"Mama says, 'Stupid is as stupid does.'"

***

I like to believe my life is a routine. Most people would complain about that, but I enjoyed the repetition of everyday life. It was a structure to my day rather than mindlessly sitting around doing absolutely nothing.

But that changed when I was forced to transfer into public school. Even though it was my own decision, the break from routine left me unnerved. The anxiety gnawed in my stomach all summer, unable to shake off the feeling that something bad was happening.

Then I had the idea of starting the school year off with something new. Something to distract me from the nervousness and anticipation that left me idle.

I decided to throw a party. Something about the loud music, people everywhere, drinks scattered on tables as a result of various drinking games playing across the house. It made me forget about the stresses and worries I had for senior year.

At least that was what I imagined. I didn't imagine holding an expensive vase imported from Italy in my hands, still partially warm from Vanessa Raymond crying, who I caught cuddling it on my couch drunk.

She is always a crier in my old high school, so not a shock that she was sobbing in my house.

I shook my head with a knowing smile when I hid the stone statue in a random pantry nearby. Even with the occasionally noxious person that feels like throwing up and ensuring my family valuables are protected, it was something that made me feel alive.

Finding a strange man snooping in my room was not part of the plan.I was hiding a different heavy knick knacks my parents brought from Europe upstairs when I heard Bruno barking aggressively, which was abnormal from his normal docile behavior.

I didn't know what came over me when I opened my bedroom door and saw a dark figure in the room.

It gave me flashbacks to when I found him in my room, violating my privacy I thought, feeling a growing sense of nausea.

All my feelings became overwhelming, fighting to get my attention all at once. My hands started to get damp on the statue and my mind stopped thinking.

Opening the door to a stranger in my room only led to one reaction: throw the first thing in my hand.

My body flinched at the sound when the object made contact with the stranger's skull followed by his body crashed on the floor, and now, I am trying to process the fact that I hit someone. Then the realization that I assaulted someone hit me.

Did I just kill a man?

"Shit," I muttered to myself. "Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit"

My thigh began to vibrate, pulling me away from my panic. I fished out the phone on my phone to a picture of Mom appearing on my screen.

Double shit.

My body took a few deep breaths in a poor attempt to manage the situation. I walked outside of my room, still cultivating my composure. Inhaling deeply, I picked up the phone.

"Ciao, mamma," I greeted her as normally as possible, inching away from the loud music downstairs. "How is California?"

Dad was in Los Angeles as a fashion designer, so Mom accompanied  him for a fashion event that was happening. They usually dragged me along while school is not in session, but this was their first time leaving me completely alone.

"It's nice! So warm and sunny here. How are you?" my mom's loud Italian accent echoed through the phone.

After my insistence of leaving my private school for senior year, my parents finally caved in.

After everything that happened there, the only thing I wanted to do was leave. Just turn a new leaf. Getting far away from before as possible.

"A little," I admitted, rubbing the back of my head while leaning on the bedroom door. It sounded silent on the other side, but my mind mentally prayed the figure wouldn't move. "But Asami will be there and show me around."

Asami and I have been best friends since kindergarten. We started off in the same school until high school, where she went to public school and my parents forced me to go to private school. Despite being in different schools, we kept in touch throughout the years. Now, we are back in the same school, and that was one of the few things that I was looking forward to senior year.

"Okay, cara," she said after a moment, listening for any sign of hesitation or doubt. "Nana will be back by tomorrow, so she will take care-"

"Me when she gets back from her flight from Italy," I finished, hearing this many times as I forced Mom out of the door with Dad with goodbyes. Dad constantly attended different shows he produced but Mom always took pride in being a mother first and stayed with my older brother and me. That was why I insisted she goes out and enjoy herself without worrying about me.

"You are worrying too much, Mamma," I insisted one more time. "I will be fine when you come back. It's only a week."

"Uh huh," she responded with little conviction. I heard a loud sigh at the other side of the call. "I'll let you sleep then. I just wanted to check in before I sleep," she said, her Italian accent becoming more prominent. "I will talk to you tomorrow."

