WE STILL EXIST

Chapter Nine- Heated Arguments

CODEN JAMES

I can't focus on anything.

The black and white lines engrave their selves into my memory as I read page after page of nonsense conducted by my father. The first task of the internship, go over proposals made by each group and weed out the good from the bad.

The heat from the sun makes the back of my neck sweat when the window shuts. That paint on the wall sweat with condensation, this place is falling apart.

I've gone over seven proposals so far and none of them seem good enough to act on. However, the recycled water reservoir stands out to me. It is not that I love it, I hate it.

Noah and her father gave a good speech and I find it compelling, and so did everyone else at the meeting.

Two things we don't have are the materials and time that is needed for this to happen before winter comes. Water will be more scarce than it is now and people will be filtered out until spring. We have been fighting that for years, but lately, it seems more people are hiding away.

Voices saunter down the hall from my father's office. Two people stop by the door and bicker about something. The voices are hushed and can not be made out.

Once seems softer than the other in the argument. Male and female voices are outside of the door.

Maddie barges in with her friend from the party, Andrew. She pauses when she sees me and looks around the cluttered room full of shit.

"Where is Dad?"

I shrug, "he left me here about an hour ago."

She wears a tight lip smile. Andrew doesn't look at me, his eyes wander around the room trying to focus on anything else than this awkward encounter.

Smug with the outcome of his reaction, I get out of the uncomfortable chair and walk over to him. He sees me coming and shakes his head.

"My mom is waiting for me to get back to the house," he walks away leaving my sister standing next to me.

Maddie squints at me, "you did that on purpose."

More of an accusation than a question. She should know by now that a low life like him will never be good enough for my sister or this family line.

Rolling her eyes, she walks out of the office and slams the door shut behind her. She has always been a fucking drama queen.

I need a break.

Quickly locking up the proposals and the office door, I walk outside to the back. Some people are standing, walking around, drinking fancy cocktails, and kids running around.

Spotting my father, I turn around the building and walk the other way. There are not as many people in the front of the building as in the back, I feel a sense of calm walking away from them. Older men give me a grim smile and their wives give me a slight wave when I pass by them.

Always kissing ass.

Trucking down the dirt road out of the first group to the second, there is a lake behind one of the compounds. It is mostly quiet in the morning over here, the water is still acidic according to the Blake's finds last night.

At the meeting, I couldn't stop looking at Noah. I watched her when she wasn't looking at me, which was almost the entire time.

I don't know why I was looking at her, most of the stuff she was saying didn't concern me. Her dad was the one using most of the findings to propose the solution. It is the same shit every year and nothing new comes out of it.