"It's because right there is simple squamous tissue. It allows substances to pass through easily." Answered Javier to the teacher.

I was in anatomy class, a class that I shared with Javier. God, he was so annoying. Answering the questions with that stupid cheeky smile on his face that showed his perfectly straight, white teeth. His teeth were so white, they could have blinded a person.

Mrs. Smith, our anatomy teacher, responded with a grin. "Oh, good job Javier! You always know the right answers."

"You always know the right answers." I mumbled to myself in a mocking tone.

"Okay, and why does simple squamous allow substances to pass through?" She asked the class, awaiting an answer from one of us students.

"Because it's thin." I blurted out. Mrs. Smith didn't require us to raise our hands to speak.

Mrs. Smith's grin faded into a straight face. She looked at me and nodded once. "Correct."

Mrs. Smith did not dislike me as heavily as Ms. Corbett did. Mrs. Smith simply loved Javier more than anyone else in the class.

Javier, who was sitting in front of me, turned around for a brief moment to smirk at me. I resisted the urge to jump out of my chair and strangle him and his perfect fucking face.

The rest of class went by in a blur. I continued to try and answer more questions than golden boy in front of me. It was a way of competing with him. A way of proving that I am capable of beating him at something.

—

"I honestly have no idea what to do for my campaign this year." I complained as I talked to Ricky over the phone. "I gave out candy freshman and sophomore year, and I lost both times."

I took all of my things out of my backpack and put them on the kitchen table, as that was normally where I would do my homework. I did not have tons of homework that night, which meant I had time to focus on my campaign instead.

"Well, you have an unfair advantage. Javier is giving out gift cards to everyone, while you're giving out pieces of a five dollar bag of candy." Ricky explained.

I sighed heavily. "Yeah. Must be nice to have enough money to give everyone gift cards for a high school class election."

Ricky sighed as well. "You have to figure out some way to wow everyone. Last year you came really close to beating Cortez, so this year you just need to put in a little more effort."

"I guess." I said, a bit discouraged. "Let's just focus on putting up the posters tomorrow. You have a few made?"

There was a bit of static through the phone. It sounded like Ricky was moving and messing with the audio. He must have been moving somewhere else. After a few seconds, it stopped. "Yeah, and Kailey and Bella have made some too."

I smiled even though he couldn't see it.

Then Ricky gasped, he realized something. "Oh my goodness, I have the best idea. You—"

Abruptly, my aunt swung open the front door. I jumped and accidentally knocked my phone off of the table. I swiftly picked it up and ended the call with Ricky. I then set it back on the table and faced my aunt. She looked pretty unhappy to see me, but that wasn't new.

"Of course you're home." I heard her mumble.

I did not respond. I learned that simply not responding to her rude remarks was the best way to get out of the situation. If I did not provoke or engage with her, she would leave me alone.

Aunt Macy walked past me and went into the kitchen. I started to do the little bit of homework that I had in hopes of her leaving the room quickly. I did not want to go into my room because my brother was in there, and the only other place I could be was the kitchen.

"Do you ever go out?" My aunt asked, her tone rude.

I merely nodded. It was funny how she was asking about me going out, but got upset when I was out for what she considered too long. She shook her head in disbelief before going into her bedroom with a bag of chips and a water bottle.

My aunt had been taking care of my siblings and I since I was four years old. Both of my parents passed, so she was the only family member we had. 

She had always kinda hated us, more so me. She felt that she was forced to take us in even though she didn't even want kids of her own. She also did not want to raise the boy that was responsible for his sister's death.

But she did not raise me, all she did was give me food and shelter. She has always been a shitty caretaker, even when I was little. There was no care or nurture from my aunt to me, and not even toward my siblings whom she hated a lot less.

Once my brother and sister turned sixteen, they went out and got jobs. That was when she stopped cooking for us. She would either get takeout, or cook a small meal for herself. My aunt felt like if they were old enough to enter the workforce, they were old enough to feed themselves. Since I was only a year younger than my siblings, she simply extended that belief onto me as well.

She refused to buy us phones. My brother had paid for my phone and phone bill ever since he got a job because otherwise I would not have one. He would also give me a little bit of money each week for me to buy the things that I wanted. The amount of money he would give me varied, but it was never more than thirty dollars. My sister was the one who would occasionally buy me new clothes and shoes.

