Shepherd: An Autobiography (Ongoing)

I Don't Do Mornings

          "Wake up bitch, you 'bout to be late and I'm not driving you to school!" Jacqueline's whisper-yelling and the cold water that just got splashed on my face, startle me enough to snap out of my slumber. I look over at my clock once I get out of my sheets. It's 5:30. It's five thirty, FIVE THIRTY! My bus comes at 6:30AM.
            "GET OUT OF MY ROOM YOU HEATHEN!" I yell at her, I can hear the spawn of Satan cackling from behind the door now. Annoyance boiling within me, I start getting ready for school. Jac's heckling me the whole way through, asking me why I'm doing this and why I'm doing that, while constantly telling me that I'm going to be late. She doesn't do this often because she is either asleep or at work. But for some reason, Jac is up and in my face.
          "Don't you have a whole baby to watch right now, ya know your son, Josiah? Like, leave me alone already."
          "He is asleep and you have ten minutes." Jac smiles devilishly and walks downstairs, finally leaving me to my own devices. I hastily slap on a little concealer and powder, brush some tinted brow gel through my brows, and put lip gloss on. I'll have to do my mascara on the bus. Jac has already opened the front door for me. Putting on my oversized bomber jacket (it's my dad's, don't judge me), I go outside.
           "Have fun, hoe!" Jac smiles and waves at me. I scowl, "Fuck a cactus, Jac." But the door is already closed. Groaning, I put my shoes on, sitting on the bench I had painted last summer.
           "Hi, friend," Gabriel is walking up to me with his head burrowed into his coat. It's not even that cold outside.
           "Hey, Gabriel."
           The bus roars in the distance and Gabriel goes on ahead of me, silently. Been like that for a while now; I despise it. Even when he finally hung out with me yesterday, I had to beg and preen for days. It took that dagger that I made to get him to come over. He's been unlike himself for the past couple months because of the girl he's "dating". I mean they're not official, it's like off and on talking. Quite strange actually. His mood fluctuates dramatically depending on what happens between the two of them. Gabriel is going to be negative and more obnoxious than usual today it seems.
            I hate it.
            The bus ride is relatively quiet, Gabriel asked me a couple questions about yesterday, asking if I was okay and if I made anything else. I thought about telling him that I Manifested a monkey but knowing him, I would never hear the end of it.
             "Um, nothing really happened after they all laughed at me. I just wasn't able to Manifest  anything; too fried I guess."
             "Uh-huh...well at least you're alright. Anyways, look at this game I downloaded last night. This shit is lit!"
             I peer over his arm and see an MMORPG style fighting game with big-breasted anime girls and guns. I'm not downloading any of this shit; it's not like I hate MMORPGs; I love them. It's just that I don't play games on my phone a lot. I usually play puzzles or arcade games. Gabriel starts choosing his character and stops on a girl with white hair and a light blue "dress", she is practically naked.
             Gabriel looks over at me, "Guess her power bruh."
             "Ice, I guess?"
             "Ayeee, you know it, we icy out here," He's cheesing widely, his smile is so contagious I can't help but grin. He does this almost everyday; mentioning ice in some way shape or form. I still hate his guts though. I listen to some music through my busted ass Bluetooth headphones. One of the earbuds doesn't work and I've been struggling for the past couple months trying to find replacements.
              The bus arrives at Astra High (everyone calls it Astro though): the infamous high school where some of the best hoes and drama of Clayton, North Carolina reside. It's a charmingly old school just dripping with ratchetness. I don't really belong here due to that simple fact, and yet, here I am, walking off the bus and into the cafeteria.

