Chapter 24: Outside Looking In
Angelwood Academy
Bellwood, California
December 17th, 1999
2:29 pm
Michelle Hallam never had many friends.
That didn't mean she was lonely. That would have meant that she was alone and there was no such thing on an army base, never mind the fact that she had two little brothers. There were always other kids around, but Michelle didn't consider more than a handful of them friends.
Friend was a word that meant something more to her, something beyond kids being shoved together because their parents were serving. That was true even before hers got promoted and all the other dads had to call hers Sir and salute, but that didn't make it any easier. No one ever saluted her, but she was still the Colonel's daughter and that meant so much.
Too much.
Too much during normal deployments, when the other mothers always wanted a moment with hers when they needed an ear or a shoulder and she was the babysitter. Too much because everything she did reflected on her father, and everything he did inevitably came back on her. Too much when things were normal, but when they weren't, when the war in the Balkans started...
No, the Police Action. The Colonel and the news were both so clear about that. Like they were handing out tickets and not…
Like he wasn't risking his life. Like the news wasn't full of video of bombs being dropped and fire lighting up the night. Like they weren't spending days waiting and wondering if it was their turn whenever someone knocked on the front door.
So many doors were knocked on during those six weeks - and Michelle still had nightmares about the sounds she heard coming out of those houses. Sounds that were so far beyond just crying - but all they got were days without a word and then the Colonel came home at the end with bandages wrapped tight around his arm and chest, eyes that wouldn't meet any of theirs, and the news that they were heading back to the States. That his new posting wasn't an assignment out in the field but setting up a new base while he healed. That, for once, her mom wouldn't have to worry if he'd ever come back when he walked out the door in the morning.
For a while, that was all that mattered. Having him home meant more than the idea of being stuck in Kansas or somewhere out in the desert because the army wasn't about to send them somewhere nice. More than giving up Paris and Europe. More than anything.
It was the only thing that mattered until her mom came home and handed out uniforms as they were standing in an empty house that was in the middle of a town she'd never even heard of. One that didn't have any kids running around outside or anyone knocking on the door or the always present rumble with the sound of machinery. There was just the quiet as she told them all about their new school, about how it called itself an academy and it was the best in the whole area. How it had a name that was more than just some random numbers and whatever nickname everyone else came up with.
A school with a receptionist who just looked confused when her mama told the woman who they were and a principal who tried too hard to sound impressed and neither of them saluted anything. That was when it hit home. Maybe the Colonel was still called sir, but they were out of the army until the base was built.
They were on their own.
Michelle had been sweating bullets that first day when she was sitting in the principal's office with her monstrous little brothers she loved the stuffings out of. And then out of nowhere, a crazy red-haired girl burst in stammering gibberish before she stopped cold, and Michelle met the girl sitting in front of her for the first time.
" - isn't asking where he is," Gwen said as she dropped her hand. She sounded so serious and all Michelle could see was the back of her friend's sweater and the copper-red hair that was finally brushing her shoulder blades, but it didn't matter. They had almost every class together and Michelle heard that tone in all of them, even in the ones when they couldn't sit together. The one that meant her best friend was glowing as she explained, "She's asking why did she fall for a Montague, a boy that she knows no one in her family would accept."
Mrs. Adams gave her a nod and a little smile. "Very good, Ms. Tennyson."
Michelle didn't sigh at the woman's words, but she understood why everyone around them did. Not that it kept her from giving them all a glare. No, she just leaned forward a little after she did and eyed the jean-clad butt in front of her that was just peeking out through the gap in the back of her Bestie's chair. The school on base used almost the same desk and she got more than one kick through that gap when she had to.
She could do it again. For just a second she wished that the school wasn't letting them dress like normal people today just because she knew the stiff leather of her Mary Janes would have hurt so much more than the rubber of her sneakers.
But the urge passed as quickly as it came, as quick as it had when she walked into the school this morning and saw clothes that she'd only ever seen in fashion magazines and heard everyone talking about what labels they were wearing. Clothes that Michelle's parents couldn't even afford to look at, much less buy. Not that it mattered. Not when she knew she looked good in her purple polo shirt and jeans that hugged her waist just like she liked. She knew it even before she walked out of her bedroom, but hearing her bestie say it?
