Huh, the day's already almost over; I barely notice the time tick by as I watch my friends bustle through the Blackbox. It's the end of our third year, here in Hollywood Arts, but it doesn't seem to be any more exciting or even frightening. I feel a little calm, despite next year being our last. I look up, glazing past Tori and Beck practicing their lines for tonight's play; they sure have a certain spark together… they're both perfect: beautiful, smart, popular to the point of being irritatingly so. Cat's to the side giggling her cute little red haired self to some joke that probably didn't make any sense, at least André seems to have that look on his face, proving me right. And Jade? Well I don't know where she is, she stormed off somewhere trying to evade Sinjin after he sniffed her hair, but that's a fair reaction. Let's face it; the guy can be a little creepy. And they say I'm the weird one.
I heave a sigh, "What's your problem?" Rex spits out in a rather harsh tone, but I ignore it. He's always had that kind of attitude and there's really nothing to be done about that.
"Oh nothing, Rex, feeling a little blue since it's the last day of school."
"Come on now, are you some kind of dingbat? It's the end of the school year and you know what that means."
"Mahjong with Mamaw?" Rex hits me with a nice resilient thonk echoing from the room.
"No you dunce, we're going to party with the Northridge girls" And that's another thing that can't be changed, once Rex wants something, it's done – I can't talk him out of it. Honestly, I don't even want to see anything related to Northridge, tired of that whole ordeal. "In fact, there's a party tonight that starts right after the play" Rex seems to be coaxing me to go, but partying is an idea that conflicts with my own desires.
"I thought we were going to go play mini-golf with everyone tonight, right after the show" I'm pleading more than I am declaring a statement. We all agreed to it as a nice outing before summer comes and we all go our separate ways for vacation. I really wanted to do this; despite being home all summer, I don't think I'll be able to see them during the school break. Rather, I'm not usually included in most of their' escapades.
"No, no, no, Robbie, we gotta go to this party." I sigh a bit loudly this time, just a tad frustrated, even then my patience is running thin and becoming increasingly unstable.
"But we can't just bail on our friends like that, it's mean."
"Sure we can, we've got more important things to do." I bicker with Rex wanting to persuade him not to, but it's to of no avail, so we walk towards Beck and Tori who are still performing their lines. I motion to them as Rex and I are still arguing, interrupting their session. They look a bit irritated, but even still they happen to listen to us. However Rex and I are still fighting after a good five minutes, and Tori is looking a lot angrier than she was when I first came up to them; Beck of course still kept his cool, that's Beck.
"Get out of here, Robbie, you and Rex go figure this out yourselves; why are you even here anyways?" I could hear a tinge of malice in her voice, and that alone was surely frightening. My only reason for being in the Blackbox was to spend some time with my friends, I didn't even have to be at school; I finished all that was required of me, which was to make and setup the stage props beforehand. I stare at them with a desperate look on my face. Tori scrunches up her face, as if she just smelled something rotten, it was me – I was rotten. And Beck, well he shook his head at me, I'm sure that's his way of expressing discontent. So I hang my head low as I walk out of the theater, and they just get back to what they were doing before this whole incident. I'm feeling a little depressed.
I see Jade near the vending machines, but I don't really want to confront her. However, I can't help but think it'd be nice if maybe she saw and talked to me. I could use a little comforting, but from Jade? I think she has that capability in her, but to comfort me? That's just not going to happen. Instead, I kind of give a goofy, awkward smile as we walk closer to each other. She sees me, I can see her eyes staring at me, but she contorts her face as if she was straining to look at me. We walk past each other and I hear one audible ick in the distance and nothing more.
I leave to go home. This has happened before, I'm sure I annoyed them. So I walk home, alone. I look at Rex. I know he's not real; I use him as an alter-ego. Did I want to go to the Northridge party? No, but I can't help but think my friends didn't want me ruining their fun at mini-golf, so I was in turmoil with Rex, or rather – myself. I seem to cling on to Rex for things like that, to just argue and express my feelings even if the argument was for or about me. He's caused me more trouble than good, so why do I keep him? Well, he's my only talent, but other than that, I don't know. I could always keep him stuffed in a locker and take him out whenever I need him, which should be never.
"Mini-golf sounds really fun" I seem to speak to the ceiling as I lie on my bed. Will I still be able to go with them? It's nine o' clock and the play has already ended, they should all be meeting up soon. They'll probably call me to check if I'm still going, at least that's what I hope. But I lied there in bed until dusk, there were no thoughts bubbling in my head. I waited for a call, but I didn't get one. I closed my eyes, sleep was my only solace.