So this chapter coincides with the first time we see the Torres brothers on screen together! I was a little giddy watching it again to see the beginning of their amazing brolationship!
I apologise for how long this chapter is; believe it or not, this is the cut-down version!
This chapter contains dialogue from the season 10 episode "You Don't Know my Name (2)"
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Chapter 25 - Labels
"You know where I think it went wrong?"
"Not writing your essay? Getting Alli to write it for you? Trying to pull a fast one on Perino?"
"No, I mean-"
"-Choosing to study History and European History? I think it's supposed to be an either/or, not an and."
"No, this isn't my fault."
"Of course it isn't."
"I didn't ask Alli to write my essay for me," Drew said, reclining on his chair and staring hopelessly at the blank computer screen infront of him. "She did it because she thinks I'm too stupid to write it myself."
"To be fair," Adam said hesitantly, "you didn't write your essay at all."
"What do you think I'm doing right now?" Drew snapped back. "Jeez, dude, you're supposed to be helping me."
"I am helping," Adam insisted. "I cancelled a Bill Murray marathon with Eli for this."
"Then stop being a smart ass and help me," Drew grumbled, putting his hands over the keyboard purposely, but not actually typing anything yet. "How do I even start writing this thing away?"
"Well where are your books?" Adam asked.
"Books?"
"Yeah, books. You know, they're these stacks of paper bound together to create a stream of written information?"
Drew didn't laugh; he was getting pretty sick of people implying that he was stupid. Adam seemed to notice Drew's somberness and eased up.
"It's just a joke dude," Adam said gently.
"Well, it's not funny." Drew span around on his chair to face his brother. "You have no idea Adam. People have always stuck this label on me for something I can't help. You don't have a clue what it feels like to always be judged like that."
Adam nodded thoughtfully.
"Wow, you're right. That must really suck."
To Drew's relief Adam smiled. He had forgiven Drew for the Goldeneye incident pretty quickly. Especially since he and Ghoulsworthy will still the best of buddies. Drew sort of wished Adam had held the grudge a little longer; Adam forgave people far too easily.
"Anyway, I don't have any books," Drew admitted.
"Well we're not going to get much work done without them," Adam said. "Let's say we call it quits tonight and work on it before school tomorrow."
Drew grinned. "Yeah, sure. Sounds like a plan."
Adam stood up.
"Cool. I'll call Eli then, tell him I'm free tonight after all. What DVD should I take over, Caddyshack? Groundhog Day?"
"-Tootsie?"
Adam threw a pillow at Drew's head. Drew had made the choice not to rip on Ghoulsworthy until he was absolutely sure that Adam had cooled off. Besides, he was pretty sure Adam was going to get sick of Ghoulsworthy's faux mysterious-worldly act pretty soon and start hanging out with cooler people. Like Drew.
"Fine, I'll just ask Eliwhat I should take over," Adam said, sticking his tongue out at Drew. He got up and walked to his own room, phone pressed against his ear.
Drew stared at the computer screen infront of him. He was starting to wonder if he should've just claimed that he had written the essay after all. Granted, he didn't know what half the words in it meant, but he owned a thesaurus, he could have winged it.
But then that would be sending a clear signal to Alli that she was right; he was too stupid to do the work on his own.
And if Drew hated anything more that studying, it was proving other people right.
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Drew made a mental note to always bring Adam with him to libraries. Usually when Drew had to find a book, he would scan every shelf row-by-row until he found what he was looking for and it ordinarily it took forever. But Adam somehow figured out exactly where all the books they needed were.
"Man you're good at this," said Drew staring in disbelief as Adam pulled out book after book on the Victorian era. "It's like you worked out the secrets to the book stacking system or something."
"There is a system," Adam said, thrusting the books into Drew's arms. "The Dewey Decimal system?"
Ah, decimals - math. No wonder Drew didn't get it.
"That should get us started," Adam said, looking triumphantly at the stack of books Drew was now holding.
"Started? This is more books than I've read in my life!"
"Well then you're about to break double digits," Adam cheered, patting Drew on the back as they checked the books out.
Drew dumped them onto a table in the cafeteria, staring at their covers blankly, unsure of where to begin.
Adam sat down, handed him some notebook paper and a freshly sharpened pencil.
"Ok," Drew said, looking at the blank sheet of paper infront of him. "If you were to write an essay on the Victorian Era, where would you start?"
"Uh, well when was it?" Adam offered helpfully.
Drew had nothing. He knew that the Victorian Era was during Victorian times, but that was it. No one ever actually mentioned when it was when they talked about it, they just called it Victorian times, which was very inconsiderate towards the high school history students of the world.
"The Victorian era?" Adam said slowly.
Drew shook his head. "I have no idea."
Adam sighed, apparently realizing what a lost cause this was going to be. "Maybe you should have said the essay Alli wrote for you was your own."
