Poor Audrey, I chuckle silently to myself as I watch her gaze move from me to Randy and back again.
She's probably wondering why and how Randy brought me home.
"Hey, Aud," he acknowledges her with a nod and she stammers a reply.
Aud? Why's he calling her by a pet name? Even I only do so when I badly need a favour.
Not that I'm jealous, I'm just saying something.
"Aren't you gonna ask me in?"
He asks as I move towards my door with a confused Audrey beside me.
"Ask you in? Where do you think this is, your girlfriend's house?" I throw back without looking at him.
He's silent for sometime. Still searching for what to say, I bet.
"That's very mean."
Yes, Randy...very mean and very intentional.
I'm still not intrigued by that little stunt you pulled earlier.
"I know. Bye," I wave him off and drag Audrey in, shutting the door behind us.
"What was that all about?" The question lands together with the sound of the door closing.
"All what about!?" I reply with a nervous chuckle.
"Seriously? You're gonna do this now? Randy just -" she continues and I quickly stop her, placing a finger on her lip.
"Shh. You know mom and Miranda.....they're very nosy. Let's get to my room first," I whisper and sneak her upstairs to my room.
"Ok. Spill the beans." I barely close my door when the question is thrown at me.
"It's nothing really. We just had a moment today," I say like it's no big deal, which would be an understatement. It's a actually a very huge deal and I'm only trying to sound all cool about it.
Unfortunately, Audrey's not the person I'd sound "all cool about it" to. She soon has me telling every detail that went down immediately I met Randy in the library and every moment after, till he brought me home.
"And you were saying, 'we just had a moment' ??" she mimics me to perfection.
I only shrug in defense.
"You know, I can't believe you're about to be popular..... I'm about to be the best friend of a popular person," she says to herself, totally ignoring me. "I'm going to start moving with
them and-"
"Erm?....Me?...Audrey??" I interrupt her, snapping my fingers to bring her back to reality.
"You know, you can just have a conversation with me, instead of one about me with yourself."
"O sorry. Didn't see you come in young lady," she mimics Miss Suzanne and I can't help but giggle.
"Ouch!" She yelps as I pinch her slightly.
"But on a real Mandy, this is great......a life changing event."
"O stop being so dramatic Audrey-"
"I'm not!" She snaps at me.
I roll my eyes and plop myself onto the bed, releasing a loud breath I didn't realize I was holding.
"Well, let's just hope for the best," I say to myself.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next morning I'm not surprised as Randy joins Audrey and I at lunch break.
"Yo dudes," he shouts across the cafeteria to his two buddies on the popular people's table.
They hesitate for a while before coming over. The shock on them is too obvious to miss.
"Dude, tf are we doing here? Is this this some kinda joke?" Allen, the loudest of them spoke up. Now I know Randy has a loud mouth, but trust me, Allen makes Randy seem like the quietest person on earth. As for Kendrick, I'd never seen him speak more than a sentence. You'd think he's all innocent because of his quiet nature.
Wrong!! I'd heard he was equally as bad and next in line after Randy.
Kids are surprised to see the combo. Some stop to stare, others give backward glances as they pass by and others just act indifferent.
Me? I'm pretty much sure I'm red as a tomato. I try very hard to suppress my excitement but I know my smiles and grins are giving me away.
"Meet my new friends," he tells them, taking a bite of his sandwich.
"Friends?" Allen snorts. "Yeah right," he continues, laughing his ass off.
"Whatever man," Kendrick mumbles and moves to sit beside Randy.for
"They're cool," Randy tells them, his mouth full.
"Them?" Allen asks mockingly and I spy Audrey clench a fist..... she's losing it.
Uh uh..... that's not a good thing.
Randy only nods.
"How cool?" Allen probes further.
"Allen," Kendrick calls him sternly.
At least I'm not the only one getting irritated at Allen's questioning session.
"Just let them be," he continues in a warning tone when Allen tries speaking again.
There's an awkward silence as we all eat our lunch.
"Sandra Mason," Audrey says suddenly and Randy choked on his sandwich.
I can swear I saw Allen panick.
He exchanged knowing glances with Kendrick and Randy.
Audrey smirks and I feel I'm the only one who doesn't know what is going on and who exactly Sandra Mason is.
I turn to Randy with a questioning look and he only looks away.
"Huh...?" Allen mumbles, playing with his hair.
"You asked how cool we are, and I answered you....we're cool enough to know about Sandra Mason and how she-"
We do? Who is she??????
