Page 18 of Break You

“I’m not worried.”

What a weirdo. I rang off without saying goodbye, then switched the phone off.

Rocky

I woke up to the sound of my phone beeping as several texts came in back-to-back. I knew right away who they were from. Only one person in my life texted like that.

Pete: where shud I send the flowers

Pete: for the funeral

Pete: ur funeral

Pete: u want flowers right

Pete: on your grave

Pete: & if so, wat color & kind

Pete: obvs ur dead

Pete: u must be

Me: For the love of God would you please stop!

Pete: o ur alive.

Pete: i thought u were dead 4 sure

Pete: only way to explain y u couldn’t fucking message me

Pete: let me know you got home safe after work

Pete: so ur big brother doesn’t need to fucking worry out of his mind

Pete: how did u even get home

Me: Jesus fucking Christ, Pete! Would you use a fucking capital letter sometimes? And some punctuation. And stop pressing send after every sentence. I don’t need a fucking haiku every time you want to say one tiny thing to me.

Pete: that some kind of sushi?

Me: No, a haiku is a Japanese poem. It has seventeen syllables, and… actually, never mind. I’m alive, and I was going to say well. But I am not well, since my psycho brother woke me up at the crack of dawn. And now I’m awake, I won’t be able to get back to sleep before I have to get up to go to school. So, basically, my day is ruined before it even started.

Pete: u didnt answer my q

Me: What?

Pete: how did u get home

Me: I skated

Pete: nope

Me: What do you mean nope? That’s how I got home. I skated. The car is impounded, remember? If I get a rideshare, it’s not even worth me working. Public transportation is ok on the way there, except that it takes 150 years, but the bus is not a thing by the time I get done, so I skate to the train.

Pete: y wont you take the car or money for transport or rent

Me: You know why.

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