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We Are The Rebellious Youth

Chapter Twenty-six: Something Fishy

Alex’s POV:

At first glance, seeing Mickey’s car in the parking lot at school wasn’t anything abnormal. But as soon as I started thinking about it a bit more, the stranger it got. First of all, her car wasn’t in it’s usual spot. Somehow, she had managed to get the one closest to the entrance. Second of all, she was actually on time, early even. As we all know, she either came late or didn’t show up at all. Third of all, just the fact that her car was in sight was strange. She couldn’t have driven with her broken wrist. Yet, the red truck was definitely hers. It had the same license plate and all.

Of course, I didn’t think about that all until much later in the day. I didn’t really notice anything was off. All my mind really was focused on was that kiss Mickey and I shared and how it may have changed everything between us. I really did want it to actually have meant something. It seemed that way when it happened, but you never knew with Mickey. Her mood switched every day. With what happened with her mother when we went to her house, she was bound to be in a pissy mood.

The only thing was that I didn’t see her until a free period I shared with her and Jack. So, I had basically been playing all the scenarios through my head. There was one where she acted like nothing happened, one where she got super mad at me again, one where she started making out with me, one where she ignored me, one where she pulled me into the janitor’s closet again. You get it, many many different possibilities. I was just scaring myself and making myself very nervous.

You would never have guessed the option she chose.

As soon as the bell went, Jack and I found Mickey at her locker. She carelessly threw one of her books in it, and I was fully prepared for a screaming match. I was so apprehensive about it, trying to steer Jack away so that we wouldn’t have to do this now, but he just dragged me along. I was pretty sure I looked like a kid being dragged along by their parents to go grocery shopping for healthy food. For the first time ever, I did not want to face her.

Jack leaned against the locker, holding me in place. I was bracing myself for her telling us to fuck off. Her reaction was something I would never forget.

“Oh, hey, guys.” She smiled as she closed her locker, shoving it a bit with her shoulder to make sure it wouldn’t jam.

Not only was her reaction unexpected, but also the way she looked. Her face had no trace of makeup. No trace whatsoever. I had praised myself for seeing her ‘makeup less’ after she had broken her arm, but obviously some of it hadn’t smudged. There was no sign of the black stuff she always put on her eyes and I could see a few very light freckles on her nose. She looked so different, even different from the first time I saw her, yet she was still astonishing.

“Woah, you look different!” Jack blurted out, noticing exactly what I was seeing. But anybody could, it would have been strange if somebody didn’t notice.

She squinted at him, somehow still making it menacing but less without the thick black line on her eyelids. “What?”

“Nothing.” He pursed his lips and stiffened up a little.

“Good answer.”

At least there was still a part of her in there, which was comforting. Her greeting us in such a friendly manner and her not wearing any makeup almost made it seem like she had changed everything. Only her clothes remained. But, no, some of her behavior was still in there. It wasn't that easy to change a person.

She took it upon herself to start a new conversation, which was also very much unlike her. “Anyway, I was wondering if you guys could maybe help me find a job.”

“Rita’s Italian Ice!” Jack immediately piped up excitedly. “I need a friend to talk to!”

I shrugged, still not thinking it was such a bad idea, more surprised about the fact she didn’t shut him down as soon as the word ‘friend’ left his lips. “You never turned down the offer.”

“Hmm… I guess I never did…” She thought out loud and gave Jack a nod. “I’ll think about it.”

I couldn’t help but grin at this mysterious progress that she was making. While I was so happy that it was happening, I couldn’t help but wonder where it came from. It was such a sudden jump. Just a week ago, she was still skipping school, doing whatever came her way with Devon. There was no way he was the cause for her acting up before. If that were the case, the years prior to her moving here would have been very different. Something else motivated her to go in this direction.

Rian ran up to us when he saw us walking to his next class. “Hey, Mickey. I just saw your mom enter the principal's office. Did you do anything stupid without including us?”

“What?!” Mickey’s eyes went wide with panic, but the rest of her composure tried to suggest that she was calm and dealing with the information very well. “No, not that I know of. But, I actually have to be somewhere right now… so I’ve got to go. See you guys later.”

