Closer Than You Realize
Chapter Two
Around the same time as my father left my mother, brother, and I when I was three, Laurie and Carter's father was drafted to fight in Afghanistan. So, taking into consideration the fact that my mom and her sister were each living alone with their children and my grandparents were getting older, the two sisters decided to move into my grandparent's house which could house my mom and my brother and I, my aunt and two cousins, and my grandparents with plenty of room to spare.
I think that our living situation has benefitted all of us; I was able to live with my cousins, meaning we constantly had friends to hang out with and people who we could talk to about anything, my mom and her sister were close to their parents, and we were all closer than most families, which was more than I could ever ask for. Family had always been something that had been at the top of my priority list, and being able to be so close with my family only further instilled this value.
"Guys." My cousin Laurie said, her eyes wide, as the five of us sat upstairs in the room above our garage on the night of our first day of school.
"Yes?" Hayden asked skeptically.
"Are you ready for the football game Friday night?!" She shrieked as my best friend and I suppressed our groans.
"Sure." I said in a bored tone as I twisted my hair with one hand and stuffed some buffalo chicken dip in my mouth with the other.
"C'mon. We're gonna do great this year. Our team is better than it has been in years." Carter added.
"And our cheer team, with me as captain, of course, is amazing." She gushed. "Our routines haven't been as sharp or this clean in years. We'll make nationals for sure."
"That's great Laurie, really, I'm happy for you. But, are there any other topics of conversation up for grabs?" Adam asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.
While Laurie was all school-spirit-y, I, on the other hand, was not. We agreed on most things, but school spirit was not one. I didn't play sports, I was a part of two clubs, and I focused mostly on my academics. I cared about our school's newspaper and keeping my grades up so I could get a scholarship, and that's about it.
Laurie, on the other hand, was student council vice president, she was a part of Best Buddies and Key Club, she was cheer team captain for the football and basketball seasons, captain of the lacrosse team in the spring, and somehow still managed to get all As in every class. Carter was just about the same, just swap cheer for football and basketball, and vice president for president.
"Sure. But will you guys be at the game Friday?" Laurie asked.
"Yes, we'll all be there." Hayden answered quickly. "Anyway, changing the subject now, what'd you all think of our first day?"
"I can't believe it was our last first day of school... But at the same time, I couldn't be happier." I beamed. I loved the first day of school, but after that, the year just tended to drag on. Not to mention I was looking forward to college more than anything I'd ever looked forward to in my life.
"I actually liked it. We all surprisingly have a lot of classes together and I think it's going to be good. I feel like everything's going to be changing though." Adam mused as he stared out the window, not making eye contact with any of us like he was deep in thought.
"Change in a good way, I hope." Laurie chimed in quickly, as if there was a genie in the room that could somehow decide whether things would change or not.
"Yeah, definitely good." Adam replied in a weird, dazed manner.
"What do you guys think of that Tyson kid?" Carter asked.
"He's rude." Hayden stated.
"He's a tool, you can just tell." Adam added with a scowl.
"But he's hot." Laurie replied in a sing-song tone.
"I think he has a past that had a much larger effect on him than he cares to admit. I think he's one of the good ones, but he's so damaged by things that were completely out of his control and he just can't shake them off, so he creates a rough exterior so he doesn't show how vulnerable he actually is." I said honestly, kind of surprising myself at how deep my answer was. "He is totally hot too though."
"You always do see the good in people, Lyddie." Hayden replied as Laurie nodded in agreement.
"I still think he's a tool." Adam muttered as he looked right at me.
*~*~*
The next morning at school, I walked into English first period alongside Adam with dread weighing on my shoulders.
As great as the first day of school always was, the second day was just as torturous as any other school day.
Despite having my favorite English teacher in the whole department, I was not looking forward to the class and having to sit in between Adam and Tyson.
After hearing Adam's opinion of Tyson the night before, I was absolutely positive that the seats wouldn't work out and I had no interest in sitting between two boys who evidently didn't like each other. Not that Tyson had said he disliked Adam, but I just assumed he disliked everybody.
We started class by getting a reading and writing assignment where we had to read an excerpt from the textbook and write an essay based on it.
At Oak Hill, English classes started out that way every year - with a short assessment - in order for the teachers to examine our skill levels and make sure we'd been placed in the correct course.
The icing on the cake though: when we finished the assessment, we were assigned a project on a book of our choice. Note my sure sense of sarcasm when I say icing on the cake.
When everyone had completed the test, Mr. Jackson handed each student a copy of Romeo and Juliet, the first book we'd be reading in class.
As the time ticked closer to end of the period, I began getting fidgety and, as if without my instruction or control, my fingers began tapping on my desk and my foot on the ground. All I wanted to do was work on the newspaper the next period. It wasn't that newspaper was my passion or anything, but something about it was calming and never failed to put a smile on my face.
When the bell finally rang, I quickly checked into my study for attendance and made my way back to Mr. Jackson's room to discuss that month's issue of the paper with him and Hayden.
"I was thinking we should do a centerspread on the freshmen coming into the high school." My best friend suggested. "We could also possibly do stories on the college fairs, the clubs the school is offering this year, office positions available for freshmen interested in student council. It's the first issue, nothing too interesting is happening yet..." He trailed off.
"And I was thinking homecoming stories. The dance is October 16th, so we could do informative stories about spirit week and the football game and the dance." I added.
"We need to include a feature story too. I was thinking one on the changes in curriculum of various classes this year as well as a story on the 300th anniversary of Oakland Hill." Mr. Jackson suggested.
Oakland Hill, MA – founded 1715
"Oh yeah! I completely forgot about that!" I exclaimed. "We're having a parade and everything!"