"I'm trying to forget about that?" Drew groaned. If even Adam was giving up on him, then maybe he really was a hopeless case after all.
"So I'm guessing you two are over?"
"I don't appreciate being called stupid," Drew said flatly. He had spent his whole life being called stupid, but it didn't get easier to deal with. And now Alli had joined his list of detractors, which made him burn more than it reasonably should have. Sure Adam called him stupid at least once a day, but Adam had known Drew since they were kids; he had witnessed Drew trying to stick a fork in a wall socket on more than one occasion. Alli had known Drew all of two minutes before deciding that he was too incompetent to do his own schoolwork.
The bell rang. Drew had to get to homeroom. He had accomplished nothing. He picked up his things and walked down the cafeteria with Adam
"I'm a new guy at a new school," Drew said to Adam, even though Adam already knew the drill. "I don't see why I should be tied down. I suck at schoolwork, but I rule at girls."
Drew checked out a cute blonde girl and gave her a quick "hey" before turning back to Adam, who was dangerously close to eye rolling. "Ladies and gentlemen, step right up it's ego time; watch Andrew Torres down twelve raw eggs!"
"Ha-ha, make fun," Drew retorted. "But you don't know what it's like to have the hotness thrown at you left, right and center."
This time Drew could actually feel the eye roll.
"So with all your options," Adam said sardonically, "who you gonna pick?"
Drew shrugged. "I don't know, someone simple."
At the very moment he ran into Alli, who was probably the last person he wanted to run into (Well other than Ghoulsworthy or Jenna, but they definitely weren't in his dating options.)
Alli brushed past him coldly; apparently he was the last person she wanted to bump into too. Both he and Adam stood and watched her storm down the hall, turning back to glare at Drew. He continued to stare down the hallway long after she had disappeared around the corner.
"Ok," Drew said assertively. "Onto bigger and better things."
"Like your essay?" Adam asked.
"No," Drew scoffed. "I mean important stuff, like chicks!"
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Drew had ran into an obstacle pretty quickly in his search for a new hook up; he had no idea which girls to approach and which to avoid. He needed someone who was more familiar with curvier portion of the student body.
He had briefly considered asking Owen for help, but was worried that Owen's jerkiness might work as some sort of girl repellent. Then he thought about Sav, but remembered that he had just broken up with Sav's little sister and that maybe Drew wasn't his favorite person at the moment. He vetoed Riley and Zane pretty quickly simply because they weren't into girls.
That left one person.
Drew found K.C. on his own, fishing something out of his locker. He didn't notice Drew until he started to speak.
"Hey bro, or uh-" Drew started, realizing that he had managed to sufficiently weird K.C. out the last time he'd used the word "bro". "Hey dude. What you up to?"
K.C. looked at him uncertainly "You know, just… locker stuff. Nice talking to you."
He shut his locker and began to shuffle away, but Drew followed.
"Hey- hey," Drew said, catching up to K.C. "I know that the Goldeneye thing was a little-"
"-Insane? Psychotic even?"
"Well, yeah." Drew said sheepishly. "But there's a really good reason for that. That Goldsworthy guy called my brother bro!"
"You called me bro," K.C. said, still looking uncertainly at Drew. "At least fifteen times."
"Whatever, I don't want Eli leaving an impression on my kid brother; he's weird."
"He's weird?"
K.C. was smirking. Drew relaxed; he knew K.C. was cool.
"Anyway," Drew said, replaying the smirk. "I need your help finding a new girl."
"I thought you and Alli-"
"-No, we had a fight."
"Wait," K.C. said, holding up a hand. "You broke up, or you had a fight?"
"Is there a difference?" Drew asked.
K.C. groaned and shook his head, obviously Drew was missing something; if relationships were going to be a lot of work, then clearly they were too much effort to try and maintain. What was the point of dragging it out?
"What kind of girl do you have in mind?" K.C. sighed.
"Ok, here's what I'm looking for: cute, fun, attracted to shiny objects. Where should I look?"
"The pet store?"
Drew rolled his eyes. "No seriously man, help me navigate."
"Hmm, an artsy girl could be cool?" K.C. suggested, pointing out two quirky looking girls walking past them in the hall. "Might involve nude portraiture?"
"And underarm hair," Drew added before scoping some Degrassi Drama girls walking past. "What about theatre chicks?"
"Sure, if you want drama 24/7." K.C. interjected, which seemed a bit rich coming from him; he dated Jenna. And she was evil.
"Ooh," K.C. said, stopping Drew as a group of girls from the Power Squad walked past. "Can't go wrong with a cheerleader."
Drew took a good long ogle. K.C. was definitely smarter than he looked.
"Cute, peppy, and they can do no wrong in those skirts." Drew grinned.
" I hear Marisol's single." K.C. piped in.
"Oh yeah?" Drew asked, eagerly. "Hm…"
Drew walked up to Marisol who was happily chatting away with her Power Squad buddies. They were all pretty cute. If, for some unfathomable reason, Marisol said no to Drew, he figured he could always try his luck with one of her friends.