"Ciao, mamma," I responded, hanging up quickly.

Hearing more noise from the room, my ears instantly perked up, alarm coursing through my body. Quickly walking towards the spare room down the hallway, I picked up the spare baseball bat from the other room. I tip-toed back to the entrance of my bedroom, crouching by the doorway when I noticed that the door was ajar. Paused, I planted my ear on the door to hear hushed voices and Bruno barking.

Hearing a sudden loud noise, I pushed the door. The door slammed wide open, hitting the wall and returning to me. Another stranger looked up at me, making a loud of surprise. I held the bat up in the air, ready to swing, but the stranger put his hands up.

The stranger in front of me looked like a normal person. His hair was pointing in different point of directions.

He was clearly Asian, standing in front of me with fear, flickering his glance between the stranger on the floor and me. His mouth was slightly agape, cheeks bright red, eyes widened and looked like he was ready to freak.

Stuff was scattered everywhere on my floor. I looked at the two glass statuses was broken; shards were everywhere and the floor was wet from the water. Papers that were left on the tables were scattered around the room, landing on the water on the floor or somewhere else on the counter.

Regardless, I still screamed anyways, grabbing a half-filled plastic coke bottle by my table side, and chucked it at the standing stranger. He deftly moved to the side, watching the bottle roll into the balcony. He looked at me incredulously.

"Are you insane? That could've hit me," he exclaimed, eyeing Bruno warily.

His loud voice made me shake, the bat suddenly feeling heavy in my hands. I gripped the wooden bat tighter, trying to pull the weight up.

Not caring, I waved the bat. "What are you doing here?" I demanded, keeping the baseball bat up in the air.

A loud groan was heard from the ground. The other one looked at the person on the ground, concern flashed across his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked concerned, crouching down at the person on the ground, shifting slightly. Realizing he was ignoring me, I groaned at this situation, slightly lowering the bat. The person on the ground moved his hand towards his head, groaning loudly. "France!"

"What?" I said.

The stranger standing ignored me, grabbing the other person shoulder and shaking it. "France, do you hear me?"

"I am right here," I shouted a little loudly, waving my bat.

Are all of these people stalking me? 

Feeling creeped out, I took a few steps forward, ready to swing. The person standing eyed me curiously, finally rolling his eyes before turning back to the stranger on the floor.

He gestured to my baseball bat. "I know you are here because you are waving a baseball bat." He turned back, crouching down to the knocked-out person on my floor. "Are you okay?"

My eye twitched, and the throbbing on the side of my head. The game of calling my name was only getting worse. "What the hell do you want?"

Without giving much thought, I grabbed the closest stuffed animal on my chest and threw it at the stranger. The stuffed gray elephant bounced off the side of the stranger's head. He looked up at me with shock.

"Would you cut that out? You could really hurt someone with that." the stranger asked.

I blinked at the boys, trying to process his request. I stood still with disbelief that a stranger was attempting to I was negotiate with me in my own home.

"That's because there is two random people in my bedroom," I shouted, my voice only getting louder with every word I said. I waved the bat up, taking a practice swing to show I was serious. The bat, however, was heavier than I thought because it was slanting downwards.

I thought moving the table to the staircase would make it obvious that the upstairs was blocked off, but I should've hired security like all the other kids around here do.

The stranger must have thought the same thing because he asked, "Do you even play the baseball?"

I did not respond because I didn't. Hiding the surprise and embarrassment, I kept a straight face and held the bat up high. "What are you doing in here, and how do you even know my name?"

"I'm just trying to wake my dumbass friend up," the stranger exclaimed, gesturing to the guy on the ground. Bruno started to bark at the strangers again, growling. The stranger took a small step backwards, glaring at his dog. "Can you call off your guard, please?"

"Bruno. Come!"

The Australian Shepherd eyed the stranger before walking back in front of me. He sat by my feet, clearly unhappy I would not let him what to do.

