Everything Girl

"Billy, why do you have a handful of candy canes?"

It was two weeks later and we were all sitting at lunch that Monday. It was the week before Christmas and the students were all a buzz. Will had approached the table with a candy cane in his mouth and several others clenched in one hand. He wore a black and grey striped hoodie and had his bag slung over one shoulder. His eyes were bloodshot and red-rimmed as usual, and he had a welt on his head and a bruise on his jaw. He'd come in late that day so this was the first any of us had seen of him.

"I dunno," he sung, balancing on his heels and twirling the candy cane around in his mouth, "Some girl just gave me like thirty of them."
"Any particular reason?" I inquired even though I already knew.

"Every year around Christmas time student council holds a fundraiser," Aaron answered, "Where you can send candy canes to people."
I'd already known, but seeing as I was new, I had to pretend not to know certain things.

"Yeah you know, people that you like. People that you love," Heather said, snuggling closer to Mike.
"I sent you one," he said, tightening his arm around her.

"And I sent you one," she said in a lovey-dovey, cutsey-cutsey, baby voice. Blech.
"Do you want me to off myself?" Kristy snapped.

Well, quite frankly, yes. But I couldn't deny that I agreed.

"So I assume that means that many people love Will," I said.
"Yeah. Love to see him suck on things," Aaron quipped and the table laughed.

"You know it," Will said, sitting down, "That's right. Be jealous bitches."
I rolled my eyes.

"So where were you this morning?" Kristy wondered in a whiny voice, "I missed you in physics."
He shrugged. "I got back late from my dad's last night . . . Or was it early? Is it possible to be so late that your early? Or so early that your late?"

Based on his crack-pot philosophical ramblings, my guess was that the drug of the day was marijuana.

"What'd do to your face this time?" Mike wondered, "Fall down the stairs again?"
"Try to go through a glass door?" Aaron volunteered.

"Try to get something off a high shelf?" Heather suggested.
"Walk into a wall?" Juliet chimed in.

Evidently Will had a reputation for being a huge klutz. Yet another side-affect of being habitually high.

"Nooooo . . ." he said, "I tripped and bashed my head on a dresser."
"Dumbass," Heather muttered.

"It wasn't my fault," he defended himself, "The floor was like moving!"
"It's called weed my friend," Mike said, "You should try it sometime . . . Actually, maybe that's the problem."

"Maybe . . ." he agreed, "Or maybe it's all an evil plot by my arch Nemesis, Plankton!"
"And maybe I'm the queen of Switzerland," Heather muttered sarcastically.

"Are you really?" he enthused.
"No," she said plainly.

"Awww . . ." he pouted.
"What about that bruise on your jaw?" I wondered suddenly, noting what none of the other's had.

He shrugged. "You can't really expect me to remember how I get all my bruises . . . Especially with all these beautiful dust motes floating around," he said, oggling the dust motes.
Naturally, I wasn't the only one who rolled their eyes.

"Hey Aaron, did you do the homework for government?" Mike asked as Heather fed him a french fry.
"Have I ever?" he quipped, stealing one of Heather's french fries.

"Crap. Did anybody do it? I need to copy it or Balin is gonna kill me," he said.
"Since when do you care?" Kristy said.

"I don't . . . But the old man's a pain in my ass," he said. He was partially lying. He was really just sick of being yelled at by teachers all the time.
"Then ditch," Juliet suggested.

"Yeah. That'll help," he muttered sarcastically, knowing he probably would just for the hell of it.
"I think I'm gonna ditch last period and go home early," Aaron said, "I'm so tired."

"Too much fun last night?" Mike teased.
"Oh yeah," he said, smirking.

"Oh yeah? With who?" Kristy challenged.
"Your sister," he said. He wasn't kidding.

"Oh shut up," she dismissed.
"I'm serious," he said.

She thought about it for a second. Her sister had missed curfew by three hours last night.
"I'm going to fucking kill him," she thought when it all clicked.

"You sicko!" she exclaimed, smacking him forcefully, "My sister's fourteen!"
He grinned. "I know."

