Cry-Baby

Chapter 22

"Summer vacation is upon us and next year we'll be ruling the school!" Amanda had called me, early on the first day of summer. So much for sleeping in. And she was never really a texter, so I couldn't just reply when I woke up.

"I know. Next year will be awesome." Although I was tired, I couldn't deny how exciting just thinking about next year was. It was 9:40, so I guess it wasn't too bad. But on the first day of summer, I always try to sleep in to get rid of the built up stress school always managed to cause.

"Yeah. So my friend is having a party tonight! Not anything big, mostly just a hang out. And I was wondering if you and Dani might want to come?" I could hear the smile in her voice.

"Haha, you never give up do you?" I finally stood up, now fully awake, and there was no turning back really. "But sorry, I'm just planning on keeping calm today." Even though I couldn't see her, I knew she had frowned.

"You suck! Please?" She begged.

"Amanda, you are a party animal. I am just not about that life." I heard her sigh through the line, although my cellphone didn't have a line. Or most phones nowaday for that matter.

"Fine!"  She sounded like a dissapointed 5 year old. "But we have to hang out sometime, okay?"

"Of course. Talk to you later." I hung up and placed my phone down to get changed. It wasn't really hot out yet, but I still put on some jean shorts and an orange tank top. Summer fever was taking over, and I wanted to imagine its warmth.

I went to go eat some breakfast, and both my parents were up already. My mom had breakfast ready so I sat down with my plate, my dad beside me and my mom across from me.

I looked up to see a smile across my mom's face. "What?" I asked after some time.

"I start vacation next week." She happily said, still looking at me.

"Oh that's cool. What about you?" I looked over at my dad who just shook his head no. "Oh, that sucks." I ate a bite of my oatmeal and my mom was still smiling at me. "What?" I asked her again.

"I'll tell you later, you want to come to Brenda's with me later?" She finally stopped smiling to take a bite out of her food.

"Well thanks for leaving me out of the know. And no, I think imma just going to a friend's house." By friend, I meant Julian, who had invited me over yesterday, but my dad would become too awkward to deal with if I said boyfriend. Although I wasn't quite sure how close me and Julian was.

"Aw, okay." My mom settled, at least letting me have a say in what I do for once.


Around 1 o'clock I went to Julian, who opened the door, happily grinning. "Mi amor! Como estas?" He kissed the back of my hand keeping it in his to lead me inside. I'm pretty sure he asked me how I was.

"I'm good?" I asked to make sure I did catch the right question. He winked at me before sitting down on the couch, bring me with him to be right beside him. "How are you?"

"Bored." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. I frowned. this was something I couldn't get used to. I guess he caught the look I gave him when he said, "Maybe I'll smoke later. I nodded happily.

Although he smoked in doors, His mom or whoever, managed to keep the place always smelling pretty good. There was indeed a faint smoke smell, but the house was very clean with a window always being opened, and I'm pretty sure there was an air freshner around.

He grabbed a pen, that I hadn't realized was behind his ear, and started chewing on the end of it. So that's why he always did that. "You want to go to a party with me tonight?" He asked after flipping through the t.v. for a while.

I smiled, knowing exactly what party he was talking about. And if he was going, Amanda must have been stretching the truth about it being just a small get together.

"No thank you. I'm just trying to relax for this first week off." He frowned a bit and pulled the pen out of his mouth. The end was very chewed, and I could tell this pen was one of his regulars. It also had some saliva on it. Ew. But at least it was better than him smoking.

"Fine, but you're missing out." He shrugged, and we fell into a comfortable silence while watching some show that I did not know. I know I said I think of him at mostly a friend, but I couldn't deny he was really sweet. I mean, Rick was definitely a friend, and I felt more for Julian. I felt like I was looking too hard for a purpose to dislike him, for reasons I didn't know, and he wasn't a player or whatever. At least not to me. 

A phone started ringing and he adjusted himself to get it out of his pocket. He frowned looking at the caller ID and stood up. "Yeah?" He asked and pointed his pointer finger at me signaling he'd be a minute. "What are you talking about?" He went to the front door and left, closing it on his way out.

I heard some yelling coming from him, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. He seemed really pissed, and it kind of scared me. Who had made him so mad? I heard a loud band, which caused me to jump and soon after he came in.

