Johnny

Wow. I still couldn't believe I hung out with Lyle yesterday. He was such a dweeb sometimes, but at least he was weird enough to be funny and made me feel like I had a friend again. If anything, it was better than being alone. Now the same couldn't be said for Logan, who was slowly drifting away from me. Damn...How did this happen? We were so cool before. Now it was like we're strangers again even though we hardly were strangers. to begin with. Either way, it sucked dick.

Speaking of which, my luxurious sleep got cut short thanks to a certain someone.

"It's time to wake up!" Mom yelled from downstairs. I only cocooned myself more with my blankets and closed my eyes tighter. Unfortunately, I'd do that anyways since she wouldn't shut up.

"Boys!" Mom called out. This time, I heard the door open and Roland stepping inside.

"Come on doucheface, let's go."

"Fuck off, man." I grumbled.

"Suit yourself."

After he left, I was able to rest a little bit more until reality dropped a rock on my head and my ears. 

"Johnny, get your ass down here!" Dad shouted. I could hear his big feet trudging up the stairs.

Fucking hell, I rolled out of bed and dragged myself down the stairs. My hair was all messy, my eyes were like a zombie, and I hadn't showered or anything, but I didn't care. Whatever it was, I just wanted it over with.

"What's up, your majesty?" I cracked one of my usual jokes except they weren't having that. They gave me these stony glares before coming forward.

"Something has come up with your cousins." Dad told us in a serious tone.

"Ooh, did one of them get knocked up again?" Roland asked as he took a bite of his apple.

"Really man?" I scoffed.

"Hey, it wouldn't be the first time."

"Roland." Mom scolded.

Thank god she said something. He was starting to get on my nerves. Roland continued munching on his apple though he nudged me and chuckled. He really didn't want to go there. I scooted away from this stupid motherfucker as Dad let out a heavy sigh and spoke again. "No, nobody is having kids again...There was an incident. Uh, d-do you two remember the place your Uncle Hector and his family lived?"

"Yep." Both of us answered at the same time.

"Well the cops are seizing the house."

Whoa... I couldn't say anything, I was left completely breathless. The news swept through us with a cold breeze. It took awhile, but I got my hand up and squinted before saying, "Wait, what?"

"That's so cool." Roland snickered.

"No, it's not." I shook my head while trying to process this. "Dad, what...w-what happened to them?"

Dad let out a deep breath and said, "As it turns out, your Aunt Brenda had been charged with multiple counts of fraud. That gorgeous house they live in, was bought from one of her stolen credit cards which she had cancelled. She may not be coming back and they have nowhere to stay at moment."

The four of us were silent until Roland chimed in again. "Can I just say for the record, I never trusted that bitch?"

"Dude, shut the hell up."

"I'm saying what's on my mind."

"Well keep it to yourself." I told him. "This is some serious shit. They're homeless, they're probably getting judged–"

"All criminal families do. The Columbine kids, the Zimmerman family, that one mom who killed her daughter. You get the picture."

"Those were murders. This was just fraud, plus they didn't know. People can't blame them." I turned to our parents and chuckled. "Right? They can't be too mad, can they?"

"One of the cards belonged to a trusted family friend." Mom revealed with a stream of uneven nods. "You know, that governor who grew up in the south and gets real feisty when things like that happen."

"Shit."

"Yeah, Hector said Governor Larson wanted to spare the shame, though his publicist went out anyways. It's going to be really hard on them and so they will be living with us."

"What?"

"Fuck no." Roland scoffed.

"Listen, you both need to understand the situation." Dad held onto the marble table and leaned closer.

"Um, no we don't." Roland grabbed a granola and began leaving only for Mom to block him.

"Roland, please." Mom pleaded with him. Her eyes glimmered and they both stood very still. During that time, I poured myself some orange juice though it was hard to drink when the atmosphere was this tense. After awhile, Roland gave up and faced Dad again.

Dad nodded and laid out the rest of his plan. "With our home becoming theirs too, there will be some adjustments."

"What kind?" I asked.

"Well for starters, Sylvester's room will be occupied by Taylor and Raina." He turned to Roland and said,  "Roland, you'll be sharing your room with Kasey."

"That stuck-up prick with the bad teeth?"

"You guys sure got that in common." I shaded him while taking a drink.

"The fuck did you say?"

"You heard me." I replied.

"Oh, you are so dead."

"Boys!" Mom shouted. Damn that hurt. I covered my one ear while she took over for Dad. "That's enough. Now, your Uncle Hector will be sleeping in the basement gust room which leaves the second room next to–"

"That's Matt's room." I deduced. Chills went through my veins as I felt everyone's eyes staring at me. "You c-c-can't...you can't-you cannot give up his room."

