306 Days

Day One

The smell of burnt toast was revolting. As if Mondays, especially the ones after a long summer break, weren’t bad enough. Sean’s sleepy eyes fell upon the ticking Winnie The Pooh clock, right by his bedside. He hated the darned thing almost as much as the sound it made. It reminded him of death. And waking up to be reminded of death wasn’t really a cherishable thought.

Not to mention the fact that having a Winnie The Pooh alarm clock in a sixteen year old, 7th grade champion of basketball, the only time he’d ever been a champion at any sport, was shamefully embarrassing. But no matter how many times he tried to get rid of it, it always came back, haunting his early mornings. Not that it was possessed. Just that it had too many feelings attached.

Now, as he stared at the ridiculous clock, scheduled to ring in about a minute, he was reminded of Jeanette Geoffrey, his on and off girlfriend, although no longer his, not after the fight they’d had last week, not after he’d caught her cheating on him at Chase’s party, not after all that yelling and throwing things, even though technically she was the one throwing things, when it ought to have been him. He’d had his share too- by throwing every one of Mrs. Higgins’ precious plate in sight, after Chase’s party while everyone was passed out cold, as the place reeked of bad breaths and vomit and beer, the only sober creature in Chase’s mansion like house, being him.

He was reminded of how she’d laughed at it when she’d come to his room the first time, when they were only ten, all innocent laughter and rainbows and unicorns. He was reminded of how she’d expressed her wish to call it hers and he had offered and then she had declined because her mother would scold her.

Would her mother scold her now, when she found out her daughter was drinking and cheating on him, he wondered.

“SEAAAAAN!” His mom’s voice echoed through the hallway before reaching his ears. He should’ve been ready for now. All packed and ready to leave. And he was packed and he chuckled as he thought of everyone’s reactions to him showing up in his pajamas. Would they ever grow up and out of other’s lives? He shook his head as he finally sat up on his bed and ran a hand through his hair. Then he looked around the room, like he always had, ever since he’d joined Oak High. So he could preserve it in his mind, for when he was missing home. He knew he wouldn’t be back till winter break and there was still a long way to that.

The alarm blared. Literally, blared. The Sound Of Death echoed through the room, until Sean slapped it off the bedside table, hoping it would break, for once and forever, and break in a way, that it would become irreparable like his heart. That it would burst into tiny little pieces that’d never make any sense to anyone, not even the person responsible. And that the Sound Of Death would stop, forever. And that there would only be Silence. God, how he wanted the Silence and the Peace before this perfect little storm, who went by the name of Jeanette Geoffrey, shook up his life, turned his whole world around and then pushed him to take the fall alone, turned back around and stabbed him in the back, so hard, that the scars seemed to never fade out.

But of course, it didn’t, and it made him wonder, if it really had been one of the Satan’s Creations.

He was still thinking about her as he showered and got dressed. It would be the first time he’d be seeing her since that night at the party. And what a ridiculous last memory to have of her. Of them. How could she do that to him? How could she do that to them? She should have at least given them a proper ending. She owed them that.

 He’d thought she was above all that. He’d thought her to be one of the rare girls at Oak High, who understood him, who were above all the High And Mighty bullshit. Above the whole popularity game. But she’d cheated on him with Walter Keats.

As childish as his last name sounded, he was anything but a child. At sixteen, he was six feet tall and had the abs of a twenty five year old Olympic runner. He was undoubtedly the pride of the school when it came to sports, but academics? Not so much. The guy was as bright as a dark grey crayon in the box. Sometimes Sean even felt sorry for him, pitied his stupidity because, after all, it wasn’t really his fault that he was born dumb.