"Wait 'til I tell my brother. He's gonna kill you," she threatened. She was serious.
He shrugged. "Worth it," he said.

The truth was, that Aaron had a bit of a thing for Kristy. But he knew it was no use because it was obvious that Kristy was into Will. I mean, it wasn't a secret, she was all over him constantly. The only person who probably didn't know was Will. Aaron knew though so he had figured to silence his broken heart with the next best thing. Kristy's little sister Lori, who looked very similar to her older sister.

Personally, I didn't understand why he was so hung up about Kristy. She was a bitch.

"Uck," she said with distaste, looking away from him.
"Oh my God!" Will exclaimed, "I love this song!"

"There's no music on . . ." I trailed off warily.
"Prove it," he said, getting up and beginning to fist pump and dance.

I hid my eyes and stared at the table. Good God . . .

Kristy giggled and humored him by putting her IPod on speaker. Some random song came on which attracted the attention of anybody who wasn't already staring at Will. Kristy got up, laughing, and began to fist pump with Will. Everyone in the cafeteria was staring at them.

"Oh my God, I don't know these people," Heather thought. She wasn't like the rest of the crew. They didn't care what people thought about them, which was almost refreshing. They acted like idiots and they were admired. I think that was what made someone truly popular. Not caring what other people thought.

Kristy and Will's mock fist pumping dance led them several feet away from the table, closer to the closed windows. Juliet thought it looked like fun and got up as well and joined their little dance, forming a circle of three fist pumpers. Kristy wasn't happy sharing Will's attention, but she didn't want to appear jealous.

"Come on," Mike said, kissing Heather's hair, "Dance with me."
"Nooooooo," she whined as she allowed Mike to pull her over to where they were all dancing.

He interlocked his fingers with her and the two began to dance. Despite her reluctance, Heather ended up laughing constantly. Her face was red but she looked like she was having fun. Aaron and I were the only ones at our table who hadn't joined the festivities.

Aaron was staring at Kristy with longing and hatred. And When Will twirled her around and she giggled ecstatically, Aaron felt his heart constrict. He really had it bad for her, for some reason, and had been feeling this way for a very long time. However, he'd never been able to get her to reciprocate his feelings.

"You know, sleeping with her sister was probably not the best way to make her like you," I told him.
He looked at me, shocked. "What makes you think that I like Kristy?" he demanded. When really, in his mind, he was wondering how I knew.

I shrugged, smiling a slight, coy smile. "Everything," I said simply.
He gave up on trying to deny it. He was tired of having to pretend he didn't feel the way he did. He sighed and put a hand on his forehead. "I don't know what to do," he said honestly. "I don't know why she wants him and not me. I just don't know how to make her see me. I just don't know . . ."

I was faintly surprised to be having an actual conversation with Aaron. I mean, I was overly cynical due to my mind reading abilities, but I was also secretly overly empathetic. Which sucked too because I literally felt other's pain. But I also knew that behind every bitch and every jerk, there was a real person. And I also knew that everyone just wanted to be loved. It made it harder to hate people. But it also made it easier.

"Knowing nothing is better than knowing it all," I told him.
He looked up at me with lost green eyes. He let his eyes drop quickly and sighed. He didn't say anything but he looked back at the dancers. He felt jealousy towards Heather and Mike because they were both with the person they wanted to be with. He felt anger and jealousy towards Will, because Will had the most amazing girl in the world, in Aaron's mind, and he didn't even know it.

"If it makes you feel any better," I said, "I don't know what she sees in him."
He looked at me for a long time. "Yes you do," he said after a pause. Because, like everyone else, he was under the impression that I liked Will. Just because "everyone" liked Will.

"I don't," I said honestly, "He's completely mental."
He looked back at Will, who was fist pumping with a huge smile on his face. He shrugged. "He's just a happy kid," he said.

"He's an addict," I argued.
"Well . . . If you had a chance to stop being miserable wouldn't you take it?" he asked.

"What makes you think that I'm miserable?" I demanded.
He looked at me for a long time, taking in my dark haired pulled into a bun, my square glasses, my dark red button up blouse. But mostly he stared into my dark eyes, searching.

"Everything."