"Hey Marisol," he said, making her turn around. She smiled, that was a good sign. "As a Power Squader and a hottie, I'm concerned about your current status as single."
"Well the right guy hasn't come along I guess." said Marisol, playing along. Drew liked it when they played along.
"Oh, what's taking him so long?"
"I don't know, I couldn't be any more available right now," She replied, batting her eyelashes. Drew liked it when they did that too.
"Well somebody has to ask you out," he said, making Marisol giggle (another one of Drew's favorite things) "It would be a sin not to. "
"Yeah, but who?" Marisol asked. "I heard you're with Alli."
Drew felt himself falter a little bit. Did everyone in school know about him and Alli?
"I don't see her around, do you?"
"No," Marisol purred.
"Well then, what do you say?"
Marisol pretended to ponder for a moment.
"I say… The Dot after school?"
"Sounds like a date. Meet you back here after class?"
"Uh-huh."
Drew nodded and walked back to K.C., he could hear the excited chatter of Marisol and her cheerleader friends as they walked away. K.C. gave him the slow clap.
"Bravo, bravo," he said proudly. "I couldn't have done it better myself."
"Done what?"
Jenna, had snuck out of her cave and managed to find K.C., she wrapped her arm around him.
"Drew's bagged himself a Power Squad hottie."
"Really?" she said, widening her eyes. Oh, man, Jenna sucked. "Which one? Chantay? Anya?"
"Marisol," K.C. said, waggling his eyebrows.
"Oh," Jenna said, pulling a face. "Marisol. Going on a date with Drew."
Drew started to feel nervous. Why did Jenna have to be so awful all the time? Why was she even there? Drew was having a perfectly good time with K.C. before she showed up.
"Well…" Jenna said, pulling a smile that looked more like a grimace. "She definitely likes you! She doesn't stop talking about you."
Drew didn't respond. Surely Jenna was just trying cause trouble; that's what evil people do. Surely Marisol was going to be an awesome date.
Right?
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Drew ran to Miss Dawes' English class before he was supposed to meet Marisol in the main hall. He had to let Adam know he wasn't going straight home so that he could in turn tell Mom, otherwise there'd be a missing person's report made in Drew's name by dinnertime.
He found Adam walking out of the classroom, talking animatedly to a curly-haired girl.
"-and then he gets put in this prison where everyone has to wear these magnet shoes that keep your feet stuck to the floor. And nobody believes that he's an FBI agent, because he has Nic Cage's face!"
"So how does he escape?" the girl asked, excitedly.
"Well you'll just have to watch the movie and see for yourself; it's so cool!" Adam said, before noticing that Drew was standing there. "Hey bro."
"Hey yourself," Drew said, smiling. Adam was talking to a girl. It was a good day for both of them chick-wise. It also meant that if Adam was talking to a girl, then he wasn't talking to Ghoulsworthy, which was always a good thing. "Can you tell Mom I'm making my own way home? I have a date. With a cheerleader."
"Can't" Adam shrugged, "I'm staying behind too; Clare and I were going to work through our chem project together."
Drew looked over to Clare, she was a sweet looking girl, and she clearly had a good rapport with Adam. He moved back over to Adam, trying to work their brother telepathy.
Drew raised his eyebrows: She's cute, you should go for it.
Adam pulled his mouth to one side: nah dude, we're just friends.
"Fine, I'll just text Mom," Drew said out loud. "Are you ok for getting home?"
"My mom can drop Adam off," Clare offered brightly, "I usually stay later on Wednesdays for friendship club anyway."
Friendship club. That's what they called the school's Christian group; they were all about prayer circles and abstinence; two things that Drew was morally against.
Drew wrinkled his nose: Bro – Jesus freak warning! Watch out there.
Adam furrowed his brow: Chill out, she's nice.
"If you say so," Drew muttered.
"Sorry?"
Clare was staring confusedly at Drew. He cleared his throat.
"You know," he said clumsily. "If it's not too much trouble for your mom. To drop Adam off I mean. If you say so."
Clare smiled sweetly. "Oh. Ok then. Come on Adam."
"Sure," Adam said, following Clare to the library and throwing a quick glance to Drew. Drew didn't need to tap into his brolepathy to know what it meant.
You're an idiot!
And of course Adam would be right, because everyone thought Drew was an idiot.
But at least he was an idiot going on a date with a hot cheerleader.
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Marisol Lewis was quite possibly the most boring girl on the planet, or at the very least the most boring girl in the province.
The entire walk to The Dot had consisted of relaying the Power Squad's ranking of all the boys on the football team. It started off fine (Drew was number one, obviously) but then she had to go into detail about why every other guy on the team was cute, and Drew didn't really want to hear about K.C.'s "puppy dog eyes" or Zane's "totally edible biceps" or Owen's "bad boy mystique."
