THIS TIME AROUND
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Degrassi, I made up some of these characters though.
Chapter Three: Superman's Dead
Emma followed Principal Denver through the gathered crowd of students. She politely excused her way up to the front. Sure enough, two well built boys were tossing around, throwing punches and seeing who could make who lose more blood. Principal Denver and one of the Phys Ed teachers tried ripping one of the boys away and that's when Emma realized who it was. Cody Cameron had blood dripping from his sore nose and had to flicker to see through his left eye. He didn't fight the principal or the teacher, he just huffed to catch his breath. Emma tossed her head around the crowd and noticed Penny already up front getting her front row ticket to watching her brother get escorted away. She looked perplexed but not upset. She seemed completely used to all this and it didn't really phase her. The other boy's shouting distracted Emma.
"Pussy!" He yelled. "You're just a pansy, Cameron!" The boy yelled.
"That's enough." Emma stepped foreword and with much force she let out her assertive side. She grabbed the boy, who she'd seen around the halls but never known, by the arm and started to escort him.
She waited outside the principal's office with both the boys to make sure they didn't start a re-match while waiting for their parents. She still hadn't figured out who the other boy was until a very familiar voice boomed behind her.
"Jayson Hogart, what the hell is so important that I have to leave work early and pick you up, huh?"
"Mr. Hogart." Emma stood up and extended her arm to shake hands with an old acquaintance, Jay Hogart. She hadn't had anything to do with him since her senior year at Degrassi and that was more than fine with her. "I'm the school guidance counselor, could you come meet with Principal Denver's office with me? We need to discuss your son's behavior."
"I don't have time, Emma. What happened?"
"Your son and Mr. Cameron started a fight right in the middle of the halls after lunch."
"Sean Cameron and my son were fighting?" Jay couldn't believe that.
"No." Emma shook her head. "Sean Cameron's son, Cody Cameron." She stepped to the side to show the two guilty boys.
"You better believe me, boy, I'm going to kill you." Cody assumed that Jay's comment was directed at him but for all anyone knew it could've been meant for Jayson.
"There will be severe consequences, I assure you, Mr. Hogart, but death is not one of them." Emma stepped back in. "Please, come into the office and talk with us."
Before Jay could make another comment, Sean jogged into the picture.
"Cody, what happened?" He didn't even notice Emma or Jay. "Come on, what did you do?"
"Mr. Cameron." Emma had to swallow the large lump in her throat to say that. She felt incredibly awkward in this position. It was like deja vu. The moment their eyes locked even Sean felt something though he couldn't articulate it. Lucky for him, he was able to avoid concentrating on this new feeling by glaring down Jay. "Your son and Mr. Hogart's son both got into a fight this afternoon." Emma couldn't find it in herself to make eye contact with Sean. She glanced down at the two boys sitting on opposite ends of a wooden bench. "Keep that ice there, Jayson." She addressed him. "Anyways -" However, before she could continue to talk to the two fathers they were already in each other's faces.
"If you just kept your lame excuse for a son locked up, maybe, my son wouldn't have to defend himself!" Jay shot. He was standing only centimeters away from Sean's face that Emma could see the spit leave his lips and land in Sean's face.
"Well, you might want to spend less time with a whiskey bottle in your hand and more time with your son. I don't know why Cody would waste his energy on a Hogart!" Sean shot back just as hastily.
"Boys!" Emma stomped her heel on the ground. She couldn't believe the testosterone levels in the room. "Look, I was going to try and be professional about this but, for everyone's sake, I'll just be blunt. Both your sons are suspended for three days. They can return to school on Monday. They'll also have to report to me whenever I request, no matter what, and if this is ever to happen again, believe you me, the outcome will be a whole lot different." She flipped her head around to glare at Cody and Jayson. "Consider yourselves lucky."
"Yes, Miss Nelson." Cody held his head down. His eye was swollen now.
"Why should my kid get suspended? This is clearly Cody's doing."
"Please, Mr. Hogart, there's been enough fighting for one day, don't you think?" Emma turned away from all four boys before she was forced to talk to Sean anymore. That whole time, she felt like she was in high school again and was trying to save him once again. It was too much for her to take. She needed to get back into her office and focus on something she was good at.