"Barely anyone uses it and we can always move his things back. This is the only available room, unless you're willing to share yours."

"I'll do it." I nodded. "I-I can share it."

"Johnny, maybe it's time–"

"Nope. Nobody touches that room. It is sacred."

"So you're willing to share with Zander?"

"Sure." I smiled while bobbling my head around. Anything to spare his room. "I can even get the air mattress pumped and everything."

"Alright then." Mom agreed. "I guess that's settled."

"Awesome." I finished my drink and put the empty glass in the dishwasher before heading up the stairs to begin my already depressing day.

Right as I was about to leave, Dad came swooping in like a monkey.

"You need something?" I asked while opening up the door.

"There's something you need to know."

"Oh, besides the fact your firefighter job was a joke?"

"Hey, I wasn't proud of that." Dad defended himself.

"Of course you weren't." I scoffed and walked with him outside. "So what's the news?"

"Well you probably didn't notice, but your cousins transferred schools earlier this week. Kasey and Zander already got the tour and everything. The same can't be said for Taylor."

"Jesus." I groaned. "Where was she?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Hold up." I completely stopped and Dad bumped into me before taking a step back. I looked to him and reiterated the situation aloud. "So you're tellin' me I'm supposed to give Miss Runaway a tour?"

"Not exactly, though maybe you can direct her to the right place?"

He gave me this crooked smile with the hope that I'd happily accept. Honestly, she wasn't on my list of things to worry about, but she was still family whether I liked it or not. When the decision was made, I rolled my eyes and said, "Fine."

I walked away and unlocked my car, but stopped again . "But I ain't responsible for her shit. If she runs, it's not my problem."

"Johnny..."

"I know." I told him while getting into my car. "Blood before studs or whatever the fuck that saying is. Just don't worry about us. We'll be fine."

"I sure hope so."

"Yeah. See you later, Dad." I closed up my window and put the car in reverse before taking off.

To my surprise, I found Taylor getting out at the same time as I did, so I sprinted over.

"Hey."

"What are you doing here?" she greeted me in her usual sarcastic tone.

"I go to this school. Apparently you do too."

"It sucks."

"Yeah, no shit." I agreed while we made our way inside. Once we got near the admissions office, I looked both ways and said, "Look... My parents are worried about you guys. My dad also wanted me to make sure you're settled here and stuff."

"Okay."

"So can you at least try to not leave or something?"

"Sure." She shrugged and nodded. "Can you do something for me too?"

"What do you need?"

"We're moving in today and–"

"Excuse me?"

I was rendered speechless. Taylor looked up from her phone to see just how confused I was and that was when she gasped. "Fuck... you didn't know?"

"They literally just told us what happened with your family. They didn't say nothin' about that."

"Leave it to my idiot father to do everything at the last possible second." Taylor shook her head and chuckled. "Sorry for dropping that bomb on you."

"It's cool." I folded my arms and nodded. "You know, I'll talk to you later about this."

"Alright." Taylor understood before she quietly left. Meanwhile, I stood around with all these things swirling through my head. There was a twister inside and I swore it was about to explode. I held onto my head and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I saw a familiar face.

Maybe I should talk to him? The question came up. I looked forward to see that Lyle had just finished advertising his animal group. While I wanted to talk, my mood was so out of whack that instead, I came over to see a low amount of donations and pamphlets taken. How sad. I grabbed a ten out of my pocket and put it in the jar before taking off, though it didn't take long for him to figure out it was me.

"Thanks Johnny."

Shit, I turned around to see Lyle smiling at my contribution. I was halfway over and about to talk with him until I heard a voice.

"Yo Johnny!" Logan called out.

I looked over to see him standing on the opposite side of me, the same distance away. Goddamn it, I was stuck between old best friend and possible new one. Okay, that was a stretch. Possible friend sounded way better. Once I turned back to Lyle, he had gone back to packing his things where I reluctantly decided to chat with Logan.

"How've you been?" Logan slapped me on the back and laughed.

"Real busy, man." I told him as we walked down the hall. "Seriously, some days I wonder if this is really my life or–"

"I feel you. Hey, are you still up for me sleeping over this weekend?"

Thanks for changing the subject, I wanted to say, though I kept my mouth shut and answered. "We can, but it's gonna be a full house."

"Why?"

"My cousins are movin' in 'cause their mom got caught for multiple fraud charges."

"Shit dude, that's dumb."

"I know right." I smiled and shook my head. "Then again, she always was able to get the best gifts at Christmas except that one year she was cheap as hell."

"Was it like seven years ago?"

"More like a decade." I thought for a second. "Yeah, the recession almost got her."

"That would've been fucking hilarious."

"Maybe." I shrugged.

