“Chelsea.” I screamed out to her as I ran up to her. “I can’t believe you’re back.” I hugged her tightly, and she hugged me back. It had been weeks since I’d actually seen her.
“I just couldn’t take it anymore. Those people are so into their music. It’s so intense. It’s like everyone is obsessed. .” Chelsea explained, her dark curls bouncing as she stepped off of the sidewalk with me, to get out of the way of other students headed to class. It was considered polite to get out of everyone’s way if you were going to stop and chat.
Everyone hung out at Senior Pole early in the morning before school started. That’s just how we always passed the time. It beats smoking and drinking off campus like the Losers do. The Losers are just that, a bunch of losers, who are so uncreative and unimaginative that they can’t have fun without drugs, cigarettes, or alcohol. Of course, they call us the Goody-goodies. Ouch! Like that’s going to hurt us long term, and cause serious mental issues in our future. Losers aren’t really bright either. Not too snappy with the comebacks.
One by one our group gathered at Senior Pole. Everyone was excited to see Chelsea again. We’d seen her over the last year and a half, but it was just for brief periods of time, like birthday parties and slumber parties, and trips to the movies and skating, and bowling. My group is always doing something. We love to shop, too! There’s just not a better day than going to Metro Center ice skating and shopping.
“So, tell me how you convinced your mom to let you come back here.” I asked Chelsea, dying to know what it took to get a die-hard mom to back off. I sure could use that bit of info. My mom is always trying to get me to follow in her footsteps. She means well, so I can’t blame her. She only wants the best for me. But I have no interest in becoming a computer programmer like her. She makes us a good living with just her income, since her and Dad split three years ago. She makes sure that I have everything I need. But I just don’t know what I want to do with my life yet. I’m only sixteen and I have years to decide.
“I just begged and begged.” Chelsea laughed, then added, “then I threatened to kill myself.” She laughed even more, and everyone laughed with her.
We’ve really missed Chelsea, missed having her around. She was always the class clown. Things are definitely going to be more interesting now that she’s back.
“So, Misty. I hear you and Brandon broke up. When did that happen? And how did I miss it?” Chelsea asked me.
About that time, Hannah walks up to the Senior Pole. “Don’t ask!” she puts her finger in her mouth and pretends to be gagging, then pats me on the back. Hannah and I had been friends since the third grade. She was tall like me, so we literally saw eye to eye. She is a lot of fun to be around. She’s blonde and really pretty. The guys love to watch her walk by.
I laughed at Hannah. I could always depend on her to stand by me, no matter what. “About two months ago, now.”
“What happened?” Chelsea asked, incredulously, as if she thought Brandon and I would never break up in a million years. “I thought you two were so perfect for each other.”
“He wanted more. I didn’t want to give it to him.” I explained, trying to look at her face when I said it.
“He’s such a jerk.” Hannah joined in. “He cheated on her with Katy. Can you believe that?”
“What the heck?” Chelsea asked. “Katy? What kind of idiot is he? Is he blind?” Chelsea went off.
“That’s what I said.” Hannah agreed with Chelsea’s report on Brandon.
“She puts out. I don’t. End of story.” I tried to explain it in simple terms.
“What a jerk!” Chelsea said.
“Yep! A complete and total jerk. Then he tells her that he doesn’t want to date her any more. After he does Katy.” Hannah explained, with anger in her voice.
“What a jerk!” Chelsea said.
“Yes. He’s a jerk.” I said softly. I hated calling him names, because I still cared for him so much. It broke my heart when he broke up with me. I didn’t know why. He said that we had just grown apart, that it just wasn’t working. I didn’t find out about Katy until later, when Katy told me herself. She was very proud of herself for bagging a football player. I was pretty disgusted with him, after that, but I still think about him a lot. I don’t know why. If I was smart, I’d never look his way again.
“Sounds like you still like him?” Chelsea asked.
“Sort of. But I’m dating a new guy now.” I said.
“Yep. She’s dating Justin Tolley now.” Hannah announced, proud of herself for spilling the news first. .
“I don’t think I know him.” Chelsea said. “Is he on the football team, too? Is he a senior?”
“No. He’s a junior and he’s in the band. He plays the saxophone. He’s really good. He’s won competitions even.” I was trying to build up Justin to Chelsea. I don’t know why. I didn’t have to justify who I liked to her, or anyone else.
“And, he’s super nice. And, really good looking.” Hannah added for me.
“I can’t wait to meet him.” Chelsea said.
“You will. We’ve only been out twice, but I think we’re going to last longer than me and Brandon did.” I explained.
