“Hannah and Becca? No. To be honest, it’s hard with them sometimes. They take volleyball so seriously, and to me, it’s just whatever. Cheerleading was always my passion but with those short skirts, there’s no way I could show the whole school what I had done.”
I nodded. “You’re okay now, though, right?”
“I am.”
“Then don’t think of them as flaws. They’re a part of who you were and who you’ve become.”
“I like that.”
I had what I needed. All along, I had wanted to hear what was going on from a fellow outsider to see what they saw. The conversation eventually faded between us. I stood up to leave, tossing my book bag onto my shoulder. I needed to get home anyways and write this all down while it was still fresh in my memory.
“Hey, Abigail?”
I turned towards Bailey, who was standing up too, leaning against the table edge. “I misjudged you.”
“I misjudged you, too,” I told her before I walked back towards school where my car was waiting. There was no doubt in my mind that it was Bailey, not Thorton, who Ethan had referenced. It just went to show that we never knew what secrets people hid under the surface.
CHAPTER 20
“Ouch.” I touched my fingers to the spot where I had just burned my neck with a straightener. I knew it was just a matter of time until a bright red mark would form in its place. I was half tempted to stay there and watch in the mirror, to remind myself that wounds were real.
I studied the reflection staring back at me and the picture of Dylan Dwyer taped to the top of my mirror. The resemblance was uncanny. I took the picture down and flipped it over on my nightstand.
It was already several minutes after 7 p.m. and Matt was nowhere to be found. I still had no clue where we’d be going, so I’d settled on a basic black dress and some boots. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone anyway.
“Honey, there’s a gentleman here for you,” I heard my dad yell. He was most likely sitting in his favorite spot at the kitchen table, where he had a full view of the driveway and street ahead.
I gave him a quick kiss before dashing out the door. If I stayed any longer, I knew he’d ask to meet Matt, and I wasn’t ready for that. I didn’t even know who Matt was well enough to introduce him.
“I want to meet whoever you’re going out with next time,” Dad yelled after me.
Matt was waiting out front in a seemingly brand-new car, different from the one he normally drove to school. The back seat was filled with film equipment which I ignored until it felt like the elephant in the room.
“My uncle is a filmmaker.” Matt said as we pulled away, figuring I would ask anyways. “I’m just borrowing his car for the weekend.”
We were stopped at a red light as Matt reached out to touch my hair. “You look older with straight hair. Pretty.”
I whipped my head away, just beyond reach of his fingers.
“No greasy fingers in my hair.” I wiggled my finger at him and the bag of greasy fast food that was perched on the console between us.
“Munchies,” Matt said as he took a chicken nugget out of the bag. I was surprised that it was already dipped in barbeque sauce. We drove for fifteen minutes. I kept asking him where we were going, to no avail. I guessed food was out of the equation.
“You ok? You seem kinda grumpy,” Matt asked as he turned into what appeared to be a subdivision. “Meadow Green,” read the sign.
“I’m fine.” I plastered on a fake smile.
“There’s that lovely smile.” He beamed at me, as if pleased with himself.
“So what is this place?
“The magical land of Darrington’s parents’ home.”
It was anything but magical. Just your basic run-of-the-mill subdivision with homes that looked entirely too similar, right down to the cars parked in front and their choices in fall decor. You could spot which one belonged to Darrington’s family. A dozen cars were already squished together like sardines in the driveway. Matt didn’t care at all. He drove right up onto the lawn and parked next to a row of bushes. So, he had taken me to a party.
Matt exited the car and began walking towards the house. It took him a moment to realize I wasn’t following.
He came and opened my door. “Ah, you’re one of those girls.” He was smiling that same lopsided grin.
“Those girls?” I repeated. I didn’t understand what he was saying.
“You won’t get out of the car until a man opens the door for you.” He put his hand against his heart in a mock heartwarming gesture. “The whole chivalry-isn’t-dead shebang.”
