Curt still had mashed potatoes in his hair when I
saw him again
ninth period. Physics was cancelled so his whole class was sent
to
study hall. Since all of the students in that class were seniors,
they
were able to sign out and go to the senior lounge or hang out in front
of the school. That always made other kids envious, but I’ve seen
the
senior lounge and no it’s no Club Med. There’s also a dairy farm
across the road from our school. Hanging outside to breathe cow
farts
doesn’t exactly appeal to me, either.
While Curt was signing his name at the study hall
monitor’s desk, a
few of the freshman mutants behind me started in on their usual idiotic
games. Curt looked up when he noticed they were talking about
me.
Just then one of them hit me in the back with a paper airplane.
Before
Curt had a chance to do anything, I stood up, crumbled the airplane in
a ball, and marched right over to the nearest mutant. “Open up
the
hangar, here comes the airplane,” I said, and promptly stuffed the
crumbled-up paper into his gaping mouth! His friends just stared at me
in shock. “I’m sick of you zit-popping geeks picking on me all
the
time. I’m a good-looking chick! I can get ten senior guys to
pound the
crap out of you just by batting my eyes!”
To prove my point, I grabbed a calculator off one of
their desks
and tossed it out the nearest window. Nobody moved a muscle as I
turned around and went back to my seat. Good thing the monitor
wasn’t
there!
Curt was totally stunned. I pretended like
nothing had happened. He left the study hall very, very slowly.
Casey Winslow crashed into him in the doorway.
“Watch where you’re going,” snarled Curt.
“Eat me!”
They looked like they were about to go at it, but
neither of them
made the first move. They just stood there making mean faces
until
Curt scowled and walked out into the hall. Casey saw me sitting
in the
front row and shook his head.
“Man, your bro’s a pain. If I see his picture
in the paper one more time, I’m going to start rolling joints with it!”
He signed his name on the sign-out sheet and looked
up at me again. “Hey, Sweetcheeks! Wanna come with me?”
I just smiled and shook my head.
He looked around, then came and sat down at the desk
next to mine.
“I want to talk to you for a minute. Can you get out of here?”
“I don’t have a pass.”
“Skip! Fisher ain’t here yet.”
“I’ve got work to do. I’d like to go with you
but I have to finish my math homework.”
“You’re a good-looking chick, you know that?
If you ever want me to pound the crap out of someone, just bat your
eyes.”
“I will.”
“What’s that?” He was looking at the
loose-leaf binder on my desk with Star
Wars stickers plastered all over it.
“My creative writing notebook. I write stories
and stuff.”
“What kind of stories?”
“Science fiction, mostly.”
“Space cadet, huh? That’s cosmic.”
“Yeah.”
“Mind if I read it some time? Maybe I could
use one of your
stories for a script some day. We’re making another video in a
couple
weeks.”
“Really? Wow! Sure you can use one of my
stories!”
“Cool.” I noticed that he didn’t pronounce the
“L“ whenever he said cool.
“Do you mind if I ask you a question?”
He shrugged. “No, go right ahead.”
“What were you and your buddies doing in Florida
when I saw you? I’ve never been able to figure it out.”
“Scoring dope. A. J.’s cousins live down
there. Major druggies.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“How did you guys get back up north so fast?”
“We flew.”
“You flew? Were you on the same flight as me
and my brother?”
“No, the weed was so good, we just caught a good
wind and floated home.”
“Serious! How did you guys get all that dope on an
airplane?”
“Well, that’s getting into sensitive
information. Let’s just say they don’t call the stuff stinkweed for nothing.”
“Okay, I think I’ve heard enough.”
“Yeah, that little bit of news should keep you from
getting
addicted,” Casey said. “Oh yeah, I have a question I want to ask
you.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Why do you always go babysitting with Sylvia?”
“Huh?”
“She says she tutors you in math, but that’s got to
be bull because
I tutor her in math and I don’t know shit about it, either. Where
do
the two of you go?”
“Just around. Different places.”
“Your house?”
“Well, yeah...”
“My girlfriend’s been staying at my worst enemy’s
house for four
days and she doesn’t even tell me about it. This is bad.”
“It’s not what you think! My brother Curt—“
“—is an asshole,” Casey said. He stood up to
leave. “But I won’t hold it against you. I’ll catch you
later, okay?”
He walked out of the study hall and disappeared into
the corridor.
The bell rang and Miss Fisher came in to sit at her desk. I
slumped
over my own desk and felt my stomach knot up inside me.
Now what? Sylvia is going to kill me!
* *
* * *
Sylvia met me in the doorway when ninth period
ended. She didn’t
kill me. “Is there something wrong, Crystal? You look like
you’re
upset. I’ve been watching you from out here.”
“Have you seen Casey?”
“Yeah, we were just talking in the senior
lounge. Why?”
“He asked me if you were staying at my house this
week. I told him you were. How come you didn’t tell him?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think he would
understand.”
“Was he mad?”
“Casey? He only freaks out when he’s drunk.”
“That’s a relief...I think.”
“He never mentioned anything about it. He and
the gang are going
to pick up us up tonite. They said something about going to see Flash Gordon II. We’re
supposed to go to Sparky’s afterward. Wanna come?”
“Sure!”
“It’s the last night before your folks come
home. We should do something special.”
We were walking down the hall to our lockers.
I stopped and turned to her. “Sylvia?”
“What?”
“When my folks come home, is all of this going to
end? I mean with you hanging out with me and everything?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you still going to babysit me?”
Sylvia put her hands on her hips. “Babysit you? Is that what
you think this is?”
“Well, you are getting paid to stay with me.”
She looked at me for a second, then popped open her
purse and
pulled out a clump of bills. “Here’s the money your folks wired
me.
Take it.”
“I can’t take this!”
“I don’t want it. I feel stupid for taking
it. Nobody has to pay me to be your friend. I’d do that for
free.”
I felt bad about what I said. I looked at the
money she held in her hands and swallowed hard. I didn’t know
what to say.
“I should be paying you to be my friend,” she
continued. “You
really helped me straighten out my head these past few days. I’ve
been
so caught up in things lately. You helped me see things from a
much
simpler perspective. I really owe you for that.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“It’s true. You have quite a way of looking at
things. You’re a
very special person. The world can’t be half as bad as everyone
says
if it can produce someone as honest and sincere as you.”
I still don’t know what to say. Nobody had
ever said things like
that to me. “You might as well keep that money,” I said.
“My folks
are loaded. They won’t miss it.”
“I don’t want it.”
“I don’t want it, either.”
Suddenly, we got the same idea. We shouted
out, “Let’s spend it!”
It’s amazing how fast you can spend two hundred and
fifty bucks
when you really put your mind to it. Syliva and I got off the bus
at
the mall and went hog wild buying stuff to wear later that night.
We
even had our hair done. We ate dinner at the fanciest restaurant
in
the mall and took a cab home when we were finished.
In a way, I guess I was kind of hoping Sylvia and
Casey would break
up after I told him all of that stuff in study hall. I still
liked
him. Despite the things Sylvia said about me being honest and
sincere,
I still wanted to jump her boyfriend’s bones in a big way.
It’s amazing how much guilt you can ignore when you
really put your mind to it.