“Good.” Chelsea hugged me. “Guess I need to go to class.” She waved as she turned around and walked away.
“Off to Chemistry.” Hannah announced. We walked together since we were going to same class.
The bell rang behind us. All the kids scattered to their separate classes.
Sitting in my Chemistry class, my mind starts to wander. Imagine that. I think about Brandon. I just couldn’t seem to let him go completely.
I’m so confused. Justin is such a nice guy, but he’s almost the opposite of Brandon. Maybe that’s what I saw in him. He in no way reminds me of Brandon, even in the least. He hasn’t kissed me yet. We’ve only been on two dates. I think he’s really shy, which is exactly the opposite of Brandon. He’s taller than Brandon, but a lot skinnier. My mom says he’ll fill out eventually. My mom seems to like him better than she liked Brandon. Of course, that didn’t score him more points with me. My mom and I usually disagree on guys. He has dark hair, and dark brown eyes. He’s good looking too, a perfect face, and he dressed really nice. He is popular in his groups, in his own way. Everyone likes him. He is the sweetest thing, and he treats me so great. I just don’t know what’s wrong with me. Why am I still hung up on Brandon if Justin is so great for me?
I think really hard about Brandon. I can see where he is, in Calculus class, bored, kind of like me. I smile and bring myself back to my Chemistry lecture. When I say I can see where he is, I mean that I can actually see through his eyes. I’ve had this weird ability to actually see through people’s eyes that I think about really hard. But only for a few seconds. If I do it too often, or try to do it for too long, then my head really starts to hurt. It’s a headache different from a real headache. Excedrin doesn’t touch it. My mom tries to make me take Tylenol, but that doesn’t help either. I haven’t told my mom that I can do this. Also, I’ve quit telling her when I have that kind of a headache. I try really hard not to push it to the headache limit, but sometimes I just can’t help myself. I first discovered this when I was really young. I would hate it when my mom would leave me at daycare, so naturally I started thinking about her. I could see her just for a split second. As I got older, I was smart enough to ask my mom questions that proved that I wasn’t just imagining the whole thing. Needless to say, I haven’t told anyone about this weird thing I can do with my mind. I figure it’s no one’s business but mine, and I don’t want people thinking I’m weird. I like fitting in too much.
After Chemistry, I hang out and wait for Justin. He usually walks me to my Art class. He must be running late today. I wait as long as I can, then I leave without him. I can’t be late to Art class. It’s my favorite class of the day. I don’t know what I want to do when I graduate, but I know it’s going to be something artsy. I love art, all kinds. I just couldn’t decide on which one I would want to do fulltime. I love sculpting, and painting, and drawing, and stamping, and making jewelry. The list could go on and on. Maybe I’ll be a designer of some kind. I like sewing, and making all kinds of things. I just can’t decide. Thinking about my future makes my head hurt too.
“Hi Miss Kale.” I call out to my favorite teacher, who is sitting at her desk in front of the class.
“Hi Misty.” She glances up from her grade book, eyeing me from beneath her long blond hair. She’s a true artist. She actually makes a living with her art. She teaches art classes, here at school and after school in her home. She sells her paintings and her sculptures. I’ve seen some of her sculptures go for almost $3,000 on EBay. I get more excited about it than she does, I think. I just love her as a teacher and an artist. I hang out with her every chance I get. I’m in the Art club, and I’m the secretary of the Art Club. Plus, I am her teacher’s assistant next period. Usually I just hang out in here, and work on my own artwork. Sometimes she lets me sort all of the pastels, or the oil colors. I don’t think she really needed an assistant, but I pretty much begged for the job. It’s an easy “A”.
I sit down and quietly begin to work on my watercolor painting. I kind of zone out when I paint. I must have been in the zone when my cousin Stormy passed by the classroom window. I heard laughter coming from the class, so I look up to see what they’re laughing at, and it’s Stormy with her face pressed against the glass, sticking her tongue out. She yells, “Hi Misty.”, then she walks on. I wave her off. She’s a crazy girl, usually pretty shy. I don’t know why. She has what my mom calls the Roberts Girls good looks, tall and slender, and a cute nose. She’s a year younger than me, but we get along pretty well for cousins, I guess. We don’t exactly hang out at school, but we don’t avoid each other either. In fact, every time we see each other, we have to touch in some way, hugging, or slapping on the back, even if we don’t say hi to each other. Kind of weird I guess, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, I don’t think. We’re together enough when our families get together. She comes over and spends the night every once in a while, and I go over to her house. Her house is quite a bit more lively than my house though. She has an older brother and a younger sister, Drew and Kylie. They live on a ranch in Palo Verde. I’m just not a real country girl I guess. Kylie and her mom are into horses in a big way. They are always riding in rodeos. Drew is into cars, loud ones, and he’s always working on one, and racing the engine. Stormy is usually quiet. She reads a lot. She is on the dance team here at school, too. The team is really good. They won some trophies last year for their routines. I like to watch her do her stuff. I could never do anything like that. I’m just not that coordinated.