Especially since Crazy Girl didn't have anything designer either, but looked amazing in her jeans and sweater and leather jacket. The soft brown leather looked like it was something out of the sixties with the tassels in the back and still looked good even as it sat on top of her friend's backpack, carefully folded up and just waiting for the bell.
Still, she'd kicked her friends before so they didn't get a swelled head and Gwen had so many reasons she should have one. Reasons that just started with her outfit and being the smartest person that Michelle had ever met. Reasons enough that she knew that her foot should have been sore since even before that little wherefore art thou display.
Michelle might have even done it if the redhead didn't make a happy sound as she sat back and pulled her phone out of her jeans pocket. The move was quick and sure and if Michelle hadn't seen her do the same thing again and again over the last few months she might never have noticed. She was sure that no one else did. It was Gwen and who would ever imagine she'd pull out a cellphone in class?
No one. That's who. Especially after the mess Michelle heard about from last year?
The only reason Michelle did was because she knew that the redhead was Crazy right from the start and nothing over the last few months changed her mind, but it made watching her so much fun.
And that was why it only took a little bit more time - maybe almost a whole hour - for her to realize that Gwen might end up being her very first friend in a long, long time, too, just because of it. She spoke French and lied about it like she couldn't believe it was possible, she had the it-girls on the warpath against her, and despite it all, there was something about her that straddled the line between class suckup and aspiring rebel.
It was the rebel that stopped Michelle now. The smooth way that her best friend slipped her cellphone out of her pocket the second Mrs. Adams started for the other side of the class before the woman even had her back all the way turned. There was the barest glimpse of blue and silver in her hand before she had it in front of her, and if she really really listened, she could hear her tapping buttons.
Michelle bit her lip as she sat back because Mrs. Adams was ancient, but she had the eyes of a hawk and a grin would give everything away. So would the sound of ripping paper, which was why she was so careful as she tore a slip out of her notebook and wrote; Your boyfriend is going to get you in so much trouble!
It was an old joke now, one that went all the way back to when they met, and it almost broke her heart when Gwen showed her a few of the texts and she realized that it really was just her cousin bugging her even if the girl did grab the phone back like he was so much more than that. It was even cute that they were so close - that he was her little goblin - but that didn't mean she couldn't tease.
That was what best friends were for.
But that didn't mean that she was an idiot. She gave Mrs. Adams another look as she folded up the note and leaned forward. The woman was on the other side of the class now, her eyes on a boy as he said, "Okay. That makes sense, but it's the end that's completely loco. Why would they do that? The poison, the dagger? Who would kill themselves for a girl?"
Michelle gave him a look at that because boys were the crazy ones and always had been. She almost raised her hand so she could say so, but Mrs. Adams just smiled. "I was wondering the same thing about you, Mr. Lopez, not three weeks ago. Ms. Rodriguez here is a girl. Was impressing her really worth breaking your arm?"
The whole class laughed at that. Laughed like they didn't after what happened when he tried to ride his skateboard down the railing out front. He even looked good before he ran out of stairs. The only person who wasn't laughing now was also the only one who wasn't screaming when he hit the cement. Gwen was still staring down at her phone, as calm about the rules she was breaking as she was when she called 911 and made Julio lay still like she knew what she was doing and had seen it all before.
Crazy.
Michelle shook her head and realized she was wrong as she looked around just in case. There was someone else who wasn't watching the show on the other side of the room.
Marci.
The blond girl was staring at Gwen, at them. Michelle could see that from four rows away. Not like she used to, not like she had when Michelle first started when she just glared and sniffed like her Crazy Girl was something on the bottom of her shoe. She hadn't shot off a look like that in months. Not since the field trip.
Now the blond's eyes went wide before they darted away when she realized that she'd been caught. Darted away as she curled in on herself and her face actually paled.
Good.
And the best part was that Gwen didn't even notice. Michelle knew that the redhead still felt bad about what she did when she went all Mr. Miyagi on Sean and Flint and that she'd do it again in a second. That's why she was Crazy.
And the best friend Michelle ever had. No one else ever kicked butt for her, and the only thing that made her forget the feel of Sean's hands grabbing her was how fierce Gwen looked when she kicked his.
