Andre's Horrible Girl
Two days later, Cat was getting a drink out of the soda machine, "Can you get me one too, Cat?" I handed her two dollars. I've been here long enough that she should know what I wanted.
She put the money in and the two drinks came out. She handed one to me and threw the other one away. She then continued to stand still at the trash can.
"Why?" I asked.
Then the bell rang. Jade stood up and stopped us, "Cat, why'd you just throw your drink in the trash?"
"Cause I wasn't thirsty," she said.
She's got a point.
"But you bought—ugh forget it," Jade said then asked, "What are you two doing Saturday night?"
"We're dog sitting," I said.
"For our mom's boss," Cat finished.
"Oh," Jade asked, "What kind of dog?" This was weird. She'd kind of been giving me the silent treatment since she found out we played poker without her. She blamed it on me. I was the outlet for all her anger right now. I didn't mind much. I admired the fact she was able to be so open and bold yet so nervous.
"I'm not sure," Cat reapplied her lip gloss, "He's got paws and a tail."
"It's a small dog. I think it's a shih-tzu," I smiled.
"But maybe he's an English Paw-Tail," Cat suggested.
Jade rolled her eyes.
"Why? What are you doing Saturday night?" Cat asked.
"Oh just because I asked you and don't have a boyfriend means I don't have anything to do Saturday night?" Jade spat.
"No! I meant—" Cat started.
"I have a lot of things I'm gonna do," Jade continued.
"Like?" I asked, maybe pushing it too far. She obviously didn't have anything to do.
"Tons," Jade said.
"Okay," Cat and I laughed.
"I mean if you want me to cancel my plans to come hang out with you while you dog sit, that's fine. Fine. I'll do it."
"You don't have to," Cat said.
"I SAID I'LL DO IT!"
She put her index finger up to our faces, "But you owe me, baby girls."
"Thank you!" Cat and I yelled.
Cat wanted to get to our next class early, but I didn't. I let her go off while I walked over to where Beck and Robbie were hanging out by the stairs. I had some free time, so why not?
"Hi!" I exclaimed, giving Beck a hug.
I heard a noise behind me and turned around. Tori was blowing up a balloon with her nose. I just stared at her, confused as to what was happening.
She pulled the balloon away from her nose, "Ta da! Oh, hi Y/N!"
I waved, still confused.
"You shouldn't have bet her," Beck turned to Robbie with one arm still wrapped over my shoulders.
"Who knew girls could blow up balloons with their noses?" Robbie asked, absolutely shocked.
"Pretty much all people can breathe through their noses," I said, still really confused.
Andre walked in and everybody started making weird noises. I just said, "Why are you dressed like you're rich?"
"Stop," Andre said.
Tori continued to interrogate him about his outfit. He had a boozé watch. That's top of the line stuff right there.
Some girl walked into the school, "Andre! Hey, Andre!" We walked over to see who she was. Beck had his arm around my shoulders and my arm was around his waist.
"Oh, hey. Hey, Hope."
"You forgot your new scarf," she said, wrapping it around his neck.
"Yeah, forgot. I didn't leave it in your car on purpose."
We were still all here, so we started fake coughing. Who was this girl? Why was she spoiling Andre so much? Oh my god she was annoying.
"Oh, you guys this is-this is Hope. Hope, these are some people I know."
We introduced ourselves.
"Beck."
"Y/N."
"Tori."
"I'm Robbie!"
Andre started taking off his scarf. Hope immediately said, "What are you doing?"
"Oh you know, I'm just not feeling this scarf with this shirt," Andre tried to explain.
"When I got you that scarf, you said you loved it! Were you lying?" She exclaimed, causing her to get some looks. And an annoyed whistle from Beck.
"Nah baby. Baby I love it. Let me just put it back around my neck!" Andre put the scarf back on, "Yeah. That's the thing!"
"See, it looks so nice," Hope said.
"Like a pretty leash," Beck remarked. I had to try hard not to laugh.
Hope gave him a dirty glare, then did the same to me.
They made lunch plans. Hope invited us.
