Death Series

ISABEL

The next day at school, Duff avoided me, and he made it very obvious. I didn’t realize he’d be this upset over what happened yesterday.

I tried talking to him in between classes, but he just made some lame excuse about being late. I gave up after the third time.

“He hates me right now,” I tell Sydney as we’re going through the lunch line.

“Who cares? He was being a total asshole. I mean, what kind of guy tries to force his girlfriend to have sex with him? A sick pig, that’s who,” she ranted.

One thing about my best friend is she never held back on her opinions, and at the moment she had a lot of opinions about Duff.

“You’re right, but I miss him, you know? I didn’t even get a sweet morning text,” I sighed. For the past three months that we’ve been dating, he always sent me a cute morning text.

It was lunch time and I still hadn’t received any kind of text from him, even though I’d sent a ton.

“He’ll come around, and if he doesn’t, I’ll make him.”

I giggled at her threat, then scrunched my nose up as I looked over our lunch options. “Is it just me or is our lunch starting to look more like pig food every day? Eggplant sandwich? Who thinks of these things?”

Why couldn’t they just serve us hamburgers and french fries like every other normal high school?

“Maybe you should start bringing our lunch, or we can ditch and go to McDonald’s,” she suggested, excitement all over her face.

“Our lunch? When will you start using your own money?” I asked.

I had no problem sharing money with her ’cause I knew she’d do the same if I asked. I just liked to tease her for being a gold digger.

“Why use mine when I have yours?” she told me seriously. I just rolled my eyes.

Taking a seat at our normal table in the back, I greeted our other friend. Today it was only Jessica sitting at the table.

“Are you guys going to Crystal’s party this weekend? I heard everyone is invited,” she asked.

Even though Crystal was a first-class slut, everyone knew she threw the hottest parties. It was social suicide to not show up.

“Crystal’s party? What are the goody bags going to be? Free STDs?” I joked. Sydney choked on her milk from laughing, high-fiving me across the table.

“Are you kidding me? This is going to be the best party of the semester!” she exclaimed.

“That’s because it’s the only party.” Sydney rolled her eyes. I couldn’t agree more, no one else has bothered to throw any parties lately.

“You guys are such mood killers,” she frowned at us. Jessica has always wanted to be part of the popular crowd. But according to Crystal, she didn’t have the looks for it.

I’m sure if Crystal ever changed her mind, Jessica would ditch us in a heartbeat. That’s why I only considered her a semi-friend: the type of friend you hang out with, but never tell your secrets to.

“We never said we aren’t going, doesn’t mean we can’t complain.” I shrugged.

“You could’ve just said that then.” She scowled.

“I just did. Doesn’t matter when I said it, as long as I said it.”

I didn’t get along well with females, so naturally most of them secretly hated me. She got up from the table without bothering to reply to me.

“You need to learn how to control your mouth,” Sydney giggled. I just shrugged.

A few minutes later the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. I slowly got up from my seat, dreading next period. Only the strong got excited about PE, and only the strong survived it.

I wasn’t part of the strong. In fact, I wasn’t even part of the group that came after the strong. So it was nothing but torture for me.

***

I flicked through the channels on the living room TV, looking for something interesting to watch. What’s the point of having hundreds of channels if nothing is ever on?

I can find more entertainment on YouTube. I sighed, finally settling on SpongeBob. Couldn’t go wrong with that.

I had been watching for a while when the doorbell rang, just as SpongeBob was calling Patrick to deal with his bully. “Coming!” I yelled, getting up from the couch. Where was Marie when I needed her?

I always felt weary answering the door when I was home alone, especially when I knew none of my friends were coming over. You just never knew who’s on the other side.

Opening the door, I came face-to-face with Duff. I felt my heart clench at the sight of him.

We hadn’t spoken more than two words to each other all day. He usually sat at the lunch table with us, but he didn’t show up.

“Hey.” He shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Hi,” I replied, looking down at my feet. There was awkward silence after that. Our relationship was really taking a beating right now.

“Look, I wanted to apologize about the way I acted…that wasn’t me and I’m sorry,” he finally said.

“It’s okay,” I told him. “Do you want to come in?” I moved aside to let him by. He nodded before walking around me, moving toward the living room.

I followed him, suddenly having flashbacks about the last time he was here. Hopefully this time it doesn’t end that badly.

“So, what were you doing?” He smirked, seeing SpongeBob on the TV.

I raised my hands up in mock surrender. “In my defense, nothing else was on.” He laughed.

Taking a seat on the couch, he patted the spot next to him. I walked over and sat down, letting him pull me into his side. This is the Duff I knew. Not the one who demanded sex.

For the next few hours, Duff and I watched movies ranging from horror to comedy. At one point I even got him to watch a chick flick.

At some point during the movies I got up to make us popcorn. It was nice not having him mad at me anymore.

I walked into the kitchen and saw a note from Marie that said she’ll be in with me all day tomorrow, and I grinned.

She’d been leaving early before I got out of school and had been leaving me dinner to warm up and eat by myself. It’s going to be nice having her here with me.

“So, you want to do something this weekend? Like go on a date? I haven’t taken you out on one in a while,” he asked as I sat back down on the couch.

He dipped his hand into the popcorn bowl grabbing a fistful, spilling a few on me.

I grinned, flicking them off. “Yes.”

“How does Saturday sound?” he asked. I was hesitant to say yes. That was the day of the party. I figured I could just call Sydney later and tell her I wouldn’t be making it.

“Sounds good to me.” I smiled at him. He nodded and got up from the couch. Looking at the time, I saw it was 11:00 p.m. Wow, had it really been five hours?

I followed him to the door, stopping just inside as I let him out. “I’ll see you at school.” He leaned down to give me a kiss, and I met him halfway.

“Yes, good night.” I turned around, closing and locking the door before making my way upstairs.

I went into my closet and grabbed a pair of Pikachu pajamas. After changing into them, I turned on the TV and flopped onto my bed.

I grabbed my cell phone off the bedside table and called Sydney. The phone rang three times before she finally picked up.

“Dang, what took you so long? You got a boy over or something? Does your mom know?” I joked.

“Did you call just to annoy me this late at night? I think I get enough of you during the day.” I could just picture her rolling her eyes as she said this.

“Is it a crime to miss my best friend’s voice?” I sniffled.

“Cut the crap and tell me what you want.”

“Well, if you must know…Duff and I made up,” I said.

“That’s good! I told you he’d come around. I don’t understand why you couldn’t wait until tomorrow to tell me though.”

“He also wants to take me on a date this Saturday, which means I won’t be making it to the party,” I told her.

“Boo, way to ruin your social life.” I could hear the disappointment in her voice. We’d gone to every party together since freshman year, so this would be the first time we wouldn’t.

“It’s okay, I’ll have fun. Plus, I’m sure you’ll tell me all about who hooked up and who didn’t.” She was a huge gossip.

She laughed. “Dang, girl, you know me so well.” I rolled my eyes.

“Well, I’m going to sleep now, byeeee.”

“Night, Izo,” she said, hanging up. I set the alarm on my phone before snuggling under my covers.