But it wasn't his butt that Michelle poked with the toe of her sneaker as Julio raised his cast and asked, "She signed this, didn't she?" And it wasn't his hand that she slipped the note into as everyone else laughed after Gwen finally glanced back over her shoulder.
The little eye roll as the redhead took the paper was good, but the one that she shot back when she actually read the note was gold. The way her eyes narrowed like she was mad, like Michelle didn't know what her best friend looked like when she was, and her face didn't flush like that. That was why she poked that butt again even as she stuck out her tongue.
Which only got her another eye roll even as Crazy Girl pushed her phone back into her pocket. Then she leaned forward again like she was back in suckup mode. Michelle almost sighed at the thought that the show was over. Except it wasn't. She didn't think a thing of it when Gwen stretched her arms over her head before she dropped them down behind her back until something popped. That was normal, too, even if the girl's wild flexibility wasn't.
Neither was the bit of paper she dropped on Michelle's desk.
Michelle scooped it up as Mrs. Adams kept going on the other side of the room, completely oblivious. "And what about you, Ms. Rodriguez? Would you drink poison for Mr. Lopez?"
Michelle didn't hear what the girl on the other side of the room said. Not when Maria had her face buried in her arms, but she could guess from how everyone around her laughed, even Mrs. Adams. She might have laughed, too, if she wasn't busy reading.
The note was not short, but Gwen's never were and her painfully neat and tiny handwriting made up for it. It wasn't Ben! And he's not my boyfriend! It was mom, her fundraiser is running late so she can't pick me up. We were going to go shopping because Karate is over for the year, but she said that if you can give me a ride we can hang out until dinner! Gwen turned back and grinned over her shoulder at her, her eyes glittering and happy and it was all that Michelle could have hoped for. Fitting fun into her best friend's schedule made the Colonel's whole war thing look easy.
On any other day, this would be perfect.
But it wasn't and Michelle just felt sick as she looked at the note again. Sick enough that she didn't even rip off another strip of paper, she just flipped Gwen's over and started writing. Mom's taking the gremlins downtown so they can see the decorations and shop! I was going to ask you if I could come to karate!
Crazy Girl always said she could come and watch. She swore that her Sensei wouldn't care as long as she was quiet. Michelle would have, she thought about it almost every day, but she usually got stuck watching her brothers after school. Gwen said she could bring them, too, because they were still talking about signing up, but there wasn't any way Matthew could stay quiet for a couple of hours and Elias…
Michelle shuddered and her mind raced as she added two more lines - Do you have a key? We could hang out at your place - because she was not giving up party time and there was always a plan B, especially when vacation just started. That was the only reason she shot a look across the room instead of just shoving the paper into her friend's hand.
It was a good thing that she did because Mrs. Adams was on the move again. She walked back towards her desk, talking all the while. " - is one of the seminal plays written by the greatest playwright in human history, but that isn't why I assign it to all of my seventh graders. Yes, the play ends in a tragedy that's as exciting as anything you'd see on TV, but - as Mr. Lopez and Ms. Rodriguez have shown us - that's because nothing has changed in the four hundred years since Shakespeare put pen to paper. People still do the craziest things, things that they never imagined doing before the rush of hormones that you're all just on the cusp of experiencing."
This time Michelle joined in as the class groaned even as she leaned forward and pressed the note against Gwen's shoulder. Gwen grabbed it just as Mrs. Adams turned their way, her nose wrinkled and her eyes gleaming. "So I make you read this hoping that you'll learn from it and think. Think when you're trying to impress someone, think when you feel things you never have before for people you never imagined you would, and think so that you don't follow their example. Love is - "
Everyone moaned before, but the room sounded like it was full of zombies now. Not that Mrs. Adams cared. She just kept walking and talking as she paced the front of the room towards them. Some part of Michelle listened, the rest of her just eyed the clock and prayed that Gwen would nod yes when the bell rang in the next couple of minutes. A whole afternoon with her best friend. This was even better than she hoped.
Then she forgot all of that when she heard paper tear again.
Shock turned to disbelief as Gwen leaned forward again even as Mrs. Adams got closer and closer. She couldn't. She knew that the girl was crazy, but…
Mrs. Adams was cool for a teacher. Cool enough that she let Michelle stay for the week of detention that her best friend got for fighting after that horrible day at the museum. Cool enough and grandma enough that she even brought cookies just because she hated that Gwen got punished for what happened, too, but this?
