"Expect problems and eat them for breakfast."
- Alfred A. Montapert
Heather glares at Vanessa and Jedrek and goes back to eating.
"I said, what's up hot stuff?" Jedrek says once again. "Wanna book a hotel or something?"
My eyes widen and Heather glares at him. Her answer very clear, even without her saying anything. The atmosphere is tense. The boys at the table all glaring at Jedrek's cocky face. I look around to see Julian glaring intensely at Jedrek, switched into protective older brother mode.
"F*ck off."
Jedrek looks over at Julian and smirks. "And who are you to meddle with her business?"
"Her brother." Julian says with a growl.
The smirk drops off Jedrek's face, leaving him with an expression of fear and regret, similar to the expression I wear when a glass manages to drop out of my clumsy hand, and I fear for what my mum will do to me after it being the 10th glass I've smashed.
"Now if you don't leave my sister alone, me and the whole basketball team will leave you with more bruises than you can ever imagine." Julian threatens.
Jedrek is unsure of himself but still manages to say something on the lines of, "you look like you couldn't even hurt a fly."
Julian stands up and walks to Jedrek, towering over him as he scrunches his face up with disgust. "You disgust me", Julian says. "The fact that you flirt with girls you don't even know shows how little self-control you have, and how little respect you have for women. Not all girls are sluts like the ones you do every weekend."
He looks at Julian with anger. "So what?" He says, "girls don't matter, they're all just toys at the end of the day."
And with that sentence Julian lifts his already clenched fist and swings at Jedrek's face, but before he gets in, I'm already there. I force my arm forward and watch as it slowly collides with Jedrek's face, in slow motion. It must've been strong as Jedrek is then found sitting on the ground clutching his nose, trying not to look like a loser. Lucas grabs my arm, signalling me to stop and I relax my clenched fist. "Scram, before I punch you again", I say and Jedrek clumsily makes his way out of the cafeteria, Vanessa and her crew following behind.
We go back to eating and a silence falls over the group. Everyone awkwardly peeks at Heather, Julian and I every now and then. I'm about to take another bite when Damon's voice breaks the silence. "What a dick, aye."
And then we all laugh.
^^^
We get to Heather's house after school and I make my way through the corridors into the kitchen. "Your parents are at work aye", I say to Heather.
"Yup, we have the house to ourselves", she says while rummaging through the cupboard beside the fridge. "AHA!" She says as she finds what she's looking for and pulls a packet of Pringles out, tossing them to me.
We make our way to her room and I change out of my uniform and into sweatpants and a t-shirt, left here from previous stays. "Wanna stay the night?" Heather says as she collapses into her bed, becoming one with the tangle of sheets and blankets.
"Yeah sure, I'll text my mum and tell her, she won't mind." I tell her, multitasking as I text my mum and pop the lid off the packet of pringles.
"Kayleeeee", Heather whines. "I was gonna save those for watching a movie."
"Oh, stop worrying Heather, you guys probably have tons of Pringles left", I say to her. I look at her and watch as she looks down at her hands, playing with the edges of one of her fluffy blankets. "What's wrong?"
She sighs and turns around to look at the wall beside her bed. I read her mind and I try not to show that I know what she's thinking. She avoids my question and suggests watching a movie on her laptop. "Seriously Heather, what's up?" I ask her, wanting her to tell me herself, hoping she will trust me.
She looks at me with tears in her eyes. "My parents are struggling with money, they haven't told us, but I know, Julian does too", she starts. "The younger ones are too young to notice anything is wrong, and the rest are never home long enough to know. Mum and Dad act like it's all fine, like they have no problems, but I notice the way they take extra care to get the cheapest groceries and secretly sell some of their expensive collectors' items, replacing them with knockoffs so that we don't notice they're gone."
She continues and I start feeling guilty for assuming they have lots of pringles. "They make excuses to little ones, telling them that they can't take guitar lessons because music doesn't matter. Both Mum and Dad love music, Kaylee. They don't want to have to pay that extra amount for the lessons." She tells me.
"I know that it's happening, they can't hide it from me. They also want to be able to send my older brothers to University, they don't want them to have to worry about money as well as studying, so they don't even ask them for help to pay." She finishes and I go to her and hug her.
A few tears fall from her eyes as she starts speaking again, letting out all her built-up emotions. "I know we're not poor, they're just in a rough patch, but I want to be able to help them out."
Her voice is wobbly as she continues. "I probably sound like such a brat; people are out there with no homes and no money to buy food. But we've been in a good place my whole life, it's hard knowing that they have this extra burden and instead of just being aware, they have to work hard to make sure they aren't spending too much on this or too much on that, and worrying if they have enough to even send my brothers to Uni."
I pat her back to comfort her, and she sobs a little. "It's alright, I reckon bring it up with your parents and if you feel bad then tell them you're getting a part time job or something to help out, and that they can't stop you."
"Ok, Thankyou Kaylee", she says and hugs me. "Maybe I could tell the older boys and get them to help too." I nod and we start setting up her laptop to watch a movie.
"God, I feel like such a spoiled brat now", Heather says and giggles a little. "I mean we're not even that bad off, I guess I've never thought about how hard it is having to worry all the time about how much money we have."
"You're not, people have tantrums over their parents getting them the wrong iPhone for Christmas", I tell her and laugh. She smiles at my comment and then opens up Netflix, scrolling through the new releases.
"Thanks Kaylee, for being there for me", she tells me.
"No problem."