:sky:
I stuff my clothes back into the black bag and shove it under my bed, making sure it was deep in the darkness before leaving it there.
I change into my regular, worn out clothing and began to work on my school assignments.
For some reason, I was exhausted and really wanted to go to bed early. But I knew if my mother came home and saw me sleeping while doing my work, she'll be furious.
I tried my best to shake my weariness away and continued.
<•>
I wake up with a jolt, causing the book I was reading to fly off my chest.
Crap, I fell asleep!
Is mother home yet?
Why hasn't she yelled at me yet?
I push my curtains to the side and looked out at the driveway.
There were no cars parked in sight.
She's not home yet. It's dark and she should be back from her job by now.
Unless she decided to leave me alone again for who knows how long and for a reason she'll never tell me.
I'm not complaining, but it's still weird.
I went downstairs to see if there was any food to eat and of course, there was nothing.
I close the pantry with a groan and waddled to the other pantry.
Do we really not have any food?
My stomach was growling and I was getting desperate.
I will eat anything. There has to be something.
As I was looking inside another cupboard, the home phone rings, startling me.
That's probably her.
I quickly picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"I'm not going to come home tonight. Stay home, don't leave the house, and do every single one of your assignments."
"We don't have food."
"You won't die if you miss one dinner."
I mentally scoff.
"You better get your work done, Sky."
"When are you coming back?"
And she hung up.
Great.
I dial Lisa's number and she picks up right away.
"Hey, girl. What's up? You must be home alone since you're calling me." She laughs. "Unless....your evil mom got attacked by bees just like I dreamed?"
I laugh too. "Sadly, no, but I am home alone. You know the drill."
"I'm coming over."
<•>
Lisa arrives at my house in about 15 minutes. She had her sleepover luggage and a few bags of food for us to binge eat for the night.
"You're my lifesaver." I hug her as I stuff an egg roll in my mouth.
"What was I going to do? Let you starve? Not going to happen."
"Did your parents say anything?"
She shakes her head. "They already know, so they're fine with it. They bought the food."
<•>
After we finish our food and filled our bellies, we migrate to my bedroom.
"You're telling me Jeno gave you his jacket?" She holds the jacket up and stares at it in shock. "This is his jacket? Swear. He smells like cologne. I would expect weed."
I nod. "Weird, right? He insisted because he knew I was going to have to stay outside for awhile."
"Hm...that's...that's cute."
"I thought it was too."
"And this is what Donghyuck gave you?" She holds up a black bag. "He gave you that outfit you wore to school today?"
I nod again. "He did. He gave it to me, so me dating Jeno would make more sense."
"Weird."
"Indeed."
"Are you guys friends now or something?"
I shrug. "We're fine with each other I guess. Donghyuck is really nice, so is Jaemin. But I don't know if they're just being nice because I'm with Jeno."
She touches her chin. "If they're being nice to you because you're with Jeno, what about Renjun?"
I frown. "Well, we don't talk as much and...Jeno said he'll talk to him."
"And you're sure he's not going to mess with you, right?" Lisa holds Jeno's jacket up again. "Because if he does, I'll rip this up and shove the pieces down his throat."
"He told me to trust him." I stare at my fingers.
"I should speak with him. Make sure he's not messing with your head."
"No! Don't! It's ok. I can handle it myself."
<•>
My evil mother's not back home yet and it's the next morning already. I should be relieved, but that leaves me alone in this house.
Lisa had to go back home as soon as she woke up. I think her and her family are visiting some family this weekend.
Hmph.
I wish I had family to travel with.
Nope, all I have is my mother. Though, she's nowhere to be found right now.
When I'm home alone on a Saturday like this, I usually end up doing homework and studying all day.
Ha. What choice did I have? It's not like I had any other choice other than that.
I didn't like it, but I always, always did it.
But today, right now, I absolutely do not want to open another book or pick up another pencil.
I want to go out.
And enjoy life.
For once.
But what if she comes back and I'm not home? I'll be dead!
I'll just say I went to the library. That seems believable. I'll say that. I won't even be gone for too long anyway. I just want to get out of this trap.
I change into a basic outfit of jeans and an old t-shirt. I throw Jeno's warm jacket over me and went to search around the house for some money.
I need at least enough for some food, or at least a snack at the convenience store.
Surprisingly, I find enough money just from snooping in my mother's room.
Wow, if she knew I took money from her room, I'd actually get sent to the black hole.
