Mr. and Mrs. Andopolis were thrilled about Melody getting into the summit. Nick was weird about it, he evidently wasn't thrilled about Lindsay getting in, and having his sister being praised as the golden child wasn't making him feel any better.
Mrs. Andopolis made Melody's favorite meal to celebrate for dinner.
"Nice to see all that extra studying you've been doing with that Schweiber boy has been paying off. It's like I've always said, the best way to learn something yourself is to teach it to someone else." Mr. Andopolis said proudly at the head of the table as they ate.
Melody smiled, "Yeah I guess so."
"You must be so proud of yourself. I know we are." Mrs. Andopolis said with a large smile over her face.
Nick just sat across from her and rolled his eyes, huffing with every compliment she was given.
"Yeah, I don't know. It is kind of cool, I didn't even know I was in the top 1% at our school, let alone in the state." Melody agreed.
"And as a freshman no less. I always knew you had a big brain workin in there." Mr. Andopolis told her.
"You know, brain size only really equates to about 9% of the factors that contribute to intelligence... So it essentially has nothing to do with it." Melody corrected.
"See, smart." Mr. Andopolis smiled, a rare sight.
"It is kind of exciting, the idea of 2 whole weeks of learning things I would never get to learn at McKinley." Melody smiled.
"Man, I do not get you." Nick mumbled under his breath.
"Not to mention all the connections you'll make." Mrs. Andopolis smiled, ignoring Nick's comment.
"And you know this has to set you up for consideration to all of the Ivy League schools." Mr. Andopolis added. "You know you could learn thing or two from your sister." He glared at Nick, who tried his best to wait till his dad wasn't looking to roll his eyes.
"I don't know about that. Ivy League's are a pretty big jump from being one of the many smart kids in Michigan. Which ranks only 33rd in academics in the US." Melody told them.
"Why do you know stuff like that?" Nick asked.
"I looked it up." Melody told him.
"Where? And why?" Nick asked.
"In the library, and because I was bored. And I wanted to know how 'smart' Michigan is compared to other states. We ranked 33rd based on test scores." Melody told him.
"I think it's sweet, always curious and looking for new information. You have a bright future ahead of you young lady." Mrs. Andopolis praised her.
The next morning was uneventful. Melody had a final in history and they all just sat around in choir. It was the last week of school and none of the classes really knew what to do. At lunch though Melody learned everything wasn't so boring for the boys.
Gordon came to sit with them even though it wasn't a Friday, and the three boys all complained about Daniel being thrown into AV as a punishment. Sam stayed mostly quiet.
"I can't believe Rosso thought putting him in AV for just the week was a punishment. That's just rude. AV is awesome." Melody agreed with Neal.
"This is terrible, Daniel's going to ruin the only place we like in school." Neal complained.
"Yeah, why did Mr. Rosso do this to us?" Bill replied equally annoyed.
"I bet that Daniel guy is high on drugs, and if we make him mad he'll freak out and wreck the AV room." Gordon told the table.
"Oh, no, no we wont' he's not a bad guy." Sam protested.
"I'm not a fan myself, but Sam's right he's not that bad." Melody added.
"He's friends with my sister, and Melody's brother. I've talked to him." Sam told Gordon, trying to assure him Daniel was cool.
"Sam he gave you a porno, I wouldn't exactly say you have a meaningful relationship with him." Neal pointed out.
Melody was taking a drink from her fruit barrel as he spoke then spit out the tiny amount she'd tried to drink as she laughed at Neal's words. She smacked her hand to her mouth trying not to spit anymore.
"Neal!" Sam said angrily.
"You can't talk about that kind of stuff, there's a girl here!" Bill added.
Neal looked at Melody horrified. He had just admitted to knowing about a porno, she'd probably think he was a perv now.
"Oh please, don't be ridiculous. I know about their porno, they've watched it in our basement. I was just laughing at Neal's comment in general." She laughed.
They all looked at her shocked. "Wait, you mean you've seen it? But, but you're a girl." Bill looked at her horrified.
