April and Phil had just left Chrono Comics all while April kept looking in the bag of her newly and recently purchased graphic novels and comic books. April still couldn't believe that by spending an afternoon with Phil Brooks, she'd end up developing a slight addiction to reading comic books. She had been so distracted by constantly looking at what she bought that she hadn't even noticed that Phil wasn't walking by her side anymore. Looking back, April saw that he had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk looking at his phone.
Walking back, April asked "Phil, is everything okay?"
Looking up from his phone to see the concerned look on April's face, Phil said "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. What would make you ask that?"
"Well, I was walking and when I looked to my side, you weren't beside me anymore," April said.
"I'm sorry. Didn't mean to make you worry about me. It's just that I'm home by myself tonight and I was trying to figure out what I was going to do as far as dinner and sleeping goes," Phil said.
"Oh. Did you decide on what you were going to do?" April asked.
"I think I might just stay at my place by myself. My mom told me that I could go stay at my friend's house, but I think it'd be better to be there when she comes in from work," Phil said.
"What does your mom do as far as working goes?" April asked, curiosity coloring her voice.
"My mom works at the local hospital as an on-call nurse. She works a regular shift, but sometimes she'll have to go in and cover for one of her co-workers when her bosses call her in," Phil said. "It can suck at times, but I've gotten used to it as I've gotten older."
"That sounds about like how my mom and dad's jobs are. My mom's a lawyer and my dad's a surgeon, so I tend to have to deal with not really getting to see them much," April said, shrugging.
"Aww, that blows. Maybe you'll get to have some time to spend with your parents this weekend. After all, even the best lawyers and surgeons need a break from their jobs every now and then," Phil said, sympathetically. Looking ahead, Phil saw that they had almost reached the front gates of the school. "Well, I guess this is where we split off. My house is down the road over there."
"OK. Be careful headed home," April said.
"Don't worry. I will, and you do the same," Phil said. "And, I guess, maybe I'll see you in class or around school tomorrow."
"Sure," April said, as Phil walked off. Once Phil had headed off in the direction of his house, April sighed and headed for her own house. She was trying her best to hide it, but since she wasn't around Phil anymore, April let the disappointment that was building up inside of her surface on her face. Even though April had been having to deal with this since she was in middle school, she still hated the thought of going home only to sit around in solitude for the remainder of the day. While there was always the thought of going over to Josh's house, she had homework to do and decided it'd be best to go spend another quiet day at home. At least today, she'd get to kill time by reading the graphic novels and comic books that she bought; so, in a way, she was feeling great about going to spend a day at home alone.
…
Just as Phil unlocked his front door, his phone started to ring. Fishing his phone out of his pocket, he saw that he had just gotten a text from Colt. Reading over it, Phil saw that it was more ribbing from Colt about him and April going shopping for comic books together. He almost deleted the text until he read the last sentence of it and saw that Amy was asking if he wanted to come over to their house to stay the night since his mom was working second shift. Phil sent back a reply saying that he was fine with staying at home but that Colt and Amy were more than welcome to stay the night with him. A few minutes later, Phil got a reply back from Colt saying that he and Amy had gotten permission from her mom and that they were going to be over to his house in a few minutes. Letting out a sigh, Phil proceeded to head upstairs to his bedroom where he tossed the bag containing his Batman comics onto his bed. He then walked over to get his backpack from beside his dresser and take it back downstairs. He figured that while he had the time to, he'd study over his notes for World History.
Settling into the couch in his living room, Phil opened his notebook and started looking over the beginning section of his notes on the Black Plague. He really hoped that somehow he'd be able to pass his classes and get closer to finally getting promoted to the tenth grade. He may have hid it well under all of his joking and goofing around, but Phil hated the fact that he was still in the ninth grade while Amy and his other friends his age were in the eleventh grade. It was something that was unknown to most of the student body aside from his friends, but there was a reason why Phil had been held back for two years.
He had been so deep into his studying and his own thoughts that he hadn't even heard the doorbell ring. Prying himself off of the couch, Phil went to open the door only to find Amy and Colt standing in his doorway.
"Hey, Phil," Amy said, smiling.
"Hey Amy, hey Colt," Phil said, dismissively.
