John looked back at Brian, who looked like he just found out he was sentenced to life in prison. Though John walked towards the bleachers like he was on an afternoon stroll in the park, Brian was jittery. He kept looking all around, speedwalking so fast he could have won some sort of race, and he was pale. So laughably pale. When they got out of sight from the school windows, John turned around and grabbed Brian by the shoulders.
"Johnson. Just. Chill," John commanded. Brian took a deep breath and stepped under the bleachers. John headed in behind him and introduced his friends. "This is Bosco, Rob, and Meg."
"Brian - er, uh, Johnson," Brian stammered. The rest of the group chuckled. Meg looked up at him and smiled.
"Advanced trig with Simmons, right?"
"Uh, yeah," Brian said with a smile.
"That last quiz was totally bogus, don't you think?" Meg smiled back as she motioned for him to come sit down with the rest of them.
"Eh, forget all that boring school shit. I did not 'clean out the entire garage' to find my brother's stash just for it to go unsmoked," Rob joked as he pulled out a lighter and a small plastic bag. Brian's eyes went wide and John shot him a glare so fast he didn't even have a chance to start his whole "we're on school property, we can't do this during school hours" spiel. Brian composed himself and watched as each of them took their turn with the joint until it got to him. He stared at it, moving it slowly towards his mouth when all of a sudden he and the rest of John's friends heard footsteps approaching.
"Jesus Clark, you'll give Johnson a heart attack!" John exclaimed. The burnouts were dumbfounded as Andrew Clark, the school's next wrestling champion, waltzed into their stoner hangout.
"What do you mean?" Andy asked, looking confused. "Didn't Allison come here too?"
"No?" John quipped, mocking Andy's befuddled tone. They heard a muffled sound from on top of the bleachers. Footsteps echoed down the stairs until Allison appeared at the entrance to their spot. Brian slapped a hand to his forehead as he checked his watch.
"How long have you been here?" he burst out.
"Only a few minutes," Allison giggled, swiping the joint from his hand and taking a hit.
Andy, still confused, stammered "I thought you didn't-"
"Don't presume to know what I do or do not do," Allison retorted. The group took a moment to just take in their situation.
"So this is all...cool?" Meg gestured at the circle. after awhile, any walls between members of this gathering faded away.
"So don't you have like, a practice or something?" Bosco asked, his voice slow. Andy was silent for a moment.
"Overworked my shoulder doing weights," he said soberly, "so I'm just supposed to run, but screw that." Allison looked over at him, watching him carefully.
"Hey Johnson, you got physics club or anything today?" Bender asked, turning the conversation away from Andy's daddy issues.
"Nah, that's on Wednesdays. Mondays I get a head start on my homework." That's when the conversation turned to shitting on school. They all went on and on about how school was full of needless bullshit. Meg purported that the whole thing was meant to turn them into Mothers and Fathers and housewives and breadwinning family men instead of unique human beings.
As the group ranted about their plight, John asked Andy "So, does Cherry have any extracurriculars this afternoon?"
Andy thought for a moment. "French club," he said in a monotone.
"Fuckin' French club," John muttered. "Johnson, what's the time?" Brian threw his arm over to John, who struggled to make out a time that had one too many "4s" in it. "Shit, I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"Have a safe journey, man," Bosco saluted. John half-assed a salute right back.
As John trudged to the place he dreaded the most, his thoughts began to race. His dad had given him chores to do after school, and if he didn't get them done his dad would be pissed. Of course, these were all the chores his dad meant to do during the day since he was practically unemployed (since he never went in to work), except he would always end up getting too drunk to complete any of them. So they became John's responsibility.
John shrugged up his coat against the March cold. The walk to his house from school was fairly long, but he was used to it. If he walked fast enough he wouldn't get too cold, and he was in a hurry today anyway. As he rounded the corner to turn onto his street, John heard faint yelling and glass smashing. He looked ahead towards his house and saw the broken window. He watched as his mother stormed out of the house and headed for the old jalopy in the driveway. John heard the engine rev and ducked behind a tree. As she sped past, John knew that he couldn't stay at his own home tonight. Fuck the chores, John muttered to himself. He watched the house a little while longer to make sure his dad wasn't going to come outside looking for him or chasing after his mother. After a few moments of nothing, John turned around and started walking in the direction he had just come from.
He headed towards Rob's house. That was usually where he stayed when his dad got bad. John peered in the front window and saw Rob and his family gathered for supper. He watched as Rob's mom placed a bowl of Kraft dinner on the table. Rob's mom was a single mother, his dad left shortly after Rob's little brother was born. John knew it was hard for her to make ends meet. Sometimes Rob would pick up afternoon shifts at the autoshop since his mom already worked 2 jobs. As desperate as John was to get out of the cold, he didn't want to impose on Rob's family. He turned to walk towards Meg's house just up the road.
Through her house's front window, John could see Meg bent over a textbook at the table. At this point, it was getting dark and he knew he needed to get indoors. John shuffled up to the front steps and rang the doorbell.
"John? What are you doing out here?" Meg exclaimed as she opened the door. "Come in!"
"I…" John trailed off, "I can't stay at home tonight." Meg looked at him understandingly.
"Let me make you a cup of tea," she said as she walked towards the kitchen.
John kicked off his boots and took his coat off, folding it in his arms. He heard pots clanging and the sound of Meg's voice on the phone. He looked around the entryway, noticing all of the family photos on the wall. He heard Meg sigh a "thanks so much" and then the sound of the phone being set back on the receiver. The kettle on the stove began to whistle.
"John!" Meg called from the kitchen, "Come get your tea!" John wandered into the kitchen, and a warm mug was promptly placed in his hand. "You gotta let it steep for a bit, and then you can drink it." John looked down at his mug, unsure. He followed Meg back to the dining room table where she was working on trigonometry homework. "My dad said you could stay for dinner, and we'll set you up to sleep on the couch."
"Thanks," John said as he stared into his mug, watching the water turn a darker honey color.
After fixating on a math problem for a few minutes, Meg finally told him "You can probably drink that now." John took a sip, immediately scowling at the strange taste. Meg laughed. "It's just chamomile," she said, hardly stifling her grin. She got up from the table to drop a spoonful of honey into the tea. John gave her a quizzical look. "Just try it!" Meg groaned as she rolled her eyes. Admittedly, the taste was better. If this was the price John had to pay to get out of his house for the evening, he would take it.