"I don't," Rex said.
"Y/N and I have an...uh...a thing...at-at a place," Beck said, pulling me closer to him, smiling. For being an actor, he's a terrible liar.
"I have something to do too," Robbie said.
"Well, Tori, you come," Hope offered.
Andre sacrificed Tori to be the third wheel. Tori tried to object, but Andre and Hope forced her to agree. Then Hope left. Thank god. Took the dang girl long enough. Once the door was closed behind her, I let out a long sigh.
"Pretty girl," Beck said, "But not as pretty as my girl, of course."
I smiled, "She seems...great."
"Very generous," Robbie said.
"She seems really nice," Tori put her hands together in front of her.
"Thanks," Andre said before walking away.
Once he was far enough away, Tori said, "Raise your hand if you hate her."
We all raised our hands. Then I walked to class so Cat wouldn't have to be all alone in there too long.
On the way to lunch, Beck ran up to me, out of breath.
"Hi, handsome! Why you in a rush?" I asked, smiling.
"Catching up to you. You walk really fast, angel. I wanted to ask you what you're doing this weekend."
I remembered the dog-sitting but had long forgotten Jade was going too, "I'm not doing anything tonight or Sunday."
"What about tomorrow? Saturday."
"I'm dog-sitting my mom's boss's dog with Cat. The puppy is so small and cute!"
"Oh. Wanna go for Italian food tonight? My treat," he smiled.
I pretended to think about it, "Hmmm...only if I can buy us ice cream after."
"Deal," he pecked my lips, "I'll pick you up at six?"
I nodded.
Dinner and ice cream with Beck was great. We had dinner at a small Italian place down the road from the school and then got ice cream from really popular place near my house. He offered to pay for the ice cream too. I refused to let him. It was only nine dollars. I wasn't that broke.
The next day, our brother dropped Cat and I up to go to the big house we were dog-sitting at. Cat and I got very strict instructions that said not to touch anything. Cat and I were just petting the puppy, Cooper, when Jade started yelling.
"CAT! Y/N!"
"Oo! It's Jade!" Cat said, "In here!"
I looked at Cooper, "Jade seems really mean, but don't worry—actually yes worry, she is very mean."
A few seconds later, Jade stepped into the room, "Hey!"
"Hi," I smiled.
"Say hello Cooper!" Cat lifted up Cooper's paw and made him wave, "Hello!" He was an adorable little puppy!
"Sick place," Jade looked around the room, "Your mom's boss must be, like, a bazziolionaire."
"He's super rich," I said.
"Yeah! He owns a super fancy car and part of Texas," Cat explained.
"The top part of Texas," I nodded.
Jade turned around and started pointing Elvis's guitar, "WOAH! You know this guitar is a sixty-two stratten-bocker. Like Elvis used to play."
"That is Elvis's," I said.
"Shut up," Jade was shocked.
Cat smiled, "Look what's written on it."
Jade read, "'Thank you. Thank you very much. -Elvis Presley.'" She moved it, "Holy chiz."
"Don't touch it!" Cat and I yelled at the same time.
"Come sit," Cat patted the spot on the couch in between her and I.
Jade came and sat down.
Cat tried to hug her, "Yay! We're hanging out together!"
"NO!" Jade yelled.
Cooper began wincing.
Jade got bored of just sitting and looking after the dog so she began to explore. We told her not to touch anything, but it's Jade. She does what she wants most of the time. She came back with a skull in her hand, "Did you know your mom's boss has an antique human skull in his room?"
"Please put that back," Cat begged.
I continued, "We aren't supposed to touch anything."
"Touching things is a part of life," Jade she put down the skull and tried to give herself an excuse to touch the rich-people things.
"I'm pretty sure we're not supposed t—"
"Look!" Jade yelled, "I'm touching Elvis's guitar. See?" She did an Elvis impression, "I'm Elvis Presley and I'm to touching my guitar. That's right, baby. I touched the boss's skull and now I'm touching my guitar."
I sighed, loudly.
