My Life as a Teenage Rebel

Chapter 33: Don't and Won't

Evan Touber

CHAPTER 33 Don’t and Won’t

I’ve been trying to ignore my phone ringing nonstop since I left for school, but sooner or later my brother’s going to get fed up. With a frustrated growl, I yank the damn thing out of my pocket, pull myself into a corner and answer it. “What?” I ask immediately, not in the mood for talking to him or anybody else.

“Hey, Evan…” Jake starts slowly, sounding tired…but trying. Maybe that’s the part that’s bugging me right now: the fact that he’s trying. “I…didn’t see you this morning.”

I scoff. You didn’t see me? Really? I think sarcastically. No duh. “I left early.” I say tersely.

“Oh…” Jake says. “Uh, so what time do you think you’ll be back?”

I snort into the phone. “What? Now that they showed up I suddenly can’t take care of myself?” I almost sneer. “I’ve got practice so I’ll be coming home late.”

Jake is quiet for a moment. And then he says, even though I didn’t ask, “Because I was thinking of making reservations at that one French restaurant in Olton.”

For some reason, I have the urge to mimic him- an urge that I resist! but an urge that’s there nonetheless. “You hate that place,” I remind him wearily. He once said it had too expensive a price with too little a portion and too stuck-up a hostess. “Don’t try to and be classy, Jake; it just makes both of us look pathetic.”

And again, my sharp tongue brings about another moment of silence between me and my brother.  But that restaurant thing wasn’t what he wanted to say. I think I know what he’s going to say, and maybe that’s what’s causing my frustration levels to increase.

It’s been a hard week for both of us. In fact, it’s been harder on him than it has on me…but I’m the one that’s going to suffer the most consequences in the end, and that’s why I’ve been- ahem…”bitchy.”

Finally, Jake says, “I’m fighting for you, Evan; I won’t abandon you again.”

I pause.

Part of me wants to tell him that he never abandoned me, but unfortunately that other part of me – that miserable, testy other part – is stronger today. So I grind out without any second thought: “Don’t even bother, Jake.”

“Wai- What do you mean, ‘don’t even bother’?!”

I exhale, closing my eyes. And then I yell loud enough for China to hear me: “Nothing matters anymore! Just give up!”

And I slam the phone shut and shove it back into my pocket where it belongs…right after turning it to vibrate. People in the hallway stare at me.

With a tetchy, frustrated growl, I glare at the library doors as I return through them. The librarian gives me a quick, uncertain look as I search about for the section I was in earlier. I still haven’t found the stupid books I stupid need yet, and I need to find them soon or else Ky’ll give me an earful for being late to practice.

I find the section I was in; my backpack is still where I left it. I resume looking through the dusty, allergy-inducing shelves bitterly, trying to keep from grumbling to myself; the last time I did that I got quite a few weird looks. Not that I even care.

On the other side of this shelf is a table full of openly-gossiping girls and boys. I catch a few words of what they’re saying without really meaning or wanting to.

“I swear to God,” one of them starts, “those twins are the most full-of-themselves pair I have ever met.”

I pause. She’s talking about the twins? The Madison twins? I mean, they are fairly full of themselves, but anybody would have the decency to tell them to their faces (only to have them to laugh and completely agree with you, of course).