Beep. Beep. Beep. Matthias sighed. Stupid goddamn alarm clock, he thought spitefully. Reluctantly, he sat upright in his bed, regretting the day ahead. It was the first day of tenth grade.
"Whoop-dee-fuckin-doo." Matthias mumbled to himself sarcastically. As he got up, Matthias heard a voice from downstairs. "Goddamn you work!" He rolled his eyes. Dad's drunk again, he thought irritably. (Which didn't surprise him at all.) The man was always wasted. He could never stay sober, not even for a whole day.
Matthias didn't know why he was expecting his father to change. He wouldn't even get off his ass to do anything, let alone to get some help. Matthias can't even remember the last time he saw him without a drink in his hand. For all he knew, his dad's been a drunk his whole life. Hell, that's probably why Matthias' mom disappeared.
Unfortunately, the little asscracker didn't see it that way. He blamed Matthias. But it was whatever. Matthias was used to it by now. Andrew Jackson was a son of a bitch. He always yelled at Matthias. It was a never-ending loop. Matthias would get up, go to school, come home, get yelled at for no good reason, and spend the rest of his time by himself. It's like I'm in Hell, he thought. It's like I'm in fucking Hell.
Matthias sighed as he got prepared for school. He brushed his teeth, spiked up the front of his hair, and walked down the stairs. Matthias' house had only two floors. The bottom floor was the living room, kitchen, master bedroom, etc, etc. The top floor was just a floor, (which you could've argued and said was also a roof to the bottom floor) and Matthias' bedroom. That was it.
It wasn't much, but it was home.
Regrettably one that Matthias had to share. As Matthias was walking out the front door, a voice behind him said, "Now where the hell do you think you're going?"
Matthias slowly turned around. "School." he replied. Matthias' father looked at him and rolled his eyes. "Whatever." he scoffed. Matthias returned the gesture by sticking up a not-so-nice finger. Matthias turned around, whispered, "Fuck you" to himself, and walked off for school.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury of being able to ride a bus to school. Instead, Matthias had to walk to school. Which, sometimes, was a pain in the ass. Especially if he had worn himself out in P.E.
I guess that's just my life, and I gotta deal with it, no matter how shitty it is. Cause I know it's not gonna change.
....
When Matthias arrived at his school, he stopped at the front steps. The steps weren't anything special. Just regular stone steps that went up, flattened out, went up, and lead into the school.
Matthias started up the stairs, and little did he know, the future love of his life, came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. Matthias stopped and turned around. The person that stood before Matthias was someone who seemed to have a light about her. This girl stood about five foot six inches, (which was about an inch off of his height) had straight blonde hair, (although it could've been considered a dirty blonde), blue eyes, and skin that wasn't pale white, but wasn't all that tanned either. The girl smiled at Matthias. He awkwardly smiled back. Just then Matthias froze. Because just then, Jericho, a sweet, nice, and beautiful girl that made Matthias' heart beat faster, walked by.
Matthias shook his head, regaining his focus. The blonde-haired girl stuck her hand out.
"Hiya! I'm Adrianna." she exclaimed, the smile still on her face. Matthias shook her hand.
"Nice to meet you. My name's-"
"Matthias," she finished. "Yeah, I know who you are." Matthias felt embarrassed that she had figured out his name so quickly. He didn't even think about the fact that she might've been in one of his classes. He also felt a little guilty that he didn't know her name. Matthias tried to fake a smile.
"So, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked. Adrianna tilted her head a little. "Are you ok? Cause you don't look very happy," she questioned. If only you knew, Matthias thought to himself. Adrianna looked at Matthias with a curious look in her eyes. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "I wanna be your friend." she smiled. There was a short silence after she made her statement. Then Matthias laughed.
"Be my friend? Yeah, right. You'd have more fun with literally anybody else." he stated. Adrianna had a confused look on her face.
"Why?" she asked.
"Simple," Matthias answered. "Cause I'm a loner." Matthias turned around and walked toward the school. He paused, turned his head around to look at Adrianna, and said, "It was a nice thought, but it won't work." And then he proceeded to walk into the building.
Matthias sighed as he walked to his class. It's so weird that some rando person just walked up to me and said 'hey, lets be friends,' he noted to himself.
Oh well, I already spoke my mind so hopefully she'll stay away. Matthias sighed again as he realized this was probably only the beginning of her shenanigans.
....
Ring! The last bell of the day rang, much to Matthias' surprise. Already? he thought. Matthias shrugged and accepted it.
"Before you go," Mr. Anderson said. "Remember to have all of your supplies ready by tomorrow. It's better to get in the habit of remembering these things now rather than later." All the students replied with a nod here, a dismissive wave there. As Matthias walked out of the room, Mr. Anderson stopped him. "You need to stay. I have something you might wanna hear." Matthias was puzzled. Why?