“Chivalry is dead, and it’s proof when you say things like that. Anyways, I was fixing my shoe.” I positioned the sock which had fallen partially off my foot before following Matt to the side door. “I thought you asked me on a date?”
“I did.” He stopped walking to turn and look at me, a puzzled look crossing his face.
“This is not a date.”
“This is a date,” he corrected me.
I wasn’t going to argue with him.
“I mean, I don’t have a dictionary or anything, but I’m sure if you look up ‘date’ it’s food, alcohol, and a place to hang for a man and a woman. Although it’s 2018, so they might have axed the genders.” Matt chuckled. “We had food, and now we have drinks.”
He had food, but I resisted the urge to eye-roll or correct him. If I started, something told me that I’d never stop.
Instead I followed him inside, where I was met with the overpowering smell of beer and sweat.
“Now this is a party.” Matt inhaled deeply, as if we had just stepped into some sort of bakery and not someplace with one hundred high schoolers packed closely together. He grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd. Every room was packed with people. That was definitely a fire hazard but, thankfully, fires were not behind my destination door.
We found Darrington sitting on a stool at the edge of his kitchen island, a girl standing between his legs, leaning back into him. For a moment, I thought they’d both topple over. I didn’t recognize the girl, but she introduced herself almost immediately as Jolinda Burrows, a junior at one of the local public schools. She made a weird digging motion with her hands as I studied her.
“Ohh.” I gasped. “Burrows. You’re burrowing. I get it.”
“I’ve heard about you. Matt’s girlfriend right?” she asked, wiggling her eyebrows at me.
Matt and I said ‘yes’ and ‘no’ at the exact same time. I gave up and excused myself to go get a drink.
More people were on the deck out back, which made sense. There was a keg, and it smelled infinitely better out there. Kids stood around clutching their red solo cups as they talked in small groups.
I got in line. There were only two people lined up ahead of me. The guy in front turned around to offer me a cup. It was Zeke. Although we hadn’t said many words to each other since I flipped him off, I wanted to be cordial.
“Abigail,” he said coolly.
“Zeke.” I gave him a stiff head-nod in response.
He turned back around to his friend. Conversation over, thankfully. Except that a moment later he was turning back around to face me. “Who are you here with?”
“Matt.”
He laughed as he picked up the faucet to the keg. I couldn’t help but notice that he filled his cup up with mostly foam. He handed it to me.
“No thanks, I’ll get my own.”
“Feisty.” He took a sip of his foam. “Cigarette?” He shuffled one out of the pack and pointed towards a patio table on the corner of the deck.
“Sure.” I followed him after I finished filling my cup. The wooden seat was slightly damp as I took a seat across from him.
“Dang, you ain’t wasting no time coming here with someone like Matt. Cheers.” Zeke then emptied his beer before indicating for me to finish mine, which I did. He didn’t waste any time filling our cups back up. I puffed my cigarette, which was easier said than done when I was
trying to suppress the urge to cough.
Zeke asked if I was okay a moment later when he returned with a second beer. I nodded. My eyes were watering. I wondered how long I’d get away with just sitting out there away from everyone.
Zeke excused himself a minute later. A few girls from school were having trouble getting the keg started.
“Gotta be a knight in shining armor.” He winked at me before literally sprinting to them. Chivalry isn’t dead.
I put out the rest of my cigarette and leaned back in my chair, wondering if Matt was missing his “date.”
I did feel a touch out of place sitting there alone. I wasn’t surprised that Alyssa, Thorton, and Noah were nowhere to be found. Although it did cross my mind that they could be hiding in a bush somewhere, ready to bust this party too. I jumped in my seat when I actually thought I heard a sound from the bushes. Turned out it was just my stomach growling loudly. Drinking beer on an empty stomach wasn’t helping matters. I stood up, grabbing onto the back of the chair to maintain my balance. Unfortunately, the chair wasn’t any steadier than me, and I went crashing to the ground.
