Hell on Earth

Chapter Seventeen - Back to School

"It is most definitely not an awesome year," Cynthia sighed as she sat down in the library next to Jonathan. Steve and Nancy sat across from them. They were all hanging out for Steve to start his college application and the others to do homework.

"We've been in school one week," Nancy looked up at her. "How can you say anything about the year?"

"Because this school and town is god awful," Cynthia crossed her arms and put her head down. "The teachers are bitches and the students are absolutely terrible."

"What have people been doing?" Jonathan asked.

"Just the usual," Cynthia looked at him. "Name-calling, jabs, the like. I'm ready for high school to be over."

"Me first, Cynthia," Steve looked up from his college applications.

"It's different for you," Cynthia said. "You're King Steve, remember. You're untouchable."

"She does have a point there, Steve," Jonathan said.

"Maybe so," Steve looked back at his college applications. "But I still want to graduate as soon as possible."

"Cynthia, you said you have a plan, right," Nancy said.

"Of course I have a plan to get out of here," Cynthia said. "I've planned my escape very carefully."

"Here we go," Jonathan said as he pulled out some homework.

"I'm at the top of my class, second behind only you, Nancy Drew," Cynthia laid out her plan. "I'm going to apply to Purdue's business program, get accepted, get a full ride, and leave this town in its rearview mirror when I become a famous writer and artist."

"See," Nancy said. "You have a plan to get out of here. You'll be fine."

"Yeah, she just has to get through her junior and senior year," Jonathan said. "That's the part she conveniently forgets every single time."

"You'll all be fine," Steve said as he put away his college applications.

"Once again, easy for you to say," Jonathan grumbled.

"Look, Steve," Nancy said. "You know that Cynthia and Jonathan don't have the best experience with the people at this high school."

"You two will be fine," Steve said. "You're hanging with me now. If anyone says anything and I hear about it, I'll take care of it."

"You're turning out to be a good person, Steve," Cynthia said as she grabbed one of her notebooks.

"Shouldn't you have homework to do?" Steve said.

"I take a study hall during my seventh hour," Cynthia started to write some things down in her notebook. "Junior year is the one everyone says is hell, so I decided to be kind to myself."

"You really are smart," Steve said. "Maybe even smarter than Nancy. She didn't do that."

"Which is why she will beat me in terms of class rank and GPA," Cynthia said.

"You just want more time to do the things you actually like," Jonathan said.

"Bingo," Cynthia smiled.

"With how much you write, I'm surprised that you don't already have three books published," Nancy said. "I don't think that you've ever been without a notebook to write in."

"Or a sketchbook to draw in," Jonathan added.

"It's a slow process," Cynthia laughed. "I have to write my first draft, then edit it, then re-write it a whole bunch of times to make sure it's perfect. Then, there's the whole entire point of having to try and get it published."

"So where are you in the process?" Steve asked.

"I'm waiting until I can save up to buy a computer," Cynthia explained. "I want to be able to write everything and be able to save it, print it, and easily edit it."

"That's quite the goal," Steve said.

"I've had worse ideas than that," Cynthia joked.

"Technically, it was Nancy's and my idea," Jonathan said. "The two you tagged along."

"I was there since the beginning," Cynthia corrected. "Steve was the tag along."

"You two are ridiculous," Nancy rolled her eyes.

"You're the one who wanted to be friends with us," Cynthia smiled.

"Are you three always like this?" Steve asked.

"Only when we want to be," Cynthia stood up. "I got to get home. Mom is working tonight, so I have to make dinner and make sure that everything is in order at my house."

Everyone bid her farewell. Cynthia left the library and headed towards the parking lot. By the front door, there were a whole bunch of club posters. She smiled as she looked at them: it was always fun to see some of the things that were happening at the school. She ignored the sports teams and focused on some of the less popular clubs. There were posters for auditions for the Drama Club, help wanted posters for the school newspaper, even a sign up sheet for a club called Hellfire. She walked out to her car and headed home.

When she got home, she took out some meat to thaw for pasta. She left that out and went to her room to paint. Cynthia put on her headphones and let herself get lost in the music. She smiled as Edge of Seventeen started to play in her ears. This was her favorite mixtape that Jonathan had made her. She painted a night full of stars. It was something simple, but filled her with joy. After about an hour, Cynthia left her painting to prepare for dinner.

Dustin was coming through the door when Cynthia started to prepare dinner. He sat at the table and started on his homework.

"How was school?" Cynthia asked.

"Good," Dustin said. "We're just getting into some simple stuff in all my classes, so nothing is really too hard. It's just the basics."

"That's good," Cynthia said. "It's always good to ease back into the school year after summer. How was AV Club?"

"Awesome," Dustin told her. "Mr. Clark is teaching us so much cool stuff."

"Probably stuff that is way over my head," Cynthia said as she stirred the pasta in its pot.

Soon, dinner was done, and the siblings sat down at the table to eat. Cynthia made sure that Dustin had some fruits and vegetables with his meal.

"You never tell me about your day," Dustin said. "All you want to hear about is mine."

"High school isn't like the movies, kid," Cynthia told him. "I'm a loser at school. The only thing that makes it bearable are my friends."

"Good thing, you have good friends," Dustin said. "Just like I have."

"You'll do great in high school," Cynthia said. "I'm sure you'll find your spot. In fact, I was looking at posters for clubs and I saw one called Hellfire. It looks like it's a club for people who like DND."

"Really?" Dustin smiled at her. "That's awesome!"

"I thought you would like it," Cynthia laughed. "Come on, let's finish dinner. There's ice-cream in the fridge that we can have after we're done with the dishes."

Dustin nodded. The siblings finished their dinner. Cynthia was glad that her brother had so much hope. She was even happier that she would be there with him for his first year of high school. High school was shit for her. There was no way she was going to let it be that way for her brother.