If Heaven Had Cheese Fries

by Stephanie Staudinger

  “Oh shit,” Noah whispered as he looked around. There were twenty or so students inside the gymnasium, most sitting at tables. The wide-open space on the makeshift dance floor was a glaring reminder of Matt’s alternate homecoming.

  I grabbed Noah’s wrist and twisted his watch towards me. It was 7:15 p.m.

  “It’s still early,” I ventured optimistically.

  Alyssa rolled her eyes and turned away. “Whatever. I have to go make a phone call.” She walked back up the way we had just came.

  “On that note,” Noah said as he turned to follow her, “Imma go sneak a smoke. You coming?”

  I shook my head no. I was left alone. Bailey, who had helped with the planning, wasn’t anywhere to be seen either. If I had learned anything about her lately, it was that she was a stickler for things like time.

  I knew who was behind the lack of attendance, and Alyssa knew too.

  For the past few weeks, Matt and his group had been talking about throwing their own dance with no dress code and all the booze, curse words, and sex infused song lyrics your heart could desire. They weren’t quiet about their plans—rather, they boasted about them constantly. They were playing a dangerous game, wanting those who weren’t invited to know where they stood. At the same time, they were daring us to say something.

  In Mr. Nash’s creative writing class, the group I sat with was invited. Everyone except me. Matt didn’t like being told no, and that’s all he seemed to get out of me. No to his advances, no to CC’s start of the year party, and no to his requests for me to stop hanging out with Alyssa.

  I wasn’t exactly fond of him either. After the night when Jenna got too drunk at my house, Matt had taken the liberty of telling everyone that we had made out and were now an item. Rumors I quickly and furtively worked to put a stop too.

  So there we were. I ladled some punch into a glass and found an empty table to sit at. I didn’t recognize anyone there, and I wasn’t in the mood to engage in small talk.

  I drummed my fingers against the table, wondering just how long it would take Noah to smoke his cigarette.

  A shadow fell across my table, but it wasn’t until a chair scraped against the floor that I realized I had company.

  “Mind if I sit?” Mr. Nash was dressed up. His black suit, yellow tie, and black top hat were all very fitting for the Magic Moment theme.

  “Depends. Are you going to pull a rabbit out of there?” I nodded towards the hat.

  He laughed and pointed to his socks which, lo and behold, were covered in rabbits. It was much more pleasant than my magic trick, being two souls trapped in one body who were constantly at war with one another.

  A slow song began to play overhead and I gestured out towards the dancefloor where only one couple had their arms wrapped around each other. “Not a bad turnout.” I cringed as soon as the words were out of my mouth.

  Mr. Nash was silent for a moment, thinking. “Yeah. It’s a shame how a couple of kids who think they know best have to ruin it for the rest.”

  I nodded, knowing exactly what he meant.

  “Well, I just wanted to check in to make sure you were having a good time.”

  “I am. Thank you.”

  “Mr. Nash, how do we get punch?” someone called from near the refreshments.

  “Whoops.” He stood up. “Duty calls. Although something tells me the punch chaperone this year is a bit of overkill, for once.” He made his way over to the small group of freshmen who were anxiously looking around for cups.

  I saw a few girls from my gym class wave to me from across the room. Finally, something to do. I got up to make my way towards them, but was grabbed forcibly out of nowhere by Alyssa –and also by Thorton, who I hadn’t seen much of recently.

  “Come with us,” they both said in unison.

  Jesus, they weren’t playing around. I rubbed my arm where Alyssa’s fake nails had dug into my skin, leaving a mark. This was serious. We exited the gym.

  “Not that bathroom,” Thorton said as I went to turn into the first one I saw. “Down this way.”

  I followed her to the opposite side of the building, where she easily opened a gate that closed off the rest of the school. “They never bother locking these things.”

  I didn’t ask how she knew. We walked a short way down the hallway until she deemed our location safe.

  “Look, I’m not even supposed to be here,” Thorton said. It was then I noticed that Thorton wasn’t even dressed for a dance. She was in a ripped pair of jeans. “My mom would kill me if she found out I went to the dance.”

