Choking on Diamonds

Four

"This argument sucks."

I wanted to lay face down in a bathtub and never come back up for air. It seemed that for once in my life my problems didn't revolve around my twin sister. Instead, my misery had something to do with the absolute shit show that is a Model UN Bill. Remember how I said not every popular kid or athlete was dumb? That's very true. Just like a majority of the kids in my advanced classes played one if not two sports. Now usually academic clubs were taken up by the 'nerdier' kids but whoever wrote the bill in my hands had to have a brain made of rocks.

"Maybe if you didn't give him Kyrgyzstan his argument might actually make sense," my boyfriend drawled from the desk he was sitting on a few feet away from the teacher's whom I was currently borrowing. 

"Our school gets two countries to represent. I'm not going to waste fucking Germany on a freshman girl and a sophomore guy who just joined the club," I grumbled back under my breath.

"Yeah, this is pretty shitty," Morgan, my boyfriend's friend, voiced his opinion while running his hand through his jet black hair. "You are reading this, right?" The Japanese pole vaulter asked Luke incredulously.

"Yeah, I'm reading it," the Sri Lankan responded tiredly. I didn't want to be doing this. Our competition was in the month and the practice negotiations I had set up had not gone well for one of our teams if you couldn't tell. Luke and Morgan were our second team that had been assigned Germany. I ran the club and had decided to let others practice delivering since I had already done it three times over the years. I'd be leaving soon anyway. I was already into Yale so why did I need to keep working myself to the bone? As long as my grades didn't drop I'd be fine.

"I can't do this anymore," I stayed blandly, letting the packet flop onto the cool surface of the desk while leaning back in the leather swivel chair. I scrubbed my hands over my eyes  with the heel of my palms, realizing how much this Monday sucked. I didn't want to stay after school to do this and I didn't want to go to practice later tonight. It had taken three years, but it had finally hit me that school wasn't that great and most things about it were absolute trash. People were the only things that made it better and right now I was having problems with most of the people in this place so I was consequently stuck in a living hell. I had designed my schedule to be light senior year, forgetting like an absolute nincompoop that early release meant shit when you still had to stay after.

Morgan hummed in agreement, also deciding that being an officer was not worth staying after for an extra hour after all the try hards and hopeful underclassmen left. Who wants to work their asses off to go to a college where you'll end up being average or below? That's right; parents. It was a superficial world and all that mattered was your reputation. Maybe I was a hateful cynic or maybe it was just the truth.

"I heard you got in a fight Saturday night. Apparently Hunter Khan had to pull you off David Webster," Morgan brought up casually as I rolled my eyes. Did he really have to bring that up in front of Luke? Luke was the geeky type; he didn't party, he didn't play sports, he didn't make friends outside of his classes, and he certainly didn't like the 'popular' groups. He could be sweet but he could also be a pompous ass and I had a feeling that was yet again a result of the upbringing this town forced upon us all. Morgan knew his best friend didn't approve of my activities but leave it to him to throw me under the bus.

"Where'd you hear that?" I asked suspiciously, crossing my arms over my chest as Luke looked up at me with a small frown tugging at the corners of his lips in disappointment.

"I overheard Hunter talking to Cliff about it at track yesterday," Morgan responded. "Duke said he heard the same thing from David at conditioning." So it wasn't just Morgan; it seems that Duke was also ready to report me to his closest friend. Great.

"I don't see how it's your business, Morgan," I responded with an upturned nose. I never liked Morgan and Duke but I dealt with them because I liked Luke and they were a package deal. "I didn't even get into a fight. I cornered him and Hunter ripped me off of him, then I went home. Don't make this into something it's not."

"Whatever, Kyra," Morgan mumbulled, standing from the desk and slinging his bag over his shoulder. He dropped his copy of the packet on the desk I was sitting at and spoke to Luke and I both. "If we're giving up on this for today then I'm out. I have shit to do."

"See you later man," Luke responded before Morgan left the room. When the thick silence filled the air, Luke stood from the desktop and crossed the tiled floor so he was leaning against the teacher's desk beside where I sat. His hand took my own, his cool fingertips brushing my smooth skin. "How are you feeling about the whole McKenna thing?" He asked me, genuinely worried. It was the first day back in classes since everything turned blew up and I wasn't enjoying it. I'm sure McKenna wasn't having a very fun day either.

"Like everyone keeps staring at me like they expect me to break down or beat the shit out of someone."

"Maybe if you hadn't lunged at David this would be a problem," he suggested like it was that easy. "I mean seriously, what was that? You have never gotten in a fight before and you never insert yourself into petty drama. What got into you?"

"Petty drama?" I gaped at him. "My barely eighteen year old sister is fucking pregnant and the father is being a douche. You're supposed to be on my side, Luke."

"I am on your side," he insisted, squeezing my hand lightly. Luke and I had been dating for around seven months now and I loved him but it seemed like sometimes I couldn't live up to the expectations he set for me. It was like he wanted a carbon copy of himself and I couldn't give him that. I wasn't as smart as he was, despite what some people may think, and I certainly wasn't as restrained. People liked me because I was kind to almost everyone but that didn't mean I wouldn't openly dislike the people I didn't get along with. In my eyes, isn't it better to know than to wonder and keep it in?

But Luke more so disapproved of my friends than me, specifically Sydney. She was in advanced placement science classes but my best friend was the definition of chaotic good. The academically elite students viewed Sydney as one of the less talented kids but she didn't care because her heart was in music, not math and science. Sydney had a love for her juul and was slightly crazy. Her habits put her in the center of every party just enjoying herself though she loved to hook up with both guys and girls. Sydney was sloppy but she had a good heart and I loved her for it. Luke, on the other hand, saw her as a little different. Sure she was irresponsible but she had your back. She only screwed herself over, not others. That's a concept I don't think a lot of people picked up on about her.

Sydney knew everyone. She was the type that could walk down the hallway and genuinely say hello to every kid that walked by. Between her spot on the lacrosse team and her multitude of social groups, Syd really was a social butterfly unlike Luke. They couldn't be more opposite and sometimes it almost felt like Luke was threatened by her.

"I just feel bad for Mckenna. Her and her friends already talk about themselves behind each other's backs, I can only imagine what it's like to have the entire school doing it."

"In a way, she brought this on herself," Luke pointed out. "She hid it and she decided to keep the baby while staying in school. There were plenty of things she could have done differently, even before she was pregnant. Hell, she could have decided on some better friends for that matter."

Is it bad that I saw Luke's point? If I was Mckenna I probably would have done everything she had done differently. That fact made it incredibly hard for me to sympathize with her, especially since I was in the process of still trying to be mad at her. I could tell I was about to break any hour now.

"I agree," I admitted. Luke's thumb on the back of my hand slowed before he let go, standing up. I followed suit, collecting the papers I had placed on the tan desk so we could leave.

"I love you," Luke murmured, brushing my silky hair behind my right ear before I turned to look up at his lanky figure.

"I love you too," I responded easily, standing on my toes as he leaned down to give me a short kiss. "I'll see you after practice."

"Uhum see you later, Baby."

Five more months and this would all be over.