Page 42 of A Pizza My Heart

“Yep. Shift kicks off at noon.” I scrub a hand over my messy head of hair. “I should probably go get a haircut or some shit though. Don’t want your dad to think I’m a bum, especially not when he was cool enough to hire me back in the first place.”

“One, my dad loves you more than me, though not more than he loves Wren. Of course he’d hire your ass. Two, speaking of Wren, you should hit her up. She’ll cut your mop for free.”

“I’m not using your sister for a free haircut.”

“Why not? I do it all the time.”

“See, that’s the difference between the two of us. You’re an ass, I’m not.”

“Watch it.” He points his joint at me. “I’ll revoke your couch privileges.”

I roll my eyes, knowing he’s all talk and no show. Winston would never kick me to the curb. He’s too good of a friend, always has been. Hell, that’s how we became friends in the first place.

I’d just moved to the area and like most other thirteen-year-old kids, I wasn’t having the best of luck in the whole friend-making department. It was especially hard since nearly everyone here had grown up together. They were all tight-knit, not very welcoming to outsiders. They were awful, knocking my books out of my hands in the hallway, throwing rocks…typical bully shit.

Then one day came the Daniels twins. They moved here roughly two months after me, and boy oh fucking boy did they make an entrance. They got into a fist fight right in the middle of the courtyard on their way to their first class on their first day. Some boy had said something rather inappropriate to Wren, so Winston jumped in. Then the boy’s girlfriend jumped in. It was insane, something right out of a TV show. Everyone just stood around and watched, including me.

And bullies being bullies, someone pushed my scrawny ass right into the middle of the mix.

“Kick the new kid’s ass too!”

When Winston glanced over and saw the blood running from my chin, which had hit the concrete when I was shoved, he let go of the guy he had a hold on and dove for the one who’d pushed me.

Let’s just say the twins didn’t start school for another two weeks and we’ve been tight ever since.

“Did you even go to bed last night?” I ask through a yawn.

“Nah. I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

“You still having insomnia issues?”

He waves the weed my way, grinning. “I won’t be soon enough.”

“You really need to get that checked out and not just smoke it away.”

“I can smokeanythingaway. Test me.”

“I believe you,” I say as I pull myself off the couch and Mike begins twisting in circles, knowing the time to go outside and play has come.

He’s probably been sitting at the back door staring out at the beach and waiting for me to wake up and take him to play for hours now.

“I still can’t believe you named your dog Mike. It’s so…basic.”

I cover Mike’s ears. “Don’t you dare call my dog basic. He’s majestic as fuck.”

“His name is Mike.Mike. What kind of majestic name is that?”

I glance down at my pup, who’s staring up at me with his big brown eyes, excited and ready for me to get my shit together so we can hit the beach for a run, not caring about hisbasicname one bit.

“I don’t know, man. He just looked like a Mike to me.”

Winston shakes his head. “Some days I wonder if it’syouwho smokes all the pot and not me.”

I wave my hand through the air, pushing the cloud of smoke away. “It’s definitely you, dude.”

“Yeah, it totally is.” He laughs. “But seriously, go to Wren. She won’t charge you, and lord knows you could use not only the sweet discount but the haircut too. You look like an Abercrombie model.”

I don’t comment on the discount thing. For some reason, Winston thinks I’m deadass broke, which isn’t exactly the case.

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