Modern Day Breakfast Club

What Was That Ruckus?

   I started to think too much and that's never a good thing, Cassandra was sitting on the table talking to Alan but kept glancing at Bram, Alan doing the same with Abby, I was taken from my thoughts when I heard shuffling above us then a huge sound came from the ceiling, Brent fell out of it and onto the second floor then walked casually down to us getting surprised looks from the rest of us.
   "Forgot my pencil," was all he said.
   "Goddamn it!" we heard Vernon yell making Brent scurry under my table hiding from him when Vernon yelled, "What in God's name is going on in here? What was that ruckus?"
   "What ruckus?" Alan asked, covering for Brent making me feel unbelievably surprised and glad.
   "I was in my office and I heard a ruckus," Vernon replied, still angry.
   "Could you describe the ruckus, sir?" Bram chimed in.
   "Watch your tongue, young man," Vernon pointed to Bram, Brent hit his head on the table making me hit it with my hands, then Brent hit it with his fist twice then Alan made a noise and Cassandra started coughing followed by Alan, Bram, Abby, and I."
   "That noise? Was that the noise you were talking about?" Cassandra asked.
   "No, that was not the noise, I was talking about, I may not have caught you in the act this time...but you can bet I will, and you," Vernon pointed to Cassandra, "I will not be made a fool of."
   As Vernon was walking away we noticed tissue paper from the bathroom sticking out of his pants making us laugh, as soon as he walked out the door Brent got up and smiled at me then went up to Bram and asked, "Ahab, can I have all my doobage?"
   "Yo, wastoid, you're not gonna blaze up in here," Alan protested but everyone else but Abby ended up following Brent and smoking it, even Alan, he took a joint for himself and went up to a room on the second floor.
   Bram, Cassandra, Brent, and I were sitting in a circle with Abby watching from her seat, Bram had on Brent's glasses and said after taking a hit of the joint him and Cassandra were sharing after she coughed after taking the first hit, "Chicks cannot hold dey smoke, that's what it is."
   "Do you know how popular I am? I am so popular, everybody loves me so much at this school," Cassandra said clearly already high.
   "Sure they do," Brent murmured.
   Brent got out a match and lit it with his two front teeth then lit the joint in my hand that we already knew we were sharing, after I took a hit I passed it to him and after he took one he smiled and said, "Minty."
   Bram held out a hand to Brent as if he wanted a high-five and Brent gave it to him hitting his face with it then fell down making us laugh
   We were snapped out of our laughing when we heard Alan yell from upstairs. We all looked up to see him unzip hoodie and start running around energetically, he ran around the second floor once then went back into the room he was in smoking the joint then screamed making the glass on the window break into pieces. I looked over at Abby who just stared up at Alan with wide eyes but a smile was plastered on her face as she watched him walk down to us then the two of them joined our group.
   "You gotta middle name?" Alan asked Bram making fun of his first name.
   "Your middle name is Ryan, your birthday is March 13th, you're 5'10 1/2",  you weigh 137 pounds, and your social security number is 049-37-0973," Abby said quietly.
   "Wow! Are you psychic?" Alan asked her with wide eyes looking at her like she was the most amazing thing he's ever seen.     
   "No," she giggled.
   "Then would you mind explaining how you know all this about me?" Bram asked.
   "I stole your wallet," she answered holding up his wallet which he snatched out of her hands.
   "This is great, you're a thief too?" Bram asked her.
   "I'm not a thief," she muttered.
   "Multi-talented," Alan smiled at her.
   "What's there to steal? Two bucks and a beaver shot," she laughed smiling back at Alan.
   "A what?" Alan asked, laughing also.
   "He's got a nudie picture, I saw it, it's perverted," she laughed, but I knew she was just kidding around with Bram about the nude picture.
   "This is the worst fake I.D. I've ever seen, you realize you made yourself 68?" Alan laughed as he was looking through Bram's wallet.
   "I know, I goofed it," Bram laughed.
   "What do you need a fake I.D. for?" Alan asked.
   "So I can vote," Bram answered making us laugh quietly.
   "You want to see what's in my bag?" Abby asked.
   "No, Bram replied but Abby dumped her bag out anyway, there was so much shit in there I don't know how it fit in there.
   "Holy shit, what is all that stuff?" Alan questioned.
   "Do you always carry this much shit in your bag?" Bram wondered.
   "Yeah, I always carry this much shit in my bag, you never know when you may have to jam," she answered smiling at Alan.     
   "Are you going to be, like, a shopping bag lady? That like, sit in alleyways and talk to buildings, wear men's shoes," Bram asked quietly.
   "I'll do what I have to do," she answered.
   "Why do you have to do anything?" asked Bram.
   "My home life...is unsatisfying," she said softly looking up at Alan who was looking down at Bram's wallet.
   "You'd subject yourself to the violent dangers of Chicago's streets because your home life is unsatisfying?" Bram asked, bewildered.
   "I don't have to run away and live in the streets, I can run away, and I can go to the ocean, the country, the mountains,
Israel, Africa, Afghanistan," she replied.
   "Alan, you want to get in on this? Abby says she wants to run away because her home life is unsatisfying," Bram turned to Alan who looked up.
   "Well, everyone's home life is unsatisfying, if it wasn't, people would live with their parents forever," Alan frowned at her.       
   "Yeah, I understand, but I think hers goes beyond what guys like you and me consider "normal" unsatisfying," Bram replied, still turned toward Alan.
   "Never mind, forget it, everything's cool," Abby said.
   "What's the deal?" Alan asked.
   "No, there's no deal, sporto," Abby said.
   "Forget it, leave me alone," Abby muttered.
   "Wait a minute, you're carrying all that crap in your purse, either you really want to run away or you want people to think you wanna run away," Alan suggested.
   "Eat shit," she said getting teary eyed then walked away and leaned on the counter with her back to us.
   "The girl is an island unto herself, okay?" Bram said then Alan followed and stood next to her, as Bram started a conversation with Cassandra I listened in on Abby and Alan.
   "Hi," Alan said quietly and asked, "You want to talk?"
   "No," she answered avoiding eye contact.
   "Why not?" he asked truly interested and sounded pretty worried.
   "Go away," she demanded then looked at him.
   "Where do you want me to go?" Alan wondered.
   "Go away," she repeated then as he was going to walk away she said, "You have problems."
   "Oh, I have problems?" he responded.
   "You do everything everybody tells you! That is a problem," she claimed.
   "Okay, fine, but I didn't dump my purse out on the couch and invite people into my problems, did l?" Alan asked then got really quiet and his voice turned sweet, "So what's wrong? What is it? Is it bad? Real bad? Parents?"
   "Yeah," she answered.
   "What did they do to you?" he asked stepping closer to her.
   "They ignore me," she frowned at him, then I saw something I never thought I'd see, he hugged her tightly and they stood there for a while just holding each other, it made me happy, but it made me sad that they were both in pain, it made my heart hurt, but I felt a little better when I felt fingers slip between mine, I looked over to see Brent giving me a look I couldn't really explain, but it was a good one.