FicWad

Chapter 6

Things were tense between me and Steve for the next year. It had slowly escalated from a few months to a year already. It all seemed so fast. Everyday it was like a slap in the face. I'd wake up thinking "Oh I can't wait to see Evan today." Then I'd remember that he was gone. Caput. Ido. Alle. Never coming back. I sat at the end of the lunch table, not saying anything to anyone. I haven't for the past six

months. Nothing. I didn't talk to Alan, Tommy, and I especially didn't talk to Steve.

I guess we were considered mortal enemies now. Steve glared at me from the other end of the long rectangular table, and I just ate my lunch. I hated his eyes on me. They pissed me off to no end. Throughout classes, that's all he did. Glare. I wanted Evan to be here to give me something other then Steve's ugly glaring mug to look at. The bell rang, dismissing the cafeteria. Thank god I didn't have to put up with it anymore. I stood up and headed up, dumping my tray in the garbage. I slung my book bag over one shoulder as I walked, not thinking of anything but to get to my next class so I could get the day done and over with, but behind me it seemed as if someone had something to say about it.

"Aww look at Darren trying to be a cool guy." Steve spat, hollering down the hallway. I stopped and looked back, the sound of his voice saying my name filling me with fire. I didn't say anything, just glared at him, but he wanted to take it farther. "You got a staring problem Shan?" He snarled. I dropped my bag to the ground, not answering him, getting even more mad. "I said what are you looking at!" He snapped, my silence pissing him off. I smirked, crossing my arms, finally fed up with the insults and his talking smack about me.

"I'm still trying to figure that one out." I replied. He stomped forward and slammed me against the wall, kicking my book bag out of the way.

"You wanna say that again Shan?" His breath was hot and smelt disgusting. I grimaced and turned my head. I was taller then him now. Somewhere along the months I had hit a growth spurt. It was a pain in the butt really. Now every pair of pants I put on were like Capri, so my mom took me out shopping. But even though I was taller, there was one thing I lacked now. Body mass.

"Wow, was it Evan's leaving that made you decide to stop brushing your teeth? That's disgusting, your breath smells like a dogs with colon issues." He snarls and punched me in the face. I feel a tear in the corner of my lip as I stumble. Tripping over my bag I fall to the floor, my elbows cracking off the tile. He stomps on my ribs, cracking one. I scream and he laughs.

"Not so tough now are you Shan?" He spits. One good thing about getting taller? My arms were longer now. I snapped my hand up and punched him in the nuts making him fall over me onto the floor. I scrambled to my feet and kicked him in the back as hard as I could. He screamed cursing at me as his hand shot back to his spine. He snapped a foot out and kicked my foot out from under me. I gasped as I went down. My face smashing off of his knee. He climbed over me, putting me in a headlock. I struggled against him, gasping as he cut off my air supply. "Why are you being a dick!" He snarled. I wheezed.

"Me being a dick?…you're the one giving me death glares everyday!" I whimpered, struggling for air. I could feel the pressure build up in my neck. My eyes were bulging out of my skull. I could hear my head squeal as he kept holding on.

"You're the one looking all moody and glaring at me! Ignoring my phone calls, making up excuses as to why you can't answer the phone only for me to find you outside on the porch with a notebook and a pen!" I stopped, thinking about it. I gasped and started trying to slip my fingers in between his arm and my throat.

"S-Steve…I never knew you called." I wheezed. He stopped squeezing, letting up a bit. Air rushed to my lungs almost as sweetly as it was painfully. But it wasn't enough.

"What do you mean Darren." He shot accusingly, sounding hurt.

"Mom never told me…you called." I panted, trying to slip out of his arm. "The phone would ring yeah, but she said it wasn't ever for me. She must have been making up excuses for me not to answer the phone." I look up at him the best I can, resulting in his arm crushing my throat a bit more, but I needed the eye contact to make sure he understood. "I don't think my mom wants me talking to you." He looked down at me confused, then it dawned on him. He growled and shoved me away.

"Your mom is a serious bitch." He cussed. I coughed, finally able to breathe regularly. My hand massaged the front of my neck as I pushed myself up so that I was sitting on my stomach. Normally I'd disagree with him. Normally I'd come up with an excuse as to why she did it, but this hardly seemed fair. She was trying to get me and my best friend since I was little to stop talking. "Hey, you ok?" He laid a hand on my shoulder as I wheezed. I could breathe, just, not as good as I wanted to. I coughed harder, shaking my head. "Dude…" my head started pounding as I wheezed and panted. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get oxygen to my lungs, and I could hear slight panic start to rise in Steve. "Darren!" He grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet, taking me down the hallway towards the nurses office.

