Hype

~Chapter 3~

"Freya!"  

I giggled. Fox was so adorable when he talked. For some reason, he couldn't pronounce his R's. Every time he said something with an R in it, it sounded like a W. So, to Fox, I wasn't "Freya." I was "Fwaya." Fwaya Fweeman. He was just too cute. I kept my hands on the wheel and tried to focus on the road. The last thing I needed to happen was to get in a car accident.  

After my argument with Hayden, my day continued to go even further downhill. I walked into math, and guess who I was assigned to sit next to: the lovely Mackenzie. I went to sit down, and she gave me this stupid look. Then she went: "Oh, am I in your desk too Freya?" I didn't answer her. Turn the other cheek, just like Jesus did. Don't start any problems. At least, she sat all the way across the room from me in economics afterwards, thank heavens. I thought that was the one good part about my first day of senior year: the joy of being far away from Mackenzie.  

"Yes Fwox?" I always answered him like that. It was a little teasing thing the whole family did. He didn't seem to care.  

"Will you bring me a smoothie later?"  

Will you bwing me a smoothie late-aw? I giggled again. "Sure Fox. Even though you'll be asleep by the time I get back. You know I always bring stuff home for everyone anyway."  

I was one of those people who worked at all times possible. I decided to work that night because we never got any homework on the first day of school. My boss put me on from five to nine. It also helped that I worked at one of the coolest places ever. A lot of people my age worked at the supermarket or fast food joints. I held a job at Fusion: the place-to-be when you wanted to chill out and get a smoothie. It was a huge teen hangout at the mall. We always had tons of people who wanted to apply for a job there. Once again, I was lucky. I got in because the manager was my dad's friend from church. People at school frequently told me how jealous they were of me. It definitely was an awesome place to work. Employees got half off smoothies. I was so blessed that God provided me with such a great job.  

We usually got home at around three-thirty. We put our stuff down, and Mom would greet us, then make us a snack and talk to us about our day. The snack usually consisted of cookies or whatever we had lying around. On special days, we would get a homemade treat. Today, the house had an aroma of brownies. Just like at lunch, I wasn't hungry, but I sat down at the table anyway. Mom put down two warm brownies and milk for each of us. Frankie, Faith, and Fox dove right into them. I looked down at mine for a bit, my stomach churning. Since I didn't want to hurt my mother's feelings, I picked one up and took a small bite. My effort wasn't such a good cover-up. She caught on right away.  

"Freya, aren't you hungry? You've always loved brownies. Do they taste bad or something?"  

I got upset looking at her. It was those sad brown eyes and troubled look on her face. Mom had forever been a worry-wart. If one of us even got a little scratch from falling down, she would have a panic attack. I couldn't tell her about what happened at school with Mackenzie. She'd flip out.  

"I just had a big lunch...no worries," I said, putting the brownie back in my plate. "I need to get changed for work."  

So, I went upstairs and opened the door to my room, looking around at the mess. While most people had the typical teenage room, I didn't. Since there were five of us Freeman kids, I was stuck sharing a room. Fran got her own because she was the oldest, Frankie and Fox shared, and I was paired up with Faith. Our room wasn't that huge, so we used bunk beds to save space. I was stuck getting the bottom one. Last year, because of my giant-ness, I sat up in the middle of the night and banged my head into the ceiling. So Faith got promoted to the top bunk.  

The walls were a pale pink. We both weren't too crazy about it, but it was the result of a compromise. Since my favorite colors were yellow and lime green, my parents decided that Faith's idea would be a better decision.