"Move it, Cody." Sean nodded at his son. Cody stood up and wandered right past Mr. Hogart's death stare over to his father. They began to walk to the front of Degrassi, Jayson and Mr. Hogart a few paces behind them. They walked towards the same place where they first fought and noticed a crowd had gathered again.
"What the hell is going on here?" Jay said aloud
Spencer Del Rossi was standing in the mist of the gossiping teenagers, staring blankly at his defaced locker. Written in large capital letters in masking tape was the word "FAG".
I should've saw this coming. He thought to himself.
He never got the chance to make friends at Degrassi, people were always so petty as to judge him by his parents, his two dads, Marco and Dylan. His parents always told him not to let it get to him or to be proud but they honestly just didn't get it. He wasn't proud and there wasn't very many realistic ways to not let it get to him. The group of kids were snickering, whispering, a few were chuckling.
In the very back of the crowd, Tori pulled away from her posse of friends. She knew what it was like to be the target of something hateful and to feel completely ostracized and alone. She knew first hand, she was Jay Hogart's daughter. However, she hadn't the slightest idea that her dad was in the building and spectating. She pressed her back against Spencer's vandalized locker and darted her hazel eyes into his lonesome face.
"Kiss me." She ordered in a hush tone.
"What?"
"Do it. Right now. Kiss me." Spencer could tell she really mean it. She had a look of complete seriousness. He stepped foreword and casted away his fear and shame and just planted his lips over hers. They stood there in front of their audience that was now even more engrossed, just kissing each other like they had spoke to each other many times before, when really this was the first time.
Jay Hogart couldn't believe it. His prejudice side, his only side, was angry, embarrassed and full of all sorts of cynical thoughts for many assorted people. His daughter, his family, Spencer's family. He walked away from his son, who was also in shock, and ripped his daughter from Spencer. Without a word he dragged both his kids from his old high school.
"What the fuck is the matter with you two?" He asked loudly. He was ready to roar. Both Jayson and Tori didn't know what to say to their father. They didn't even know how to tell their dad simple things and these things were far from simplicity. Tori was shaking in the chill of the January afternoon but was too meek to ask her dad for permission to go back in and get her winter jacket. "Are you trying to make my life a living hell? 'Cause, I tell ya', you're succeeding." He walked around his car and opened up the driver side door. "Well, get in!" Tori waited to see if her brother would go in first. She wasn't about to face "The Jay Hogart" alone. "Get your asses in here!" He yelled. Cody and Sean watched from behind while getting into their car and couldn't help but feel a rush of empathy for Tori and Jayson and a little bit uncomfortable all together. Jay stomped up the steps and tightly grabbed his daughter by the arm and pulled her into the back seat of the car. "If I have to carry you over my shoulder, son, I will." Jay threatened, reluctantly; Jayson dragged himself over to the car and got in the front seat. "I'm trying to figure out what I'm more upset about, having to come down here early 'cause you let one of Sean Cameron's sons sucker punch you or the fact that you're kissing queers." He drove out of the Degrassi parking lot at a rapid pace.
Under his breath, Jayson muttered "Whatever."
"What's that? You got something to say?" Jay peered his wild eyes into the peripherals of his sons'. "I didn't think so."
He sighed deeply and shook his head from side to side. With one hand still on the wheel, he lit a cigarette between his lips.
"Man, you just wait till I tell your mom."
"Mom won't give a damn." Jayson Jr. spoke up. "She'll be do busy trying to help you up the stairs to deal with anything else."
"Watch your mouth." Jay snapped.
"Seriously, you're the last person who should be lecturing me about how I disappoint you or screw up your day."
"You better watch it, you're walking a fine line here, boy."
"What you going to slap me? I've handled you before." Jayson scoffed and shifted himself in his sat, so he could stare out the passenger window. After a brief silence, Jay checked through the mirror on Tori.
"What do you have to say for yourself?"
In a hostile tone, Tori spoke "I think I did the right thing."