She was only just winding down once they had actually reached The Dot.
"Like I said," she concluded. "All the girls think you're the hottest guy on the team. Then K.C., then Riley, then Zane, then Owen."
The whole thing had left Drew exhausted and he was quite glad to finally get a seat. They were by the window; as he glanced out he saw Alli with Jenna, just getting up to leave from their outside table. Even through the pane of glass, Drew could feel the chill from the cold look Alli was throwing at him.
Then he remembered that he was on a date with Marisol; a date that held the sole purpose of helping him get over Alli. He smiled at Marisol.
"Glad to hear I'm on top," he said.
"Hi, want to order something?"
Drew looked up to see the waiter, Peter, standing at the table, notepad in hand. Drew gestured to Marisol.
"Um, ladies first," he said, being as gentlemanly as he could.
"What are you getting?" she asked grinning.
Drew was put out for a second; he was always taught to let the lady go first, but Marisol wasn't budging.
"A large ice tea for me," he said to Peter.
"Me too," Marisol chirped, leaning closer into the table, "I love ice tea!"
"Me too," Drew echoed back, he did enjoy his ice tea; it made him feel all Britishy and sophisticated. "Have you heard of the band Hot Chip?"
Marisol sat up excitedly, "Oh my god, they are, like, the best!"
Drew sat up too, maybe he'd judged Marisol too soon; they seemed to have a lot in common, and now they had something to talk about other than how cute boys who weren't Drew were. He could quite easily spend an hour or two talking about Hot Chip; he'd never met a girl who liked them before (unless you counted Gracie, but he didn't, because Gracie cheated by having a guy's brain, also she didn't exist anymore so he needed a new girl to talk about these things with) it would have been pretty cool if Marisol's favorite song was Ready on the Floor too (Adam would poke fun at him for picking everyone's favorite Hot Chip song, but Drew reasoned that popular things surely got popular for a reason.)
"Yeah?" he said brightly, getting ready for what maybe wasn't going to be such a bad date after all. "What's your favorite song by them?"
Marisol sat with her mouth slightly open for a few moments; she obviously didn't know any of their songs. Then why did she say she did?
Peter, apparently picking up on the unease that was starting to creep in, cleared his throat loudly.
"So, two ice teas, anything else?"
Drew nodded over to a sheepish looking Marisol, trying to show her that it wasn't a problem.
"Go ahead."
"What are you getting?" she asked. Drew got the feeling that she was going to be asking that question a lot. He stared at her, keeping his expression as stony as possible.
"I'm gonna get, ah, a tuna wrap with a scoop of strawberry ice cream on top and… garlic salt."
Marisol's face fell further and further with each ingredient. Without doubt she would order something normal after that, or all of Drew's worst fears about cheerleaders would be realized; they really can't think for themselves.
Peter just stood, staring at him.
"Really?"
"Yes," said Drew, deadly serious. "That's what I want."
"Ok, you're the boss," said Peter, sighing as he took down Drew's order. "And for the lady?"
Marisol beamed, sitting about again. She wouldn't, would she?
"I'll get the same!"
She would
Peter started to back away from the table.
"Okay. Weirdos…"
"You sure you don't want something else?" Drew asked Marisol, who still had a huge smile plastered on her face.
"It's easier if I don't have to think for myself," she giggled.
Drew started to wonder if it was too late to bail. He could see Alli hugging Jenna across the street outside before parting ways. Alli disappeared into the convenience store across from The Dot.
"You eat like my friend Katie," Marisol piped up. "She eats the weirdest things. I was staying at her house once and a found her in the bathroom eating fried rice covered with strawberry syrup; in the bathroom."
She laughed at her story, but Drew wasn't really paying attention; he wondered if he could excuse himself to pick up something from the store, like some gum, or breath mints, or a girl with a brain.
"Uh, Drew?" Marisol said loudly, causing Drew to jump out of his stupor.
"Oh, yeah, I was listening," he said stupidly. "Your friend Katie eats in the bathtub."
"Bathroom," Marisol corrected, showing the first sign of intelligent life on the date so far. "And speaking of, will you excuse me."
Marisol got up and walked over to the bathroom. Drew made sure she was completely out of sight before getting up from the table too and heading to the door, passing Peter on the way out.
"But I'm making your ice teas and gross stuff!" he yelled after Drew as he ran across the street.
"I just need five minutes!" He shouted back, jogging up to the pavement just as Alli was walking out of the store. She didn't stop walking when she saw him.
"Hey," Drew said, following Alli. "Can I ask you something?"
She didn't bother to turn around. "Make is quick"
"Ok, you win," he sighed. "I'll go to the dance with you. All better?"
Alli stopped and turned around, but when Drew saw how annoyed she looked, he almost wished that she hadn't.
"That's it? That's all you have?"
"I thought you'd be happy," Drew said, trying not to sound as confused as he felt. "You made a mistake, I made a mistake can we please move on already?"
