Ch. two

I drove a couple of blocks to pick up friends of mine. Josh and Amanda. Twins who cannot stand each other but will always support each other. As soon as I pulled up to their house, Josh came sprinting out of the house and jumped straight into the passenger seat.

He yelled, " Go, go, go! Percy, start the car!"

I asked, "Why, bruh? We in no rush, we got a couple of minutes."

Then I hear a high pitch scream, "JOSHHHHHHH!"

I looked at him and who guiltily looked back and shrugged his shoulders.

I inquired, "What did you do?"

He replied, "I may have or may not have screwed with her hairdryer."

I groaned, "Dude, now we are gonna be late. Why didn't you think this through?"

He responded, "She took the last pop tart."

I gave him a bewildered look and said, "So?"

He answered, "Nobody touches my pop-tart."

The door swung open and fist came flying through.

Wham!

"Get your ass in the back. Nobody messes with my hair and sits in the front. Because of you, I now have to do my makeup in the car. Move your stanky ass," yelled Amanda.

I smirked at Josh rubbing his head. I could already see it swelling up.

Amanda plopped down in the passenger seat and stated, "Perce, Mama told me I had to give some leftovers. She said that you are too skinny and need some meat on your bones."

She put the leftovers in my backpack.

I responded, "Tell her that I am thankful, but my mom cooks enough food for me and I am not starving. She doesn't have to keep giving me food."

As I pulled out of their driveway, Josh chimed in, "Bro, you are gonna deny my Mama's cooking? Do you have a death wish?"

I looked at him in the rearview mirror and responded, "Do you have one for messing with your sister's hairdryer?"

He slunk back in silence while I smirked at his lack of response.

This caused Amanda to get riled up again and she screamed, "Why the hell did you even mess with my stuff, boi. You lucky Percy is in the car, otherwise, I would beat your ass."

He responded, "You took the last Poptart."

She gave him an incredulous look and screamed, "A pop-tart? This is all because of a fucking pop-tart?"

Josh replied, "It's a Frosted Hot Fudge Sundae pop-tart. Mama never gets pop-tarts. So, yeah, don't touch my food or your hair will end up like a rat's nest."

Amanda turned towards me and said, "You petty ass motherfucker, I swear to God. Percy, pull over. I'm about to beat his ass."

He responded, "Let's go baby sis. You got nothing on me. I ain't afraid to hurt a little fugly girl. Daddy ain't here to protect. Let's settle this shit."

I rolled my eyes. This is the fifth time this has happened this week, and it is only Wednesday. I wonder how their parents can survive these two, let alone five kids. Josh and Amanda have two older brothers and a younger sister. One brother goes to NYU for an English degree and the other is at St. Johns for a basketball scholarship. The younger sister is in middle school.

I sighed and interjected, "You guys, I'm not gonna pull over. We still have to pick up David. Can you guys put this shit on hold until we get to school? I don't wanna explain to Paul that I crashed his car because two of my friends were fighting in the car which caused me to swerve into a pole."

They each angrily stared at each other and replied, "Fine."

Amanda was putting on eyeshadow and asked, "So, Percy, you got any plans going to this year's Winterball."

I almost swerved at that question. What the hell, that came out of nowhere.

I stammered, "Um, no, not really. Er, I don't really have any plans for it. Why do you ask?"

She looked at me side-eye and responded, "No reason at all. Just curious."

I heard a noise in the back. I looked at the mirror and saw Josh had his hand over his mouth. Amanda saw that too and gave him a look. Josh then suddenly took an interest in the window.

Amanda continued, "I just don't want you to stay at home on a Saturday night, again."
I commented, "I do not always stay at home."

She replied, "Please, you always make an excuse to not hang out. I love your mom and sister, but you need to get out of the house once in a while. It wouldn't hurt for you to just show up to a party for a little bit."

Josh interjected, "Lay off, Amanda. Not everyone wants to hang out with your basic friends."

They started going at it again. At least this time they waited for around ten minutes before they started arguing. New record.

I didn't entirely lie. I don't always stay at home. It is just that I visit camp sometimes or I will have an unexpected visitor and I am expected to show him the door. They don't know my other life. It's been hard balancing the two out, but I don't need my life to get more complicated if they get involved. It is just better this way.

I pulled up to David Garcia's house and honked the horn. David came strolling out with a huge poster. He opened the door and stated, "Josh, move your big ass feet. I need to put my poster in the car."

Josh asked, "Why the hell do you got such a big ass poster? The semester just started. Wait, was there a project assigned over the break and no one told me?"

David responded, "Nah, bruh. I'm trying to ask Lily to the dance."

Josh commented, "Awesome dude. Wait which one, Lily on the debate team or the one who dances?"

He stared at him and replied, "Bruh, Lily James, the one on the dance team."

Amanda turned around and squealed, "That is adorable. Why her?"

"Have you seen her? She is absolutely fine and thicc with two c's. Plus, she knows how to move her body, if you know what I mean," answered David and winked at the last statement.