"I mean I've never watched it. But I've seen the wheel, and the three of them have all hung out in my basement and watched it, which is so weird." She talked humorously about the whole thing. She thought all of it was funny.
Sam, Neal, and Bill all looked down studying the table, not wanting to meet her eyes when she said it was weird, then it occurred to her why and she burst out in laughter. (Similar to the way Lindsay laughed at Daniel in Tests And Breasts, just open mouthed hysterical laughing to kind of scared those around her because they had no idea what she was laughing at, or why it was so incredibly funny.)
"Oh, my god, you guys totally watched it together didn't you." She laughed.
They all stared at her in alarm.
"W- what's happening" Bill asked his friends.
"I have no idea." Neal said, just staring at his girlfriend.
"I'm sorry, I'm just trying to imagine the three of you sitting around awkwardly, watching a movie of people having sex" She stopped to laugh even more. "That must have been so uncomfortable." They could barely make out her words through laughs.
"Could we stop talking about this now." Sam said embarrassed.
"Oh my god, it was uncomfortable." She laughed at him. "Why would you do that, that is so a solitary activity. I do not understand guys." She laughed.
"What do you mean a solitary activity?" Bill asked.
Melody tried to calm down her laughter. "I mean, the whole point of a porno is to... turn you on. Why would you wan to do that around all your buddies?" She laughed.
"How do you know so much about this stuff?" Bill asked skeptically.
"Well one, I grew up around my brother and his friends. You hear things. And two.. I'm a human, so I understand the point of a porno." She explained.
"But you're a girl. Girl's aren't supposed to know about that stuff." Neal added.
"I'm sorry, do you guys think that girl's don't also enjoy looking at naked people?" She asked confused and they all just stared at her blankly. Apparently they did. "We're all humans, we all have hormones, we all enjoy looking at naked people. Granted, I think guys like it a little bit more then girls do. But we're all still human." She told them. They all stared at her, she had evidently blown their minds. "So.. anyway.. Daniel's in AV?" She asked changing the subject, they obviously had no more to say on the porno topic.
"Yeah." Neal said coming out of his shocked state, he still never stopped staring at Melody though. "I think, we should just get him to show movies everyday this week. Get rid of him. Agreed?" He asked the table.
"Agreed." Gordon and Bill told him, while Sam just rolled his eyes.
Just then Ken Miller came storing over to their table. "You've got to stop this." He said looking directly at Melody?
"Stop what?" She asked, honestly a little scared as to why he was even talking to her.
"Your brother, and this insane, Sara disco nonsense!" This was the most emotion she'd ever seen Ken show, he was always so monotoned, but he was annoyed now. "If I hear Nicky, or god forbid she calls me Kenny one more time, I swear I'm going to lose it. She wants me to come dance with them."
"Would if I could man. Every night since they started dating it's been boogie fever in our basement. She's asked me to join too. It's driving me crazy, I even thought of breaking the record player." She told him.
"So do it! Break the record player." He replied his annoyance only increasing.
"I can't. My parents wouldn't buy a new one and I use that one too." Melody told him.
"Useless. You are useless to me." Ken said annoyed before walking away.
"How did we become so closely affiliated with the freaks?" Neal asked as Ken walked away. "When did this happen."
"I think it stared with Sam and Lindsay, but once you added me to the fold you sealed your fate." She joked.
"Oh well if that's it then, you gotta go." Neal joked.
"Really?" She asked, then leaned forward and gave him a quick peck.
"Alright, you can stay." He laughed
That night the two of them hung out at Neal's house.
"I really am sorry about the whole Daniel AV thing. I know that must be a pain. AV should not be a punishment. And it's unfair to all you guys who have been there all year." She told him.
"Thank you! Sam kept going on today about how Daniel's cool, and we should try to be cooler like him. But I think he's just trouble."
"Trust me, Daniel is so not the type of cool you guys want to be." Melody assured him
"That's what I kept telling Sam!" He replied.
They talked some more about different things then later when they were curled up on the couch together Neal asked. "So, should we talk about this whole academic summit thing?"
Melody sat up and looked at him. "I was wondering when you were going to want to talk about it. It's only 2 weeks." She tried to assure him.
