the exception

1. milk girl

Ricky's pov

I was walking down the stairs to head out to school, and I was greeted with my parents, who seemed to be having a serious discussion. They never tell me what they're talking about, but I still attempt anyways.

"Hey", I said.

Their heads turned to look at me and they smiled, so I smiled back.

"Oh, hey Ricky", my dad, Mike, said.

"What are you guys talking about?", I asked, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.

My mom, Lynne, sighed as she walked over to me, "Honey, your dad has to leave on another flight."

I gave her a puzzled look, "Uh, okay...I mean that's his job."

"No, I uh...I'll be gone for around two months Ricky, and I won't have cell service.", my dad explains.

I felt my heart drop. That's the longest he'll ever have been away...without service. I was so shocked I just stood there in my kitchen, blankly staring at my parents with an open mouth.

"Sweetie, I know it's a long time but-"

I cut my mom off, "He just got back! Are you kidding me? Why do they have to take him away again already?! Two months without a dad?!"

Before my parents could say anything else I had walked out of our house and got into my car, speeding down the road towards the school. It may seem as if I was overreacting but surprisingly...I was the closest with the one parent who was always away. My mom seems to never have time for me...so I went to my dad. Now, I have to deal with everything on my own. This should be fun.

I arrive at East High and get out, slamming my door shut. I walk inside and make my way towards my locker, where my friends happened to be waiting for me.

"Dude, what took you so long?", Gina asks.

I shrug, "Uh...traffic?"

"You live five minutes away. There can't be that much traffic.", Red argues.

"Is something wrong?", Ej asks. I'm assuming he noticed the different attitude...and I probably looked tense.

"Yeah...everything's fine.", I reply, plastering a fake smile.

"You're the worst liar. Spill.", Gina demands.

I groan, "My dad's leaving for two whole months...and he's not gonna have cell service."

All three of my friends stay silent. I give them an odd look, raising my eyebrows, waiting for a reply.

"Thanks for the help, guys.", I sarcastically say, walking away.

Nina's pov

When I was walking up to the entrance of East High, I noticed a red jeep pull up and a boy got out, slamming the door shut. He looked pretty upset...I wonder what happened? I was gonna approach him but figured I shouldn't, considering he looked like he was going to punch something...I wasn't about to be his target. I continued walking through the doors and down the hallway towards my locker. As I was exchanging books, my best friends came up to me.

"Hey Nina!", Seb smiles.

"Hey guys!", I smile back.

"What's wrong? You look sad?", Kourtney asks.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just saw a kid earlier who looked really upset.", I explained.

"Nina!", Carlos whisper-shouts, hitting my arm.