  “Your mom is so fucked up,” Alyssa interjected.

  “Whatever,” Thorton mumbled, her shoulders slumping a little. I was sad for her. I remembered the story of how her parents met and how it had all fallen apart. “Having a drugged-out family came in handy this time. My sister gets her weed from Matt’s older brother, which normally pisses me off, but not today.” Her eyes twinkled.

  “Thorton found the party,” Alyssa finished for her.

  “Literally, the exchange was right at the location.” Thorton sighed dramatically. “The party is at the old Hillner place.”

  “Fuck.” Alyssa whistled. “I didn’t even think of that. Noah is gonna flip his shit when he knows we found the location.”

  Panic was starting to spread through my body. If they busted this party and got everyone in trouble, would it be the nail in the coffin, so to speak? My thoughts must have shown on my face, because Alyssa started waving her hand back and forth, inches from my nose.

  “Yoohoo, Abigail. We doing this or not? I have Noah on standby to call the cops and bust their asses.”

  “Fuck it,” Thorton said. “This is war. I’m done with their shit and them thinking they’re better than everyone else.”

  This was my chance to get some inside knowledge. “But what have they done that has been so bad?” I asked in my innocent voice.

  “Seriously?” I saw a look pass between Thorton and Alyssa.

  “Give her a break.” Alyssa cut Thorton off before she could open her mouth again. “She hasn’t been here long enough to know all the shit they’ve been responsible for.”

  Thorton leaned against a locker, not even flinching as someone’s birthday decoration came crashing down.

  She crossed her arms, “I could write you a novel. The icing on the cake--or fetal pig, I should say--is when they jacked one from the lab and left it in my locker overnight.”

  “That’s horrible.” I scrunched up my nose, imagining the stench of dead animal and formaldehyde when she opened her locker.

  “Yeah,” Thorton said. “To make matters worse, they never got caught. Of course I knew it was them, based off the shit-talking they did.”

  Alyssa put her arm gingerly on Thorton’s shoulder. “If only they knew the shit that you go through at home. They would think twice about making your life worse.”

  “Yeah, well, kids are assholes,” Thorton continued. “They didn’t give a fuck when they got me busted for smoking pot freshman year. They don’t give a fuck about anyone else except their own fucked-up lives.”

  Woah, so there was more to the story Matt had told me.

  “That’s why we’re doing this,” Alyssa stated.

  Thorton’s eyes narrowed as she stared at Alyssa’s phone, which was open and ready to put the plan in place. “Tell Noah it’s go time.”

  Shit. “Wait,” I yelled. They both stared at me. Think, Abigail, think. “Are we sure we want to do this? Isn’t that going to make things worse for everyone?”

  They stopped and looked down at their phones in unison, their fingers not moving. I wondered if they were having second thoughts.

  But then Alyssa’s phone dinged. “Oh,” she said half-heartedly, with a shrug. “It’s done. Noah already jumped the gun.”

  “Hell yeah. I wanna see these fuckers go down.” Thorton dug in her purse for her keys. Shall we go?”

  They started walking towards the exit, “You coming?” they asked,
looking at me expectantly.

  I had to make a choice.

  “Yeah, one sec. I’ll meet you outside.” With that, they turned and left.

  My hands moved faster than they ever had before as I dug through my purse to find my cell phone. I was able to steady myself as I dialed Matt’s number. He answered on the very first ring.

  “Hey, sweet cheeks, I knew you’d be calling.” His voice was already heavy, the words slurring together.

  “Don’t call me that.” I had to shout to be heard over the music and voices. “And listen to me. We need to talk.”

  Matt cut me off.

  “Look, babe.” He drew out the last word. Someone in the background yelled that the next keg needed to be tapped. “Can I call you babe? I’m sorry we didn’t invite you. I just didn’t know if we could trust you, and we needed this to go off without a hitch.”

  “Matt, listen to me!” I screamed into the phone.

