Decisions and Mayhem | ✓

Chapter 4

The next morning before school I went down to the kitchen that was connected to the dining room in my school uniform. I noted that everyone was either munching on cereal or toast.

I guess no one made a general breakfast then. I thought to myself, adjusting the collar of my white school shirt before heading to wait in line to use the toaster that was presently in use. That was the thing with having so many siblings — you just had to wait for everything. There was just no solution to bathroom lines and TV remote rosters.

It was finally my turn after a while, and I kept checking my watch to make sure that I didn't miss the bus. It usually came at seven-thirty, sharp. When I heard the horn, I took the buttered toast I had on my plate and made to leave the house with Juana, but my Ma stopped me.

"Antonino, wait, I want to talk to you!"

"But Ma..." I trailed, turning towards the door to gesture at the bus that was waiting outside.

"I'll get Wyatt to drop you off, just take a seat, and wait," she said in a firm tone, folding her hands over her chest as the dark brown eyes I shared with her stared me down. I rose my hands in surrender with a sigh, before heading to take a sit on one of the chairs by the dining table as I wondered about what he wanted to say.

She probably wants to talk about yesterday. I thought with a slow sigh as I ran a hand through my dark hair. My Ma had left the dining room, and all the other kids had headed off to school. I could hear my mum's voice speaking in a mixture of English and Spanish, and soon the sound of footsteps. My mother soon appeared through the door and was soon sitting at the dining table with me and her boyfriend, who looked bored, if anything.

"I had a little talk with Steve about what you did yesterday..."

"I thought it was badass—" Steve paused, laughing when he realized my mum was frowning at him.

"I'm joking." He rolled his eyes, taking a sip of the mug of coffee he'd brought down with him, patting the hand my Ma had resting on the table with his free hand.

"Anyway," My Ma continued, turning back to me, "we decided that we'd make Wyatt look out for you all, so you guys can stay out of trouble..."

"Wyatt?" I grunted, with a frown, disregarding every other thing she'd added after his name.

"Wyatt? Come on. He's like the personification of a slacker, how's he going to keep us out of trouble?" I asked, thinking that it just had to be a joke. My mum had creative punishments, and this wasn't one of them — or was she trying to get Wyatt to annoy me to death?

"Well, do you want me to be the one checking up on you in school?" she asked, making me relax against my seat as I shook my head. My mum smiled.

"Wyatt, it is then."

My Ma then proceeded to call a confused Wyatt downstairs. His purple hair was in disarray and looked uncombed. He was also in his pajamas. Wyatt was yawning occasionally, rubbing his eyes with the back of his palm as my Ma talked to him. He seemed not to be fazed by what she was saying, or maybe he was just too tired to react.

"And you can start by driving him to school," My Ma said as Wyatt nodded. I sighed, getting up from the chair I was sitting on to head for Wyatt's car as he went to get his keys. I frowned when he came out of the house still in PJs and flip-flops.

"I'm just dropping you at the school gate, what else do you want from me?" he said, answering my unasked question. He then made to unlock the car's doors before getting into the driver's seat. I rolled my eyes, getting into the car as well. The ride to school was quiet, and I was already late for my first class that morning.

David gave me a confused look when I settled down beside him in physics class that had already started. I muttered something in the lines of telling him why I was late later in the day before unpacking my school bag to catch up to the class.

Classes went by fast, and it was soon lunch break.

"Wow... But, err... How's that a punishment?" David asked. I shrugged, pinning a chip down on my plate. We were at our regular table in the cafeteria, and the place was rowdy as usual.

"I don't know. It's more or less asking him to babysit us if you ask me, but he's going to suck at it, he can barely take care of himself, so he'll just end up annoying us," I explained, making David laugh. The redhead even snorted, apologizing as he covered his mouth. I smiled a bit, still trying to distance the good chips from the burnt disgraces on my plate.

"Hey, can I sit with you guys?" David and I looked up in surprise. No one had ever asked that. It had always been just the two of us, but when I saw it was Tim standing, holding on to his tray with a nervous look on his face I muttered a 'sure'.

"Thanks!" I didn't miss the way the nervousness seemed to leave his body. His nervous expression was also swiftly replaced with a wide toothy smile.

Cute.

He took a seat at the edge, picking up the veggie sandwich on his plate and digging in. The table kind of went quiet and the only sound was of me playing with my food, Tim eating, and David drinking juice from a juice box. Usually, David and I would be talking and joking around. I think we both just didn't want to talk over Tim or something, but as a result, we had uncomfortable silence instead.

"Wow, should I leave? Am I bothering you guys?" Tim asked in a small nervous laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck. Unlike most people in school, he wore the optional ugly blue tie with white stripes. It would look ugly on most people, but it gave him a preppy look.

"No­—" I trailed, laughing a little. "We're not just used to having other people sitting with us, that's all," I answered, making him let out an 'oh'. Somehow, we all started laughing after that, and it soon dissolved into small talk. It was a bit strained for a while, then we realized we played similar games and the conversation kicked off from there. I was relieved that things got sorted out, but I was curious about the looks Tim threw my way from time to time — or maybe I was just overthinking things like I usually did.

*
"Fucking Ant!" I shut my eyes as I watched Jay's fist fly across the air and slam into the locker beside me. I opened my eyes, almost feeling my racing heart jump out of my chest.

"Jesus. H. Christ."

"Shut up!" Jay looked angry, and I really didn't know what for. If it was for yesterday he's stupid because he practically got let off.

"You got me in trouble." Calm your titties, you just went to the principal's office. I watched him lean forward a bit, his green eyes fueled with obvious anger — his brows creating a frown on his face.

"I hope you're happy," he said, and it took everything in me not to roll my eyes.

I am, thanks. I thought, not daring to say it out loud. Jay was harassing me by my locker in an open hallway and teachers as well as students just walked by as if nothing was happening. It was just a sad reality of the blind eye the staff and the general student body had towards such actions.

I stayed quiet, waiting for Jay to get over himself and leave me alone.

"You're so fucking annoying," he said in a low voice.

Yes, thank you for your unwanted opinion.

"It's annoying... but it's also kind of hot."

What the fuck. My mind sort of went haywire at his sentence. Was he trying to freak me out for the 'LOLs'? The way he leaned away from me and walked away as if nothing happened afterward had me questioning my sanity, and if I'd heard him right.

God, let me not have heard him right. The thought was just — urg — as disgusting as things can get.