"Goddammit. God fucking dammit. I hate this. I hate everything. Fucking bullshit, I'm gonna kill everyone;" Skylar Hall mumbles to himself, chancing another look back down at his report card.

C, D, F, F, D. Skylar has failed two of his classes, and it doesn't bother him. He doesn't care about school, but the fallout that he's about to face at home makes him want to rip this stupid fucking paper in half. He's currently seated in his car, parked at his high school. They had exams a week ago, and today was the last day of class, where nobody does anything and they receive their report cards.

"Are your parents really gonna care, though?" Carlos asks from the seat beside him, and Skylar puts the car in reverse. He checks his mirrors to make sure he's clear, and pulls out of the parking space. "They're like, never home."

This is incorrect. Well, partially. Skylar's stepmom, Danica, works from home. However, despite basically always being at the house, she spends 90 percent of her time in her office. Skylar's father, Vince, is a textbook workaholic. Skylar hardly sees them, but it's not them that he's worried about.

Skylar knows that his mom, Tasha, will be beyond disappointed. Skylar has never had the best grades, but this? This is the worst he's done in a while, and he's honestly kind of glad that his mother lives states away. He won't have to deal with many consequences from Danica or Vince, and he thinks he can keep it a secret from everyone else.

Well, okay, Vince might care. Skylar's stepmom, though? She's always been very good at minding her business.

"Yeah, but my mom's gonna be pissed." Skylar says as he pulls out onto the main road. He's dropping Carlos off at his his parent's car yard.

"So just don't tell her," Carlos gives his advice, like the good influence he is.

"I'm not lying to her," Skylar replies, because he's fucking not. She will find out one way or another, and although he could get away with that for now, it wouldn't be beneficial in the long run.

Skylar is so glad that he still has one more year of high school left. He can still do credit recovery for the two classes, as well as one other that he failed last year. He can make it all up! It honestly sort of helps that he's already been held back a year, but that was when he was a freshman.

Skylar finally arrives at the yard. Carlos says a quick bye before stepping out of the vehicle, and now Skylar starts to really feel dread. He will never look forward to showing his parents his grades. This is because he can't remember a single time they were acceptable.

Skylar's house isn't far from the downtown area, which is why he basically goes on autopilot until he's home-too deep in thought.

Skylar doesn't see his dad's car here, and his mood improves for a split second. Then, he realizes who is here.

Once he lays eyes on the black truck and silver Corvette, he feels dread. The Corvette is fine, he has no problem with the driver of that one-his brother-however, he would key the stupid onyx black truck if given the chance.

Skylar audibly groans, grabbing his bag and stepping out of the vehicle. He feels the urge to slash tires, which he blames partially on the fact that he's already in a horrible mood. Still, he ignores those thoughts and enters his house.

Unfortunately, immediately upon entrance to the house, he is met with the sight of the person causing half of his negative emotions. Skylar does not see his brother anywhere, and he curses the fact that he's going to have to talk to this guy.

"Where's Jessie?" Skylar asks the twenty year old, who is currently sitting on the counter and drinking an energy drink. He'd previously been on his phone, but since looked up at Skylar's entrance. He has this look on his face, like he's ready to be absolutely infuriating. Then again, he always has that look.

"Why?" Ashton Rivera asks, and Skylar tries not to feel pissed off. He hates it when people answer his questions with questions. Ashton knows this.

Skylar doesn't even bother that with a response, instead rolling his eyes and yelling;

"JESSIE?!"

Ashton doesn't even flinch or wince or cover his ears, he gives no physical reaction to Skylar's volume, and it's dissatisfying. Skylar waits until his brother walks in the room. Jessie looks at him in slight alarm, before asking, "what?"

"Where's Danica?" Skylar asks, because he needs a signature on his report card, and collateral is the most manageable with her.

Jessie looks down at Skylar's hand, which is currently grasping the crumpled up cause of his distress. It seems to click, as Jessie says. "Uh, her office. She said she's busy and not to talk to her, though."

"Well I need her to sign this," Skylar replies, waving the paper in the air.

"Don't you need a parent?" Ashton asks, because he's incapable of minding his business.

Skylar slides his gaze over to him, narrowing his eyes. "Or guardian."

