Stuck with me

deux - teenage kicks

Valerie

So far, my first school day of 1990 was an unfortunate nightmare. I got nearly trampled about six times, cat called, and the worst of all, I had nearly every class with Billie.
He hadn't stopped looking at me all day either, which made it just that much better.
Relief washed through me as the final bell rang, dismissing everyone out of the school. I went out into the hallway to find Jasper and Cam.
"Val, c'mere," Cam called for me.
"Yeah, I'm comin'."
I squeezed myself between her and Jasper and went the way where the halls were empty, making it easier to leave the damned place.
"I'm assuming you had a shitty day," Jasper said.
I glared at him. "Yeah. I did. Do any of you know a guy named Billie?"
They looked at eachother and smiled, then turned back to me. "What about him?"
"He ran into me in the hall today and.. you know what, never mind."
They'd ask me about it once I'd gotten to their house; I knew I should've never brought it up in the first place.
Cam snorted. "Someone's gotta crush."
"What the- I don't even know him! How in the fuck could I possibly have a crush on him?" I nearly screamed at her.
She put her finger right in my face. "You just proved my point. Every time someone gets all fed up about someone the way you just did-"
"Alright, I'm gonna stop you there," I interrupted. "I do not have a crush on him. I do not know him. And I do not want to know him, got it?"
The both of them put their hands up in defense, looking straight ahead while I dismissed them with a huff of frustration and a cross of my arms as we left the doors of the school.

∝ ∝ ∝

In all honestly, I love Cam and Jasper to death, but they really bug the hell outta me sometimes; from their dumb little wish on a star, daydream type shit, to the constant bickering that they've mastered through all these years. Seriously. They're so good at it, they could put it on their goddamn resumé.
They are a great pair of friends, don't get me wrong. But there's always a little bad in all the good.
"Hey, you ate my last cannoli!" Jasper raged. "What the fuck?"
Cam nearly choked, as did I. "Seriously? You're pissed at me over a goddamn desert? Are you fucking eight years old?"
"You know what, fuck you! Always eating my damn food."
"Uh, let me correct you. Mom bought these for us, so technically, it's our food," Cam explained.
"God, you're fucking mental. I'm out of here." 
After he had slipped on his windbreaker and walked through the front door, I fell out of my chair laughing. I'm nearly positive Cam thought I was insane.
Just the whole concept of him ranting on about a cannoli was so funny to me. A cannoli.
"Cam," I squeaked, my voice still suffocated with laughter. "I'm gonna go home now, okay? It's getting late, I'll probably call you or something."
"Yeah. Hey, if you see Jas on the way, tell him to get his girly ass back home," She said.
"Noted," I said, slipping into my sweatshirt and walking out the door myself.
There was still newly fallen snow on the ground, in all its purity. I thought before I went home, I'd warm my hands with a cup of hot chocolate. At least I wouldn't be as cold, anyways.
There was this diner I knew called Rudy's. I'd always walked there my sophomore year, but I just stopped for some reason; I figured I go there, for old times sake.
The diner was fairly small and had one of those cute neon signs hanging from the front of the window. When I walked in, I noticed they'd remodeled the place. The tables were in a different arrangement, they painted the walls a deep navy color, and they'd gotten a radio.
Just as I was examining the place, with my luck, I turned to face Billie. He flashed a small smile at me.
I would've walked out, but in all honesty, I felt bad for earlier. And anyway, he was such a smartass back to me that I wanted to talk to him.
I grinned back, sitting down next to him, and he just stared.
"Whatcha doin' here?" He asked.
I leaned my cheek up against the palm of my hand. "Getting a cup of hot chocolate before I go home, what about you?"
"My mom works here. I'm getting a free shake. You want one too?" He offered nonchalantly.
"Nah, but thanks anyways."
It was weird; almost like we were friends. Like we'd made conversation before. But all we had was one small run-in in the hallway. Strange how things work like that.
"Hey, listen, I'm sorry for being such a megabitch earlier," I said. "I was just really down about being back at school, and then on top of that, my friends were nagging the hell outta me. The last thing I wanted was to get ran into in the hallway, but shit happens."
He blinked. "No biggie."
"You were such a smartass to me," I smiled. "It was pretty cool."
"It takes one to know one."
Suddenly, the waitress, Billie's mom I'm assuming, came over and placed a vanilla shake down on the counter. "Here, son. I hope it's- oh! Who's this, another one of your girlfriends?" She chirped.
Billie Joe winced. "Ma.."
"I'm Ollie," she introduced herself.
I shook her hand. "Valerie."
"Valerie? Pretty name," Billie said, blowing bubbles into his shake through his straw.
"Oh, you don't know eachother?" She questioned, looking confused as hell.
I laughed. "Well, not really. I mean, we ran into eachother in the hallway earlier and.. it's a funny story."
"Oh, alright," she said. "Anything I can get you, sweetheart?"
"Just a hot chocolate in a to go cup, please," I said.
"Okay, I'm on it," she said, turning before I could thank her.
I turned back to Billie. "Your mom is nice."
"Yeah, I guess. She's strict as hell though," he said, getting up to fiddle with the radio.
"Hell yeah!" He said, not paying any mind to loud he'd said that. "God, I love this song!"
It was Teenage Kicks by The Undertones. My favorite song.
I watched as Billie sat back down, messing with his thumbs as I sang along.
"I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight, get teenage kicks right through the night, alright!"
Billie blinked absentmindedly, no expression written on his face. "You know this song?"
I nodded. "Mhm. I love the undertones."
He seemed impressed. I went back to bobbing my head around and mouthing the words, distracted and forgetting I even ordered a cup of hot coco.
"Oh, thank you," I said as Ollie had come back with my drink. "How much?"
"Oh no, it's on the house," she smiled warmly as she said it.
"Seriously? Wow, thank you. Uhm, at least let me leave you a tip though.. I'd feel so bad if I didn't."
"That'd be nice," she said, grinning even more. "You can just leave it on the table, I'll come back and get it later." 
Then she walked away, leaving Billie and I at the table by ourselves. "I better get going."
"O-okay.. See you 'round school, then?"
He asked as if he needed reassurance I wouldn't be so cold towards him again, but I couldn't make any exception to that. The least I could do was say hello to him in the hallways anyways.
"Yeah, definitely. See you around."
He smiled widely, perfectly arranged crooked teeth revealed as I walked out of the diner, trudging through the snow with my scolding hot chocolate wrapped in my hands.
Maybe it wasn't such a bad New Years after all. It did have its perks to it.
Scratch that, it fucking sucked.

This chapter sucked oops