October June

My mother always thought I was a good kid. Sure I gave her trouble sometimes. I forgot to clean my room, take the trash out, stuff like that. But that’s nothing to call a reform school about. She always thought she had raised a decent almost-man. Sometimes I wonder if she’s wrong.
I’m skipping class today. I’m going to a buffet. Why? Why does anyone do anything? No real reason, its just something stupid teenagers do to pass the time. I enjoy being a stupid teenager. I see my father worrying about bills, a mortgage and taxes. That’s not for me, at least for right now.
I walk about of the school; the fresh air is like caffeine in my lungs. It’s a deceivingly gorgeous day today. It feels like June disguised as October. Unusual but welcome all the same. I spot my friends hanging around the parking lot. Eric, Pratob, Anuj and Biggie are doing nothing in particular, lounging around like a flock of birds.
“Andy man! Where were you?” Anuj asked. Loud guy that Anuj, you could hear his

voice in a symphony. “We were out here for twenty minutes.”

“Sorry guys. The principal called me down to the office.” A chorus of ooohs

resonated amongst our circle.

Eric regarded me with an inquisitively arched left eyebrow. “Wait, you? You were in the

office? For what?”
*******
What a sight the principle’s office was. I’ve been in high school for about three years now, and I had yet to even see the damn place, until now. The room was dim and small. There were pictures of kids I had never seen before hanging on the wall. The table was a thick dark colored wood; it looked like the kind of thing you would see in a suburban house in the nineteen seventies. The principal’s name plate was facing towards me. Etched in gold text, it was probably the only nice looking thing in the entire office. She looked at me for what felt like nine minutes. I had no problems taking orders from a woman. Women have been giving me orders my entire life; my mother, my sister, all of my teachers…needless to say, this wouldn’t be much of an ordeal.
“Do you know why you’re here?” she asked me. She had my file on her table. It was thin, very thin. Jesus, when I leave this place, it will have been as if I’d never existed.
“Uh, no miss, I have no idea.” My foot compulsively taps on the cheap carpet. I would be terrible under cross examination.
“You’ve been missing a lot of classes lately Andy.”
I instantly relaxed. I could breathe now. Nothing serious, I could handle this.
“I’m sorry about missing class ma’am. I’ll try to attend classes more.”
“Andy, this is your last year. If you continue to skip class, you could potentially be kicked out of school.”
“I know miss. It won’t happen again.”

*****
We entered Anuj’s pimped out Toyota. TV’s in the headrests with a sound system so loud you would forget your own thoughts. I called shotgun. I was smart, the other guys, not so much. Pratob, Eric and Biggie were crammed in the back like a Mentos package. They shuffled around, lobbying for position. Loud Punjabi music mixed with American hip-hop blasted out of the car. Bass so heavy you could literally feel the music.
“So Andy,” Eric asked. “You just saw the principal?”
“Yeah, half an hour ago”

“You’re stupid, you know that?” said Biggie.

“Naw man, I’m ballsy, a modern day rebel. Im like Butch Cassidy-”

“Who?”

“You know Butch Cassidy, and the Sundance kid?”

“What is that? Some kind of gay porn movie?”

“You guys are so ignorant.”

“Excuse us for now being encyclopedias of useless shit Andy.” Biggie shouted.

Eric was whispering into his shiny new Sony Erickson phone. He tucked himself into the corner of Anuj’s car as we sped down the streets.
“I love you baby. Okay bye,” Eric whispered.

“Eric.” I said. “What the hell’s the matter with you?

“What?”

“Tell me you didn’t call her to tell her you’re skipping class to go to a buffet.” Eric was silent.
“You’re not a man anymore, you know that,” I told him, genuinely repulsed. “You’re a pet, my friend.”
Biggie looked at Eric in mock disgust. “I can’t even look at you. If my girl called me all the time asking where I was, I would hang the phone up on her.”
“See, that’s exactly why the only girls you two ever see are in your dreams,” Eric

remarked.

“Hey that’s a good one.” I said. “Did your girl give you permission to mouth off to me?”

“Hey Pratob?” Biggie asked

“Yeah.” He answered.

“What’s the deal with that Meagan girl, I heard enough shit.”

“That girl is nuts! She text messaged me thirty times yesterday. No lies. Thirty times.”

“You know you’re being stalked right?”

“Yeah, I need to get a restraining order from this nut job.”

“Pratob has the best problems.” I declared. “I wish a girl would stalk me.

“I thought you were happy being alone Andy.” Eric said.

“Did your girl give you permission to talk to me Eric?” I responded.

Anuj pulled the car into a large convenience store. It was so large it could be mistaken for a supermarket.
“Why are we here?” I asked.

“I have to withdraw some money; you guys hang out here while I go to the bank.”

Anuj answered.

We all exited the car. The day was still warm. We walked into the convenience store. My eyes squinted when I came upon the bright egg shell white the walls of the convenience store was colored. Everything was where it should be. It was like no one had ever shopped here before. Anuj walked towards the back of the convenience store. Eric, Pratob, Biggie and I hung around at the front of the store, screwing around. Looking and touching random items. Trying on cheap sunglasses, and abusing the deodorant samples that were left. In the back of my head, I was still thinking about my meeting with the principal this morning. If I continued to skip class I would be kicked out of school. It wasn’t just an idle threat; they’ve kicked out some of my friends for skipping class. The only difference was that those kids got crappy grades, and were considered a lost cause in the first place. The administration needed any crappy excuse to get rid of those kids. I’m almost upset that I wasn’t given a sterner talking to by the principal. Was I not worth a more serious talk? Was I not considered important enough? I wasn’t one of the bad kids, the chronic underachievers, the kids that measured success by how often they failed. I also wasn’t one of the ‘smart’ kids, ones who kissed the teachers asses, studied for hours, and would slit their wrists if they got a 75% on a test. Teachers don’t care or remember the average kids.
“Hey Andy.” Biggie said.

