uncool, stanley barber

32

32 - the good samaritan is not welcomed at homecoming

homecoming lasts until midnight, so when stan and i walk in at 8 ish, we've got plenty of hours to kill.

"stan, you know we're living in the live theatre of westinghouse high school" i say, holding his hand tight. he laughs and kisses my temple quickly before going to the snack table.

"oh, hey guys" syd and dina walk over to us.

and do my eyes deceive me but is sydney novak in a dress?

"woah, you both look great" i smile at them, nudging syd as she blushes deeply.

"yeah, dina you look like a christmas tree" stanley says beside me. i chuckle at the similarity.

"thanks dude" she laughs "you guys want some punch?"

"yeah" i say as me and dina go grab some. "so, how long have you been here?" i ask her when we're alone.

"not long, just been dancing with syd" dina says as she pours the red liquid into the cups i'm holding. "it's been nice."

"that's good" i smile at her as we stand and glance over at stanley and syd laughing at some jokes. "so, syd's having fun and you are. that's really great-"

"ella" dina stops me as she looks at me "you know syd kissed me right?"

i'm stunned. holy shit. okay fact check, i knew syd liked dina, i thought dina likes brad except the whole cheating thing, dina said she's over guys, syd kissed someone at ricky's party-HOLY SHIT.

"w-when?" is all i can stutter, but i already know when.

"at ricky's birthday party. ironically, when brad was banging jenny" she pulls a face of disgust. "but, i-it's not like..i don't know."

"what is it, dina?" i ask, placing my hand without the punch but with the cast on her arm, reassuringly.

"it's not like i hated it" she says.

"woah" i smile at her. "what does that mean?"

"i don't know, ella" she says happily, like she enjoys discovering these things about herself. "just, please don't tell anyone."

oh, how i wanna tell syd.

"anyway, i might tell syd tonight."

job done.

"that's cool, dina" i say, clinking my cup with hers. "to you being awesome."

"to you being awesome" she says to me as we laugh. for the while i've known dina, she's always been amazing and i couldn't be happier for her.

we stroll back over to stan and sydney and begin to dance. the playlist is great so we head bang, scream lyrics and go completely over the top.

stan soon says he wants to get some fresh air. dina and syd don't really translate what he means as they wave him off. us girls dance a little longer, until i decide to go and find him.

i open the doors and see that to my left stanley's puffing on a joint. i spot a 3 girls gesturing at him, which is weird until i realise the girls are criticising him.

i recognise one of them as a girl called mercedes. she's got her hair tight in a bun with dark curly bits falling down in her face. her earrings look expensive, but then that's probably why she's called mercedes.

"are you smoking?!" she exclaims, a little too loudly for stan to be able to get in trouble from being high on school premises. again.

"oh, yeah. you want some?" he offers, being twistedly innocent. you'd think someone offering drugs would be mindful, but stanley doesn't give two fucks.

"marijuana is a gateway drug" she says, like it's the most important thing to live by. murder is obviously pretty low on her scale of importance. swearing is definitely number one.

the 2 girls behind her nod their obedient heads. i think back to when stanley first offered me to smoke and i finally see how he's never bored of hearing the same 'goody-two-shoes' thing.

"uh huh and um, okay. what-what comes next?" he asks, genuinely curious as to what she has to say. i lift my dress and start to wall along the wall he's sat upon. luckily, my converse are quiet enough to not bring the attention onto me.

"mushrooms, then MDMA, then cocaine, then crack, then heroin, then gasoline" she pauses "huffing it, then death."

she smiles proudly at her girls as they nod and slightly applaud her. i make myself known by placing my hand on stanley's shoulder so i can sit down beside him.

"here's hopin', mercedes" he holds up his blunt in a cheers fashion before a long intake of it. i giggle from beside him as the girls give me distasteful looks.

mercedes turns to me, "ella, we used to have health together. remember those awful videos of drug addicts? i don't want that to be you." she's not being sincere, i can see it in the way her smile cracks and flinches uncontrollably. her good samaritan act is for her friends.

i nod and take the blunt from stan's fingers and put it between my lips. stan watches me proudly as mercedes' smile gets replaced with a frown and a crease in her forehead.

"you'll die, you know" she growls and looks down at me from her big nose. all i do is inhale and exhale, breathing out the toxics fumes in her face.

mercedes and the girls start excessively coughing and flapping about before hurriedly, running into the school. stanley laughs as he kisses my cheek and takes my hand.

"that's my girl."