"Also," Hayden said, changing the subject, ignoring my sudden recollection. If there was anything my light-hearted best friend took extremely seriously, it was journalism. "We're going to that local show Saturday afternoon and the one in Boston on Saturday night, so we'll be able to add those stories in. Overall though, I think we're pretty good for ideas this month. I can format the paper now, and we can assign stories at our meeting next week. And if anyone has any other ideas, I'm sure we can find a place for them."
Hayden quickly got to work on laying out the paper, giving me the perfect opportunity to give my teacher a hard time.
"You know, we should switch seats in English." I frowned.
"Don't like your seat much?" He smirked.
"Not particularly."
"Suck it up, it's only an hour of your day." He said with a triumphant smile, knowing he'd won this one.
"You're a terrible teacher." I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "And what made you choose to read Romeo and Juliet first?"
"I don't know. It's in the curriculum, better to get it done early. And plus, it's just the best love story ever!" He joked in a falsetto voice.
"It's awful, Jackson. Not romantic at all." I countered.
"Whatever. We'll have fun with it." He said with a glint in his eye that made my stomach feel nauseous.
*~*~*
In gym later that day, small groups, evidently based upon the social pyramid, had formed around our half of the gymnasium.
We had eccentric, but extremely intelligent individuals on one side of the bleachers, jocks standing by the door closest to the girls locker room, loners on the other side of the bleachers, some of Laurie's cheerleading friends lingering behind the jocks, and then Tyson and I, unsure of where we belonged in this hierarchy.
As soon as the late bell rang, our gym teacher started class with no hesitation and told us we were going to be playing basketball ... which was probably my worst nightmare come true.
I was physically unable to pass a basketball, nor could I possibly shoot and score a basket.
All I wanted was to be switched into guitar lab that period, but apparently the class was just about full and students who didn't know how to play the instrument took priority over me, who knew full well how to play.
I think administration just wanted to torture me - that was my conclusion. With all of the classes I was taking my senior year, gym aside, I had all the credits I needed to graduate, but guidance wouldn't let me switch into a study or any other class.
"Mr. Marr, would it be possible for some of us to use the weight room instead?" I asked after he explained the game the class was playing.
Being in gym was one thing, but being in gym and playing basketball was a whole nother level that I couldn't handle.
With much hesitation, Mr. Marr decided that he would, in fact, allow me to use the weight room, so every day, Tyson and I went in there, neither of us daring to say a word to the other. And that's pretty much how the few weeks of gym class went, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Every day after school leading up to the big football game that first week, Hayden, Laurie, and Carter were busy, so Adam and I went to my house, did the small amount of homework we had, and then went to see whatever movie was playing at 4:30.
When the game finally dragged around on Friday, Adam and I were incessantly making stupid movie references to take our minds off of the next 3 hours of lives, Hayden got aggravated with us because he didn't understand what we were talking about, and all three of us tried - and failed - to hide how much we didn't want to be there.
In the middle of the second quarter, we were losing 14-21, and after drinking a large soda, I'd never had to pee so much in my life.
"Be right back guys." I said as I walked behind the bleachers toward the woods where I knew there was a secret porta potty.
"Where are you going, Dia?" I heard from behind me.
I whipped my head around with a nasty glare painted on my face. I knew that voice and I knew he was the only one who called me Dia.
"None of your business." I snapped, my irritation growing as the stench of alcohol filled the air. He'd barely spoken three words to me in the four days of us sharing identical schedules in school, yet once we were alone, and out of that god awful gym, he jumped at the chance to torment me.
"Actually, it is my business." He smirked.
"Actually, it's not. Now if you don't mind, Tyson, I'm going to the bathroom." I stated, then bit my tongue.
"Oh. So that's where you're going, the bathroom, huh? In the woods? Are you sure you're not going to do drugs or something?" I gave him a hard glare. "You know, it's quite dangerous out there. You could get raped or something by some drunken idiot."
"Like who? You?" I snorted. "You know, you could get in some serious trouble for drinking on school grounds."
"Like it's ever stopped me before. And besides, what could happen? My dad's the principal!" He said, raising up his bottle. "Why are you going to the bathroom in the woods?"
"Have you seen the line to the girl's bathroom? It's ridiculous."
"So you'd rather pee in the woods?"
"Yes." I swallowed awkwardly, failing to mention that there was a porta potty and I wasn't actually just going to the bathroom in the woods.
"At least let me come with you. For protection?" He suggested, attempting to look innocent, but knowing the amount of alcohol he'd consumed coupled with his personality, his intentions were given away.
"Pervert!" I yelled. "You know, on second thought, I'll just wait in the line."
I could hear Tyson calling after me between laughs as I stood in the atrociously long line with a scowl on my face.
When I got back to my seat almost an hour later, Adam looked at me with a panicked expression, meanwhile, Hayden all but screamed in my face.
"Where have you been?! We've been calling and texting you! I thought you were going to the bathroom!"
"Sorry, yeah. My phone's at home and there was an awful line. People suck." I said with a humorless laugh, leaving out the Tyson part for Adam's sake, looking down at my hands in bitter shame.
The rest of the football game was spent watching Carter run from one end of the field to the other and praying to God that Laurie's teammates didn't drop her in any of their stunts.
Adam would continuously glance at me like he thought I could disappear again at any moment.
Hayden didn't really speak to us for the rest of the game and I could tell he was more than a little frustrated after my disappearing act, coupled with not even wanting to be at the game to begin with. If he had disappeared for an hour, I would've done the same thing, so I didn't really blame him for being angry.
Amidst the cheers from the crowd and screams from the cheerleaders, I kept glancing just beyond the bleachers to see if Tyson was still there because a little part of me actually cared whether or not he was safe and if he got caught with that bottle of alcohol.