Song of the chapter - Forgot to Laugh by Bridgit Mendler
My house was no longer a quiet place to refresh and relax. For some unknown, crazy reason, Seth had declared our family room as Party central for his gang of demons. It was now a daily occurrence to arrive at our humble abode after school, only to find zombie squishing imbeciles lounging in our back room. They always beat me home because I walked, and Seth's friends actually had drivers licenses and cars.
It was almost impossible to distinguish the video game zombies from the live ones. That's how comatose these guys seemed as they played. No one was even yelling at the screen, as per usual, and I wondered what the deal was. My mail reading skills had taken a pretty big hit recently, but something told me it was all due to my current war on Seth. This must be his retaliation for my non-violent non-action. I really hadn't done a thing to him, following the plan I had hatched with the girls.
It was like we were both waiting for the other one to strike first, two predators circling each other looking for weaknesses. I had to hand it to Seth for being that insightful. What can I say, I give credit where it's due.
"Um...Seth? Could I talk to you for a minute?" I asked into the void that was the family room. As if I brought them out of their coma, half of the room turned to look at me. Seth paused his game and glared, but there wasn't as much fire in his eyes as usual.
"God! What now!" He huffed. It sure sounded forced to me, however. As if he was trying to put on a show. He followed me into the kitchen then stood with his arms crossed.
"Well?" He demanded.
"I have a proposal for you." I said. His eyebrows went up but he said nothing so I continued. "Truce. Cease fire. Let's call an end to this war."
He narrowed his gaze as if he was trying to see through my words and into my mind. I could tell he didn't believe I was sincere.
"Why?" He sneered.
"Because this is stupid. Can't we just let each other exist without trying to make the other miserable?" I put my hands up.
"I don't know. I kind of like messing with you." Seth smirked. That's when I knew he was open to it.
"Yeah, sure. Me too. But don't you want to stop all the cat and mouse crap?"
"On one condition..." he said as he put out his hand to shake mine.
"Which would be?" I raised an eyebrow.
"You make us some nachos." He laughed. "Seriously, you make the best nachos. I can't figure out what you do, but they're good."
My mouth fell open. What the heck? "Really? That's why you're always demanding I make them?"
"Well, yeah. I didn't think you'd make them if I just asked. Plus, the guys were here and I couldn't look like a baby..."
Ah. Trying to be a man even though he's still such a kid. That made sense. It's got to be hard navigating the high school scene and dealing with sudden popularity. Well, he'd always been popular, but high school was a whole new world.
"Okay, deal" I reached out to take his waiting hand. It felt good to not have to look over my shoulder anymore.
"Cool" Seth replied as he pulled his hand back, ran it through his messy hair and headed back to the zombie den. His energy level was definitely different after our exchange because he cursed and exclaimed "ah, come on! Dude, you wasted two of my afterlives!" To whomever had taken over his game.
I went ahead and started working on my infamous nachos. What Seth didn't know was that my secret ingredient was a sprinkle of garlic powder, and a little grated Parmesan cheese along with the cheddar. Looked like that was now a highly guarded secret which would follow me to my grave.
After taking a platter of the scrumptious snack to the awaiting guys, now much livelier then they had been when I first arrived, I waved them off and went up to my room. That much additional social interaction had drained what little energy I had. Especially after dealing with TJ and Luke. That whole strange energy buzzing between the three of us still had my head spinning.
Plus, I had lingering worries about Gina after watching her practically faint in class. I was more determined than ever to watch out for her. My gut told me that she was dealing with something major but who knew what it was. All I could do was make sure to be there when she needed me, and apparently force her to accept my help. If today was any indication of things to come, I would have to be a drill sergeant with that one!
My feet propelled me forward, all the way to my room, where I stepped inside and closed the door. I couldn't count how many times I had slammed the thing in the last few weeks, so it was nice not to feel the need to create a dramatic retreat. I lay down on my bed and curled into a little ball, suddenly tired from all of the emotion. It wouldn't hurt much if I closed my eyes for a bit...
***
"A bit" became an hour. I woke to my phone buzzing with an unread text message. Bella had asked if she could share my number...
Oh crap! Here we go, I thought as I opened my phone to reply. Before I could even get into my messages, however, Bella's avatar popped up on my screen.
The girls and I had all made little avatars for our social media profile pictures at the last sleepover. Then we had shared them all with each other so they could also be our contact pictures. Other than the eye color, Bella's little avatar looked nothing like her. She had made a little punk rock chick with blue streaks and piercings. Bella was more like a blonde athlete, well you know, because of the club soccer team she was all about competition. I wondered if she secretly had other dreams.
"Hello" I grumbled as I answered her call, "and no, you can't"
"What? Why not? You are so stubborn!" Bella squealed. I remembered that she told me TJ had asked for my number, and I actually did want her to give it to him. But I was always grumpy after a nap, so it felt better to say no and be a grouch.
"Because I'm sleepy." I answered, as if that was reason enough. I'm not sure my brain was fully functioning yet.
"Huh? You are nuts. I don't care what you say, I'm giving TJ your number whether you like it or not." She huffed. "I'm doing this for your own good, you know. I swear you're lucky to have me."
"Fine. It's fine. But I'm not too sure about that last part. You're unpredictable. That can't be a good thing." I said, making myself laugh. That sleepy brain seemed to think everything was hilarious.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked with irritation in her voice. "You are so weird."