"I don't know what you're talking about," Allen cuts Audrey off, trying to sound bold but his shaky voice betrays him.
"I bet you don't," she retorts with a twinge of sarcasm.
"Damn right, I don't," Allen manages to say in a firm tone.
"But you do know wh- "
"I don't,"
"You do!"
"Don't!"
"Do!!"
The rest of us just watch in silence as they go back and forth.
"That's enough!!" I bang my fists on the table to get their attention.
They're all looking at me now.
Great!
"Who is Sandra Mason and what's the big deal about her??" I ask them, annoyed...about the fact that I didn't know what was going on...And mostly because Audrey never said anything about this to me and it kinda hurt....I mean she's supposed to TELL ME EVERYTHING!!!!
"Nobody," they all chorus.
I eye them in frustration.
"So Audrey just mentioned nobody's name and Randy choked on his lunch. Same nobody has you both worked up. Wow. She sure has a lot of influence for a nobody."
Silence....
"Well, is anybody going to tell me what's going on?"
More silence...
"We'll talk about this later," Allen addresses Audrey in a firm and final tone....one that suggested the topic was not to be further discussed.
"....in private." He added and we resumed our lunch in silence.
"Well, that was awkward," I whisper.
"Hey, guys! My parents are out of town for the weekend....wanna crash??"
That was Allen.
"Sure," the guys chorus without a second thought.
I'm actually amazed at how the atmosphere just changed suddenly.
Even Audrey looks excited.....as if she wasn't just yelling at Allen a few seconds back.
He turns to look at us, but I feel he's actually looking at Audrey....there's this look on his face I can't quite place.
An amused one? An expectant one?....can't really tell.
"Well?" He asks.
"Well what?" I ask, looking down at my plate. I didn't want to follow them to a party....I've heard how wild such parties turn out to be.
I may be desperate for popularity, but I'm definitely not going , even if the host literally just invited me.
"Are you coming to my party this weekend?"
Come on Mandy....you can do this!
Just say it...."No I can't come."
It's not that hard....
"I have lots of homework. I'm sorry but I can't come," I reply lamely. Even I can't bring myself to believe that excuse.
"You literally have the whole weekend....you can't spare one night for a party?" Audrey asks, somewhat disgusted at me.
And I understand her....tons of girls would kill to be in my position right now and I'm here, messing it up.
"Audrey, I can't," I whisper to her.
"Not even for me? Let's go just this once...you never attend parties because you claim no one ever invites you. Now you have an invitation, let's take advantage of this one!"
I mean, she has a point, but I just don't want to and that's mostly because I'm scared...I've never done this before.
"Pretty pleaaaaaaaasssssseeeeee," she presses, rolling her innocent eyes at me like a cute puppy.
Her eyes always weaken me and get me to give in to her demands.
But not today.
I quickly look away.
"Just when I was starting to think you were cool," Allen says in mockery.
"Allen! Knock it off dude, not helping," Audrey barks at him.
"Feisty," he says, smiling.
"Sure thing, babe" he adds and I notice a smile tugging at Audrey's lips.
She does well to act like she didn't just hear that.
"Mandy, you're coming."
That was Randy.
The nerve of the guy...butting in with a final statement like he owned me.
He could've at least tried convincing me.
I roll my eyes in annoyance.
"Oh yeah? And why would I?" I ask him, annoyed.
"Because I said you're coming."
Allen whistles lowly.
"Ooouuuuuu" Audrey cooes as well, smiling like an idiot.
Kendrick ignores us all, scrolling away on his phone.
Me, I'm still trying to think of something to say.
'Because I said you're coming'
Is it so weird that I totally love how authoritative this sounds?....how authoritative he sounds??
"Okay fine" I give in, but not because Randy straight out ordered me to.
Lies.
Everyone knows you're going because he said to come.
"Good, we're all on the same page now" Randy says to me as he rises to leave.
Kendrick follows suit.
"I knew you could do this" Allen tells me with a pat to my shoulder as he joins them.
Part of me tells its more of a tease than an encouragement, but I still go on to reply "Thanks".
"Now what?" I ask Audrey, confused.
She turns to face me, cups my face in her palms and smiles sweetly.
"Now you home, you psych yourself up and we go to this party on Saturday night."
I sigh.... "You make it sound so easy,"
"That's because it's easy....it's supposed to come easy. You just go have fun....don't think too much about it."
I mouth my thanks and hug her before we leave......
*********************************
It's been a long break....
Hopefully I'll do better, moving on❤️