Unmaking Hunter Kennedy

by Anne Eliot

  But cool people usually came late, and that’s who we are now, right?

  Cool. Super cool.

  Even though I don’t want to be here? Even though I have the urge to go back home and cry some more?

  UGH.

  Vere tried to psych herself up. She was here now, and it was all going to be fine. Everything would iron out the moment she saw Curtis. Just the sight of him would set this straight. She knew it.

  Thanks to what happened between her and her x-BGF, she had bigger plans than ever to kiss Curtis tonight.

  I have to know...

  I have to know...what?

  She lost her train of thought and pictured herself kissing Curtis. She had to know something about how his arms felt around her.

  Yeah, that’s it. I’ll analyze how his arms feel around me. How his lips fit against mine...and compare. Compare his kiss to the best kisses I’ll never get to have again? OMG. Never again?

  Vere swallowed and put her hand over her racing heart. She felt herself starting to blush.

  Jenna tapped her foot nervously against the freshly painted wood on the Hodjwick’s front porch. “Okay. So...yeah...are we really going to enter this madhouse?” Jenna asked.

  Music blasted from the open dining room window. They could hardly hear themselves talk on this porch. The noise inside had to be deafening.

  “Of course. We can so do this. Come on.” Vere rang the doorbell but nobody came.

  Jenna rolled her eyes. “We’re idiots. I’m sure you just go in, or whatever.” She pushed the door and it swung wide.

  The place was filled to the brim. Plastic cups and odd shallow puddles of spillage littered the floor in the entryway. Vere’s eyes widened. Mr. and Mrs. Hodjwick were out of town (or tied up in the basement) because, no way, would they have allowed a party like this.

  She darted a glance at a huge mass of people in the front living room. The whole soccer team it seemed (boys and girls) were crammed onto the formal velvet couches, flinging quarters at a coffee table so they would bounce and land in cups.

  “Yeah. Pretty intimidating.” Jenna’s eyes looked like saucers.

  The entire football team was spilling out from Mr. Hodjwick’s den as they all crowded around the flat screen, watching some game.

  Vere’s eyes rounded-out more than Jenna’s when they spotted Howie Rutherford sitting crossed legged in the center of Mr. Hodjwick’s desk, downing a beer.

  Jeez. Play it cool, Vere. Pretend you’ve seen it all before.

  Jenna was lost in the crowd right about when Vere located Curtis dancing with what appeared to be a somewhat drunk, Kristen Hodjwick.

  Ugh. Ugh. And Ugh.

  It took Vere only three seconds to realize she did not want to be with Curtis Wishford. Not at all. Not one bit. She understood with almost painful clarity what she’d already suspected when she’d been on the front porch.

  That she’d totally screwed up! That she had just hurt the one guy she truly cared about and was now in front of absolutely the wrong guy for her.

  Kristen had moved in to dance way too close with Curtis. She glared at Vere and stomped away when Curtis shoved her unceremoniously to the side as he spotted Vere watching them.

  “Yo mamma. My Vere’s looking hot-to-nite,” Curtis hollered at the top of his lungs. “Let’s dance!”

  As if. Did he really just call me ‘mamma’?

  She had to get out of here. NOW.

  Vere avoided eye contact with Curtis and turned away. Maybe she could just slip out and make some excuse to him tomorrow. She didn’t think she could even talk to him right now, let alone dance with this guy.

  Her heart became trapped in her throat. Before she could squeeze back through the crowd, Curtis grabbed her by the hand and pulled her into an awkward, goofy dance. “Hey, did ya not see me? You’re late. What happened?”

  Vere pasted on a smile. “Sorry. Got hung up.”

  Making out with another guy.

  Making out major with Hunter Kennedy?

  Aaaah. A guy I really want to make out with again, I think.

  She looked up at Curtis and wondered how in the heck she was going to get out of this. Curtis was still the same, gorgeous, dark-haired, green-eyed guy she’d always known. And he seemed genuinely happy that she was here. With him.

  But right now, he kind of reminded her of a big Labrador Retriever. Nice, slobbery, cute enough...but just too slow.

  And again, not for me.

  “I’m so glad you made it. I really missed you.” He grinned.

  She nodded, feeling super guilty. “Aww, thanks.” She had to figure out a way ditch him without hurting his feelings.