"Yeah, I know. It's my legacy." Another wave of inappropriate laughter took over. Bella just groaned.
A few seconds later I finally got a hold of myself and returned my attention to the phone call. "You woke me up, my brain hadn't restarted yet. But now I think I'm good. So spill it, what did TJ say?" My curiosity was peaked.
"So, as soon as he got home this afternoon, he was calling me. This time he told me I needed to call Robin and get your number, that he had wanted to ask you for it in class, but there was some other dude there that seemed irritated with him so he didn't feel like he should."
What? I had gotten the vibe that Luke was frustrated, but I didn't think TJ had noticed. Before I could say anything to Bella, she continued.
"Then he asked me about ten times if you had a boyfriend. Like he was really concerned about that, even though I kept telling him that you didn't and never had."
This time I interrupted, "BELLA! What the heck? Why would you say that? Now I sound like some loser!" I shouted into the phone.
My retort was met with stone silence. For the next thirty seconds, not a sound was heard other than deep breathing on my end. Then I could hear as Bella took a deep breath.
"Well, for someone not very interested in TJ, you sure are concerned about his opinion of you."
"I will thank you to let me explain my own loveless life to potentially interested suitors." Sheesh! I thought that was a good way to ignore her accusation. We both knew I was I interested in him. There was no need to speak of it.
"Fine. Anyway, once he was sure that you were available," she emphasized the word, "I told him I already had your number. Then he harassed me until I finally gave it to him. Honestly, I don't think he even cared when I told him I was going to tell you how desperate he sounded."
"He sounded desperate?" I'm not even sure I knew what a desperate guy sounded like. That had never been my experience.
"OMG, Mal, yes! He likes you. A lot! It's so obvious. Give the guy a break would you?"
"I will. I mean I am! I was nice to him in class, even though it completely threw me off guard that he was in my class." Which reminded me, "Hey! You knew something didn't you? At the sleepover! You were acting odd when I mentioned that I would probably never see him again."
"Um..." Bella hesitated.
"I knew it! Well, you have to tell me now!" I insisted.
"Ok, ok. At his good bye party some of us were talking to him about his new house and where he'd go to school. He mentioned that he would be going to Jefferson, and since he had already asked for your number, I told him that you and Robing went to Jefferson. It seemed perfect." Bella told me, as though it was really no big deal at all.
"What?! And you conveniently forgot to mention that when you were at the sleepover? That would have been good information to have, Bella!" This girl...ugh!
"Well...I didn't want you to stress out since you were acting so freaked when I even said his name."
Hmm, she had me there. If I'd known that he was going to be at my school, I would have really stressed about it.
"Mallory! Dinner!" I heard my mom call from downstairs.
"Bella, gotta go. But we will talk about this later, understand?" I warned her.
"Sure. But something tells me you'll be too busy talking to TJ later." She said. I could literally hear the smirk on her face.
"Whatever. Bye."
I ended the call and made my way to the kitchen to eat. Yay for family dinner time. My parents and Seth were already seated and serving the food onto their plates. It looked like enchiladas.
Sitting down in my usual seat, I picked up my plate and started adding food one item at a time. The family was talking about their day, the usual topic, when Seth spoke up.
"Mal, I heard you had an interesting day yesterday. Why don't you tell us about it?"
My face paled. What was he doing? My heart started racing and my palms got sweaty. Seth had a look on his face, an evil one. What had happened to the truce? I should have known better than to trust a snake. Or a liar. The only way to fight his dirty game was with the truth.
I took a deep breath and prepared myself to be grounded until I went to college. Knowing I had to explain that I had been called to Opportunity was one thing. Dealing with my parents disappointment was something else altogether.
"I had an argument with a really mean upperclassman yesterday, the kind that likes revenge. She twisted the story for sympathy and I got called into Opportunity." There. I had said it.
My mom looked shocked. My dad looked...confused. Both of them sat silently, dissecting me with their eyes. Seth cleared his throat, a pathetic attempt at attention. But darn it, it worked. My parents looked over at him.
"Her name was called over the loud speaker. The whole school knows she went there." His face was a mask of mock concern.
"Oh my! Well, that seems excessive!"
Well, who would have guessed it would be mom for the win? Seth shot her a glare, but a split second later his mask returned.
"That should be kept private. I have a mind to go right over to that school and complain about their policies." My mom continued.
Go, Laura! She was officially my hero!
Seth just grumbled something and went back to his food. My dad, who was also looking down, had a hint of a smile on his face. And I could have sworn he glanced at me and winked.
With no clue how I had been able to avoid a grounding, it had actually happened. The conversation died down and I cleared the dishes for my hero before heading back to my sanctuary.
Just as I made it into my room, my phone buzzed with an incoming text. Bella really needed to drop the whole thing.
But it wasn't Bella.
Hope you have a good night. See you in class tomorrow - TJ
^^^^^
I'm back! I'm so sorry for the long delay! It was just too much all at once and I needed to put this story on the shelf for a while. I'm not taking it off hold because I'm not sure how often I'll be getting back here. My goal is to update weekly over the summer and then see how things go...
But if you forgive me, could you tap the star ⭐️ to vote? Thank you so much!!