This choice: The mall sounds like a plan • Go Back... You tell Melanie to stop by the Donna which causes her to grunt in disappointment. You tell her to leave the car running as you dash back to your room to grab cash from the briefcase before locking back up. "Hold onto this for me?" you say as you hand the money over to her, a necessity as you don't have anything to carry it in.
She lets out a whistle as she takes it. "Where'd you get this from?" she asks.
"You know the guy I was impersonating when I left to get Evie? Let's just say I borrowed it from him."
"Jesus Christ!" she replies with a laugh of amused disbelief. "You're insane you know that? But I'm kind of glad we got mixed up with you since at least you're not boring."
"The crazy times are over and done with," you tell her.
"For you maybe, who knows what the Doofus Gang is going to get up to though," she sighs.
"They're that annoying?"
"You've been around them," she answers. "I wouldn't hang around if I hated them or anything but they're just immature, especially when you put all of them together. Well, maybe Justin a little less so." She looks at you with a knowing smirk. "Between us if I didn't already have a boyfriend..." she trails off and giggles.
Yes, her mind tells you that she finds Justin to be handsome in his own way but what she really likes is quietness he has to him. He's nice and dependable but can come off as a bit aloof and Melanie has more than once fantasized about seeing what's behind the barriers he's erected... and seeing what's in his pants. But she's not going to wait for him either though you half-suspect the stormy relationship with her boyfriend -- periods of intense intimacy followed by a cooling period, arguing, separation and repeat -- might very well be because she probably is still waiting for him deep down.
"You've got no problem telling me that you want to jump his bones?" you ask.
She waves it off though. "You've got everything I've got up there so it's not like I can really hide it from you," she tells you. "It's pretty nice not having to keep a secret like that."
"You could just tell him."
"No way!" she exclaims as she starts the car. "The girl shouldn't be the one having to make the move. Where's the romance in that?"
"You haven't even talked to the girls about it."
"Oh jeez, I can't do that either!" she exclaims and you notice her body language reflecting a sudden nervous bashfulness. "I kind of feel like I could mess everything up by introducing romance into our group."
"Paulina and Bhodi," you tick off your fingers, "Andy is one hundred percent into Evie. I saw Grant staring at your boobs back at the motel."
"Grant stares at every girl's boobs," she replies dismissively. "Ohmygawd! Joe was telling me that he was going to turn himself into Kaylee too!"
"They were saying before you got there that it's because she's popular so she'd be able to help Evie."
"You don't believe that right?" she asks. "First, he definitely has a thing for Kaylee. Second, he has a bigger thing for teammate Wendy and the two of them are like..." she holds up her right hand and twists the index and middle fingers around one another. "Third, I should've walloped him because Kaylee's my friend and if I'd known it was her before all of these decisions were made..."
She lets out a curse as she hits the steering wheel in frustration.
Therein lies one of the contradictions that makes up Melanie Heath. She's sensible and whether she knows it or not she's got a natural take charge attitude and the ability to lead others. But her emotions can get worked up rather easily, especially when she's playing party girl and she's had one drink too many, and when they do the result isn't good. Usually it means a fight with her boyfriend, then flirting (and sometimes sloppily making out) with another boy until things get patched up... usually after Owen -- that is Owen Bradley, a member of Eastman's JV soccer team and a notorious playboy himself -- has had his own dalliance.
"Well if I'd known I would've probably told him to find someone else," you say. "But, uh, how many people from Westside are you friends with anyway?"
* * * * *
The answer turns out to be more than you'd have expected because after coming out of one store with a bag of clothes as well as a sensible (and sensibly priced) purse that you're putting to immediate use you're called out to by a someone your borrowed mind immediately recognizes as Allison Day, an auburn-haired girl with a bright expression who happens to be a member of Westside's swim team.
In turn, Melanie greets her warmly and the two chat for a moment before Allison takes notice of you which leads to Melanie introducing the both of you and the short version of the story you've both been crafting for your identity. You worry that it might be a tad bit unbelievable but if it is then Allison doesn't call you on it. Instead she says that "some of the others" went off to the food court (well not Abigail Phillips, she dragged her boyfriend, Lucas Bell, to another store) and since she was about to head over herself maybe the both of you could come with her. Melanie accepts on both of your behalves.
It's at this point that you almost want to start comparing her to Catherine Muskov. Like a Catherine in training.
You find the table, well two tables pushed together really, where Allison's friends are sitting and head over to join them. There's Ava Price who's on the volleyball team, Miranda Estrada who's a teammate of Evie's and... you almost double take when you see her come back from emptying her tray, even though Melanie knows her well.
Alice Meehan, who plays on the girl's JV basketball team with Paulina, is someone who's impossible not to notice; when you're as big as her how could anyone ignore you? And you don't mean big as in developed either (though she's certainly not lacking there) but rather she's tall. Very tall. She has to be hovering around six feet which, for a sophomore girl, is pretty impressive. But her face, which still looks young, betrays her height as does her giggly and very girly personality as you can't help but notice the Disney characters and princesses that decorate her messenger bag.
"Oh, Katie!" Allison perks up and casts that bright expression on you as the conversation starts to lull. "So you were telling me about, like, where you came from and stuff?"
"Uh, well," you look over at Melanie for assistance but realize that she's leaving you to fend for yourself. This is going to be your first test in trying to pass yourself off as this person you've created. "I can't really say where I'm from exactly," you admit, "because my parents traveled a lot because of their, uh, photography work? I never really stayed anywhere more than a year or two."
You're unsure as you say it but maybe that gives you a bit of credibility because that simply draws a lot of "oohs" from the other girls. You figure that does keep you from having to go too much into places you've never seen.
"Still, that's gotta suck though," Ava says as she picks at some mashed potatoes. "Like you just start making friends and then you're gone. I don't think we'd really know that feeling."
"Well I only came here in seventh grade," Miranda says, "but my family didn't move around a lot either so it's not the same thing I guess."
"But you probably got to see a lot of cool places though, right?" asks Allison.
"Sure," you answer, "but it's mostly just cities and stuff. Like I lived in, uh, Alabama before I moved here? That was kind of nice because I was right on the coast so I could go to the beach and swim in the gulf."
"Ooh, yeah. Your skin is like... so tan!" Alice marvels. "I burn way too easy."
"You probably saw some foreign places right?" asks Miranda.
But you shake your head and you're thankful that Melanie's a quick thinker because it's helping you big time here. "Unless you consider Indiana foreign then no. That's actually why I'm here," you say. "Because my parents got work in... Chile I think? Like their first foreign deal. But they didn't want to uproot me that much and they're friends of Melanie's family so..."
"They pawned you off," Miranda says.
"You're totally making it sound worse than it is!" Alice exclaims.
"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean it like that," Miranda apologizes but you wave off her concern.
"You said you swam?" Allison asks.
"Oh, uh, for fun yeah," you tell her.
"Well, the swim team's always looking for members."
"Wait, me?!" you ask wide-eyed. "Oh no, I couldn't. I'm not really a swimmer like, um, you. I probably did more sunbathing than swimming. Besides they're still getting the details of my enrollment worked out. I don't even have my schedule yet."
Allison's expression remains friendly. "Well, a lot of us on the team are kind of like you. Well the sophomores anyway," she states. "But I can talk to Andrea and she'd probably be able to have you come out tomorrow to try out." Her expression turns a little more serious and dour. "Truth be told, Westside can be a snake pit and as the new girl everyone's going to want to play you. You'll want people around that'll have your back, trust me."   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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