"You were my mistake, Drew."
"What are you talking about?"
"We have one fight and you run off to Marisol?" she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Marisol's boring!" he explained, wondering if relaying how awful their date was going would work in his favor. "She made me realize that I want to hang out with you."
"So you like me because I'm less boring than someone else," Alli said, which was true, but when she said it, it sounded like some sort of insult, which was weird because obviously it's a good thing to be less boring than someone else. "Wow, that's romantic. Surprised I haven't seen that one on a greeting card."
"I could, ah, make one for you?" he said, trying to be charming, because apparently being honest wasn't working,
"Ugh!"
"So, uh, the dance," he said, grinning charismatically. "Does "ugh" mean yes in Hindi?"
Alli's mouth tightened, she must have been really annoyed if The Grin wasn't working on her. "It means "go away" in caveman. I'm surprised you didn't know that."
Alli walked away for good that time, leaving Drew alone in the middle of the street. He turned around to go back to The Dot, at least he had an ice tea waiting for him, and if he was still feeling down after that, he supposed he could make Marisol tell him how handsome he was again.
But as he looked through the window of The Dot, he had the distinct feeling that Marisol wasn't going to be saying any nice things about him soon.
She was standing by their table, watching Drew through the glass, doing the head tilt that never failed to make him instantly feel nervous. How long had she been there? Peter stood beside her, holding two plates of what looked like the contents of the garbage disposal and shrugging apologetically at Drew. Drew stood, watching as Peter tried to give Marisol her tuna-wrap sundae whilst she pushed it back to him in disgust.
"Hey, you're the one that ordered it!" Peter yelled at her as Drew walked back through the entrance.
Marisol stopped pushing the plate towards Peter and turned her fury to Drew.
"What now?" she said, "you got a third girl you need to chase after?"
"No," Drew said gloomily. "I'm all yours now."
"Well guess what?" Marisol said, picking up her purse. "Not me too!"
She stormed out without giving Drew a second glance. Peter looked at him, still holding Drew's order.
"Man, that didn't even make sense," Peter said shrugging. "Anyway, here's your… thing."
"It's fine," Drew said, leaning against the wall beside them. "I think I'll just have the bill, thanks."
Peter's face fell.
"Aw dude, I really wanted to watch you eat this!"
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"I'll pick you both up after school," Mom called out of the window. "You are both coming home after school today, right?"
"Yes Mom," Drew and Adam both droned.
"Good. Have a great day kids," she said before driving away.
Drew made a seat for himself on the steps whilst Adam decided to lounge on the concrete railing, opening up a comic book and already engrossed before Drew could strike up a conversation.
"Hey dude," he shouted over to him, forcing Adam to stop reading. "Pass me my boots?"
Adam let out an unnecessarily large sigh before sitting up and throwing Drew's boots over.
"You know," Adam said. "They have these designated rooms inside the school for people to get changed in. You don't have to come to practice already in uniform."
"You're funny," Drew deadpanned. "Power Squad practice? In the gym? I'm trying to avoid Marisol for as long as possible."
"It was that bad, huh?"
Drew went back to concentrating on untying the knots in his laces, hoping that the focus would push out the memory of his disastrous date with Marisol.
"I bumped into Alli," Drew explained. "Well, I ran after Alli. But she wouldn't even give me a chance."
He pulled at his laces in frustration; what was he doing during practice to get them so knotted up?
"You're gonna give yourself blisters," Adam sighed, stretching his arms out to take the boots back.
"Stupid knot," Drew grumbled, before tossing the problem over to Adam. Years of playing video games had given him the dexterity of a ninja chef (Drew wasn't sure if a ninja chef was a real thing or not, but he sincerely hoped that it was.)
"Easy caveman!" Adam said, taking over the laces.
Drew felt himself getting annoyed again; was it "Call Drew a Caveman Week?" Had there been some sort of memo? It was getting pretty wearing as far as Drew was concerned.
"Seriously?" he moaned. "I can't win. It's like with other girls I don't care if it's easy, but with Alli it's like I get nervous."
Adam sat up, staring at Drew as if he had missed something obvious.
"That's 'cause you actually like her."
"Yeah I tried telling her that, but nothing I say works," Drew muttered.
Adam pushed himself forward. "Haven't you ever seen an eighties movie?"
"No, not on purpose," Drew joked.
"The girl who's worth it requires an effort, like a gesture or something," Adam explained, throwing the untied boots back at Drew. "Not the same old Drew tricks!"
Drew stared bemusedly at his unknotted boots before putting them on. Adam went back to reading.
"So what should I do?" Drew asked. "I left my boombox and Peter Gabriel CD at home."
"I don't know, figure it out yourself," Adam said, not looking away from what he was reading. "But maybe get it approved by someone before you go to Alli; you have a tendency to get… overly sappy when you're trying to be meaningful."