  It wasn’t Curtis’s fault she was such a mess. That she’d changed her mind. He’d only ever just been himself with her—so she shouldn’t blame him for that.

  She was the one pulling the flip switch.

  Mind racing for a plan that wouldn’t come, she danced with him halfheartedly. He didn’t seem to notice she wasn’t into it, because he had his eyes closed and was singing along with the song at the top of his lungs as he shook around in a bizarre booty dance!

  “I love dancing with you,” he shouted.

  She nodded, and cracked a fake smile. The poor guy had no idea she was about to run on him. He shimmied his bootie dance toward her, inviting her to grind.

  Ugh. Ew. EEEW. Never!

  Vere side-stepped him and forced his shoulders back to facing her.

  He grinned at her again.“I saved you a beer, but you took so long I had to drink it down for you,” he hollered, pulling her close. “Mmm. You feel nice. You look nice.” He gripped her waist and shoved his face into the hair at her neck and sucked in a monster breath. “And boy do you smell nice.”

  Double-EW!

  “Don’t. I’ve got to tell you something.” She worked to peel his meaty hands off her back. If he only knew how far off the nice list she’d recently flown. “And I’m not nice.”

  Jeez. I just made out with another guy. No one who’s NICE does stuff like that. And I’m about to DUMP YOU.

  She shook her head to try and clear her thoughts.

  Is ditching the hot football player who’s totally into you socially LEGAL? It’s not on our Facebook pages yet...so...maybe he just wants to be friends. Yeah...I’ll try that speech first...

  “Ah, but you are so-so nice. Nice to look at, nice to touch.” He’d clamped his arms around her waist again. “Nice to dance with and nice to be with. As in, all mine.”

  Vere worked to hide her frustrated grimace.

  So much for plan A.

  The music changed into a slow song, and more couples paired up beside them. He pulled her closer and her forehead bumped painfully against his chin.

  Vere felt her temper rising. “Curtis. Listen,” she tried again, vowing to never say the word ‘nice’ to anyone again. That word did suck after all!

  Be polite, Vere. You’d have paid money for him to talk to you like this yesterday.

  She glanced around, gripping his arms to get his attention. “Curtis, it’s so noisy in here and I really need to talk to you. In private. Alone.”

  He grinned down and had that dumb, I-know-you-love-me-baby expression. “That’s my line. You scooped me. We can go upstairs. Or I have my mom’s van out front.” He winked.

  She bit back a small urge to dry heave.

  Aaaah. Aaaaaaaah. No. No. No!

  Accidental party come-on. Failed at Party Pointers 101.

  “No. That’s not what I mean. I really DO want to talk.” She met his gaze and held it.

  “Oh, so do I. I can’t even wait to get you alone. How about we start talking right now, right here, in front of everyone?”

  “Uh. Okay?” Maybe she could pull it off in this crowd. She raised her voice. “I want to tell you that I...JEEZ!”

  Vere looked up in time to duck her head to the side.

  Curtis had tried to plant a kiss on her!

  Bait and switch not working.


  ABORT talking! ABORT talking!

  Vere twisted in his arms and tried to unlock his dance-death-grip. Thank God she would not have to repeat this suck dance with him next week.

  Because homecoming is off.

  SO OFF. CREEPER.

  “Hey. Why so skittish?” He dragged her toward him again. “Come on. Show me what you’ve got. Let’s make this official.”

  “No. Seriously? NO. I just want to talk. Please.”

  “You’ll like it. I guarantee. Then we’ll talk. You are just so adorable and so hot right now. C’mon.”

  Vere glanced wildly around. Couples danced in a crush in every direction. Behind them, a sea of endless babbling, drinking, yelling high school kids pressed in on the edges of the room.

  Jenna came into view just as Curtis tried to pull her even closer. Vere shot Jenna her most desperate holy-help face signal before she lost sight of her.

  She still hadn’t spotted Charlie. Her brother would help her. Where was he?

  “Come on, Vere, don’t be so darn shy. You’re my girlfriend now,” he said, in the lame, pouting, baby voice as he bent his head down, straining toward another kiss.

  “That’s just what I want to talk about.” Vere twisted her head out of his reach. She’d worked her arms free and pushed him back.