Passing notes in class was her one button. Michelle learned that the hard way the first week of class, and she still remembered how everyone else laughed as the woman read hers out loud. The only thing she remembered better was just how sorry the girl sitting in front of her had been after for not warning her. Everyone still did it, but not like this. Not when the woman was watching. Even Crazy Girl knew better. That was why she let out the breath she'd been holding when Gwen looked up and right at the woman who was standing at the end of their row.
And then Gwen turned and dropped the note on her desk. She didn't even pretend she was stretching or anything.
The only thing more blatant than the move was the smug smile on Gwen's face as she turned back. Michelle felt her mouth drop as the girl turned back and just stared at the back of her head.
Stared for too long.
"What about you, Ms. Hallam?" Mrs. Adams' voice came down as she suddenly appeared on the left side of Michelle's desk. "What did you learn today?"
"That sometimes your friend is just crazy!" Michelle said, her voice calm and reasonable and everything that the rest of her wasn't as she reached for the little slip of paper. Maybe it was catchy because she had the wild idea that she could just make the thing disappear. Her fingers brushed it as she heard the rest of the class suck in a breath while Gwen turned and looked back and up at Mrs. Adams with a happy little smile.
Crazy.
Too crazy.
"I'm sure that the nurse would agree with you," Mrs. Adams said with a nod and no smile whatsoever as she held out her hand. "Now why don't you hand me Ms. Tennyson's note so we can know what she's thinking, too?"
Gwen's smile melted away a second too late as she spun around, horror clear on her face, and Michelle felt the scream build up as she held that slip of paper. For one wild second, she imagined shoving it in her mouth and eating it like the Colonel swore he did once. It was a thought that lasted until Mrs. Adams scowled. She didn't look angry. Michelle could have handled that. No, it was worse. She looked disappointed. "I won't ask again, Ms. Hallam."
"Michelle!" Gwen whispered, her eyes wide and glistening as she just froze. It didn't matter. The woman reached down and plucked the note out of her hand in that one moment that she just froze. Gwen's head spun up then as she grabbed for the note or the women or both. "Mrs. Adams, please!" She begged.
Gwen begged.
Michelle thought that would be the worst, but it wasn't. The worst came a moment later as she watched the redhead shrink down and bury her face in her hands after the woman said, "Honestly, Gwendolyn, I let you off with a warning once. I hoped you would have learned something, but obviously you didn't."
"Mrs. Adams," Michelle whispered. It wasn't the words she was thinking, but she couldn't make her mouth say I'm sorry as she stared at her best friend just as the girl's shoulders started shaking.
"No, Ms. Hallam," Mrs. Adams said as she pulled out her glasses and put them on. Michelle felt sick even though no one was laughing now. Not even Marci or Blair or Olivia. The three of them just looked pale as they shrank into their desks, and she swore she heard Olivia whimper before she buried her head in her hands. "Now, let's see what was so much more interesting, shall we?" She cleared her throat once before her voice filled the room. "'Don't look so worried, 'Chell. I just want to wish Mrs. Adams a Merry - '"
Everyone froze then, and the whole class went quiet even as Mrs. Adams looked up from the note and whispered, "Gwendolyn?"
A quiet that was broken as the Crazy Girl's head bolted up and she laughed. It was only once, a quick bark of delighted laughter, but her grin stayed as she pulled a card that was red with Santa out of her notebook and held it out. "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Adams." It was enough, the rest of the class joined in as the woman just blinked and took the card with a shaking hand. She took it and opened it and her hand went to her mouth as she read.
"You crumb bum!" Michelle shouted through her giggles as she launched herself across her desk and smacked her friend's shoulder again and again, which only made everyone else lose it more. "You crazy - " English wasn't enough. Neither were the words in French and Arabic or German, but there were a lot of ways she could say it, and she would learn them all.
She would make them her own ninjutsu until the words moved as fast as Gwen's hands did when they caught hers right out of the air. The speed would have made Michelle gape, but when she saw the wicked smirk on the redhead's face she just laughed again and wished that she saw her friend smile like that more often. And she wished that they didn't have a desk between them, because she would have pulled the girl into a hug instead of just getting her hand free and she regretted even doing that when the bell rang.
