David - Marisa Redhead16 (read aloud books .txt) 📗

Not Mom, she had enough stress. Not Tony or Nina, and not Sophia.

I needed someone neutral. I thought about giving it to David, but he was mentioned on this paper and I think he would have suggested going out or getting new friends. I thought about giving it to Hafize, but she tells all her secrets to a girl named Bianca, a rumor-spreader, or Gossip Devil as they were called in my school. I thought about several female friends, some of which were involved. Besides, a girl not involved would just tell Maureen or another Gossip Devil. Could I really trust anyone at this point?

Could I even trust my brother?

 

I eventually decided to give it to someone who'd helped me all throughout middle school.

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

"I was hoping to hear from you." Mr. Reed said as I entered his classroom. My old History teacher.

"It's just that...I'm kind of going through some problems right now and I need someone to talk to." I tried to explain.

"Anything. What's going on?" he asked. I handed him the note and sat in the comfortable chair facing him. I looked at the time. I had five minutes to get this done then I had to book it to the high school to get there early.

"I don't know what to say, Tobias." Mr. Reed said. "I think you should break up with David for one, and I think you should stay away from your brother and best friend for a while. I have to admit I'm surprised though, I've never seen Nina act this way. Something's wrong. She-"

"Is not going to be evaluated by the school counselor!"

He chuckled.

"I wasn't going to say that. I was going to say that I think you need to do some research. Dig up her medical files. Surely she told you about her great-aunt."

I leaned forward. "What about her great-aunt?"

"I can't legally say any more about it. You're going to have to ask her yourself."

"All right. Thank you!"

"Anytime. Bye Tobias!"

"Bye!"

 

I pondered his meaning in my head. Did her great-aunt have a medical condition that was passed down onto Nina? If so, why didn't she tell me about it? My best friend was not Nina anymore, but she was some strange person that I've never met before. I had thought I knew everything about her! She knew everything about me.

I spotted a group of girls wearing leggings and tank tops and halter tops. Among them was Maureen. She was in the center, gossiping and laughing and poking fun at a girl with leukemia. That set me off. I walked right into the middle of that clique and grabbed Maureen's arm.

"We need to talk," I said. She winked at the other girls, who clapped and wolf whistled.

"What's with you?" she asked, twirling a curled hair.

"What's your problem?! You know Katie has leukemia!"

"Chillax, buddy, I wasn't making fun of her because of that disease." she said disease like it was something to be ashamed of. "I was making fun of her because of those tacky tights she chose to wear today!"

"They are not that bad. Maureen, I've had enough of you!" I turned and walked away. I heard my name once or twice said by the voice of Nina, but I ignored her. I sat down with Michael, but he rolled his eyes and walked away from me!

Hurt, I made my way towards a secluded place, a corner where I could think. No, I was tired of thinking. I wanted to do something. So I went find Nina, but she acted like I didn't exist. Stunned, I went to class early.

 

I held everything in until I was safe in Mom's car. "Baby, what's wrong?" she asked, rubbing my back.

"Everything! Nina, Michael, Tony, Sophia, Maureen-"

"Slow down son. I can barely make out what you're saying."

I composed myself and told her the contents of the last two days. She got quiet when I talked about Tony and Nina. She asked about my other friends, and I told her my relationships were fine, which was half-truth. Logan hadn't spoken to me today, neither had David. I did not tell her about The Chester Thing.

Mom was as fumed as I was when I finished. "But Hafize's still talking to me, so is Bianca and everyone not involved. Chloe and Ruth are too, but you know I ignore Ruth. Chloe's fine once you dig deeper," I told her.

Mom shook her head. "I knew there was something odd in that girl. She's so ambigous, yet she's rather intelluctual deep inside her brain." I agreed.

 

 

I didn't speak to Tony, nor did I answer messages from Sophia, Maureen, David, Logan, Michael or Nina. I went straight to my bedroom and buried myself under the bedsheets. I ignored calls and text messages. David rang me ten times, Nina six, Sophia three times, Michael seven times, and Logan called four times. He never texts, he thinks it's worthless.

I felt worthless, unwanted, waste of space, useless, and tired more than anything. I was having bouts of insomnia lately. I only woke up to the smell of lavendar and bacon frying.

I went downstairs. Tony glared at me when he saw me, and I returned the look. Tony only got that look if he was in trouble. "I'm not eating. I'm not hungry," he said,  going upstairs.

"Is he in trouble?" I asked. Mom nodded. "He's not grounded, but he's not to have any contact with Nina. I took his phone and deleted her number. He probably hates me now"

"Not as much as he hates me," I mumbled.

