Chasing Isaiah

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As the big yellow bus came to a stop, I grabbed my bag, threw it over my shoulder, and ran off of the bus.

I sprinted through the dead, brown grass to get to my front door. I reached the front entrance and threw my bag down on the ground. I scrambled for my house key until I found it, then struggled to open the door.

Picking up my bag in a hurry, I jumped in the house. The faint sound of rustling papers and an old radio playing, coming from Isaiah's room, made me release a sigh of relief.

I closed the front door.

I jogged past the kitchen and into the bedroom.

"Hey Isaiah," I said, trying to hide the fact that I was so shooken up.

"You know you don't have to hurry home to make sure I didn't kill my self while you were at school, right? If I were to do it, it would be too late. No need to run."

I slouched my shoulders out of sadness and let my bag slowly fall to the ground. "Don't say that."

He shrugged his shoulders and continued drawing in a sketchbook as the radio played 'My kind of woman' by Mac Demarco on a low volume.

"I'm worried about you, Ise." That was my nickname for him.

"Carli. I'm fine."

"Are you fine with being homeschooled this year? Aren't you going to miss your friends?"

"It's not like I had that many anyways. And besides, they only hung out with me because they had pity for me. Everyone else just bullied me." He sighed.

I sat on the edge of his bed next to him. "I know things are hard for you. I'm always here. I-"

"Carli." He said a bit loud.

I stared at him for a few seconds with sad eyes.
"Please talk to me if you're ever sad. Please don't bury yourself away."

"Ok." He almost whispered it, it was so quiet.

I gave him a hug and squeezed him tight, then picked up my bag , walked out of his room, and closed the door behind me.

I entered my room and threw myself onto the bed. As I closed my eyes for a quick power nap, my phone rang.

I opened one eye to see 'Yasmean<3' on the screen.
I answered. "Hey Yas!" I said trying to sound at least half excited.

"Hey Carl's!" She basically yelled.

There was silence for about 10 seconds.
"So uhh, you need... anything?" I asked her.

"So basically the whole cheerleading team and the football team are having a like, first day of school bash. Kyle and some of his friends rented out a 'Texas Roadhouse' for the night. It's just gonna be a cool hangout. Everyone's gonna be there. You in?"

"Uhhh, yeah that sounds fun."

"You don't sound too sure." She said.

I chuckled. "I'll come if you can pick me up."

"Alright. I'll be there in an hour. Make sure you wear your cheer outfit and look cute. Byeee!"

She hung up.

I threw my head back in exhaustion. I checked the time on my phone and it read 4pm

I poked my head through Isaiah's door.
"Hey Isaiah, I have somewhere to be, I'll be back soon so-"

"Yeah I heard." He interrupted, as he looked up and smiled.

I tended to forget that our walls were as thin as paper. "Ok. Be good."

"Please don't stay for long. I don't want Mom to come home drunk without you here."

"I won't be gone for long. I promise."

I really didn't feel like going at all, but I knew Yasmean would be pissed, so I caved.

The smell of ribs and mac and cheese surrounded me.

I was wearing my cheer outfit. It consisted of a short skirt and a cropped top. My long brown hair was in a half up - half down style, curled. A big bow rested on top of my pony tail.

My lips were covered in a pink tinted lip gloss and my eyes were complimented with eye liner.

The chatter of the cheer and football team, and country music absorbed my ears. Yasmean was up getting food at the buffet and I was scrolling through my phone, while standing awkwardly near a table.

I felt a hand on my back and I quickly looked to my right. I was met with a chest wearing a football jersey.

My head slowly traveled up.

A green eyed Kyle smiled back at me.

"Hey!" He said, as he pulled me in for a hug.

"Heyyy!" I said in an unintentionally flirty voice.

"Glad you could make it!"

"I'm glad I could come." I smiled and stared into his eyes.

All of a sudden, a blonde haired girl approached us. She was wearing a full face of makeup and had an extra small crop top, when she knew that it was a size too small. She wore a push up bra 2 sizes too big and squeezed her arms together as she fluttered her eyelashes.

Ugh. Izzy.

"Hey Kyle." She ran her hand down his chest and stood too close for comfort.

Kyle was too nice to say anything so he just greeted her back and smiled. Sometimes it was annoying that he was so nice.

"Lovely little event you planned here." She said.

"Yeah. I'm glad I could rent it out. It was also nice that they set up a buffet. This place is ours until midnight!"

"Fun!" She exclaimed in a nasally voice. She turned to me. "You're not staying that long are you?"

I punched her in the face. She fell to the floor and then screamed murder. Blood leaked from every hole in her face. Everyone was looking at me as I kicked her in the nose over and over and over and over and-

Kyle nudged me.

"No, I actually will probably leave at 8 or 9. I have things to take care of at home." I flashed a fake smile.

"Of course! You can never hang!" She laughed. It was such a fake laugh. It sounded like it was coming from a child.

Me and Kyle looked at each other and back at her. We weren't laughing.

"Anyways, sweet, I'll be over there." She turned around and nearly broke her back to try to impress him. She flipped her hair and walked to the buffet.

"Did she just call you sweet?" I asked.

We laughed until our heads almost fell off.

The rest of the night was pretty fun. Me and Yasmean hung out and ate a ton of food. It was nice to reunite with all my cheer friends and see all the football guys.

Knowing that my mom came home at around 10pm from her waitress job at 'Sunny Nights' diner, I convinced Yasmean to drive me home at 9:10.

"Why do you want to leave so early?" She asked.

I didn't feel like telling her about my brother so I just lied.

"Serious headache." I said with a hand to my head. "I can feel it pounding."

After 30 seconds of an award deserving performance, she finally gave in and drove me home.

Thank god.