After Fire - Dreamnotfound

Six|it's adulting time, boys

The Civil War was not the battle of the United States. It was the battle of the Union vs the Confederacy. They were not united; in fact, they were far from it. It started with the rise of the Republican party. They were anti-slavery while the Democrats were pro-slavery. Because of this, the south began to secede starting with South Carolina. From there, the Civil War began when the south fired the first shots at Fort Sumt—

"You're seriously doing homework on a roadtrip?"

George jumped, and his pen streaked across the page and over the passage he had just written. He pushed up against the car door and hid his notebook from view, and he squinted his eyes as he attempted to use what little light he could harbor from the Best Buy parking lot they had decided to stay the night under to find where he had left off.

"What class?" Asked Clay after receiving no response.

"Math," George replied, bringing his knees closer to his chest while still being able to see. He had begun to continue his sentence about Fort Sumter before getting the notebook plucked from his grip.

"Some math equations. The union plus the confederacy equals a recipe for long-term disaster," He said, chuckling at his own joke. "This is everything I told you. You actually listened."

George rolled his eyes. "Barely." He attempted to snatch the book back only for Clay to pull it out of his reach.

"You literally copied exactly what I said for some of these. Why are you even writing all that crap down?"

George shrugged. "So I get something substantial out of living here."

"What, is my stuck-up parents and annoying little sister not enough?"

"That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that I'm supposed to learn about American culture and so far all I've learned is that the high schoolers here are immature and annoying."

"I'm not immature and annoying," Clay said, his voice reaching up an octave.

George raised an eyebrow. "You and your friends are all immature drama kings. A break-up isn't a big deal."

Clay scoffed. "Easy for you to say. I bet you've never been through one."

It was an easy assumption to make. Not many people had witnessed a break-up let alone experienced one. For any normal matched couple, they usually got along perfectly fine aside from the occasional bickering. That was why the majority of the population waited to meet their soulmates before getting into a relationship. It was a guaranteed road to their happily ever after.

And though it was true that George had never witnessed a break-up, there were days he wished he did. Sometimes it seemed as if a break-up could have saved him from many dark years that would somehow cause a suburban nuclear family across the ocean to be his saving grace.

He flipped through the notebook, and George leaned over and climbed over him to grab it. The younger boy held it out the window and laughed mischievously.

"I will not hesitate to drop it and drive away, George."

"You're so annoying. Give it back."

"Let me read it!" Clay opened up his door and walked out to the empty parking lot, slamming it behind him. George quickly followed behind, rounding around the car to find Clay with his face stuffed in the book before pulling out his phone and turning on the flashlight. He flipped through the notebook, scoffing every so often. "You talk about me a lot, Bitch Boy."

"Because all you ever do is irritate me." He reached for the book when Clay turned around.

"Watch it, Shorty." He flipped to the first page. "July 16," He read out loud before falling silent.  Only a few moments later, he broke out into a loud fit of laughter that the astronauts above could hear. "Even in your first entry you talk about me! Just throw money at me already. What is this? A diary?"