"Benny?"
Oh, how he missed Oh how he missed your voice.
"Hey love." He started, smiling as big as he possibly could. "How you been?" He asked, pulling the phone cord as far as he could so he could sit on one of the comfier chairs in the living room.
"I've been good actually. What about you, what's been up back there?" Your voice seemed a bit lower than normal, and he figured he'd bring it up since he was curious.
"It's been alright. Not a lot of new stuff, but it's just been kinda boring without you." He spoke sincerely. "And hey, why does your voice sound so deep? Is it just the phone?"
"No, I uh... I've been out late at night the past few days. Made some new friends. It's probably just the night air." You replied. He nodded even though you couldn't see him. Another question sparked his mind, but you seemed to wanna ask him something, so he held back for a minute.
"So uh, the new guy... Scott Smalls? The boys said he wasn't that great, are you teaching him?"
He figured Smalls would come up at least once in the conversation, but not so soon.
"Yeah, I'm teaching him. He's doing a lot better than he was when he first got here. Still needs some work but maybe if you're back by the end of the summer you can help." He chuckled, twirling the phone cord in his hand as he talked. He was so nervous to talk to you, and yet when he did it felt so natural like it was before.
"Yeah, I should be there. Maybe even sooner. My therapist thinks that I'm almost done with my extensive treatment. She said something about how fast I went through all the material. If my mom says yes maybe we can move back before August." You ranted. Benny couldn't be more happy to hear you go on and on about something.
"That's great! You know the house next to mine just went up for sale, maybe you could move next door. It would make it a lot easier for me to get to your room at night, I could probably just jump from window to window."
"I'll tell my mom about it. Maybe it can be an early birthday present." You paused, but continued a moment later. "Speaking of birthday, what do you want this year?"
"You don't have to get me anything." He smirked, knowing you probably would buy him something regardless.
"Oh, come on, I can get you something if I want to."
"Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't already think of one for you." He responded, thinking about gift he had sitting in his top drawer.
"Then how's it fair to say I can't get you something?" You asked in a rowdy tone, trying to prove your point.
"I didn't technically tell you that you couldn't, I just said you don't have to." He corrected. He was still smiling wider than a child on Christmas morning while talking to you.
"You never answered me. What do you want for your birthday?" You pressed on to him. He knew exactly what he wanted, but it might not be attainable.
"Can I have you? Or is that too much to ask?" He chuckled, blushing from the other end of the call. Though you couldn't see him, you knew there was sure to be pink on his cheeks.
"I'll do my best." You replied sheepishly, smirking to yourself at the thought. "Hypothetically, if I could make it for your birthday, what would you want?"
He laughed lightly, rolling his eyes at your persistence. "Well I don't know if I should say it."
"Why not? It's not like it-" you cut yourself off in realization. "Oh."
Your cheeks were now redder than a tomato and you couldn't help but hide your face, though no one could see it anyways.
"Mack I'm sorry, I know you're not-"
"Benny, it's okay. I just.... I'm still kinda sensitive to that sorta thing. I'm getting better though I promise." You assured him. He still felt sorry for saying it, but you weren't upset. It was something you wanted with Benny, you just couldn't have it at the moment.
Benny acknowledged you before changing the subject. He had other topics of discussion he wanted to share.
After that the conversation went on and on, lasting for all of an hour and a half, with never one dull moment. You told him all about your new friends, and he told you all about the new kid Scott Smalls. Of course, when you told him about your new friends, you neglected the whole part about how you actually joined a gang. Not that it was a bad thing by any means, but still; Benny was still very overprotective of you, and worried constantly about your safety, so telling him that you beat up some socs and joined a greaser gang was probably not the best idea on your first phone call.
When you both got too tired to even talk anymore, you said goodbye, knowing that if you talked any longer, you'd fall asleep on the phone.
-
Over the next few weeks, you continued to hang out with your gang, going to the diner and taking drives around the neighborhood in the back of the guys' ford pickup truck.
One day in particular, you guys were hanging out at a park. This park was greaser territory, and usually socs never dared to come here, they would be too outnumbered. Obviously it was the perfect place to chill.
