Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
They called home and let his mom know he’d been suspended for three days for fighting. She couldn’t come and get him of course, because Jonathan had been right. His mom rarely left the house. It wasn’t something that hit all of a sudden. She’d suffered from severe anxiety and panic attacks for years, but it steadily got worse and worse. She had to work up to leaving. Prepare herself. Sometimes she could and sometimes she couldn’t. Sometimes they had months where everything felt fine, but it always came back with a vengeance.
By the time Shane was able to begin walking home, the school day was over. Someone stepped up to him and nudged him from the side. Shane whipped around, ready to defend himself before he saw it was Caleb.
“What the fuck, dude?” Caleb asked.
Shane shrugged. “He was talking shit about my mom. Pissed me off.”
The corners of Caleb’s lips turned down. He looked away. He was the only person Shane considered a friend, the only one he gave a shit about other than his mom. They also liked to kiss and rub off on each other when they were alone—most of the time at Caleb’s place, or when they could manage to skip class together. No one knew about him and Caleb. Shane was pretty stoked about that benefit though.
They used to hang out all the time. It started because they lived close together but the older they got, the more friends Caleb got too. He was never a dick to Shane and he always offered for Shane to hang out with them. Once they started giving each other orgasms, they silently made the choice not to show they were good friends; as though looking at them might prove Shane knew what Caleb’s mouth tasted like.
What was the point in getting too close to Caleb anyway? In getting used to having someone there? Shane knew that in two years, Caleb would leave Last Chance, because who the fuck wouldn’t want to leave? Only Shane couldn’t. Who would take care of his mom if he did? So, he figured it was better not to let himself get too close.
“I’m sorry,” Caleb said. “Want a ride home?” His parents had gotten him a piece of shit car, but it was his piece of shit. Shane had been playing around with his mom’s car, trying to get it running better. He was good at things like that, good with his hands and mechanical stuff, so he figured he’d get it eventually.
“Nah, I’m good. I’d rather walk.”
“Shane,” Caleb said.
“Seriously. I just want to be alone.”
Caleb nodded and gave Shane a sad smile before someone called his name.
Caleb looked at Shane as though he wasn’t sure what to do. Shane nodded and said, “We’ll hang out later…call me when you get home if you wanna….”
Caleb’s eyes darted around as though someone would know what Shane meant by what he said.
“Okay,” Caleb replied before jogging away.
Shane took as long as he could to walk home. As soon as he stepped into the house, his mom said, “Oh, Shaney. What happened? Fighting? That’s not like you.”
He just shrugged. He didn’t tell her that Jonathan had said something about her, though she likely knew.
“I’m sorry,” she replied.
“He’s a jerk. It’s not your fault.” And it wasn’t…only sometimes it felt like it was. Sometimes Shane thought he hated her for what she dealt with and then he felt like an even bigger dickhead than Maxwell and Jonathan combined. How could he hate her for something that wasn’t her fault? She was sick.
“I’m going to get better. I promise you, I’m going to get better.” And sometimes he thought she did. Sometimes things would be okay but they always went to shit again. “We have the stuff for chocolate cake. It’s your favorite. I’ll make it.”
His mom wouldn’t punish him for the fight. Even if it had been his fault, she wouldn’t. Their dynamic didn’t work that way. “Okay,” Shane replied. “I’m going to get into the shower real quick.”
She nodded and he went into the bathroom, stripped, and stepped under the spray. He looked down at his ribs that stuck out—even though he ate like a fucking horse. At his arms that looked like spaghetti noodles.
Maybe if he saved money he could buy a bench press. He could find room for it in the garage around all his mom’s stuff….
Shane finished showering. Once the chocolate cake was finished, they sat down and ate a piece. Caleb called, and Shane went over to his house. They closed themselves in his room, because why would anyone wonder why two sixteen-year-old boys were in a room together? They turned on video games and made out, clothes on because they hadn’t braved anything else yet, rubbing their dicks together through their clothes.