What You Dont Know 2

What You Don't Know 2
"Peice 2"
By: Ash Lockhart

Tuesday.
The day of the week I dreaded most.
You'd think it'd be Monday, or some logical day, but surely not Tuesday. I mean after all, what did poor Tuesday ever do to me? Well let me explain.
I was not born musically inclined. My voice didn't make lyrics sound 'pretty', nor did my fingers do the guitar any justice. And on this particular day, Tuesday in case you've forgotten, I am required to take a half hour of choir, and a half hour of band. This hour combined is enough to completely throw off my entire day.
So until I move out of the tenth grade, Tuesdays are forever ruined.
But that isn't all.
Also, on Tuesdays, my tiny and only group of friends, abandons me at lunch hour to practice their studies for some organization they are all involved in. The club members must receive above average grades and get teacher recommendation. No way in sin am I getting into that friking place.
So all by myself, I stalk the halls during this hour. That's two hours of my Tuesday that are jacked up, giving me all the more reason to dislike it.
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 I leaned back against the wall at home, sighing. Nothing had been going great for me, and I was tired. Rachel, my younger-by-a-year sister, wasn't being very nice to me either. She had demanded that I exert force into doing her slave work…ahem….chores. For what reason? She's too lazy to do all of it herself.
So I took it upon myself to cook dinner.
Ha.
Not the best idea.
Kyler plus cooking actual food, excluding pop tarts and microwavable items, equals a probable fire and lots of smoke. Even boiling water is extremely risky and highly dangerous.
Not that Rachel cared.  If she got out of cooking dinner…let the house burn, baby, burn.
Very, very carefully, I placed a pizza straight from the box into the oven. Two seconds later, I pulled it right back out to extract the softening plastic wrapper covering it before replacing it back into the heat.
I was so paranoid that I was going to start a major fire that I sat straight in front of the glass so I could watch it slowly but surely bake.
"Ky, you're liable to get radiation poisoning," Rachel warned, passing by, cell phone in hand as she madly texted away.
"That's with microwaves, genius," I argued, but after she'd passed, I scrambled to my feet and stepped back a few good feet, just in case.
After all, why risk my stunning good looks on something stupid?
Patiently I waited, doing nothing but staring and humming along to the empty silence. Everything was going great. Until the phone rang…
Just like that my ADHD kicked in, and I was off, answering the phone.
"Hey, hi, hello!" I sang.
It was my good friend Tasha. I just HAD to hear about the daily gossip, so I sat on the couch, forgetting all about my responsibilities. After a good forty minute conversation, I noticed a haze of smoke, snaking through the air.
A coughing Rachel emerged from the kitchen, shoving a black crust in my face. The heat radiating from it was hot enough to melt my face. I cursed and covered my mouth, immediately hanging up the phone.
"Oh my GOSH! I forgot all about it!" I exclaimed, staring at the burnt pizza in absolute horror.
"KYLER!" Rachel yelled, hacking on the smoke pouring into her face. "You could've burned the house down!"
"You shouldn't of made me do your job then, Rach! You know how bad I am at this!" I argued, leaning away from the foul smell.
"Ugh!" she groaned, storming back into the kitchen.
Before I could develop asthma (if that's possible), I scampered out the front door, into the fresh air. One thing about Arkansas that I loved was the weather. Totally unpredictable.
The over-eighty temperature was seemingly becoming cooler every second. Still coughing, I moved to the front yard. My moms silver Honda cruised easily into the driveway.
I waved happily and skipped to her, throwing my arms around her.
"Mommy!" I cried, kissing her cheek.
She responded casually by smiling at me. "Why are you my sweet child?"
I shrugged egotistically and took her purse, not afraid to sling it over my shoulder.
"'Cuz I'm your favorite!"
About that time my older-by-two-years brother, Cody, rounded the corner and rolled his crystal blue eyes at me. As he passed he 'accidentally' shoved me and hissed "faggot" in my ear.
My heart thudded, and I stared at him in bewilderment, wondering if he actually figured out my deepest secret, but he wasn't even looking at me. He strode out to his car and got inside with out another glance at me.
I decided he was just being 'brotherly'.
"That kid, I swear…" My mom said in disaproval, watching her eldest son drive like a madman down the street, barely stopping at the stopsign.
"Don't worry about him." I opened the door and closed it behind my mom and I.
The smoke haze hadn't completely disintegrated yet; there was still enough of the thick fog to make my mom start hacking as well.
"Jesus!!" I complained, pretending I had no clue what was happening. "Rachel, what are you trying to do? Burn the house down?"
She glared and flipped me 'the finger', causing Mom to gasp and go into some lecture. Behind her back, I pointed at my sister and silently laughed. When Mom turned to face me, I hugged her.
"I think I'm going to see if I can hang out with some friends."
She nodded and dismissed me with a wave of her hand, rushing to turn off the stove.
I made my way to the park where I hung out by myself. Little did my mom know, I didn't have friends. Nobody seemed to care whether I lived or died at school. I was just the weird kid who looked kind of girly.
Just as the clouds darkened above me, still low from the morning rain, a voice called out behind me.
"Hey! You!"
I spun around in shock. "Yeah?" I called back to a familiar girl. Laci Evans.
"Aren't you that Kyler kid?" she asked, approaching me with a small smile.
"Uh," I stammered, unsure of what to say. "Yeah, sure. Kyler."
"I kind of figured. Why you out here alone?" She assessed the park as I did, taking in the dark stillness of the playground.
"It's where I hang out," I answered nervously, running a hand through my messy hair. "I like being alone."
"Oh," Laci sighed, "Well, I'll be on my way then. Nice to meet you, Kyler."
Realizing this was like, my first chance to have a real friend, I grabbed her arm. "I like company, too. I've just never really had it."
Laci turned back to me and offered me a hug. "Well I'll accompany you."
Astonished, I accepted her hug and nodded. "Well thank you."
"Of course!" she smiled brightly, only concerning me more. Was there something on my face?