"No I don't," Drew said defensively.
"Oh really?" Adam said, putting down the comic again. "When you were leaving for Montgomery for three whole weeks you gave me your beloved childhood teddy bear as a parting gift!"
"Okay, how many times do we have to go over this; koalas aren't bears, they're marsupials," Drew lectured. "And secondly, that wasn't sappy, that was sweet."
"It was sappy-"
"-Hey, you took Mr. Koala-"
"-Only because I felt sorry for you-"
"-Well I feel sorry for you Captain Heartless!" Drew said, nudging Adam with his foot. "I'm going to come up with an awesome gesture. Something that will make Alli go all gooey inside."
"Your brain's all gooey inside."
"You just wait," Drew said determinedly. "I'll come up with something."
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His killer smile makes ladies scream.
He's the best QB in the entire (team/league)
Every girl in school wants to be his match.
And that's why he is the perfect catch.
Drew was sitting in study hall, reading over what he had just written. He crossed out team for league (team rhymed better, but league was more impressive) and read it again. It was cute he thought, at least cute enough to endear Alli back to him. He wasn't even entirely sure why he cared so much; he could hook up with any girl in school, but with Alli it was like he was frightened of the possibility that things between them could end. His relationships with girls ending had never scared him before, indeed, they were one of the things he liked about most of his relationships – the promise that they could end whenever things started to go sour. He'd always been quite happy to quit before things ever got too serious. He thought back to his relationship with Nicole; it was only supposed to be a hookup, but she somehow ended up being able to dump him – that was never supposed to be in the cards.
He didn't want Alli to dump him, or go on dates with other people, or want Drew to go on dates with other people.
He'd never felt like that before.
His plan had to work.
Drew pulled out his phone and called Adam, his guru for the more complicated aspects of women.
"Yo."
"Adam it's Drew. I've been thinking about that thing you said?"
"That you really need to finish your Victorian essay?"
"No, the important thing," Drew emphasized. "About impressing Alli!"
Drew played out his plan to Adam, setting up all the players and explaining their jobs, line-by-line.
"…And then I'll get the ball from Owen and say "Catch", you know because I caught the ball and I'm the perfect catch?"
Something really funny must have happened wherever Adam was, as he burst into hysterical laughter on the other side of the phone.
"That…" Adam gasped breathlessly. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever head in my life!"
"I know you think you know everything about girls because of your long-term covert experience," Drew said, hushing his voice for the last part. "But I know what the ladies like, and Alli's going to eat this up."
"Sure," said Adam, still trying to get his breath back. "Whatever you say bro."
Drew waited quietly for Adam to calm down. He was taking an excessively long time to stop laughing.
"So I take it that you're not keen on the idea?" Drew asked.
"Ah, no," Adam said, still just a little mirthful. "I don't think telling Alli how great you think you are is really going to impress her."
"Well I think you're wrong."
"Well then I wish you good luck, because if that's your plan, then you're going to need it."
Drew hung up and put his phone back into his pocket indignantly.
His idea wasn't stupid. It was going to work.
It had to.
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"Told you it was a stupid idea."
Owen shrugged leeringly at Drew, who threw the football back to Owen just a little too forcefully, then pushed his way through K.C. and Joey to get to his locker.
How could that not have worked? He had recruited people; he had written a poem; the poem rhymed.
But Alli still walked away, completely unimpressed.
As he opened his locker, Drew had to concede that maybe Adam was right; maybe sometimes girls don't want to hear about how great you are. Which was funny because he had just been on a date with someone who seemed pretty intent on having long discussions about how great Drew was.
And that person what right behind him.
"Hey you."
Drew turned around to find Marisol standing there. To his surprise she was smiling at him (probably laughing at Drew's humiliation.)
"Hey Drew," she said, swaying on the spot. "I had a great time on our date yesterday."
"You did?" Drew asked in bafflement. "Really?"
"Well," Marisol said rolling her eyes. "Perhaps it wasn't perfect, but maybe that's because we need to do something a little more fun next time."
She bit her bottom lip suggestively, against his better judgment, Drew could feel himself starting to push Alli to the back of his mind again.
"You have a date for the hoedown tonight?" She asked coyly.
"I don't," Drew confessed. "I wasn't really sure if I was going or not."
"Well you should," Marisol urged. "People are always more relaxed at these things," she whispered, taking a step closer to Drew. "Easy going." Another step closer. "Loose."
As she got closer, Drew suddenly became aware that Marisol was onto to something quite brilliant.
"You're right!" Drew said, the realization dawning on him. "Thanks Marisol."
He walked away assuredly, knowing now what he had to do.
.
oOo
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"Come in!"
Drew let himself into Adam's room to find him doing homework, he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be writing his history essay; the one that was nearly a week overdue already. But he didn't care, he had bigger things to worry about.
"What you studying?" Drew asked, kneeling on the floor and resting his chin on Adam's mattress.
