My name is Sarah Beverly Gordon, and I am a freshman in high school; although, the school year is almost over so I am basically a sophomore now. My boyfriend's name is Desmon Eli Alverez, he is also a freshman-almost-senior. He doesn't like the name Desmond so people call him Dez, but I call him Eli. It's our thing. I don't really like pet names and he doesn't either so we call each other by our second names. We've been together since middle school. To be honest, I didn't think we'd last this long; he is a social butterfly and loves being surrounded by people, loves sports and is loved by all. I, on the other hand, am a social outcast; I hate people, with the exception of my best friend Erica and Eli of course, I wouldn't run to save my life, and people seem to n hate me as much as I hate them. I mean, I'm not one of those people who hates everyone because they're toxic or untrustworthy or any of that. I don't like people for no particular reason, so I tend to come off as mean or stuck up when people talk to me, hence the reason most people hate me. I don't really mind not being liked by other people, I've never felt the need to be validated by my peers in any way. If I feel irritated by you, I won't hesitate to let you know, and if I like you, I'll also not hesitate to tell you. Most people tend to annoy me for some reason. Erica and Eli are the only people I've ever liked and we've been friends since grade school. In middle school I developed a crush on Eli and so I told him and, turns out, he felt the same way and we've been dating ever since. I even told Eli that I didn't think we'd last but he told me that he'd make us last despite the odds {cringe, i know}. Every day I fall for Eli more and more to a point where it's kind of irritating. I've told him this several times but he just laughs.
Right now I am going through my typical morning routine; preparing for school while listening to an indie rock playlist from YouTube. I pick out my clothes for the day; a plain black crop top, baby pink skirt and plain white ankle socks, from my drawers and throw them on. After modeling the outfit in front of my mirror, I conclude it looks perfect. I lift my pink leather school bag from the floor and carefully arrange my books and pencil case in the main pocket. In the smaller pocket, I throw in my lip gloss, hand cream and small packet of wet paper towels.
"I think that's everything...."
I mutter to myself then grab my headphones from my study desk and wear them on my neck. I shove my phone into my skirt pocket {yeah... my skirt has pockets} sling my backpack over my shoulder, grab my gym bag and stroll out of my room down to the kitchen.
"Morning Sarah!"
Mom hails with a wide smile on her face as I enter the kitchen. I can tell that she is making cinnamon pancakes because the delicious smell has filled the entire room.
"Morning mom."
I drop my bags at the foot of the kitchen island and head straight for the fridge in search of my water bottle that's filled with tasty, cold, blueberry ice tea.
"So... Prom is right around the corner..."
Mom announces out of nowhere as I reach for my water bottle in the corner of the fridge.
"And?"
I deadpan as I wait for her to reveal her reasons for bringing up the cursed people filled event.
"Are you really going to make Dez go alone?"
Ace, my older brother, joins in.
I roll my eyes and pull myself out of the fridge with my bottle in hand then shut the door. I let out a sigh before turning to my mother and brother who are looking at me with pleading eyes, as if they're the ones being turned down for the dance.
"I am not making him do anything. He can do as he pleases and I will do as I please. If he goes alone that's because he wants to. He knows that I don't do crowds or parties or people in general."
Mom walks over to me and gives me a side hug.
"You and I both know that not everyone thinks the way you do. The poor guy probably really wants to go with you but is too terrified to ask because he doesn't want to be rejected."
"As he should be."
Dad states as he walks in wearing a suit and carrying his briefcase as usual.
Dad has never approved of my relationship with Eli; but I doubt he'll ever approve of me being in a relationship with anyone, not even Peter Parker, who's like, the most perfect human being.
"Jake!"
Mom shoots dad a disapproving glare. Unlike him, she has always wanted me to end up with Eli. The woman's probably already planned our wedding.
"What? if he doesn't have the guts to ask her-"
"- Because you had the guts to ask me?"
Mom interrupts, with an arched eyebrow and a tilted head, before dad finishes his statement. He folds his lips in and looks away in shame.{My parents are high school sweethearts; and the cringiest ones at that.}
"Ha! total burn"
Ace blurts out, causing dad to turn and glare at him. Ace continues drinking his coffee, pretending he didn't say anything.
"So you didn't have the guts to ask mom out?"
I deadpan
"I mean, I just wanted the moment to be right."
Dad tries to defend himself but it's pretty clear that he was just as much of a coward as he paints Eli to be.
"yeah... okay... whatever you say dad"
I surrender sarcastically before walking over to the kitchen island, placing my bottle of ice tea on the marble surface and climbing onto the high chair next to Ace.
"It really is hard being short..."
Ace lets out as he watches me struggle to lift myself onto the high chair.
