3 Simple Steps

ONE: You're Excited Over That Crap?

"Holy crap," Adriana exclaimed, throwing the rusty shovel aside and kneeling down. "I think we just found treasure." She tugged at a sodden corner of a book with yellowed pages buried in a hole she had dug. It popped free with a plop, and she held it up for me to see.

It was a thickly-bound book with dirt-covered pages. It looked pretty old, but it was still intact. After staring at it for another second or so, Adriana scowled and handed me the "buried treasure".

"I seek some excitement in my life, and I get a book," she complained.

I accepted the book gratefully. With a little bit of cleaning it'd be good as new, and I'd have a new adventure to read.

“Honestly, Adriana, it’s not like you were looking for treasure in the first place. We were looking for bottle caps. For your collection,” I muttered.

Adriana gave me a dirty glare that would’ve made anyone keel over right then and there; but after six years of tugging along by her side and seeing her throw those kinds of looks 24/7…well, you get desensitized. Anyways, Adriana had this crazy obsession with collecting different logo bottle caps. And it just couldn't wait until the morning.

“Bottle-cap digging emergency. I can feel it in my bones that we need to search now or never.” She had said through the phone, making me crawl out of bed at two A.M. on a school night.

Now, I cradled the book to my chest as if I were keeping it safe. Adriana scoffed and patted the dirt back into place with her black vintage ankle boots. Tossing her straight brown hair over a shoulder, she gave me a sly smile.

"At least we found one new bottle cap for my collection."

I nodded and studied my petite friend. We had come a long way as friends. From girly, gossipy 6th graders, to mature, mysterious 11th graders. Well, at least Adriana seemed to be the mature and mysterious teen who wore stylish leather coats and stuff. Every time she walked down the hall, I could see every boy's eyes boring into her. Her esoteric aura had them piling at her booted feet. I was the friend who wore the oversized hoodies and had books in every corner of the room. To be blunt about it, the one who was always overlooked. Not that I minded too much. Not when I had books to keep me company. To me, the book we had dug up was, indeed, treasure.

I blew on the cover and wiped it with my long, purple sleeve, shivering in the bitter December air. The cover read, "How To Have An Adventure In 3 Simple Steps".

I flipped through the book briefly and realized it was mostly blank. Maybe someone had been writing in it and never finished. Or, better yet, it was written in invisible ink. I got so giddy about it that I almost forgot that Adriana was hovering over my shoulder, staring intently at the book.

"You're excited over that crap?" She mused. Shrugging, I cleaned the book as best as I could before putting it in my bookbag.

I turned around to face her. "Ready to go home?"

My best friend nodded and shrugged. "Today was a failure. We shall try again tomorrow. My collection is getting pretty dull." With that, she tugged at my purple Huskies hoodie and dragged me towards her car.

***

                One Direction blasted from the outdated radio inside of Adriana’s silver Honda—an old and beat up one that she had gotten from her mom as an early birthday present. Adriana cranked up the radio even higher, bobbing her head to Best Song Ever. As I watched her, my mouth turned upwards into a wistful smile. Memories surging towards me like freight trains.

 Once upon a time we had been super fangirls of the band. Hearing every single song on repeat and watching their movie with tears in our eyes. Somehow, that cheesy boyband had turned out being not so cheesy to us: they had brought us together more than anything else with their songs and concerts.

 After a few more seconds of bobbing and laughing, Adriana turned the volume down and tucked her hair behind her ears.

 "So, um, Alexis, how're you holding up?" She took a sharp turn and I slammed against the window.

The question took me aback, and I shrugged even though she wasn't looking at me. "Why do you ask?"

Adriana drummed her fingers on the black steering wheel as she waited for the light to turn green. "You know…Genesus."

 I swallowed thickly and was intent on organizing the contents in my bookbag. For a second, I thought Adriana was going to let the matter drop, but as she hit the gas she asked me again, "How're you holding up?"

My eyes shifted to her briefly. How had she known? She was so busy rejecting doggy-eyed boys begging to go out with her that I doubted she'd have time to realize that Genesus was making my life miserable. I brushed my dark hair out my face and shrugged again.

"It's fine. I mean, I'm fine," I managed to choke out at last. I wanted to add: "It's not like she started dating the guy I'd been crushing on since forever because I didn't let her copy my homework, and made sure I knew about it."

But for some reason, I was holding back. Ever since she'd started dating Joel, Genesus had been such a bitch to me. Actually, Genesus was just a bitch to everyone in general. But now she was mainly bitchy with me by making sure everyone thought I was freak of nature. Apparently, if you didn't believe the rumors Genesus spread, you were an idiot, because they were true. And most of those were about, you guessed it, me.

Adriana just M. and Maribel Salez were the only two people who stuck up for me and weren't afraid to be seen walking with "the Girl Who Can See Ghosts" AKA "the Girl Who Dated Josh Mills the Freaky One".

I didn't know why Genesus hated me so much over a piece of homework I hadn't let her copy. It always seemed ridiculous to me. Or maybe there was another reason that I didn’t know about…

"Well,” Adriana was saying now. “if Princess Bullshit keeps walking all over you, tell me, okay? I'll take care of her."

"Uh huh." I said at last, pretending those words had lifted my spirits up to heaven. I really wanted to say: "Yeah and she'll stop for about two seconds.”

I felt like Adriana was only saying that out of pity for me. The only reason she still hung out with me was probably because we had been friends for so long.

Adriana parked her car in my driveway and sighed. "Genesus is probably picking on you because of me." For a few seconds I thought I saw guilt plastered on her face, but I brushed it off. Why would Adriana be guilty about something Genesus was doing?

I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door, crisp night air rushing inside the heated car. "No, I was just stupid not letting her copy my homework. See you tomorrow. Bye."

My friend looked startled at being cut off short.

"No. Wait. Seriously, I need to tell you--" I slammed the car door shut and waved to her.

She was just trying to make me feel better but that wasn't going to work. I saw Adriana blow air out through her mouth and shake her head at me through the window, but she finally drove out of the driveway, leaving a trail of gray smoke behind her.