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When Skip got home their mom was in the living room waiting for them.
“Sara, how was school?” their mom asked from her spot on the couch.
“It was…” to be honest they already forgot most of the day. “Fine.”
“Well that’s good.”
They set their bag down by the front door and headed to their room.
Closing their door they let out a sign of relief. The quiet dark space that was their room was comforting. They grabbed some of their pillows and blankets off their bed and created a ‘nest’.
Sitting in this ‘nest’ on the floor they grabbed their favorite book (one about technology), their phone, and headphones. They pulled up the audio book of the aforementioned book and began listening.
The audio book was only about an hour long and they listened to it every day. Multiple times. They couldn't help it, they loved this book.
About halfway through the book Jeremy started calling them. Letting out an annoyed groan they answered the call.
“Hey Skip,” Jeremy said through the headphones still connected to their phone.
“Hey Jeremy,” they say, trying to ignore the fact they hated unscheduled calls.
“Sorry to– um– call right now but–”
“Can’t you call Michael right now?” they said, a slight edge to their tone. They had ended up not liking Michael simply because he didn't like them, they didn't even know why.
“No, he can't call right now,” Jeremy said. “Y'know, you sound more confident over call.”
“That's because I hate people,” they said simply. “Now, why are you calling right now?” they asked, looking at the open book in front of them.
“Oh, well, there's this– um– girl in our math class, Christine. You know her, right?”
“Theater girl?”
“Um, yeah, she likes theater. But– um– I kinda have a crush on her,” Jeremy said. They rolled their eyes. Everyone always seemed to have a crush on somebody, never just contently single. Another reason why they didn't fit in.
“Uh huh. And you're telling me this because…?” Their finger began tapping impatiently on the open book in front of them.
“Do you have any ideas on how I should get with her?” Jeremy asked. They sighed. Why did they have to be helping with a relationship that would probably last a week max.
“Hm. Try partaking in her interests, to become friends, then work on your relationship till you get there.”
“Partake in her interests? Like what?”
“Isn't she in drama? Sign up.”
“Wait, what–”
“Sorry I gotta go,” they said quickly, hanging up. They lied, yeah, but they really felt like they were the wrong person to get relationship advice from. I mean, half the time they felt like their emotions were barely a part of them.
Removing their headphones they laid back on the floor, the soft pillows and blankets under them making them more comfortable. Silence weighed heavily on them.
They liked silence usually, but this was the type of silence that made you think. Think about everything you did wrong, everything that could've been.
They hated this silence.
They stared at the ceiling, feeling so off. So wrong. And, even though they tried to ignore it, they knew why.
They missed their friends. They missed their home. They missed Japan. But their dad had gotten a job offer here in America that was apparently irresistible, so they had to move.
They still remembered their friend group. How they knew each other since elementary school. How they had nicknamed each other after colors.
Nobody called them blue anymore.
Tears pricked their eyes. They wiped them away but they just kept coming. They went over to their desk and grabbed their CD and CD player. Putting the CD in the CD player they skipped over most of the album, stopping on ‘Good Luck, Babe’.
They quietly sang along to it, and when the song ended they restarted it. They did this till they stopped crying and fell asleep on the floor.