"Shut up Ace."
I blurt out after finally being able to comfortably sit. It's not that I am extremely short, I'm 5'4. Our kitchen island is just unnecessarily high and so are the chairs. Ace is 6'0 so he has no problem with them and makes sure to rub it in my face every chance he gets.
"So mean..."
He whines. I roll my eyes and take a sip of my ice tea.
Mom finally serves the cinnamon pancakes, which is what I've been waiting for. But before Ace and I can even move an inch, Dad quickly grabs two from the top of the pile.
"I'm going to be late for work if I don't leave now, so...byee"
Dad announces before planting a kiss on mom's forehead. He waves goodbye to us all then rushes out the door. Before long, the car engine starts and its sound slowly fades out as he drives away. A few moments later, we hear the two note melody of our doorbell echo throughout the house.
"I'll get it."
I offer then jump down the unnecessarily high seat."
"is that your boyyyyfriiieend"
Ace's immaturity can sometimes be mind blowing. I ignore him and proceed to the front door to see who is disturbing our peace. Well, you can't really call living with Ace peace but I like to glare at people who dare ring our doorbell just to watch them get nervous. I open the door and behind it stands a medium height girl with slightly tan skin and crystal green eyes.
"Hey Sarah!"
Erica's enthusiasm nearly blows me all the way to the other side of the house. Standing next to her is Eli. He has his black leather backpack, which matches my pink one but his is slightly bigger. Both our bags have both our initials embroidered on them {Bev & Dev- mom's the one who gave them to us when we started high school. Pretty sure she got them long before though...}
"Hey guys.... What are you doing at my house?"
"We came to pick you up..."
Eli states matter-of-factly as the two let themselves in.
We usually just meet up in school because I have to go early for dance club meets, but our club president, and most of the main dance crew, has to focus on finals because they are seniors. Because of that we'll not have early morning dance club meetings for a while. Still surprised they came to pick me up though.
"Dez! Erica!"
Mom announces once she lays eyes on the two home invaders walking into the kitchen with me.
"Hey Mrs. Gordon!"
Eli and Erica greet my mom at the same time.
"Pancakes?"
Mom offers as Eli and Erica sit effortlessly on two of the high chairs. I'm a little jealous.
"Definitely."
Erica lets out as she gladly accepts the pancakes being offered. Eli serves some as well. I take my bags and wait for them in the living room because mom will use Eli and Erica as pawns to convince me to go for the dance. As I wait, I scroll through my messages. As usual, there are groups I've been added to for the purpose of people insulting me, a few messages from unknown numbers; also mostly insults and a bunch of paragraphs probably stating my every flaw. It's funny how they can afford to spend so much time on someone they don't like. I mean, I tend to avoid interacting with people who annoy me, I don't get why they're going above and beyond to make sure they reach me just to detail the reasons they don't like me. As I'm scrolling through the messages to see if anyone actually came up with good insults I feel a presence hoover behind me.
"What the heck is this!"
A hand snatches my phone out of my hand aggressively. I turn to find the culprit only to see Ace standing there staring daggers at my phone screen as he continues to scroll through.
"What's going on?"
Mom yells from the kitchen.
"Nothing mom! Ace is just being annoying."
I yell before gesturing for Ace to keep his mouth shut.
"Sarah... These people are bullying you."
Ace whispers, trying to get me to realize something I am already fully aware of.
"they're trying to, but I think some of their insults are quite funny and it's entertaining to read what they come up with sometimes."
"Are you sure it doesn't bother you?"
This is why I did not want to tell Ace what was going on. He is extremely overprotective and always does his best to defend me. He is a great brother I guess, but he goes too far sometimes. When he found out Eli cancelled one of our dates, he went to Eli's house, held the poor boy by the collar and spat out every threat he could salvage from the deepest darkest corners of his mind and heart. He left the house before I could explain that Eli had caught a really bad cold and didn't want to give it to me. He ended up getting sick too... I guess he learned his lesson.
"No... it doesn't. I never cared about them to begin with, which is the whole reason they hate me. So if I didn't care when they didn't hate me... why should I care now? It can be annoying sometimes, sure but I probably would've found them annoying anyway. Makes no difference to me."
I snatch my phone from his hand and Eli and Erica walk in just after. Ace stares at me with concern, waiting for me to admit that the whole thing bothers me but it doesn't so I just stare back blankly.
"Is everything okay?"
Eli asks, sensing the tension. I grab my bags and casually walk to Eli.
"Yeah, let's go."
The two follow me out of the house and we begin our lengthy walk to school. Well... It's not that far but I don't like walking so any distance beyond five meters if far to me.