Mrs. Kernigan was busy on the phone when Steve brought me in. He sat me in front of the fan as if pushing the oxygen past my nose would help. I tried to take deep breaths, and only succeeded in making my head feel light. "What happened?" Mrs. Kernigan questioned, hanging up the phone. She stood up and came over to my side, looking confused and concerned.

"I put Darren in a head lock and now he can't breathe." Steve admitted. She snarled, rubbing my back, trying to get me to breathe.

"What? What were you thinking Steven? You could have killed him! Is that what you want? You probably collapsed his throat when you did that!" Steve shook his head calmly, his hands in his pockets.

"If it collapsed, wouldn't he not be able to breathe at all?" She shook her head, rubbing my back some more. I coughed, sweat running down my face. My heart was racing. How could they sit there and hold a conversation about my possible demise when I was dieing like this!

"Only part of it could collapse, the rest could just…fall at anytime." I stopped and looked at her horrified and tried to speak, my words coming out raspy and barely audible.

"Then shut up and help me!" She looked at me and nodded. Reaching down and around she wrapped her hand around my throat, kneading her fingers into the skin. Was she trying to kill me and get it over with?

"Breathe Darren, try to breathe." I listened, taking deep breaths as good as I could. I closed my eyes, focusing on only that, ignoring the comforting words she was giving me. She sounded like she was giving advice to a pregnant woman going through labor. And the last time I checked, I was still a male. "I'm going to call his mom." She told Steve. She wasn't at all happy with him, but I guess she felt like he needed to know. You know, just in case I was found in a dumpster with a package of Q-tips down my throat behind the school, she figured she'd set up her witness ahead of time. I wheezed, the pressure starting to lift. Steve looked at me, a slight spark of apology and sympathy in his eyes. It would have been something to celebrate if I wasn't dieing.

Returning to our side a couple minutes later she clasped her hand on my shoulder. "Well, your mother is coming to pick you up. Do you have all of your stuff?" I nodded. Steve just stood there, but when she was done with me, she turned on him and snarled. "You! Office right now!" He rolled his eyes. I could tell he wanted to say something in return, something like. You're not my mother, but he kept his mouth shut and slammed his hands into his pockets. Turning around her headed out the door and down the hallway, saying goodbye to me before he was out of sight, and sorry for strangling me.

My mother showed up a couple minutes later, a frightened look on her face. My head was pounding. It usually did that when oxygen failed to satisfy me. I'd get headaches when I'd hold my breath, which is why I never swam under water unless I had 2 pound bottles of Excedrin with me. I stood up and grabbed my bag. I didn't say anything to her, just heading to the office to sign myself out. She followed after me as I handed the secretary the pen and pad of paper back and headed for the front doors. Pushing them open I held them open for her then walked across the parking lot and climbed into the passenger side of the car.

She walked around the front of it and climb into the drivers side. She didn't speak until she turned the car on and started down the arrow directed path. She turned out of the parking lot and into the highway, heading back home. I didn't say anything, just looked out the window. "Darren, what happened?" She asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Nothing, Steve just put me in a headlock, that's all." She looked at me, her hands on the steering wheel.

"Why did you let him do that? I don't want you hanging out with him." She whined, but I wasn't in the mood to deal with it.

"Oh so I've noticed." I retorted, snorting. She looked at me confused. "So, Steve didn't call at all for an entire year huh?" I shot her an un-amused look. She looked as if she had a gun pointed at her head, but she kept quiet. "Mom," I continued. "You have to cut the umbilical cord."

"But I don't want him to corrupt you Darren I-"

"No! He's not going to corrupt me mom, it's you! Let me go, let me be with who I feel I should hang out with and if he proves as a problem for me and goes against my morals, then I'll stop being his friend. You trying to stop us from being friends is only going to piss me off and make me run away for good!" She was silent, her eyes on the road. There was a small glisten in her eyes. I looked away, back out the window. She sniffled, causing my heart to break, but I needed to get it through to her that it was my choice, not her's. "Mom, I'm sorry it's just, Steve is my friend, and you trying to make me abandon my friends is only going to backfire on you in the end." I looked at her.