She walked away from it, "See? I touched the guitar and nothing bad happened—"
The thing holding up the guitar fell down and the guitar flew through the window. I squeaked. We were all gonna die.
"That guitar was not properly hung."
I called Beck and Robbie to come help us fix the window and guitar. They were on their way. While we were waiting, we fetched the guitar from outside and tried to fix it with duck tape, but it didn't work. It was flimsy, didn't stay together long, and didn't look right at all.
"Do you think my mom's boss will notice?" Cat asked.
"No, Cat, Elvis's guitar is just unfixable," I sarcastically said, shoving my face in a pillow out of anger.
"Cat! Oh Cat!" Robbie yelled through the whole house.
"We're in here!" She yelled back.
Jade got mad, "You called Robbie?"
"No," Cat said, "Y/N did."
I looked down, "So they could help us with the window."
"And put up the guitar," Cat added.
"Robbie can barely work the zipper on his own pants," Jade said.
"I called—"
The two boys waked in.
"What's up little pigeons?" Robbie asked with a toolbox in hand.
"Pigeons?" I was confused. What did pigeons have to do with any of this? I'm a human, Robbie. You idiot!
"Hi!" Cat greeted them.
"Hi, Cat," Beck turned to me, "Hey, babe," Beck said, kissing the top of my head. I giggled.
"Why is Robbie's zipper down?" Cat asked.
I closed my eyes while Robbie zipped his fly back up.
"Look," Jade started, "Let's just get this stupid guitar fixed and hung back up there before their mom's boss gets back."
"We have to fix the window too," Cat said.
"Oo! I'll find a window repair company using the new feature on my PearPhone," Robbie said.
I rolled my eyes.
"I need a window repair company in Beverly Hills," Robbie spoke at his phone's speaker. There was a pause.
The automated voice of his phone sounded really weird and robotic, "Searching for adult diapers."
"No, no, no, no, no,! That was my last search," Robbie yelled at his phone.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I laughed.
"Shut up!" Robbie whined.
He eventually got a company in to fix the window while he re-hung the guitar up. The window guy worked really fast which was good.
"Thanks for fixing the window," Beck handed him back the clipboard.
I looked at the bald dude, "Thank you."
"And we didn't even notice your lack of hair," Cat smiled.
The dude walked out. I turned to Cat, "Don't lie to him. He knows everybody knows."
She smiled and spun in a circle, "Alrighty!"
"Can I have a piggy-back ride?" I asked Beck. He smiled and let me have one! Yay!
"Guitar all good up there?" Beck asked.
Robbie said something strange that I chose to ignore.
"And you can't even see where it broke," Jade smiled, admiring Elvis's guitar from a far now.
"Nope!" Robbie confirmed.
"Yay! My mom's boss will never know anything bad happened," Cat cheered.
I sighed in relief, "Thank god."
Just then, Robbie and Jade started fighting over the skull which was left on the table next to the couch. Robbie wanted to look at it and Jade wanted to put it back. They both let go at the same time and it fell through the glass table.
Everybody gasped.
Then the guitar broke off from the ceiling and broke a light causing everybody to scream and cover their eyes. Beck had me on his back still and was hugging Cat with one arm. Jade was covering her eyes and Robbie stood there like a good for nothing thing! Cooper was still adorable.
I mumbled into Beck's shoulder, "I wanna go home."
Cat started crying. I slid off of Beck's back and gave her a hug, "Don't worry, Kit-Cat. Um..." I looked to the rest of the room for help.
"Don't cry, Cat," Jade said.
"But—" she was cut off by a buzzing. My mom's boss was back.
Robbie quickly said, "I hear a buzz."
Jade retorted, "Zip up your pants."
Robbie panic-zipped his pants.
"I'll get the buzzer," I smiled a weak, fake smile, and walked over, "Hello?"
The boss's voice came through on the other end, "Y/N, it's Carl Gibbons. I forgot my keys. Will you buzz me in?"
"It's our mom's boss!" Cat exclaimed, throwing herself onto the chair while curled up like I do.
