the amnesiac

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I stare at Kate in shock and delight as she snaps back at Cassie. She starts to walk away, still smirking, but I know then that I'd much rather spend the day with her than with this stuck-up bitch. "We're much better off without her anyway," Cassie says. I clicked my tongue and tapped my finger against my chin, facing her. "I have to agree," I say. Then, I smirk at Cassie and say, "She doesn't want to waste her time on you anyway." Cassie looks at me, appalled. "And about quitting cheerleading," I continue. "I wasn't trying to be cheeky. Have a good life, Cassie." I turn to follow Kate, and Cassie is in too much shock to follow me.

I speed up until I'm jogging towards Kate, and right before I reach her, I hear, "You owe me your uniform!!" Kate turns to me, as if she expected me to follow her. "You don't owe her anything," she says before flipping Cassie off.

I place my lunch tray in the table and slide into the seat across from Kate. She smiles at me and chuckles as I sit down. "You, know, the last time I saw you, we were at that party, but I doubt you remember." (Kate wasn't at school yesterday, because she was searching her crappy room for her cheer uniform, and when she found it, she spent the rest of the day making it look miserably outworn.) I've already spent the day telling Kate exactly what my condition is, and she replied with, "Damn, you're lucky."

"Why?" I replied.

"Cause if you were the same as you were before, you would still be putting up with Cassie's bullshit."

I chuckled. "God, that would've been a nightmare."

"Except you wouldn't have known it was."

I laughed again. "Possibly true."

We were the only two at the lunch table, and we were far away from where Cassie and her crew were sitting. Kate laughs unexpectedly. I look at her with a Twinkie stuffed in my mouth. "Whuh's sho fummy?"

She shakes her head at the crumbs spilling out of my mouth. "I'm just thinking about the party. God, it was hectic." I swallowed and moaned at the delight of the Twinkie. "What do you mean by hectic?"

She smiled evilly. "You and Aaron were getting down on the dance floor."

My jaw dropped and I threw my napkin at her. "What?! Nuh-uh."

She put her hands up in surrender. "Hey, it was a different you, it's okay." She laughs again and I moaned, placing my head in my hands. "Ugh," I groaned in annoyance.

She pats my head softly. "It's okay, baby. You didn't go into any rooms."

My head lifted up immediately and I slapped her hand away. She laughed in hysterics, holding her stomach for support. "Omagawd, omagawd," she slurred as she laughed. I shook my head and smiled.

Then a thought occurred to me. "Wait," I said, real serious. She looked up and held the table for support. I looked around me, leaned in closely, and whispered, "Am I a virgin?"

She pursed her lips, trying not to laugh again. And nodded. "As far as I know, yes."

I sighed and silently thanked God. Then, I peered at Kate. "Are you?" She blushed, and I threw another napkin at her. "You're not!!" We both giggled like eight year old girls seeing Harry Styles on their Instagram feed. "Who with?" I asked.

She smiled shyly again. "Well, you already know him, you just don't remember him. His name's Troy." I look around, hoping to search for someone who looked like a "Troy." She shook her head at me. "He's not here today. He's on a retreat with his Youth Ministry."

"You had sex with a Church boy?!" I almost shrieked, but Kate slapped her hand over my mouth. "Shut up!! Not everyone knows." She pulls her hand back and rolls her eyes at me.

I look around to see if anyone might've heard me, but no one seemed to care. I look back at Kate. "But that's like, anti-Christ-like," I whispered.

She looks at me quizzically. "Anti-Christ-like? Come on, you've got to do better than that. Besides, he's the one that suggested it."

I gasped, then touched her hand softly. "Is that why he had to go on the retreat?"

Kate laughs loudly at my idiocy. "You're such a goof."

"Yeah, it's not the first time I heard that today."

Then, it hits me. Kate. The party. Troy. Instagram feed. "You're Kate!!" I said loudly, jumping up from my chair. A few heads turned that time. Kate jerked back at my sudden outburst. "Congrats, you win an Oscar," she says sarcastically.

I shake my head, dazzled. "No, my Instagram!! You commented on a picture, talking about a party. Your username as something like...like-"

"Katelovestroy?"

"YES!!"

"There goes another Oscar," Kate sighs.

I give her a stank look. "I'm just sparking some realization here, okay?"

She shrugs, and I sit down again. "I'm so glad I figured that out. It would be weird to realize that weeks after today."

"Yeah, weird," Kate mumbles.

My stank look returns.