“Woah.” Matt came running towards me. I wasn’t sure how much of my embarrassing display he had seen.
“Where have you been?” I asked as soon as soon as he had helped me into a sitting position. My head was still spinning, which made it difficult to focus on what he was saying. Not that it was important. I caught something about how he couldn’t believe the turnout and how every time he tried to get away, he was pulled back.
“Party is heeeeere.” A high pitched voice cut through the chatter of the night. Most people stopped what they were doing to look towards the door at whoever just arrived. I knew it was the CC’s before I even lifted my head, which was suddenly entirely too heavy for my body.
Both Claire and Carly were dressed in the same style of mid-thigh dresses, despite how cold it was quickly becoming. I looked down at the thick tights that covered my knees and felt incredibly overdressed.
It was Carly, wearing a bright yellow dress, who had yelled out. For once she was easily distinguishable from Claire, who was wearing solid black.
Carly was holding a camera, spinning around making sure she got footage of everyone. A few people ducked out of sight, not wanting to be seen chugging beers while underage.
“Woah.” Carly wobbled unsteadily towards us, holding onto Claire’s shoulder for support. Balancing a camera in heels was no easy feat.
Claire didn’t seem much better off. She was unsteady on her feet, and the added pressure of Carly wasn’t helping. She threw Carly’s hand off her shoulder seconds before she made it to the side of the home that she could lean on for support. I watched as she slumped down like a rag doll, leaving Carly to fend for herself. It was a train wreck and I needed to look away.
“A little help?” Carly was looking in our direction.
“Ah, shit.” Matt said before jumping up to help. I wasn’t sure if the ‘ah, shit’ was because she had seen us or because Claire had just face-planted onto the deck.
Matt returned a second later with his hand around Carly. I couldn’t help but notice he was clutching the camera more tightly, as if that was the thing in need of more support and protection.
Carly plopped down next to me, or rather, Matt plopped her down right next to me.
“I love you.” She looked me straight in the eyes before laying her head down on my lap. Not knowing what to do, I patted her head gently. It must have been the right choice. She was softly snoring a minute later.
“Early start to the night?” I looked up at Claire, who had crawled over to us on her own. Matt had forgotten about her.
“You’re telling me.” She took the camera from Matt, who was reluctant to let go.
“I told you not to bring that thing tonight,” Matt scolded her, but she didn’t respond. She was intensely focused on the buttons. “Especially when you’ve been drinking,” he finished scolding her.
“Doing more work on Ethan’s project?” I asked innocently.
“Who is Ethan?” Matt leaned in, a wrinkle deepening on his forehead.
“Oh. Sorry. I meant Mr. Nash.” Shoot. Were teachers’ names public or private information? Was I being obvious? The beer had gone from making me woozy, to making me paranoid.
Matt whispered into Claire’s ear for an uncomfortable amount of time. I cleared my throat.
“All right, we’ll tell you.” It was Matt who spoke first. He scooted forward in his seat as if he was going to join me on the floor before Claire threw her arm out, stopping him in his tracks.
She narrowed her eyes at me. “We will tell you the basics.” She shot Matt a warning look as if she didn’t trust him not to tell all to his “new girlfriend” or whatever they called me. “It’s a documentary about ill-” She stopped midword, turning towards Matt excitedly. “Get the camera.”
I tried to shift my body so I could see who they were looking at. Carly groaned as I did so, a small patch of drool forming on my dress.
“He’s here,” Matt’s voice was barely above a whisper of awe. It was as if speaking any louder would break the spell of whoever had appeared.
I craned my neck towards the keg. Chase from my lunch table was standing there, inspecting the keg from all angles.
“Someone should probably help him.” I was serious but Claire shrieked with laughter. There was little I could do underneath the weight of a snoring, drooling, drunk girl.
“Gross, don’t help him.” Claire retorted when she finished laughing.
