The Thing About Flip Flops

Chapter Fifteen: Funding Someone's Mental Breakdown Is The Best Form Of Support

It's a day until Melissa arrives and Henry's hyped. That's all I can really say. He downed four Red Bulls during first period and now he's trying to somehow trick the school vending machine into giving him more without having to pay for it.

God, I'll be so glad tomorrow when I'm not the one in charge of him anymore.

"Paid-enough-already-" He grunts in between thuds.

Annoyed by the noise, I chuck him a quarter. It bumps off his collar and falls to the ground.

"Fuck you," Henry says to me. "That hurt."

I roll my eyes. "Sorry."

He picks up the quarter anyway, adding it to his money and finally having enough to buy another Red Bull. Hey, I have to support him in some way. Funding his mental breakdown? Unfortunate, but what else am I supposed to do if I want to be a good sister?

"This is only until tomorrow," he tells me, referring to his current state. "I'll shape up before she gets here. But until then, I need to drink all the energy drinks I can so that I'm prepared. Be glad it's not alcohol, Audrey."

"What do you need to be prepared for?"

He folds his arms. "I dunno. She's going to be so happy to see me. Not to brag, or anything, but Melissa likes me. Damn, I'm lucky." He pauses. "But you know, she won't be anywhere near as excited as I'll be..." he trails off with a disgusting expression.

"Jesus! Forget I asked! What's wrong with you?!"

He just laughs and laughs and I stand there glaring at him.

I leave him fishing for his drink in the vending machine, grinning sheepishly, and go to poetry class.

***

Jack is waiting for me in his usual seat. When he sees me come through the door he holds up a hand in an exaggerated wave.

I don't wave back and instead take a seat, rolling my eyes. I run a hand through my hair because it's a bit messy.

We decide to actually work on our project, and we make so much progress that I don't think we'll have to work on it much anymore. Small edits and such might go a long way, but it's in a great place at the moment.

I'm really surprised when the bell rings. It feels like we just started. Who knew we could get so much done in such a small space of time?

But when I look at my watch, I see that more than an hour has passed.

Jack runs a hand through his hair, yawning.

I look away.

"Coming?" he says, picking his backpack up with one strong arm. This unintentionally shows off his muscles. "It's lunch now."

I nod, still not looking at him. "Y-yeah."

What the hell, Audrey? Stop!

I quickly get up to follow after him.

A few people look at us curiously as we walk down the hall together. I guess they wouldn't have pegged me for someone to hang out with someone like him. Also, he never really has friends around school, so they're used to only seeing him alone.

I cross my arms over my chest, trying to sink out of their sight, but I know it doesn't work.

Jack and I try to ignore them as we go to meet up with everybody else.

***

"So what's gotten into him?" Chris whispers to me as he sits beside me, looking pointedly at my brother.