I heaved myself out of my gently creaking bed, careful to extract my limbs from my older brother's snoring presence. I tiptoed across the hallway, the dirty carpet coarse on my toes. I quickly undressed and hopped into the freezing cold shower, the water almost piercing my skin as I hastily scrubbed down.
Matt was awake now; I could hear him rustling around. He must've been changing clothes. I stepped out of the shower and ruffled my hair with a towel, succeeding in drying most of the messy dirty blonde masa of tangles. I ran a hand through it, making sure I looked ragged and bad. I grinned at myself in the mirror playfully, pulling on a pair of long jeans and cuffing in the ends.
I walked out of the bathroom and waved to Matt. "Hey, can I wear the Converse today?" He frowned and rolled his eyes. "Sure thing, slugger. Just don't get them dirty or nothin', I got work later."
I nodded. "Will do." I pulled on a pair of long black socks and dashed over to the front door. Matt's Converse were my favorite shoes. I only owned one pair, plain black Vans. But I wanted to look good today. I quickly tied the shoes on my feet and grinned down at them. Grabbing my backpack, I prepared to head out the door when Matt called my name.
"You know Jimmy, you have to wear a shirt to highschool. Get you're a freshman and all but you should know better," he said jokingly, a charming smile on his face. "Oh, right. Almost forgot." I crossed the living room and scooped up the shirt I had worn yesterday. "Got nothin' clean," I murmured to myself begrudgingly as I pulled the dirty clothing over my head.
"You ain't need a ride?" I shook my head. "It's close, 'member?" I lifted my backpack onto my shoulders and smiled. My first day of high school. And the gang was going to the same school, so I wouldn't be... well, completely lost. "Cya, Matt." He waved. "Bye, kid." I grabbed a pack of cigarettes off the table and slipped them in the pocket of my jeans, then trotted out the door.
My older brother had always been better in social situations than me. He was 19, and pretty much the best looking dude I've ever seen. He had a deep, prominent jawline and beautiful blue almond eyes. His hair was the same color as mine--Dirty blond--but his naturally faded and turned blond at the tips. Matt was wide-shouldered and well-built; clearly he had gotten the good genes. Outgoing, smart as hell, good looking; he had girls practically falling at his feet.
I, on the other hand, was short, and skinny, and had arms like toothpicks. I could throw hands like any of the other boys in my gang, but you wouldn't guess it. I looked frail and weak. Guess it just provided an element of surprise in rumbles. I could get used to that.
The gang. Damn, the gang. They were like brothers to me. I was the youngest in our gang but they always told me I could fight just as well as any of them. They all went to East Oak High, the very place I was heading to right now. I figured it would come in handy to have upperclassmen for my metaphorical brothers.
They were pretty well known through the school, as they had boasted multiple times--all 5 of them. Roger, Dani, John, Markus, and Andy. They were really all pieces of work, now that I thought about it. But that was the best part. They were all wild, unpredictable, and the life of the party. It was kind of shocking that they had all made it this far in their education. I was half expecting them to get expelled, suspended, or just straight up drop out. Guess that wasn't the case.
As I approached the school, I could feel my heart threatening to burst through my chest. "Yeah, I got this. How bad can it be?"