Girl by Blake Nelson

Chapter 3

When we finally got there Mark paid for me and we went in and another band was playing. There weren't that many people but Cybil was standing by the side and she waved to me and I ran over. And she started telling me about the singer onstage whose name was Nick and their band was called Pax, which meant "peace" in Latin and wasn't that cool? But I was like, what about Richard? She just shrugged. And I didn't want to be a drag so I watched Nick sing and I couldn't see Richard anywhere. And poor Mark Pierce was standing in the middle of the floor looking like a suburban jock in a holey sweater. And Cybil said, "What's Mark Pierce doing here?" And I said, "He brought me." And we both looked at him and you could tell how out of place he felt. And Cybil was just in love with this Nick person and swaying back and forth with his music and I watched Nick but he didn't seem that cute to me. He looked weird and sort of deranged.

Poor Mark Pierce. I stood with him while Thriftstore Apocalypse played. And I wanted to dance but he didn't want to but then some other girls did and I danced with them. And then afterward Mark and I sat on the curb outside and these two girls sat next to us and they were checking out Mark and then they lit cigarettes and started gossiping. They had cool retro dresses and I had on my favorite Gap skirt which wasn't very cool I guess. And then Mark said he didn't think any of the bands were any good. He said he didn't mind if they wanted to be artsy but if they couldn't play their instruments why did they think they could go onstage? He said his friend Scott Haskell could play Scorpions solos and stuff off the radio and he wasn't even in a band. Then he said that the Outer Limits people were pretentious and the girls were stuck up and they thought they were so cool but they were obviously losers.

When the show was over Greg pulled up his station wagon and they loaded their stuff. Then he and Richard came over to us and Richard tried to say hi to Mark Pierce but Mark would only grunt at them. And then I told Richard I had one of their songs in my head and he got so excited. He was so happy. I even sang it a little, not as good as Cybil of course. He was ecstatic. He said that should be their first single. He said they were thinking of making a record and Mark Pierce scoffed and Richard tried to explain how easy it was and then Greg started talking about the studio he was going to build in his basement and everybody rolled their eyes, even Richard.

Then Cybil appeared and she wouldn't look at Richard and they all got in Greg's station wagon and drove away. I said to Mark that something was up between Richard and Cybil and he said, "Yeah, they're having sex." Then we got in Mark's car and drove around the block and got stuck in that same left turn only. Mark got so mad he just drove over the partition and floored it. I felt sorry for him then because he was doing all this for me, wearing the sweater and standing around and getting checked out by snotty girls. So then we went to Scamp's and had frozen yogurt and talked about neutral subjects like people at school and how he scored twenty-four points in a basketball game. Then he told me a long story about when he and Scott Haskell went to the beach and snuck into a blues bar and Scott asked the guy if he could jam but they wouldn't let him and so they got really drunk and made out with some sleazy beach girls.

After that we drove around and parked and made out. Then we talked and Mark said how he thought Cybil was okay and how he defended her to his friends when she shaved her head. And he thought the Outer Limits scene was all right in some ways. He was leading up to asking me for sex but I changed the subject to clothes. I complained that my Gap skirt was too boring but he said I looked really cute in it and how I was the cutest girl at the show. And then he told me how sexy I was and how I had a great body. And then he let down the seat and got on top of me and we made out more intense than ever. And it was so strange because he was Mark Pierce, senior, with a car, and very cute, who millions of girls liked. And I felt like I should like him more and I tried to but it was hard in the dark when he was just this big weight grinding into you.

At school I told Darcy she was stupid not to come to Outer Limits and Greg was no problem and anyway Mark Pierce would protect her. And then after school we went to a thriftstore in Sherwood Oaks and I looked through the dresses for something like the girls at Outer Limits had. But the dresses were all of gross material and not that cool. I found a couple that seemed okay and we went in the dressing room and I told Darcy about Mark Pierce getting on top of me and if you could have an orgasm from making out. And I was saying how easily I could have had sex with him and didn't she think it was inevitable really, and was it dishonest if you didn't like them that much? Darcy said it wasn't about being honest, it was more about if you're ready or not. And I asked how you know if you're ready and she said, "If your friends are all doing it, then you are." And she was trying on hats and I was trying on dresses and then we talked about Mark's friend Scott Haskell and if he was Darcy's type and if we should double-date. And I picked out the least ugly dress and as I put my regular clothes back on I watched myself in the mirror and imagined I was in Mark Pierce's bedroom and we had done it and he was asking me to stay but I couldn't because I had a meeting to go to or a flight to catch or something important to do.