My Life as June

Chapter 8: Curse You, Universe

      Have you ever done something in the spur of the moment, then the next moment, you instantly regret doing so? Well, that's how I'm feeling right now.

       Everyone's eyes are on me. Nathan, my mom and dad are all awe stricken at the words that had just come out of my mouth.  Did they not see this coming?  They'd been arguing and bickering nonstop while Nathan and I were trying to eat supper.

       "Excuse me?" My mom says in a penetrating tone.  The little spark of confidence within me burns out at my mom's threatening tone. My head drops down instantly and I glue my eyes onto the plate of fettuccini in front of me. I stare at the plate like it's the most interesting thing in the world in order to avoid my mom's eyes.

       "I'm sorry, Mom. I don't know what went through me. I shouldn't have said that," I say in a softly, choosing my words very carefully. Had I said the wrong thing, or used the wrong tone, I would've been dead meat.

       "Yes, well you should be-" My mom's voice is interrupted.

       "No, sweetheart, you're right," my dad says, "We shouldn't have been fighting like that.  You do not need to say sorry for stopping us from arguing."

       My mom stares at my dad in bewilderment, "You're just gonna let her say that? Yeah, maybe we shouldn't have been fighting, but she had no right to use that tone with us," my mom says to my dad as if I wasn't sitting across the table from her.

       I avoid making eye contact with both my parents while they whisper to each other. Finally, when the whispers stop, my mom changes the subject. She clears her throat to get our attention, "We're going to go visit Jackson tomorrow afternoon. Dr. Magdeline says he's doing well and his stats are all stable. 'Says he's only been getting better and better these past two weeks."

       "That's good," I say in a monotone.

       I hurriedly eat all of my food, trying to eat as fast as I can so I can leave the table and the tension between all of us. What has happened to our once loving family? The family that would be able to talk about random, silly things at the dinner table; the one that would spend Friday nights watching movies together; the one that would have family game night every Sunday. What happened to that family? Are they really letting money tear apart family? I wish money and possessions weren't such a big deal. I mean, nobody's gonna go to your funeral and say "Yeah, she had a really expensive house and really nice shoes".

       The next day was no extraordinary day.  I woke up, met Noah downstairs eating breakfast, drove to school in his sleek, black Porsche, listened (somewhat attentively) to the teachers speaking so passionately about the subject.  See, that was the thing about this school.  Beverly Hills High is one of the most prestige high schools in the state, so they have an abundant amount of money, which buys some pretty great teachers, and pretty great sports equipment, and some apparently impressive school dances.  What else do you expect from the City of Commerce?

       Everything was going perfectly normal up until lunch.

       Jen and I meet Lizzie at our usual table at the bottom of the cafeteria, wearing her usual straight face and dark clothes. We begin munching- more like devouring- our lunches when Noah, Fransisco, and Asher meet us at our table.

       "What's up?" Noah greets us with a smile plastered on his face.  I light up at the sight of him, but then my shoulders drop as I see him taking a seat next to Lizzie, leaving an unoccupied seat on my left, which is soon taken by Fransisco.