wonder what would have happened if you had

My bangs bother me in class, so I twist my head, brushing my hair to the side.1

"Rosie! Why are you looking at that boy's paper!"2

Sigh. Math class; we're in the middle of a test, let me rephrase that, THE test, and here i am, with Mr. Barker shouting at me.3

"Sir, there was a fly in my face."4

"The window-" He looks to the window, shuts up, and goes to close it. His face turns red, as he realizes that his students are staring at him, and yells, "Back to work!"5

The rest of the period passes quickly, and I'm the second one out the door. It's lunchtime, so the hall is crowded, with teachers watching and stopping kids who are running. 6

I finally reach my locker and dial in the combo. Let this be a warning to you: don't keep water bottles resting on an unstable shelf.7

I open the locker, and plastic bottles fall on me. I'd been too lazy to throw them away, thinking it a waste, and hadn't bothered to recycle them yet. So I cram them onto the shelf again, dump my books into my backpack, and close the door swiftly.8

"Why is it called lunchtime if no one eats?" I ask Filimina. "Everyone knows the food here is crappy."9

"Not everyone starves themselves. Like you, Rosie." Mina waves her fork at me.10

"I'm drinking this," I lift my Monster.11

"Energy drinks aren't filling."12

"What the hell. The daughter of a doctor should know."13

"My father," she inhales, "is a dentist."14

"Tooth doctor," I compromised.15

I get up amd walk to the vending machine to buy myself another drink. There, I reach into my pockets and retrieve 50 cents. "The crap. I need another quarter." I dig deeper and nothing comes up except lint. Sigh.16

"The world won't go off its axis." Joseph is standing by me, and takes out 25 cents. He puts it in and hits the red vitamin water button. Out comes the bottle; he picks it up and hands it to me.17

"The hell, Fisher. I wanted a diet coke."18

He flashes his tooth white smile. "You need something filling."19

"I could just punch your teeth in for that."20

"Mine would regrow faster than yours. Try it."21

He knows I can't. Yes, the skater girl, with a badass haircut and a devil-may-dare attitude, afraid to punch someone's teeth. How ironic, huh?22

"Fisher."23

"Yes?" The angel smile still lingers.24

I mock punch him on the arm, but a janitor happens to see that and says, "What'd you punch him for?"25

"Sorry, sir," I reply with fake sincerity. "I had a twitch in my hand."26

He glares at me, and turns away. I flick my middle finger at his back. Joseph sees and pretends to be shocked. I grin my I-dare-you-to-tell grin.27

I once read a newspaper article about dinosaurs. It said you couldn't tell what color it was just from looking at his or her bones. I guess that could apply to humans, and books. Just because you know its outer layer, doesn't mean you know everything about it.28

Gabby, to my left in Geography, asks, "Hey. What are you thinking so hard about?"29

"Dinosaurs. Whether a T-Rex could be purple, or even rainbow colored."30

Mrs. Bradner hears us, and calls out from her desk, "Rosie. If you're jabbering up there, it had better be about the assignment you're working on."31

She turns around, and I start talking again. "The hell. Every teacher is out to get me today."32

"Like in math," Orion joined in.33

"Or lunch." Joseph said. "But he wasn't really a teacher."34

"Nope. He was a fag."35

Whack! My shoulder stings like crazy, and I turn around with fire in my eyes, ready to kill.36

Maria is standing there, with a map rolled up. "You can use it now."37

I take the map and deal fast blows to her; and as quickly, I sit down before Mrs. Bradner can turn around.38

"So. Dinosaurs." I unroll the map of Pangaea, and observe the blue lines; the dinosaur's tracks. I notice a default. "What the frick!? Pangaea didn't have islands back then!"39

Another whack!40

"Oops. Wrong map." Maria takes it back and gives me another.41

I can't hit her, since Mrs. Bradner is helping a kid in the next row, so I think hard in my mind, screw you, screw you, screw you.42

Seventh period ends as soon as it had begun, and everybody is out the door. Me, I don't ride the bus; since my house is not too far away, I walk home. 43

As usual, Joseph is walking with me; darn it that he lives two streets down from me. The wind blows through his blonde hair, and there's a spring in his steps. I feel wickedly tempted to trip him.44

"Don't you wonder what would have happened if you had done something?" I wonder out loud while looking up at the sky.45

"Hm?"46

"Like, how it would have turned out if you hadn't tied your shoes in gym, or typed something wrong in your report for the newspaper."47

"I would have tripped, of course; the typo, I don't think anyone happens to know a "Fish O'Lay."48

I could have fell on my face. But I recomposed myself.49

"I mean, like, more deeper stuff. Would my mom still have turned out the way she is now, if my dad hadn't...gone..to jail? For doing the stuff he did?"50

Joseph was musing. The shadows of the trees that shaded him suddenly made him look more wiser.51

"Or, if my baby sister hadn't been miscarried, would she have grown up to be a stylist? Or a NASCAR racer?"52

We walked on in silence. I tried to avoid stepping on the cracks in the pavement.53

"The sky is blue," Joseph remarked.54

"I know that," I snapped.55

"If the sky wasn't blue, what color would the sea be?"56

"How would I know?"57

"Exactly. How would you know? And if the grass was neon purple, would animals still eat it? How would you know?"58

He had a point there.59

Talking about my family brought tears to my eyes. 60

"Life sucks."61

"Life is what it is."