She stood up on her toes to reach up and kiss me on the cheek before scurrying away further into the school building. I furrowed my eyebrows out of confusion; not because she just kissed me on the cheek, but because she was in a sudden hurry. Just seconds before, she seemed like she had all the time in the world. It could be no coincidence that she suddenly ran away when Rian mentioned her mother. But she had been too happy for that whole dispute to still be a problem, right?

“Well, you guys know I need to hurry away as well,” Rian squeaked as he started sprinting down the hall right when the next bell went.

“And you are going to tell me what the hell is going on and why Mickey just kissed you on the cheek,” Jack whisper-shouted at me and grabbed my elbow as he started pulling me with him.

“That’s the problem,” I shrugged, “I have no clue either.”

It was true. I had no idea what was going on between Mickey and me at the moment. As for her mom and her getting into a huge fight, I didn’t think it was my place to tell. I wasn’t going to risk this thing Mickey and I did have just because Jack wanted to be in the loop. I didn’t even know the details about the fight. All I knew was that Mickey’s mom was seriously disappointed and couldn’t have me out of her house sooner.

Apparently, Rian had been called to the principal’s office that period, or so he told us during band practice. No, he didn’t get in some deep shit. It was about Mickey. They wouldn’t tell him what was going on, but they asked him a few questions. It was mainly about if he knew where she was. He had just repeated what Mickey had said to us, that she needed to be somewhere. I had to roll my eyes at him. It was quite obvious that she left right there and then, taking the back entrance so nobody could catch her leaving. I thought it was pretty common sense. But even I didn’t know where she would have gone. I just hoped she didn’t resort to going back to Devon.

Well, I was to find out just exactly where she went after band practice. As I got in my car, her rusty red truck still wasn’t in sight although both her parents were obviously home. I was actually starting to get worried, my nerves getting the best of me. She had no phone, so no way to call anybody if something was wrong. Who knew what kind of trouble she had gotten herself into?

What was even more worrisome was that when I got home, her car was in the driveway. Last time she came over was when she had gotten completely wasted after having to stay with her dad. I could not imagine her driving here both with a broken arm and drunk.

I couldn’t get out of my car faster. I picked up my bag from the passenger seat and rushed to the front door, awaiting the drama that was going to be happening inside the house. Based on what happened last time, I could only imagine that my mom was not pleased at all. Mickey really had to start warning me if she was just going to show up here.

However, when I came inside, still in a frenzied state, all I heard was laughter coming from the kitchen. I slowly dropped my bag to the floor and walked the short distance to see what the hell was going on. There, at the table where Mickey had said ‘thank you’ to me for the very first time--and probably only time--was sat the same redheaded girl as mentioned afore but with my mother this time. They both had what seemed to be a cup of tea in front of them, while Mickey was sat on a chair with her knees brought up to her chest.

“Oh, Alex, you’re back home!” My mom smiled brightly, still coming down from the laughter she had shared with Mickey before. “Although I don’t really seem to mind this time, I’d really appreciate it if you do tell me the next time you agree with a friend that they can stay over for the night.”

“Oh, umm…” My mouth was slightly agape, my hand moving a little as if it would help me make sense of things. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that… must’ve completely slipped my mind.”

“It definitely seems like it,” Mickey giggled, shaking her head at me as she reached out for her tea and took a sip.

“Anyway, it’s time for me to start cooking dinner.” My mom got up for her chair, pushing it back in place and going over to the fridge.

“We’ll leave so we’re not in your way,” I told her and gestured towards Mickey with my head. “Mickey, you coming?”

She raised her eyebrows at me and placed the mug back on the table. “I’d totally stay and help, but I don’t know how to cook if my life depended on it, so I’m going to take Alex’s offer.”

“That’s ok, darling,” mom shooed her away a little, taking me by even more surprise. I never thought my mom would be so nice after Mickey showed up at our doorstep in the middle of the night, but I wasn’t complaining.

