My 30 Day Challenge

Chapter 11

Day 2: What part of your body is most affected by it?

 I didn’t get any sleep at all that night. I told Vic I was fine, and left him to go to sleep, but he didn’t go easily. I’m not sure why he bothers.

I decided I’d go for a walk, get some fresh air. The sun had barely risen; enough time for me to walk a fair distance and back before breakfast. I got dressed in my usual jeans and long sleeve t-shirt, and was on my way out of my room when I saw a note taped to my door.

Kellin—

I’m not going to be at school today, I have an appointment. You and Mike need to get to school another way. DO NOT LET HIM DRIVE.

Today’s question is ‘what part of your body is most affected?’ I’ll be back later in the afternoon. We can talk about it then.

Have fun.

-Vic

An appointment? Was he just ditching again? I guessed I’d find out later. For now, though, I was going to go and burn calories I didn’t need to.

I didn’t bother leaving a note for the Fuentes’. I’d be back before they could worry.

I headed down the street, taking note of where I turned so I could find my way back. My muscles were stiff from not moving much overnight, but it was nice to stretch them for once. I never really got the opportunity to do this back in Oregon; it was too dangerous. My area of the city wasn’t very nice, so it wasn’t safe to walk around unless it was the middle of the day.

I pushed thoughts of today’s question out of my head; I could deal with them later with Vic. Instead I forced myself to think about anything other than that; how nice the day was going to be, from the looks of it, how I’d blown off the guys yesterday afternoon and how I would say yes next time, how I was apparently going to a party on Friday night. Hell, I was not looking forward to that.

After what felt like a half hour of walking away from the house, I turned around and walked back. When I got home, no one was even up yet, so I went back to my room and lay down on my bed, thinking still. I started to wonder where Vic was. I’d ask Mike later.

And there was my main problem, which I had conveniently forgotten – Mike put someone in hospital. His parents didn’t seem too worried about anything he might have done, from what I could tell. I couldn’t ask; for one thing, how the hell do you say ‘hey, I heard you put a guy in hospital. True?’. Also, Jack had asked me not to mention his name, and Mike would surely ask where I’d found out. My only real option was to wait until he decided to tell me.

When I went down for breakfast, Mike was surprisingly already there.

‘Kellin, hey. We have to get the bus this morning, unless you want me to call Jaime or Tony,’ he said through a mouthful of cereal.

‘Uh, I’m fine with whatever,’ I shrugged, getting my own bowl. I didn’t want to piss the guy off now; I was so scared!

‘I could drive, I suppose…’

‘Vic told me not to let you drive,’ I said drily.

He mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like ‘motherfucker’ under his breath. ‘Anyway, mom and dad are gone for this afternoon. I don’t really plan on doing much; if you want me to like, show you around town or something, let me know. Otherwise I’ll probably make plans with someone at school.’

‘Nah, I’m fine. Go do what you want.’

‘Sweet! I really don’t want to have to deal with people on the bus, so I’m gonna call Jaime, alright?’ I nodded. Finishing my food, I headed upstairs and sat on my bed waiting. A moment or two later, Mike popped his head around my doorway and said ‘He’ll be here in two.’ I went to the bathroom, quickly brushed my teeth, grabbed my bag, and headed downstairs, where Jaime was parked but Mike was not in the car.