"Malaria," Adam said without looking up. "Remind me to never go to Uganda."
"Okay, don't go to Uganda."
Drew pushed his face further forward onto the bed, forcing Adam to put his book down and look at him.
"What?"
"I need a date for the hoedown."
"So call out the window," Adam said, putting his class notes on the bedside table. "I'm sure your groupies will flock."
Drew stayed kneeling, smiling at Adam, but not saying anything.
Adam glared back.
"Well?"
"Will you be my date to the hoedown?"
Adam shot up, jumping off the bed and walking to the direction of the door.
"Ok, this is getting too weird for my liking-"
"Oh, come on!"
"Nope."
"Please?" Drew said, getting up and following his brother. "We never get to hang out together anymore."
"We hang out all the time," Adam said, leaning against the door frame. "See? We're hanging out right now!"
"I can't go on my own, I need a wingman. I was your date to the niner's mixer-"
"-No, if I remember correctly you said you my bodyguard for the niner's mixer. And that was a long time ago. Things are different now."
Drew wasn't expecting it - the feeling like he had been punched in the gut. He was mad at himself for being caught off-guard. Joking about watching Tootsie, and saying that Adam had long term covert experience with girls was one thing; being reminded of what was missing in his life now was entirely another.
Adam didn't seem to notice Drew's reaction. Instead, he was standing huffily with his hands in his pockets.
"I have a lot of homework to do," he mumbled.
"So do I," Drew insisted, trying to shake off the unexpected hit. "You can invite your friend Clare."
"Or Eli."
"Or Clare," Drew repeated. "Or we can go just the two of us."
Adam loosened up slightly. "I guess it has been a while since we've both gone out out together."
"Yeah!" Drew said, high-fiving Adam. "Now you can help me with my plan."
"Plan?"
.
oOo
.
Drew tilted down his straw cowboy hat and stood infront of the mirror, his hand hovering over his hip, ready to grab his imaginary gun. Yeah - he looked cool.
Adam on the other hand was dressed the same way he always was; in his dark baggy clothes.
"Why aren't you getting dressed up?" Drew asked, breaking away from his imaginary standoff.
"Yeah, I don't do that anymore," Adam shrugged.
"But you used to love playing cowboys!"
"No, not cowboys; just dress-up. I don't do that anymore."
The second punch to the gut wasn't any less unexpected, but this time Adam definitely seemed to notice. He cleared his throat and looked at Drew's own outfit.
"Why do you already own a cowboy hat and leather vest anyway?"
"It's not important," Drew said quickly. "What is important is that we carry out the plan exactly as I say. Do you remember your job?"
"Yes," Adam drawled. "Get rid of Jenna-"
"-by any means necessary-"
"By any means necessary," Adam echoed. "Then tell Alli that Jenna wants to meet her in a yet to be confirmed quiet location."
"And then I woo Alli with my charm, the relaxed atmosphere makes her totally fall for me and we make out," Drew finished assertively. "Mission complete."
"Well, I like it more than that love letter to yourself you tried to pull off this morning," Adam admitted.
"But do you think it will work?" Drew asked.
"I don't know. You'll just have to wait and see."
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oOo
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"You're not Jenna," Alli said, looking deeply unimpressed.
"I asked Adam to get you here," said Drew, sitting on the chair in the photo booth that Adam had led Alli to.
Alli didn't even hesitate before starting to walk away.
"Alli, hold up," Drew shouted after her. She at least had the courtesy to hear him out. "There's been other girls in my life, but they're not like you. You're smart, you like school, you can bang off an entire essay in a night."
Drew could feel his stomach twist; he had never told a girl how much he liked her before – he had never had to. It seemed like a really easy way of getting his heart stomped on, especially since Alli didn't look any happier after he had said it.
"Yeah, and?"
"I like that," Drew continued, figuring that he had already spilled his real feelings, a little more wasn't going to hurt. "I like never knowing what you're gonna say next."
This time Drew could see Alli's resolve weaken. His stomach started twisting again, but this time it wasn't out of fear.
"You do?" she asked.
"I'm not smart like you," Drew said, not quite meeting Alli's eye. "And if we dated, it would just be a matter of time before you dumped me."
Alli sighed and, much to Drew's surprise, crawled into the photo booth and onto Drew's lap.
"So when I did the essay for you," she said, wrapping her arms around him, "You thought I was calling you dumb."
" People have bee telling me that my entire life," Drew sighed, holding onto Alli. "Mom, dad, brother, Perino, and every other teacher I've ever had."
Alli took his hat off him and started running her hands through his hair. He felt a huge rush of gratitude and relief that she didn't just laugh in his face. He wasn't very good at talking about feelings, and he'd been spending the better part of the last six months pushing most of his own down into some inaccessible place. It felt good to talk to someone, it felt good to have her listen.
"There are two types of smart – book smarts and people smarts," Alli said, not letting go of Drew. "I've dated the book smart guy before, and trust me, it's overrated. People meet you and they love you right away."