You all were sitting around one of the old wooden picnic tables, with Jamie and Ryan climbing the tree that hung over it. Sipping on your Pepsi bottle, you noticed a girl sitting on a bench. Normally this wouldn't bother you, but she kept staring at you, narrowing her eyes each time.
"Hey Roger, that girl... who is she?" You nudged the older boy in the shoulder, making him glance upwards and to the girl who was still staring at the group.
"Oh, that's Aaliyah, but everyone calls her Aally. She's one of the toughest chicks in town. I would stay away from her though if I were you, she's got a knack for getting into bad trouble. I don't mean trouble like we get into either."
"Yeah, but... what if its just a façade."
"Just trust me alright. That girl is bad news." He tried to tell you, but you wouldn't listen.
"Half the town says the same thing about you Rodge, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover." You rolled your eyes, standing up and trying to go over and talk to her. You wanted to know what her deal was.
Your luck though, as soon as you start to approach her, she acts like she doesn't see you, gets up and walks away. Well, so much for that. You wanted to follow her, but you knew it was against your better judgement.
You shook your head, getting rid of the bad idea before it set in your brain. You turned on your heel, walking back toward Roger, who was smirking at your failure.
"Oh, shut up." You chided.
"I didn't say anything." He raised his hands in defense.
You sat down on the tabletop next to him, taking your Pepsi back into your hand.
All the rest of the afternoon, you couldn't help but think about that girl. She couldn't possibly be as bad as everyone says, could she?
You would just have to find out for yourself.
Suddenly a voice brought you out of your thoughts.
"Alright guys, it's too darn hot here, I say we go to the pool." Jamie said, his feet swinging back and forth now that he was sat high up in the tree.
"Yeah I agree, I forgot how hot it was here." You replied. You were so caught up in your thoughts about that Aally girl, you neglected the fact that it was probably a hundred and twelve degrees outside.
The seven of you piled into the back of Roger's Truck, with Roger at the wheel. He drove everyone to their house, saying they had less than a minute to come back out with their swimsuit. You laughed and watched all the boys scrambling into their houses trying to change into their swimsuit in less than a minute. They all made fun of you, saying you probably couldn't do any better. Of course, by the time you got to your house, you ran in and grabbed your swimsuit before running out just as fast.
"That's cheating, the game is that you have to put it on in less than a minute." Jamie said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Actually, Rodge just said I had to get my swimsuit in less than a minute." You pointed out your loophole, making the other boys roll their eyes while scooting over to make room for you in the bed of the truck. Even though you could technically fit two more passengers into the cab of the truck, everyone found it more fun to pile in the back so they could talk and have fun. All except for poor Roger of course. He didn't really mind though. At the age of Eighteen, that made him the oldest therefore the most responsible of the group, at least that's how he put it.
Roger was quite a good-looking boy, with dirty blonde hair and green eyes. Although he wasn't as tall as most of the other men in town, he made up for it with his muscular build.
Jamie, being Roger's little brother, looked almost like a mini carbon copy of him. Of course, he was a lot shorter, and not muscular at all, but still he looked as if when he got older, he and Roger could be twins.
Now Brady and you were actual twins. Not in the fact that you looked alike, but the fact that you were born on the same day. Brady was very attractive, and would usually catch the attention from lots of girls around town, even the soc ones. They all loved to flirt with him and see if they might be able to score a date with him. He was quite the stunner, with dark brown hair, tanned skin, and blue eyes. He was thin, but had an athletic build to him, like a swimmer almost. He was very tall, standing at six foot two. Overall, he was a very beautiful boy, and should probably think about modeling.
Ryan was only fourteen, making him the second youngest of the group next to Jamie. He was tall for his age, with an impressive body build. He had dark brown hair with Brown eyes to match. He wasn't as stunning, per say, as Brady was, but he was sure something to look at. He was a real cutie. He didn't get approached by girls though because of his shy nature. He sometimes kept to himself unless he was with the gang. He was very smart for his age too, being a grade ahead. He would be in the same classes as you this upcoming school year, but that's only if you stick around until school starts.
There were two more boys in your gang. One was named Billy, and the other was named Jake. The two were brothers and liked to get into trouble together, not too much trouble though. Just the kind of trouble that usually involved messing with socs to get back at them.
They were both a bit older than you, with Billy being sixteen, and Jake being seventeen. They both had another younger brother, but he never hung around much.
