The first day at school passed by slowly and painfully. I hated all my teachers, and it was clear that they already hated me. The only thing I had to look forward to was that Will happened to attend OCP as well, which was convenient for my first day “on the job”. Today alone, I had already made two-hundred bucks, selling to overly dependent rich kids. Of course, seventy-five percent went directly to Martin, but that meant I still had fifty bucks.

I learned real quick from Will how more than half of the school was made up of druggies, even including some teachers. OCP was a gold mine for drug-dealers, which was the main reason why Martin sent him here. I just had to cross my fingers that neither Zack or Erin find out, so that they don’t send me somewhere else.

Even though I already hated OCP as a whole, I somehow left it in a relatively good mood, unable to fight the smile that had stuck itself to my face as I joined Erin and Zack in the car waiting outside.

“Someone’s in a good mood,” Zack comments, smirking slightly. I roll my eyes.

“Yeah, because she’s friends with a drug dealer,” I hear Erin mutter. I hold my breath, expecting Zack to lash out; until I realize that the earplugs he wears onstage must not be doing their job correctly, as he didn’t seem to hear her.

The rest of the car ride is spent in silence, which I find almost strange, since it is normal for Erin to be bursting about her day. When I glance over at her, I can tell from the look on her face that she’s dying to say something, but she’s holding it in for some reason. I mentally cross every bone in my body that it doesn’t have something to do with Will.

However, when we pull up in front of Zack’s house, I realize that the reason for her silence was right in front of us.

Somehow, Zack had failed to mention to me that the entire band would be there when we got home, which meant that I was going to have to force myself to talk to people that could barely stand having me around.

Sighing overdramatically, I step out of the car and make my way to the front door, throwing it open. I can hear voices coming from the kitchen, and I kick off my shoes violently and throw my bag on top of them. Behind me, I hear Zack wonder if Erin had remembered to tell me when she saw me. “I guess it slipped my mind,” she replies; I can hear the smirk in her voice, and it takes all of my will-power not to turn around and claw that smirk right off her face.

Zack tells Erin to go ahead, before grabbing my shoulder, holding me back. I can hear everyone greeting Erin excitedly as she shows up. Zack forces me to look at him; I glare as harshly as I can.

“Look,” he begins quietly. “I know you and the rest of the guys don’t really get along.” I roll my eyes.

“Well, that’s the understatement of the century,” I scoff and Zack sighs.

“It’s been three years since any of them have seen you. Give them a chance.” I roll my eyes again, but not wanting to start an argument, I make my way over to the kitchen.

As soon as I step foot in the kitchen, I feel everyone’s eyes on me, staring at me expectantly. I refrain from shifting uncomfortably, and jump slightly when I hear Zack clear his throat behind me. As if taking this as some sort of cue, Matt, Brian and Johnny swarm over to greet me; each smile more forced than the last; each hug more awkward.

Once that’s out of the way, I begin to feel more and more uncomfortable. Everyone just takes my silence as a sign to talk to Erin instead, per usual, and Zack soon becomes too distracted to notice me slip outside for a quick smoke.

I slip out the back door onto the deck, leaning against the railing and taking in the lovely view of the too-large pool and unkempt garden.

Sighing, I slide out the pack of Marlboro’s that Will slipped to me in second period from my back pocket and light it up with the mini lighter I keep in my sock. I nibble on the end of the cigarette nervously, not having smoked them in a while. But as soon as the toxic smoke fills my lungs, I immediately begin to calm down.

I don’t hear the door close behind me, nor do I hear anyone approach me. So as soon as I notice Brian has appeared beside me, I choke on the fumes.

“You know,” he says, crossing his tattooed arms across his chest and giving me an amused smirk, “you really shouldn’t be doing that.” I raise an eyebrow at him; he pulls out his own pack from his inner jacket pocket. “Then again, that really makes me sound like a hypocrite.” He holds the cigarette between his teeth, looking at me expectantly. Without breaking eye contact, I retrieve the lighter from my sock once again and light it for him.

He takes a long, slow drag before blowing out gently; mindful enough to make sure the smoke doesn’t blast me in the face. He chuckles lightly.

“I really shouldn’t be doing this either,” he admits, leaning against the railing, looking completely defeated, as if he couldn’t believe his entire life had led up to this moment – smoking with his best friend’s druggie sixteen-year-old daughter.

I watch him carefully for a moment as he takes another long drag, and I mimic him.