Josh and I started howling in laughter. Amanda just gave us a disgusted look and muttered, "Stupid boys."

When we pulled up to the school parking lot, Amanda asked, "Well, did you at least get her flowers?"

He looked at her in shock and whispered, "Fuck."

That's when Josh and I lost it. Josh struggled to breathe and was bending over in laughter. I asked David, "Bro, how can you forget the flowers. That is like the most important thing to bring."

Amanda shook her head and commented, "Lily has family that lives in the Hamptons. She will not be swayed by a poster and flowers anyways. But no flowers, that is just disrespectful. Do you even know the girl?"

I parked the car and David yelled, "Percy, we need to go shopping now. I gotta get her flowers."

I looked at him like he was crazy. I answered, "Nuh-uh. We just got to school, we shop for those stupid fucking flowers later. It's your dumbass fault that you forgot the flowers. We can go shopping later today after I pick up Estelle. Besides, you can ask her tomorrow."

As we were getting out of the car, Amanda continued to question David, "How do you even know Lily, I have never seen you guys talk to each other before."

He shrugged and answered, "She DMed me."

We all stopped walking and looked at him. He looked offended and continued, "What? Can't a girl take an interest in me?"

I replied, "Any girl? Maybe. Lily James. Never. You definitely have no shot."

David continued, "Explain yourself. Show us the DM."

He pulled out his phone and showed us his phone. And sure enough, there was a message from Lily.

Josh stated, "Well, I guess you proved us wrong David. Good for you man."

Amanda chimed, "Well, you still need to get a better idea anyway. Amanda likes flashy things. You need to do something big."

Josh stated, "We can figure something out David. What about-"

Amanda interrupted, "Sorry guys, but I gotta bounce. Good luck David. Tessa, wait up!"

Amanda ran off to join her friends. Amanda is cool and all, but when she is with her friends, totally a different story. They bring out her bitchy side. Josh definitely has an opinion on her friends.

Josh said, "I don't get why she hangs out with them. She always complains about them at home and cries about how they leave her out of things. Yet, she always comes crawling back to them. I don't get it, they are just fake ass people."

I shrugged and responded, "I don't know man. Maybe she knows them better than we do. They could be alright."

He retorted, "Don't defend them. They treat her like shit and she just lets them. Remember last year for yearbook pictures? They kept making fun of her top and she ended up wearing your sweatshirt because she was self-conscious."

I recalled, "Ya, she was cute in that top. Hey, I never got my hoodie back tho. Can you find it?"

He nodded, "Ya, I got you. Also, remember how they laughed at David?"

David popped in, "Wait, I thought they laughed at my joke."

Josh replied, "Bruh, you thought they were laughing at your joke while you were in an ice cream costume?"

He innocently replied, "What? It was for work. That suit sucked, but I did get free ice cream."

Josh shook his head and said, "That's not the point. The point is her friends are terrible and she doesn't even know it."

I put my hand on his shoulder and responded, "You can't force people to look at your point of view. She is gonna have to come to terms by herself."

Josh answered, "I know, but it fucking pisses me off. Like, why do they gotta be so fucking mean."

Suddenly, a dude bumped into us and said, "Watch where you going?"

Josh yelled, "Yo, watch yourself. You're the one who bumped into us."

The dude got up into Josh's face and whispered, "So, what you gonna do about it punk?"

I felt uncontrollable anger piling up inside of me. This dude was pissing me off. But this feeling was familiar and his presence felt familiar. His tone and attitude, I felt like we met before.

I looked over at Josh and David, I saw their fist was curled up and their arms were tensing up. I could tell they were about to take a swing.

David asked, "Who the hell even are you? I don't think I've ever seen you before."

The mysterious dude looked at David and commented, "Shut the fuck up, this doesn't concern you. Your friend is the one who is trying to be a man. Except I don't think he has any balls to do anything."

Wait, I know this dude. Except, why would he be here?

Josh stepped up and replied, "Let's go a couple of rounds and we'll find out who's got balls."

The dude responded, "Well, I guess big man's got some. Alright, let's go right now, lil n-"

I interrupted, "OKAY, let's not get in trouble before class starts. Josh, David, let's go to class."

Josh ignored me and denied, "Nah bruh, I want to hear what this motherfucker has to say. I want him to finish that sentence. I want to hear it."

I stepped in between them and stated, "No, you don't bro. Just walk away. I'll deal with his bitch ass."

The dude replied, "Oh, big words from a coward."

I gave him my death stare to tell him to shut up. David asked, "Do you this dude, Perce?"

I sighed and replied, "He's my cousin. I'll talk to him. Just walk away, trust me."

Josh looked at me for a while and then walked away."

I turned around and the dude transformed. In front of me was a guy in a motorcycle leather jacket and sunglasses.

He said, "Sup lil cousin."

I curtly answered, "What do you want Ares?"