"Look. There was a bet to see who could steal the nicest item from a house. We thought you weren't going to notice. We don't mean any harm at all. We will be out of your way soon. I'm really sorry," the stranger explained quickly.

A bet?

This sounded familiar. Asami was discussing this with me the other day that her boyfriend had done a very similar bet.

"Do you know a Devon Robinson?" I asked. Confirming my thoughts, the boy's eyes widened with shock at the name, and I knew that was why they were there. Whatever Devon was doing are the same thing that these boys are doing.

You have got to be freaking kidding me.

"Ugh. My head," the stranger on the ground groaned, coughing. The stranger on the ground pulled his body up slowly, touching his head frequently throughout the process. "Why does it hurt so much?"

The standing stranger rolled his eyes. "You got caught."

The stranger on the ground only responded with a loud groan.

"Why couldn't you just steal something from your own house and just lie that you stole it?" I asked.

The stranger was pulling up the other stranger, wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling him up. He groaned while pulling up the other stranger on the ground. He looked at me. "If we have thought of that, we wouldn't be in this position."

The bruised stranger rolled his head back, showing his face to me for the first time. His hair was matted on one side where he laid unconscious. His eyes were fluttering shut, but his face was nicely shaped-defined with sharp jawline.

"How are you feeling, buddy?" the person asked concernedly.

The other stranger groaned loudly, touching the side of his head again. "I have the worst headache and some pyscho threw something at my head," he spoke for the first time. His voice was deep-almost soothing if you ignore the fact he was talking about me.

The other guy elbowed him after his comment. "France!" he hissed.

"What?" I asked.

He turned to me. "Not talking to you." He then turned back to the groaning man. "Pyscho is still in the room."

"How do you know my name?" I demanded.

He held a hand up. "I don't know your freaking name. Chill before I lose it." He pointed to his partner in crime, who was silently rolling his head around and standing up while trembling. "His name is France."

I blinked, understanding the confusion.

"Oh," was all that I responded, lowering my bat. I pointed to myself. "My name is France."

Suddenly, the boy stood up quickly before he giggled, "Hey, what are the odds? What a small world." His hand waved around with a small giggling before collapsing next to the stranger. He pulled him right up, groaning.

"My boy, I think you are concussed," his friend declared, patting his semi-conscious friend on the head. France grabbed his hand and groaned loudly in protest.

Suddenly realizing how tired I was, I pointed towards my bedroom door. "Leave the party now. Do it before I call the cops on the both of you."

The guy not France immediately nodded. "Let's leave now."

He dragged France through the body through the door. I followed behind them, dragging the bat behind me. Bruno attempted to run past us towards the bedroom door before I crouched down to stop him. I shut the bedroom door to keep Bruno in while making sure the two people in front of me were leaving the house.

Watching him drag a body down the stairs was a struggle, but I felt no desire to help them. I couldn't help but watch with a sense of amusement. No one paid any attention to them navigating through the large crowds of people.

When we finally made it to the entrance, I gestured to the front door to leave. He got the hint, and dragged his friend out with him. He slowed down and turned around.

"If it makes you feel better, you have a very nice home."

I rolled my eyes.

"Goodnight." 

That was the last thing I said to them before I slammed the door on the both of them. At the front door, I groaned loudly, putting my head on the door for a brief moment. I attempted to process what just happened.

I need a drink.

I migrated through the crowd, occasionally saying hello to a friend with a normal smile. I approached to the table to grab the closest beer.

"France," a voice shouted, throwing a thin arm around me. I slightly flinched at the sudden slurred voice. I did not have to turn around to smell the slight scent of alcohol and Asami giggling loudly in my ear.

"Hi Asami," I greeted her, feeling slightly more relaxed.

She stumbled a few steps back, dragging me with her before she looked at them.

"This is a sick party you threw, so drop the frown on your face," she grunted.

I was going to open my mouth to tell her about the Bet, but instead I just clamped it. This was going to be a new chapter of my life in a new school, away from every dark memory. Rather than getting angry, I put a smile on my face.

It's a new chapter.

And I won't have to deal with them anymore.