  He wasn’t listening. “Darrington is on a swimming scholarship, and I just didn’t want anyone here that could nark and ruin his shot. He’s got a lot riding on this, and I love the man.” Matt sniffled before continuing. “And frankly--”

  “Matt, shut up,” I yelled finally and he was quiet.

  “Jesus, Abs. What’s your problem?”

  “The cops.” The words had just left my mouth when I realized it was too late.

  “Fuck, you hear that too?” Matt asked.

  The siren was wailing in the background, cutting through the noise of kids screaming.

  “You need to get everyone out of there now,” I said, but Matt wasn’t listening. He was already barking orders. “That needs to go upstairs. Now. Hillary, grab the key by the mantel. We might be able to stash some shit behind the props in the storage room.”

  “Everyone get the hell out of here. It’s a bust,” a voice that sounded like Darrington yelled before Matt’s line went dead.

  I needed to get there. I was careful to close the gate behind me as I took off running for the exit. I had to stop this. I didn’t know what good I’d be with the cops already closing in, but the least I could do was try. A group of teachers were whispering in the corner, I recognized Mr. Nash and Miss Fry immediately.

  Their low voices and stern expressions were all I needed to confirm that they had heard what was going on already.

  “I’ll go,” I heard Ethan state firmly. He backed away from the group and straight into me. It was too late to stop. My phone flew out of my hand and landed with a loud thwack against the floor. I went to retrieve it, but my heel got caught in my dress, causing me to fall and the bottom of my dress to tear.

  “Jesus.” It took me a moment to collect my breath.

  “I am so sorry,” It was Mr. Nash crouching a few feet away from me. “Are you okay?” He offered a hand.

  I was mortified.

  “Where are you going in such a rush?” he asked, suddenly suspicious. The group of teachers was dispersing.

  We shared a look. We each knew where the other was going.

  “Ethan, a word?” A teacher I didn’t recognize called him over.

  He leaned in towards me. “Listen, just be safe.”

  I picked up my phone. Great. It was shattered. Too late to do anything now. I knew there was no way that Alyssa and Thorton were still waiting for me. My phone vibrated in my hand, the cracks of glass shaking under the force, but unfortunately, there was no way to tell who was trying to contact me. This was hopeless.

  “You’re bleeding,” Mr. Nash had returned, gesturing at my lower lip. I made no effort to stop it. He then followed my gaze down to my phone. “Oh no, I’m sorry about that.”

  “It’s fine.” I shrugged. “Both are fixable.”

  He pulled a Kleenex out of his pocket and handed it to me. I took it without a word.

  “Take care of yourself.”

  That was the thing, though. It wasn’t about taking care of me. I needed to take care of those who needed me the most. I slipped off my shoes and ran towards the door, hoping all the while that somehow someone would steer me towards whichever group that was.

  CHAPTER 13

  We pulled into the old Hillner place an hour later than I had hoped. It was an older mansion at the edge of town. There were overgrown bushes and trees on each side, and the grass looked as though it hadn’t been cut for years. I had been expecting police lights but not a car was in sight.

  “Rumor is that this place is haunted,” Joanna, a girl from my gym class, told me as she parked. I nodded, half tempted to ask how she’d react if she knew she was sitting in a car with a ghost. “Because someone was murdered here. Matt’s uncle was able to buy this house for a low-budget horror film he shot a few years back.”

  I nodded, only half listening as I grabbed for my phone. I expected to be greeted with the shattered reminder of a dance gone wrong. Instead, the glass was perfectly smooth and cool to the touch. It was if nothing had happened--except everything had, as I could tell from the seven missed calls.

  “Excuse me while I make a phone call.” I exited the car and wandered over to the path. A few red solo cups were strewn across the lawn, a few beer cans tossed into a bush. They were the only reminders that something had gone down there.

  I scrolled through my phone. The majority of the calls were from Matt. Thankfully, none appeared to be a collect call from jail.

  I dialed his number.

  “We got busted,” Matt said without even a hello.

  I wasn’t sure if he remembered that I had called him.

  “And his face is fucking busted,” Darrington yelled in the background.

  “What?”

  “Yes, yes it is.” Gone was Matt’s slurred speech, in its place was a bitter edge.

