(NOT fan fiction!) Kurt Cobain and Tally Fisk

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"I hereby move that we initiate Kyle Davis into the Invisible Woodsmen."

Three pairs of fire-reflecting eyes snap to me in shock and suspicion.

"Did you say Kyle?" Tally asks. She's looking at me as though I just said I like mayonnaise on my pizza.

"Yeah. Kyle. Your boyfriend. I just think he seems like the secret society type. Tell me I'm wrong."

"You're not wrong," John says.

I'll be honest. This was Kurt's idea. After I got home from church Sunday, I saw Kyle picking Tally up across the street. He gave me a nod and I responded with a two-finger salute.

And I knew things were cool between us. I'm not saying we're ever going to be friends again. But I knew his whole threating-my-life-if-I-ever-so-much-as-look-at-Tally thing was over.

Which meant that I needed to concede in my own way. I can hope all I want that they break up so I get my chance to be the one who makes her happy. But I'm not waiting for her to choose me and then leave him. That's not the right order of things.

"That guy is such a tool," Kurt said, walking with me and my parents into the house.

He walked beside me to my room and stood by the window, continuing to muse aloud.

"I hate mean people," he said. "I just want to beat them into the ground." He laughed. "But I guess that doesn't exactly make me a nice person, does it?"

I shrugged as I changed out of my church clothes. I didn't want to risk talking. I know I need to break that habit.

"But it sucks to have parents that don't care though, you know?" he continued. "Parents that just throw money at you or whatever. I mean you have everything you need but it's still kinda neglectful or whatever."

I tossed my church clothes in the hamper and then yanked my bedspread up, sort of making my bed, so my mom wouldn't tell me to.

As I walked out of my room, Kurt said, "Maybe it wouldn't hurt to include him with your friends sometimes. I mean, I know you don't like him and stuff. But, I don't know, put some good vibes out into the universe. See what happens."

So, that's what I'm doing now.

Mavis has her mouth turned down and her eyes wide. A face that says yikes!

"I don't know, Spence," she says. "I'm just saying, you two don't exactly seem to get along."

"Well, then it's his call. I'm extending the olive branch."

"Why?" Tally says.

"If he says no," John puts in, "then the secret will be compromised."

I suck my lips between my teeth and wait.

"Maybe there's a way to feel him out first before we lay the whole secret society thing on him," Mavis says. "You know, just invite him to hang out in the woods, around the fire, and see where it goes."

"Yeah," John agrees. "We could have like a signal! If we think he's gonna be cool we'll say a certain word or, like, pull an ear or something. Then we can tell the secret."

"We can each have a word. Once we all say our word, then we know it's unanimous," Mavis says.

"I want my word to be magenta!" John says. Even though he hasn't told anyone else his secret, his mood has been practically giddy since he told me.

"Stop! I haven't agreed to this!" Tally snaps as she throws bits of grass into the fire with a little more umph than necessary.

Mavis rolls her eyes and John mouths "Oops!" at me. I shrug.