Jake was kind of a playboy around town. If he wasn't hanging out with you guys, you could bet he was probably out with a girl. Sometimes when he told you he had a date; you all would drive around town to see if you could find him and mess with him. Jake was the second tallest of the group, standing at about six feet tall. He had jet black hair, and brown eyes.
Now Billy was the complete opposite. He wasn't very loud or outgoing, but instead quiet and sweet. He was kind of like Ryan in that way, except Ryan usually opened up and let his personality show in front of his friends. Billy didn't even do that. He was always very reserved, even in front of the gang. He wasn't as attractive as the other boys, but he still had a cute face. His hair was light blonde, and he had light blue eyes. Honesty, it seems impossible that he and Jake are brothers because they look nothing alike.
The one thing each and every one of these boys had in common was the grease that was combed through their hair. Grease that was now melting down the sides of their faces because of how hot it was.
"I don't remember phoenix being like this. This feels like death." You tried fanning yourself with the hat you had on.
"Oh, trust me, it's always been like this." Brady replied. He had sweat going down his neck and chest, and he looked like he was about to melt.
You couldn't help but giggle at all their slumped over appearances. Usually to any other girl, a truck full of hot, sweaty boys would be quite the sight to see, however you were not really swayed by any of them, or at least that's what you told yourself.
Being the only girl wasn't awkward for you in anyway, though it might seem like it, it really wasn't. You had only ever had really close guy friends, and so far, it worked out just fine for you.
"Well, if it's as hot as y'all think it is, I bet there's bound to be some cute girls at the pool today." Jake smirked, resting his arm on the side of the truck.
"When are you not around cute girls though?" Ryan asked sarcastically.
"At his mom's house." Jamie chuckled, making jake slap him upside the head for being stupid.
"Okay but seriously, Jake, every time we see you go out, you've got a hot chick with you. So when are you not around cute girls." Ryan kept the topic going still.
"Well you guys aren't exactly hot chicks, so whenever I'm with you assholes." He shot back, lighting one of the cigarettes he had on him.
"Hey now, we got our own pretty girl right here." Brady added, bringing an arm around your shoulders.
"Yeah alright she's cute, too young for me though." Jake retorted, making you roll your eyes.
"I'm almost sixteen, but I ain't interested in you lot anyways." You said, making Brady's smile drop off of his face. You were about to notice it, but thankfully Jamie distracted you from him.
"Yeah, yeah, we know, no one will ever be able to measure up to your old baseball boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend, he's my best friend." You never told them that you dated him, and for good reason. You didn't want to have to bring up the whole break up thing and why it happened. Mainly you were just steering clear of any conversation topic that might lead to Mikey.
"Yeah sure, whenever you think of your 'best friend' you start drooling."
"I do not."
"Yeah you do, all over your shirt."
"Jamie cut it out, we're here." Roger said, slapping the side of the truck to signal everyone to get out.
They all ran to the pool like little boys, jumping in as soon as they got there. All except for Roger of course, he stayed walking by your side like the mature adult he was.
"Hey Rodge, I'm gonna go change real quick." You pointed to the girls locker room on the side of the building.
"Okay, I'll keep them from killing each other before you get back." He replied, dropping his towel by the side of the pool before hopping in with the boys.
You laughed, stepping into the room and getting into one of the changing stalls. You peeled off your sweaty clothes, putting them in one of the cubbies of the stall, before pulling on your black one-piece swimsuit. It was the least revealing swimsuit at the store, so you figured it was good for you.
You pulled your hair up so it would stay out of your face, and left the locker room, walking beside the pool with your arms crossed over your body. It made you look tough, but it also covered parts of your body you were insecure about.
"Hey pretty baby, you coming in or what?"
You turned around to see Brady perched up at the edge up the pool, leaning on his elbows for support. He was smiling like an idiot, seeing at the face you made when he said that.
"Well, based on the look you just gave me, I'm not really sure if I should." You replied playfully. He shot you a wink before continuing on with his little charade.
"Come on baby, I don't bite." He teased, sinking into the pool a bit with a grin widespread on his cheeks.
"Alright, I guess I'll just see for myself won't I?" You were laughing by now, starting to sit down on the edge of the pool to mess with him more. You glanced up at the last second though, making direct eye contact with the girl Aaliyah.