"So, how are we going to talk about this?" Sean took a large exhale in and addressed the middle Cameron child.
"We're not." Cody blankly stared out the windshield at the frosty weather and thought about how he might've pulled his arm.
"This is the second time you've started something with that kid, what's going on?"
"Forget it, Dad."
"I'm not going to let this go, Cody! Damnit!" He slammed his palms down on the steering wheel. "I get called out of the shop by your Principal telling me I better get over to Degrassi to pick you up and have a word with the school counselor -"
"Who just so happens to be your ex-girlfriend, I know, and too bad for you."
"You know, I could kick your ass right now. I'm trying to do this the right way."
"Why? That's not the Cameron way. You're supposed to just fly off the handle and be a dick, Dad, it's what you do."
Penny was over the events of the school day by the time she walked out of the school. Cody was always starting fights, even with his own group of friends, he was always brooding around and causing trouble. It also didn't surprise her that he was fighting with Jayson Jr. Jayson was just as notorious for fighting and the two had never got along. Penny went over the rest of the day in her head, she had to go to work, pick up as many groceries as they had the money for, and cook dinner. She told herself that she'd try and do some laundry if time permitted and maybe that history assignment, too.
She pulled her hair back into a neater pony tail and took off her sweat shirt to reveal just a plain black tee shirt. Her dad didn't have a uniform for her to wear when working at the desk of his auto body shop, as long as she didn't look like she had just rolled out of bed. She noticed before anything else that her oldest brother wasn't around. He was still M.I.A, in the back of her mind she was worried but she tried to keep it covered. She sat down at the desk and pulled out her history textbook and began to read. She hadn't even gotten to the second paragraph when her Dad peered over her shoulder.
"Hey, I didn't see you come in."
"Yeah, I came in the front today. I was a few minutes early."
"Alright." He was washing some grime and grease from his hands with a dirty rag. "So, how was your first day back?"
"Like any other day. Work's been good?"
"Steady." He nodded while looking around. "You know the winter time; nobody takes care of their cars properly."
"No kidding." She looked around at the dents and scrapes on just the shell of the cars in the shop.
"So, I was talking to Cody earlier." He cleared his throat twice. "I don't know what's going on with him."
"He's just Cody." Penny knew it was more but she wasn't going to dig into the meat of it with her Dad, at least not right at that moment.
"Yeah. Anyways, he mentioned you were called down to the counselors office."
"Yeah, I was." She nodded and stared back down at her textbook.
"Everything okay?"
"Miss Nelson says hi." Penny lied through her teeth. She'd give bones for their conversation to end. Truthfully, she didn't know what was going on with her and if Emma couldn't help her the chances that her dad could were very slim.
"Did she? Emma said hi?" That made Sean way too happy and he couldn't hide it. "She's a nice, uh, woman, anyways, what's going on with you?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Penny, I'm your dad, I'm going to worry about you no matter what." He convinced her. He tossed the rag to the side and nodded for her to follow him. He picked up a ratchet and stood beneath a Honda Civic pulling at the wires near the breaks. "So, why did Emma want to see you?"
"Oh, you know… teen stuff." She shrugged staring down at the tips of her sneakers.
"Can you hand me the six inch?" He handed her the ratchet and they switched. "But, everything's okay?"
"Yeah, it's fine. She just wanted to make sure I was cool. She heard about the divorce."
"Are you serious? That's being spread around?"
"This is Degrassi, Dad." Penny slipped a few stray locks behind an ear and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Jeez, I can't believe this place sometimes."
"I should really get back to work." She tried to excuse herself as quick as possible. She could hear the bell from the door go off. Customers were as good as an excuse as any.
"Alright, but, Penny -" He called after her and she froze in her tracks. She slowly turned around with caution in her big brown eyes. "I know I'm not the most approachable person and these last few weeks I haven't been…" Sean couldn't find it in him to admit that he was being a real jerk lately, so he just convinced himself that he wasn't. He had to dart his eyes away from the same little girl who used to follow him around the auto shop with her hat on backwards like his. She'd grown up so quickly and in a way she had become a better person than he had. "Well, you know but, if you do need to talk some time." She could tell this was really tough for her Dad to say. "I'll listen."