"I'll just go check on her again," Jessie says, glancing between the two and exiting the kitchen. Skylar is not happy with that, because it leaves him alone with Ashton. Again.

"You look like shit." Ashton remarks, and Skylar is full on glaring at him now. "Like, worse than usual."

To be fair, though, he's kind of right. Obviously Skylar would never admit it aloud, but he pretty much always looks like a mess. His hair is untamable, and he averages about four hours of sleep a night. He's usually covered in bruises or mud-or both, due to the fact that he's both clumsy and constantly getting into shit. Also, he fights with people a lot. This is mostly due to his attitude, since he can't remember the last time he genuinely smiled or was nice to anyone outside of friends and family, unless it was out of obligation for his job.

"At least I don't look like that," Skylar says, vaguely motioning to Ashton, who quirks an eyebrow.

Ashton blinks at him. "Like what?"

"Ugly," Skylar says, deadpanned. Despite that being a super great and clever comeback, however, it's sadly not true.

It really sucks, and it pisses Skylar off to no end, but Ashton grew up to be pretty attractive. He has the ego to go with it, of course, so Skylar's insults never really bother him, but it's still the best he's got. Of course, it doesn't change the fact that he can't stand this guy.

"Ouch." Ashton says sarcastically, going back to his previous activities. Scrolling on his phone and drinking an energy drink. Actually, that looks like a Monster. There's another one beside him. Is he about to drink both?

Danica suddenly enters the room, frowning. Skylar doesn't see Jessie anywhere, but he doesn't really give a shit. He hands the report card to the woman and crosses his arms, watching as she straightens it out.

She scans the grades with furrowed eyebrows, before, "can you make these up?"

"Yeah. I'll do credit recovery next year."

The woman hums, then sets it on the counter-right beside Ashton-she straightens it out even more, so that it's hardly wrinkled. She pulls a pen out from behind her ear and signs the bottom. Then, she turns to set it on the portion of the counter that has all of Vince's things.

Wait, no. If she puts it there then Skylar's father is sure to see it when he gets home.

"Okay, uh you can just give it back to me," Skylar says, walking towards her and reaching for it. She turns to give him a disapproving look.

"No, your father needs to see it. I'm going back to work, don't bother me again."

Skylar glares at the lady as she exits the room, but not before grabbing something from the fridge. Skylar doesn't move the paper. He knows his dad will see it either way, and maybe if he listens they'll go easy on him.

Honestly, Skylar probably should've just forged.

"Surprised she didn't put it on the fridge."

Skylar turns to glare at Ashton, who seems to find this entire situation beyond comical. God, if Skylar had a fucking nickel for every time he wanted to punch this guy's lights out. Oh, he'd never have to work again.

"Surprised you don't have anything better to do." Skylar snaps, and he hates the fact that he has to look up at this guy. Not only when he's sitting on the counter, either. Ashton is just generally taller than him-and Jessie, actually.

Ashton jumps down from the counter. Unfortunately, Skylar was standing almost right in front of him. He ends up too close, towering over him, and Skylar tries to remember what they were even arguing about.

"I don't," he says lowly, before brushing past Skylar, and after Ashton exits the kitchen he finally gets his wits about him.

He blinks rapidly, then starts to curse that stupid fucking asshole for being, well, an asshole. As he's doing so, Jessie walks back in. He's looking behind himself, presumably at Ashton's retreating figure. He turns back around and stops when he sees Skylar. He looks like he's about to say something, but Skylar talks before he can.

"Why is he here?" Skylar asks, pointing past Jessie in the general direction Ashton just went.

Jessie just sighs, walking past Skylar and ruffling his hair. He picks up Skylar's report card, examining it.

"I invited him." Jessie replies. He turns around after a minute, making eye contact with Skylar. "Please don't get held back again."

"I won't," Skylar mumbled, though he wasn't sure if he even believed himself. Jessie nodded, before ruffling his hair for the second time that day and walking off in the same direction Ashton just did. Skylar frowned, reaching up to fix his hair and watching his brother's retreating form.

Skylar makes the executive decision to just stay in his room the rest of the day, using up the rest of his supply to aid in relaxation. He's really not looking forward to facing his consequences.