Growth Of A Wildflower

𝟜𝟙: Spray Painting

"I can't believe we're back to ridin’ the damn bus," Stan mutters, watching the trees go by out of his window.

"Only because someone had to get his dumbass grounded," Nic snaps from her seat behind Stan and Kate, equally upset.

Stan rolls his eyes, not even giving his friend a backwards glance.

"Whatever, Nic. Ya literally get grounded every other day."

"At least that doesn't have a negative affect on all of us," she snaps back.

"You're right," Stan says, turning back a bit to look at her,"when ya get grounded, I typically throw a party because I finally get a break from bein’ your fuckin’ chauffeur."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!"

Before more anger-filled words can fly, Kate steps in.

"Guys, enough. You're both being ridiculous. Stan, when are you ungrounded?"

Still glaring at Nic, Stan answers.

"Thursday."

"Okay, that's only a few days away," Kate says, sweetly,"we can hang on til then. Right?"

"I guess," Stan says, turning back around.

Kate takes his hand in her own and gives it a gentle squeeze, causing all of Stan's previous anger to suddenly disappear.

—

Since the day that Stan's father died, he's been finding himself more angry than he's ever been before.

And the only way he's been channeling this anger, is through causing some kind of trouble.

It's not that he necessarily wants to do something he knows will not end well, it's more like he feels he has to in order to process these overwhelming emotions.

After his father died, Stan's mother suggested he speak with a pastor or counselor about what he went through. Someone who could help him better than she could.

She didn't see herself as someone capable of helping him overcome his complicated feelings regarding his father's death, when she found herself feeling very similar.

However, Lorie was far better at handling her mixed emotions when it came to her husband. She always had been.

Stan though? He was hardly handling them at all. They were very much handling him.

And no matter how much his mother urged him to talk with her or anyone for that matter, he refused.

"I don't need to see a damn shrink, Mama," he'd said last week,"can ya please just leave me alone?"

When the tears had started to form in his mother's eyes then, he had wanted to take it back and apologize. But before he could, Lorie left the room and headed off to work.

They hadn't spoken much since. Well, except for when she had grounded him for sneaking out on Saturday night. Thankfully, he had only had two beers that night, so he hadn't come home drunk. He learned early on how to act sober. It was an important skill to have when you were seriously into alcohol and your own mother was terrified of the stuff.

Now it was Monday, and he desperately wanted his truck back. It was beyond embarrassing to ride the bus after having your license for almost a year. Especially when everyone knows you always drive yourself to school, and when they see you aren't anymore, they're bound to know why too.

All through English, Stan is sneaking texts to his "friends". There's a group of guys his age that he gets along with, but he has done his very best to keep a distance between them and himself when at school. The last thing he needs is Kate or Nic to see him with these guys. There's not a doubt in his mind that they would tell his mother, or worse, Gina and Will.