A/N: I upload irregularly and I’m sorry for that. I just hope you won’t stop reading because of that. I’ll try my best to write better and upload faster. I was listening to Dido’s Life for Rent, Anna Nalick’s Wreck of the Day and Miley Cyrus’ Bottom of the Ocean as I wrote this, so I think it sort of set the mood for this chapter. I hope it is long enough to tide you over until I get the next few chapters written and uploaded.
This chapter might not be so long bit I am uploading two or even three chapters tonight to make up for the long wait. I promise it is all worth the wait and I hope you'll stick with me. Thanks a lot for your suport,
Love,
xx annie xx
Part Fourteen
April
“Did she say if she was coming?” I asked Meredith anxiously.
Meredith looked up from assessing her nails and shrugged, “I don’t know. She seemed a lot surprised when I invited her, as I still am. Why would I waste four invites on a group of dorky kids when there were lots of hot basketball players to be invited?” she asked as if she couldn’t believe it.
“We’ll pay you for the invites, and you can invite more people,” Shelley told her before backtracking and asking, “What do you mean four invites?”
Meredith shrugged again, “You said I should make her accept whatever it took, and it seemed she and her friends were a package deal. I would have given the hot charming Chace Crawford look-alike, but he didn’t ask for one for himself.”
I nodded as Shelley started, “What hot, charming, Chace Crawford look-alike?”
Meredith dropped her bored stance and perked up at the chance for gossip, “Oh, it was a transfer student sitting at their table. I told that Sam girl to bring him along.”
I cut in before Shelley could say anything, “I know that guy. I noticed he’s, like, always with her.”
Shelley closed her mouth and sat back. Meredith piped in, “So, when do I get the money for the invites? They’re pretty expensive and I hope you know I have a guest list that is now disrupted.”
“Yeah, so?” Shelley asked indignantly.
“So, what?” Meredith asked.
“So, un-disrupt it,” Shelley supplied knowledgably. “You are the big party planner, what are four extra guests?”
Meredith sighed in acceptance, “I guess there’s really no problem. As for the payment, I’ll take Visa.” She said and put out her hand.
Shelley dug around her purse and gave her a Visa card which Meredith pocketed. Meredith stood up and announced that she was leaving.
“Why?” I asked, just to be polite.
“I have four more people to plan for, and four more invites to make. I think I need all the time I can get.” She announced huffily.
“Yeah, you do, Just make sure there’s a lot to drink and get drunk on,” Shelley told her in a superior and surprisingly tired voice.
“Cool,” I said, “See you later.”
“Whatever,” Meredith said, collecting her bag and walking out.
We waited until we heard the sound of her Mercedes pulling out of my driveway before I asked Shelley what the plan was, exactly.
“I told you to leave everything to me,” she said.
“But what if something goes wrong? What will I do then?” I asked her, feeling extremely helpless.
“Nothing I ever do goes wrong,” Shelley said confidently.
“I know,” I replied. “But what exactly is the objective?”
“You don’t know what the objective is? I just paid Meredith to get herself a new Louise Vuitton, and you don’t know the point?” Shelley asked, standing up and pacing the room furiously.
“I didn’t really mean that I don’t understand the point,” I tried to explain; “I just wanted to know if there was more to it than just proving a point to Sam.”
“You refer to her by her name?” Shelley asked, “You are not only proving a point to her, but to all other girls who think they can just waltz in and take whatever they want regardless of who has him first, and then leave behind a trail of heartbreak and despair, and destroying the futures o f all involved.” Shelley exclaimed vehemently and I squirmed in my seat, taken aback and wondering what I said to warrant all of that.
“Shelley?” I started cautiously, fearful of her angry face.
“What?” She asked stopping to face me.
“Please sit,” I told her, and watched as she sighed and took a seat on my bed.
“I don’t really think my future or my whole life will be destroyed if Alexi leaves me for Sam-”
“Do not say her name!” Shelley exclaimed.
“-and I don’t think there will be a trail of heartbreak and despair since he will be leaving only me, and not all the girls at Stephen County High.” I continued, ignoring her outb
urst.
“He might as well be. He will be unavailable to everyone deserving of him, and everyone who needs him to make their illusions of life complete,” Shelley said.
I didn’t think we were still talking about Alexi, but since he was the subject matter, and I couldn’t stop myself, I asked Shelley suspiciously, “Shelley, are you sure you don’t have a crush on Alexi?” I only mentioned his name to make things a bit clearer in her obviously muddled mind.
