The Nerd Effect #Wattys2017

Chapter 13- High School Are You Kidding Me?

It had been 3 days since the day of reckoning at the cave. The night I had arrived, my brother had been there, but hadn't been attentive enough to notice that I had been late, or that I had even come home.
I had had to tell Payton not to come inside in the mornings, being that my brother would have rather had him drive me to school rather than my friend, despite my wishes.

It was stricter than having my parents. Or what I assumed it was like to have parents. There were days, and those days terrified me, when I couldn't remember my mom and dad's faces. Or their voices, or some other aspect to them.

I sighed as I stared at myself in the mirror. I had woken up early for some reason, and I had about half an hour before I had to meet Payton in front of my house. I had an angry red scratch across my cheek, and I couldn't remember exactly where I had gotten it.

My stomach rumbled in hunger, but I usually didn't eat anything and didn't think I should start now. My brother was still passed out in the living room. Or his bedroom. I honestly couldn't tell where he was actually spending his nights, but I knew mine were sleepless.

I had spent so long living in a house all by myself, that I had gotten used to the weird noises that the fridge would make, or the heater. It was completely different with Andrew here. Not only did he throw off my life, he made it so much harder to feel safe around the house. I guess I was still scared after the incidents.

My phone dinged and I looked at it. It was a text from my mother. I looked at it, a noticeably curious look on my face as I picked it up from the counter. It only read 'remember, we're coming home for a few days next week.'

They would be missing both my birthday, and graduation. Another reason to hate my parents. I sighed loudly through my nose and set the phone back down, turning it off as I did so.

I never felt a downright hatred towards my parents, but there was always tension and strong dislike. It would be so much better if they never came back at all.

I walked back out into the hallway, trying to be extra quiet in case Andrew was in his room, back to my room.

I could have moved into the master bedroom, where my parents stayed when they came, but I had decided to stay in my small, but cozy, little bedroom at the very back of the house. If you walked up the stairs, mine was the door that faced directly onto it.

I sat on my bed and started thinking. My parents could've given me, and even my brother up for adoption, being that we were mistakes, but they didn't. Instead they left me with my brother, and then sent him away to shortly after. They could be arrested for the fact that they had made me live alone since I was 6, but it was water under the bridge now.

If I had been adopted, I never would've met Olivia and Payton. Or had those 'incidents' with Andrew. I never would've fallen for Christopher.

Oh god, Christopher. With Andrew being back, he had been pushed out of top priority in my thoughts. Sitting there on my bed then, I started thinking about him again. I had never felt the way I feel towards him, than I've ever felt towards anyone.

I was one of those girls who believed in love at first site. Who hated the thought of having multiple boyfriends, or, remembering Olivia, girlfriends. I had always believed in someone having a soul mate. And I'll be damned if I didn't think there was a possibility Christopher was my soulmate.

Looking at my clock, I realized that I had been lost in thought for about 20 minutes. I needed to go meet Payton out in the driveway so we could go to school together.

"Hey, you okay?" Pay asked me as I walked towards my car.

"As fine as I can be, I guess." I responded, shrugging. This was an indicator to Payton that I was thinking about a lot, and that she shouldn't question me too hard. Thankfully, after years of knowing me, she got the indicator, and we drove to school in near silence.