𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫

5

Cody woke up feeling optimistic, he really wanted today to go well it was a strange feeling. Waking up and immediately thinking about how good you want today to go, a deeper feeling than wanting more like needing. He needed today to go well, if it didn't he would be crushed. After getting dressed he took off the original jeans he was wearing and pulled out a pair that were practically stuffed in the back his closet there to be forgotten like memories of his mother coming home smelling like foreign cologne and sex.

They were black with rips and fit a little tighter than most of the jeans he wore but that was the style right now, right? They went well with his forest green Hollister hoodie. He thought about forcing Jamie to wear his hoodie, just for laughs of course, not because Cody wanted it to smell like Jamie or anything like that. Yeah definitely not because he wanted Jamie's pine forest scent on the hoodie to match it's color.

The sun hadn't begun to peek out from behind the thick, puffy gray clouds in the sky, which caused a dim light to shine t the house. Not wanting to wake everyone up, Cody tip toed around the house with his eyes squinted in the dark as if it would help him see, he felt like he was surrounded by a translucent fog enclosing him into a state of panic. Cody shook the feeling off as he usually did and went to making breakfast.

 Surprises come in all forms and this morning two arrived. One was the wonderful sound of a broken father's voice echoing off the bathroom wall as he sang to an Adele song, even though he couldn't exactly hit the high notes, Cody had never been happier to hear someone sing in the shower, let alone turn on the shower to begin with. Eventually Thalia walked out of her room and her older brother gave her breakfast as per usual and went to go make lunches. Today he drew a small mouse on her sandwich bag and wrote the word,

squeak

in dainty little letters along the top of the bag. He made his dad a salad and packed him an apple along with some gum, Cody had heard from his nic addicted football teammates that gum helps the cravings.

Now you might be wondering what that second surprise was, Cody was wondering to, he could feel it in his bones, something was going to happen he just couldn't figure out if it was going to be good or bad. With his fingers slick with gel as he styled his sister's hair he wondered what could possibly be going to happen that would give him such a gut feeling.

Then there was low, but still audible knock at the door. 

Cody thought that maybe it would be Jamie but Jamie stopped knocking 5 years ago and just started busting in whenever he felt like it so it couldn't be him. Thalia giggled as  Cody quickly finished up with her hair before heading to the door.

The knock came again sounding more urgent but still gentle.

Of course Cody's dad walked out to give his son a good pat on the shoulder, to get his lunch and to leave just before Cody could warn his dad that someone was at the door.  His father swung the door open chipperly, but seemed to shrink back into his alcoholic failure of a father posture when he realized who was at the door.

"M-Miranda dear, where have you been?" his father asked the figure at the door.

"I'm surprised you could even tell I was gone through the whiskey." a voice purred sharply.

That was all she said as she walked into the house leaving Cody's dad there looking hurt and dumbfounded. Cody couldn't process this, it happened every time she came back, it was almost like he had to confirm things for himself.

"That is my mother. She is having an affair. She smells of cologne and sex. She doesn't care about her family and tries to escape her responsibilities by throwing her body at any rich white man she can find. She is the reason my dad drinks. She is the reason that I will never wear cologne." Cody confirmed it all rather quickly so that he could dutifully ignore the fact that his mother walked right past him and straight into the bedroom. 

He hastily motioned for Thalia to leave the house before she could notice the obvious neglect their mother had decided to deal out. Luckily his little sister didn't notice her mom's car in the drive way as they climbed into Jamie's but she did notice the purple bags sewn under Cody's blue eyes. She just decided to keep her mouth shut about it.

xxx

Cody was quiet all day, in every class, at lunch, even at practice, his mother was home. Mother wasn't a fitting term for her it would be like calling a someone who was in theater for a week an actor. She hadn't been there long enough to get that title. In fact Cody usually called her by her name Miranda, he always said it with such venom seeping into his words. He wasn't sure if he had the capacity to hate anyone until Miranda came home from her bubblegum sweet getaways. 

He zoned in and out of everything thinking about his mom in a modern white mansion with a little white robe on, her lips painted with a smile and hot pink lipstick that the men seemed to love. She disgusted him, during 7th period he raised his hands after snapping back into reality.

The teacher looked over at him clear irritation written on his wrinkly forehead, "What is it Fernsby?" He asked dully.

"Sir, may I use to restroom?" Cody asked shakily. 

"Yes, sure." 

Cody wasn't sure that the distant teacher seemed to notice that Cody was indeed not going to the restroom but was just leaving school. Well sort of. He walked to the front office, keeping his eyes on the toes of his shoes as if they were interesting and didn't look up until he reached the cubical where the lady who signed kids in and out sat.

"I have a doctor's appointment." He said suddenly, the plump old woman jumped slightly and looked over the top of his pointed glasses at him.

"Oh, really?" she asked hints of sarcasm peeking in her tone.

"Yes, ma'am I have my annual check up today." Cody replied respectfully.

"Hmph, okay, here is your pass to get out." she said sourly. 

She was glaring at him in a way that said , "Get out of here before I tell the principal that you're lying so that you can ditch the rest of school, brat.

Cody nodded at her with a silent thank you that he was sure she understood. His shoes dragged on the floor as he didn't feel like lifting them at the moment, for the single instant he looked up he saw a girl on the other side of the glass window to the office. He hadn't seen her before and most certainly didn't know her which seemed impossible since he knew everyone.

She was rather tall 5'7 he guessed, she would tower over him, her eyes were a bright cobalt, brighter than the blue sky he noted to himself. Long waves of soft looking blonde hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, she was conventionally pretty he noted once more as he realized she was wearing Brandy Melville. The skirt she wore showed off her slight, but still enough meat to be attractive to straight men, thigh gap, her arms were slim, everything about her was. Cody got a bad feeling about her, like she was going to be a bad person or something. Cody was good at that sort of thing.

But then he dropped it brushing it off as a prejudice due to his bad day, he swiped his hood on, burst out of the entrance of the school and walked to the nearest park.