She looked up at me like I was crazy and then burst out laughing. She started laughing so hard I was scared she had become a maniac.
“Alexi... Me... Crush... Oh April, you’re very funny.” She managed to get out in between bursts of laughter.
“Are you okay?” I asked her, getting scared by the minute.
“I am,” she mumbled, pausing a bit, “Why wouldn’t I be?” she managed to get out before starting again. “Why wouldn’t I be alright? Alright?”
I sat there silent, watching her and waiting for something dramatic to happen. I had visions of all my shoes and bags vandalised, my room turned upside down, with everything in it broken, and Shelley holding a big stick and laughing a maniacal evil ‘MUHAHA’ laugh.
Shelley laughed for a while mumbling incoherent things and then suddenly she started crying. Not as dramatic as breaking all the stuff in my room but a lot more unexpected. I sat there still and shocked for a few more seconds before looking around and jumping to her side. I don’t think anybody should blame me. I’ve been friends with Shelley for almost thirteen years, and I can’t remember if I ever saw her cry.
I pulled her resisting body close to me, and she finally rested her head on my shoulder. I patted her on the back for a long time, unsure of what to say or do. I had no idea what could make her cry so hard.
“I’m so sorry, Shelley,” I said, even though it sounded like the wrong thing to say at the time.
“Why?” Shelley asked me, her voice muffled and cracked with the tears. “It is not your fault, or is it?”
I didn’t know if that was a trick question or not. I didn’t even know what was going on, so I settled for, “I don’t think so.”
Shelley just wailed louder, “So, whose fault is it?” she asked dejectedly.
“I don’t know? Satan?” I asked, cautiously.
Shelley looked up at me and I could see an uncertain smile pull at the corners of her mouth.
“I’m not unfeeling, am I? I’m not mean, am I? I’m not wicked, am I? I’m not a hater, am I?”
“No,” I said, almost sure that was what she expected me to say.
“I mean,” she sat up straighter, her tears subsiding, “I’m just a teenager. I have a right to my opinions, and my likes and dislikes.”
“Yeah, of course, you do,” I told her. “Who would say otherwise?”
“I have the right to enjoy my life and have everything go on smoothly for me, I don’t need anyone to come and disrupt anything for me since I’ve not done anything wrong, or do you think I do?”
“No,” I said, a bit surer. Nobody, no matter how mean, or how much of a hater, deserves to have any troubles.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, before I went over it again and asked, ‘who’s fault is it, if not mine?’”
“Definitely not yours,” I told her. “What’s wrong, Shelley?”
She started crying again, “It’s not my fault. I didn’t ask for it.”
“No, you didn’t. Why would you think that?”
“It’s very bad, April. It’s very, very bad,” Shelley wailed.
Not too bad, I hoped. I couldn’t handle anything worse than Meredith’s party not holding or Shelley having cancer. I just stroke her back a few more times in answer before Shelley cracked and said,
“My parents are getting a divorce.”
That was very, very, very bad.
Samantha
An hour and half after Josh called, Alexi dropped me off at the fast food place we went the first and only time we had lunch together.
“Thanks,” I said, getting out of his truck.
“It’s cool. Just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I pretended to consider it, “That’ll be pretty difficult to decide.”
Alexi laughed and said simply, “Just have fun. Bye.”
“Bye,” I said, transferring the math textbook that wouldn’t get in my bag to my other arm to leave an arm free to close the door and waved at him. I stood there until he had pulled out of the parking lot and headed back either to his home or April’s.
It was then that I remembered that I was already an hour and a half late for my date with Josh. Date. That sounded nice. I never imagined that I would use date and I in the same sentence in a million years. I hit a new level of high and practically skipped into the restaurant.
It was the same one I got Val fired from when I burnt the whole batch of fries she was supposed to man. I didn’t think it was any of my fault that she decided to IM some random person when she was supposed to be at work.
I entered and noticed Josh sitting in the corner talking with some random girl that had probably just popped in to the restaurant to get some take-out from the looks of the lunch bag she was carrying. I had to clamp down a fierce surge of jealously when I reminded myself that he was a free agent who could talk to anyone he wanted whenever he wanted.
I walked steadily to the table, placing a passable smile on my face.
“Hi, Josh,” I said. “I’m really sorry I took so long. I was in the tutoring centre. I’m really sorry.”
Josh smiled, taking it all in stride, “It’s no biggie, actually. I guessed as much, so I took a while getting down here. I just got here about fifteen minutes ago.”
