My alarm went off at 4am and I layed in the bed for a minute, staring up at the ceiling. Summers over now, back to early mornings and late nights. I sighed before dragging myself out of bed. A quick shower went a long way towards waking me up and I knew the walk into town would do the rest. I went back into the bedroom to set the alarm for Chris to wake up at 6:30. Headlights lit up the room as a car came down the drive and parked beside the shed. That would be Eyeball and Ace just getting in from their run. I looked at the clock then hurried into the kitchen. I had just enough to quickly rustle something up for them to eat, I knew they'd be hungry after such a long night. The look on their faces was priceless as they opened the back door and were hit by the aroma of bacon, eggs, and toast.
"Well, I'll be damned." Ace said with his old crooked grin.
"I take it all back, Sis, I really did miss ya." Eyeball sat down at the table and eyed the food on the stove with tired eyes. Ace leaned against the door frame and watched me flip eggs. He looked just as tired as Eyeball, he'd probably driven the whole way while my brother slept.
"Sit down before you fall down." I motioned for him to take a seat as I sat a cup of steaming hot coffee in front of him and Rich.
"Thanks." He said, drinking the strong bitter liquid with no cream or sugar.
"Alright," I sat a plate full of bacon and eggs in front of both of them and put a big basket of toast in the middle of the table. I turned towards the fridge and grabbed the butter, ketchup, and jelly. "I put a second pot of coffee on, there's more bacon and eggs on the stove and more toast in the oven. Try to save a little for Chris so he can eat before school... and try to behave yourselves when he wakes up." I grabbed my jacket from the hook by the door. "Better yet, try to be asleep before he wakes up, you two look like hell." I looked around the kitchen and spotted my books on the table beside the basket of toast. I walked over to grab them.
"You want a ride to the diner?" Ace asked as I reached over him to get my school work.
"No thanks, I like the walk in the morning." He grabbed my wrist to stop me from turning away.
"Thanks for the food." He said before letting me go.
"You know I won't let you go hungry, no matter what you assholes do." I gave him a playful shove then opened the back door to leave. "You know, I won't be mad if someone decides to do the dishes when you're finished." Eyeball's laughter followed me out the door.
I stopped by Ace's car and opened the glovebox to get a smoke and smiled to myself when I saw he'd bought a new pack and written 'Sammy' on it with a permanent marker. I fished in my bag for a marker and drew a smiley face on the pack before grabbing a smoke and putting it back into the glovebox. I could have taken the whole thing, but then I just smoke more. I walked down the drive and towards town with an odd feeling of peace. It's been a good morning so far, hopefully the rest of the day follows suit. I spent the duration of the walk watching the sky change from pitch black, to pale pink, to red and orange and purple. The sunrise was breathtaking and I couldn't keep my eyes off it. I walked down main street towards the diner. Old Joe had owned the place for as long as I could remember. I worked there for a couple hours before and after school and on Saturday's. I owed him a lot really, I was eleven years old when he'd found me and little Chris rummaging around the garbage cans out back. It hadn't been long since Mom died and Dad hadn't been sober for more than five minutes since the funeral. Eyeball and Ace had made themselves scarce to avoid Dad's drunken rages. Everyone had forgotten about me and Chris, we were just kids and we needed basic things like food to survive. The diner was the only restaurant in town so when Dad and the boys forgot to feed us we'd head over there and try to salvage what we could from the garbage cans out back. It wasn't long before Old Joe found us, faces streaked with dirt, tummy's rumbling, up to our elbows in yesterday's biscuits and grits. He took one look at us and ushered us into the kitchen. We followed him upstairs to the apartment above the diner where he handed me a bar of soap and sent me and Chris into the bathroom where we could bath and clean ourselves up. After that we went back to the kitchen downstairs where Old Joe fixed us the first hot meal we'd had since Mom had been buried ten months ago. After I ate he handed me a dishcloth and I cleaned up the kitchen. After that any time we needed a meal we'd go to the back door of the diner and, no matter what time of day or night it was, Old Joe would let me wash some dishes in exchange for a meal for me and my little brother. A few years ago, when I was old enough to have a part time job he offered me work as a waitress. I could make my own money now and buy food for me and Chris. By this time Dad had sobered up a bit and started teaching Eyeball and Ace the ins and outs of the moonshine business. So they were bringing money in and I was bringing money in. Slowly the debtors stopped coming by and we stopped getting threats of eviction from the bank. We couldn't afford luxuries but at least we always had food on the table now.
"Mornin' Joe!" I called out to the barrel of a man standing over the stove. He turned around, spatula in hand.
"Well, look what the cat drug in." He said with a smile, opening his arms to me. I gave him a big hug then he held me at arms length and peered into my face. "Boy, but you look more and more like your Mama every time I see you."
"Thanks, Joe." I ducked my head and blushed a little.
"I mean it, she was the prettiest girl in four counties and she was pretty where it counts too, in here." He poked my chest for emphasis. I smiled at him and thanked him again before getting changed into my uniform. From six to eight is the busiest time of the morning for the diner and time practically few by. Before I knew it Joe was calling me into the kitchen to get changed for school.
"You can't be late on your first day." He said as I dashed into the closet to put my school clothes on.
"See ya after school, Joe." I waved as I opened the back door.
"Have a good day." He called out as I dashed down the alley. "And stay outta trouble" He added as I rounded the corner.
