The next morning, I got up on time for school surprisingly so I made a cup of coffee for myself. I can assure you that this cup of Target brand coffee tastes like the purest blend imported from Madrid compared to jail coffee. Man, I do not miss that hellhole one bit. As much as I hate being home, being told what do to and what to say, going to school and dealing with a bunch of narcissistic kids and teachers, anything is better than Albuquerque State Prison. I grab a few bucks out of my dad's wallet for lunch money and head out the door. Once I get to school, I remind myself I only have to survive 8 dreadful, painful, horrifying hour's left until the weekend. I can do this.
I got a few extra minutes of sleep during Mrs. Becker's class as usual during first period since Combo is having a party at his place tonight. I haven't gone to one of his in a long time, so I'm excited to get him and the rest of our crew back together tonight. The bell rings and I'm about to make a run for it instead of going to Mr. White's class. He can be such an ***hole sometimes, I swear. No wonder why nobody wants to be a chemist nowadays; they've got to take his damn class.
"HALLELUJAH! YES! YES!" I can't remember the last time I got this excited. There, standing in the front of the classroom, was the second closest thing to God himself, a substitute teacher. I'm definitely downing several beers tonight in honor of this wonderful day without Mr. White's presence. Once the substitute takes attendance, I had him write me a nurses pass for an 'upset stomach.' Needless to say, I got in my car and let the weekend festivities begin by rolling down the windows and lighting a cigarette.
I got home and decided to heat up my leftover pizza. Before I could even start the microwave, my mom started nagging me.
"How was school? Did you talk to Mrs. Becker about your grade?"
"Yeah, everything's fine Ma," hoping she'd leave me alone. I just wasn't in the mood to fight with her right now.
"Jesse, don't get fresh with me. Also, I asked you to do the dishes last night and I cam down this morning to crusty plates and stained forks," she said.
"I forgot, OK?" Jeez, she never lays off me.
"Well I've got news for you, you're going to do the dishes tonight, along with folding the laundry and cleaning out the garage. It's a beautiful day out so why don't do head outside and start with the garage."
Was she being serious? I think my mom gets enjoyment of ruining my life.
"Mom, I can't! I told you I was going to Combo's tonight! I can't do all that stuff right now, I'll do it tomorrow or next week," I explain.
"No Jesse! When I say to do it now, it means NOW!" My mom storms upstairs and slams her door shut. I guess if I start on the garage now, I can clean it out pretty fast and then hop in the shower. The laundry and dishes are going to have to wait.
I start by pulling out all of the cardboard boxes filled with old photo albums, my tee-ball equipment from kindergarten, and old school projects made by Jake and I. Man, I never knew how messy this garage was, I might as well sweep up while I'm at it.
I finish sweeping so I decide to go through the boxes and throw away my stuff that I could care less about. What's the point of keeping my 4th grade 'show and tell achievement award' or my old Pirates jersey from tee ball? Two boxes emptied, one to go. I grab the box with all the photo albums, so I decide to look through some pictures.
"Wow," I say to myself. There are so many photos of my mom, dad, Jake and I at the park playing on the swings, at the beach, playing Frisbee, and going on road trips. Looking at the photos made me realize how much things can change over time, but it's not always a good kind of change. In almost every photo I held, the 4 of us had smiles as bright as the sun on our faces. It freaked me out for a moment because in majority of the photos I looked so happy, something I haven't experienced in nearly 4 years.