  “So do I. Isn’t that why you’re here? To make it official?” Curtis frowned.

  “Vere. Vere. I’m feeling sick. We have to go.” Jenna, her true hero, had worked her way through the crowd and was attempting a brave, and wonderful rescue.

  Vere shot her the BFF-I-love-you blink.

  Jenna winked back just before she clutched at her stomach and bent over with an amazingly realistic, pained howl. “Vere, you’ve got to help me get outside. I need air. So...DIZZY.” Jenna had shouted the second part of her performance at the top of her lungs right when the song ended.

  She’d drawn so much attention to herself that Vere didn’t even have to pretend to be surprised as she blinked stupidly at her friend.

  As if Jenna sensed there was no going back, she kept her face in check, and groaned even louder. “Does anyone have some water or any ice? Ohh...woah....” She stumbled and half collapsed on to the floor.

  Jenna’s Drama Grade: A++

  A few kids wandered over to see if they could help and blocked Vere’s view. “Curtis. Let me go. I’ve got to get her outside. She’s going to puke. I can just tell. I know her.”

  Curtis stopped dancing finally, but instead of letting her go, he’d tightened his grip. “Can’t your friend find another baby-sitter? She’s totally fine. Look. Other people can handle her.”

  Vere looked. There were three kids kneeling around Jenna.

  “I don’t think I can move,” Jenna moaned. “Vere! Someone find me VERE!”

  “I thought you wanted to talk to me,” Curtis said.

  “Curtis, she’s my friend. She needs my help. What’s wrong with you?” Vere’s head was pounding. Why did Curtis sound like such a whiner? She tried again to pull out of his embrace. The guy was just too strong.

  Her heart rate sped up. And not in a good way.

  “I sure hope this isn’t some kind of pattern with you two. I only want to date you. This is not a package deal.” He looked into her eyes but made no move to let her go.

  “Did you really just say that?” Vere asked, her mind going white-hot mad.

  “Yeah, I did. Hello? Earth to Vere. If you’re going to have a real boyfriend then you’re going to have to give up hanging 24/7 with your dork entourage. I expect you to hang out with me. Only me. A lot.”

  “Oh, really.” Vere closed her eyes in a last ditch effort to stay calm, but it was way too late.

  She saw spots. Little burning spots behind her eyelids, and when she opened them, Curtis Wishford was right in the middle of those spots. He was still talking like a jerk, and he was way too close to her face.

  She couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid. Why had she come to this party? She pulled and twisted against Curtis’s embrace.

  Please don’t let it be too late to apologize.

  Please let him forgive me. Please....

  “Come on, Vere, don’t be all PMS. Now that we’re a couple I was hoping to bury some of our seventh grade teasing tonight. I want to kiss you in front of everyone. One kiss for your boyfriend before you go. Be nice.”

  He brought her forward, his expression determined.

  Vere fixated on his giant puffy lips as they jutted obscenely from his face in full pucker. And her imagination took over. He looked exactly like a big, stinky fish.

  A giant, pawing, labrador-dog-fish!

  Vere squirmed in a panic and shouted at the top of her lungs. “I said, no! As in, never. We are not a couple. I’m not your girlfriend, I won’t go to homecoming with you. And STOP calling me nice. LET. ME. GO.”

  Vere didn’t know how her arms got loose. She simply felt the back of her fist come into direct contact with Curtis’s chin.

  Surprised, he released her, stumbled backwards, and tripped on his own big feet.

  Or were they paws?

  Vere felt just like Jack the Giant Slayer as Curtis stumbled again, and crumpled into the middle of Kristen Hodjwick’s living room.

  “My friends are not dorks,” she finished, but no one heard her, especially not Curtis, who’d been swallowed up in a wall of stunned, shouting people.

  Jenna, having just staged the world’s fastest recovery, ran over just as the living room erupted into laughter. “Oh. God.”

  Vere grabbed onto her for support. “Which door is closer? Front or back?” Vere whispered.

  “Neither. We’re trapped in a sea of drunk creeps.” Jenna blinked. “My only word for you, and for what just happened is, WHY?!” Jenna whispered low, “I’ll say it again. Why. Why? Whyyyyyy?”

