#bro would walk into that room a cart full of wooden logs

[drop-dead-dropout]

democracy is good actually

okay if you were to pit every modern-era Doctor against each other in a fight. no holds barred. they can fight as dirty as they like. physically or mentally. just full on duking it out. who do you think would win. this is not a "who is your favorite" poll it's a "who would beat the shit out of the others most effectively" poll

[call-me-rei]

Chapter 7

I woke up the next morning to a pillow whacking me against the face. I groaned at the impact at first, then became angry. My eyes shot open and were faced with the shit-eating grin of my younger brother.

“The fuck?” I asked with a scowl. Mike kept the smile on his face from my doorway as he shrugged.

“You needed to wake up. It’s beach day!”

I rolled my eyes. “Seriously?”

He shrugged again. “Get up. We need to buy food and shit. Oh, and Mom’s home so there’s breakfast.”

I sighed as I leaned back onto my pillows. Mike had left quickly after his sentence which gave me some time wind down from getting attacked. I glanced to my left and saw the pillow Mike had thrown at me. It was his cherished memory foam pillow that he had begged our mom to buy for him. I was surprised that he’d chosen to throw that one at me, even more surprised that he’d hit me from the threshold of my bedroom door.

I decided not to dwell on it and sat up. I stretched my arms over my head to pop whatever needed to be popped then reached for my phone.

“Shit,” I groaned when I tapped on the screen. My phone had died overnight. I guess it wasn’t plugged in like I thought. I made sure it was connected to the outlet before getting out of bed and going to the bathroom. The smell of bacon wafted through the hallway and put a smile on my face as I walked across the hall to prepare for the day.

Sundays were always nice at our house because our parents didn’t work. They usually got some shopping done while Mike and I were asleep, but other than that we could all spend the day together. Mom would cook us a nice breakfast and Dad and I would play soccer in the backyard. Then at night we’d settle down with a family dinner and watch a movie. It was a welcomed contrast to our parents never being at home during the week.

“There’s our star athlete!” I blushed at my dad’s comment as I entered the kitchen. “Michael showed us some of the tape from last night. You were amazing!”

“Gracias papá.” Mom put a plate of hot food in front of me as I sat down next to Mike at the table.

“So is the team doing anything to celebrate?” she asked.

“Bonfire!” Mike answered excitedly. Our parents looked at each other and laughed.

I shook my head with a smirk. “It’s not the team, more like Mike and me and the guys, but we’re inviting the team too.”

Dad nodded in approval. “Sounds like fun. Tengan cuidado.”

“Sí papá,” Mike and I answered at the same time. Satisfied with our response, our parents started talking about having a little date night since their children had plans. Mike and I tuned it out and focused on eating. Or I did at least.

Mike nudged his elbow into my side as I was about to bite into my French toast. “We’re going shopping after this, right?” he whispered. Confused, I just nodded.

He gave me a sly smile before focusing on his food.

“Wait, why?” I asked, now curious about his intentions.

He just shrugged and kept his smile. I didn’t know what he was planning, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t like the outcome.

***

I pushed the shopping cart behind my brother. He was going down aisles tossing things into the metal basket on wheels. It was obvious that he didn’t care about what he was picking or how much it cost. I stopped him from getting some snacks that he’d never eaten before, knowing that he’d buy them then regret it.

We were going through the store getting snacks for the bonfire. I told Mike that it wasn’t necessary, but he said we’d need them. When I asked him why he just told me to trust him. I wanted to, but I knew better.

Mike always loved parties. We never hosted one at our house, but our friends did occasionally, and Mike was always there to help get things ready. I know it was because he wanted to figure out how much he could fuck things up without getting in trouble.

I watched as he put two huge bags of marshmallows in the cart. We already had an assortment of chips and paper plates. I wanted to question my brother once again, but I knew it would lead to nothing. He was the partier out of the two of us, so if he said we needed those items I’d go along with it.

“We need beer.”

I focused my attention on him. “Beer?” That was an item I didn’t think I could agree to.