“He’s not gross, “I said. “He’s nice. I sat with him at lunch a few times.”
“Oh he’s definitely gross,” Matt chimed in. “I’ve had homeroom with him for all of high school. Every time he farts, he hand sanitizes to mask the smell.”
“I could have lived my life without knowing that.” I shot Matt a look.
“I could have lived my high school life without smelling the combination of farts and hand sanitizer. Seriously, it’s like a nursing h-”
“Shut it and roll the camera.” Claire suddenly whispered at Matt, cutting him off. He was already one step ahead of her. He had picked it up, the lens pressed against his eye in the direction of Chase.
I squinted in that direction. Chase had set his plastic cup down on the porch railing. From his pocket, he retrieved what appeared to be a small multi-colored slinky. He was alone, and he even looked around to make sure of it before rocking the slinky back and forth between both hands. He did this for several seconds before grabbing hold of one end, letting it fall down before bopping it against his knee several more times. I was mesmerized. The bright colors of a rainbow slinky drew me in with their waves of motion. A bright spot on an otherwise dark night. As quickly as it started, it was over. Chase tucked the slinky back into his hoodie pocket before picking back up his empty cup and wandering away.
“Finally.” Matt said to Claire as they high-fived. I might have no idea what had just happened, but there was one thing I did know. I didn’t like the look that passed between them, not one bit.
CHAPTER 21
I was already running late for the creative writing class, and it didn’t help that the principal decided to stop me while I was running full speed ahead. I skidded to a halt to accept the pencil case he handed me, emblazoned with the school mascot. I had thought I was the only one keeping track of my time at the school. Apparently not. My being there for a month was a big deal for the school too, and I had a gift to show for it.
Ethan’s door was within sight. I could make it if I just hurried.
“Hey, you’re late,” a kid I didn’t recognize shouted at me as he ran in the opposite direction. He was right. I had stopped abruptly to avoid being hit by him. The pencil case flew from my hands. Just my luck: it was filled with pencils and pens which scattered across the hallway floor.
I was half tempted to kick them all aside. The final bell was ringing, and the door to Ethan’s room was shut. I knew I should have got
ten a tardy slip from the principal, but I figured if anyone would understand, it would be Ethan. I gave two gentle knocks, nervous about disturbing the class, who had probably taken their seats to wait on his instructions.
The door swung open and I was face to face with Ethan.
“Take a seat, please.” The expression on his face was unreadable. I was all too aware that every pair of eyes was on me as I walked to my desk. I looked to Alyssa, who quickly averted her eyes.
“Now that we’re all here.” He was again standing in front of his desk, arms crossed in front of him. There was that déjà vu again. This time, reminiscent of the last drunk driving lecture. Had something big happened when I left the party? I was one of the last people to leave, after Darrington yelled at me for trying to tidy up. The CC’s were both tucked into a bed together, snoring peacefully. If anyone would have done something stupid, it would have been them.
“I’m not your parent,” Ethan said. “I’ve made that perfectly clear since I started teaching here.”
“Wish you were, though.” Zeke was throwing out his usual one-liners.
“I’ve lectured you guys before on drinking and poor choices. Less than a few weeks after the first incident at homecoming, we’re made aware of a second huge party.”
I looked to Matt and Darrington, who looked at each other, then narrowed their eyes at me in unison. Great, always the black sheep. I knew the wheels were spinning as they searched for answers. The blame was going to fall on me.
“It doesn’t matter how I know.” The whispers that filled the classroom came to a halt. “I’m glad that you guys all made it home safely this time. Here’s the thing you need to understand, however.” He took a deep breath, and his voice was cold when he started talking again. “I can’t help you all anymore. I gave you guys a chance to make things right and put an end to the drinking culture at this school.”
“We can all thank Jenna and her need to sneak booze in her water bottles,” Claire whispered to the girl next to her. So much for having your friend’s back.
If Heaven Had Cheese Fries Page 21
