Page 56 of Genesis

Go to school.

Graduate.

Get a job.

Save.

Get married.

Buy a house

Have kids.

Raise them.

Retire.

Grow old.

Reminisce about your life until regret fills your chest like congestive heart failure because you didn’t do what you wanted but what everyone else expected out of you.

Fuck that.

I look toward the school doors, waiting for her to walk out, but she doesn’t, and half the parking lot is empty now.

“Where the hell is she?”

One by one more cars leave, and then I see Samuel’s car he got from our parents’ life insurance money that Ma put to the side for all of us.

I know he plays basketball, along with every other fucking sport. I hop out of the car, grabbing a smoke before lighting it. Walking to the gym, I lift my hoodie to keep the wind off my neck. I pass schoolgirls who give me flirty smiles, and just for the fuck of it, I smile back. They freak out and giggle amongst themselves, which makes me roll my eyes.

“Isn’t that Danny O’Brien?” one says.

“Yeah, that’s Samuel’s brother,” another says.

How the hell do they know me in this school?

I look back at them, hitting my smoke one more time before tossing it and shrugging, then grabbing the handle on the gym door. My eyes search the space, and then I see Bexley sitting on the bottom bleacher. Samuel rests his foot on the bench beside her, tying his shoe. She’s smiling at him, and he says something that causes her to playfully hit his shoulder.

I don’t fucking like it.

I push the hoodie off my head, walking toward them. Bexley sees me first, and her expression changes from happy to sad.

She isn’t glad to see me?

Samuel notices and turns his head. He drops his foot and stands up straight.

“What’s up, brother?” he says.

I lift my chin. “What’s up?”

I look down at Bexley who doesn’t say anything.

“Hey, Bexley,” I say in ayou can’t speak?way.

“Hey,” she says. She closes her textbook.

“Shouldn’t you be practicing?” I ask Samuel.

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