degenerate - bja

11

october 3, 1989

"shit." i muttered, waking up monday morning. i spent saturday and sunday mostly in my bed. Even though i didn't necessarily want to go to homecoming, it was still a travesty (in my opinion anyways). I also regretted disappointing my mom, and now i would have to disappoint mike, which i felt the worst about. like billie said friday night, to be sure not to hurt mike's feelings. but surely he would understand right? i mean he's probably gotten into deep shit with his parents too.

i pulled on some jeans and an old willie nelson shirt. i decided some lucky charms would suffice until "nutrition" — which was basically just high school recess. i also decided that as soon as i saw mike i would tell him that my mon busted my ass and that i would not be able to go to homecoming.

my mom left for work already, and i figured i could probably play hooky and avoid the whole thing. but that wouldn't do so much in the way of redeeming myself.

I homeroom i told the girls what happened, and they gave me some useful advice on how to tell mike. rose said i should call him "mikey" when i'm saying it, and angelina said i should exaggerate what my mom did so he would feel more sympathy for me and not for himself. the much dreaded bell for homeroom's end rang. i dawdled for a bit with the girls but left before i could be late.

mike was already sitting down when i walked in, his posture unusually straight. today he was wearing his old cargo pants, an mtv shirt, and an old red windbreaker.

"hey!" mike said when I sat down. through his doofy smile i could see that he was chewing a piece of gum.

i gave him a slight smile back, but i couldn't wait any longer without killing the angel on my shoulder. "hey, mikey. so, about homecoming." I said while writing in my notebook. "well, thanks so much for asking me to go with you. but last night when i came home my mom totally blew up cause she could tell i was high. she banned me from going to the dance, ripped the phone out of my wall too, the whole sha-bang. i'm really sorry."

i finally looked him in the eyes and saw his smile fall. "oh. i mean, it's no biggie, really. i'm sorry we got you in trouble with your mom." he tried to laugh it off, but i could tell he was bummed.

"maybe next year though? if you don't get kicked out of this school too." i joked, playfully elbowing him. he chuckled and sent his focus back to twirling his pencil.

AN: lets gooo finally a new chapter. also judging by how far along its come, this book is probably gonna be longer than i intended. woo hoo