1998 | Vinnie Hacker

chapter 1 all my friends

Charmaine--September, 1998

A small smile fluttered across my lips as I felt it. I shook my head to myself as the swirling feeling in my gut stirred for a couple of seconds and then dissipated into nothingness.

I remember the first time I had that feeling. It was the first time that I had hung out with my now friend group -  Vinnie Hacker, Hector Vega, Scarla Pintock, and Trey Godwin.

It had been the fall of 1997, and Vinnie and the gang had picked me up in his 1995 gold Honda Accord. His mom, Amy, had previously driven the car and she gave it to him so he could get to work and baseball practice without having to bum a ride off of anyone. His dad, Nate had  gotten her a brand spankin' new 1998 Ford Explorer after. I had been scrunched up in the backseat of that car with Hector on the driver side, Scarla in the middle, and me on the passenger side.  As soon as I had gotten in and shut the door, Vinnie had turned and looked me square in the eye, his hazel eyes twinkling with interest and a little mischief. My stomach had erupted with the swirling feeling as he not so subtly checked me out sitting in the backseat of his car.

"Hey" I had said sheepishly, looking around at all their faces. I had been really shy around them at that time.

"Stop leering Vinnie, you're creeping her out!" Scarla had scolded him. She was always yelling at "The Boys" as we endearingly called them. She didn't yell at Hector much though - probably because he was always sleeping or chilling out, plus he always agreed with whatever Scarla said, which appeased her ego. Scarla always thought she was right about everything.

"Hector, Trey, this is Charmaine" Scarla had said, slightly trilling the r in my name.  Scarla only introduced me to Trey and Hector because I had met Scarla and Vinnie earlier that year. We shared 4th period Media Arts class and did most of our projects for that class together. They were juniors then, and I only a freshman. Anyway, after that introduction, Hector and Trey  had mumbled their hellos while Vinnie pulled out my driveway.

I remember that night like it was yesterday, we went to a party that got so wild the cops had to come and bust it up. We then went to the Waffle House to eat, and back to Trey's house afterwards. The boys did Playstation  and we all drank some more. We had passed out and spent the night there. Trey's parents always worked the night shift, so we had the house to ourselves. It was a great night and was the first of many Fridays I would spend like that with them.

I smiled at the thought. I, Charmaine Reese Cromwell, known as Char to everyone, had a friend group. I had gone to high school thinking it would be the same lonely and desolate experience like I had in middle school, but this group of extroverts adopted this introvert, and I love them for that.

"Y'all she's doing it again". Scarla's voice interrupted my reminiscing and brought me back to present day. I looked up and saw her perfectly red painted lips pursed and her deep brown eyes  looking at me quizzically.

"Scarla back there in her dream world again" Trey asked laughing and looking at me through the rearview window.

I looked over at Vinnie and saw him smirking at Trey's remark. He didn't look at me since he was concentrating on the road. I have to say, even though Vinnie was a little speed demon, like he never drove under 50mph, he was actually the safest driver I had ever ridden with. He had great reflexes, always kept his eyes on the road, and he always came to a stop smoothly. Vinnie hardly fucked up anything to be honest. He was one of those guys that was good at everything, hell, he was even good at being dangerous.

"She's probably planning how to drink Drew Prescott under the table again" Hector said sleepily.  He was leaning his head against the window and his eyes were closed as if he were asleep. We all knew he was too nosey to actually tune us completely out.