  Vere clutched onto Jenna as though she were a life preserver. How could she make Jenna understand? She opted for the truth: “I have to get home. I think—no—I know. I’m in love with Hunter Kennedy. That’s why!” Vere smiled.

  “What?!!” Jenna moved in face-to-face with Vere. Jenna had gone completely pale and she seemed to be trying to analyze Vere’s pupils. “Tell me it’s not that. Tell me you’ve gone bonkers. Tell me you’re drunk, even. But don’t tell me you punched Curtis Wishford because you’re in love with a pop star on TV?” Jenna hissed. “You don’t even like GuardeRobe.”

  Vere laughed long and hard then. Her voice had gone high and giggly. “Not true. I LOVE them now. I know every single song they wrote by heart. Don’t you see? I am in love with Hunter Kennedy. Head over heels, in love, with Hunter Kennedy! I even made out with him, for a really long time.”

  “In your dreams, maybe? Stop talking like this. You’re scaring me. People might hear you.” Jenna’s expression had grown so freaked out that Vere couldn’t help but break out into another fit of giggles.

  “Oh. God. I know. It sounds so bad.” Vere put both hands over her face and tried to clear her head, wondering how she could ever explain this. IF she could ever explain it. She’d forgotten that this was all supposed to be a secret.

  “What in the heck does Hunter Kennedy have to do with your real life?” Jenna placed her hand on Vere’s forehead. “Are you sick? I know what this is. It’s hallucinating. Did you smoke anything, or take any pills at this party? Maybe someone slipped you something.”

  “Jenna. No. He’s so great. And sweet. And he used to be so sad. And I made out with him, and he said he loved me.” She blushed. “And he’s a really, really, really, really good kisser.”

  The noise in the room grew impossibly loud, the crowd around them even tighter. Howie Rutherford was now standing on the desk in the Hodjwick’s den. He was whooping and hollering as he strove to get a better glimpse of Curtis, who was still lying flat on the ground.

  Vere cringed, looking at Curtis’s motionless body. “Oh, no. Did I knock him out? For real?”

  Jenna nodded. “Yep. I think so.”

  “
Vere’s finally done it. She’s killed Curtis,” Howie yelled. “I warned him.”

  Kristen Hodjwick was pouring cold water on Curtis’s head.

  “Howie, you suck,” Jenna yelled in complete frustration her voice loaded with panic. Everyone laughed even more.

  Vere laughed, too, which caused Jenna to look twice as stressed on her behalf. At least they (not counting Jenna of course) all found Vere’s leap into the black hole of social oblivion amusing.

  “Do you think I should call an ambulance for Curtis?”

  “No. Look. He’s moving.” Jenna grabbed onto her arm.

  Curtis sat up and rubbed his chin as he glared confused and hurt eye-daggers at Vere.

  She felt really guilty. She would apologize to him right now if she could get through the crowd to him. If he hadn’t been so lame a few minutes ago.

  “We’ve got to get out of here.” Vere bit her lip, trying unsuccessfully to push back another random fit of giggling. “OMG. It is kind of funny, isn’t it? That I knocked him out again...”

  In front of everyone? HA!

  Jenna pushed Vere toward the door. “Don’t speak to anyone. You might be drugged. I’ve read about this. Do you think you are going to have a seizure or something major like that? Are the walls melting? Did you eat any mushroom looking things?”

  “No. Of course not. No melting. No mushrooms!” Her heart clenched. “But, Jenna...I am completely in love with Hunter Kennedy! Did you hear me? OMG. How could I not have known?” Vere whispered. “I love him so much.”

  Jenna turned and shot her another worried look. Her tone was ultra soothing. “Yeah. I hear you. And I’m head over heels with Harry Potter and Peeta Mellark. Stay with me. Okay? I’m right here. I feel your love. Now feel mine and start walking.”

  “You’re such a good friend. You won’t believe what I said to him. I told Hunter Kennedy that he didn’t even exist. Why did I say that? He’s the only guy in my whole life who ever has been real. Who has ever liked me, for me!”

  The image of her real BGF’s heartbroken face came into her mind. “I have to talk to him. Oh, God.” Vere started to cry. “And he kissed me...Jenna...it was so wonderful. It was.”

  “Of course it was. You already said that. Don’t cry.” Jenna was pushing her toward the door.