Justin catches me after my art class. “Misty!” he grabs me around the waist and pulls me close. He’s never kissed me, but he hugs me all the time.
“Justin.” I say as I hug him back. “I guess your Auto Class was late getting out again. I waited for you.”
“Yep. We had to put the hood back on and it didn’t want to cooperate.” He laughed, snuggling close to me. We leaned up against the wall, so we wouldn’t be smashed by the other kids running to their classes. Justin had a free class this period, and I had to go back in for Miss Jenkins class again. She was really lenient with me, though. She lets me come in ten minutes or so late. I made good use of my borrowed time with Justin. We stood outside the classroom, embraced and laughing for another ten minutes or so. Our usual routine.
At lunch, I eat with my friends sometimes, and sometimes with Justin. He has extra stuff to do in Auto Class sometimes during lunch, so we have to skip having lunch together. Today, he has Auto Class. We usually eat in the cafeteria, but sometimes we venture off down to Circle K. It’s only about a block and a half away. The weather here in Arizona is perfect most of the time. It never rains. But in the summer time, it’s too hot to walk to Circle K. It’s the middle of October, so it’s tolerable to walk. You have to be careful of all the Cruisers during lunch hour. The Cruisers are the kids who drive their cars all around the school during lunch hour. All the kids are proud of their cars, so they drive them in a circle around the school, and around the block. Everyone waves at everyone they know, and admire each other’s cars. Kind of corny. But I wish I had a car so I could do it too. So far, I don’t know how to drive. Mom hasn’t had the time to teach me. I sincerely doubt she has the patience either. She’s not known for her patience. Maybe I’ll get Hannah or Justin to teach me, then act like I’m a fast learner when Mom finally decides to teach me.
I meet up with Kelsey in the lunch line to the cafeteria. I tap her on the shoulder as I walk up behind her. She’s been a friend for two years. She has bright red hair and freckles.
“Hi Kelsey!” I said, sliding in behind her to see what’s on the menu for today. Looks like I’m having a hamburger and French fries again.
“Hey. Did you hear about Mariah?” Kelsey asks.
“What!” I say defensively. Mariah is one of my best friends. She has been since the first grade.
“Don’t worry. It’s not bad.” Kelsey holds up two hands as if I were holding a gun on her. “Johnny is moving out of state, to Ohio, I think.”
“For real?” I asked. Mariah’s world almost came to an end a few months ago when Johnny was about to move out of state then. At the last minute, his parents changed their minds, something about his dad’s new job fell through. For almost a month, Mariah was a basket case, thinking her one and only true love was going to leave her.
“Yes. It’s for real this time. I was the office assistant this morning. His mom came in and checked him out this morning. She got his grades to take to his new school.” Kelsey proclaimed.
“Oh no. Is that why Mariah isn’t here?” I was finally putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Mariah was usually with us during lunch, laughing and talking and gossiping. She’s quite the riot. I thought about Mariah really hard. I seen her in Johnny’s arms, kissing him, but crying. I knew Mariah would need a friend tonight.
Chelsea slid in behind me, tapping me on the back. “He’s leaving tonight. It wouldn’t surprise me if she missed school to spend her last day with him. She misses school for anything. She’s even going to miss school for the opening day of the next Twilight movie. My mom would never go for that.” Chelsea chimed in with the information she had on the subject.
It was true. She did miss a lot of school, but she always made it up. Mariah was a really smart girl.
“Poor Mariah!” I exclaimed. “I would hate to be her right now.”
Everyone agreed. We all sat through lunch thinking of Mariah, and discussing her future boyfriend options, and what we could do to cheer her up tonight. There was talk of taking a cheesecake over to her. We could all eat her blues away with her. We did that a lot. It’s a wonder we’re not all overweight.
After school, Kelsey drives all five of us to Kroger. Only five of us are allowed in her little Pontiac Sunfire, and it’s a bit crowded. Everyone must have a seat belt. My mom would kill me if I ever rode in a car without a seat belt. At Kroger, we pick up Mariah’s favorite cheesecake, Triple Chocolate Truffle, then drive on to her house.