"I know, Dad, I got to go though."
"Even if it's uncomfortable, even if it's about... you know, boys." Penny bursted into a loud chuckle. When she was in elementary school she invited their neighbor's son over, they were both just children and Sean had grilled the little boy with questions about his intentions and how big is bank account was. Sadly, the boy ran away in fear and tears. It turned out that any boy with only seventy two cents in his piggybank was not suitable to even walk home with Sean Cameron's daughter.
"Dad, no offence, but I think Mom's got the rights to those kind of conversations." Penny went on her way again.
"What?!" Sean pulled at the wires. "Why is that? Your mom hasn't even been around."
The last thing Penny wanted to get into was this. Their parents were more like children then the Cameron children. She wished she could've taken her words back right away, she was well aware of how sensitive the topic was with her father.
"Hey," Penny tapped one of the mechanics on the shoulder. "Could you get the door?" She took a seat on one of the stools beside the Honda her dad was working on. She knew he was just going to run wild on a tangent.
"Your mom left, she doesn't want our life she doesn't get it, okay? Now, you'll come to me with all your boy problems, you got it?"
It was unfathomable how bizarre her Dad was lately. He had intense PMS, Pissy-Man-Syndrome. Penny just nodded and wandered to give her Dad a quick peck on the cheek.
"I love you, Pop." She mumbled.
Sean's deep and exhausted eyes rested on his fifteen year old daughter. He watched her walk away and exhaled deeply. He wished he could figure himself out. Then he'd be able to glue his family back together.
Dropping her book bag at the front door, Sydney kicked her winter boots off and slowly wandered through her house. She always thought it was the vibrant colors that her mom had insisted on painting the walls of every room that made her house bright and effortlessly enthusiatic but she knew now that it had nothing to do with the paint colors. The bright cyan colored kitchen walls stared back at her staring at them but she didn't feel anything. They didn't strike her as loud and happy colors, they didn't really strike her at all.
She pressed her finger down on the big button on their answering machine and listened to the messages while going through the fridge. Since her dad was a top Toronto chef she never went hungry. She opened a ziploc bag of cashew peanuts dipped in semi-sweet white chocolate. It was just what she wanted after a long hum-drum day.
"Message 2:" The robotic voice let her know. "Hey Syd," It was her dad. "I need a favor. Both hostess are away sick tonight, could you come in and take a shift. Come around four, thanks." Beep.
Her eyes lurked around the room to see if there was something else she could indulge in. Her mom wasn't home, so they couldn't do their normal after-school routine. Usually, they'd eat some fantastic snack their dad had on hand, watch a round of Wheel of Fortune loudly guessing the puzzles and then her mom would drive her to her dance classes if it was a Monday or a Thursday. With nothing better to do, She stuffed the bag of cashews in her coat pocket and went back to putting her boots on. She was going to go to work.
After being bombarded at the door the moment she arrived home by her husband, Alex sat at their kitchen table brushing her hand over their St.Bernard dog and stirring whiskey, from the flask she hid in the pocket of her Wal-Mart vest, into her cup of tea.
"Are you even listening to me?" Jay outstretched his arms to the sides in a single rapid motion. Alex didn't say a word; she just screwed the cap of her flask back on and slipped into her uniform. "I'm not kidding, I can't take anymore of this shit." He finally took a break to inhale. "I'm going out for smokes. Talk to your kids before I get back."
"So before one am?" She called as he turned to leave their apartment.
"What?" He turned himself around to stare her down.
"That's when the bars close, isn't it?"
He just snorted.
"Enjoy your tea, Alex."
The moment the door slammed, she picked up her tea and headed down the tiny hallway that led to her daughter's room. Their apartment was barely quaint. One bedroom for Alex and Jay, one even smaller bedroom for Tori, a hideous washroom in desperate need of a good scrubbing, a kitchen nook and their living room which Jayson Jr. used as his bedroom.
Using her free hand, Alex knocked on Tori's door.
