Barely Holding On

(1) Just Another Guy

Waking up on a Monday morning is always a struggle, but waking up after only 3 hours of sleep is the worst. Turning my alarm off and groggily getting out of bed, I head straight to my connected bathroom. This is probably one of my favourite times of the day: peeing. It just makes me feel so relieved. After I do my business, I sort of move around and half-ass my morning routine but still end up managing to dress myself and tame my brown waist length hair. Except, for tame I mean not cutting it all off in frustration because the knots were completely unbearable. I mean, its not like I need to impress anybody but myself, and I'm fine with wearing hobo-chic.

Walking downstairs towards my kitchen I realize my dad is nowhere to be seen. Thank God. Ever since my mom left all those years ago he's been different. More closed off and angry at the whole world, including me. I try not to let it get to me though and avoid him as much as I can. Sighing deeply, I decide not to eat anything, not that there is anything edible in this house anyway. Turning towards the front door, I lock it and continue walking towards my car. Although I loved driving to school, sometimes I can't handle the stupid clueless drivers on the road with me. One time I was behind this car that was going 30km/hr while the speed limit was 60km/hr and I swear I saw a snail pass us. What's even worse is when I tried to go into the lane next to him to pass, he does the exact same thing, essentially cutting me off. Stupid shit. Some people just shouldn't have their licence.

When I finally arrive at school, taking about 3 minutes to find parking, I exit my car and turn towards the prison I call school. The only thing that makes school so unbearable is the fake teenagers and the fake teachers. Most of my teachers don't care whether you fail or not; just that they're getting paid while also having the summers off. Regardless of all of this, I do love learning but most importantly seeing my two best friends, whom I've been best friends with since I was in kindergarten. As I'm walking inside the school I can see both friends waiting for me at my locker and a small smile instantly hits my face. Alicia is the first to notice me and of course must make a big scene.

"Hey, Evelyn, my main bitch!"

This causes Thomas to turn around and wave at me like a crazy person while I just roll my eyes at their antics. As soon as I reach both of them, I am attacked by their hugs, being squished in between them, but hug them back nonetheless.

"Hello to you too."

I laugh slightly as we all pull back from our three-way hug and Alicia is of course the first one to speak, a mile a minute might I add.

"Holy shiznizzle, so Thomas and I went to a party on Saturday, a party you should have come to by the way you party pooper, but anyway back to my story. Samantha was there, and she got super wasted, she was dancing on every guy left and right but holy shiz she tried to dance on Dylan. Dylan! I mean come on, you don't just go up to the smexiness we all know as Dylan and try to dance with him, you shouldn't even try to make conversation, he needs to come to you first. Anyway, that's not even the best part! So here Sam is grinding, not so sexy, all up on Dylan then suddenly, she freezes, and you know what she does? Do you know what this girl does?! She vomits all over Dylan's shirt! At this point, everyone is staring, and she looks absolutely mortified, Dylan looks completely disgusted and as she opens her mouth to apologize, she vomits again all over his shoes! Dylan looks like he's about to kill and just turns around and leaves the party, I'm assuming to not only wash up but to prevent himself from slaughtering Sam. It was the funniest shiz I have ever seen in my entire life."

By the time Alicia finishes telling her story Thomas is leaning his body against mine trying to contain his laughter while I watch my other best friend die from laughter.

"Damn, I sure did miss quite a show, didn't I?"

"Hell yeah, you did. I'm still bummed that you couldn't go. What were you doing again?"

I stare at Alicia wide-eyed but quickly compose myself before she can notice. I try to rack through my head for an excuse that seems plausible. Visiting a friend? No, I only have two. Family thing? Nope, all my family cut my dad and I off. Come on Evelyn think!

"She was probably just too busy reading those stupid thriller novels she loves so much."

I mentally thank Thomas for coming up with an excuse and nod my head in agreement. Alicia still looks at me with slight suspicion, but I can tell she will, thankfully, let it go. To change the subject, I decide to ask about the very well talked about Dylan.

"So, I get that most people in school are obsessed with this Dylan guy, but what's so great about him? I mean, he's just another guy."

Alicia stares at me as if I had just had my head decapitated by a guillotine. I hear Thomas chuckle slightly beside me and say something vaguely like "shouldn't have said that". Alicia comes out of her trance and smiles sickeningly sweet at me.

"Evelyn. My dear. Dylan is the hottest, sexiest, most badass man in this whole school. I even heard that he's an assassin for the government and that's why he's so closed off to people. Well, except from his "gang" of course, which everyone knows consists of 4 people, including Dylan. That way, everyone has someone to cover them in their missions while they're getting shot at."

I almost laughed at how absurd it all sounds, but looking at the serious expression on Alicia's face, I decide against it. She then proceeds to show me a good number of shirtless pictures of Dylan, which I must admit, aren't too bad to look at. I'm not the kind of person who listens to rumors and gossip. Every single person deserves to not be judged or gossiped about by people who just want to be entertained. Until I know somebody personally, I have no problem with them.

"Okay Alicia, whatever you say."

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you about this mysterious sexy bad-ass. Now come on before I start to drool by just imagining him, we have class to get to. Come on loves."

Alicia links both her arms with mine and Thomas' as we all walk to our first class together. We all made sure to have at least a couple of classes together, so we could handle the stresses and shitiness of school. The three of us have always helped one another and have been there for each other through all the hard times. 

I remember when we were all in 8th grade, Alicia texted both Thomas and I simply saying 911, and we both knew it was serious. When Thomas and I arrived at the playground we always met at, we saw a crying Alicia sitting on the bottom of the slide. We both ran over asking what was wrong, and after a couple of minutes of her hysterics she finally told us that she caught her boyfriend at the time kissing her arch nemesis. Of course, this caused me to comfort her while telling her how she was better than him, but Thomas had other ideas. He started to yell about how her now ex boyfriend is a douche bag that needs to be "taught a lesson." Eventually Alicia calmed him down and he finally agreed he wouldn't hurt the asshat. We sat there together for hours making Alicia laugh and just having a good time.

When my mom left, and all my life realizations sunk in, I didn't want to see anyone. Alicia and Thomas though, wouldn't take no for an answer and broke into my room. That day, they just laid with me and through the silence, there was an understanding that they weren't going anywhere, not now, not ever, not like my mom had. I realized that this is the purest friendship, relationship, in life. Friends come and go, that is a person's choice, but it Is one of the most honest relationships there is. That's when I knew that no matter what happened to this relationship, I would at least know how they truly felt, and why exactly they didn't want my friendship anymore. At least then I wouldn't have so many questions about what I did wrong and what I could have done better. Even though I have secrets only meant for my mind, Thomas and Alicia will always be my best friends.