"I know that, but we've only been dating 4 weeks. 2 weeks is half of our entire relationship. It's a deceptively long time." He told her.
"I know, but I will write to you, and I don't know what the phone situation is over there, but if there is a phone available to me, I will call you every night I can. You'll barely even notice that I'm gone." She promised him.
"Oh I'll notice." He said hugging her tighter to him with the arm that was wrapped around her shoulder.
"I know, I will too. But just take some time to hangout with Sam and Bill. Because when I come back I'm going to want you all to myself." She told him wrapping her arm around him again.
"I can work with that." He told her, hugging her tighter, kissing her on the forehead and turning his attention back to the tv.
The next day Melody arrived at the AV room instead of going to choir.
"Hi Mr. Fleck, Mr. Hoffman cleared it with you that I could come here for the period right?" She asked approaching the teacher.
"Of course, we are all good to go." Mr. Fleck told her.
She smiled at the teacher then walked over to Neal who was fiddling with a projector. "Whatcha doing?" She asked.
He smiled back at her. "I'm just setting up the projector with Monty Python." He told her.
"Cool." She said, intrigued as she watched him set up the wheel.
He looked back at her and saw how she watched him. "Do you want me to show you how to do it?" he asked.
"I mean, if you don't mind, I'd love to know." She smiled widely at him.
"Ok, so I already have the film pressed into the projector. You see how the film hangs over the top of the reel?" He asked, pulling on the film to show her what he meant.
"Yes." She said looking at the film and following along with his instructions.
"Okay now take the film, give it a little slack, and line it up through here." He said pointing to where she needed to place the film.
She followed his instructions exactly and set up the film perfectly. She liked seeing him in his element. He really knew what he was doing here.
"Perfect." He said as she connected the last bit of film.
"Well I had a great teacher." She laughed giving him a quick peck, they were in school so she didn't feel comfortable with more.
Then Kayla and Daniel filled in through the door.
"Hey Kayla, what are you doing here?" Melody smiled walking up to her friend.
"I invited her." Bill said, stepping up to the pair.
"Mrs. Forbes said it was cool if I skipped orchestra. We don't have anything going on since we already had our concert. And you know I love me some Monty Python." Kayla explained.
"Choirs the same way. Wow, I'm so glad you're here! This is going to be fun. Neal just showed me how to set the movie up so we should be all ready to go." Melody told the pair as they walked back over to stand by Neal. Melody watched as he talked to Daniel then Daniel walked out of the room taking a projection cart with him. "Where'd Daniel go?" Melody asked Neal.
"I sent him to go play Romeo and Juliet for Casper's class." Neal told her. "Now we can start the movie!"
"Welcome all, to AV movie night. We have some repeat guests I see." Mr. Fleck joked standing in front of the class like he was an announcer at the theater. "As well as some new faces, welcome ladies. Good going boys." He said winking at Bill and Neal. Melody and Kayla blushed. "Now without further ado, I present to you Monty Python and the Holy Grail!" He said proudly before stepping aside and flipping on the projector to start the movie.
Gordon got up and turned off the lights. Melody sat down on the floor leaning against the leg of a desk pushed against the wall. Neal sat beside her and wrapped his arm over her shoulder, and she reached up to hold his hand with hers. Kayla sat next to Melody with Bill sitting closely next to her, but they made a very obvious point not to touch at all. They were leaned toward each other and as close as you could get without touching, but still very careful not to be touching since they were still 'just friends'. Gordon and Harris sat on the other side of Bill while Sam sat by Neal. They all sat and laughed, talking was at a minimum as they were all so enthralled by the movie. They'd each seen it several times, but it was just such a classic they couldn't rip their eyes away. As the movie progressed Neal and Melody leaned against each other more and more, getting exceptionally cozy next to each other.
Melody loved just sitting in Neal's arms. It made her feel safe. Melody had very few places in the world where she truly felt safe. Her house was a war zone, and the school was full of jerks. But right there, in Neal's arms she always felt like nothing could touch her. She couldn't believe where she was. How had her life brought her to this exact moment? Sitting in the arms of the boy she'd been pining over since she was 12, in the AV room she'd been too scared to enter before, watching one of her favorite movies, and somehow one of the top 1% students in the state who got to go on an amazing trip. How had she gotten so lucky?
