Strings Attached

Chapter One

"Hurry up!" I exclaimed.

"I can't!" It was Brianna. "Had too much papaya last night!"

"I told you not to finish it up!" I exclaimed, growing impatient. "I'm going to be late!"

"It's your fault for sleeping in!" she exclaimed, but it was hard to take her seriously because she was pushing too hard.

That was weird, considering papaya gives your diarrhea, not constipation.

"Are you sweating?" I asked, trying not to laugh. "You sound like you are making a lot of effort!"

"Shut..." Brianna's voice broke a little as she pushed harder. "...Up!"

I snorted. "I told you too much papaya would be lethal!" I exclaimed. "You sure you are not dead yet?"

"Stop... making... fun of me!" she exclaimed. "It is your fault for cooking so terribly!"

"What?" I asked, growing offended.

"What you heard! I had papaya for dinner because your quesadillas tasted terribly! They were worse than what is coming out of me right now!" she exclaimed, clearly enjoying herself.

Too bad for her that I was enjoying myself even more.

Seriously, I was so amused in that moment that I did not care how much she insulted me. She was the one who was stuck in the bathroom with a hundred pounds of crap coming out of her per second.

"Just hurry up!" I exclaimed. "I need to brush my teeth!"

"Can't you leave me alone?" Brianna sounded annoyed, but so was I.

I would have a lot of explaining to do at school if she did not get her butt out of the bathroom.

"No, I cannot! I have a very important test today. Hurry the fuck up!"

"I'm telling Mom you said the 'f' word!" she threatened.

"I don't care!" I remarked, and I truly did not.

Brianna and Mom did not like bad words, but I never really had a problem with them.

Expressing yourself in a more passionate way is always seen as artistic, and to me, there is nothing more passionate than a bad word in the middle of your sentence to put emphasis on whatever it is that you are saying.

Perhaps many people disliked it, and many would think that a true lady does not curse, but I can honestly say that cursing does not make anyone any less of a lady. Being a lady has to do with how you behave, not how you talk. As long as you are not saying anything vulgar or disrespectful, then you are still a lady. At least that is how I liked to see things.

"Seriously, Tina, I hate it when you do this to me! I am, like, dying in here , and you don't even care!"

Brianna sounded weaker, and I started to feel worried that she was actually losing more crap than a human is supposed to lose. Maybe losing blood was not the only way to die of a hemorrhage. I noticed how silly my thoughts were in that moment and pushed them away.

I surely am glad that nobody in the world has the ability to read minds because if someone read mine, he would probably find a lot of stuff that he would not like.

Sometimes my thoughts were really crazy. It was as though my brain liked to make me feel weird and crazy at the same time, and it came up with the strangest thoughts that anyone would ever think.

"You know what, Bri? Once you finish pooping, I am going to brush my teeth, and then I am going to take my toothbrush and grab you and -"

"Okay, I'm done!" she exclaimed, not allowing me to finish my threat.

"Finally!"

Brianna opened the door, and I quickly smelled all of the papaya that she had eaten last night.

I started coughing, and Brianna only shrugged.

"I never said it smelled like roses," she stated, leaving the bathroom.

I glared at her and took my toothbrush from the sink. Then, I made my way to my mother's bathroom, which smelled like flowers and perfume compared to our bathroom, and brushed my teeth there.

"You look terrible," my mom told me as I entered the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of juice.

She was right. I took a look on the mirror and noticed that my eyes were as dark as a raccoon's and that a new zit had grown on my nose.

Just when I thought that my life could not suck anymore.

"I didn't sleep well," I simply said.

"Didn't you have a test today?" she asked, genuinely concerned.

"Yup." I rolled my eyes. "Perfect timing, right?"

Just then, Theodore entered the kitchen. His clothes were very neat, and he was wearing a pair of glasses that were even bigger than mine. Surprisingly, he looked quite handsome with them, and I instantly felt like crap standing next to him.

How come there are so many people who manage to look hot without even trying?

Meanwhile, here I was, looking like a potato. I had no idea of why I had not been blessed with beauty, but I would like to think that it was because I had been blessed with a brain instead.

"Good morning, Ms. Walker," said Theodore.

"Good morning, Theo!" exclaimed Mom. "Looking good!"

"Thank you," he said shyly.

I rolled my eyes. My mom had just told me that I looked awful, but her first reaction when she saw Theodore was to tell him that he looked fine?

Kill me now, I thought, Not even my own mother considers me good-looking.

Theodore grabbed a bottle of juice and smiled. "Good morning, Chris."

"Christina," I corrected, annoyed.

Why did he have to be so charming?

"Sorry," he said.

"It's fine." Mom looked at Theodore apologetically. "Christina just doesn't enjoy nicknames."

"How so?" asked Theodore.

"Well, I have been called enough names in my life to enjoy it." I sighed. "Nerd, loner, tomboy... The list goes on and on."

"You do not look like any of those things to me," Theodore said. I could tell he tried his best to compliment me, but he only ended up irritating me. He was more than likely lying, and I did not want his pity.

I decided not to say anything in response. I simply shrugged indifferently and turned to see my mom. "I got to go," I told her.

"Sure," she said. "You can take your father's car, if you wish."

I shook my head. "I'd rather take yours."

My mom sighed. "You can't avoid using your dad's stuff forever, dear."

I shrugged. "It has worked so far."

"Christina..." My mom sounded sad and worried, but I was not going to use his car.

"Where are the keys, Mom?" I asked, ignoring her.

She sighed. "On the counter."

"Thank you."

"Would you mind giving Theo a ride?" she asked, clearly trying to break the tension between us.

I nodded. "Come on," I told him.

He smiled and followed me.