Quickly he found out why.
Mr. Anderson had received a call from Matthias' home. It was his father. Of course it fucking was. What bullshit is it now? Matthias wondered. When Mr. Anderson recalled what Matthias' father told him, Matthias snorted. Mr. Anderson looked at Matthias with a questioning look.
"Well, you see Mr. Anderson," Matthias started. "My father is an alcoholic. A drunk. Half the time, all that comes outta that mouth is bullshit."
"Language." Mr. Anderson scolded.
"Sorry. All that comes out of his mouth is bullcrap, is that better?" Matthias retorted. Mr. Anderson raised an eyebrow. "You don't seem too fond of your father." he noted.
Matthias laughed at the statement. "Are you kidding? No. I'm not fond of him AT all. He's been drunk pretty much all my life, so why would I be?"
"Well, he is your father," Mr. Anderson pointed out. "And even though you're not fond of him, doesn't mean you have to go pushing his buttons."
Matthias nodded his head in false agreement. "Oh yes, absolutely. I'll get right onto that." he said sarcastically. "Do you want me to make sure he gets a pedicure while we're at it?" he scoffed. Mr. Anderson had a look of amusement in his eyes.
"You've got a fire in your system, don't you?" he questioned. "Yeah sure, we'll call it that." Matthias said.
Mr. Anderson sighed. "Look, obviously, you've got issues at home. If you want, you can stay on the school grounds for a little while. As to how long, I couldn't tell you. I guess until they kick you off." he chuckled. Matthias laughed. "Wouldn't be the first time I've gotten kicked out temporarily." he joked. Mr. Anderson had a look of alarm on his face. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Shit. I said that out loud? Matthias sometimes slipped what was on his mind out of his mouth. This particular statement he wanted to keep to himself. "Well thanks for the invitation." he told his teacher. "I guess I'll, uh, see you tomorrow Mr. Anderson."
Matthias waved behind him as he exited the classroom. That was a close one. As he walked out of the front doors of the school, Matthias turned right and bumped straight into Adrianna. They both fell to the ground, and where Adrianna had books in her arms, they were now on the ground with them.
"Oh! Sorry! Here, let me help you with that." Matthias got on his hands and knees and helped Adrianna pick up her books that he helped her drop. "Thank you," she said. "You have no idea what it's like to drop your books and have to pick them up by yourself." Matthias was starstruck at this statement. "You mean to tell me that no one ever helps you pick up your stuff if you drop it?" he asked. Adrianna looked up. "Yeah, that covers it." she still had that smile she had been wearing earlier that morning.
As they picked themselves off the ground, Adrianna asked, "So...did you change your mind?" Matthias looked at her, puzzled. What the hell is that supposed to mean? She bumped his arm. "C'mon, silly! Don't tell me you already forgot!" Adrianna teased. Matthias tried to rack his brain to figure out what she was talking about. Then it hit him.
I wanna be your friend.
He felt guilty as he recalled that memory. Mostly because he was kind of an ass about it. But also because of the fact that he didn't even think about the offer. He just automatically rejected her. But that didn't change his opinion about it though. Matthias still thought that she'd be better off making friends with someone else. So what did he do? He pulled yet another dick move and walked away from her.
Matthias felt Adrianna's eyes burn the back of his neck. But he didn't care. He just walked away. He let out a sigh as he heard footsteps approaching him from behind. In a couple seconds, Adrianna was walking right beside Matthias, matching his pace, step for step. She looked at him expectantly.
"What gives?"
"What?"
"What. Gives?" Matthias paused. "What do you mean 'what gives?'"
"Don't play dumb. What gives? Why don't you wanna be my friend?"
"Because I just don't." Matthias took off towards the bleachers. When he finally got there, Matthias sat down and let out a sigh of relief.
"We're going to be friends." Matthias jumped when he heard Adrianna's voice. "Jesus Christ!" Matthias exclaimed. "A little bit of warning next time please?" Adrianna laughed. "The way you've been acting, I didn't think there was going to be a next time."
Matthias felt his cheeks getting hot with embarrassment. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said 'next time.' I'll watch my mouth in the future." he mumbled. Adrianna gave Matthias a look. Like one of those 'yeah ok smart ass' looks. Matthias grumbled.
"Ok fine!" he cried in defeat. "I guess...we can be friends." Matthias mumbled the last part.
"What was that?" Matthias could see that Adrianna was trying hard not to smile.
"Alright, look. If we're going to be friends, first off, I'm not gonna call you 'Adrianna,' cause I'm not gonna lie, that's kinda stupid," Adrianna rolled her eyes when he said that, which was fair enough. "Well what are you going to call me, then?" she asked sarcastically. Matthias crossed his arms and smirked as he said, "Annie. I'm going to call you Annie."