"Sorry about that." His voice was cold and hard, and I wasn't quite sure if he meant it. He didn't sit down right away, just kind of stood near me.

"It's fine. But my dad wants me home early so maybe I should go?" I sort of questioned, standing up and adjusting my shirt. It was a lie, but it seemed like his mood was completely ruined.

"Yeah." He said simply. He didn't offer me a ride, and I could tell me wanting to go was a save for him. His jaw was clenched, and I was actually happy he didn't offer. A mad person driving is never really the greatest.

I left after that, leading myself out. I understood how it was to not feel good. On his porch, a flower pot was knocked over and broken. So that was the bang. I left and started walking to my house.

I wonder what had gotten him so pissed. A while later, I saw Clyde leave a corner store a block ahead of me. He was looking at his phone, before answering a ring I didn't hear. He didn't see me and kept walking in the direction of our neighborhood. I guess he didn't have his car with him.

"Hello?" I heard him ask, and I couldn't help but continue to eavesdrop. "Oh yeah, and thank you for the opportunity-" He got cut off. "Does it have to be that soon?" He sounded slightly upset. "No it's perfectly fine, my mom will probably be in tears." He chuckled. What? Why is that funny? What's happening? "No not at all! Thank you." He hung up.

I shouldn't be curious at all but I was. He turned down the same street I would have to and looked sideways and quickly made eye contact with me before turning straight. He then stopped in his tracks and looked at me again with a confused look.

Oh great. I approached him and he was still staring at me with a confused face. It seemed really out of place when he looked so fresh in his jeans and white t-shirt. "Hey." I said uncomfortably, not liking his eyes on me.

I caught up and then his face softened, appearing as though realization struck him. "So you guys are really together." He began walking with me beside him.

"Would that be an issue?" I said super defensively, not liking how that was the first thing he said. Again, why did he care?

"Not for me." He shrugged it off.

"Listen, Julian isn't the player type. He is really nice to me and-" He smirked down at me causing me to stop. "What?"

"He's not a player." He said, as if I was stupid to think that's what he meant.

"Can you just stop caring about who I date?" I spat, which made him look at me, a pissed expression crossing his face.

"Listen, do you want to know why Julian get's kicked out of fight clubs?" He started, staring daggers into my eyes. We stopped walking as we got to the corner where he would have to turn to his house and I would have to keep heading straight. "He has anger issues. He get's so pissed that he almost kills people. And he would too if people didn't pull him back. If anything offsets him he snaps. He just blacks out. He ain't bad. Not when he's happy."

My eyes got a bit wide, but I didn't give him any satisfaction. "He's hit girls before, and let's just hope you don't piss him off." He breathed, completely fuming. "You're always trying to be friends with me and sh!t and now that I'm trying to be a friend and give you a warning you can't just accept that. No, instead you look at me like I'm some bipolar b!tch who's just getting into your business for no reason!" He was completely yelling at me. "Sorry for trying to care." He shrugged his arms, still staring daggers at me, before turning around and walking off.

I felt completely empty as I walked back to my house and made my way to my room. I layed down on my bed, facing up, just staring at my ceiling. Some tears streamed down the sides of my face, but I didn't really cry. What was I supposed to feel about Julian having rage attacks? What was I supposed to feel about Clyde trying to be my friend?

I fell asleep, for how long I don't know, and my mom knocked on my door before coming in. I knew my eyes were red, but she seemed to assume it was from sleeping.

She smiled widely before sitting down on the base of my bed. I sat up to get ready for her news. She only ever smiled like that when she had news. "So, for my vacation, Brenda and I were thinking about things to do. She's taking off the same week and I was telling your dad how she is so alone and needs to have some fun." I lightened up, realizing she wasn't inviting me anywhere. "So anyways we decided that you, Clyde, Brenda and I are going to Hawaii for 3 days!" I could feel my entire body and face drop when she said that. "What's wrong?"

Oh nothing, just that it's apparent that you and Brenda will be hanging out together, forcing me to hang out with Clyde for 3 days in Hawaii, where it would be fun, but for some reason things between us never go too great for too long. And I'm pretty sure after his speech, he really is becoming through with me, and I can't say I want to hang out with him either.