Problems

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I walk downstairs into my terrible smelling living room. The smell of poorly lit incense trying to cover up the smell of marijuana sickens me. My parents just leave it right out in the open that they smoke weed and snort other drugs.

And I hate that.

They could at least do their drugs in a secret room where my sister and I couldn't get into the drugs, but no. They are too careless and high to care and do anything.I peer out the window and see mom has already left for the strip joint, and dad has already left to sell to his daily customers today. Great way to start off my fifteenth birthday.

I grab a clean bowl from the cabinet and pour some cereal into it. I would cook something for myself and have leftovers for my sister whenever she decided to wake up, but I didn't feel like it today. It's my birthday and I just want to take it easy today. I don't want my parents, or my sister, or even school bother me today. I'm hanging out with Ashley and Kevin at the local teen hangout later tonight after we go to dinner, and it's going to be amazing. I never bother to ask about what I will get for my birthday anymore, because I usually get left a twenty dollar bill on the foot of my bed, because they hardly remember that I had a birthday. They have to put a reminder in their phone for whenever it's Lexie or I's birthday. I'll take the twenty dollars, it's one of the few times a year I get money. Today and Christmas.

I bite down on my crunchy cereal and sip on my orange juice. The taste if two different flavors is really nasty sometimes, but today I chose well. Fruity Pebbles and some ordinary orange juice is very tasteful. I look out the window and glass door that leads out to our huge backyard. I don't know why dad had a pool installed, we hardly use it. The only time I see anyone out there is when Lexie has her friends and Laser over when my parents aren't home. It's really hard for me to focus on my studying or whatever I have my nose into when she has her stupid friends over. They blast the music and laugh like no tomorrow. Sometimes I hear yelling and shattering, but thats rarely.

I put my bowl in the sink and rinse it out until it's clean. I grab the rag that we always put next to the sink and dry it until I don't feel a drip left. I put it back exactly where I got it out of in the cabinet, same with the spoon and glass cup. I'm scared if my parents see anything out of place that they freak. Start hitting even. They've never had to do that but once. Lexie was talking back to Dad in the rudest way possible. I was scared to say anything to her or him because I would either get told to "shut up" or would have gotten slapped as hard as Lexie did. Ever since then Lexie hasn't been able to take neither my Dad or Mom seriously. Mom just stands there and lets us take it. She doesn't try to defend us, she just watches expressionless.

I quietly shut the door to my room and turn on my laptop. I click on my video chat program and see Ashley is online. She is up pretty early. Mostly I have to wait until ten to talk to her, but now I can chat with her an hour earlier! I click the call button and she instantly picks up.

"Waiting by the laptop?" I ask sarcastically. She giggles quietly and I copy. "Happy birthday by the way," she announces.

"Well thank you. I can't wait until tonight," I almost scream. I cover my mouth and lock my bedroom door. If Lexie wakes up cause of me she's going to come in yelling. "Dude, tonight is going to be so much fun. We are going to party all night!" She exclaims herself.

"Party until ten. Remember I got curfew," I remind her.

"Even on you're birthday?"

"Yep,"

"You got to stay out later on your fricken birthday! C'mon!"

I take a moment to respond to her begging. My parents probably won't even realize I'm gone, so whats the point of coming home early? They never come in to check on me in my sanctuary, so it shouldn't be a problem. "Fine, eleven o'clock," I compromise.

"Hell yeah! Okay where something sexy, because we will be hunting for boys," She demands.

"Hunting? It's called hunting now?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, it's called hunting!" She exclaims. I giggle along with her and I hear footsteps going down my stairs. "That must be Laser getting ready to steal some of our food," I say. I sigh and Ashley looks at me in a weird way.

"Laser is sleeping over at your house? Since when?" She asks.

"Since he started screwing Lexie," I announce. Her jaw drops, which I find funny. I thought I had told her before, but apparently I didn't. "How many packs does he have?" She asks. I laugh at her stupid question. Well, actually not that stupid. He is a very good looking person for eighteen. He has a strong jawline and firm cheekbones. A slim, but muscular body, which can make a girl like Ashley ask a lot of questions if he's just wondering around my house. "Four pack," I answer.

"Damn. He just has fine written all over him," She wonders out loud.

"I guess so," I laugh.

"Okay, well you need to have you're ass over here at five. We're meeting Kevin at six," He explains. I roll my eyes, as if she doesn't know that I know what to do. "Okay, see you then," I say.

She signs off and I shut the lid of my laptop. Figuring out something to wear is going to be a real struggle, because I'm not the one to have the best fashion taste ever. I usually go out in a jumper and sweatpants, and wear it for the rest of the day. But something sexy? I don't even know if I own anything sexy. But I think I know someone who does.