We cruised around town for about a half hour and
drank two
six-packs. I was feeling kind or dizzy by the time we got to
Sparky’s. We piled out of the van and walked toward the door.
A group of cheerleaders were standing near the
entrance. “Isn’t
that Curt Larson’s little sister? What’s she doing with those
dirtballs?”
I flipped them the middle finger. Casey
grinned. “I like your style, kid.”
A. J., Jeremy, and Doobie Brother strolled into
Sparky’s ahead of
us. They acted as if they owned the place, pushing preppies out
or the
way as they headed for one of the tables in the back. We followed
them
and sat down.
“This place is cool,” I said. “A video arcade,
ice cream shop,
pizza parlor, and preppie faggot museum all rolled into one.”
“Now I really like your style, kid,” said
Casey. “Keep it up and you’re in the gang.”
“Really?”
“There’s Jessica,” Sylvia said. “She looks
depressed. Let’s go talk to her.”
We went over to Jessica’s table and sat down.
She seemed relieved
to see us. “Katz is being a real pain tonight. She thinks
it’s my
fault we lost the game.”
“You’re only a cheerleader. How could it be
your fault?”
“Don’t ask me. She was on my case all the way
here.”
“What was the score?”
“Nine to eight. Curt made six goals.
He’s pissed off, too. He’s not here yet.”
“Want to come sit with us? We’re getting a
pizza.” Jessica looked over at our table and thought for a moment.
“Uh, maybe later.”
“Come on, Jessie. They won’t bother you.
I promise.”
“It’s not them I’m worried about. It’s the
other cheerleaders. What would they say?”
“Why should you care what they say? They
don’t own you.”
“Well...okay then.” The three of us got up and
went over to our
table in the back corner. As it turned out, Jessica ended up
sitting
next to Jeremy. She didn’t seemed too thrilled about it and
neither
did he.
A while later, Allan Matthews came sauntering
over. “Well, well,”
said Casey. “If it ain’t the only preppie dude I don’t want to
run
over with a bus! Pull up a chair and sit down.”
When he sat down, he told us that Sparky was out or
town and that
he was left in charge or the place. “So if you guys feel like
jamming
tonight, I’m sure it’ll be okay.”
“Spike and Jojo here?”
“Yeah, they’re here with Wheelie and Maggs. I
think they’re getting high in the bathroom.”
“Let us pig out first, then jam. We’ve got
three cases in the back
of the van. Why don’t you sneak them into the basement for us?”
“No problem.”
Casey tossed him a joint. He smiled and slid
it into his shirt pocket, then got up and left.
Jessica was shocked. “Allan does drugs?”
“Allan is
drugs,” Jeremy said.
“But he’s in the National Honor Society!”
Casey howled with laughter. “National Homo Society!”
Jessica just sat there.
“You know, almost everybody at my old school got
high, including
the preppies,” Sylvia said. “This school is like a throwback to
the
Fifties.”
“Drugs are stupid,” Jessica huffed. “Only
dopes use dope.”
“That’s original,” commented A. J. “Think that
one up yourself?”
Sylvia gave him a mean look. “Leave her alone.”
“Check it out. We can stop worrying about
where the center of the
universe is. It Just walked in the door.” We all turned around to
see
what Casey was talking about. Curt and his buddies had arrived,
and
they didn’t look happy.
“It’s the Golden One,” murmured Doobie
Brother. “See how he shines.”
Curt brushed past a group of preppie bootlickers and
headed for the
counter at the other side or the room. Harris and Wesley sat down
on
both sides of him. They surveyed the crowd and ordered sodas with
grim
expressions.
“It’s about time they lost a friggin’ game,”
grumbled Casey.
“Where’s your school spirit?” Jessica asked.
“School spirit? Are you for real?” He looked
at her like she was
crazy. I’m Casey Friggin’ Winslow! School spirit is for
pussies!”
Jessica seemed offended. She didn’t say a word
after that.
“Uh-oh,” said Jeremy. “He’s coming over here.”
Curt came over to our table and gave me the evil
eye. “What are you doing here?”
“Just sitting here. Is that against the law?”
“You know Mom and Dad don’t want you hanging around
here.”
“You’re here.”
“Yeah, but I’m not hanging around with these
potheads.”
“Thank God.”
Curt sniffed the air and looked at Casey. “I
smell beer. Are you guys drinking?”
Casey burped. “No! Not us!
Drinking? Never ! Heaven forbid!”
“You better not give any to my sister or you’re dead
meat, Winslow.”
“Ooooooooohhh!”
“I mean it!”
“Curt, shouldn’t you be sitting with your boyfriends
over there? They look kinda lonely all by themselves.”
“Shut up, fag!”
“Ooooooooohhh!”
“Cut it out, Curt. You’re turning me on.”
Curt ignored him and pointed a finger at me.
“You’re in deep shit, Missy.”
A. J. looked at Doobie Brother. “Who
writes this guy’s lines?”