“Beer. We should get beer.”

He’d said it like it was a fact. Like, “the sky is blue; the sun is bright. ‘We should get beer’.”

“Great, but neither of us are old enough to do that.”

I was going to turn eighteen in a couple weeks while Mike was still sixteen, going to be seventeen in December.

“Jaime’s brother is.” Jaime’s older brother, Javier, had turned twenty-one earlier in the month. He was always down to help us with some things, but I wasn’t sure he’d want to buy alcohol for a bunch of teenagers, especially since he wasn’t going to be hanging out with us.

“I don’t know…,” I said skeptically.

“Trust me,” was the response I received. With a devilish grin on his face Mike pulled out his phone and typed on the screen.

I sighed. I knew Mike was texting Jaime asking him to ask Javier for help. Of course, Jaime would agree because he was always down for making bad decisions. I would’ve texted Jaime and told him not to indulge Mike, but I had left my phone at home to charge. Sadly, that meant that Mike was in charge of telling our friends about his plans, no matter how bad they would become.

“He’s in.” I shook my head.

“I don’t believe it,” I mumbled.

“Lighten up, bro.” Mike patted me on the shoulder. “You’ll have even more fun tonight. Don’t be a buzzkill.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Just don’t be dumb. I don’t wanna have you drive your drunk ass home.”

He smirked. “You’re gonna have to do that anyway. We do live together.”

***

We’d driven back home to get coolers for all of the drinks, tables for the setup of everything we bought, and to pick up my phone. Once I had it I sent a message to my teammates telling them about the bonfire. Mike was in such a hurry to leave that that quick text was all I was able to do before he made me drive to Jaime’s house.

Mom was nice enough to let us use her car since she and Dad planned on having their date night. Mike was excited to not have to call shotgun and to have me as designated driver. He planned on getting fucked up, as he put it, so I had to be the responsible one. Not that it was my party or anything.

We got to Jaime’s and picked up the alcohol. Javier had gotten us way more than just beer. There was also vodka, seltzers, gin, tequila, and mixers. It was more than any of us expected. “Have fun, just don’t get me in trouble,” he’d told us. Mike and Jaime just looked at each other like they were planning to go against everything Javier had said.

After leaving the Preciado household Mike and I went to the beach to set everything up. We found a spot where we wouldn’t bother other people and unloaded all of our supplies: the plastic tables, food and drinks, and a Bluetooth speaker. Jaime, Tony, and Curtis arrived a bit later with logs and newspapers for the bonfire.

By the time the wooden teepee was assembled the sun had begun to set and people were arriving. My teammates trickled in, then some other people from school. I had expected as much since we were out in the open and word always spread quickly at school. The word “party” was like an invitation for anyone to come through. No one really minded, as long as everyone was respectful of the space and other people then anyone was welcomed.

People entered the area and immediately grabbed the red cups on the tables and filled them with their drink of choice. Tony turned on the music and soon the party was in full swing. The soccer team members toasted to yesterday’s game and to me for the winning goal. Then everyone went off and did their own thing. There was some dancing, some mingling, but mostly drinking.

Time went on and the party went on and got rowdier. A lot of us went into the ocean and either swam or played chicken. There was a game of truth or dare going on somewhere that crossed with seven minutes in heaven. I knew that that game would lead to someone fucking in the sand.

Javier had gotten us enough alcohol that most of the people at the party were borderline drunk or buzzed. I felt kind of lame being one of the only sober ones there, but someone had to look out for my brother and friends, who by the way were almost too far gone to know where they were. At first I had been talking to them and some of my teammates, then they went off to do whatever. Next thing I knew they were taking bets on how many shots they could handle. Once that part of their night was done, they moved on to playing beer pong.

I could only watch from the sidelines with a bottle of water in hand. I didn’t want to be a buzzkill, but I couldn’t get too out of it; I needed to be the responsible one. I only hoped that the drunk people I would be driving home wouldn’t get on my nerves too much at the end of the night.

But let’s face it, they would.

