I'm Just Used to It

It seemed as though it had been one thousand years since the funeral, which was three weeks ago. Everything happened so fast. And now here I am, across the country in Huntington Beach, California, laying in my room that was full of boxes that I should have unpacked already. I laid there and stared at the ring that I still wore on my hand. I’ve missed the two weeks of school, and I’m still not ready to go back at all. I would have to readjust completely. Meet a ton of new people, lie about the ugly scar on my face because I don’t feel like letting anyone know the truth about it, and I would have to fake to my parents that I would be okay.
I don’t feel that I am ready for any of it at all. In fact, I don’t want to be ready for it, but it seems that I have no choice.

My younger brother, Augustin, started his first year of school and has been going for a while, but my parents allowed me to take some time for some reason. I suppose it was to help me, and I am grateful, but now I just don’t want to do anything.
It’s Friday and I was supposed to be ready by now so that I could get registered to attend class at Huntington Beach High School around noon, but I’m still in my lounge clothes.

“Wait, what time it is,” I think to myself, rolling over to check my clock. “11:42? And I’m still in bed? Ew, oh my gosh.”
I got up from my bed, feeling grimy despite my seriously strict hygiene, and grabbed a black, slim fit, Sepultura t-shirt, a very thin, cream colored sweater, some dark blue skinny jeans, grey socks with pink polka dots, and my brown, medium length boots, then I head to the restroom to take a quick shower.

When I walked out, all dressed, with a towel wrapped around my hair, my grandmother was in the hallway. She turned to when the door opened and smiled at me, reaching out to put her hands on my cheeks.
“Aye, my sweet Emilce,” she said sweetly, making me smile at her. Her accent was very thick, but it was easy for me to understand her. “How are you feeling today? Excited?”
“A little,” I said, nodding at her. “It just feels weird to have to do this all over again.”
“I understand,” my grandmother told me, stroking my lip where my scar was. Ever since the scar was first visible, she did that. “But change is good. A fresh start is always good, too.”
I frowned, and looked down at my ring. “I just don’t think I’m strong enough, abuelita,” I said quietly.
“La fuerza viene en muchas formas,” (strength comes in many forms,) she said. “You have it somewhere in you, Emi.”

And with that, she smiled at me one more time, then walked away from me down the hallway. I stood there for a moment, then went back to my room to curl my hair loosely and put on some light makeup.
Just as I finished, there was a knock on my door.
“Come in,” I said lightly, and watched as my mom cautiously poked her head into the door.
“Are you ready, amor,” she asked me, smiling widely as I decided to greet her with a smile of my own.
“Si, mama,” I said, putting on my favorite pearl earrings.
“Okay, your father and I are headed for the car,” she told me. “We’re going to pick up Augustin before we take you. The school called saying he wasn’t feeling well.”
I stood up and grabbed my purse, before playfully pushing her out of my room and closing the door behind me.

We said goodbye to my abuelita and made our way to the car, where my dad put turned the radio on to a channel that was playing “Holiday,” by the Scorpions.
It didn’t take long for us to get to Augustin’s school, my father walked in and walked out, frowning, with my very happy looking little brother.

“You don’t look very sick,” my mother laughed as my dad strapped Augustin in his car seat.
“Pero estoy enfermo, mama,” (But I am sick, mama) Augustin said. “Ves?” (See?) He forced three loud coughs, covering his mouth his a small fist, before going back to his wide smile.
I started to laugh loudly, and my father sighed.
“You better keep quiet, Augustin,” he said, trying to keep from laughing. “If you don’t behave, I’ll take you back.”
Augustin’s eyes widened with shock, which made my mother and I laugh even harder.

My new school wasn’t very far from Augustin’s, which was good, so we were there in no time.
I got my brother out of his car seat and carried him with me while my parents walked ahead of us hand in hand, making my heart ache. We entered the building and were greeted by a woman behind a desk who was very loud and happy. We were all given visitor’s tags and directed to another office where we were introduced to a few more people that I forgot the names to, and then my parents started registering me and taking their sweet time doing so.

“I need to go to the restroom,” Augustin squeaked.
I looked at my dad, and he turned his head away from me.
“Nose goes,” he said, putting his finger to his nose, elbowing my mother so that she’d follow suit.
For a split second my mom and I looked at each other, and once it clicked, she already had her finger on the tip of her nose.

“Damn it,” I semi-shouted while my parents laughed.
“Haha,” my mom teased. “You might as well take him. You need to get used to these halls, anyway.”
“Trrrruuuuuuuueee,” I groaned. “Alright, we’ll be back.”