“Cool,” I said, intentionally ignoring the girl sitting in front of him, “I’d hate to think you’d been here for a while because of me.”
Josh smiled and motioned to the girl I was trying to ignore, “It’s like I said before, it’s no big deal. Besides, I wasn’t alone. I was having a very nice conversation with Stella here.”
“Oh,” I said, finally looking at the girl. “It’s really nice to meet you, Stella. I’m Sam,” I said, touching my chest by way of introduction, the math textbook getting in the way. I dropped it on the table and smiled at her. “I mean, Samantha, you know, Sam, Samantha?” I was rambling and I knew it, but I didn’t know how to stop. Stella was looking at me a bit oddly, and then she was gathering her stuff and smiling up at me, “Very nice to meet you too, Samantha,” she said, sliding off her seat and glancing between me and Josh. “I have to go now,” she started, and then glanced at Josh, “I’ll see you around here, somewhere.”
“Yeah, probably,” Josh said, giving her this gorgeous smile. I could swear I saw her wink slowly and slyly at him.
I sat down on the chair she just vacated and leaned across the table to Josh. The way he looked back and gave me all of his attention made me feel so special, like I had been on his mind all day. It made me almost forget all about Stella ruining my date. Almost, but not quite; even though I never brought it up again.
“Ok, Sam, I’m really sorry about that. I just had to pass the time before you came by,” Josh said.
I smiled indulgently, “It’s really no big deal. So what happened today?”
Josh beamed from ear to ear, “Big surprise.”
“What happened?” I asked, excited for him.
“I made the band,” he exclaimed. I wasn’t surprised. After the big show he put on Saturday, someone would have probably put in a good word for him, confirming that he wasn’t tone-deaf. And given the fact that there weren’t actually too many students with musical talents around here, being not-tone-deaf was enough to get you on the band. Josh was lucky, and now he was a few steps ahead of us mathletes on the Stephen County High social chart.
“I’m so happy for you,” I told him, and I was. “I just hope this doesn’t mean that you won’t sit with us anymore at our table.”
“Of course not,” Josh reassured me hastily, “You guys were the only friends I had when I was nobody. I will not leave you just because I have a higher cool rating on the Abigail Henson social chart.”
I was impressed; even I didn’t know anything about the Abby Henson social chart until two years ago when I wondered aloud about how no one ever comes over to sit at our lunch table, even when there was no other vacant table.
“You know about that?”
“Every school has a different version of the same thing. At my former school, the Student Body president handed out a physical chart of the Student Body rankings and told you your place. At least here they place band guys before skater dudes,” Josh explained.
“Isn’t that a bit backward?” I asked.
“It is backward, but it can never change no matter what we do about it. There are no two people on earth that are equal. There will always be people who think they are better than others, as there will be those who don’t think they are as good as anybody else.”
“That’s pretty deep for a guy like you,” I observed.
“You might be surprised at what you find,” Josh stated, and for some reason it reminded me of the first time when Alexi told me I would be surprised at what he could actually achieve. And he has proved himself right.
“Okay, cool,” I said, “Are you going to be playing at the Halloween homecoming game?”
“I have not decided yet. Practicing next to those cheerleaders might have a few perks, but I personally believe the downsides are too many to be ignored.”
“A man after my own heart,” I observed, smiling.
Josh smiled back and said, “Now let me be the man after your own stomach.” He raised a hand and a waitress appeared with two menus in hand. I don’t know how he did that. Usually a person had to wait until a waitress felt bothered enough to attend to you.
“So, what are you ordering?” Josh asked.
I pretended to go through the menu, before saying, “Two pretzels and a hamburger.”
“Are you serious?” Josh asked.
“Yep, I’m not much of a lunch person,” I excused.
Josh seemed stumped for a minute before giving a complicated order that involved lots of meat and fries.
“So, what do you want to drink?” he asked me again.
“A cup of coffee will be fine, I have a lot of work to do today, and I need to keep awake,” I explained.
“You could have told me and we would have made plans for dinner or something, instead of lunch on the busiest school day,” Josh said, sounding a bit put out.
“I’ really sorry, but this is fine actually,” I said, “I only wanted to spend some time with you.”
“Aww,” Josh crooned, “That’s so sweet, Sam.”
I burst out laughing, ”Whatever. I’m fine though.”
“Cool, no problem.”
When the food came, I think Josh felt guilty about ordering so much, and so he had the waitress pack about half of it to go and watched me nibble through my order while he wolfed down his remaining half of the food.