"Don't blame yourself. He treated you and Keisha like garbage, something to be thrown away or tossed aside." Mom suddenly stopped and put her hand on her stomach.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine, I just felt something. I've been pregnant for a few months, Toby, not a few weeks like you initially thought. I should have gained more weight than I did, but whatever. Hopefully it's fixable. Hopefully the babies aren't harmed. I did drink a little before I realized I was pregnant, Tobias. Hopefully that won't affect your siblings. My belly aches a bit," she told me. I don't think the last sentence was meant for me, but she was loud enough and I was within hearing range, sitting at the table.

I fiddled with a strip of bacon before popping it in my mouth. My stomach only growled louder and demanded more. I ate until I was stuffed and helped Mom clean up. I was secretly terrified of David coming in, so I kept checking the front door. Finally I did see his truck, but he drove right by. I heard a knock on my door a few minutes later. I checked it and it was Nina. I could tell that she'd been crying, but I really didn't want to see her. A few minutes later and I saw Sophia.

"Okay, I know you're pissed, quite possibly at me, but Nina needed to tell you something important!" she snapped.

"Okay, what?" I asked, not convinced.

"One of our grandmothers just passed away. We found out this afternoon at school, getting text messages from our parents. Nina really misses you and just wants to make things normal again." she explained. But me being me, I didn't believe her and slammed the door in her pretty face. I heard her say "Jackass!"

I felt sick. There was no hope. None whatsoever. I suddenly had a change of heart and decided to check on Nina. I told Mom I was going to the park, a playground by us with a shelter, and headed toward their house. Of course once whoever peeked behind the heavy door slammed it. It was probably Sophia, I could tell by the pretty eye and the long hair. I just couldn't believe I had a chance to fix things with Nina, and I ruined it.

 

 

Seriously, How Stupid Can Ya Get?

I felt awful, but now I couldn't do anything. I went home, and found Tony's car gone.

I went upstairs to check my phone for messages, and I found one very interesting one:

FITE RIGHT NOW! RUTH AND MAUREEN! FAKE HO'S GONNA GET BEAT!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I went downstairs and showed Mom the message. She and I got into the car to see where it was right away.

"Tony said he was going to Cedar Park," Mom said. "That's out of the blue, and little kids love that park! If they damage any equipment, it'll take months to replace!"

We got to the park in record time, and I spotted two girls going at it, one with platinum blond hair.

"Shoot, what're we going to do?" I asked.

"We should call somebody. You go see if Tony is here. If he's filming, take his phone and we'll use it as evidence."

I went to look for my brother. I saw him filming it with a videocamera.

"What the hell are you doing?" I whispered.

"Filming a catfight. This is amazing, they are fighting for reign of the ninth grade!"

"Wow. Anyways, listen. Mom's here."

Tony looked freaked out a t that.

"You son of a-"

"Don't you dare say it!"

"I was going to say son of Guns 'n Roses!"

"They are not that bad!"

"They're horrendous."

"They are amazing. What are we doing, now we're arguing about a band!"

"You started it!"

I heard a shout. A mother was screaming at Maureen. I realized whose mother it was, from the hair and face shape. It was Ruth's mother! Dang! Wild.

My own mother was on the phone, talking to someone. She was ready to break up the fight any second now.

A police car pulled up. A female officer got out and she and another female officer pulled the girls apart while a male officer arrested Ruth's mother.

"You're violating your probation, and you're breaking your restraining order! You know you can't be within twenty-five yards of your ex-husband's house!" he said.

I decided I didn't want to know.

 

 

Tony was pissed at me. Mom had confiscated the video camera. She still didn't ground him, and she was actually quite thrilled at "new evidence". When I asked her what she meant she explained that Maureen wanted to sue Ruth, "for slandering her and libel", and I wondered why. I get that it's a struggle to be popular for some people, but this was a little extreme. I also understand that several girls have a crush on me, but I'm just a guy. There's plenty of fish in the net that is school.

Or couldn't they have looked to other schools for a boyfriend? Our main rival, the Mountain Goats, has plenty of hotties to swim through. They have a Gay/Straight Alliance, too, which we didn't have until a couple months ago. They've had it for years. David told me that he had several exes in that club.

 

I needed some help, and fast. I couldn't call anyone. Well, maybe I could call one person, but I doubted she'd talk to me. I couldn't call her sister, either. They both hated me now. What else could I do? I could write; I'd been meaning to start a book. The only thing was, non-fiction or fiction? What could I write about if it was fiction? I knew I wanted a female for the lead character, but how old would she be? Her name? What did she look like? Was she blond? African American? Native American?

"Does she have a boyfriend? Does she hate boys? Is she attracted