We gather at her door, all together first, then knock on her door with a smile. She answers the door in her long pajamas, looking as though she’d been crying all day long. She probably has. Mariah is a short girl, not really skinny, but not overweight either. She has dark curly hair. It will be hard to even envision her without Johnny. They were practically joined at the hip for the last few years.
“Mariah! We thought you could use some cheesecake cheer.” I say as cheerfully as possible, as we practically barge past her.
“Exactly. We’re not leaving you alone tonight, Girlfriend.” Kelsey says.
Mariah just smiles, as she leads us to her bedroom. We all pile on her huge bed. We put the cheesecake in the middle. I run into the kitchen and grab five forks, being careful not to wake her dad. He works nights, and he usually sleeps until like eleven. I lie on the bed next to Mariah.
“So, are you going to be OK? Do you want to talk about it?” I ask Mariah.
“No. I’m OK. I just can’t believe that it actually happened.” Mariah spoke as though she were in a fog still.
“Are you two going to keep up this thing, I mean stay together, a long distance relationship?” Kelsey asked.
Chelsea and Hannah both chime in, at almost the same time. “Yes, you could give that a try.”
“No. We knew that wouldn’t work. He’s a thousand miles away. He’ll never be able to come back. And I’ll never be able to go to Ohio. And, we didn’t want to end it over the phone in the next month or two.”
“So you’re going to stay friends, right?” Chelsea asks. “It would be sad not to at least be friends.”
“Yes. You’ve got to stay friends. You two were together for three years.” I reasoned with her.
“Of course, we’ll stay friends. But the boyfriend girlfriend thing is over.” Mariah declared to the group, as she dug into the cheesecake, taking the first bite. After she took the first bite, then it was fair game for the rest of us to dig in. And boy did we!
“So, I guess you really loved him?” Hannah asked, knowing the answer.
“For three years.” Mariah answered.
“I don’t think I know what love is yet.” I chimed in. “I mean, I thought I loved Brandon, but then he cheated on me. So I guess it wasn’t love after all.”
“Not on his part.” Hannah said almost snidely. “I mean I don’t know why you even talk to him, after you found out about Katy.”
“I don’t either. I just still wish we were together, and he’d been faithful. Sometimes I wish that. Sometimes I don’t.” I said.
“What about Justin?” Chelsea asked. “He’s sounds so great.”
“I know. He is. And I like him a lot. But I think about Brandon all the time. I don’t want to, I just do.”
“Maybe because you didn’t get to end it?” Mariah said.
“That’s what my mom said.” I said.
“Yep. That’s where I got it. I get all of my love life advice from your mom.” Mariah said. She lost her mother a few years back, so she kind of uses my mom for stuff that her dad can’t handle. She seems to get along better with my mom sometimes than I do.
“So would you ever cheat on Justin with Brandon?” Hannah asked curiously.
“No. Never. I wouldn’t ever hurt anyone like Brandon hurt me. That would be cruel.” I answered.
“Good. I hate girls that cheat.” Hannah proclaimed. “Like Katy!”
Everyone joined in on the “Yuk” session after that. No one liked Katy in our group. Especially not after she cheated with Brandon, while I was going out with him. She was on the list now, and once you’re on the list there’s no getting off of the list. No matter what.
“So, if you and Justin break up, will you go out with Brandon again?” Chelsea asked.
“I don’t think so. But I can’t be sure that I would be strong enough to resist that one.” I answered. We always play “what if” games at our get togethers. It was one of our favorites.
“I would never give him another chance. Not after what he did to you.” Mariah declared. “Johnny never cheated on me. Never.”
“He was a good guy.” Hannah almost sang. Everyone joined in. Johnny was a good guy and we all hated to see him go, especially for Mariah’s sake.
“OK. OK. Don’t remind me.” Mariah pleaded. “I’m never going to see him again.”
“Sorry.” We all said in unison, as we each put a hand on her somewhere, trying to console her.
“He’s still going to be a good friend.” I suggested to her. “Everyone can use a good friend.”
About that time, we hear a really loud horrible noise. Everyone looks at each other, wondering where the horrible noise came from.
“Did your dad fart?” Chelsea asks, laughing hysterically.
Everyone laughs.
“I don’t think so.” Mariah starts laughing too. “I think it was the air conditioner. It’s about to go out, my dad says.”
“Yah right!” Kelsey stops laughing long enough to blurt out the words.
We all laugh until our stomachs hurt, and we have tears running down our cheeks. Hannah laughs so hard that she rolls onto the floor, but not before she rolled into the almost empty cheesecake tin. She gets cream on the top of her head, and of course, we all have to laugh about that, too. I think Mariah is sufficiently cheered up before we have to leave.
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