The sound hadn't even stopped before Gwen was suddenly pressed in all around by the girls who rushed over already talking. "God, we thought - !"
" - amazing, Gwen! I never knew you had it - !" "
" - love your outfit! Where - ?"
" - throwing such a party next week and you just have to - "
The words and giggles filled the air all around Michelle as half the class crowded around Gwen like they hadn't in weeks. Enough that they actually knocked Michelle's desk back a bit and stopped her dead in her tracks as her best friend just went still in the middle of the crush of words and hands and hugs, none of which Gwen returned. Gwen just sat there, frozen like the cat Michelle startled when she was taking out the trash. Frozen like she couldn't decide if she should run or fight...
And Michelle was the only one who even saw it. So she shoved herself up and shouted, "Hey!" Not that anyone listened.
Not to her.
"That's enough, girls," Mrs. Adams said in a voice that was the kind of pleasant that was just chilling as it cut through the storm of voices. "Class is over and I need to talk to Ms. Tennyson. Unless you'd all like to join her?"
That earned the woman the same glare that Michelle saw during too many lunches back when things were just crazy. Crazy enough that the redhead showed Michelle all the hiding places she'd found over the years just so they could eat. Places that Michelle wished she could drag her friend to now as Mrs. Adams glared down, but no one moved. Not until Mrs. Adams held up the note and the card that she was still clutching.
Then Marci and her two harpies burst out of their desks and ran for the door. It was the sound of the blond's hand hitting the door that broke the spell. The room cleared out so fast after that, leaving just the three of them. Mrs. Adams didn't take her eyes off of Gwen, who just sagged even as the woman reached over and patted her shoulder. "The price of celebrity, my dear,"
"The Doofus can have it." Those words came as close to making sense as the noise Gwen made into her arms came to making a laugh. "Thank you for..."
"You're welcome. But I didn't say that just for your own good." Those words came with a sigh as her thumb stroked the envelope. Her eyes stayed on Gwen even as she asked, "I take it that you weren't in on this, Ms. Hallam?"
Michelle frowned just a little, the yes right there even as she tried to glare at her best friend, who didn't look sorry at all even after her head shot up and whipped around so she could see. Maybe it would have worked better if the girl wasn't still so pale. "No, Ma'am," she admitted with a squeak.
"I'd tell you that you could go," Mrs. Adams said as her eyes finally flickered over, "but it wouldn't matter, would it?"
"No, Ma'am." This time Michelle's voice was firm.
She almost thought that the woman smiled at that. The wrinkles on the corners of Mrs. Adams mouth twitched, anyway, but if she did it didn't touch her voice as she sighed, folded up the card, and shook her head. "Gwendolyn, this is very sweet, but I can't let it go. Not again. Do you understand?"
Gwen sighed. "I know," she said as she pulled on her jacket and her backpack and followed the woman to her desk, and it was only the calm way that she said that that kept Michelle from glaring too hard as she stomped after them. It didn't keep her from digging her fingers into her backpack straps as the woman bent over and started writing though.
Maybe that was why Mrs. Adams gave her a look as she stopped and tapped her pen. "This note is for you, too, Ms. Hallam."
"Mrs. Adams!" Gwen protested as a storm-filled her face. "She didn't - !"
A storm that was just barely placated when Michelle took her hand and squeezed. "It's okay, Crazy. We can do detention together again! It was fun last time."
"But - !" Gwen tried as guilt filled her face.
Michelle almost laughed at how heartbroken she looked before the noise of their teacher tearing the note off of her pad stopped her. "Here you go. Don't worry about having your mothers sign it." Michelle blinked at that, but not as much as she did at the note as Gwen took it and held it up, which was all of six words.
Merry Christmas to my favorite girls.
Michelle couldn't remember the last time she hugged a teacher, but she couldn't resist. Crazy Girl did for just a second, but she never jumped into hugs. It didn't matter. Mrs. Adams just laughed as she hugged them back for a long time. "The look on your faces! Then she just sighed as she pulled away with one last squeeze. "Go on, you two. I'll see you in a few weeks, but please… Save your notes for Mr. Hubeck's class?"
