The Same Mistakes Club

Chapter Twenty-One

"Hey Alissa - It's Gabriel."

I stared at the number on my phone - why was Gabriel calling me?  It was Tuesday night, and I'd just seen him at school a few hours before.  The fact that we'd been having surface-level conversations ever since the dance made it even stranger to hear his voice now.

"Hello?  Penny?"

Speak!  Say something!

"Ah yeah - hey, Gab, what's up?"

"Not much.  I had a question about History.  I think I wrote the wrong chapter we were supposed to read.  Is it chapter twelve?"

"Hold on, let me check...."  I had to run over to my desk to grab my book.

"Shit!"  A surge of pain shot up my left toe as it slammed into the leg of my chair.  This was just great.  "Yep, chapter twelve."

There was a pause on the other end of my phone.  "Are you okay?  You just cussed out of pain, or so I heard."  He chuckled.

Apparently I was not okay.  "Yeah, I'm fine - stubbed my toe...."

"Okay, thanks, Alissa."  Another long pause.  "Actually there's something else I wanted to ask.... Ah, my parents got tickets for my sister and her friend to see a band in Miami in a few weeks, but my sister is grounded and she can't go, so they were going to see if any of their friends' daughters wanted them, but I thought it would be kinda fun to go to... if you're interested."

Gabriel was talking really fast for him, so it took me a second to comprehend what he was asking.

He wasn't asking me on a date, was he?

Of course he wasn't.  That was stupid.  He was dating that blonde-haired thing.

I was his friend.  Someone who has always wanted to go to a concert.  It made sense for him to ask me out  on a non-date to see a band of some sort.

"Hello?  Alissa?"

Oops.

"Um, sounds great."

I could still be friends with guys.  Gabriel and I had always been friends, and there was no way he would see me as anything else.  What had he said at Parker's party?  "I'd never do anything with her."

"Awesome,"  he said now.  "Maishely told me you would like this sort of thing.  She was kinda jealous that I was inviting you to go to this concert, but she's fine."

Maishely knew!  Why hadn't she given me a heads-up that Gabriel was going to ask me... on... some sort of social outing.

I cleared my throat.  "I think it'd be fun.  Thanks for thinking of me."

"Of course!  I think it'd be cool to go to a band's concert with none other than Alissa Madison herself.

Ugh.

"What's the name of this band anyways?"

Gabriel giggled.  "You're getting ahead of yourself, Alissa!  You can figure out the details later, but I figure we can head into the city early and grab a bite before the show.  Does that sound okay?"

"That sounds great, Gabriel.  See you tomorrow."

I hung up the phone and just stared at it.

Then it hit me.  I had agreed to go to a band concert with Gabriel Smithers.  Now I had to tell the one person who was going to absolutely hate this idea.

*****

"Oh, Alissa Elizabeth, no, no, no.  I'm so disappointed in you.  How could you?"

This was going to be harder than I thought.

I sat down at our kitchen table.  "Come on, Dad, it's not that big of a deal."

Dad set his coffee mug down and looked at me like I had a second head.  "Alissa Elizabeth, I just thought your mother and I raised you better than to go out with a boy miles away to see a concert.  It's just...  Becky, help me out!"

Mum stopped playing games on her phone and set it down.  "Now, Rafael, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing.  At least she's interested in going outside, other than staying in her room and stalking bands on the internet.  And I think we should trust Alissa to know that it is simply a concert with a young male."

"Yeah, Mum,"  I gave her a smile that said thanks for having my back.  I got up and started unloading the dishwasher.  I thought that maybe that would help get Dad in a better mood.

"What do you say, Rafael?"  Mum reached across the table and squeezed my father's hand.

"Oh, okay..."  Dad looked defeated.

I tried not to laugh as I opened the top cabinet to put the glasses back in place.

"Oh, cheer up.  Remember, we have guests coming in a few weeks!"  Mum tried to get Dad to smile.

"That's right!  Alissa Elizabeth, we forgot to tell you - we have some wonderful news. The McKenzies are going to spend Thanksgiving with us.  Isn't that -"

I tried to blink a few times to regain focus as I felt the glass slip from my hand.  There was a crash on the floor.  I looked up and saw a shocked look on my parents' faces.

They hadn't just said...

"Oh, Alissa!"  Mum got up and grabbed the broom and dustpan from the pantry.  I just stood there while she started to clean up around me.  "What has gotten into you?"

I couldn't even begin to explain.

This was a nightmare.