Cool Kids [p. parker] || SLOW UPDATES

THIRTY-THREE

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
( CRUSHED HOPES )

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN Mom's taking me to school?"

Here's the thing: during the weekend, after hanging out with Anthony for a bit and then FaceTiming Marty, and after James and Mitch Rogers dragged him over to their place so they could hang out when no one else was home, Nick realized that maybe he could stop being so distant to everyone, because he really missed his friends. Don't get him wrong, he liked Richie, Ethan and Monty, and even Flash, but he missed going out into the city with Marty and planning out weekends so he could spend time with Ned and letting Olivia ramble about her feelings towards her boyfriend. So he decided that he would go back to them – until he remembered that it might make things awkward with Peter, and that they all might secretly hate him for pushing them all away, and that his explanation of why he pushed them away seemed so stupid to himself, so they might not even forgive him. Not to mention, he spent some time with his dad during the weekend as well, and that didn't end up in flames, so maybe life was getting a bit better.

But then come Monday morning, Nick woke up on time for once in his life – the first time his first alarm went off – and it's happened a few times before, and when it does, that usually meant Nick would have a pretty good day. Good days seemed far and few between lately; he would mostly have okay days, and sometimes terrible ones. The good days have been rare for a while now. So when the fifteen year old woke up, he made himself some coffee because he had time and made himself some frozen waffles, and put on some music on his phone as he ate and drank his coffee by himself, his dad getting ready in his own room. So between his good weekend with Anthony, Marty, James and Mitch, and last night's game of Mario Kart with his dad, and waking up on time, Nick was expecting a good as fuck day.

What he wasn't expecting was for Dan Berry to hurry into the kitchen, frazzled, with a guilty expression on is face as his son stuffed the last piece of his waffle in his mouth and paused his music, before calmly explaining that Sharon Berry had to take him to school for a few or so reasons: one, it was raining. Two, Dan had a meeting to get to and if he took Nick to school himself, he would be late, and he didn't want his son to be walking in the rain. Three, there was a mandatory Principal/Teacher/Student meeting for them, but because of Dan's work meeting he wouldn't be able to go, but Sharon was free, making her the only option for Nick's ride to school and the only parent to be at the meeting. And Dan told Nick exactly that.

"Trust me, Nick, I would come if I could, but I can't miss this meeting. I've already missed one," he explained more.

Nick's brows furrowed as he stared at his dad. In that moment, he knew that he wasn't going to have the good day he wanted, or expected. He didn't know what to say. He knew what he was feeling – resentment towards his dad for agreeing to his mom drive him to school, anger towards his mom, annoyance that his day was already going down hill –but he didn't know how to verbally say those things, especially as he was trying not to act rude to his dad. Nick pursed his lips and forced himself to nod, keeping quiet.