"I just wish I would have been more people smart when it came to you," Drew admitted.
"Well," Alli grinned playfully, "since we're alone in here?"
Drew felt himself grin too.
"Might as well!"
Drew yanked to curtain shut, suspecting that they would be needing some privacy.
And he was right.
The glass on the inside of the booth had managed to steam up by the time they had finished making out. Alli used her finger to spell out "A.B hearts D.T" on the glass before fanning herself with Drew's cowboy hat.
"That was pretty incredible," she said, cooling herself down.
Drew took the hat out of her hands and put it back on his own head.
"Now when you say "was," that makes it sounds like our little make out session is over."
"You're right," she said, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck again. "How careless of me."
She moved in for the kiss when a booming voice forced her to jump to her feet.
"Alright cowboys and cowgirls," Sav yelled over the microphone. "I hope you're been practicing your grapevine, cause it's line dance time!"
Alli started hastily fixing her hair, moving further away from Drew as she did so.
"Mood killer?" Drew asked.
"Pretty much. Can't really make out when the soundtrack is your ye-hawing brother," she said, pulling the curtain open and picking up their photos. "But we'll always have these."
"I'd really like to do this again sometime," Drew said, fixing his collar.
"Well luckily, that's what girlfriends are there for," Alli said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before disappearing into the crowd.
Girlfriend. Usually the word would have sent him into a blind panic, he tried to avoid labels when he could. But he though back to Alli when she said that there were two kinds of smart. If there were two kinds of smart, then maybe there were two kinds of girlfriend; the one that Drew had always been afraid of, the girl who would make him fall in love with her, realize that he's not worth it and then leave him, and the kind of girl who would accept him for him. And if the night's events were any indication, Alli Bhandari was the second one.
"So it went well then?"
Adam had wandered over, a knowing grin plastered across his face.
"She said she was my girlfriend," Drew said, feeling excited by saying the word out loud.
"And you didn't head for the hills?" Adam joked. "You must really like this girl, dude."
"Well she's a really good kisser," Drew shrugged. "And I've got the pictures to prove it."
"These aren't the kind of pictures that will get you grounded if Mom sees them are they?"
"Don't be gross dude," Drew said, punching Adam's arm. "I just realized something."
"That's never good."
"We don't have any new pictures together," Drew said excitedly. "We need photographs - no wait: brotographs!"
"That is the worst thing you have ever said."
"C'mere."
"This is kidnapping!"
"Sit down."
"There's nowhere to sit – and I am not sitting on your knee!"
"I'll scooch over, look, sit there!"
"I'm not smiling."
"Wanna bet?"
"You can't make me"
For years to come Drew would often throw that photo strip into Adam's face; victoriously cheering that, in that very last photo, he had gotten his brother to smile.
.
oOo
.
"So how did you get rid of Jenna anyway?"
"I seduced her. With my animal magnetism."
"What the-"
"I told K.C. that Marisol wanted to talk to him, it didn't take Jenna long to notice."
"That's genius," Drew cheered. It was almost midnight and they were both walking pretty briskly to try and get home before curfew. "Do you know how to use the label maker?"
"And the segue of the year goes to-"
"No, you're not getting me," Drew explained. "I want to make little labels for Alli and me; so that we can show people that we're boyfriend and girlfriend."
"You're pretty stoked about this aren't you?" Adam teased.
"Yeah, I am," Drew said proudly. "I'm someone's boyfriend, the boyfriend of the cutest, smartest girl in school. So will you teach me how to use the label maker?"
"Sure," Adam sighed. "Believe it or not, I think this gesture might actually work. Not like your Football: The Musical act."
"Hey, it took me a long time to choreograph that!"
"You rhymed "scream" with "league", no wonder she hated it!"
Drew pulled Adam into a headlock as they approached the front door.
"Well, if you helped me with it instead of laughing your ass off-"
Drew stopped. He had opened the door to find Mom standing in the hallway clutching the phone. She had a look of deep concern on her face. Drew felt his stomach twist again and just stood and watched as Adam walked up to her, mirroring her worried expression
"Mom?" he said. "Is something wrong?"
Mom stared at the floor, sighing deeply. "That was Grams on the phone."
"Is everything ok?" Adam asked, sounding alarmed. "Did something happen?"
"Oh, no, Grams is fine," Mom assured him. "She was just calling to say that she felt awful that she couldn't come over for Thanksgiving."
She sighed again, staring at Adam with a remorseful look on her face.
"So she's booked herself a hotel room and coming over for dinner. Next week."
Adam took a few steps backwards, tensing up and preparing to go into panic mode. But Mom wasn't finished.
"I think we have some… arrangements to make."
.
oOo
.
- I'm really starting for feel bad for Jenna here – Drew just really hates her!
In the next chapter: Something about bodies and cages – I forget exactly what…