"Tori, open your door." She hissed. When there was no answer, she just knocked harder. "It's me, Tori. Please, I want to talk." Still, no answer. "Your dad's gone." She added in as if it was a selling feature. Slowly, moments later, the door creaked open. Tori trailed away and laid back on her bed. Her flaxen hair was messily displayed all over her tearstained face complete with smudged eye make-up and chapped lips. Alex sipped her tea while sitting on the edge of her daughter's unmade bed.
"I hope you know all of the things your dad says to you," Alex took a second to correct herself. "About you, they aren't true." Alex took Tori's sniffling as an answer. "He's just frustrated. He's working all these temp jobs, your brother is always testing him and getting into trouble, he's just stressed out."
"Mom, don't make excuses for Dad." Blankly, Tori stared to her left wall that had a few band posters covering the holes her dad had punched through. "Just say it, he's a dick." Alex smirked a little but tried not to let Tori notice. "Why'd you even marry him?"
There was a question Alex had been asked a lot lately, mostly, by herself. She sighed deeply trying to search for the proper thing a mother would say to her daughter, anything but the truth. She settled on the one thing she could think of that was beginning to sound like a cliché to both of her kids.
"One day, you'll understand."
"Whatever." Tori hissed. She tugged on the sleeve of her sweater and wiped it across her running nose then wiped away a few tears.
"So, let's get down to it, what exactly happened today?" Alex set her tea mug on the floor by the bed and laid down next to Tori. She folded her hands over her chest and stared up at the boringly pale ceiling.
Tori's face broke into a mischievous smile. Truthfully, she wasn't a hundred percent sure on what happened. She just really wanted to follow through in something she believed in. She wanted to help somebody who was hurting mostly because she knew that she was hurting. However, it didn't seem like her mom would understand that.
"Spencer was just being bullied, so I -"
"Spencer who?"
"Del Rossi." Tori turned her face to face her mom, wiping her locks of hair away from her face.
"Marco and Dylan's kid?" She frowned her brows downward.
"Yeah, people are always picking on him. Calling him flamer, queer and stuff."
"It's understandable." Alex nodded.
"I know but that doesn't mean it's okay." Alex couldn't believe how much Tori sounded like a teacher. It sort of freaked her out. "Anyways, somebody wrote "FAG" on his locker, I don't know who or anything, and everybody was just standing around laughing and saying things. There stood Spencer just looking all embarrassed and angry and nobody was doing a damn thing, so -"
Alex had to cut her rambling daughter off.
"You kissed him?"
"I was taking action."
"By kissing him?" Alex asked once more. "In front of the entire school?"
"Not the entire school but, a good majority." Alex shook her head with a grin. "Mom, I don't see the comedy in this. Dad flew off the handle which is pretty normal for him but the least you could do is comfort me. Come on."
"It's just - Oh, Tori, kissing a queer is not going to stop people from talking. You should just stay out of things that are none of your business."
"So, I should've none nothing?"
"Yes." Alex reached down and picked up her drink. "Especially, if your dad is there."
"I didn't know he was there. I didn't even see Jayson and Cody's fight."
"Right, I have to go talk Jayson."
"Try to, at least." Tori added as her mom rose from the bed and headed for the door.
"And you try to get yourself together, okay? Your dad isn't going to be home for awhile, why don't you go out with some friends?"
"Maybe."
Tori had no desire to chill out with anybody. She just wanted to curl up under her moth eaten covers and sleep until her parents didn't exist. At least her dad. Even as a baby, she had no happy memories with him. He was always cold, angry, bitter and generally not positive characteristics. She slipped herself beneath her comforter and went back to sniffling.
Jayson inhaled a large drag from his cigarette and flicked the ashes off their balcony. Four floors above the world, he stared at his surroundings and felt more in control, stronger and bigger than everything else. Until the screen door slid open and his mother joined him in the winter breeze. She was shivering even beneath her open coat.
"Angry much?" She questioned, taking the cigarette being offered to her and then taking a drag.
"Nope." Jayson spat out. "I leave that up to Dad."