Catching onto the tone of his best friend's voice, Colt said "OK, man. What's up?"
"Nothing, Colt. Why would you ask a question like that?" Phil asked, blinking in confusion.
"Because you don't sound all that thrilled about us being here and you've got tear streaks going down your face," Colt said.
Reaching up to touch his face, Phil wiped across his cheeks only to feel traces of tears. He was crying and he hadn't even been aware of it. "Huh, I guess I do. I can't begin to imagine why, but I think it was because I was thinking about what's been keeping me held back in school for the past two years," Phil said, trying to clean his face off some more.
"Phil, I thought you said you were going to try to forget about that. Your mom's fine now and you two don't have to worry about him anymore," Amy said, stepping forward and placing a hand on Phil's shoulder.
"I know, Amy, but I still think back to everything that happened in those two years and how powerless and weak I felt," Phil said. "It doesn't exactly make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I think about how things got so out of control and how bad things got for me and my mom."
"That's why we had Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Williams, and Mr. James step in and take care of things when they did. Had you not told any of us, you'd probably be back where you were last year," Amy said.
"And I thank you and the others for doing that. It was such a huge relief that we got help when we did," Phil said, as fresh tears tried to fall from his eyes.
Grabbing Phil by the hand, Amy said "Come on, Phil. Let's go sit on the couch and find a movie on TV to watch. Movies are always a good way to try forgetting things."
As Colt grabbed the TV remote and proceeded to hop through the channels in search of a good movie to watch, Phil and Amy took seats on the couch next to Colt. Phil leaned back while Amy and Colt got into a bit of a debate about what to watch. He was grateful to have the friends that he had because they were some of the only people that really knew him for the person he was and not just for the reputation he had amongst the student body at school; also, because they were the people that helped pick him back up when he was at his weakest.
…
April had just finished the writing assignment that she had to work on for Mr. Cornette's class when she threw down her pencil in frustration. She wasn't so much feeling frustrated about the writing assignment; she was just feeling frustrated that she had to do Eve's as well as her own. Every time April felt like she was going to tell Eve off about the constant bullying she had to deal with from her, she would just chicken out and let it happen. One time, April had almost succeeded with telling Eve about how she really felt, but then Eve had to bring it back up about why it was in the first place that April was in the situation she was in. Just thinking about what led to her being in this predicament made April angry at herself.
Shaking her head, April thought 'No, I don't care what it is that Eve says. She hasn't done a thing to help me ever since that day. In fact, all she's done is take advantage of this whole deal between us.' Instead of spending the night thinking over something from her past, April decided to repack her backpack and head downstairs in the search of something to eat for her dinner. Before she headed downstairs, April looked in her bag of graphic novels and grabbed 'Final Fantasy Origins: Yuna' so that she could begin to read that after she finished eating; then, after making space in one of the drawers of her dresser, April hid the bag and receipt under her clothes and pushed it back in. The last thing she wanted would be for her parents to come in and see that she had graphic novels that would, in their eyes, only serve as a distraction for her from her schoolwork.
Once she got downstairs, April headed for her living room first where she put the graphic novel on one of the couches and then headed for the kitchen in the hopes of trying to find something to eat. Walking into the kitchen, April went to the refrigerator and, opening the door, saw a Tupperware bowl that was filled with what looked like soup. As she took the bowl out, April saw that her parents had written 'April's dinner' on the lid in permanent marker. Taking the lid off of the bowl, April walked over to the microwave and, setting the time for 2 minutes and 30 seconds, turned on the appliance. While she waited for her dinner to heat up, April thought about her trip to Chrono Comics with Phil and what she saw while she was there. One thing that seemed to stick out to her the most was how chill things seemed, especially with the way Alex and Kaitlyn were running the shop. Just the thought of going to a shop every day and seeing employees like them working there had April giggling. She was soon snapped out of her thoughts by the beeping of the microwave. Pulling open the door to the microwave, April proceeded to shovel spoonful after spoonful of soup into her mouth. She was trying to hurry and finish eating so that she'd have more time to read her graphic novel before she went to sleep.
Once April ate as much as she could stomach, she put the remainder of the soup back in the refrigerator and headed back to the living room. As soon as she sat down on the couch where she left the book, April picked up and, getting comfortable, opened the book and launched into reading the first page.