"Hey, come on in." Brady kept pushing, but you were no longer paying attention. You were now staring back at Aally. She was still in her clothes from earlier, and was leaning against one of the walls of the building beside the pool. She tried to act like she didn't see you, and started to walk away again. This time though, you were quick on your feet, starting to run like hell to catch her before she left. Benny might have been the fast one of the group, but you weren't exactly slow either. She noticed you were running towards her, and picked up her pace, now jogging towards the exit.
You neglected the calls from your friends back in the pool. You kept running after her until the next thing you knew, you both crashed into the gate because you weren't looking.
"Hey! What's your problem man?" She stood up, pushing you back away from her. She was probably ticked that you made her crash into a gate, but you didn't care, you had a bone to pick with this girl whether she liked it or not.
"What do you mean my problem, you've literally been following me and my friends a day. What, you a stalker or something?" You shoved her away the way she did to you a moment ago. She didn't respond, she just stood there. Was she scared?
"Look, I don't get what your deal is, but can you chill? Me and my friends don't appreciate being watched, alright?"
"I wasn't watching you! I wanted to see who you were. I tried getting into Roger's gang a while back and it seemed like if you weren't there from the start they weren't letting anybody in. Especially girls. So, I wanted to see what makes you so special." She admitted. She dropped her head down as to hide some of the embarrassment.
"Nothing makes me special alright. I saved His brother from some soc kids that were beating him up. He asked me if I wanted to hang around and I agreed."
She raised her head up and narrowed her eyes at you quickly but then averted them to look over at the gang.
"I think we got off to a bad start, my names Aaliyah, but everyone calls me Aally." She held her hand out for you to shake and you did. She started to smile warmly at you, and you figured maybe everyone's view on this girl was just not from the right perspective.
"I'm Mack." You smiled back to her.
"Now I don't wanna take advantage of you, but.. you kinda owe me for slamming me into a gate."
You furrowed your eyebrows looking in her eyes to see if she was up to something sketchy. You didn't see any signs of her being trouble, so you nodded.
"Nothing too crazy though." You affirmed.
"Is it too crazy to see if you could get me into the gang?" She raised her eyebrows, tilting her head in a persuasive way.
"I mean, I could try, but if Roger says no... there's not a lot I can do." You told her. She nodded, knowing that the same outcome as last time was still possible. Of course, now she at least had a foot in the door.
"I know, and it's okay. You'll at least have tried."
"Alright, well.... He mainly doesn't want you around because he thinks you're a bad influence." You spoke flatly. She looked at you with an angry look, before turning her eyes and directing them at Roger who was dunking Jamie around in the pool playfully.
"He said that, huh?"
"Yeah, said that you were bad news. I didn't believe him. I've seen kids way worse and they just had a bad rap."
"Whatever he says I did, it isn't true. He knew what happened. You know what? Forget the whole 'getting me into the gang' thing. I don't need those boys." She rolled her eyes at the thought of Roger spreading more rumors. Roger wasn't a bad guy, but he misunderstood situations and judged them harshly when he didn't have all the information. "How about you and I hang out sometime without those assholes."
"They're not assholes, sometimes they just have their head up their ass. That being said, If you wanna meet me at the Firebird Diner on Friday night, I wouldn't mind." You retorted before offering a time and place to meet her at.
"That sounds cool. I guess I'll see you around then. I gotta go home to see my brother, he just got bailed out of jail." She gave you a curt nod, turning to leave, but you stopped her.
"Wait.... I just wanted to ask.... The whole bad girl thing, it is just a bad rap isn't it?"
She didn't speak for a moment, trying to contemplate how to answer this.
"People see what they wanna see, if you see a bad girl, it's your choice, not mine. I can't help what people think of me, but I won't try to change it." She said before turning away and actually leaving this time.
You stood there kind of awkwardly for a minute before going back to the boys who were still splashing around in the water, clueless to the fact that you even left in the first place. All boys except one.
"Hey! What was that about?" Brady came up out of the water and perched himself on the pool side again.
"Just wanted to talk to that girl."
"About what?"
"None of your business."
"Will you just come in the pool already?" He begged, making you lean down to taunt him more.