"And a fine job he did." She nodded, handing the cigarette back to her son. "Jayson, I might not know or understand this beef you've got with Sean Cameron's son but, you have got to stop with the fighting. I am no stranger to fighting, believe me." She wrapped her coat around with her arms over her chest. "I was the school bully for the longest time, I picked fights, I was the only girl who could throw a good punch, I even beat on boys. Plus, I married your father. But, for your sake, my sake and your sister's, just let it go. Ignore him. I don't care if you have to wear a blindfold and ear plugs to school. You will not fight with this kid again. If your dad hears about one more thing concerning you, he'll -"
"What?!" Jayson snapped and his exhausted eyes drilled viciously into hers. The idea that Jayson wasn't listening to her were quickly put to rest in Alex's mind. "He'll bitch you out or hit you? He'll kick me out of this shitbox? He'll go and pass out in some pub? Trust me, Mom, none of that bothers me anymore. It's the same as always now."
"I get that you're angry. I was the Queen of Teen Angst, but, is pissing off your dad going to make you any less angry?" He flicked more ashes from his cigarette and avoided all eye contact with her. "I am this close," She held two of her fingers only centimeters a part from one another. "To breaking down, if you have any respect at all for me, you will stop causing trouble. Jayson," She took a deep breath and watched it spin through the January air. "Just stop." She turned herself around and slid the screen door open again.
"I don't respect women who let their husbands beat on them." He muttered.
Of course, Alex could hear him clearly and usually she'd fight him for it but she couldn't bicker with somebody over the truth. She just slid the door closed and went back inside.
Coming home from work, Cody and Penny wandered through the door barely able to keep walking straight. They were exhausted and starving. Cody felt like he'd fixed a million cars that evening and Penny was bored mostly out of boredom since few customers actually needed to paper work done which was all her dad would let her do at the shop. She made a mental note in her head while yawning to pick up groceries tomorrow. As for making dinner, she'd just make do with what they had. They both noticed their oldest brother, Zac, laying on the couch, passed out and his play-doh jar he used for keeping weed empty on the coffee table next to his glass bong and other plastic baggies. Cody just walked right by him and straight into the basement where his and Zac's bedroom was. Penny glanced out the front window to make sure their dad was still parking the car. Standing in front of Zac, she didn't bother to move his shaggy dark blonde hair from his face. She grabbed his shoulders and began to shake him.
"Come on, Zac." She shook him harder. She didn't want her Dad to see him, it would only start a wrestling match, at least verbally. Slowly, his eyes began to work slits and she could see a little bit of his hazel pupils.
"Penny?" He moaned, reaching his hand up and slid it beneath his nose.
"Zac, get up. Dad's going to be here in a second and I can't take anymore fighting. Please, go down to the basement."
As soon as she'd finished her plea, the door swung open. She heard the melodic jingling of her dad's car keys hit the floor in his jacket and then heard him yawn.
"Penny, I'll make dinner tonight, don't you worry about it." Sean was trying to still be a good parent. After kicking off his shoes, he looked up and noticed Zac very out of it and slouched on their living room couch. Penny watched her dad grumble over with a frown that gave her goose bumps all over her flesh. Her big brown eyes expanded until they were as big as the saucers she used to use for the tea parties she'd throw for her dad and stuffed rabbits.
"Penny, go." Her dad spoke robotically without removing his eyes from Zac. Hesitantly, she wandered into the kitchen and stood with her back to the wall. She wanted to make sure nobody got hurt.
"Where the hell have you been?" His feet firmly on the floor, Sean shot out at his oldest boy.
"I had shit to take care of." Zac yawned.
"You didn't think to call? I needed you at the shop today, you knew that." Sean ran one hand down his long messy locks of hair. He took a large inhale before wasting anymore of his breath. "Were you even at school today?" Zac completely opened his eyes and blinked rapidly to try and stay conscious. "Jesus, Zac, do you not want to pass your senior year till your thirty? Is this all just a joke to you?"
"Maybe, Degrassi is pretty damn funny." He snorted.
"Don't be a smartass." Sean spat.
"Fine, I'll be a dumbass."