So, I brought Mickey up to my room. As soon as my mom heard us going up the stairs, she reminded us that she wanted the door wide open, to which I rolled my eyes. It wasn’t like Mickey and I were actually going to do something here, especially after she just took me by surprise, but then again I also couldn’t promise it with how rash her decisions in that direction were. And you know me, I could not say no to her… eventually… after trying to tell myself it wasn’t a good decision countless of times.

“Did we actually make plans of you coming here or did you just lie to my mom?” I asked first and sat on my bed.

“A small white lie.” She leaned against one of my walls and looked around. “Rather stay here for a night than at Michael’s… Nice room you’ve got. Very… angsty.”

“I just like my bands.” I smirked back, knowing that she probably was the definition of teenage angst yet was trying to describe me with it.

She hummed in response and slowly walked around to inspect every poster I had hung up. First she’d look at the band’s name, then at what usually was their faces, then at anything else on it, and then she’d move on to the next one. Something told me she wasn’t really paying attention, though. It was more like it was something for her to do while we otherwise would have just stood there in silence.

“Hey, maybe we should talk about what happened…” I spoke up, causing her eyes to snap towards me.

“About what?” She asked. Usually, it would be her trying to act like she had no idea what I was talking about, but I felt she was actually asking which part I meant. So much has happened the past days.

I wanted to know every single thing, but I decided to start at the beginning. “About what you said before you kissed me yesterday. About you refusing help. Or do I need to get you drunk to confess things again?”

“It would make things a whole lot easier.” She huffed and joined me on my bed a few feet away from where I was sitting. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Anything.”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged, almost making me believe she had shut off again. “I guess--” She stopped, breathing out heavily as I could see her trying to find the right words. “It’s all I really know, really. It’s how I grew up. By the age of six, I already got up on time for school by myself every single day, made my breakfast, got my bag packed, and walked myself to the bus stop. By the age of eleven, I knew how to go grocery shopping for a household and not just for candy. I was the only thirteen-year-old throwing away all the beer bottles collected over the week. I guess I’ve just always been used to doing things by myself. Then things changed, but I was too used to it already.”

“And you started rebelling,” I suggested, deciding that following the route of ‘helping’ her with my words wasn’t the best option if we were literally talking about her having trouble dealing with it.

“I wouldn’t really call it rebelling,” she shook her head with a slight smile, “but who I am today has been formed by a combination of shit.”

“Well, that sucks complete and utter ass.” Ok, maybe I was discretely trying to help her a little by letting her vent at me without me giving her the usual reaction she expected.

“It does, doesn’t it?” She laughed, combing her fingers through her hair and putting it up in a very messy bun.

I nodded in encouragement, my own grin toying at my face. “It sucks because you’re a pretty great person underneath this hard exterior.”

“Ugh, now you’re getting all sentimental. Gross.” She scrunched up her nose and pushed me away used her sock-clad foot.

“I’m being serious though!” I pushed her leg away and sat back upright, keeping my hand on her thigh since somehow her wanting to get rid of me had only brought me closer.

“I bet you are,” she challenged and bit the inside of her bottom lip a little.

“Want me to prove it?”

“How?”

I went in to kiss her, but before I could reach her lips, my dad shouted that it was time for dinner, signaling that he was both home and that there was food on the table. So, not wanting to risk either of my parents coming upstairs and seeing what was going on, I pulled away with a smirk. Mickey knew exactly what I had been planning on doing, so therefore the technical meaning was still there.

“I guess it’s time for you to meet my dad,” I told her as I grabbed her hand and pulled her up with me.

Notes


I've only been at school for one day again and I can already tell I'm going to be super busy. Please forgive slow updates in the near future. I've already started slowing down drastically.

Comments

@Daydreamers
A little cliffhanger here and there never hurt anybody....
Also, update. The epilogue is at 6679 words. Motivation and inspiration are low so it's taking me so long to even start writing. I know what needs to happen, I want to write it, but words aren't working.

i’ve been left with too many cliffhangers in the past to trust you lol

Daydreamers Daydreamers
7/13/20

@Daydreamers
There's nothing to be scared of....

i’m excited but scared at the same time

Daydreamers Daydreamers
6/16/20

@Daydreamers
It's probably because it went downhill so suddenly a quickly. There's no closure. The epilogue will end quite open...