  “What hap--” I tried asking again.

  “Just get here, we’re at my sister’s. I’ll text you the address.”

  I walked back to Joanna’s car, grateful that she had waited for me when she probably had a hundred other places she wanted to be on homecoming night. There were still kind people.

  “We’ve got some shit going on,” Matt texted along with the address. “Get here now.”

  My phone buzzed with a text from Alyssa. I knew Glen had fixed my phone, but in that moment I almost wished he hadn’t.

  “You okay?” Joanna studied me as I buckled my seatbelt. I was at a crossroads. My heart told me that Alyssa’s group needed me more. After years of bullying, they’d be the likely ones to retaliate after all of this. Matt’s group seemed resilient, and this was just another thing that happened in life, something that they’d be angry about short-term but able to get over.

  I gave Joanna directions to the address Alyssa gave me. We didn’t talk much, especially after she told me not to worry about the ride for the fifth time after I told her how appreciative I was.

  “Woah.” Joanna pulled into a neighborhood, clicking the locks shut on her door. All around were run-down homes and boarded-up windows. A house at the end was charred, and I wondered how long it had been sitting abandoned since a fire had ravaged it. The atmosphere had changed from the nice roads of Iver Grove that I was used to. “I can honestly say I’ve never driven over here.”

  She pulled in front of the home where Alyssa had told me to go. I saw the others sitting on the porch. I gave Joanna a hug goodbye and offered her a twenty-dollar bill, which she graciously declined. She didn’t notice me tuck it under hear seat.

  I approached the home, which actually appeared to be the nicest on the block. That wasn’t saying much. The paint was still peeling, and parts of the porch railing were missing. This had to be Thorton’s home.

  The first thing I noticed was that Noah was sitting with his head in his lap. An unlit cigarette was dangling between his fingers. He lifted his head when he heard me approaching.

  “Oh, my God, are you okay?” I asked. Noah’s curls were matted and dirty, with a few dried-up leaves sticking out. His left eye was swollen shut, partly thanks to the untouched bag of ice sitt
ing next to him. I squinted more closely at him. There was even a cut above his lip. I shuddered as I realized that it matched the imprint of Matt’s class ring, which I pictured being covered in dried blood, dulling the shine it once held.

  “If you think that’s bad, you should see Matt’s face,” Thorton laughed as she tilted her head back, pouring the remaining beer into her mouth before crushing the can on the beam next to her. It made me nervous that the whole house would crumble under the force.

  “What did you do to Matt?” I asked as I took a seat next to Noah, well aware my phone was vibrating from within my clutch, most likely Matt calling again.

  Noah lifted two fingers up.

  “Two black eyes,” Alyssa spoke for him as she gingerly picked the leaves out of his hair. “Pretty boy’s face isn’t so pretty.”

  Thorton cackled, her laughs echoing through the otherwise silent street.

  “Shut up,” a hoarse voice from within screamed to be heard over the box fan which was whirring near the window.

  Thorton bowed her head, seemingly ashamed at being chastised. “Tell her the story.” She lowered her voice as she addressed Alyssa.

  “Hold up.” Alyssa took a swig of beer. “I need to drink for this.”

  I nodded at the small pile of beer cans that was forming near Noah’s feet. “Aren’t you guys worried that they’ll call the cops too?”

  I was tempted to start picking the cans up, hiding them.

  “Look around,” Thorton jumped off the porch and got really close to me. I could feel her breath in my ear. “Look where I fucking live. Think any of those kids would ever set foot here?”

  She stayed where she was long enough to make me uncomfortable before sneering with her lips and heading towards her front lawn which sat at an incline. She lay flat on the grass, her orange hair flaring out against the dead grass like some sort of fallen angel cut from the brightest flames.

  “So, get this.” Alyssa’s voice was shrieking, excited to tell her side of what had happened.

  Thorton sat straight up, “Please keep it down,” she whispered at Alyssa. Gone was the picture of an angel, and left in its place was a nervous and broken girl. Under the glow of the porch light, I could see the bags just barely poking through the layers of makeup she had caked on.