I couldn't get Tyler and his little comment from yesterday off my mind, it had been plaguing me all morning but I didn't have time to think about it. Now as I walked down Main Street towards the high school I had plenty of time to think. I know most people in this town think we're trash. Even Maryanne and Lester's attitude towards the guys had struck a nerve with me lately, even before the start of summer. Towards the end of school last year they'd gotten more and more vocal about my connection to Eyeball, Ace, and the Cobras. I know exactly what triggered it, it was all that bastard Evan McCall's fault. He was a year ahead of us, him and his brothers and their buddy's were Jets, bitter rivals to the Cobras. Somehow last year I'd landed myself on their radar. It probably had something to do with me spray painting the word 'homo's' on the side of a few of thier cars. Billy and Vince had said I was too chicken to do it and I wasn't, so I did it. The Jets had it out for me after that and that meant they had it out for Maryanne and Lester by association. Those two didn't much appreciate being pulled into a feud that had absolutely nothing to do with them. I can't blame them for that.
"Sammy? Is that you?" I looked up to see Maryanne and Lester walking down the hall towards me.
"Hey!" I said, making my way over to them.
"Wow, Sam, looking good!" Lester said with a smile.
"More than good, you look amazing!"Maryanne twirled me around and whistled.
"Grandma took me shopping." I tried not to blush as I looked down at my brand new crisp black skirt. My blouse was new as well, a deep green color the same shade as freshly mowed grass and it matched my eyes perfectly. Grandma had also bought me a case full of products for my hair that went a long way towards taming my wild curls. A matching green ribbon tied around my pony tail completed the outfit. For the first time in my life I looked like I belonged with them. As we walked down the hall towards the office to get our schedules I actually felt like I belonged as well. For a few minutes at least.
"We missed you at the assembly." Maryanne said, falling into step between me and Lester.
"The dinner was too busy, I couldn't get away early." I said with a shrug. "Did I miss anything important?"
"Same old spiel." Lester said. "Mind the dress code, do your homework, stay out of trouble."
"Let's make this year count." I finished with my best impression of Principle Carter.
"As if they need to tell us that." Maryanne said with a laugh.
"Me and you at least." Lester said. I grinned as they both gave me sidelong glances.
"Hey, come on now you two. I'm really gonna try this year. I look the part now, maybe it'll be easier to act it too." I motioned towards my new duds.
"I'll believe that when I see it. You know, if you hung out with us a bit more instead of those hoods..." I could tell Maryanne was trying hard not to roll her eyes.
"It really will be easier." I said in all seriousness. "It took a few years, but I've gotten the Cobras to lighten up on you a little, haven't I?"
"That is true." Lester conceded.
"Now if it was only the Cobras we had to worry about we'd be cruisin." I said as we walked into the office.
"Yeah, now we have the Jets to worry about too. If only you held the same sway with them." Maryanne's accusing look made me feel like dirt. As well it should, it was all my fault after all.
"Just give me some time, I'll think of something." We grabbed our schedules and headed back out the door.
"Just as long as whatever you come up with makes things better and not worse." She took Lester's schedule and began comparing it to her own. I felt a little twinge of jealousy, every other year It was my schedule she compared with first. Her squeal of excitement told me they had classes together.
"I've gotta go this way." I said as we came to the end of the hallway.
"What? You're not in honors English?" She reached for the paper in my hand and I begrudgingly let her have it.
"I was gonna tell you this summer but Grandma sent for me and…" I trailed off as her and Lester looked up from my schedule in disbelief.
"What's all this?" Lester asked.
"Well, you know how Mrs. Johnson kept calling me the counselors office last year?" I started, not really sure of how to tell them.
"Yeah." They said in unison.
"I was never in any trouble like everyone thought. I'm just a bit ahead of everyone else, I could have graduated this year if I wanted to. But I'm not quite ready yet so we came up with this instead. She thought it'd look better on my college applications and give me more of a chance at scholarships if I seemed like a well rounded student." I shrugged.
"So you're a Teacher's Assistant for….Autoshop?" She was genuinely surprised.
"For the first half of the day." I said. "You remember my term paper last year?"
"How could I forget?" She didn't even try not to roll her eyes this time. "You couldn't have come up with a more boring topic."
"Hey, that paper on The Internal Combustion Engine won a national award." I said with more than a little pride. No matter how much you know about engines, writing 2,500 words about them is harder than it seems.
"Good for you, Sam. But what about the last half of your day? It just says 'Mrs Johnson' no subject or anything.
"I'll be working in her office, she's signed me up for a few college level courses."
"What about next year? Our senior year?" Maryanne asked, she didn't seem nearly as happy for me as Lester. But she's always been really competitive when it comes to academics.
"I'll take all the regular senior classes with you guys since I decided against taking them this year."
"Well, that's good. But it really puts a damper on hanging out with us more though, doesn't it?" I could see the hurt in her eyes. I should have told them sooner but I didn't want word getting around school and it becoming a big deal.
"We'll find time." I said without a lot of confidence.
"When? You work before and after school and all day most Saturday's. Sunday's are out for obvious reasons." She gave me a pointed look.
"Sunday dinner is a tradition in my house." I said, starting to get a bit angry. "It always has been, it's the only thing that stayed the same after Mom passed and that won't be changing any time soon."
"So, I guess that leaves us with lunch period." Lester said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.
"And every other Saturday I'm off work by noon." I reminded her.
"Yeah, that's true." Lester said, Maryanne had visibly checked out of the conversation and I'd had enough.
"You two could always come to my place for Sunday dinner, you'd be welcome ya know." My voice sounded too sweet even to my own ears. It wasn't a serious statement anyway, I knew they'd never come. I'd known them since 6th grade and neither one of them had ever been to my house.
"No, thank you." Maryanne had found her voice again.
"I didn't think so." I said with a snort, "See ya at lunch." I turned and walked away, ignoring Lester as he tried to call me back. If this had been last year he would have followed me and we would have worked things out. But now Maryanne was his priority and he was hers. I'd just have to get used to it.