"So, what's this stuff that you had to take care of? Sean questioned while clearing his throat. He glanced down and took into account all the things spread out on his coffee table. "This? You had to stay here and get high out of your fucking face?!" He raised his voice. The sound of her father's rage and his foot kicking the wooden coffee table over made Penny's whole body clench and shake. She bit her lips to prevent the tears that she knew were going to fall anyways. "You know what, I gave you time, I gave you plenty of warnings, Zac, this is it." He smacked his hands together. "I want you out!" He yelled. "Get the fuck out of this house." By the shoulder of Zac's flannel shirt, he pulled him up. "Take your shit and get out!" Sean shouted right up in his son's face, his fists and face shaking in frustration. When he finally let go, Zac just laughed.
"Asshole." He muttered while stepping aside.
It took every ounce of self-control Sean could conjure up to not spring foreword and tackle his boy down. Zac took nothing, he just slipped on his sneakers and slammed the door behind him.
Sean had to take a moment to gather himself and level his breathing before carrying on with his night. Slowly, he dragged his feet into the kitchen where Penny was hunched over their stove. She had lighten a small flame beneath the element and was cooking something in a pot over top of it. Sean took a seat at the table, where the junk he had dumped on it earlier still lay, and held his head. Once he cleared his mind, he could hear Penny sniffling.
"Penny, what-" She cut him off.
"I'm making Mac and cheese." She exhaled deeply while rubbing her eyes.
"Penny, I said-"
"It'll be ready in ten minutes." She swallowed and went to the cupboards to pull out bowls and glasses.
Later that evening, when Penny was completely certain that her dad was occupied with paper work in his bedroom and that Cody was asleep downstairs. She quietly threw her coat and winter boots on and with a Ziploc container full of her mac and cheese, she snuck out of the house.
Zac didn't have very many hang outs, only one or two. However, Penny knew where he'd be tonight. It was already two in the morning and Zac would need somewhere to sleep. She unlocked the back door of her dad's auto body shop and let herself in. She knocked on the window of the Honda Civic she'd seen her dad working on earlier and, sure enough, Zac was laying down and almost asleep in the front seat. He rolled down the window, manually.
"What are you doing here, Penny?"
"I just wanted to make sure you had something to eat." She extended her hands out with the Ziploc container for him to take.
"Thanks." He smiled and took it from here, graciously.
"There's probably some form of cutlery somewhere in here."
"Okay." He pulled off the lid and smiled.
"I'll work on Dad, okay?"
"Don't worry about it, Penny."
"But, I do." She mumbled, mostly inaudible.
"You better go back home before you get kicked out, too."
Penny searched herself for the right words to say but, she found nothing. She just pecked him on the cheek and let herself out.
Jayson Jr. had his headphones plugged into his ears and his metal music bleeding loudly but, that couldn't block out the noise of his parents fumbling through the door. His dad was clearly loaded and his mom was only buzzed. Alex had all of Jay's weight pressing on her, as she pulled her keys from the apartment door lock.
Laughing, she requested her son's help.
"Just get him to the bedroom." She passed him off to Jayson, who was luckily built enough to drag his dad into bed.
"Hey Junior." Jay slurred his speech. "Beat up any other losers while I was out?"
Jayson said nothing and just laid him down on his parents dirty and unmade bed. Jayson only went in their for situations like these. Their room depressed him with the holes in the walls made from his dad or the broken chair in the corner that his mom had broke when trying to throw it at Jay's head in a tirade or the taped up window that Jayson couldn't remember the story behind. It was a pathetic sight.
"What, you're not going to gi- gi-," Jay tried to annunciate. "Give me, give me any crap? Piss me off?" He cackled.
"Go to bed." Jayson rolled his eyes and turned his music up even louder. The whole world could've heard it if it was all still and silent in unison for a moment. Shutting the door behind him, Jayson was on his way to try and sober up his mom when he noticed Tori's door was slightly open. He peeked his head in and when he saw that she was still very much awake, he closed it. He didn't want her to get up and play a role in any of this. It was just another night to them both.
More coming up.
Let me know if you want other people in this such as: Peter, Jimmy, Ashley, Darcy, etc.
Superman's Dead - Our Lady Peace
Thanks.