Pride of the 90's

Chapter 2

NOT!

Like I said, I didn't have a lot of friends and I liked it that way. To many friends brings drama and I don't wanna deal with the mess of having to care about someone else's feelings. Haley is perfect because she doesn't have feelings. It's Haley and her own special world. A world of dark colors and anarchy.

And then there's these assholes.

The other friends I did have called themselves 'The Crew', and no, nobody else calls them that except for them. Because why would you? They were the popular kids. Most girls wanted them, and almost all of them got the chance. The only ones that didn't were Maddy, whose brother was part of it, Haley, who enjoyed making men cry, and Tina Nguyn, who again, practically doesn't exist. I can't say I blame Haley, though. They get annoying after a while and they do have that 80's bully feel to them.

The Crew consisted of five members: Kevin, the star quarterback since freshman year. He was treated like a god among his teammates and teachers. He was the alpha, as much as I hate that word. He's about as bro-y as you could get. He always gets annoyed when people tell him how they love seeing him play. Maybe if you do something for so long you start to hate it?

Eric, who was, plain and simple, a playboy. Most guys wait at least a week before moving to a new girl, but Eric couldn't even wait that long. Every day, he had a new girl around his arm. Sometimes he would have one for each arm. Apparently, Brandon tried hooking up with him, but that seems unlikely. If he's that girl obsessed, why would anyone try getting gay with him? I wouldn't be surprised if it were the other way around. You know, you get bored of burgers and you want a steak instead.

Not that I think Brandon is like, high quality or anything, but...nevermind.

Mason, the artist, and Maddy's brother. Oh, I'm sorry, 'arteest.' He was a 'natural' painter and whenever he showed off something new, people would line up and stare at it, trying to find out the meaning behind the beautiful strokes and elegant colors. I personally hated it. It always looked so ugly, like he wasn't even trying. One time, he just brought in a canvas with what looked like snot on it. No joke. I think he sneezed and just went with it.

And Riley, who was Irish. That's it. Couple marshmallows short of a box of Lucky Charms, but that's it.

And then there was me. I'm only here because of Maddy. She wanted me to get along with Mason, so she asked him to let me join in, and he quickly learned that they could use me to cheat on homework and tests. I'm not that smart, but they would rather copy off the dumb one then do it themselves. It made her happy, so I stuck around. What they didn't know was that I was good with my hands. I built my own VHS player from spare parts I found around the neighborhood. If they found out, I would be breaking into offices and changing test scores or robbing kids lockers.

As Algebra (bane of my existence) ended, I made my way out and toward the cafeteria for lunch with Haley, carrying a paper bag and me with my old Ninja Turtle bag from eighth grade. The smell of cheap pizza and the sound of teenagers talking over each other filled the air.

Also Donatello's the best one, shut up.

"I just don't get what the big deal is," Haley said, still talking about Brandon. She tends to not let things go if she's not satisfied with what she's getting and when it came to my 'feelings' toward Brandon, she was never satisfied. I don't know why she obsesses over him so much. I'd say she has a thing for him, but any time the idea of her getting a boyfriend comes up, she gags and says her shower head does the same thing a guy can do, except she can replace the shower head when it talks back.

Fair, I guess.

"I told you what it is," I said, trying to get out of the conversation.
"And I told you you're imagining things. Is this about him being gay? I mean, so what if he is? It's his life, let him do what he wants."
"Yeah, okay, I don't care about that. I'm just telling you, something is really off about him."
"Is this about what happened with Ben? How he accused you of-"
"Damn it, Haley, this isn't about Ben! I don't care about Ben anymore, so stop bringing him up! I'm just telling you why I don't wanna do this, but it doesn't matter anyway. Not like I have a choice."