              
               As I walk in, I feel the eyes of my friends staring at me. I hate it when people do that shit; no one says "hi" until I'm a couple feet away. Just watching me.
               "Hey, Nio," Elena shimmies her way over to me smiling; her cheeks lifting her glasses. I give a small grin and hug her. She's always so happy to see me, like, all the time. Ever since I became her friend in ROTC last year, she hasn't left my side. Not that I'm complaining; I need some loyal friends right now. My peer groups have gotten a little bit bigger than I intended for them to be and as a result, there's new shit hitting the fan every week.
                I put my book bag down on the table and close out everything on my phone so that I can give my attention to something else. My best friend, James, weasels his way over to me in one of his "casual" suits. No, I don't know why he wears suits to school, he just does and always has.
            He looks at me with earnest, "Lunch line."
            This must mean that shit has hit the fan again.
                James walks with me up to the doors that open to the serving area, where the Ratchets hang right in front of. The Ratchets is just my friends' and I way of labeling any group of loud, ghetto, stereotypical black people. As I maneuvuer around them, he puts his hand on my shoulder.
                  "It's about Jordan," his dark drown eyes squint in a skeptical fashion, it must be bad. Again.
                  "What, did he cheat?" I make my way to the lunch lady; she already knows what I'm going to ask for. Hot Cheetos and a drink, like usual.
                  "Yes, yes, he did."
                   The moment we exit the serving area with our snacks we burst out, laughing. For Jordan, this is typical. He cheats on every girlfriend he gets with, except for me. I was the unfaithful one in that scenario, but I have my reasons and that was more than a year ago. You'd expect him to change or something but nope. As a Nordos with enhanced endurance and strength, he sure as hell can't last long in a relationship without cheating.
                  "So James," I say smiling, "what are we going to do about Natasha?
                  "Jack shit," he says emphasizing the "i". We are at the table again and James looks at me; we communicate like this all the time.
      His eyes narrow and dart behind me, then he turns around to talk to Jordan.
                   "Hey, Nio," I roll my eyes on the inside of course.
                    "Hey, Aaron." He walks over to one of the chairs in front of me to sit down. He doesn't say anything else.
                  
                     Aaron is who my friend, James, likes to call a "lost puppy". This is because of what happened my freshman year. He was my first boyfriend and was clingy as hell. I didn't realize just how clingy Aaron was until we came back to school, after summer break. *God, was that something*. That's when I broke up with him; the end of our "famous" six month relationship. He didn't take it too well, so I stayed his friend. I've been his friend for three years and now he's a senior and I'm a junior.
           Even though a lot has happened with each of us and I've fully gotten over him. He still hovers around me, chooses me over others, etc etc. Basically, all my friends think that he still likes me, which I find ridiculous. I mean, there's no way...I hope.

           Henry comes in through the cafeteria doors, followed by his other half, Damien. They're one of the best bromances I've seen; acting like a married couple almost all the time. But the true magic happens when they join up with Aaron. I call them the "Three Black Stooges", they are just so cute together. Kind of odd though, if I think about it too much (like I do most things), I realize that I've had sexual relations with Henry and Aaron. Many months ago, yes, but still, it always bothers me. At least they're best friends.
           The silver lining here is that I haven't done anything with Damien. Now that, that would make me question my existence a hundred times more than I already do. Damien is one of my newer friends and I love him to bits. He's lanky, has this gap in the front of his teeth, has a sharp tongue, and he just isn't my type. If there is one thing I admire though, it'd be his confidence. Sometimes he comes to school with the most unnecessarily flashy outfits and accessories but he wears it with pride. Like that one time he came to school with gold grills and a neon green durag, I was shocked to say the least. That's Damien Eves for you.
           "Hey Nio," Damien waves at me and I wave back. I'm just so tired in the mornings I never really feel like socializing, so I go back to looking at my phone. Huh, Samson texted me back? Well isn't he getting talkative. I can't reply to him right now; I'm trying my best to make our relationship as exes as stable as possible. I don't need any bullshit right now.

           Henry taps me on my shoulder, "Hey, are you good?" I snap out of my daze and look at him. His hair is in nappy twists, still, looking like shit; I'll never like it. He needs an edge up, for the love of God.
            "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine just a little tired. The weekend has been whopping my ass." He stares at me for a moment and so do the other two Stooges, Aaron and Damien.
              They are all Nordos except for Aaron. He's an Abnormal with the ability to stretch his body like a rubber band. It's quite cringey to watch so he does it to bother me all the time.
               Aaron shifts in his chair to face me, "Does it have to do with you being a Divinity?"
               I nod, "Yeah, I Manifested more than I'm used to."
              Damien starts chuckling, "If I could do what you can, I'd Manifest all the time. If you know what I mean."
               We all start to laugh as the bell rings, signaling for us to go to our first block class. The Three Stooges and some of my other friends go towards the hallway and we say our goodbyes. Meanwhile, my main group and I go outside.
          They always go ahead if me though, except for Miles. He's the best gay best friend ever; chivalry isn't dead whenever he's around. I smile as he holds the door open for me, "Thank you, Miles."
           "Of course."
           We speed walk to catch up with the rest of them. Seems like we came right in the middle of a conversation.