Control

CONTROL (Version 1)

A SHORT STORY BY JAY SCOTT

Gym was the last class of the day and it was finally over at 2:45 in the afternoon; you were walking toward the locker room afterward. You debated whether or not you were going to take a shower, since you were going home anyway. But you smelled and skipping the shower was not an option, even though you just wanted to get home and have a fun Friday night with your best friend, Brad. Your parents were out of town for the weekend, so you were going to get into the liquor and just relax.

"Hey stranger," a female voice said to you when you were fifteen feet away from the boy's locker room. You turned and your stomach fluttered as you saw Karen in her cheerleader's outfit. She was by no means the most popular girl on the team or school, but she was gorgeous with long black hair, olive skin, a toned stomach, and a set of beautiful green eyes.

"Karen," you say awkwardly, "Hey, what's up?" You feel stupid for your blunder of a greeting, but she smiles with her brilliantly straight, white teeth.

"You're so funny," she says, "I had a great time with you last Friday." Your date with her had been filled with many unfortunate mistakes, but it had ended well with a kiss in the car before you dropped her off at her house. You just weren't used to dating at all, since you'd existed as another face in the meandering crowd of your high school. But Karen had started talking to you a month ago and you finally got the courage to ask her on a date, to which she replied 'Finally,' then giggled when she saw the look of shock on your face.

"So, are you going to Vince's party tonight?"

You didn't know Vince, one of the token jocks on the well-funded football team, was even having a party. That wasn't really a surprise, since the only words he'd spoken to any of the football players was help with their English homework in his own class, or the class that he was a teacher's aid for in second period for his favorite teacher.

"Oh," You say, not really sure how to say this without seeming like he didn't know about the party at all. "Well, I promised my friend that we'd chill at my house tonight."

"Brad?"

"Yeah, Brad," you say.

"Hmm," she said, apparently thinking something that she had no intention of sharing. "Well, it's going to be fun, but if you want to ditch the f—" She stopped in midsentence. When she continued, barely a few seconds after, she said, "Um, well, if Brad doesn't show up or something, text me and I'll give you directions."

"Okay," you say, really curious to know what word she was trying to say to describe Brad, but you decide to ignore it. "What are you doing the rest of the weekend? Want to hang out Saturday or Sunday?"

"Aww," she said, almost sounding condescending, "I really wish I could. Saturday is cheer practice and girl's night. Sunday is church and my parents don't let me do anything social that day."

"We need to get my boy's night and your girl's night to be on the same day so that we can actually hang out on the weekend."

Karen laughed so hard that it seemed like you had said the funniest joke in the world. You hadn't meant that to be funny, so you revisited what you said in your mind and tried to figure out what was so funny. Luckily, Karen supplied the answer to what she thought was so funny.

"Boy's night," she said, "You're such a cutie. Alright, well, go take a shower and have fun with your 'boy's night,'" she says, turning on her heels and walking to the girl's locker room.