Page 4 of The Other Half

“Hmm. Cool name.” The tone he uses makes it hard to tell if he’s being serious or sarcastic. “I’m Oliver.”

Chapter 5

Oliver

“You will be expected to do some of the work at home, and supply your own materials for the project,” the teacher barks from the front of the room. Fuck, really? I’m supposed to find the money to buy art supplies now? That may be an easy task for some kids around here, but not everyone has parents with money to blow on school projects. You’d think a teacher at a rural public school would know this. I wouldn’t even have dinner most nights if it weren’t for food stamps.

“Excuse me?” I interrupt, and the teacher clearly isn’t happy about it.

“Yes, Oliver?” she answers in a condescending tone.

“What are we supposed to do if we can’t buy the supplies?” I hear a chuckle coming from the front of the room, probably coming from some stuck up prick that has rich parents.

“Well…if that’s the case I will be happy to help. But first, why don’t you see if you and your partner can come up with it on your own?” she replies. I scoff at that and roll my eyes.

“This bitch thinks we’re all made of money, I guess,” I say mostly to myself but Oakley, my partner by default, hears it nonetheless. Her outfit isn’t as exciting as it was on the first day of school, but it’s still a bit unconventional. She has on a puffy, green sweatshirt with denim overalls layered over it. Her hair is pulled back into a loose ponytail, and dangly earrings in the shape of flowers hang from her ears.

“It’s okay, I can buy the stuff,” she replies, almost whispering. I like the sound of her voice. She doesn’t talk much, in fact I’ve only heard her talk two or three times at the most, but she has a sort of calming, melodic voice.

“Uh, okay that’s cool. I mean I’ll try to throw in a few bucks,” I try to argue casually, I don’t need this girl making assumptions about me right off the bat.

“No really, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” This girl is probably assuming I’m completely helpless. She isn’t totally wrong, but it’s still kind of degrading regardless. I don’t reply, I don’t want her pity, but if she wants to pay for it, be my guest.

“Alright, whatever.” She looks a bit offended at my retort, but I don’t need anyone thinking I’m a charity case.

She nervously writes down notes about the project onto a piece of paper. She seems so tense, like she’s expecting disaster to strike at any moment. I can’t help but wonder what her deal is. She acts like a nice girl, but I feel like she’s silently judging me like all the other prissy bitches around here do.

She turns back to me, anxiety still dripping from her features. “So, should we meet up somewhere to start the project or…you could come to my house, if you want?”

Poplar Valley is a small town, and most of it consists of narrow back roads. I don’t have a car, but I could likely walk to her house in under an hour. That’s how most of us get around, anyway.

“Sure, I’ll come over.”

What’s the worst that could happen? Other than her parents taking one look at me and assuming the worst. Not that I’d even try with her, anyway. This chick seems way too innocent and uptight to be interested in letting any guy into her pants, let alone someone like myself.

Chapter 6

Oliver

After walking up the crooked wooden steps leading to my porch, and unlocking the flimsy door, I head to my room and drop my backpack onto my bed. I live in a small, two bedroom house. My brother and I share this room, and my younger brother sleeps in my parents’ room. I don’t know how they can stand never having any privacy, but I’m glad he doesn’t have to sleep in here.

I’m sure part of the reason why my parents keep him in there is because Nate and I are constantly hotboxing this room, and there are beer cans and condom wrappers littered on every surface. It’s not really a safe place for a six year old to be. My parents will probably force me to get my shit together and share my room with him as soon as Nate moves out, though.

I rummage through Nate’s bedside drawer and pull out half of a blunt that we rolled last night. I know he’s gonna be pissed if I smoke any of it without him, but I need something to take the edge off right now, and I don’t feel like waiting until he’s home from work.

I wish I had a job so I could just buy my own weed and not mooch off of him and my friends, but there are near zero jobs in this town that hire people without a high school diploma. The only one I know of is the gas station across town, and I haven’t seen a hiring sign in their window in over a year. I guess you could say we don’t exactly have a booming economy here in Poplar Valley.

I light up the end of the blunt, promising myself I’ll only take one or two puffs and put it back out so that Nate won’t notice and kick my ass for it later.

I inhale the musty smoke and hold it in for as long as I can stand to. When I exhale I feel instantly lighter, the weight of the day floating away with the stream of smoke.

I was feeling nervous earlier about who I got partnered up with in art class. What was her name? Oh yeah, Oakley. She didn’t seem to be thrilled about having me as a partner. Most people are usually cool with it because they expect me to do all of the work for them, which I usually do. It’s just easier that way, at least then I don’t have to depend on someone else to do shit for me. I know I can get the work done fast and do it right, so why not? And the less I have to talk to people, the better.

Now I have to go to her house this weekend. I can only imagine how that’ll go down.

Someone knocks lightly on my door twice. “Yeah?” I call out, cracking the window to allow some of the smoke to escape.

My mom opens the door and makes a face. “You need to stop doing that inside, Oliver.”

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