Sugarpill

12- Meridian Hollister

                   She’s told me that Pennel has had sex with four other guys besides me, and none of them were Riley fucking Kessel. One of the guys was Xavier Templeton, a sort of friend of Jansen’s. He was in the 11th grade, and he and Pennel didn’t hook up, until after Jansen graduated. Meridian didn’t know the other three…she would tell me how Pennel would talk to her about me in the worst ways sexually. One day, we were out raking the leaves in October. Dad was at work as usual, and Mom was cleaning the house on the inside. Meridian and I were trying to go to Dupree’s party, so Mom made us rake the leaves.

                    “Brubby, Pennel has it bad for you. She says she wants to jump your bones,” laughed Meridian. I’m sitting there, looking like “what the fuck”…how in the blue hell do you tell your best friend to tell these things to her brother? I continued to rake, as Meridian paused.

                     “Come on, brother! Some part of you has got to like Pennel. She’s not ugly,” added Meridian. I looked up to my sister. “I’ll give it that much…no, she’s not ugly, but she doesn’t exactly have the best personality, either. If Pennel could straighten her shitty attitude, then I might consider,”

                      Of course, that wasn’t entirely true either, because I was still hung up on Jassandra. We didn’t work out as I had hoped, and now she was talking with Dre Hammond. I had just started talking with Sydnee Thommerson again, who lived down the street…but everyone who knew me intimately, knew, that my relationship with Sydnee wouldn’t last…and the only other person who knew me well, was Meridian. She scoffed, with an attitude. “Who are you fooling? You know Sydnee and you are not going to last. I don’t see why you keep bothering…it’s not like she is better looking than Pennel,”

                     I’ll admit, Sydnee was no where near Pennel in the looks ballpark, but like Meridian, Sydnee could hold her own. That was one of the qualities that attracted me to Syd…was that I could have a relationship with her as a friend, and as a boyfriend. She was cool, calm, and collective, like me…we would walk down the hallway holding hands and I could feel the envious vibes coming off people, because of the way we carried ourselves. It was like we knew something that no one else would ever possibly know, and they wanted in. Sydnee and I still share that vibe today…others wonder if we are together, or the few that do know that Sydnee is with Dillon, think that Syd and I are sleeping together behind Dillon’s back. Fuck them all; let them worry about trivial matters that are none of their business anyway. Not to sound cocky or full of myself, but if I wanted Sydnee back, it wouldn’t be hard to get her…but I respect her too much as a good friend, to treat her like a cheap whore. In fact, Sydnee and I never had sex during both times I was with her. I’ve seen her in her underwear (bra & panties), and her bikini…she’s seen me in my boxer briefs, and swimming trunks, but we’ve never seen each other naked. Sydnee and I have kissed of course…she was one of the few girls, aside from Jassandra, that I have the utmost respect for.

                   “It doesn’t matter if Pennel looks better than Sydnee,” I said, towards Meridian. “Pennel is a bitch. She will never have me. I’m not Riley Kessel,”

                   “Something is wrong with you,” hissed Meridian. “I mean if the hottest girl in school wanted to boink me, I’d be all for it- if I were a boy,”

                   I started singing the song, If I Were a Boy, as Meridian screamed. “STOP IT! Stop making fun of me!”

                   I laughed. “Are you trying to tell me something, Meridian? You have an inner dude inside you, screaming to get out?”