Desperate Teens by Textfreak1 (each kindness read aloud .txt) 📕

and him. ‘The only thing that matters to me is myself and nobody else,’ he thought and nodded as though to agree to this thought.
While thinking about the miserable issue, he saw a boy he had never seen before. He was standing in front of the Wilson’s house with cartons and bags, apparently moving in. But Pauly had no time to have a closer look, because he wanted to go home. This had been a rougher day than he had expected it to be.

* * *

‘I’m fine and I can do it. I can start a new life and make new friends. I did it before so why shouldn’t I be capable of doing it again. I have enough of sitting in my room alone, thinking
about my life and which of my mistakes were the worst. (Of course, one big mistake I have made beats the band). I have been self-pitying myself enough. Put on a fake smile and everybody will think that you’re OK. That was the best thing of being a human. Lock your emotions away, deep inside of yourself, and looking your best from the outside. But sometimes there will be cracks in your cheap facade which will reveal the truth. I will do my very best to stop that from happening ,’ thought Andrew self-opinionated.
‘My aunt won’t be a problem at all. She is as shallow as weird uncle Peter only dating women who looked like Pamela Anderson and that was really weird, because one should think at the age of seventy you’re done with that dating-phase. (And anyway, try to find a seventy year old woman who looks like Pamela Anderson). My sister is the bigger problem, though. It’s like she is a mind-reader or something like that, because she can instantly tell you when something is wrong. Maybe a woman’s intuition...’
Before he could deepen that thought his aunt and sister appeared in the front door, looking pitiful at him. ‘Smile,’ Andrew thought, having problems to make that thought reality, though.
“There he is, my baby-boy!” yelled aunt Sheila, running towards him. She had a fuller figure and her short black hair made the back of her head look like a black leather-ball. When she reached him, she gave him a hug. Choking, because of her big arms which strangled his trachea, he clapped with his hand on Sheila’s shoulder. He hated to be hugged (especially by persons he hadn’t seen in years and who smelled as though they had bathed in a tub full of perfume) and didn’t know how to respond.
His sister’s reaction of his arrival was more pleasant to him. She just waved with one hand to show that she’d noticed his attendance. The relationship with his sister had always been rather uncomplicated. After she had moved to their aunt’s they hadn’t seen each other for years and hadn’t spoken since.
“Now come in, come in. Ehm, you Mr... right you,” she said to the cab-driver and let go of Andrew. “Could you please get the bags and cartons into the house,” aunt Sheila stuffed ten dollars into the cab-driver’s shirt pocket and winked. He just nodded and vanished into the house with Andrew’s bags. “I guess you are hungry. On these planes you never get proper food. Look at you, have you always been that thin? I bet you are starving,” and before Andrew could even reply she dragged him by his arm into the house.
“Wait,” Andrew said as Sheila had dragged him straight into the kitchen. Now, he was able to release himself off her grip and ran outside. The cab’s motor was humming and about to drive away. As the cab-driver saw Andrew running out of the house he opened a window. “Is there anything wrong?” he asked harshly and looked at Andrew who opened the door.
“No. Just forgot my bag!” he swung the black bag above his shoulder and slammed the door. As the taxi had driven away, Andrew looked around.
‘This is it,’ he thought and watched a few neighbors watering their plants. ‘This is my new home. Why do suburbs always have to look perfect? The houses, the flowers, the people. I just can’t understand how people can live here voluntarily. I bet nothing interesting has ever happened around here. Well, what the heck. Maybe that’s exactly what I need now,’ and as Andrew was about to go into the house again he saw a blonde girl with wet hair marching across the street looking really angry. And as he followed her steps he realized that there was another girl with black hair and then something weird happened. When the blonde girl reached the black-haired girl the angriness vanished just as though she didn’t want to let her
black-haired friend know that she was angry at all. Andrew shrugged his shoulders and entered the house.

