The Rules My Brothers Made

Chapter 11

“Guys, cut it out, you’re being disgusting!”  Kate wailed later that day during lunch.  Matt, Justin, Jackson, and Bruce were having a contest to see who could eat large orders of French fries the fastest.  It was, in a word, quite disgusting.  I was too deeply focused on AP bio to even pay attention to their immaturity today.  Here I was thinking that they were nice boys.  So gross.  “Meg, isn’t this nasty?’  She directed towards me.  We had been a little distant since art, but I was not happy that she was making a big deal out of what was going on with Evan.  I would have to talk to her about it later.  If I wanted to keep things going, I couldn’t have my best friend blowing up my spot on me.  It just wasn’t cool.

“Yeah, it’s gross.”  I agreed without even looking up.

“Miller, you know you are impressed.”  Justin grumbled through his mouthful of grease.  I met his eye and he winked at me, before starting up in a coughing fit as he choked on the stuff he had filling his mouth.  I rolled my eyes and went back to my book.   “Come on, Meg.  Admit it.”

“Oh, yes, Justin.  I’ve never wanted you more.  Oh baby, oh baby.”  I told him without breaking my concentration a second time.  Jackson started to crack up, and coughed out a mouthful of fries.  Seriously?  This is why dating in high school has never appealed to me.  Boys are disgusting, slobbery, pigs….they’re pretty much giant puppies.

And our mothers encourage us to find one of these creatures.  Please.

“So Matt, are you going to let Meggo go to prom?”  Kate instigated.  “It’s coming up soon, you know.”

“Kate, cut it out.”  I told her, flipping to the next chapter.  I needed to study bad.  Some of this stuff seemed so foreign.

“I’m just teasing.  Alison and the rest of the prom committee started advertising already.  It’s going to be at the Beverly Hills Hotel.  So snazzy.”  Kate told everyone.  “But I’m serious.  Are you going to be allowed to go?  Because there is no way I’m going to the prom without my best friend.”

“Just drop it, please.  I don’t want to think about it right now.”  I told her.  There was no way I was going to get any work done around these guys.  I needed to hide in the library for the rest of lunch.  I put my book back in my bag and started to pick up the remnants of my lunch, tossing it in the trash bin behind me.  I had barely touched a thing.

“Meg, where are you going?”  She asked.

“I have work to do.  I can’t sit here and worry about whether or not I’m going to a dumb party in three months.  Have a good afternoon.”  I grabbed my notebook and took off, ignoring the rest of the table calling after me, and booked it to the library.  Snuggling up in a bean bag chair near the back, I hid out until bio, studying as much as I could.

I know I was wrong to get so snappy with Kate, but I couldn’t help it.  When I told her about Evan, I made her promise not to say anything about it.  Now, she was pushing me in front of people, and I was really getting annoyed.  My guilt got the best of me though, and I ended up sending her a text before bio, telling her that I was sorry, but I would really appreciate it if she would stop trying to out me in front of people.  She apologized, and promised she would stop teasing me.  Proud of myself for being an adult about it, I made my way to class and endured the rest of the day.

After school, I dropped Mark off at the Grove as promised, before picking up Max from his after school program and bringing him to the grocery store.   Once we got home, Max and I made dinner, but I began to get nervous that Mark hadn’t called me yet.  Once it got to be 8:30 and he still hadn’t contacted me, I decided it was time to do something about it.  I told my dad I would run some errands at the mall at the Grove, so that I’d be ready for Mark whenever he was ready too.