I grabbed Augustin’s little hand and led him out of the office.
“Think you can hold it until we find a rest room,” I asked him.
Augustin nodded at me wide eyed, and I sighed because I already knew he was lying.
Before I even freaking knew it, I was lost and panicking internally. I really didn’t want Augie to have an accident because then I would be the one to do his laundry and I hate doing laundry.
“Trini,” Augustin whined, using the nickname he made from my middle name. “Hurryyyyyy!”
“I’m trying, baby,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

Just as I said that, I saw a couple walking the halls, holding hands.
“Excuse me,” I called to them, making the boy turn to look at me. “Can you help me find a rest room?”
The couple exchanged a glance, then walked up to me.
“Uhm, yeah,” the boy said, reaching up to fiddle with his lip piercing. “A boy’s rest room, I’m guessing?”
“Trini,” Agustin warned.
“Y-yeah,” I laughed, picking up my brother so that we could walked quicker. “It’s an emergency.”
“Okay,” the girl chimed in, shaking her blonde hair out. “Come on.”

I followed them as they led me down the opposite way they were headed and then to the right where a sign hung in bold letters, “RESTROOMS.”
“Oh wow,” I muttered, making the girl laugh.
“It’s okay,” she said. “This school is structured pretty weird. I always thought so myself.”
“Here, I can take him,” the boy said as I placed Augustin on his feet.
“Oh, thank you so much,” I said, watching as he took my brother’s hand and opened the big wooden door.
“So, I’m Valary,” the girl said, reaching out to shake my hand. “You can just call me Val.”
I took her hand and put on my best smile. “I’m Emilce,” I said, laughing when she made a face. “Just call me Emi. I don’t mind. Or you can call me by my middle name, Trinity. I usually have teachers call me that.”
“Oh, okay,” Val laughed. “I’ll call you Emi. That’s Matt, my boyfriend. Do you know anyone here?”
“No,” I said, trying to repress a sigh. “I’m going to start class here.”
“Ugh, you’re going to hate it,” Val groaned. “Trust me.”
I laughed at her comment, then jumped when a new voice echoed through the hall.
“Val,” the voice yelled. “What are you doing out here?! Aren’t you supposed to be in class?!”
I turned to see a tall boy, with crazy blonde hair and pretty blue eyes walking up to us with a big smile on his face.

“Jimmy,” Valary hissed, reaching out to hit his arm. “Will you shut the fuck up?!”
“Owwweeeyy,” Jimmy whined, rubbing his arm. “I was just asking! Jesus!”
The door opened and Matt came out with Augustin, who was wiping his hands with a wad of paper towels.
“Damn, Jim,” Matt chuckled. “Any louder?”
“I can if you want,” Jimmy said with a wink.
“You better not,” Val said, jabbing his arm with her finger. “I will give you a major beat down if you get us in trouble.”
Jimmy backed away with his hands up. “Kay den,” he said in a silly voice.

I laughed a bit and picked up Augustin, and Jimmy turned to me.
“Uhm, hi, who the fuck are you,” he said with a smirk.
“Jimmy,” Matt said, rolling his eyes.
“What’s it to you,” I asked with a smirk of my own.
Val snorted and looked at Jimmy, who was now grinning widely.
“I can’t just ask,” he chuckled. “Jeez!”
“I guess I’ll allow it this time,” I laughed, resting Augustin on my hip with one arm and reaching out with the other to shake his hand. “I’m Emilce, but you can call me Emi. It’s nice to meet you.”
“I’m Jimmy,” he said with a little bow. “Or Rev. Whatever.”
“I’m Matt,” Matthew said, shaking my hand awkwardly as he hand his other arm around Valary. “The guys call me Shadows.”

I nodded and jumped at the buzzing from my phone. I pulled it out, getting a little self-conscious while they all kind of stared at me.
“We’re done! You start on Monday. We’re ready whenever you are.” –Mom
“Okay, I’m on my way.” –Emi
I finished my awkward, one-handed text and slipped my phone back into my pocket.
“Uh, so it’s time for me to leave,” I said with a small sigh. “It was cool meeting you guys.”
“No problem,” Val said with a pretty smile. “It was our pleasure.”
“Indeed,” Jimmy said, shaking my hand again, making Matt roll his eyes.
I laughed and gave them one last small wave before saying goodbye and making my way back to the front where my parents were waiting.