Sylvia spoke up. “It was my idea to bring her
here, Curt. I didn’t think anyone would mind. I’m sorry.”
Everybody looked at Sylvia for a moment, wondering
what had gotten into her. After a while Curt nodded.
“Well, that is okay. As long she’s with you, I
suppose it’s all right. Just make sure she doesn’t stay out too
late.”
Casey looked up at my brother. “Curt?”
“What?”
“Get your sorry ass out or here!”
Curt looked at him for a rew seconds, then scowled
and walked away. Casey gave Sylvia a sour look. “It was my idea to bring her here,
Curt. I didn’t think anyone would mind. I’m sorry.”
“Shut up, Casey!”
“The two or you must get along pretty well living in
the same house.”
“Shut up!”
“What’s he really like? Do tell! Is it
true he wears Masters of the Universe
Underoos?”
Sylvia ignored him. Doobie nudged him.
“Chill, dude.”
“It’s cool. I ain’t jealous. Not of that
jockstrap.”
Nobody said a word for about thirty seconds.
Finally, Casey broke
the silence. “Shit, man. I didn’t mean any or
that. I’m sorry. I’m
an asshole.”
“No argument here,” said Sylvia.
“It’s just that I worry about you. That guy’s
a snake. He’ll do anything to get back at me.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Sure, I trust you. I love you, baby. I
love you more than
anything. That’s why I get so crazy. I’d kill myself if you
ever left
me.”
Sylvia looked at him with a subtle smile.
Neither of them seemed
to care that everybody at the table was witnessing their
conversation.
“I’m not going to leave you. Just trust me a little. I know
what I’m
doing.” She kissed him.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m really sorry,
Sylvia. I mean it. I love you, baby.”
“I love you, too.”
Jeremy looked at me. “I don’t know whether to
cry or throw up.”
I turned around and noticed Curt getting into an
argument with his
girlfriend, Katz. They were too rar away for us to hear what they
were
saying. Finally, Katz tried to slap his face. He
caught her arm
instinctively and pushed her away.
“Get out of my face, bitch!” We heard that one okay.
“Tension in Teentown,” A. J. observed.
“I’ve never seen them argue like that before,” I
said.
“Screw ’em,” said Casey. “I don’t want to even
think about Curt Larson tonight.”
Allan Matthews came back over to the table and sat
down again. The pizza finally arrived and everybody started
eating.
Curt started playing Astral Warrior
as a crowd or preppies gathered around to cheer him on. Jeremy
told
Allan about Casey’s top score at the mall and Casey told him to go over
and offer the challenge. He did.
We finished the pizza by the time Curt neared
Casey’s score. The
preppies were getting excited. Casey looked over at A.
J. “Go find
Spike and Jojo. I feel a song coming on.”
Jessica, Sylvia, and I looked at each other as our
table cleared out. Everybody headed for the basement.
“Are they going to play tonight?” Jessica asked.
“Yeah.”
Sylvia seemed lost in her thoughts.
“Something wrong?” I asked her.
“Casey…”
“Want to talk about it?”
“No, I just wish he’d grow up. Every time he
runs into Curt he has to pick a fight. It’s embarrassing.”
“Really.”
Jessica shrugged her shoulders. “So what’s
really going on between you and Curt?”
“Nothing. We’re Just getting to know each
other, that’s all. He’s
really a nice guy. That ego of his is just an act. He and
Casey could
be the best of friends if they’d just get their heads out of their
shorts.”
I had to laugh. “Curt and Casey? The
best of friends? Never in a million years!”
“It’s not that crazy. They have a lot in
common.”
“They’ve got mutual hatred in common.”
“Seriously. I think they’re just afraid
to admit that they really do admire each other.”
“I think you’re stoned,” Jessica said. I
had to agree.
“It’s not so stupid. I’m going to prove it to
you.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. I’ll think of something.”
Jessica looked at her and rolled her eyes.
“You’ve got about as
good a chance or doing that as I do of getting you and Katz to be
friends. It’s impossible.”
“Curt and Casey need each other, whether they admit
it or not. They’re different sides or the same coin.”
“Who writes your lines?”
The noise at the video games began to get
louder. Curt was moments
away from matching Casey’s score. Sylvia gestured to the door
leading
to the basement stairs. “Let’s go.”
The preppies began to count the points out
loud. Right before Curt
matched the score, the power went out in the video arcade and a
screaming guitar solo echoed through the building. Curt
started
banging on the machine.
“Free concert downstairs!” I yelled out. “Come
on, you preppie
scum! Katzenjammer’s playing in the basement! All of
you! Come on!”
We ran downstairs and across the floor as Casey and
his buddies
tuned up their instruments for an all-out jam. Allan and Doobie
Brother were behind the sound board adjusting the sound levels and
operating the light switches. Wheelie and Maggs were selling
beers for
a buck and a half in the back room. We got ours free and started
dancing to the first song they played. It was a song Casey wrote
called “She Likes Her Rock Hard.”
The crowd from upstairs began to come down to see
what was going
on. Before long there was about fifteen people dancing along with
us.
