It was a sunny, warm, bright day. Chucky jumped off the bus. Today would be a good day. He could feel it in his bones. Tommy wasn't on the bus again, but it was just the "Tommy" thing to do. He rarely took the bus to school now-a-days, so Chucky didn't worry. Kimmy came out after him with Lil and Phil close behind her. Dil hadn't been on the bus this morning either. He began walking to school with Tommy. It began the previous Monday. Dil still looked up to Tommy no matter how much trouble he got into or how bad his grades were. Dil liked to think he kept Tommy out of trouble when Tommy wasn't in any trouble. Dil always seemed to be making excuses for Tommy's behavior since Tommy began acting differently. Sure they all changed, but Tommy went through a dramatic change. It did worry Chucky. But he learned to accept these changes as just a phase that Tommy was going through. Even if the phase began about four years back. He didn't like to think about it, but it really it was hard not to think about.
"Hey, look!" Phil exclaimed. "It's Samantha. She's lookin' good today." Phil grinned from ear to ear.
"Phil, can you keep your hormones in check for just one minute?!" Lil asked.
"I try, sis. But it's not doable," Phil replied. He laughed. "Doable! Get it!"
Chucky, Kimmy, and Lil sighed.
"If Tommy were here he'd get it," Phil said.
"I'd get what?"
They all turned to Tommy and Dil. It seemed they had come from no where. Tommy walked to them as they stopped to allow him to catch up to them. Chucky looked over to Lil, Kimmy, and Phil. Phil smiled. Kimmy seemed to suddenly glow. He knew Kimmy liked Tommy even if she didn't admit it to him. Lil seemed to be hiding something as she smiled Tommy's way. Chucky wondered what it could be. He then turned to Tommy. He walked to him and patted him on the back as he guided his friend toward the school's double doors with everyone forming a straight line.
"Well, you see, Lil asked me if I could keep my hormones in check," Phil began.
"Ha!" Tommy said with a smile.
"Yeah! And I said that it wasn't doable. Get it?" Phil began to laugh. Tommy soon joined him. "I told you he'd get it!"
"That's because Tommy gets everything," Chucky added. "That's why he's my best friend."
"Ditto," Tommy said.
"Eck! How incredibly sweet. I think I'm getting a toothache," came an oh-so familiar voice.
Chucky looked up. And of course it was Angelica. Her arms were crossed over her chest and most of her weight was put on her right heal. She shook her head. Disgust was all over her face. Angelica hadn't changed much over the years. She was still cold. The only difference now was that she wasn't as cold as she was when they had been babies. She didn't even want to admit that she was much nicer. It was her last year at the school. She felt superior. More than usual. But Chucky was only a year behind. Chucky noticed Susie come up from behind her.
"It is sweet, Angelica," Susie added.
"I was being sarcastic, Carmichael."
Susie smiled at her. "Sure, Ang." Chucky watched as she turned to them. "Mind if we walk with you guys."
"Nope," they all answered.
"Oh, I gotta be going. It's my turn to feed my bio class' pet snake," Dil explained with a wide grin.
"EW!" Kimmy, Lil, and Angelica squealed.
"Awesome!" Phil exclaimed.
Dil ran up the steps to the double doors when he stopped and turned around. "Tommy?'
"Yeah, Lil bro?"
"Can you come with?"
Chucky looked at Tommy. He sensed that he was thinking about it. The old Tommy never had to think about it when his brother asked him to come along. Chucky frowned a bit. He knew Tommy was going over the situation. Contemplating in his mind. What happened to the Tommy he knew so well? Was he still around? At all? Sometimes Chucky wished that he could read minds. That way he'd know what Tommy was thinking every second of every minute. Every minute of every hour. He searched for an answer to Dil's questions in Tommy's face. But he didn't express much. He then smiled lightly.
"Uh, sure. Why not. I'm not doing anything anyway," Tommy finally answered. Dil was over joyed. "Catch you all later."
Soon he was off. Him and Dil. Angelica left shortly after and Susie walked with Chucky and the rest. Pretty soon the warning bell rang. Then the actual bell to get to class rang. First period came and went. It had been math. Next he had Chemistry. Great class. He loved it. Third period would be gym. Gym with Tommy and Phil. He didn't like gym. It was the only class he really didn't care for. When third period rolled around. Tommy wasn't in sight. He was skipping. Again. Tommy hadn't skipped for three months. Something was probably bothering him. Something had to be. Otherwise he wouldn't skip. Then again Tommy skipped when he felt like it. But he hadn't "felt like it" for three full months. Well he hadn't skipped gym anyway.
Tommy showed up late. The class was halfway through. He handed the couch a pass and the couch sat him in the bleachers to watch the others play dodge ball. Okay, so maybe Chucky had been wrong about the whole skipping thing. The class seemed to go by quickly. The couch soon blew his whistle.
"Hit the showers, ladies!" he called. He was talking to the guys. "Girls, go on." Now he was speaking to the girls. The actual girls.
"Tommy, where were you, man?" Phil asked.
Tommy stood from the bleachers and moved down toward Chucky and Phil. "The aid in detention wouldn't let me out until I picked up her crap from the floor," Tommy replied. "It's not like I dropped her shit on purpose. I was angry and I meant to swipe at the wall not her stack of papers."
"You got detention?" Chucky asked.
"I was giving my opinion in English, second period and Ms. Murphy complained about my language and she took me out. She sent me to Detention. No biggie."
"Ah," Phil said.
Chucky came out of the locker room fresh and cooled off. Phil too. Chucky found Tommy waiting outside. They walked for a while until they came to Tommy and Phil's art class. Chucky waved inside to Lil and Kimmy. Then he walked off. He thought of Tommy. He would ask him what was bothering him later. During lunch or after school. Tommy was a very angry 16 year old and bottling everything up the way he had been for years was not good. Chucky thought that maybe Tommy might possibly be capable of it. With all the rage Tommy was suppressing, he could've. Or maybe not. Maybe he was doubting Tommy's will power much. Tommy was never the abusive type. Bottled up rage or not, he wouldn't have tried anything like that. Chucky was a little disappointed in himself for thinking otherwise.