Both us were silent again until Logan nudged me and said, "Hey, you know that blonde chick you were with before?"

"Taylor?"

Logan nodded with a giant smile on his face which only meant one thing.

"Oh hell no. Don't be gettin' any ideas, man." I crushed his filthy fantasies in one blow. "Remember she's still fifteen."

"I know, but she got that ass and body of a twenty."

"Those legs are closed, buddy."

"You saying, you wouldn't tap that?" Logan teased. "If she wasn't your cousin and all?"

"No, I've got other shit to do."

"Still, I'd totally be all up in her."

Sweet Jesus, I cringed inside once it was clear he wouldn't let this go. I kinda expected this to happen. Luckily, I was prepared to end this before it could ever begin. I pulled Logan aside and looked him square in the eyes. "Look man, she's family. Hell, she's like the sister I never had. A cool one too and the thought of you two is just...Ugh. Can you just promise to not go there?"

"Of course."

"Thanks."

Him and I locked fists together before laughing. Afterwards, we met up with the rest of our gang. Things began to seem normal again just like the start of this year. I smiled as I felt this nostalgic fog wrap around me. Everything would be alright. 

* * * * *

"This is some bullshit!" Cam voiced his complaints first.

"Yeah, we paid for them to get us there and now there's no bus?" Steven folded his arms and asked while Wes punched a nearby tree. The others were losing their shit too as the bad news settled in.

"I still don't understand this though." I took a moment to calmly address the situation. "So you're saying, we don't have a bus?"

Coach Kessler stood there with a stoic, yet bitter look on his face. His mustache didn't help matters either as it only made his beady eyes seem more disgusted by what has happened. "You're right, Mister Kane. We have no transportation."

"That's so fucking stupid." Bruce grumbled.

"We'll have to forfeit." Gabriel agonized with his head bowed low.

"Oh fuck that!" Orlando threw his fist in the air. Sweat ran his face and he kept breathing profusely as we felt him fuming inside. He then opened and closed his palms before he pointed his left finger. "You know, I bet those bitches had something to do with this shit."

"Vivoke North is the worst." Logan remarked. "All those rich bastards with their fancy ass team and million dollar locker room, think they can get away with everything."

"Yeah!" Cam shouted in agreement.

"Wait, did their locker room really cost a million bucks?" Rakesh put his hand up and asked. "I swore it was only half."

"It wasn't a million for sure, but it was a ridiculous amount." Steven answered while nodding his head.

With the guys drowned in this sudden loss, morale was worse than ever. I found myself sitting next to Damon, who somehow was able to rest despite all this noise. I thought about the situation we were in and how we have two buses where the cheerleaders usually take one while we take the other. We couldn't combine anymore since-Wait a second! Two buses?

I stood up and approached Kessler. "Hey, didn't you say before that the cheerleaders had a bus?"

"That I did." He cheerfully responded with a hint of sarcasm. "Unfortunately, we live in a time where we wouldn't dare suggest the football team needs it more than the cheerleaders."

"But then we'd lose the game."

"Well that's life for ya." He chuckled before taking out a flask and glugging it down.

"Sir, are you supposed to be drinking?" Steven skeptically asked.

"Are you supposed to be a mongrel?" He fired back which sent jaws to the floor.

Steven's face went white which was a change from his tanned skin. I had to admit, for all the insults he spews on a regular basis, that was low. Not to mention, Steven's multiple ethnicities made him exotic. I mean, he was Persian, Italian, Spanish, some Asian ethnicity; probably Korean, with a touch of German blood to tie it all up or maybe Swedish? Either way, it was a totally uncalled for slur.

I went to talk with Steven, though he backed up and walked away, completely speechless. Kessler scoffed. "Yeah, keep walkin' boy."

The atmosphere grew even more awkward as the guys murmured about what happened. I gulped and went by Rakesh, who whispered. "This is not good. Everyone's getting restless."

"You think my idea could work?"

"Well I would do it." He shrugged though his head went more to the right side. "However, I cannot afford another incident with the ladies."

"They still didn't get you were trying to be funny, huh?"

"Sadly, they did not. What a shame."

"Yeah, what a shame." I agreed as my eyes locked in on a certain someone else. "But I know exactly who could pull it off."

"Is it Gabriel?"

We both looked over to see him, Sanchez, and Frank doing some spin move in sync which came off a bit... swishy. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but it wouldn't give off the type of vibe we needed.

"Um...no." I shook my head and made my way over to who I was thinking of and pointed. "Yo Bruce!"

He turned around and scoffed. "What do you want, Kane?"

"Uh, you up for trying to get our bus from the girls?"

Oh shit, that was a bad idea, I bit my lip as Bruce smirked and shoved his football into Gary's arms. He walked up to me with his glory and swagger just radiating like the sun. "You pimpin' me out?"