"Why'd it take him so long to realize that he forgot his keys?" I asked with the recorder off.
"Could you buzz me in?" He asked.
I nervously looked around the trashed room, "Sure. I could! Or maybe you could go to Europe for two weeks!"
"Y/N, buzz me in," he said.
I pressed the button and I started to cry now, "Okay."
"Cat. Y/N," Jade almost sounded like she was gonna apologize for touching the stuff and making Elvis's guitar fly.
"Girls," Robbie started, "It'll be okay."
"When he gets up here we'll just explain," Beck pulled me in for a hug. I cried into him now. It didn't help.
Then, the whole room started to shake.
"What's happening?" Robbie panicked.
"Earthquake!" Jade screeched.
"Earthquake?" Cat jumped up.
"Okay, everybody down! Cover your heads!" Beck yelled, wrapping his arms around Cat and I and pulling us into the doorframe. He covered both of our heads. And our eyes. I assumed it was for a good reason which couldn't be good.
I could hear even more things breaking. Cooper was barking and everybody was yelling at every sound.
It finally stopped. Beck uncovered our eyes and heads. He let Cat go free but kept a firm grip around my waist and kept me close to his side. His protectiveness was cute. And he cares about his future sister-in-law!
"Cat! Y/N!" Mr. Gibbons yelled. He walked into the room, "Girls!"
Cat and I nervously said at the same time, "Hi, Mr. Gibbons."
"Some stuff broke," Cat pointed out. Please don't go into anymore detail than that Cat. He'll think the earthquake did it, not us.
"I know. I felt the earthquake when I was coming up the stairs."
Relief. That's all I could feel.
"You kids okay?" Mr. Gibbons asked, putting a hand on Beck's shoulder.
We all said we were okay. Even though he thought it was the earthquake, Cat might slip. I could feel myself start to shake a little.
Beck's arm was still around my waist, so he started to move his hand back and forth. It helped stop the shaking a little.
"So sorry about your guitar and your lamp and your table," Cat was listing things we had broken.
"It's alright, it's not your fault," he said.
I smiled, "Thank you."
"But—" Cat tried to talk. She was too sweet for this.
"CAT!" Jade cut her off, "Mr. Gibbons isn't mad at us because he knows the earthquake caused all this damage."
"Yeah, we can only blame the earth," Beck lied.
I tried not to laugh as I said, "And it's quaking."
"Of course," Mr. Gibbons nodded thinking he understood, "I'm just relieved that Cooper and you kids are okay." He looked at Robbie, "Son, your zipper."
Mr. Gibbons decided to stay home and let us all leave. He paid all of us instead of just Cat and I. Beck drove us home and I had him stay the night so I didn't have to see Cat mope around feeling guilty about lying.
We were sitting on my bed talking when Beck suddenly asked, "Have we been together long enough for me to ask you something...kind of...personal?"
Confused, I nodded.
"Is there a reason you and Cat are...how do I put it?"
"Childish."
"No...well...yes."
"Yeah. There's a reason."
"Do you mind if I ask what it is?"
"Ask away," I smiled. This was a first. I'd never told anybody about this before. I know this was fast, but I loved him. He had a right to know the truth.
"Why?"
"We've been like this forever. My whole family has 'problems.' My brother's are just the worst. So Cat and I act needy for the attention we don't get. The easiest way to be needy is to be childish. And it works. At this point, it's more of a habit. And..." I didn't know if I wanted to tell him the rest yet. Beck sat there quietly, waiting for the rest of the story. "And my brother's problems sometimes...mess with him. So he's done some stuff that changed people. Me, Cat, some of his friends, my parents, even himself. We had to adapt to his problems."
"What did he do to you?" He sounded worried.
"Don't worry about it."
"What did he do to you?" He repeated, rubbing my arm..
My eyes welled up with hot tears remembering the pain. The rapid heart beat. The terror. A single tear pooled over, "I don't want to talk about this anymore."
"We don't have to," Beck kissed my forehead, "Let's change the subject."
"Do we even need a subject?" I asked, smirking, before kissing him passionately.