Best Not Good Enough by Michael Bussiere

Best Not Good Enough

 

By Michael Bussiere

 

Jose's face crunched up as he frowned, thinking to himself how much he hated his father. He watched the faces of the other students, thinking how happy they all looked and his face grew even more sour. By lunch, his jealousy was showing with each step that hit the concrete, sounding like Sasquatch's feet. Finally, he saw his best friend Danny from a distance.

“Jose,” Danny called from afar, throwing his hands up. "Was good, bro!"

"Just chilling."

"What's wrong, bro?" Danny asked as he got closer.

"Nothing dude, let’s go to lunch already."

The lunch line was taking forever. Jose had time to become even more outraged at his dad.

"Why can't you ever do anything right, Jose? You’re such an idiot!"

"Dad, I'm trying my best!"

"Your best isn't good enough—!"

"Hey Jose, Are you okay?"

"Yea,” he said, coming back from his day-dreamed nightmare. "Yea, let's go."

As he and Danny walked toward their kick-it spot, he saw the rest of his homies throwing food over the wall. Jose grinned slightly to himself and he laughed a little laugh, more like a chuckle. Things weren’t really as bad as they might seem, he realized.

"Why are you guys throwing food over there?" asked Jose.

"Yea!" Danny added.

"These fools on the other side have been throwing food back and forth with us… it's actually pretty funny."

Just as Jose turned to see which one of his friends was speaking, something orange came flying toward his face.

"Ahh!” he screamed, reaching for his eye. “What the f—?!"