(Clark)
-That Night.-
“So,” Flynn begins as he sips his Shirley Temple, “she just took off like that?”
I nod. “Exactly like that. I think she went off to go see Rick.”
Tim raises an eyebrow. “Why on earth would she do that?” He asks naively.
“Um, BOOTY CALL!” Luis shoves him in the shoulder. “Why else?”
“You really think she would go back to the jerk who dumped her?” Roger folds his arms. “I mean, he was a total dick to her. Why would anyone want to do that?”
“I saw her phone,” I say, clearing up every detail. “It said his name when she got the text.”
“You sure?” Flynn clarifies.
“Of course she’s going to see him! She’s a skank!” Dallas protests. “She is just like all those other cheerleaders.”
“What other cheerleaders are you talking about exactly?” Kyle looks at him irritated.
Dallas rolls his eyes. “Not your girlfriend, obviously. She’s just a ray of rainbows and ponies!” Dallas makes his hands form two excited jazz hands sarcastically.
Let me explain the relationship between Kyle and Dallas. Kyle loves Dallas to bits, being best friends since preschool, but because Dallas is who he is, Kyle can’t help but sometimes be provoked by him. He can’t help it - Dallas is just an ignoramus.
“That girl needs to figure out what her precedences are,” Roger shakes his head.
“Thesaurus Point!” I yell out.
“Thesaurus Points” is something we made up in sixth grade when everyone was saying, “AWWWWWWESOME,” or, “AMAZING,” or, “EPIC.” We got so tired of hearing it we made a game that if you could think of some other word to say besides those, you would get a point. After that we broadened our horizons and made it for anything - find other words to say the same thing. Roger could have said, “That girl needs to get her priorities strait,” but he didn’t. Therefore, he gets a thesaurus point.
Go ahead, call us dorks. But it’s fun.
“Nice!” Luis throws him a high-five. We all laugh. I forget about Annie for a second.
Tim ruins that for me. “Where did she say she was going?”
“She didn’t,” I respond gravely.
“Why don’t I call her?” Flynn gets out his blackberry. He looks at me and I give him the number. He proceeds to dial and call her. He puts it on speaker.
“Hello?” We hear from the other line.
“Annie?” Flynn begins. I’m glad Flynn is doing it - she never heard his voice.
“Yes?” You can hear her laughing uncontrollably on the other end.
“This is someone from your mom’s work calling. She wants to know where you are. You’re not in trouble, she just wants to know.” He pulls off a pretty good adult impression considering his normal voice sounds like a seventh grader.
“Oh, I’m at the movies with a few friends.” She gargles almost inaudible.
“Lying skank,” I hear whisper from Dallas’s mouth.
“Thank you, Annie. I’ll inform your mother. Bye!” He hangs up. “Anybody up for a movie?”
Dallas rolls his eyes. “She is not with her friends. She is obviously with her ex!”
“Shut it,” Luis snaps. “I’m all for a movie!” He gives his normal perverted grin.
We all agree and head across the street to the closest movies theater... the drive in.
“What’s playing tonight?” Tim asks as we stand in the concession stand.
“Do we care?” Roger replies.
We walk down the cluttered walls of cars after we get our food and sit in Kyle’s Hummer. I see his, “save the earth” sticker and it makes me laugh at the irony. I try to search for Annie and Jerk-of-a-Jock and have no luck. I want to find them and yell at her for being such a stupid girl.
“Found her!” Flynn says, pointing a row and six cars over.
I am obviously the sidekick in this pairing.
“Come with me, Flynn. Since you found her.”
“Who else?”
I look at our sorry bunch. Tim is the least interested in, “Just Go With It” (he’d seen it five times earlier that year) so I’ll just ask him. “Tim! Come with us!”
Timmy grins and hops off of the Hummer. The three of us walk up to Rick’s car and see the windows steamed.
“Dammit,” I mumble.
“I said I found her. I didn’t say you want to see her.” Flynn confesses.
We hear a familiar chortle and see Annie stumble out of the car. Her hair is a mess and her shirt is all messed up. “That was AWESOME!” She screams.
She doesn’t get any Thesaurus Points. Ever.
“You know it, bitch. It’s the only way I can do that!” Rick comes out of the car and slaps her on the ass. She gives out a yelp.
“I’m gonna go get a drink!” She yells and walk away. Rick gets back into the car and I lock eyes with Annie.
“Yoooooou,” she walks (stumbles) over to me and wraps her arms around my neck to hold her up. “You are such a nerd!” She yells into my ear.
Tim looks incredibly uncomfortable as he says, “Are you drunk, Annie?”
“No,” she lies, and kisses me on the cheek. “Come with me,” she whispers in my ear. I don’t budge as she grabs my arm and pulls me behind the concessions.
“I thought you were gonna get a drink?” I ask her.
“There’s a line, anyways.” I look deep into her emotionless eyes. “Saliva tastes much better, anyways.”
I gulp.
She grabs the back of my neck and pulls me near. Her lips press against mine and her tongue slowly slithers into my mouth. I push her away. “No, you’re drunk! And you just had sex with another guy! What the hell is wrong with you?” I feel the anger building up. “You ditch me to go get drunk with your asshole boyfriend and then hump him during the movie! How do you think that makes me feel?!” I don’t let her answer. “LIKE. FUCKING. CRAP. That’s what. You made me feel like crap!” I run my hand through my blond hair. “Just when I thought we could be friends.” I storm away from her and rush back to Flynn and Tim.
“What happened?” Flynn asks, meeting me halfway.
“She tried to make out with me.”
Tim looks at me bright-eyed. “Did you?” He asks, sounding like a fifth grader.
“No! I did not go to first base with a drunk girl!” I know that look completely disgusted at this point. “Why would I make out with someone that was totally wasted?!”
“Because Kyle is the only one who has?” Tim ponders.
Oh, Tim.
“Let’s go home,” I mumble.
“CLARK!” I hear from across the cars. I look to see Annie running up to me. “Rick just drove off without me. Can you drive me home?” I see the sad little puppy in her eyes.
I sigh. “Alright, fine.” I walk up to my car and open the door. “Get in. I gotta take home Flynn and Tim, too.”
She hugs me heartily. “Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you so much!” Annie hops into the car and slams the door.
“And that,” I say more to me than the guys, “is Annie in a complete nutshell.”