Nodding she wiped the now flowing tears from her cheeks. "I-I know baby, I'm sorry." I sighed.

"No, mom. I'm sorry for yelling at you, I know you are just looking out for me, and I should be grateful for that but I'm 15 years old and I can look out for myself now. I can make my own decisions, and when I mess up I have to reap the consequences myself." She nodded and continued driving, heading down the long twisted highway towards our house. She said nothing else she just kept her eyes on the road, as if she were saying that she wasn't going to hold another conversation with me for as long as I lived. I sighed again and leaned forward turning on the radio. A song by Michael Jackson was on, smooth criminal as I believe it's called, the song that was once covered by Alien Ant Farm, at least I think that was band that covered it.

The moment the first word of the song were heard she decided that she was going speak. She looked at me her fingers still tied tightly around the steering wheel, she forced a smile that told me that she was still a little bit upset that I would consider her the main driving force between me and Steve fighting."Oh dear, your father and I would like to know if there is any place in the United States that you would like to go on vacation, where would it be?"

I thought about it for a second. I always wanted to go somewhere on vacation usually for spring break or something like that. But most of the places in the States were usually rainy or usually cold around springtime. The only few places that I actually knew that were warm and not desert would probably have either have been California, Texas, or Florida. I didn't mind Texas of course I always heard that it was really dry. And not that kind of dry where oh well if I start sweating all I have to do is stand outside and become dry again. No, it was one of those kinds of dry where you stand outside in for a couple seconds you just want to hide in a hole for the rest of the day and pray to God your hair doesn't catch fire.

So I guess it was either Florida, or it was California. I didn't really want to go to California because of all the hurricanes, but I guess there were a lot of hurricanes in Florida to so either way you look at it, I guess you're screwed. I shrugged my shoulders, my eyes glued to the passing trees on the side of the road, and replied with a casual "I don't know. Where would you like to go? I would like to go somewhere with a Disney World, I've never been there before." She smiled at me as she slowed for red light, turning her signal light on to turn onto our street.

"Oh Darren, Disney World in Florida is amazing I've been there a couple times before in my youth," I looked at her wondering why she was suddenly talking as if she were an 80-year-old woman looking back on her memories. But I didn't want to burst her bubble therefore I let her continue on with her story. "Back close to the time when it first opened up, at least the first time I heard about. It was about, one year before you were born. We went there for the very first time 15 years ago. At least, I believe it was 15 years ago. It might have been more than 15 years ago, but I know it was before you were born but not too long before you were born." She turned onto our street, heading down the vacant road. At least at this time it was vacant. "It was nice, it was a very fun vacation." I nodded.

"Okay so," I looked down at my lap. "Florida?" She nodded turning into our driveway, and shutting the car off.

"I hear, that Florida's Disney World has a lot more in it than California's, plus it's closer than California's." I nodded. Geographically, it was closer which meant that there would be a lot less money spent on the trip to Florida then to California. Now was the big question, when were we going? I looked at her, debating on whether or not I wanted to ask her or rather if she was going to keep it a surprise. But, I guess if she was to keep as surprise, or if she was trying to keep as a surprise then she failed miserably at it by asking me where I wanted to go.

"So are we going or no? Or were you just wondering?" She smiled at me, her eyes wrinkling in crows feet on the outer edges of her eyes.

"Well, if you go and pack up then we can leave the day after tomorrow. Or we can go shopping today, seeing how as you came home from school early. Or we can wait till the end of the week before we pack up and decide to leave." I felt my heart leap at the offer of leaving school early in the week. I had made sure that I didn't miss too much school, just in case of something like this came around so that I could miss a few days of school if not a lot. I smiled at her and shoved my door open, feeling excited.

"Well, I'm going to need some shorts, and some new T-shirts. All the clothes that I have now are too short for me, this growth spurt is really kicking my butt. If you know what I mean." She laughed and nodded, patting my shoulder.

"Bowling know exactly how you feel, I had gone through growth spurt when I was your age only there was a lot more of me to grow. Example being, my breasts and my bottom." I stared at her disgusted just imagining her going from flat to normal busted, or average. I stood up out of the car and shut the door running into the house, I could hear her laughing behind me as I dashed to my bedroom to see exactly what it was I would need to buy for my trip. I was looking for some form of excuse to travel world wide at least a little bit, cause who knows? Maybe I can run into Evan while I'm there?