Nobody looked more surprised than Casey Winslow.
I glanced to the back of the room later on and
noticed Curt and his
buddies passing a shiny metal flask among themselves. That was
the big
thing with the jocks. They’d sneak whiskey in their jackets and
get
drunk after their games. Once my mother caught him with it.
He told
her it was cold medicine, and she believed him. I’m not sure all
their
parents are that naive, but it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.
The band played for about an hour. Even Katz
was dancing. She had
her Katzenjammer shirt on and was shaking her boobs all over the place,
trying to make Curt jealous. He didn’t seem to care about
anything but
his little flask of booze. Sylvia was mad and looked like she was
going to kill her.
When it was allover, people started to leave.
I was feeling kind
or drunk and had a hard time getting up the stairs. Casey laughed
at
me and put his hand on my shoulder to keep me from tumbling backward.
Jessica met me on the front steps of the
building. “I don’t feel so good,” she said softly. My ears
were still ringing.
“Me neither.”
At that moment, there was some kind of commotion
behind us. I
heard Casey laughing at Curt. “Give it your best shot,
Larson! I can
kick your ass any day or the week!”
“Let’s go then! Out in the parking lot!”
Curt turned away from him and pushed his way through
a crowd or
people. Just then Casey kicked him right in the seat or his pants
and
sent him flying down the steps. He landed on a group or preppies
and
knocked them allover the ground.
“Told you I could kick your ass!” howled
Casey. Curt scrambled to
his reet and lunged at Casey. People were screaming as fists,
feet,
and unidentified body parts flailed about wildly and connected with
anything in reach.
A. J. and Doobie Brother jumped in to pull
Casey away from Curt
while Harris and Wesley tried to do the same with Curt. The two
combatants managed to wriggle themselves free long enough to land a few
more punches. From where I could see, Curt was using his boxing
techniques, and Casey was using some form or the martial arts.
Each or
them was getting hit hard and neither or them looked like they cared.
Sylvia came running outside and jumped between them,
holding her
arms up to keep them apart. Katz jumped in and grabbed Sylvia by
the
hair. Sylvia punched her in the face and started rolling around
in the
dirt with her while Casey and Curt tripped over their kicking
legs.
A.J. and Doobie were yelling their heads for Wheelie and Maggs to
jump
in and help. A few more jocks were pushing their way through the
crowd
to join in the fight. Jojo and Spike grabbed them from behind and
banged their heads together.
Jeremy came up behind Jessica and I. “Jesus!”
he said. He pulled
us out or the way, dug into his pocket, and pulled out a clump of
firecrackers. He lit them and waited for a couple seconds berore
tossing them into the air as high as he could. They exploded
above the
riot scene and caused everyone to stop fighting in an instant.
“What the hell is wrong with you people?!” he
shouted.
“You’re acting like a bunch or animals!”
They looked at him for a second, then looked at each
other and
started fighting again. He swore under his breath and ran back
inside
Sparky’s. A rew seconds later he was back, this time with a fire
hose. He turned it on and began spraying them down. This
time, they
stopped fighting for good.
“The cops!” Jessica pointed down the street at a
flashing red light. A cop car pulled up and its occupants jumped
out.
Jeremy ran down the steps and Jumped between Casey
and Curt. He put his arms around both or them.
“What’s going on here?” demanded one of the cops.
“Nothing!” shouted Jeremy. “Nothing at
all! Just a little water fight between friends. Ain’t that
right, guys?”
Casey and Curt nodded. Everybody else was
helping each other up,
including Sylvia and Katz. The cops looked at them suspiciously,
then
told everybody to go home. The crowd began to slowly disperse.
Jeremy came back up the steps. “That was
really brave of you,”
Jessica told him. He seemed surprised to get a compliment from
her.
“It was nothing, really.”
Allan put his arm around him and said. “Smart
thinking, J. D. The whole bunch or ‘em could’ve been busted.”
“Yeah…that would’ve sucked.”
I noticed Casey and Sylvia hugging each other near
the van. Curt touched me on the shoulder and pointed to his car.
“Let’s go home, kid.” There was a trickle or blood
running down his race. He looked at Jeremy.
“Thanks, man. If I got arrested I could kiss
that scholarship good-bye. I owe you one.”
“That’s okay. Sorry about your clothes.”
“Yeah.”
I said good-bye to my friends and followed Curt to
the car. He noticed Casey and called out his name.
“What do you want?”
“One or these days we’re gonna go. Just you
and me.”
“I’m ready.”
Curt opened his car door and was getting in when
Casey came over
and handed him a cold beer. Curt looked at him for a moment, not
knowing what to make of it. Finally, he took it and shut the
door,
then started up the car and drove off. He drank the beer on
the way
home and didn’t say a word.
“I think he meant for you to hold it against the
bump on your head to help the swelling go down.”
“I know what he meant it for,” Curt snapped.
He stared straight ahead and ignored me for the rest of the ride home.
