Beginnings and Ends

When the last bell rang, Link turned to me and smiled. "Would you like to come over and play some video games with me?"

I shrugged. "I have to check with the Young's."

"Okay, do you need to borrow my phone to ask them?"

I shook my head and pulled my phone out of my pocket. "I got one."

Link smiled and nodded. "Okay."

The first thing I noticed was a slew of new texts, all from different phones. I decided to ignore them and focus on asking Mrs Young. I searched my contacts for Mrs Young and pressed call as we began walking down the hall.

It rang twice, then Mrs Young answered. "Hey, Gabriella! Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," I said as Link helped me dodge the crowd. "School just got out, and my friend Link asked if I was interested in going to his house to play video games. Can I go?"

There was a pause, as if she was thinking about it. "Is all your homework done?"

"Pretty much. If I do have any homework, I'll just get Link to help me."

Link looked at me and nodded. "Yeah, homework first, then Super Smash Brothers."

"Where does he live? Will you need a ride home?"

"He lives across the street," I said with an eye roll.

"Oh! Then yeah, that's fine! Did you have a good day?"

In my head, I was begging for her to hang up. I didn't want to keep talking, but I also didn't want to tell her to shut up.

"It was fine. I can tell you more about it later, we should get going."

Mrs Young was quick to answer. "Oh, yeah! Have fun! I'm glad you made a friend."

I hung up and smiled at Link. "I'm free to hang out! I just need to have my homework done."

"That's awesome," Link said with a huge smile. "We'll just grab our coats and go."

I nodded and Link leaned against my locker. When I got my coat and ditched my script, Link frowned at me. I moved away from the wall and he bent down to get his coat.

"Why did you leave your script? You kind of need that to learn your lines."

I rolled my eyes as I set my bag down and shrugged my coat on. "I learn fast."

"We didn't even get through the whole play," he pointed out.

"Don't worry about it."

We left the school and I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

If you don't care about the play, then why be in it at all?

I sighed and shut the phone off. I slid it into my coat pocket and looked at Link. "Ready to go?"

He nodded as he slid his coat on and grabbed his skateboard. We began walking home and I tried to wrack my brain for something to talk about.

"So," Link began. "How do you like school so far?"

I shrugged. "It's school. It doesn't really matter much."

Once we got off the stairs, Link set his skateboard down. He stepped onto it and pushed off a little bit, skating slowly. He looked back at me and smiled. "I bet you like getting the leading role, though."

I shrugged again. "It doesn't matter, really. I won't have anyone in the audience cheering me on."

"I'm sure the Young's will cheer you on." He sighed when I rolled my eyes. "I'm serious. They were always supporting Nathan. I don't see why they'd treat you any different."

You're not their kid. You screw up everything you touch. Why would they want to support some loser screw up?

Link looked at me with a frown. He wanted an answer. Instead of voicing my thoughts, which seemed a little obvious, I stayed silent and shrugged a little.

You can still mess things up if you stay silent.

I shook my head, as if that would help. Link didn't say anything. We just walked in silence. I shoved my hands into my pocket. My wrist began to itch. My mind kept replaying "you're a screw up."

"So, have you ever played a Smash Brothers game?"

Link's voice seemed to send a jolt right through my brain, jerking me out of my thoughts. I looked at him and shook my head.

"Oh, okay." He seemed shocked. "You'll really like it. You can fight anyone from Nintendo's roster."

I nodded, and that's how it was for the rest of our walk. Link talked about Smash Brothers and I listened, not saying much. When we got to his house, Link hung up our coats and we both kicked off our shoes.

As we went up the stairs, I saw that there were tons of family pictures on the wall. In tons of pictures, there was Link and a girl a few years older than him. They were doing tons of fun things when they were little. Things like being at a pool, them at the library, the two on bikes, and Link in a costume, rolling his eyes.

There was a tug on my heart. I had pictures like that in photo albums.

"Let's go," Link said.