“Yeah, what’s good.” I replied.

“Check these out.” Biggie pointed out a small box of tampons, on sale near the

pharmacy section of the convenience store. “You want me to pick some up for you? I

hear your flows heavy this time of year.”

“What are you three years old?” I said, slightly amused. Eric stared at Biggie and I.

“You realize we’re all seventeen and eighteen years old now, right? Why don’t we

ever act like it? We run around doing god knows what all the time. Why can’t we just be

adults now?”

“See, that’s not you talking.” I answered. “That’s your girl talking. You’re like a

puppet right now, you know that? She has her hand up your ass, dog.”

Pratob was standing in a corner, peering through the glass that faced the parking lot.

“Uh, guys.” He said, interrupting our analysis of Eric’s lack of independence.

“What’s that?”

“Uh oh, Eric it’s your girl, she’s here to break up with you.” I said.

Pratob turned around and looked at Eric, Biggie, and I. His face was stone, his eyes looked the same, yet different.
“Guys, look outside, and tell me who the hell those guys are.” Pratob instructed. His voice sounded a little higher than usual.
A few guys, all of whom looked vaguely familiar, stood around a newish Mazda. Their eyes were locked on to Anuj’s pimped out Toyota.
“Shit.” Pratob tensed up as he gazed over at the guys near the Mazda. “I think those are the same guys from thing’s party a month ago.”
“Which party?” My hands were sweaty, and tingling.
“The one where Biggie broke a bottle over that guy’s head”

We all look over at Biggie. He walked over to the glass window, and fixed his eyes on the guys around the Mazda. He spotted a tall light skinned guy, with the face of a pit-bull and a large bandage over his left eye.
“Shit! Those guys know we’re here.” He sounded anxious.

“You think?” Pratob said sarcastically.

Eric was quiet clinging to his cell phone and clenching his fist. Biggie continued to look out towards the parking lot, while Pratob clung near Eric and me. My heart was racing, beating fast, faster than it had ever raced before. My heart was going to fall out, I knew it. I was going to collapse in front of everyone. My hands were soaking wet, and numb. My mouth was bone dry. It felt silent for an eternity.
“They know we’re here man.” Eric said.

“Well.” Biggie said. He took a breath. “What the hell do you guys wanna do now?”

Pratob had an idea. We were about due for one. “Let’s hang out here till they dip. Maybe they don’t know we’re in the convenience store.”
“Guy,” I said. “They’re gonna wait there until we come out.”

“Maybe they don’t see us in here.” Pratob suggested.

But it was too late. They did see us. They see us watching them. They know we knew they could see us. I paced around the front entrance of the store. I stood in the entranceway, the doors parted like the Red Sea. I stepped outside. I refused to let nameless faceless unknowns control my life. I was not going to let them treat me like a punk. The other guys lingered around inside. Eric was first to walk out after me. Pratob followed. Biggie slowly walked out of the large, bright, empty convenience store, into the concrete parking lot, on a beautiful October afternoon. Pit-bull Face is leaning against the newish Mazda, three skinny light skinned guys stand around him. Grimacing, staring through us.
“Why are we here?” Pratob asked. “Let’s go back inside and wait for Anuj, or let’s get

Eric to call up his cousins.”

“Guy, I can call enough mans if you want me to. My cousins can be here in twenty

minutes.” Eric whispered as we walked closer and closer to the Mazda boys.

I turned towards Eric. “That would take too long.”

My footsteps and heartbeat correspond with each other as we all walked closer and closer towards the shady Mazda guys. We stopped, and stood near Anuj’s pimped out Toyota. My eyes connected with my friends around me. We all looked at each other so deeply we could almost see the dreams and desires of one another. My entire being was tense. I stood perfectly erect, while I compulsively bit my bottom lip. There were four of them and four of us, and I could tell that my friends felt as tense as I did. Pit-bull eyeballed Biggie, they communicated with each other without saying a word.

“Hey, where the hell were you guys!” Anuj hollered, as he walked out of the entrance of the massive convenience store.
The Mazda boys watched as Anuj walked toward us and gave Biggie once last piercing glare, before they all turning around and crammed into their car, driving away into the horizon, into the vanishing point.
“Oh my god!” I shouted, feeling part victorious, part relieved. “Those guys are women man! Did you see that? They ran faster than The Flash in a foot race.”
Pratob, Biggie, and Eric looked at me in disbelief, before they bursting out laughing.

“I should’ve bashed another bottle in that jackasses’ face, and make it symmetrical.”

Biggie exclaimed.

“Those guys have nothing on us man.” Eric claimed.

“Nothing.” Pratob agreed.

“-Wait.” Anuj interjected. “What the hell just happened?”

*****
Anuj pulled the car into the buffet parking lot. Out stomachs all growling like lions in heat. I was proud of myself, and yet ashamed. I didn’t take crap from anyone. I stood my ground. Though, I feel bad that this even happened. Why? I have no clue. I didn’t start anything. I didn’t chase anyone down. Still I had a sinking feeling in my gut that I just barely reared off course. The guys looked calm, serene, happy. Anuj went to be seated. He returned several minutes later.
“Guys.” Anuj asked. “Did any of you actually make a reservation?”
His answer was met with a chorus of “no’s”. We were stuck. Pratob and Eric had to drop off family members at the end of the day, meaning we couldn’t stick around to get a table. We piled back into Anuj’s pimped out Toyota, and returned to high school. There was about forty five minutes left for class that day. I could still catch last period.