The Stereotypes Project (UNDER MAJOR EDITING)

7. What Are You Doing With My Ex-girlfriend?

"So, that was like, super cool. You just showed up and were like, screw off, and then Cobra was like, but, and then you were like..."

In case you haven't guessed, I was rambling uncontrollably about the previous events while doing weird hand motions, jumping up and down. But seriously, can you blame me though? Rhiannon is practically the coolest person I've ever met. She was just like "Bam!" and then the Punxters were like "No!" and then she was like "Bam!" again and then... Okay, you get my point.

Rhiannon was just walking calmly next me, both of her hands stuffed in her pockets with a glint of a smile on her face. Since I had missed lunch because of the croonies squad (cough Punxters cough), we were skipping school to go to this cafe downtown. (See? I told you she was cool, skipping school and stuff. I've never even gone downtown before!)

"So, where are we going? I don't have a lot of experience with this whole... ditching school thing. But I promise you, I'm a really adaptable person and-"

"We're here."

Rhi (can I call her that? We're practically best friends now right? Or am I being borderline creepy?) suddenly halted to a stop. We were standing in front of a rusty old building with a lopsided sign with faded lettering hanging from the front door. The sign said...  Paul's Laundry and Dry Cleaning?

"Umm... So what exactly are we doing at a laundromat? I mean, I'm really open to most ideas of fun, and I'm not judging you or anything, but... Yeah, you get my point. What are we doing at a laundromat again?"

Rhiannon said nothing and just pushed open the wooden door with flecks of green paint chipping off of it and walked in, not seeming to care about my remarks. The door slammed behind her, leaving me standing awkwardly outside on the pavement. A few passers-by openly stared at me as I tried to make myself as small as possible. I mean, don't people think that goths have to clean their clothes too?

"Um... Rhiannon?"

I pushed open the door a tiny bit, and more flecks of paint fell on my shirt. I cautiously stepped inside, quickly closing the door behind me, making a loud bang in the process. If one more person did that, I swear that sign would fall off for sure. Rhiannon was already halfway across the dimly lit room, and I hurriedly ran towards her, or at least tried to, since the floorboards creaked with every step that I took and I was struggling to walk in my now-worn-out combats. Finally, we reached another door, this one was open, leading to a flight of stairs heading down to what I guessed was a basement of some sort. There was a buffy guy with spiky hair dressed in a tank top and ripped jeans standing in front of it, guarding the door. The guy immediately smiled brightly upon seeing Rhi, and gave her a fist bump.

"Rhiannon, long time no see, girl! Who's coming with ya?"

"Hey Cal, this is my friend, Charlie. She's new. Care to show her around?"

"Newbies, huh? Well, come this way, miss Charlotte."

He flashed me a grin then grabbed my arm and yanked me downstairs. I am suddenly having a bad feeling about this. Why is this strange scary dude (with lots of muscles! I bet he can pull a train like Bob in The Incredibles if he wants to) pushing me down the basement in a creepy ass building? I turned back to Rhiannon for help, but she was just calmly walking behind us, casually scrolling through her phone.

Crap, I should have thought this through. I just met this girl like half an hour ago, and I stupidly followed her here. I should have ran the moment I stepped through the door of this building. I mean, didn't I notice something weird when a teenager's idea of fun is going to a dry cleaner's? She probably plotted to kidnap me all this time, with the Punxters as her way of distracting me from seeing the truth. I was so going to die. God, I haven't even have the time to finish Stereotypes Project yet. I haven't even said goodbye to my parents, Kurt, Parker, my pet hamster, the dog living next door-