Karissa

This is the First Day of....

So break was over. I rolled out of bed, put on a t-shirt, jacket and jeans, brushed my hair, and sat at the kitchen counter reading my Bible as I waited for Karissa. She came out, rubbing her eyes, wearing a fitted long-sleeved black plaid jumper and over-the-knee black leather boots.

 She smiled when she saw my choice of reading material.

"Sorry to pop your bubble, Mr. Bible Scholar, but we have school to get to. Can we stop at Dunkin' Doughnuts on the way?"

"These things are so horrible for you....It's not fair that they taste this good," I moaned, warm chocolate icing dripping down my chin as Karissa brushed a smear of jelly off her cheek.

We strolled into school, but just as we were about to part to go our separate ways, Erica approached me. I knew she was up to something just by her outfit - a tight, candy-cane-striped sweaterdress and high, high heels.

"What's the matter, McCutcheon?" she challenged me. "I thought we were going to get together over break. I get awfully cold at night, and there's nobody better at warming me up than you. Or have you been putting those magic hands on some other girl?" Now, this was where it got awkward, but I had to be totally honest with her. I'd done a lot of thinking over break, and I had to let Erica go. She'd only drag me back down into my old ways. I wished that I could witness to her, but her heart just wasn't open to it. She was happy how she was. Maybe someday someone could reach her....

"Oh, Erica - haven't you checked Facebook?" Bailey called, glaring at me spitefully. He couldn't believe what a traitor I was. She hadn't, so Kyle brought over his laptop, and she leaned over to look at Karissa's status update from Christmas morning, which read: McCutcheon accepted Christ last night. Thank you, Jesus!

They were snickering at her sincere happiness.

"I can't believe you," Erica spat. "This is just one of your pathetic ploys to get Karissa to like you. It really reflects badly on you that you've chosen her over me."  If she hadn't made it completely clear that she was better than Karissa Monroe, then this remark was the cherry on top of the superiority sundae, though everyone who was anyone - and even everyone who wasn't  - knew that Erica didn't eat anything with a significant amount of fat grams. She may have been curvy, but she was a toned curvy, and therefore better than girls like Rosemary, or anyone else who indulged. 

Everyone was standing around, staring at me; I was fervently wishing that I could sink through the floor like it was jello, when a familiar voice sailed over our heads.

"Coriana on Broadway!! And as Ursula no less! Oh, Dominic, you rascal, you didn't tell me! It's all over the New York Times Theater page...and, oh, the pictures!"

"Jesse,"  sobbed Lavender. She was beautiful, sexy and sparkling in a tight, sleeveless, shimmery taupe sheath about mid-thigh and matching heels, but her vivacity was back. She just hadn't been the same without Jesse. I wanted to love a woman as much as they loved each other someday. I hadn't been able to understand how they could be so close without having had sex, but I understood now that I'd found God.

So Jesse was back, and hadn't told anyone, no less. He'd always loved surprises.

" Poor, unfortunate, soul...so come on! Make your choice! I'm a very busy woman, and I haven't got all day. It won't cost much - just your voice!" Jesse sang, belting, his Broadway diva bravado rocketing to bound off the top of the ceiling and swoop dramatically back down. My ex-friends almost did a duck-and-cover, but I found it more funny than annoying. I still couldn't stand him, but I would have to learn to.

"Hello, lovely," Jesse trilled, bumping his hip into Karissa's playfully, ducking out of her way before she could  tousle his hair, and I saw Karissa's boyfriend flinch.

"Filthy degenerate unnatural!" He tossed his words over Karissa's shoulder at Jesse, and he stepped back like they'd actually hit him in the face, crying "What?" brown eyes luminous and enormous in his pale, suddenly drawn, face. Paulie stepped around Karissa to face the much smaller boy. Jesse was shocked at this sudden attack - Paulie was in Bible Study with them - but Karissa had confided to me more than once that Jesse Beaumont and his entire crowd severely rubbed her boyfriend the wrong way, though she couldn't figure why. It was very puzzling to her, and there was nothing I could do to help, which was naggingly frusterating.

"Everyone in this infernal school worships the ground you walk on - lock up your girlfriends, and your boyfriends, too," he addressed the crowd.

"Hey, I play nice - I keep my hands off," Jesse retaliated. "I'm a popular guy around here."

"No, you're a little gigolo, is what you are! We've all heard the stories, how you've been carrying on since you were barely old enough to zip your pants and tie your shoes. It's positively disgusting. You don't have any right to call yourself a Christian, you dirty hypocrite!"

"You don't have any right to say that!" Jesse cried, defensive. He turned and stalked off, quivering, determined to get as far away as he could before he broke down.

Karissa's ballet-slipper-pink, satin lips were pulled together flatter than Paris Hilton's chest.

"Why?" she hissed angrily at him. Paulie wrapped his arm tightly around her shoulders. It was almost like a harness.

"I don't want to see you around him, or anyone else associated with him, or McCutcheon anymore. They're leading you down a bad path -  it's bad enough you're living with a family not of the faith...."

"Paulie, the McCutcheons have taken me in and given me everything a girl could want, and they barely knew me. They don't protest my going to church. And Jesse and Lavender and Rosemary and Dominic are my friends."

"Well, you can make new ones. If you keep hanging around with them, everyone else will think you're a loose, wild, harlot,  too. And that dress is too tight. You shouldn't have worn it to school. Keep dressing like that, and not just McCutcheon is going to try and seduce you."

"Excuse me, do you mind?" I queried, but Karissa lightly shook her head, and I went away.

Something was up with that Paulie....