Insomnia

13| Didn't Count

Landon's Point of View

My alarm went off besides me as I slipped into my shirt. Out of habit I set an alarm but I'm always up before it. I've only been home an hour after walking Chanel home, and took a shower immediately.  Once I finished getting dressed I made my way to my dad's room and shook his pill bottle as I walked to his bedside. "Why do you keep shoving meds down my throat? I'm dying, kid." I shrugged and handed him the medication anyway. "Because when you die I know I did something dad." He scoffed and took the pills with water. "No vodka?" I asked heading out. "No drugs?" I laughed and shut his door going back up to my room. I sat in front of my desk and opened my sketch pad. I flipped through the pages that I already drew on and found a fresh page.

I looked at my walls around me and the drawings I had hung up, trying my best to think of what I should draw next. I flipped back to my last drawing and realized I hadn't finished it. It was of a ugly and old tree that was dying slowly but a young girl decided that was the best tree to climb and read on. I decided to add the shading into the tree and give the girl a face.

After about twenty minutes I shut the sketch pad and put it into my backpack. I grabbed all my things and headed downstairs. "Love you dad!" I screamed walking to the front door. "Be safe, kid." He shouted back. I was going to miss that old man when he's gone. As I walked off my porch I found myself walking the opposite direction that I took to school yesterday. I walked a block down and made my way to the front door of Chanel's house. I stood in front of her door for a while thinking of what I would say. Why was I here, what did I want? After a while I decided to turn away but stopped in my tracks when I heard the front door open behind me.

I turned around and saw Valentina looking at me with a big smile. "Landon right?" She asked, leaning on the door frame. "Yeah. Is Chanel here?" She turned around and screamed her name as loud as possible. The house was silent beside the sound of a tv coming from the back. Valentia stood there looking at me as we waited. A few minutes later I heard steps coming down to us. "I couldn't find a shirt so I stole one of yours." She yelled down. She hadn't noticed us yet but I watched her come down the stairs.

Right before we could say anything she tripped on her own foot and missed the rest of the steps. Her body rolled down the steps and stopped at the bottom of the staircase. "Cee?" She asked her. "I think I broke my back." She said whimpering and rolling onto her stomach as her wet hair covered her face. "Do you need help?" I asked trying my best not to laugh. When she heard my voice she immediately sat up, groaning. "You have company." Valentina informed her while pointing to me and I waved. She hesitantly got on her feet and walked over to the front door holding her hip. "What do you want?" She could barely keep her eyes open as she spoke to me. Her water line rimmed red, from whatever she took.

"I wanted to know if you wanted to walk to school." She chuckled and tried opening her eyes as wide as possible but her eyebrows only raised. "No, I'll see you at school." She turned around and limped back to the stairs. "We're getting a ride from Travis." I nodded and turned away.

I spent the whole walk over trying to see if I was crazy or Chanel acted very dismissive of me. Maybe she remembered our kiss and regretted it and I don't blame her of course. Maybe it's whatever she took within the hour and a half, she was home. Not sure,

By the time I got to school I was late to my first class. "You're late, again." I winked at the teacher and she rolled her eyes at me. I sat in the same seat as yesterday, next to Chanel and her head was down. I didn't have anything to grab her attention with today so I pulled out my sketch pad and left her alone.

When the bell rang I slowly put my stuff away and waited for her to lift her head. When she did, she didn't even look at me and just walked out. I followed her and put my hand on her shoulder. She pulled out her earbuds and I let out a sigh of relief. "You weren't in first period." She said through a smile. "I was late." She nodded and put her earbuds back in. I pulled them out and put them in her pocket. "Are you okay?" She shrugged. "Maybe it's me but you seem to be avoiding me." She dipped her head and laughed. I let out a nervous chuckle. "Is this about the kiss last night?" She asked. "Cause if it is, don't worry it didn't count. We were high off our shit. Plus you're my best friend right, bugs." She put her ear puds in and walked into our physics class. She sat in the back and put her head down as I sat on the very front.

I stared straight across and never looked away. I felt stiff. Dumb. stupid to have let something so small affect me the way it did. It was a kiss, something I've done before. Of course it didn't mean anything, how could it. I've only known her for two weeks. 

Once class finished and it was time for lunch I made my way to the cafeteria. I bought a water bottle and left to go sit outside until I was called over to one of the tables. I walked over and pulled a chair from another table sitting down. "Hi Landon." Right next to me were the girls from the party last night. "You're not here for her. I'm Jake, my brother John." They looked very similar so I'm guessing twins.

"What's your deal with our girl Cee?" Jake asked, pointing. I turned to where he was pointing and noticed Chanel walking in with Valentina. I looked back to Jake and John and they were waiting for an answer. "We just friends. Coworkers." I told them. Which was the truth.

"Just asking because she might not know it but a lot of us don't want her going down a certain path." John said sincerely. "Not all of us." The girl whispered to her friend. "What path is that?" They laughed in my face. "The path where she ends up sleeping with a privileged white boy, who ends up using her for drugs." I looked around the cafeteria and spotted Chanel waiting at a table. Her eye caught mine and she waved at me with a small smile before getting up. "Trust me. I'm not privileged and I don't want her for drugs."

"Jake. John." She walked around the table and sat between them. "Look, it's the lip filler bimbo's." The girl got up rolling their eyes at her. She smiled at me before looking at the brothers. "What are we talking about?" She asked.

As I looked at her, I noticed how drained and flushed her face was. She was exhausted and that look on her face made her look half dead. "We were talking about Ruby, and heard she's getting a bigger supply." John lied. She slumped her head and rubbed her forehead. "I mixed something this morning, and it sucks. Like really bad, and it alters my mood so fast." She admitted. Jake ran his hand up her back and smiled while looking directly at me. Taunting me.

What they didn't know is that it didn't count.