The Same Mistakes Club

Chapter Twenty-Two

I was still in shock the following morning.  I sat in a daze outside while I waited for Margaret to come pick me up.  After the horrific news from the previous night, I needed my best friend more than ever.

Margaret's car turned on Bicentennial, and I practically ran out into the street.  The car didn't even make a complete stop as I opened the door and got in the passenger seat.

"Wow, someone excited to get to school,"  Margaret observed.

"You're not going to believe what happened last night!"  My voice was quivering, on the verge of a full-on breakdown.

"Whoa, what on earth is going on, Alissa?  With everything that has happened the past couple of weeks, I'm sure it can't be that bad."

"Oh, really, really, really, I think you might want to pull over for this."

Margaret pulled the car over and I told her the news.  The words felt like they'd been festering inside of me for week instead of hours.

"WHAT?!!!  How come you didn't call me?"

"I left about fourten messages."

Margaret reached into her purse and started swearing as she turned on her phone.

I went on.  "I just, I just...  It's so awful.  I don't want to see him again.  What am I supposed to do?"  Tears were starting to form behind my eyes

"You mean besides kill him?  What exactly did your parents say, and did you tell them that that creep is not welcome in your house?"

I shook my head.  "Of course I didn't say that.  You know my parents have no idea what happened this summer with Kevin.  Sometimes I swear that they're clueless."

"Okay, give me the outline of what happened, and then I'm going to call an emergency meeting of The Same Mistakes Club at lunch so we can come together and help you out."

*****

Not only was I having the worst morning of my life, but I was also going to flunk out of school.

Luckily, Kadan had been assigned to be my lab partner for our fetal pig dissection, and he seemed to know biology as well as he knew punk rock.  I must've been in a state, because even he picked up on my mood.

"Hey, is everything all right?"  he asked, looking up from the syllabus.

I nodded weakly.

"So, do you think we should name it?"

I had no idea what he was talking about.  "What?"

A smile crept on his face.  I was surprised to find he had nice teeth.  "You know, do you think we should name it?"  He gestured down to the fetal pig resting in the dissection pan.

"Oh, sure."

"Well."  Kadan leaned over and started to examine the pig.  "I was thinking of either Babe or Wilbur."

I looked at him in surprise.

"What?  Do you think I would want to name him something like Slash or Killer?"

I couldn't help but laugh.  That was exactly what I was thinking.

"I like Wilbur."  I looked down at the poor pickled pig.

"Wilbur, it is."  Kadan took a marker and wrote the name on the pan.

When the period ended, I immediately collected my books and practically ran out of the room, knocking over half the class.  The hallway was a blur of people talking and lockers slamming as I ran down the corridor to the cafeteria.