"Hey, it ain't pimpin' unless you screw them or plan to."

Bruce gave me the side-eye grin before he nodded. "Alright. Say I go to them and their annoying squad captain, what do I even say?"

"First off, you need to go in and speak with your big head up here not your little one down there."

"It's actually over six inches"

"Not what I meant." I cleared my throat at that sudden, graphic info he gave me. "As I was saying, if you go in there, talk about how we'd all lose if we don't get there, no flirting, no weird signals, and maybe we'll get to play."

"Hmm..." Bruce thought aloud while nodding his head. He then looked down at me and smiled. "Alright. I'll try to talk with them."

"Great."

Just like that, Bruce left and the guys swarmed around by the hedges where the cheerleaders were on the other side. They stood around, watching as he proposed my idea and despite the initial opposition of Odessa and others... It worked!

Bruce came back with giant smile on his face as he arrived, bending on one knee and his arms wide open. "We got a bus!"

"Yeah boy!" Orland beamed.

"Yo, let's go!" others roared now that they pumped once again.

Everyone celebrated until Logan came by and said, "Hey! The bus is about to leave! Let's move it, people!"

All of us grabbed our things and went. Joy never felt sweeter than this moment which I made happen. Damn, I'm amazing. Now they know it too. Oh, this was perfect! Absolutely perfect. Things were looking up again. At this rate, we couldn't lose and victory would be sweet as hell.

* * * * *

"We the winners!" The guys chanted followed by the rhythmic clapping. "We the winners!"

This went on for awhile only to dissolve into a pool of laughter. Everyone was all bursting with joy. During that time, Orlando was the first one to point and give his euphoric speech. "Oh, you should've seen the look at that pussy's face when the ref called him out on his shit!"

"I know, bro." Gary followed up.

"Ooh, did you hear those snobs laughing until we tied the game?" Sanchez remarked. "I sure did and they was so damn salty!"

"One of them cried." Wes shook his head and cackled.

"Uh, you did too." I pointed out.

"Because we won, dumbass."

"Yeah, I'm the dumbass." I snorted just from the way he said that.

The bus ride went smoothly as we all sat around, satisfied by the day. I couldn't stop smiling to the point, Logan held onto my knee and said, "Dude, you're creepin' me out."

"Sorry, I'm just so happy."

"And it's about to get better."

"What do you mean?"

Logan was quiet for a few minutes until he told me. "Two words: After party."

"After party?"

"Winners always get invited plus Josh DiMeo always throws the sickest parties."

"I'm surprised he hasn't moved to Miami yet."

"He's doing that as soon as we graduate."

"Damn."

"I know." Logan shook his head. "So, you ready for the night of your life?"

"Hell yeah."

Both of us saddled up for an amazing Friday night. We did have to make a few stops of course before that, though it wasn't too much of a problem. Before we knew it, we were there. As we walked into his mansion, the booze was flowing, the music was booming, and we were about to party harder than we ever did before. Life was great.

I sort of wished I went slower 'cause the amount of things I wanted to remember wasn't there that next morning. Instead, it was bits and pieces. I remembered the colorful lights flashing, being in the hot tub with Josh, random singing, familiar faces, distorted voices, body shots...Wait a second. Was Elise there? I knew it wasn't her scene, but I could've sworn she was there.  

I tried to hone in on those scattered memories until I heard moaning like labored breathing. My eyes opened wide and I rolled over. It was the room next to mine. I sat up and listened closer.

"Hello?" I called out. No response.

The sounds drew me closer to the wall where I heard it loud and clear. I stepped outside my room and touched the door. For some reason, nobody else was in the house though the sounds of vigorous shaking and heavy moans echoed throughout the whole place. I knew for a fact it wasn't my parents nor whoever Roland brought home. Nobody else would use this room except...No. Hell no.

This horrible theory made me gasp and back away. It couldn't be possible. He wouldn't do this. Despite backing away, the moans got louder and I could feel the sexual energy in the air. It just didn't seem possible. Unfortunately, there was only one person that was staying over who would do this shit. God, and in Matt's room of all places.

I paced back and forth, contemplating what to do. The moment I heard her moans became more rapid, I burst the door open. My entrance triggered a scream, followed by a quick excuse.

"Johnny, this isn't what you think."

Except that it was. That was exactly what I thought. Logan's jaw dropped as he clutched the covers of the bed with a naked Taylor nearby. My fifteen year old cousin who he promised not to get with.

Unbelievable, I shook my head as his betrayal boiled my blood. My fists clenched as my eyes narrowed in on him. How disgusting. How could he fucking do this? We're supposed to be best friends and we are. Were best friends. After this, I'd never see this bastard the same way again.