike, I can see Shiro, Keith and Lance getting annoyed. I give a quick wave before turning back to Lotor.
"I love your bike." He grins.
"Thanks. Comes with my dad's job." I smile at him as Lance makes frantic hand gestures at me.
"See you later?"
"Definitely."
