Jerks of Springville High

n i n e t e e n

Chapter 19: Accepting Flaws and Odd Parental Figures

When I read books or watched movies with people getting drunk then ending up with hangovers I admit, I stupidly thought it was all a lie. I knew the truth when I woke up to the most painful headache I had ever had. To make matters worse people were making a ton of noise all over the house, like elephants stomping all over the place, making noise out of their trunks.

Then again that could have been my sensitivity heightened with this stupid hangover thing.

I groaned, forcing my eyelids open only to close them shut with regret, the brightness of the sun blinding me and making my head pounding even more.

"Look who's awake." Someone said enthusiastically.

"Jane?" I mumbled, opening my eyes. "What are you doing in my room?"

She ignored my question and handed me an aspirin and a glass of water which I took gratefully. When I finished, she took the glass from me and placed it on my desk then sat on my bed by my side.

"So when were you going to tell us?"

"What do you mean?" I sat up. "Tell you what?"

Jane sighed, standing up. "That you live with Grayson."

"I don't live with Grayson," her face dropped and she folded her arms. When she was about to say something I stopped her. "Grayson lives with me."

"Same difference." Another person muttered and I jumped up, wincing.

I relaxed when I realized it was just Cameron. He was at my desk, leaning into my chair on his phone. "No it's not." I muttered, laying my head back down. "I was supposed to tell you guys when the Wicked Witch caught me, but I kind of got sidetracked." I dragged out, thinking about when I met up with Dustin.

"Well we're here now?" Jane said. "Would you like to fill us in on this little piece of missing information?"

I sighed. "Okay, well, to start off Grayson lives with me and the reason why is because--"

"--Your mom needed help paying the bills and his dad lost his job. His dad recognized your mom's name in an ad on a newspaper and called her immediately, taking the offer. They signed a bunch of documents and tada they're here." Cameron deadpanned as I stared at him in confusion. He shrugged. "We asked him why he was here not realizing your mom was in the room. She's the one who told us everything."

"She also mentioned being surprised that you had visitors. Apparently we were never mentioned." Jane said. "Why's that?"

I stared at the two of them wondering if there was something I missed last night at the party. The air felt tense and it was strange that not once did Cameron glance up from his phone to look at me. Their normal happy faces were replaced with serious ones and suddenly this interaction felt like an interrogation which slightly annoyed me because I was so confused. I mean, I understand them being upset about why I never told them about Grayson especially after I promised I would, but did anything happen last night that tied into this?

"If Grayson was in the room, you should've asked him." I said, annoyed. Partly because I was irritated by what was happening and also because that aspirin was doing nothing to soothe my headache. "Now what are you doing here so early in the morning? How do you know where I live? And what happened after I left with Jake after we got more drinks?"

I tried to scramble through my brain to pick up anything I might've done, but I found nada.

"It's way past noon, we came to drop your jeep off, and we know where you live because we dropped you home after the stupid party." Cameron said