I am terrified. Any place where I could stay at the moment would be just dandy, since I haven't paid my rent for the past three months and luckily managed not to get kicked out.
Still, I had a deadline, which happened to be today at this very time. I had known this when my landlord came pounding on my door six o'clock in the morning telling me to pay up or get out, and not enough money did I have to hand over.
Little quarters in my jacket pocket jingled, as I made my way down the street to the nearby payphone. Yes, I had offered her the quarters, but she strictly disapproved by saying, "Uh, no" and continued to rummage through my one-bedroom apartment until I finally stepped out the threshold of my home.
And now I only have one choice to make.
As I entered the filthy booth, I searched the phonebook for the only friend I have.
Conner Reed and I have been friends since the forth grade, when physical differences or anti-sociality didn't exactly exist. When we were both ten, Conner would tease me at school and make jokes we would both laugh at. We would talk at lunch with a bunch of other kids who would argue if grape jelly or apple jelly was better on their sandwiches. Unfortunately, all the people faded out of my life, except for Conner who was and still is there for me.
At the age of thirteen, I had gone through the stage of adolescence. My face was covered with acne, and puberty stroke me like a bow and arrow. Four years. That's how long it's been since I've gotten out of that stage, and my face cleared up of former blemishes, and huge pimples. Now at the age of eighteen, I've managed to go live on my own after leaving my former fosterhome, where the nuns would take care of me and have enough money to let me attend high school and have things other fortunate kids had. Of course, my clothes weren't the best, nor were my shoes. People at school would walk past me and yell; "Fake Chucks!" while I stood my ground and yelled back at them swearing and attending BSD- before school detention because of my demented scenes.
My temper had gotten me in the situation in the first place, for yelling at a customer who purposely threw their sauce-covered burger at me, and declared they tripped. They didn't know I'd seen those twisted smirks on their faces, before that girl did that to me, so I gave her a piece of my mind and was fired from the job.
So now I stand here, with my hand on the phone and my other balled up in my pocket. The phone rang twice, before Conner picked up.
"Hello?"
I knew I'd woken him up from his sleep as soon as he groaned in the receiver.
"Hey, Conner?" I questioned.
Things were being moved around.
"Haven, are you okay?"
My head shook left to right, as if he could see me.
"No..." I trailed on, "do you mind if I could stay by your apartment for a day?"
One thing I hated doing was asking people for favors, because usually they don't understand the cause of the effect of the conflict. But I had to remember this was Conner. He understands.
"Of course, I'll be there in five minutes."
As soon as he finished the last word, the line went dead. That's how I liked it. No questions were asked.
I ambled out of the booth, and went to sit on the lawn in front of the apartments. Moms were kissing their children good-bye, as their purse swayed front to back in one hand, and their car keys dangled in the other.
Teenagers locked their doors, as they made their way down the steps of the apartment, and jumped into their fancy convertibles and drove off to school, or pick up one of their friends.