"Why do you want me in the pool so bad, little boy?" You got mere inches from his face, narrowing your eyes at him, but he smirked back at you.
You knew what was about to happen and yet you couldn't bring yourself to care. You felt him grip your arms before tugging you into the pool with him. You held your breath as you went under the water, and when you came back up, he was right there laughing at you.
"You're so immature, you know that?" You teased, floating on your back while letting your arms stroke over the water.
"Yeah, but you wouldn't want me any other way."
"True."
-
Back in Glendale, a specific group of boys were also at the pool. They splashed around, dunking each other, as apparently all boys do.
Of course, when the lifeguard, Wendy Peffercorn came on display for all to see, the dunking and splashing instantly ceased.
"Aw man."
"Yeah yeah, too cruel."
The nine boys were practically drooling into the water as they watched the lifeguard massage sunscreen onto herself in front of everyone.
"She don't know what she's doing..." Timmy added.
"She don't know what she's doing.." Tommy repeated.
"Yeah she does. She knows exactly what she's doing." Benny retorted.
She must have noticed the extra attention she was receiving from that end of the pool, because she turned her head towards them and smiled, all while lathering a layer of sunscreen on the side of her neck.
"I've swam here every summer of my adult life. And every summer there she is.. lotioning, oiling... oiling, and lotioning."
He wiped the water smudges off of his glasses before making up his mind about what he was going to do.
"I can't take this no more... Move!"
All the boys were still staring at her, watching her as she rubbed up and down her legs. They noticed squints leave, and glanced over to see him standing on the diving board at the other end of the pool.
"What's he doing?"
"Yeah yeah, what's he doing?"
They saw him shiver in the cold wind and the fact that he was wet from the pool. He looked nervous, like he was about to do something stupid.
"All I know is that's the deep end, and squints can't swim."
They all started a quiet panic, watching as their friend did something none them expected him to do.
He jumped, holding his nose as he plopped into the water.
"Squints!" They all yelled, quickly shuffling around to try and get to him before he drowned.
The lifeguard took notice of their sudden outburst and looked over to see the little boy who was on the diving board moments before was now at the bottom of the pool.
She quickly dove into the pool, neglecting any form of procedure, swimming to the bottom of the pool and grabbing him before resurfacing with him in her arms.
The other lifeguards of the pool were on the scene helping her and Squints out of the pool. They laid him down one the pavement, and pushing back the other boys who were surrounding him so Wendy could have more space to perform CPR.
"Come on Squints." And "Come on man." Could be heard from the sidelines of the situation. "Come on Squints, pull through bud."
"He doesn't look so good."
"Yeah yeah, he looks pretty crappy."
Wendy kept going, but Squints didn't seem to be showing any signs of life.
"God, he looks like a dead fish."
Just then, when Wendy had her head to his chest, Squints turned to the group, smiling mischievously.
"What?" They all said in unison. What was he up to?
As soon as Wendy put her mouth back on his, he brought his hand to the back of her head, bringing her closer as to kiss her like the man he thought he was.
"Ugh! Little pervert!" She shoved him away from her before grabbing him by the arm and pulling him up. Everyone followed him as he was taken to the front gate and kicked out. They all had to run to get the stuff they'd left in the locker room, because it was thrown out onto the sidewalk.
They quickly got their clothes, running to the grassy area outside the property. There they nearly fell over from how fast they were trying to put their clothes back on.
"Did you plan that?" Ham asked Squints, still amazed at the entire show that just took place.
"Of course I did, been planning it for years." He responded, wrapping his towel tighter around his shoulder.
"Guys! He planned that! He planned that!" Ham yelled, running off towards where the others were.
Squints turned around, looking through the chain link fence to see that Wendy was back up on her perch, with her arms crossed in disgust.
She noticed Squints standing over at the fence, looking over at her as if he'd accomplished something big.
She narrowed her eyes at him, but then surprisingly, she tilted her head and smiled at him.
The boys all had to tip their hats to him. He was lucky she hadn't beat the crap out of him. They wouldn't have blamed her. What he'd done was sneaky, rotten and low... and cool. Not another one among them would've ever in a million years... even for a million dollars had the guts to put the move on the lifeguard. He did. He had kissed a woman, and he had kissed her long, and good.