Mike and Jaime would get into a stupid argument about something they wouldn’t remember when they sobered up, but it would be so important that they’d be yelling all the way back home. Then eventually they’d tire themselves out and end up apologizing and hugging before one of them would say something stupid to make the other start a new fight. Then they’d go around in circles until I dragged them out of the car and forced them into their home.

I hated that I would have to go through that exact scenario again.

I watched as a ball landed in a cup on Mike’s side of the table. He downed the contents without hesitation and screamed with pride.

Yeah, he’d be too far gone by the end of this party. And I’d have to carry him to his room while trying not to wake our parents up. They’d be pissed if they saw him the way he was at that moment.

I tried not to think about it and went to sit with Curtis and Tony. Since they had driven themselves to the party they weren’t interested in getting shitfaced. Maybe I could convince one of them to take Jaime home so I could avoid an argument in my car. It was worth a shot.

“You guys having fun?” I asked as I sat next to Curtis. He hummed before taking a sip of whatever was in his red cup.

“It looks like a lot more fun is happening over there.” I looked toward where he was pointing. Sure enough, there was a group of people around the table of drinks. They had their own cooler and were pouring various bottles of alcohol into it. By the looks of it they were making a very potent jungle juice.

“Five bucks that Mike and Jaime are gonna compete to see who chugs it the fastest.” I shook my head at Tony, not wanting to acknowledge that he was right and that my brother and one of my best friends would actually do something like that.

“I don’t think there’s a reason to bet anymore,” I said. The guys looked back at the scene and sure enough, Mike and Jaime were racing to chug the jungle juice. I would’ve liked to say that Jaime won that one, but really, there were no winners there.

I saw Mike say something to Jaime before he stumbled over to the three of us.

“Vic, I think I’m drunk.”

I nodded. “I think you are too. Here.” I handed him my water bottle and gestured for him to sit in the sand. He did and silently drank from the bottle. Sad to say that that was the calmest he’d been all night.

With my brother finally taking a break I was able to relax a bit. I took the opportunity to check my phone since I’d been so busy earlier. I knew I had a couple of notifications from social media apps and I wanted to clear those. Unread notifications bothered me to no end.

I checked Twitter and Instagram then posted a story of the guys and I and the party. Even if I wasn’t a major player in it, I still wanted to commemorate the night.

Once I posted the story I left the app and opened Facebook Messenger. I assumed the notification I had received was from a friend asking about the party; I was about to open it then immediately close the app. That was until I saw his name.

Kellin’s name was bolded with a blue dot at the end, indicating that he had sent me a message. A mixture of emotions clouded my brain. I didn’t know whether to be excited that he was talking to me again or nervous that he was talking to me again.

I eventually settled on scared. I opened the message and felt scared. Panic coursed through me as I read and reread the four words he’d sent.

JAN 27, 10:24 PM I want to die.

Over and over those words ran through my mind. That message had been sent almost twenty-four hours before. And I abandoned him. Fear mixed with dread and regret and self-loathing. How could I let him down like that? Why couldn’t I have been there for him?

Twenty-four hours was more than enough time for him to have hurt himself. And if he did because I didn’t answer when he needed me, I would never forgive myself. I needed to know if he was okay, so I sent him another message.

Are you ok??

But he wasn’t even online when I sent it, and he wasn’t online for five minutes after. In fact, it showed that he hadn’t been active since he sent me that message the night before.

Maybe he didn’t get on Facebook daily, or maybe he was just busy like I had been. Or maybe…

“Vic?”

Tony’s voice seemed far away with the thoughts in my brain screaming at me, telling me that I hadn’t kept Kellin from doing something he couldn’t take back.

“Dude, what’s wrong?”

I absentmindedly shook my head and stood up. I needed space to think and process so I walked farther away from the party and took a few steps into the ocean. An idea to calm myself popped into my head; it seemed as good as any. So without a second thought I pressed the phone icon at the top of our conversation and put my device to my ear, hoping to hear his voice on the other line.