Whatever Happened... to Robot Jones? Continued

Chapter 16: Losers Rise

"So... on a scale of ten to negative five million," said Mitch, approaching the school steps that morning, "How bad would you say last night went?"

"That's not grammatically correct, Mitch," Robot corrected him, trying to be polite about it. "Numeric scales should always read least-to-greatest. That said," he sighed, "Last night's failure would be off the charts, anyway."

"At least Cubey kind of hit it off with Pam, right Cubes?" asked Mitch.

"Heh," Cubey responds, as if acknowledging the question and not really sure how to answer.

"At least you didn't spend half the night scrubbing sticky soda out of your hair," Socks told him, pulling a curl from the top of his head. "You have any idea how hard it is to wash anything out of my hair?" He pulled the curl in front of his nose and sniffed.

Out of curiosity, Mitch leaned over and sniffed too. "Oh, gross dude! It's like a theater floor."

Robot was grateful that Socks hadn't taken his anger at Shannon out on himself. He wondered if it occurred to Socks that Robot had neither stuck up for Shannon for throwing her soda in Sock's face, nor condemned her for it. Maybe he had to outwardly support Socks, but he felt guilty, and wondered if it was apparent he didn't actually feel bad for him. Not really, anyways.

Like the others, Robot had hoped, somehow, that aside from awkward encounters with their dates in the hallways, that they wouldn't be forced to remember what had happened last night. But as they entered the school, they all noticed at least a dozen girls scattered through the crowds in front of the lockers were staring at them, with growing Cheshire cat grins. It was as if the events that transpired last night were stitched onto their sleeves for the world to see. It took the boys no time at all to realize that, indeed, their worst fears had been confirmed: News about the triple blind date had got out, and all those who knew were aware that it bombed.

As if to make it worse, before they even rounded the first hallway, a couple of cheerleaders whistled at them mockingly.

"How are you feeling, Cubey?" asked one named Beverly as she passed in the hallway, laughing with her friends. "Still having butt problems?"

The two cheerleaders burst into laughter as Socks pulled Cubey away and the boys darted down a different hallway, trying to escape mocking laughter.

Cubey slapped his face. "I can't believe I actually said that..."

"I can't believe they even know," said Mitch.

"How did they find out, anyway?" asked Socks.

"One of the girls had to have blabbed," Cubey muttered with anger.

"It was probably Pam," Socks said. "It's just the kind of thing she would do."

"No way!" Cubey protested. "If anybody, it was June. She's the new one, she doesn't owe anything the group."

"Hey!" Mitch said, halting the group as he pointed his finger at Cubey. "June's got the least motivation out of anybody. Pam's always been known for gossiping about other people. If anybody was talking trash about last night, it was her."

As the boys talked, Robot watched more of the cheerleaders giggle as they passed. It was painfully obvious to hin which of the girls had blabbed about last night, but he couldn't risk making Socks angry at him by pointing the finger at Clara-not at least when he was waiting for the point at which Socks would spill his real feelings about Shannon.

"Nobody thinks it was Shannon?" Robot asked.

The boys all stopped and gave each other confused looks. If this were a few months ago, it would seem very out of character for Robot to paint Shannon's hands red. But given how clearly he'd displayed his lack of affection for her last night, and his tendency to look at every logical possibility, it didn't cross anybody as fishy. After a quiet moment, Socks answered him. "You might be right. But still, it would be hard for her to spin what happened last night in a way that doesn't sound embarrassing for her."