“Took you two long enough,” my dad laughed.
“Ugh,” I sighed. “This place is too big. I already don’t like it.”
“It will be okay,” she said softly. “You’ll see. You’re going to love it. They have a wonderful art program and a successful cosmetology program too.”
“Their auto mechanics is good too,” my dad said, winking at me, making me laugh.
“Oh no,” my mom laughed. “We aren’t doing that one again.”
“That’s fine,” he said, laughing as we started making our way out to the parking lot. “I can teach her at the shop. No biggie!”
“Ugh, there is just no winning with you,” my mother chuckled, shaking her head.

“Mama, can we get ice cream,” Augustin squealed, bouncing in my arms.
“Sure,” she said, reaching out and taking him from me.
“Rude,” I said, when we reached the car.
Augustin giggled and puckered his lips for a kiss, so I obliged and pecked him on the lips, then blew a raspberry on his cheek, making him giggle again.
Just as my dad unlocked the car, I heard some laughing that made me turn to where it was coming from.
Matt, Val, Jimmy and some other kids were standing on the outside of gates to the parking lot, just hanging out.
“HI EMI,” Jimmy screamed, making Matt and Val laugh while the rest of the group stared at him as he waved frantically.
I smiled widely and waved back before getting into the car.

“Who the Hell is that,” my dad chuckled.
“Some kids we met on our adventure to the rest room,” I said, shrugging a bit.
“They seem a little rowdy,” my mom said, staring.
“Don’t stare mom,” I whisper-yelled. “It’s rude!”
She put her hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay,” she laughed. “Sheesh!”
My dad and I laughed at her as we drove out and past the group of kids that were with Val, Matt and Jimmy and laughed some more as Jimmy waved at all of us again, making me stop and sit back.

“Am I actually smiling?”
_____________________________________________________________________________


~Later that night: Valary~

After we all ditched school, we went to the store and bought some soup for my sister who stayed home after catching a stomach bug, then spent the rest of the day cooped up in her room playing video games and listening to music.
It had to be about 7 p.m. already and we were munching on pizza and crackers at the moment talking about the day’s events.

“Who was that girl you were yelling at earlier,” Zacky asked with a funny look on his face.
“Oh,” I said, sitting up. “We met her earlier today! She’s new. Her name is Emi.”
“Emi,” Michelle asked. “What kind of name is that?”
“Well there was this whole pronunciation thing with her name, so she just told us to call her that,” I shrugged. “Matt thinks she’s pretty.”
“What,” he exclaimed, mad dogging me for putting him on the spot, making the guys all start wooping and teasing.
“You do,” I laughed. “I think so too! She’s fuckin’ hot!”
“I guess,” Matt muttered, while Jimmy howled with laughter at Matt’s blush. “Minus the scar on her face, she’d be a perfect 10.”
“Dude, I think it’s fucking sexy,” Jimmy chuckled.
“Well, did you see the ring on her finger,” I asked. Michelle’s eyes widened.
“She’s engaged,” she gasped. “And you three are going all gaga for her?!”

Matt, Jimmy and I all exchanged glances.
“Hey,” Jimmy said, shrugging. “Just because there’s a goalie doesn’t mean I can’t score!”
Brian busted out laughing with Matt and Zacky.
“Hell yeah,” Zacky yelled, high fiving Jimmy, while Michelle rolled her eyes.

“Aw, come on Chelle,” Jimmy said, crawling onto the bed to rest his head in her lap. “You don’t know that she really is engaged! It might just be a promise ring!”
“I don’t think so JimJam,” I said. “Promise rings don’t come super blinged out like that.”
“I guess,” Jimmy said with a sigh.
“Aw don’t worry buddy,” Zacky said. “We can break them up and you can be there to save the day and live happily ever after with her!”
“Fuck that, dude,” Jimmy laughed loudly. “I don’t do the long term bullshit. You know that. All I need is one night, and I’m fuckin’ good!”
“My man,” Zacky cheered, high fiving Jimmy again.
“Oh jeez,” I said, rolling my eyes at them. “Are you guys staying the night? Our parents are going to be away for the weekend.”
“Sure,” Brian shrugged. “I told my dad I’d be at Matt’s house.”
“I told my mom I’d be there, too,” Zacky laughed.
“Me too,” Jimmy shouted.
“Dear God,” Matt said, face palming.
“Whatever,” I said, getting to my feet and pulling Matt up to his. “I want to go to sleep. Claim a room, or keep it down if you’re going to stay up.”
“Goodnight,” they all sang before I shut the door behind Matt and I.

Although today was pretty chill, I can’t wait to lay the fuck down on my bed!

Notes

I hope you guys don't mind that I have so much dialogue on there. Lord knows I love dialogue. Haha!