I looked at him and nodded. I ran the rest of the way upstairs. When we got into Link's room, the first thing I noticed was that boys are slobs. There was a desk facing the window, with two bean bag chairs in the middle of the room. Next to the desk, was a bed, and on the wall next to the door, was an entertainment stand.

Link had an old tv, with a Switch set up next to it. On the shelves, there was an Xbox, PS one to four, a GameCube, and a GameBoy Advance. Next to the entertainment stand, was a stack of games for all the consoles.

"Do you ever clean up," I asked him.

Link shrugged and went to his desk, kicking aside numerous articles of dirty laundry. Some slid under the bed. I took a deep breath and looked at him in disbelief.

"Seriously, Link, you should clean up. It's gross to bring a girl to your room full of dirty laundry."

He looked at me and scrunched up his nose. He crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out at me. Then he began cleaning up his laundry. I sat at the desk and began working on homework.

After cleaning up, Link sat on the bean bag chair next to the desk, and we exchanged answers. It only took around thirty minutes to finish all of our homework.

"So, I basically have to smash buttons to beat you, right?"

Link looked at me and smiled. "Yeah, but good luck."

I smiled and just leaned back. We chose our characters. Link claimed Link, and I selected Kirby. As the match started, I inhaled Link and copied his powers. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Link look at me with his mouth wide open in shock.

"So you do know how to play?"

I shrugged and beat him in two minutes. "Maybe. It's been a long time, though."

Link scoffed and rolled his eyes. We played a few more rounds, then my phone rang. I didn't bother looking at the caller ID. We were in the middle of a match.

"Hey," I said as I put it to my ear. I balanced my phone on my shoulder.

I was expecting to hear Mr or Mrs Young, however what I heard was heavy breathing. I frowned and paused the game.

"Hello?"

Link looked at me with an eyebrow raised. I shrugged and rolled my eyes. I hung up and looked at Link.

"Who was that?" He pushed his shaggy blonde hair out of his eyes. His left eyebrow arched higher than the other, which made me a little curious of what

I shrugged. "All I heard was heavy breathing."

Link scoffed. "Wow, that's weird."

"Just forget about it. Let's get back to me kicking your butt."

A slow grin spread across his face, but just before we could resume the game, my phone rang again. I sighed and picked up without checking my ID again.

"Listen, if you're just gonna creepily breathe, then I won't pick up!"

"What?"

I was a little shocked to hear Mrs Young's shocked voice come through the phone. I froze for a second.

"I was calling because it's dinner time. Did you lose track of time?"

"Uh, yeah, I did. Sorry." I got up and handed the controller to Link. "I'll be right over." I hung up and looked at Link. As soon as I did, I began sliding my things into my bag. "The foster mother calls."

Link smiled and set his controller down too. "Okay. I'll walk you home."

I looked up and felt my ears heat up. "Uh, you don't have to. I'll be fine. It's just across the street."

"Nah," he said as he got up and shut off the television. "I'd rather walk you home. Then I know you get home safe."

I sighed. There was no use fighting about it. He was going to walk me home, whether I like it or not. I gathered my things, then I went downstairs and began getting my coat and shoes on. Link followed, doing the same.

"So, are you enjoying being here yet?"

I shrugged and looked at the ground. "It's fine, just weird."

He nodded. "Are you excited for the weekend?"

I shrugged. "Not really. Justin and I watch television every Saturday, but now we can't."

Link was quiet for a moment. We got to the porch and he tapped my shoulder. When I turned to face him, he had a small smile on his face.

"How about we watch television tomorrow? We can hang out all day and have fun."

Crap. I'd forgotten tomorrow was Saturday. I guess that's the end of a lot of things I used to do. My chest began to tighten as I thought about all the things I have to say goodbye to. Some of them, I've already said goodbye to, others I haven't had a chance to think about.

"Maybe. I don't know. Night."

As soon as the words left my mouth, I opened the door and was halfway through the doorway. I barely heard Link say bye. I tore off my coat and ran to my room, ignoring whoever was trying to talk to me.

I ran up to my room and slammed the door closed. My chest hurt. My heart hurt. I began crying again. How long would I be crying? Would it always sneak up on me like this?