As I promised Belle, the next day I put Wake Me Up When September Ends.
The month of September always made me feel rather sad. Possibly because I associated it with school, but still, every year when September came around, I wanted to listen to sad music.
I decided to go on Facebook and see if Evelyn was online.
She was. And as soon as I was too she sent me a message.
– hey there mr. charming.
The sole fact that she thought about me cheered me up.
– Ahoy, Miss Tiger!
– lol still can't believe your name's charming. i legit thought this was your fake account!
– But it ain't. And indeed I am Charming!
– but i mean... there's not even a pic of u in here. what could i think!
– You wait one minute and I'll show you this is real.
I don't know what went through my mind in that moment, but I jumped up and down the house looking for some sunglasses that looked like Ray-Bans, but were really some one dollar knock-offs.
Once I found them in a locker in the living room, I went outside with my phone, and snapped a picture of myself (a selfie, if you will. This term wasn't around yet back in the day) wearing those sunglasses, making sure that the wrestling T-shirt was visible.
A photo, in front of my house, with one dollar sunglasses, and a wrestling T-shirt. I must have looked really cool, right?
Well, apparently, I thought I did. I transferred that photo on the computer and put it on Facebook.
Prior to that moment, I would have never posted a picture of mine, like, ever.
I don't know exactly why I did it. Maybe it was the adrenaline I got from a girl thinking about me, but, whatever the reason, I had just posted a picture of me on Facebook.
I updated the page to make sure that the little icon on my chat with Evelyn changed into my picture, and then I typed.
– How about that? Looking as charming as it gets, uh? (Sunglasses emoticon)
She replied after a few minutes.
– woow. wasn't expecting that!
Wasn't expecting what. Was it a bad idea to post it. Shit. Of course it was. What was I thinking. Omigad I wanna hang myself.
– Wasn't expecting what?
And in that moment, I could swear, an epic music played in my head, when in the low left corner of the screen I saw a notification that read Evelyn Tiger liked your profile picture.
– you look really cool. i must say, i didn't imagine you like that, given the fact that there was no pic of u.
WHAT IN THE BLUE HELL IS GOING ON HERE, I screamed in my head.
– You think I'm good-looking?
And I know you read it as if I said it in a sharp way, but that is just how I wrote it on the chat. Had that been reality, I would have been like "Y-Y-You-You think I-I-I'm g-g-g-g-good looking???"
– don't ya?
Holy shit she really does.
– Well, of course. I'm Mr. Charming! (yet another sunglasses emoticon)
I headbanged even though there was no metal music around. Meanwhile a new notification arrived, Frank Spears liked and commented your profile picture: Too cool 4 school lol (thumbs up). I stood up and improvised a little dance.
– attaboy! listen, i gotta go, hangin out with my bf. talk 2 u later alright?
Way to kill the mood.
– Alright, girl. Ta-ta for now.
Her talking about her boyfriend was kind of a cold shower, but then she said:
– i'll show you to my bf. tell you what she says.
She?! Wait. What. Some images that you don't want to know about started popping into my head, and I wondered about Sean being a girl's name.
– What do you mean she?
– my bf. my best friend. Angela.
Sweet jumping Jesus. I laughed in front of the screen, but only typed:
– Ohh, alright. Can't wait to know. XD
I know it didn't change anything. She still had a boyfriend, but knowing that she was not hanging out with him, somehow, made me feel better.
• — • — • — • — • — • — • — •
The first days of September flew by as usual, and soon it was the day before school started.
Andrew and I decided to hang out for a last symbolic time during summer holidays.
"You know that, starting from tomorrow, every teacher is going to ask us what we did during the holidays," Andrew said looking forward, as we were walking down the 68th Avenue.
"I know right...", I took a glance at his face. He was starting to grow a beard. I was yet to see my first facial hair. "And we'll have to say that we stayed here, didn't go anywhere in particular, and so on..."
"We should go somewhere next summer," he suggested, "somewhere that's not walking distance."
"How about Cleveland?" I smiled implying a joke, even though I wasn't totally kidding.
"No, not that far," he smiled too, "We could at least go to New York."
"Well. Whatever," I patted him on his massive shoulder. He was younger than me but getting bigger and bigger. "I don't think this a good time to make plans for next summer. There's a whole school year before that..." I sighed, "I can't believe summer's over."
"It was about time," he cheered, "I was getting kind of bored."
I shook my head in disbelief. "How in the hell could you possibly get bored of summer?"
"You know, nothing happens during summer," he moaned, "It's just idleness every day."
"Yeah, well, then go to work. Get a hobby. Jerk off. When you're bored, you don't wish to go to school." I said gesturing a bit too much, "School is the epitome of boredom."
