Slugger

1: Kennedy the Killler

"Kenny, do you remember Danny?" Nicole asks me innocently.

Oh, but how could I forget Dante – or Danny - Correll? My very first romantic obsession? The first love of my life? The one who freed my hardened black heart and made me realise that not all boys were heartless at ages twelve to fourteen?

"Of course I do," I eyeball her suspiciously. "Why?"

She shrugs slowly. If I hadn't known her for twelve years I would've thought she was just being dramatic, but Nicole is practically permanently stoned so everything she does is slow. "I ran into Ben from middle school yesterday and he invited me to a baseball game with his friends today, Danny included."

My heart stops.

Next to me, Stacy takes a large bite out of her apple. "Who's Danny?" She asks.

Nicole turns to her slowly and reveals her teeth in a perfectly calculated grin. "Kenny's first ever boyfriend."

I snort as Stacy gasps. "You had a boyfriend back in middle school?! Bitch?"

"No, he was never my boyfriend." I say and roll my eyes.

"Oh please, the two of them were practically married." Nicole butts in. "At lunch they used to pretend they were looking at anything but each other but it was so obvious. And on their birthdays, they had this tradition where they'd leave a –"

"Nic, shut up," I say and she laughs.

"Tell me more, I wanna hold this against her later," Stacy says. She didn't go to middle school with us and always complains whenever we reminisce about the good old days when we just had to write book reports on Judy Blume books for homework. Today however, she seems to be quite happy with all this new information.

"Well," Nicole leans over the lunch table and steals a grape from my plate. "They used to like, buy each other candy and share it whenever they could. And on their birthdays, they'd put the other's favourite on their desk along with a card."

She drops the grape in her mouth with slow graceful movements and ignores the fact that I'm glaring at her with all my might. Stacy leans back in her chair and smirks.

"Is that true, Kenny?" She asks. I shrug, somehow confirming this fact and she laughs. "What was his favourite?"

When I don't reply, she turns to Nicole who takes another few grape off the bunch, claiming that she needs them to think about it. "Oh my God, what were they? Sour Patch Kids?"

I sigh, "They were twizzlers if you must know,"

Stacy frowns. "Are you sure he isn't gay?" 

Nicole shakes her head. "No way, he was so into Ken, it was a mystery they weren't together. If anything he's bi – or wait, what's that other one? Panda sexual?"

"It's pansexual," I say, sighing. "And no, he wasn't into me. I mean, he barely ever talked to me,"

"That was because of Tyler, he said that Danny couldn't date you because they were best friends."

"I call bull," I say and she rolls her eyes. "What! The boy just didn't like me like I loved him."

"Why don't you prove its bullshit?" Nicole asks, taking the whole bunch of grapes this time. "Play baseball with us."

Uncomfortable, I shift around in my seat. "I don't know. I mean, I do have to help Jackie with his homework tonight and –"

"Now who's bullshitting?" Stacy interrupts, putting her hair behind her ears. She gives me a pointed look before deciding that my grapes from Nicole are better than the ones she was just eating.