"We'll see," Gwen said with a little grin, suck up and rebel all at the same time
Michelle wasn't sure if she'd ever understand her friend. She hoped not, but that didn't mean she couldn't tease. That was the only reason she didn't grab Gwen's arm and pull her out of the room, and why she rolled her eyes the second her friend said her name as soon as they were through the door. "Nope," she said in a singsong voice. "Not talking to you."
Gwen's worried frown almost broke her. So did the way her friend hugged herself, but she held firm. "I know I should have warned you, but I didn't plan it. I was just going to give her the card after class, but she was watching us and I couldn't resist." Gwen grinned at her again, a grin that melted away as quick as it came as she hung her head. "Sorry."
And that was too much. Even for a tease. "For what, that was awesome!" Then she let out the breath that she'd been holding since she passed the last note and gave her the hug she wanted to. A hug that ended with her catching her friend's hand again. "But lying like that, pretending you didn't have a ride? That was just mean."
Gwen stopped dead at that and gave her a look. "I wasn't lying. Mom really can't pick me up."
Michelle sucked in a breath and stared. "I don't want to go shopping." Not with her family, not when she'd just get stuck watching the gremlins. And she wasn't anywhere near mad enough to drag her bestie into that mess with her. Not when Elias would just stare like the freak he was. She loved him so much, but he was and he was even worse whenever her best friend was around and Michelle didn't know why.
She didn't want to know either.
They just stared at each other until someone ran into Michelle's back, and that jostle was enough. "Please tell me you have a key?"
Gwen nodded and patted her pocket. Good, they could hang out at her house then. "But how - ?" She started before her eyes went wide with horror again. "The bus?"
They never rode it. Not when Michelle could count on one hand the days when one of them didn't have a ride, and Mrs. Tennyson was so cool about picking up her and the gremlins. The bus, though…
The bus was smelly and crowded and loud and she saw Gwen wrinkle her nose at the thought. The horror.
The only worse one was the idea that they'd get stuck here, which they would.
One look at the clock was enough to send them dashing out the front door and down the baby wing of the school for the parking lot and the line of buses waiting there. The line that was already moving and made them both start screaming as they ran.
Their bus was fourth in line, and somehow the driver heard them. Or maybe it was just because it was Gwen and she was always lucky like that. Lucky and just too much. "Thanks, Mrs. Patzik!"
Michelle rolled her eyes at that even as she searched the zoo for somewhere they could sit, her eyes slipping right over the empty one right at the front because no one sat there. It was something she never had to deal with on base, but here? Here she eyed the back seats and sighed because they were already full. Full of kids who were pushing themselves up and getting ready to call her bestie's name before she nailed them all with the stink eye even as Gwen's hand brushed her elbow. "There's a seat right here!"
"But - " Michelle started, but the redhead was already pulling off her backpack and sliding in, so she just sighed and followed. "How do you know everything about computers and nothing about cool?"
The words were just a tease, and one that always paid off as Gwen raised her nose and declared. "I know plenty - !"
"Gwen?!" Another voice called out before she could finish that lie. A girl who sounded so surprised the first time she said it and delighted when she said it again as she popped up a couple of seats back even as Michelle glared back again. "I can't believe you're stuck riding the bus today, too!"
"Mom's tied up, Nadia," Gwen said with a smile that didn't touch her eyes and a tension in her back Michelle knew no one else saw. "Club stuff. You know how it is."
"Oh, you don't have to tell us!" Nadia said with a sigh that belonged in drama club as she tossed her dirty blond hair. "It's the only reason we're slumming it, too."
Michelle watched her friend frown at that and knew she was thinking about the woman behind them because she was crazy and too nice for her own good. "It's not - "
"Speaking of slumming it," Kira added from Nadia's side before Gwen could say anything else, her face bright under her black hair as she pushed herself up. "We love your outfit! I've wanted to tell you all day! Especially your jacket!"
"Thanks, Kira," Gwen said with a shrug, her smile and voice both stiff as she crossed her arms. "My Grandpa got it for me."
Kira nodded like a puppy as Nadia waved her hand and the two slid apart on the seat. "You've got to tell us where! Here, come sit with us. We'll make this the cool seat today, and you can tell us all about what you're doing for vacation! Maybe we can all go shopping together. I've always said we don't hang out enough!" Nadia said with a nod and an eager smile. A smile that was as sharp as a dagger as she added, "I'm sure that Michelle won't mind! She's used to buses, and this one even has a roof!"
