Monday, December 12, 1988

as the last week of the first semester arrived, the monday seemed to drag on forever. during free periods and lunch, you and your friends would sit under and awning or in an outdoor hallway and watch the rain fall against the blacktop. it was an outdoor school, which was great until it was anything except sunny. on the one day that most students wore crew necks and sweaters, everyone was all miserable. after school, it was raining particularly hard. you and your older brother had to trudge home through the rain, and you both pretty much looked like drowned rats by then.

your grungy outfit did better in the rain than your brother's preppy clothes, you having different layers like fishnet sleeves under a big t-shirt, wide legged green pants, fucked up converse... all that fun stuff. your brother had a collared shirt under a pastel blue knitted sweater with khakis and tennis shoes.

as soon as you two got to the front door of your house, your father drove up in a full car. he had his collegue and his colleague's family. they had two boys, an older boy the same age as your brother, and a younger one, same age as you. their father looked menacing and intimidating, and their mother looked strangely sweet. the boys looked like a mix of the two, but so much sweeter than both.

"there's no fuckin' way." your brother groaned. "and he couldn't just come get us? i'd rather sit in the trunk than walk home in the rain." you said with a chuckle.

when everyone got inside, you complained as you went up to your room to change out of your soaked clothes, "i hate that california just had to be different and make all the schools outdoor. now we have to get home looking like wet rats and be cold because we have to trudge home through the rain."

your father just shook his head and introduced his guests to your mother.