<•>
"Thank you. Have a good day." I thank the cashier as she hands me my bag of chips.
I exit the store and immediately opened my snack. I take one bite and felt relief in my system.
Is this what freedom tastes like?
I walk to a nearby park and sat on one of the benches.
I have no idea where else to go or what else to do because I already spent all my money on that bag of chips. What else could I do?
I sit there on the bench and watched people walk by. Like a creep.
"Sky?"
I flinch at the sudden voice and turned around.
"Oh, sorry! Didn't mean to scare you." Donghyuck chuckles and sits down by me.
"No, no, I-I was just surprised." I stammer, looking away.
"Weird seeing you out in public by yourself." He says, out of the blue. "Don't you have homework to do or something? A book to read?"
"I actually don't feel like doing anything school related today."
"What?!"
I jump at his loud reaction.
"I never thought you'd ever say something like that." He covers his mouth. "Are you ok, Sky?"
I couldn't help, but giggle a bit. "I'm ok. Just bored, I guess."
"So you're choosing to sit on a bench and watch people like a weirdo?"
"It's better than being at home and doing a pointless project, only to get a pointless letter out of hundreds of others." I scoff.
Donghyuck leans back in shock again. "My, my, Sky, have you changed overnight."
I shrug. "Also, I used up my money on a bag of chips. There's not much else I can do without money."
"I think I can help with that."
"Huh?"
He stands up and puts his hands on his hips. "I, Donghyuck, am the master of fun! As your boyfriend's best friend, I'll spend some time with you and get to know you."
"Wait, why does-"
"Speaking of your boyfriend, he's at his house right now. Why don't we stop by and visit?"
<•>
:jeno:
I'm kind of bored today.
After what happened yesterday with Sky, I totally forgot to make plans for the weekend.
Hm. Did she distract me?
I twirl an unlit cigarette around my fingers as I lay down on my couch.
Sky's my girlfriend. I should be able to hang out with her anytime I want.
She's so complicated, though. I can't even contact her unless it's face to face.
She's such a loser. She doesn't even have a phone and she is so caught up with school work. It's annoying.
Why can't she choose me over her homework? I'm way better than some piece of paper. Does she think I'm not that fun to be around?
That's unbelievable. I bought her food. Girls love when guys buy them things.
I'm a great boyfriend.
Why does she still like Renjun when all he does is read a damn book?
I stare at my lighter that was resting on the table next to the couch.
Renjun doesn't smoke. He hates the smell.
I bet a goodie goodie like Sky hates people who smoke too.
I rise from the couch and toss the cigarette in the trash.
<•>
:sky:
"Are you sure we're not just barging in on him and annoying him?" I ask Donghyuck as he pounds on Jeno's front door.
"I'm his best friend. If he's annoyed, then I don't care."
"Um, I don't think-"
The front door swings open and a glaring Jeno appears in the doorway.
"You little f**k." He mutters to his friend. "Why can't you use the doorbell instead of attempting to break my damn door?"
"Sorry! Don't be mad! Hey, I hope we're not interrupting anything." Donghyuck motions towards me and I freeze up.
Jeno turns to me and his sour expression changes to a surprised one.
"Hi." I awkwardly greet him with a stiff wave.
"Come on, let us in, it's cold!" Donghyuck pushes Jeno out of the way and lets me enter first.
"Hey, stop pushing!" Jeno smacks his back. "And what's with the sudden visit? I thought you were busy today, Donghyuck."
"Yeah, I was. I was supposed to go shopping with a friend, but he couldn't last minute and just left me walking around town. I was about to go home, but then I ran into Sky!" He throws an arm around me. "You wouldn't believe the things she told me."
"It's not that big a deal, really-"
"She told me that she was sick and tired of doing pointless school work! Can you believe SHE said something like that?"
Jeno looks towards me with a head tilt. "No way this goodie goodie said that."
"And that she wanted to have fun today and so I offered to help! We came here to see if you wanted to join because you're both dating after all!"
I feel my cheeks burning.
Every time I hear that we're dating, it's so...unbelievable and weird.
I sometimes forget that we're still doing the pretend dating thing...
Maybe because I'm just a really bad girlfriend.
"I'll get ready." Jeno says and turns away from us. "Wait down here."
"Oh, Jeno! Your jacket." I call after him as I unzip his jacket.
"Keep it on. It's cold." He shoots me a small smile before leaving the room.