My Life on the Brightside

7

I stood there with wet eyes and my hand over my face as I stood over the smoking  pile of metal that was once my car. My younger brother Anthony stood next to me with his head phones glued to his ears bobbing his head like nothing even happened. My parents arrived at the accident scene about 10 minutes later. I had hit the tail hitch of a red truck while changing the song. The tail hitch went through just right to hit my radiator. My favorite tan minivan had disappeared. It was only 10 days before Christmas, so that wasn't making my holiday season enjoyable, not  to mention my low C grade average in precalculus was making my mother nag me nonstop. The only thing I looked forward to was the upcoming premier of Star Wars 7.

I had 4 tickets to see the premier with my friends. One for Ross, Todd, and Joshua, and one that needed to be decided. Ever since she was dumped, Brook was trying to reconnect with me. I offered the ticket to her if the guys didn't want anyone else going, but our friend Keith decided to join us, which was a pleasant surprise. He had been at our school in 5th grade with me and Todd and had recently returned to the school. As we walked into the theater, us three were recognized and greeted by an old classmate who we went to 5th grade with us. She sat with us and got my number after the movie. I had a choice: reconnect with Brook or try something new with an old classmate. Earlier that day Brook had ditched me to hangout with Lloyd, so the answer was clear to me.

While Brook hated my guts, I dated the theater girl for about 7 weeks and we went our separate ways. As I walked into the school after probably the easiest break up of my life, others did not seem to have my luck. Rachel was heartbroken. Her boyfriend of one and a half years had broken up with her around the same time. This was the first time since that party that we were both single at the same time. Although I knew I was available, I knew she wasn't. Todd and maybe two other guys were already flocking to her in her time of distress. I knew it wasn't exactly the best move in the world to hit on a currently heartbroken girl who was being hit on by one of my best friends, so I let the notion of us being a thing go. 

April was approaching when Rachel and Todd finally got together. It felt like forever. I always shipped them despite kissing her and feeling that tension. He was a good guy, and I thought he deserved a girl like her. Although I felt happy for him, this also meant another thing: Todd was ditching Joshua and I's plans to ditch prom for her, just like Philadelphia. We were mad at first and poked fun at him, but we got over it and decided we would just hangout at my place and watch our favorite movie, 2001 a Space Odyssey. It was still March when I received a text from Brook.

Rachel was off the market with Todd and no one else was necessarily on the market, so I had nothing to lose. She asked me if I wanted to hangout sometime and catch up and I, like the dumb ass that I sometimes am, said yes. That night something happened and it reminded me of when we use to date, the good times we had. Suddenly the bad times didn't exist. I, being the dumb ass I most definitely was here in this particular situation, kissed her in hopes of reviving what we once had. 

We started seeing each other again in secret because she made plans to go to prom with Lloyd. He noticed glances we exchanged and immediately decided all of us in the group were backstabbers and no longer associated with us. Were our old feelings revived despite that whole ordeal? No. No they were not. In fact, she said that feelings should not be too heavily involved in what we were. I felt horrible every day after that with her and told her it was a stupid misunderstanding. She hated my guts again, but only for about two weeks, because that's when we started planning the group summer trip to Carowinds.