“Your dad tells me you’ve gotten yourself into quite a bit of shit the last few weeks,” he says suddenly, though his tone remains light. I simply shrug. “You need to be careful, Danny.” I roll my eyes. Seeing this, he grabs my wrist, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “I’m serious, Danny.”

“Since when do you care?” I growl before I can stop myself. This clearly catches him off guard; he blinks at me for a moment before shaking his head.

“Is that what this is all about?” I don’t say anything. “You think we don’t care? That’s stupid, Danny; we love you –”

“Don’t,” I snap, glaring harshly at him. “Don’t pull that bullshit with me.” He stares at me, completely shocked.

“Daenerys,” he sighs, running his hand that wasn’t holding his cigarette down his face. “If your dad didn’t love you, he wouldn’t have agreed to take you in.”

“If Zack loved me,” I counter, “then he would’ve made our mother get an abortion.” His eyes widen at such a blunt statement. He turns away from me again.

“You know, Zack was right,” he says. “You really are fucked up.”

I freeze slightly. Even though I’ve never really seen Zack as any more than just some stuck-up rock-star who stuck his manhood in places it shouldn’t ever have been, knowing that he supposedly said such a thing about me – though I wouldn’t put it past him – to his best friends, seemed to have some sort of effect on me that threw me way off guard.

Even so, I pretended his comment didn’t bother me, and proceeded to stamp out my cigarette. I feel Brian watch me, rather pleased with himself, as I turn around to go inside.

“You can tell Zack,” I call over my shoulder, “that he’s the reason why I’m ‘fucked up’.”

~

“What do you mean we’re going to San Francisco?”

I watch in amusement as Erin madly paces the living room, not reacting well to Zack’s sudden announcement. He and Matt sit on the couch across from me; Matt looks rather awkward and uncomfortable, clearly regretting ever bringing up the subject in the first place. He opens his mouth to say something, but before he can, Zack speaks up.

“It’s only for the weekend, Erin,” he speaks calmly, as if he was expecting this sort of reaction from her. “Stop acting like it’s the end of the world.”

“Me going with you to see your stupid band play was not a part of the deal,” she continues, ignoring him completely. Zack sighs and rests his head in his hands, clearly exasperated with her sudden outburst. She stops in front of him and crosses her arms in front of her chest. “I am not going to San Francisco with you.”

“Maybe,” Matt finally is able to get a word in, “maybe she can stay with Michelle, since she’s not coming with us,” he suggests, referring to Brian’s wife of three years. As if on cue, Brian strolls into the room, finally returning from his prolonged smoke, followed by Johnny. The three of them look hopefully at him, to which he just looks slightly confused.

“What?”

“Michelle isn’t coming with us to San Francisco with us?” Zack asks him. He shakes his head.

“Good,” Matt nods. “Then Zack, you can arrange for Erin to stay with Michelle for the weekend.” Erin just rolls her eyes.

“What about Daenerys?” Erin demands. Everyone, including me, looks over at him expectantly.

“She’s coming with us,” he announces, “but only because I would feel more comfortable if she was with me, rather than down here where I can’t keep as close of an eye on her.” I ignore the same disappointed gaze he always has when he talks about me, even though I can feel it burning into the back of my skull.

I look over at Erin, who scowls at me. “Whatever,” she mutters before stomping upstairs.

“Jesus Christ,” Brian mutters, shaking his head. “What’s up with her?” Zack just shakes his head before making his way to the kitchen, probably to get a drink, most likely alcoholic. I make the split-second decision to follow him.

“I don’t want to go to San Francisco either,” I state, causing him to jump, as his back was turned and he hadn’t heard me follow him.

He turns to face me, opening his beer and taking a drink.

“Too bad,” he simply states, not breaking eye-contact with me. I frown.

“Why can’t I stay with Michelle too?”

“Because, I can’t trust you not to get into trouble while I’m gone.” I roll my eyes. If only he knew how much trouble I got into while he was actually here.

“I never asked to be here,” I mutter, just loud enough for him to hear. He shrugs.

“Neither did I.” His comment is so blunt; it takes me a minute to process it.

Pleased that he’s gotten some sort of reaction out of me, he gives a small final nod before turning back towards the living room.

As he slips through the double doors leading to it, I could swear I hear him mutter under his breath, “I didn’t ask for a fuck-up, either.”

Notes

~WOLFY~