Patty and I talked for a long time that night. At first we talked more about him and Dottie, how he wanted her back and how he hurt in places of his heart he didn't know could hurt. Then we talked about me and my cutting, then we talked about little things like memories with Luke and Damon. Dottie came up again after that. We listened to music and the conversation didn't stop until Patty's dad came home and we had dinner. After that, we talked until the ungodly hours. We were in his room at that point.
Patty's room is so different than mine. For one, its huge and always very clean and organised. It always smells fresh like it's just been vacuumed. A big window is the first thing visible when you walk in. Below the window was his desk that always had lyrics and writing projects he was working on neatly arraigned on top of it. The walls are painted a soft and calming pale blue colour and he has a few posters from different bands hung up. His bed was a loft bed with a couch on the bottom of it and stairs on the side. The bed was facing his dresser on the other wall. His stereo was in the centre of his dresser and CDs were in two CD holders on either side of it. On the wall above it was his TV. In his dresser drawers were more movies than clothes. It was no shock to learn Patty came from money. He wasn't a dick about it, but it was easy to be jealous.
I laid on the couch as Patty was above me, in his bed. The lights were off, and The Shining was playing in front of us with the volume down so low, you couldn't hear the movie. Patty looked super tired when he was going up to lay down, and I was deliriously tired as well. I began to drift in and out of sleep. I heard Patty whisper my name a few times, along with "Are you awake?" but I was too tired to talk. Before I went to sleep for good, I heard him whisper once again, mostly to himself. "I wish I had your life."
The next few days went by quickly. It was the last week of my Patty and Dottie's junior year, Damon's sophomore year and Luke's senior year (which he had to retake). In a few months, my best friends and I would be seniors. Everyone got their yearbooks and they were constantly out in class because we were pretty much done with our finals. I got a few signatures from teachers, some from acquaintances, and the obvious friends. On the last day of school, we were all sitting in our usual lunch spot at a table near the office. Patty was to my left, Damon sat next to him, and Luke and Dottie sat to my right.
"I failed my finals. How do teachers expect us to remember that much stuff, anyways? It's stupid." Luke complained. I shrugged and Damon piped up. "It's the district. They have requirements that the teachers have to meet, and the teachers are required to test us on specific things. It's not the teachers' idea to test on so much." Luke made a disgusted face. "That's dumb. Can't they see we're way overworked?" He asked. A rhetorical question, but Dottie replied with "Probably. But they don't care." Patty, clearly still feeling awkward around Dottie, picked at his salad as Luke went on, "I'm going to literally light myself on fire if I get Mr. Richards again for gov. He'd the worst." Damon made a disgusted sound. "Don't even think about next year when this one hasn't even ended yet. You're giving me anxiety." He said, taking a bite out of his sandwich.
"I can't stop thinking about it. This place is a plague. It sucks ass. I already wasted four years in this place, guys. They expect me to do another. I can't." Luke said. He hated school. I, however, thought pretty highly about our school. It's got a great video program, and the teachers actually care about teaching, not just their pay checks. I remember one time last year in biology, Luke fell asleep after a test and Mrs. Ferguson made everyone be quiet so we wouldn't wake him. The school had been extra nice to him especially, but he didn't seem to see it that way.
"Stop being a downer, Luke. Worry about it later. We've got movies and drinks tonight, right Patty?" Damon nudged Patty with his elbow. Patty took his eyes up from his salad and meekly said "Yeah.." His voice trailed on, as if there was something he wasn't saying. No one else picked up on the unevenness of his voice, because they started talking about who was bringing what to Patty's.
It went like this:
A Saturday out of the month every month we would all gather at Patty's and watch a movie and get as drunk as we could without Patty's brain dead parents noticing. I think they knew we drank, though I'm not sure that they actually cared. We all played a part in ensuring that our movie night went well. Luke was the oldest and had a fake ID to buy the booze, Patty had the biggest house and the biggest movie collection and the rest of us (me, Dottie and Damon) brought food. Every time, someone vowed to not drink so they could drive the rest home. This day was a Thursday, but since it is a special occasion, we decided to have the movie night a bit earlier.
Patty anxiously pressed the home button on his phone. "11:48. In less than fifteen minutes, this year will officially be over." He announced. After everyone said their good riddances, Luke's face changed as he turned to me. "Jace. I didn't sign your yearbook yet." He told me. I had a bad feeling as I handed him the book to sign. The next couple of minutes were spent taking about next year, our anxieties and all. We promised to meet in the same place for lunch next year. When the bell rang, Luke handed me my yearbook back and scurried off. I looked at it on the bus later on. Just as I'd suspected, a veiny, big balled cartoon penis under a messily-scribbled banner that read "See you next year! - Luke"