Part 1 - Monday Morning, My House.

I’m reading the back of the paper, the breakfast bowl already soaking in the sink, when the horn sounds. Ten minutes late, as per usual. No rush.
‘Dude, hurry up!’ Jase yells. So I keep walking at exactly the same pace.
‘Like it matters, what are we gonna do? Be late for a video?’ At least one of us has some perspective. Well, he does.
‘Look, I gotta be on time, at least once, attwoods’ got the shits with me.’ See, that’s really not something to be concerned about.
‘You know, you’re not going to make it to half of the classes today,’ I mention, stating the obvious really.
‘And whose fault is that?’ to be fair, he’d probably stay in more classes if I did as well. I really don’t need to go to class to get by.
‘Dude, just cos I’m skipping, doesn’t mean you have to.’
So he says, ‘Yeah, but it’s Legal. Fuck it. Aaand, there’s gonna be a sub for Maths. Just get in the car.’
‘Fine. Hey, can we stop for Maccas?’
‘Piss off, we’re late. ‘sides, if you’ve got money for Maccas, you’ve got money for fuel.’
Uhh, whoops. That’ll cost me.
‘Will five bucks do?’ it won’t, but I can get away with it.
‘Yeah, whatever. You’re gonna owe me so many rides.’

Jase pulls out of my driveway with a slight skid, and already the stereo’s too loud to talk. It’s the last week of school, of year 11 really, because next term everything we do will count towards the HSC. We’ve done the last of the exams the previous week, and there’s absolutely nothing keeping us from making the three week break into a month of sloth. Well, habit. And staying at home means housework. Much better to get out at half past seven, and spend the rest of the day arsing about.
Already I’ve dropped two subjects, and picked up two extensions to bring myself back up to ten units – exactly enough. And the extensions get me out this early four mornings a week. The thing about getting in this early, at this time of year, is that we’re the only ones in the school. Year 12 aren’t showing up anymore, and the lower years don’t have any classes at this time. It’s a peaceful time. It’s nice to savour our new spot inherited from year 12, even if we have to drag the chairs back.

Really, Jase’s driving cancels out his lateness, and we’re pulling up with ten minutes to spare. Time enough to wander over to Nikki, and begin nagging again;
‘So, can you have a party?’
‘End of school, start of holidays, you gotta’, that wheedling that we’ve become so skilled at.
Much to our surprise, it works. Well, it seems to anyway. She probably wants a party as much as we do.
‘Friday okay? Now piss off and tell the others.’ So ladylike. But we are pretty annoying when we want to be.