“You all shut up. We’ll deal with you next. Don’t get him distracted,” Gina said.
“Alan said you lost your virginity to her,” Halle said with a glint in her eye.
“Alan has no idea who I lost my virginity to. Do you, Alan?”
“I, uhm, well, no, not exactly,” he admitted. “David doesn’t really share details, but …”
“Stop while you’re still eating solid food.”
“I couldn’t let you hurt him,” Cassidy said.
“I was hoping you’d do it for me,” I answered.
She gave Alan a calculating look, and he about peed himself.
“I’ll be good,” he promised, and then did the unnatural act (for him) of keeping his mouth shut.
“You still want me to hurt him? I’ve been good all week,” she offered.
“What about you whacking me with the Bo staff?”
“Dad said it was okay to hit you whenever I wanted to.”
“What? When did he say that?” I asked.
“When you called him an ‘old man.’”
I needed to apologize before she decided to follow through.
“If you need to get it out of your system, go ahead. Sorry, buddy, but it’s you or me,” I said, throwing Alan under the bus.
Alan was saved by the bell. Cassidy followed him out of the cafeteria, and I heard her tell him she’d see him after school. It reminded me of middle school all over again. Jeff, Tami, and I’d had to bail him out numerous times from an ass-kicking. Alan’s mouth had been an issue since he first learned to talk. Cassidy winked at me as she walked off to class. I knew if she did decide to give him some pain, she wouldn’t actually injure him.
◊◊◊
I pulled up to the front of Tina’s house and saw her on the porch. As soon as she spotted me, she darted for the car. Apparently, I didn’t have to meet the parents tonight. Tina’s sisters were looking out the picture window.
“You want me to smoke the tires?” I teased.
“Oh, God! Please don’t!”
I gave her a lopsided grin as I pulled out like an old woman driving. Once we were out of sight of her house, she began to talk as only a teenage girl can. I wondered how she could do it without taking a breath.
“I’m so excited about tonight. It’s been all my friends talked about all week. I promised I’d get you to bring me to their party, and it’s made this the social event of the year. They even made sure to have Mountain Dew on hand. They read your interview in
That was when I just tuned out and nodded occasionally. It was interesting that she admitted she promised I’d be at the party early in the week, but only got the nerve up to ask me this afternoon. It was good that I wasn’t a jerk, or she would have had some explaining to do.
When we arrived at the party, Tina made a point to introduce me to everyone. Lincoln High was big; after all, three area middle schools fed into it. But it wasn’t so big that over the past three years, I hadn’t at least learned the names of everyone in the junior class. I occasionally worked the lunchroom to network. Tina acted as if I didn’t know anyone. She was all smiles when the party’s hostess brought us both Mountain Dew. It seemed most of the people at the party were drinking it. I wondered how long that would last. There were some with beer, so I doubted the ‘be like David’ movement would last very long.
When a song I liked came on the radio, I decided to have fun and pulled Tina onto the dance floor. I smiled when I spotted some of the girls I’d had dance class with and motioned for them to join us.
It became fun when the girls got competitive and wanted to show off their best moves. I, of course, joined in. I should have known that someone would have a camera on his or her phone. The next day, Lily had found the video and sent it out on social media for all my friends to make fun of me.
At one of my breaks, I found myself talking to Dana, who had been in my dance class and was involved in theater. She’d been the main girl who’d been with me for Eve’s songs at the talent show.
“Would you be willing to be in the spring play?” she asked.
“I don’t know if I have time for that. If you could figure out something simple, I might be willing to do it. You should ask Halle James if she’d join us. I’m quite comfortable doing scenes with her,” I admitted.
“If I can get her, would you do it?” she asked.
“Sure, why not?”
Tina then claimed me. I had a lot of fun. I think Tina expected we might have more fun, but I slowed that down. No need for my mom to have to talk to a second parent this week. Plus, there was no real spark there. I’d rather spend my time with my other friends.
◊◊◊ Saturday January 30