"Hey Neal." She whispered to him.
"What?" He whispered back.
"Pinch me." She told him.
"What? I'm not going to pinch you." He refused whispering back.
"Just do it, pinch me." She insisted.
Neal rolled his eyes then pinched her arm lightly. She felt the quick pinch of pain then it vanished. She smiled and looked at him.
"What for?" He asked confused.
"I just wanted to make sure this was real." She whispered, smiling sweetly at him. He smiled lovingly back at her and she leaned in and kissed him lightly, before turning her attention back to the movie and nestling her head back into his shoulder.
The 45 minute period ended when they were almost exactly half way through the movie. Daniel came back with the projector cart right before the bell rang.
"Let's pick this up tomorrow. If we start at the very beginning of the period we should be able to finish it." Mr. Fleck told everyone as he took apart the projector and stored away the Monty Python film.
Kayla, Melody, Sam, Bill, and Neal all had history next so they walked together and talked about how funny the movie was. Next they had lunch where Kayla joined them as they sat at their table. It was her first lunch with them but she fit into the group seamlessly. Melody could tell that she made Bill happy. And Bill made her happy. Which made Melody happy, she couldn't believe she was ever worried about them hurting one another. It was an unlikely pair but Bill and Kayla fit almost as well as Melody and Neal did.
"Hey, I can't hang out tonight after school. I've got to go to this last minute academic summit meeting or whatever with Rosso and the other 2 kids who got in." Melody told Neal as they walked through the hallway after Biology before heading to their separate classes.
"Okay, what are you doing after the meeting though? Can't you just come over then?" Neal insisted.
"I can't. My parents keep making comments about me not being home, and finals are over so they know we're not studying anymore." She explained and he looked at her sadly. "Listen, I'll make it up to you, tomorrow we can go out and do something. I'll tell my parents I'm with Kayla. Then we're still on for Dungeons and Dragons on Friday right?"
Neal rolled his eyes "Yeah, alright I guess that works." He agreed.
"What's wrong?" She asked him looking sadly at his annoyed face.
"Nothing, Sam's just being a jerk about the whole Dungeons and Dragons thing. We don't even know if he's going to play. " Neal told her.
"What do you mean?" She asked confused.
"It's like he thinks he's too cool to play with us now or something. He's been saying that about a bunch of stuff lately, but dnd was our thing. And now apparently it's 'too geeky', like that ever bothered him before. I swear, Cindy Sanders liking him went straight to his head." Neal complained.
"I'm sorry. I'm sure it's just a faze. He'll come back around." Melody tried to assure him. But she'd be lying if she said she didn't see the change in Sam too. He wanted so badly to be cool, and not to be considered a geek anymore. Melody didn't understand why, because from her perceptive there was nothing wrong with being a geek. She didn't think there was anything wrong with wanting to be cool at school, but she did think there was something wrong with wanting to change things about yourself to do it. Sam was a great guy, she didn't understand why he thought he had to change himself to fit in. And she really didn't understand why he thought he had to take his frustration out on his friends interests.
"Well I hope he comes back around soon. Because I'm tired of just putting up with it while he bad mouths everything we stand for, and continues to tell us how embarrassing we are." Neal told her.
"Oh, I'm sure he doesn't mean it like that. Sam doesn't think you and Bill are embarrassing."
"Well he's flat out said it once and strongly implied it a few times." Neal said annoyed
"I'm sorry, I don't know what to say other then that sucks. I can be angry with Sam if it'll make you feel any better?" She offered.
"No we're fine. He's fine. Everything's fine. He's just kind of bugging me, I'll get over it." Neal told her reluctantly. "I really better go." He told her looking up at the clock.
"Me too, I'll see you tomorrow." She responded happily kissing him lightly on the lips before walking off to his next class.
Neal smiled to himself as he walked to his next class. How had he gotten so lucky? He pinched himself and smiled.
"Yup, this is real." He said happily to himself.