* * *

Isabella still hadn’t moved and starred dreamily at her mother’s flowerbed which was moving with the wind. Her brain was exhausted. The day had cost so much strength that she felt tired
and burnt-out. Actually, she had always thought of herself as a person who could see the inner personality of someone, at the very first moment they met. But Pauly had shattered that thought into hundred sharp pieces, hurting her mind, doubting herself. ‘How could I be so stupid and so blind and first of all how could I be so utterly wrong? I mean, I should have known that he is a selfish idiot when I caught him stealing the answers for our exams,’ Isabella thought angry with herself and shook her head. ‘Let’s not think about him any longer.
He doesn’t deserve me wasting my time thinking about him.’ At that very moment Isabella looked up and saw Katrina walking across the street, looking quite strange.
Banishing every sad thought, she said: “What are you doing here? I expected you to come in two hours at the latest. And anyway what happened to your-“
”Jason,” replied Katrina briefly. “I was looking out of the window and saw you standing here and thought I should talk to you, because you don’t look your best.”
“Thank you very much,” Isabella said and ran through her hair with her fingers. “It’s not easy to look good while you are puking out your soul.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to-,”
“That’s alright,” Isabella interrupted her. “So. You saw me from your window?” Isabella looked at Katrina’s house, at the open window and then back at Katrina. “How long have you been watching me?”
“Not for long,” Katrina lied. “I was arguing with my brother and then I saw you. Why are you asking?”
“Just out of curiosity,” Isabella said relieved. “Jason, yeah? Still giving you a hard time?” she tried to change the subject, because she didn’t want to think about Pauly nor the pregnancy.
“I don’t know what’s going on in boys’ heads.”
“Tell me about it!”
Katrina looked at Isabella puzzled. “Well I mean. Who really wants to know what’s going on in there,” she said hastily. ‘Get hold of yourself!’ Isabella thought intensely. ‘Don’t act as if you hated boys. Katrina will ask questions and get suspicious and then you’re in real danger. I’m glad she hadn’t ask who the father is, yet.’ At that thought, heat soared into her face.
“OK. I think I should go now. I’ll come back later, but you know how my dad is. Really wants dinner time to be family time,” Katrina said after an awkward silent pause.
“At least you don’t have to explain to your parents that you’re pregnant. That’s going to get ugly,” at the very thought of it Isabella felt like vomiting again.
“So you are really going to tell them?” Katrina sounded amazed.
“You know what pregnancy is right? It would be really difficult to hide first the growing belly and than the baby itself.”
“Still. But please don’t do it while I’m in the same room, because your father is going to explode,” and with these words Katrina turned to go.
“Thanks for cheering me up,” Isabella called after her.
“You’re welcome, Bella!” she yelled before she entered her house.
Lost in thoughts and with no slightest idea how to explain it to her family, Isabella scuffled into the house.
* * *

As the sun finally set and the street lamps shone through the darkness creating big shadows in the quiet street, the Jenkins family had dinner. At the weekend it meant that the whole family sat together at one table eating and talking. Katrina couldn’t hide her distaste for it, though.
At the beginning of the year her father had asked Kate to marry him and to become his second and hopefully his last wife. Kate was thirteen years younger than Katrina’s father and only seven years older than Katrina herself. People still thought they were sisters, which
Katrina always contested noisily. She couldn’t stand her and Kate knew that, but didn’t stop provoking her.
“Katrina,” said Kate suddenly. She looked at Katrina who took a big sip of water, because the soup Kate had made tasted like hot toilet water you got from school (the mere thought of it got you herpes). Kate waited for her to swallow the big sip she just took and followed, “What is going on with Isabella lately? She acts really self-engrossed. I met her in the supermarket today and greeted her, but she didn’t even take notice of me.”
‘Maybe because I told her that you are one big, stupid-’ but before she could end that thought her brother, Jason, interrupted: “Maybe because her boyfriend broke up with her.”
“Don’t intervene Jason,” his father, Christian, said with an accusing look. “You wanted to reply Katrina?”
‘I didn’t, but I have to thank you very much.’ She looked at Kate with a dark look on her face. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I will talk to her later that evening and maybe-“
”Oh, well. I understand. Girl’s secrets,” Kate giggled. “My best friend and me were like that all the time when we were in high school.”
‘Hard to believe that you had friends, pathetic-’ this time it was her father who interrupted her thoughts.
“Well,” Christian began and the tone in his voice changed. Katrina noticed it and knew he wanted to say something important. Her father always uses the word ‘Well’ when something was bothering him and knew he had to tell his children (and for Katrina it had never been any good news). Last time he used the word ‘Well’ he confessed in tears that their mother had left him and absconded with her lover. Before that he used the word ‘Well’ to announce that Katrina would get a baby brother (and even then she didn’t like the thought of having a sibling). Of course, Katrina was curious what her father was about to say. That was for sure: she wouldn’t like it.
“As you know Kate and I have been together for over a year now and I think it is time for a change.” Her father was smiling widely, looking at Kate and stroking her hand. Katrina’s eyes widened in horror, her mouth fell open and her hands tensed up. In her ears she heard her father’s dull voice saying the words which would entirely destroy her life as she had known it and that would be the moment she would remember until