…
Three Blade movies and one viewing of Batman Begins later, Phil had started to feel like himself again.
"Man, Colt. I can't believe you still made me and Ames sit through the first three Blade movies," Phil said, once their movie viewing marathon had ended.
"Hey! I needed a good vampire fix and the Blades were the only vampire movies that were on," Colt said, shrugging his shoulders.
"We could've at least put in my copies of Daybreakers and Dracula, Colt. Those two movies blow all of the Blades out of the water," Amy said.
"Well, maybe next time we can watch those movies, but since I had the remote, that put me in charge of the TV," Colt said, sticking his tongue out at Amy.
"Do that one more time and I'm putting you in a headlock," Amy said, turning to stare Colt in the eyes.
"Bring it on, Little Red Rocking Cargos!" Colt shouted, returning Amy's stare.
As the other two teens argued on, Phil laughed at how his friends were acting. Even though he had just been feeling a bit down in the dumps a few hours ago, he just knew that he could count on Amy and Colt to help him feel better. "I really don't think you two should be trying to fight in here," Phil said, around his laughs. "My mom wouldn't like it if she came in and saw the TV on the floor.
Breaking her stare-down with Colt, Amy said "Oh man, you're right, Phil. After all, I'd hate to do anything to piss of your mom, especially if she were to come home in the middle of the night only to see that a lot of her property was destroyed."
"Yeah, I guess maybe we shouldn't start fighting in here even though Amy started it," Colt said.
"Oh, I started it? Really, Colt?" Amy asked, the same tone she took earlier returning to her voice.
Shouting over the mayhem two of his closest friends were trying to start, Phil said "Guys! Breakable things in here! Property of my mom! Do those two things mean anything to you?!"
"Oh, sorry Phil. You're right, we probably should stop arguing in here," Amy said. Cutting a glare at Colt, Amy asked "Isn't that right, Colt?"
"I've got no problem with waiting. Just know that we shall pick this back up tomorrow when we're at home," Colt said, smirking.
"Trust me, little boy. It's going to be on like Donkey Kong tomorrow afternoon," Amy said, matching his smirk with a smirk of her own.
This went on for a few more minutes until Amy and Colt were able to stop their back-and-forth cycle of arguing. After they finally calmed down, Phil suggested that they try to find something to eat for dinner before they had to turn in. Not really wanting to cook anything, the three teens settled on popping bags of microwave popcorn and eating that while they drank some of the Pepsis that Phil had in his refrigerator. Once the popcorn was all gone, Phil stretched his arms out while Amy yawned and Colt fought to keep his eyes open.
"Phil, what time is it?" Amy asked, around a yawn.
Looking at his phone for the time, Phil said "It is now 12:35."
"12:35?! Damn it! We were supposed to be in bed hours ago," Amy said.
"Why don't you and Sleepy over there go upstairs and crash in my bed and the guest room? I'll take the couch down here," Phil suggested.
Rubbing her eyes, Amy said "You sure? I wouldn't want to rob you of your bed."
"Relax, Ames. It's no big deal," Phil said, waving off the redhead's concern. "Besides, my mom will coming in from work soon and I should probably be down here to help her in the house and up the stairs to her bed."
"OK, if you say so. Night, Phil," Amy said, hugging the teen as she proceeded to go help Colt up and to help him up the stairs.
"Night, Ames," Phil called after her. Once Amy and Colt were upstairs, Phil said and thought 'Well, here's to another sleepless night.' Not really wanting to take a chance with going to sleep at this hour, Phil walked over to his Xbox360. Making sure that the volume of the TV was turned down low enough so that he could still be able to hear, Phil turned on the game console and retrieved his copy of one of his favorite video games, Batman: Arkham Asylum. Taking the disc out of its case and placing it on the disc tray, Phil soon found himself deep in the depths of Arkham Asylum as Batman. All while he played, Phil couldn't help but to think back to his earlier trip to Chrono Comics with April and how much it seemed like April enjoyed herself. As he controlled Batman to punch at the prisoners that came his way, Phil thought 'April really seemed to enjoy herself today. Now all I have to do is wait for her to give me her decision on whether or not she'll enter the contest with me. I sure hope she says yes.'