And the anxiety started to crawl inside me. I already knew that that night I wasn't going to sleep.
"We're going to sit together, right?" I asked him.
"Of course we are." he reassured me.
Back home, I had a new conversation on Facebook with Evelyn.
– btw i forgot to tell u, angela thinks you're cool.
– Does she?
– yup (wink)
That was two girls saying I was cool. I still felt like they were joking. But I also felt like a Greek God.
– Well, who doesn't? XD
– lol
– So school's starting tomorrow...
I tried to share my anxiety with her.
– yup. junior year for me. sophomore 4
u right?
Oh, this is bad.
– Actually no. I missed one year when I was a kid.
– holy hannah so u starting freshman year??
And there's the anxiety eating me alive.
– Indeed.
– omg i feel old xd
– Dude. If you wanna write "xD", then do it with a capital D. "xd" makes no sense.
– sry chat police.
– Grammar's not really your thing, is it?
– actually it is. i'm good at school. i just have a little stomach for typing all precise and shit in here.
– Why? Doesn't it make you feel good to type the right way?
– say whaat
– Sorry. It's just me. I'm kinda paranoid. And I'm anxious for school.
– yeah freshman year's a pain in the ass.
– You're not helping though.
– sry but just tellin you how it is. they all probably tellin u not to worry cuz it's gonna be cool. well i'm tellin ya. do worry. people are shit. trust me.
– Great. I think I'll go kill myself now.
– haha. it's not the end of the world, but still. just be careful what you do and say. as my chemical romance say, teenagers scare the living shit out of me.
I had a fangirl moment when she mentioned My Chemical Romance.
– Do they ever. We have a lot more in common than I thought, Ms. Tiger.
– do u have skype?
I did not see that coming. I didn't really know how this was going to be. It could have been bad. Like, really bad. She wanted to talk with me, like, with actual voice. And maybe even see me. And, as you know, I wasn't exactly great at relating this way.
– I do. Why?
And she gave me her username, telling me to add her.
I did that, and as soon as she accepted my request, I got a group call from Evelyn Tiger and Frank Spears.
On one hand I was relieved, because I wasn't going to be talking with her all by myself, nor going to use the webcam.
On the other hand, though, I had never talked to Frank before. Not even a little chatting. And you know I wasn't exactly good with strangers.
I ran around the room to grab my headphones, I plugged them in the computer and accepted the incoming call.
"Hey," I said into the mic, trying to make my voice sound deeper.
"'Sup," said an actually deep voice. "I'm Frank." he didn't sound like a teenager.
"I'm Peter..." I said, trying to sound calm and making my voice steady, "Sorry. How old are you?"
"He's 23," another voice answered my question. It was a female voice, but deeper than usual girly voices, "He's an old ass dude, right?"
Something in her voice bothered me. I don't know whether it was her accent or the fact that she lisped, but I didn't expect her voice to be like that.
"Oh, wow," I said, a little embarrassed, "I feel like a child among you..."
"Don't worry, bro," Frank said, "I'm really childish. Don't let the deep voice fool you."
"We all are childish," Evelyn added, her voice still bothering me, "You're safe here with us."
"Nice to know..." I didn't really know what to say, and I felt stupid, because on the chat I looked like the most interesting person in the world, while in reality I was just a shy, anti-social, dark dude.
"Hey, Frank, Peter's starting high school tomorrow," Evelyn took the floor again.
"Holy shit." Frank said, sounding like he just had an orgasm, "You ready for that?"
I hated to be put on the spot, but Evelyn did just that.
"I-I don't really want to talk about it..." I struggled to say, "Makes me feel anxious."
"Yo, stay calm. It's no big deal." Frank said, actually making me feel a little bit less anxious.
"I told you..." Evelyn at it again, "It's what they all say. But that's a lie."
She was not good at helping. I would have told her that on the chat, but instead I just said:
"Well, sorry to cut this short, guys, but-uh... I gotta go..."
"Ooh right..." what is wrong with her voice, "You gotta sleep. Big school day tomorrow!" sounded like she was trying to be funny.
"Yeah, right. Well, see ya."
"Peace." Frank's deep voice said, as I closed the call.
It was ten in the evening, but I actually did go to bed.
I wanted to look awake for my first day of school, so I closed my eyes.
But, just as I imagined, I wasn't able to get any sleep.
Looking back, I should have probably enjoyed that last night before my life turned into a mess.
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Thanks for reading, Robbers! As always, please consider VOTING and COMMENTING if you liked this!
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See you on TUESDAY with the next chapter, featuring Peter's first day in high school!
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