Being the great stepson that I am, I arrive home at twenty till midnight, which apparently is “too late,” as I find myself face to face with Julie only seconds after I open the front door.

“Where have you been?” Julie asks, her hair in a messy bun atop her head while she’s wrapped up in her robe. Her dark brown eyes are narrowed at me, challenging me to answer her. A challenge I happily take up.

“At Lavario’s with Carlos and Jenna,” I answer honestly with the least amount of bite in my tone as possible. I sent her a text earlier to remind her of our weekly routine, but it seems she has forgotten how to read.

Julie’s face actually begins to turn a little red from anger. “Do you know what time it is?”

“Considering that I was just in my car, which has a clock in it, obviously I do. It’s eleven forty.” I kick off my shoes and put them into the closet. I even double check that the front door is locked, trying to keep my eyes off Julie since seeing her face just angers me more.

Julie groans and I can imagine her rolling her eyes or ruffling her hair behind me. “Just because you’re a senior in college doesn’t give you the right to be out late. This is my home and I make the rules.”

She has repeated that to me a thousand times, but it doesn’t matter how much I stick to her rules. She always lectures me anyway. Some way, somehow, I break them, even if there is more than enough proof that I didn’t. At this point, I don’t care anymore and give in.

Sighing, I face the woman that I can never please and force myself to breathe out as softly as I can, “Sorry, it won’t happen again.”

“It better not,” Julie warns, ordering me a second later to go to bed quietly. I nod and glare at her back while she disappears up the stairs to return to her room.

When the sound of her door signals that she’s gone, I slam my fist against the couch once, twice and a third time in frustration.

Her voice puts my teeth on edge. Seeing her makes me want to rip my hair out but I repeat to myself that I can get through this. Survive these last two semesters; get a good internship and hopefully that will help me get a job as soon as possible.

I’ll be out of Julie’s hair in no time. I’ll have my own place where I won’t have a constantly angry stepmother to shout at me for every little thing. Imagining leaving this hellhole puts a smile on my face and it helps me calm down enough to, as Julie ordered me to, quietly go to bed.

Of course sleep is fairly difficult to achieve when one is an anxious but somehow very excited mess. It’s an odd combination.

I toss and turn not only Friday night but also throughout the whole weekend. It’s hard not to stare at my phone like it’s going to magically come to life and beat me to death. I wouldn’t blame it for killing me either after all the times I have dropped it. For some reason I apologize to my phone like that will somehow help my situation.

Come Monday morning I am a ball of nerves, jumping around with that same mixture of excitement and anxiety. On the one hand I’m confident I nailed that interview but on the other hand I know there were likely others who nailed it.

I go to work at my part-time gig during the summer as a waiter at a local restaurant. I make sure my hair is gelled up, because if not the beast will defy gravity in every possible way. As usual, I wear my most charming of smiles that easily gets me a healthy amount of tips from not only female but also the occasional male customer. I do my best not to focus on the phone call I’m (not so) patiently waiting for, but every chance I get I find myself pulling out my phone to check.

In my hand, back to my pocket, in my hand, back to my pocket, over and over until I begin to wonder if my finger can somehow deteriorate the screen by touching it too much. No such thing happens. Finally, after a weekend of waiting, my phone goes off.

“Sherrie!” I call back to my manager, who is well aware of my situation. She perks up at the sound of her name from the bar. I signal to my phone in a silent question to take the call. She nods eagerly, shooing me with her hand while nodding. I mouth a quick “thanks” before disappearing outside to accept the call that can possibly change my life.

“Hello, this is Carter,” I answer while tapping my foot nervously against the ground. When I see a customer pass by and stare at me like I’m psychotic I give them a kind smile and quickly try to compose myself.

“Good afternoon, Carter! This is Kennedy Juritsy from Sinas, we spoke on Friday,” Kennedy says sweetly, which gives me this glimmer of hope that it’s because she has good news.

“Hi Kennedy, it’s nice to hear from you so soon.” I cross my fingers and pray for things to go my way.

“Yes, our boss made up his mind pretty quick. I’m calling to tell you congratulations, we’d love to have you on as our intern for the fall semester.”

Holy.

Shit.

I take a moment to breathe since I know if I don’t I will literally squeal out my next words. My smile is bordering on crazy when I try my best not to scream at Kennedy in excitement. “Thank you so much, I won’t waste this opportunity I assure you. I’m so grateful, thank you, thank you.”

I’m freaking out here, holy shit!

“I’m sure you won’t. I really enjoyed our talk on Friday, and from your resume it was hard not to see you as a great fit for our internship,” Kennedy says, seeming totally ok with my joyous excitement. She’s probably happy about it actually. “Do you have time this week to come up so we can finalize everything?”

“Yes, I’m free tomorrow actually as well as Wednesday if either of those days work for you,” I suggest, bouncing back and forth on the balls of my feet. Maybe I jump up and down a bit but we don’t need to mention that.

“Why don’t you come up tomorrow then around…” Kennedy hums, seeming to be looking through her schedule based on the sound of keys being smacked against her keyboard. “Is three thirty good?”

“Three thirty would be great. Thank you so much.”

“Great! We’re all excited to work with you, Carter. I’ll see you tomorrow and have a nice day!”

With that, Kennedy and I hang up and the moment she’s off the line I proceed to fist bump into the sky like the total loser that I am but I’m too happy to care about how stupid I look. It’s time to celebrate and apparently my celebratory dance is fist bumping, don’t judge me.

I got the internship. I got the fucking internship of a lifetime!

I’m practically set for life. The people I’ll work with, the people I’ll meet, everything that I will learn…it will help me get a good job to get the hell away from Julie. I’ll be able to live on my own and not follow some dumb rules made up by a stupid as shit stepmother. This is what I needed, what I wanted and, fuck, I can’t explain it but I’m fucking stoked!

Okay, I seriously need to chill…

Except I don’t and I head back inside with a shit eating grin that Sherrie notices the moment she sees me. She comes right over to me with a hopeful smile while she asks, “Did you get the internship?”

I don’t even bother lying because my face already screams the answer. Nodding, I answer with a quiet ‘yeah’ that has Sherrie congratulating me instantly. She wraps me up into a hug that I happily return while she pats my back and says things like I knew you would get it and I’m so proud of you. Funny how my manager is more motherly to me than my step mom, hmm, I sense something fishy there.

The rest of my day goes by blissfully well. I’m on cloud nine, humming off tune to myself, smiling from ear to ear and I don’t even give a damn about the customer that shouts at me for five minutes because I wouldn’t get his underage ass a beer. At the end of the night, even if I reek of a combination of food and backroom cleaning supplies, I get into my car with a confident smile and head home without a care in the world.

Even Julie’s piss poor attitude can’t get me down. When I return home and inform her of the great news the only response I get is, “At least you can do something right.”

Unlike most days where I feel the urge to gauge out her eyes, I shrug it off because I’m feeling that great. Who cares if she doesn’t give a damn about me. Who cares if she isn’t as thrilled as I am because that doesn’t change the fact that I just got the best internship I could possibly get. Fuck her, I’m ecstatic!

Life is good.

Life is great.

Life is…

Fucked up in the most ironic of ways as I soon discover the next day when I walk into the office to meet my future boss. I stand in his personal office, horrified, with a clueless Kennedy at my side.

Standing before us with a smug expression is someone I had hoped to never see again.

“Hello Carter,” the asshole from the other day says with a smirk so evil that it would rival Satan himself. “I’m Zeke Barnes.”

Nice to meet you, Zeke. I’m Totally Fucked.