My friends would often ask me why I don't get a job myself and the answer to that was that I have no transportation. My siblings were able to get jobs within walking distance from the house. I tried that but got no call backs. Plus, my siblings are against me having a job, despite the fact that they complain each time they have to do something for me.

While they did give me many things that I otherwise would not have, they weren't very kind to me. They only talked to me when absolutely necessary, they never showed any sort of love or affection toward me, and sometimes insulted me just for the hell of it.

It was understandable, they blamed me for our parents' death.

But I wished that we were close. I wished I could come to them with my problems. I wished that I wasn't such a burden to them. They only did the things they did for me because I was their little brother and they felt obligated. Not because they loved me and wanted to.

Feeling overwhelmed from my aunt, I looked at the time. It was almost eight thirty. I had already taken a shower and brushed my teeth, and my homework was not due for a few days so I did not need to finish it then.

I made my way to my bed room and climbed into my bed. My siblings and I shared a room. Easton and I had bunk beds while Emerson had a twin sized bed on the opposite side of the room. Easton was already fast asleep.

I then reached under my bed and pulled out a chest full of random shit. I dug into the bottom of it and pulled out a bottle of vodka. It was half full. No one ever went through my chest because it looked like I store junk in there. However, it was actually where I hid alcohol. It made for a nice hiding spot.

Drinking gave me a sense of peace. It let me be carefree and stop worrying about the way people treated me. My mind didn't have to wander into places that I didn't want it to go. I drank so much that it became a habit.

Despite sharing a room with my siblings, they were too uninterested in my life to notice that I drank every single night before bed. The only one who knew about it was Ricky, and he only knew to an extent.

I drank the rest of the bottle because why not?

And I eventually drifted off to sleep.

—

I had definitely drank too much.

Normally I wouldn't drink enough to be hungover the next morning, especially not on a school night. It was just something that satisfied me, I did not feel the need to be black-out drunk. Last night I had just gotten carried away.

That morning before school my head was stuck in the toilet for an hour. My siblings did not care to ask why I had been in the bathroom for that long until they needed to pee and I was stopping them from being able to do so.

I was currently in the school hallway putting up my campaign posters. My friends were putting some up on the opposite side of campus.

My head was pounding and I knew I looked like a wreck. I knew that I could easily pass it off as being under the weather, however. The kid running for class president being hungover would not be a good look.

I was taping another poster to the wall when I heard someone snicker behind me. I groaned when I saw who it was.

"Woah, you look like shit." Javier said, obviously startled by my appearance.

You sure don't.

"How kind of you." I rolled my eyes before turning around and focusing on my poster. Maybe if I ignored him, he would go away.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I slowly and reluctantly turned around again to face the arrogant prick standing before me.

"Your poster looks cool. I mean, it's nothing compared to mine, but you tried." He smirked.

He wasn't wrong. His poster had a print out of his smug face on it, and then in a pretty font it read, 'Vote for Javier, if you Care.' It was very colorful and vibrant, it definitely drew attention.

My posters were hand drawn, no pictures, but I did have a slogan. 'Donut Forget to Vote for Eli!' Ricky helped me come up with it. His bright idea was to bring donuts to school tomorrow to help my campaign.

Since I was a broke little bitch, my friends were all pitching in to help me pay for the donuts to give out. I honestly couldn't imagine life without my friends.

"My posters may not be as fancy, but I think I have a pretty good thing going on here." I said confidently.

Javier scoffed. "I aspire to be your level of delusional one day."

"Oh, fuck off Javier. You didn't even put effort into your slogan." I said, slightly offended. "The only reason people even vote for you is because you buy their vote. Plus you're the golden boy of this school. You use daddy's money to get what you want, and you buy your friends. That's why they like you."

Javier feigned offense. "Wow, 'Lias. That was harsh."

I rolled my eyes. "If it wasn't for your money and looks, you would not get so many votes. I actually put in work."

A cheeky smile spread across Javier's face. It was as if he has a plan and it just got set into motion. He ran his fingers through his hair, staring me down intensely.

I raised an eyebrow, confused as to what he was smiling about. Suddenly, he pushed me against the wall. I dropped my posters out of shock. He leaned in close to me, right next to my ear.

"It's not my fault that you aren't likable enough for people to vote for you." He insulted in a low, deep voice. "What does that tell you about yourself?"

He backed up slowly, still maintaining eye contact with me. He smirked before walking away and leaving me standing there, dumbfounded.

I hate Javier Cortez.