"Happy Birthday, Darcie." He looked at me with pitiful eyes. Of course, I didn't want to be bitter.
"Thanks, Dad." I took the cupcake in a napkin. I knew if I said any other words, I'd get a lecture on how I need to be more grateful.
Honestly, I was. A cupcake was a step up from last year. Last year, he had forgotten all morning. I came home to him singing "Happy Birthday" with absolutely no musical talent whatsoever. Hence why I had stuffed earplugs in my pocket when I got out of bed this morning.
I figured I'd hold onto them for the rest of the day, just in case.
Honestly, I wasn't exactly looking forward to my sixteenth birthday. I didn't want it to be anything special, because it really wasn't. Just one step closer to being eighteen. And that couldn't come any slower.
Walking down the dirt road to the bus stop didn't help the monotony of the day. All the mobile homes still were trashed. Mr. Hodges' old volkswagen was rotting outside his door, as it has been ever since he got a DUI and lost his license.
Most people understood that this mobile home dump was not a place to raise children. Most everyone except my dad.
I don't know which made me feel more messed up— the fact that I lived with a dad who barely knew the time of day or the reality that I lived in the slums with no other person my age. Well, except one.
"Wait up!" I heard my brother yell from behind me. "A cupcake!?" He cursed. "I didn't even get a hug."
"What do you expect, David? I sure as hell didn't expect this." I almost dropped the cupcake, waving it around the air. "If something can be screwed up, leave it to him.."
"Optimism. It's attractive on you."
"And you are supposed to be Mr. Ray of Sunshine?" I said sarcastically.
"Darcie, there's something I need to talk to you about. After school. I'll pick you up."
"About what?" I smirked at my idiot brother as the school bus veered around the corner, nearly missing our stop once again.
"Hurry up! Get on the bus. If I'm late one more time this week, Principal Price will have my head." Our bus driver yelled.
"After school, Darcie. Don't forget." David yelled to me before I boarded the bus.
I barely was able to sit in a seat before Laura, our crazy bus driver, sped off towards Southside High.
Or, as I like to call it, hell.
Speaking of monotony, it was the epitome of it. I've been in the same classes with all these kids since first grade. And I've been ignored by all these kids since. Here and there, I'd make a friend. But I'm pretty sure commitment issues are a local curse on this side of the railroad tracks. No one seems to be drama free for more than two days, and no one can hold a friend for any longer. If "friends" is even the right word. Maybe it's just something we all inherited from our parents, since most of them are Southside Serpents or drugged up drunks.
And neither David nor myself were spared under that curse either. David and I always talked about moving from Southside somewhere else, anywhere else. We planned for it when David turned eighteen. Money was a big set back. And once you get dragged into the Serpents, there's barely a chance of escape.
Laura's school bus swung into the school parking lot as the first period tardy bell rang. Attempting to not get toppled exiting the bus ended unsuccessfully. Either some kid purposefully ran into me or he was pushed full force into the back of me as I was rushing down the bus steps.
I pulled myself up onto my knees, examining the gravel stuck in my hands under the blood now streaming down my palms.
I cursed to myself. "Seriously!?" I lashed out at the kid that was behind me, barely looking him in the eyes. "Watch where you're going next time." I pushed past him, hurrying my way towards first period math, even though I probably wasn't missing out on much.