The Arts

13 - The Bottom of the 9th

TYLER

After the embarrassing climax of the party, Tyler decided the best course of action was to lay low. He kept his head down, avoided talking to too many people, and of course there was absolutely no interaction with Andi of any kind. He wouldn't even look in her direction. Anything to make it perfectly clear that he wanted nothing to do with her.

Unfortunately, all that laying low and dodging social interactions had understandably convinced most of his classmates that something was off about him. If it weren't for Ivan, Tyler surely would've been at the bottom of the social food chain, and as it was, he was on thin ice.

He needed to get himself back up to the top, stat.

But how?

Well, he thought, what do celebrities do when they're trying to get positive attention? Tyler rattled off various ideas in his brain until the perfect one came to him.

A charity! Yes, he'd raise money for a charity!

The best time for Tyler to nix his plans was right then; it didn't take a genius to know that doing a good thing for selfish purposes was actually a bad thing. But he had already put the car in drive and destroyed the brakes. And the fact that he couldn't think of a single cause that he was excited to help should've been another red flag.

Whatever; he'd table the idea and come back to it. For now, he had a pre-homecoming party to attend.

He knew that the only reason he was even invited to the party was because he and Ivan were cool - that still felt so weird for him to admit to himself - so he took extra care into getting ready. Before he left he surveyed himself in the bathroom mirror: plain white t, black skinny jeans, black skate shoes. His shaggy bangs were swept away from his face. The look was just enough that it looked as though he was effortlessly cool; he'd never tell a soul that he spent an hour deliberating what to wear.

The party was at Jack's again. When the senior answered the door, he gave Tyler a somewhat disapproving look, and Tyler wanted to shrink into himself. Luckily, Ivan popped up in the doorway before their interaction could progress.

"Tyler, hey! Thanks for comin'," Ivan stepped aside to let Tyler in, and Jack stalked away, but not before shooting Tyler a not-so-subtle dirty look.

Tyler turned to Ivan, desperate to know what was going on but terrified of actually looking desperate. "What's his problem?" Ivan blinked, seemingly unsure of how to respond, and Tyler couldn't help himself but just keep talking. "He hates me because of the party, doesn't he?"

Ivan quickly shook his head, clearly uncomfortable with where the conversation was heading. "No, he doesn't hate you. I think he's just kind of, like, on-guard. I mean, you were involved in a weed-induced injury. Can you imagine what would've happened if, like, someone had called the cops? He'd get expelled for sure."

Tyler nodded slowly, soaking in the new information. "Right. Guess I should just learn how to...eat weed better, I guess?" As soon as the words left his mouth Tyler was certain he visibly cringed. He knew he sounded like he didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

Ivan cracked a smile and offered a good-natured laugh. "Hey, it's no biggie. In a few years you'll laugh about it. It'll be a good story to tell at parties. And in your defense, it's not like anybody labeled the food or anything. How were you supposed to know?"

Tyler relaxed. Ivan was being super cool about everything, and he appreciated that.

After a minute of awkward small-talk by the doorway, Ivan and Tyler moved to the kitchenette. Ivan prepared a drink for Tyler, dividing a 2-liter of root beer into some empty solo cups and handing one to Tyler before taking a cup for himself. For a while the two of them stayed in the kitchenette, mostly observing the other party-goers, but occasionally swapping stories about past parties. Ivan's were mostly sad tales involving his parents working hard to plan birthday events that none of his classmates wanted to go to, and a knot of embarrassment started to form in Tyler's stomach. He had never gone out of his way to bully Ivan in middle school, but he was always vaguely aware of their respective places in the social hierarchy and never did anything to help the kid, either. And here Ivan was talking to Tyler as if they'd been good friends for years. Eventually, the conversation circled back around to the Weed Incident, and a second knot of embarrassment twisted around Tyler's insides.