Michelle realized with a start that she'd seen that look before, at the start of the year when Olivia was handing out invitations for her birthday party and almost handed Gwen one before she yanked it back as Marci laughed. Marci and almost every other girl in the lunchroom, but these two?
They were the loudest, not that Marci even glanced at them as she led her two harpies away.
Everyone was watching them now though and the two preened at the attention while her bestie just stood there with a smile she could have learned from a catalog on her face and her fingers went white around her backpack straps. "That sounds like fun, but…"
The words were just as fake as her smile and the last straw. Michelle grabbed her hand and squeezed it even as she growled, "She's fine right here."
There wasn't anything warm in Nadia's eyes as they looked her over before and she braced herself for the words that she knew were coming from the second she walked into school this morning, but they didn't. Instead, the two just giggled into the sudden silence on the bus and shook their heads. "We'll be here when you change your mind, Gwen!'
Michelle gave them both another glare at that 'when' before she turned her back on them both and dropped into the seat. She tugged Gwen down with her and felt just how stiff she was as the other girl was when she did. That more than anything made her mutter a word under her breath. One that her mother would have washed her mouth out for if she was dumb enough to say it around her, but it felt so good saying it. "Chiennes!"
"Michelle!" Gwen gasped out, and Michelle felt the blood rush from her face because no one but her mom ever gave her a look that serious before.
Serious enough that Michelle melted into giggles at it. Giggles that made Gwen clap both hands over her mouth and that barely held in her laugh as they collapsed together. They were so close that Michelle felt the phone vibrate again between them, and this time she was sure. "Now your boyfriend's calling!"
"Ben's not - " Gwen started yelling before the eyes all around found them. There wasn't anything fake about how she hid her face in her hands this time. Not when she moaned, "I hate you."
"No, you don't," Michelle cooed as she let her head fall against her friend's shoulder as the bus pulled out. It was going to take forever, but she didn't mind. She was sure she was right when she didn't get shrugged off, and even more sure who was on the phone when Gwen didn't even check. "You luuuuv me and that's why you're gonna miss me so much next week!"
There were a thousand jokes that Gwen could have made at that, but she just sighed instead. "I know." Sighed and pulled her jacket tight as the breeze from the window hit them in the moment the driver had her window open.
Michelle saw the move and the little shiver that went through her friend, even though the heat was on and it was only 14 degrees out, and rolled her eyes even as she watched the sky slowly turn gray outside. "You California girls, thinking that this is cold. What are you going to do next week if it really does snow?"
"I don't even want to think about it," Gwen said with a misery that would have been more real if her lips didn't give her away. Lips that finally settled down into a sigh as Michelle just laughed, grabbed the bottom of her shirt, and tied it up so she could show off her midriff like she'd been dying to all day as everyone else moaned about the 'cold.' Not that Gwen was the least bit impressed. "And don't come crying to me when you get pneumonia."
"Okay, Grandma," Michelle just sniffed back. She almost left it at that, she would have if Gwen didn't move for the jacket's zipper, then she couldn't resist grabbing at it as she snickered. "Please, Crazy! I'm freezing!"
"No!" Gwen shouted right back as she slapped at her hands. It would have looked so sad if the girl wasn't fighting back a laugh. A fight that Michelle wished she'd lose just so she could hear the giggle that she knew was hiding in her friend somewhere, and that was why she slipped her hands under that jacket. Because she'd tickle it out if she had to! Gwen saw it, and her eyes went so wide as she curled up and shrieked, "NO! Stop it!"
She was so close, but that was when the bus driver bellowed, "Girls!"
Gwen jumped so high at that even as Michelle froze, but it wasn't the shout that made her stop. It was the way Gwen ducked her head and stammered, "Sorry, Mrs. Patzik," like being yelled at was the worst thing in the world.
But it was her Crazy Girl, and it probably was.
"Lucky!" Michelle sighed by way of an apology as she pulled her hands back and collapsed against the redhead again. The redhead who didn't even complain about the faceful of hair she must be getting because Michelle didn't tie her hair back this morning like she always did. She just put a clip in it because it was cute. Or Gwen said it was anyway but the girl still sighed at her fiery hair when she saw a mirror, so what did she know? For just a second, she thought she'd be shoved away, but she wasn't. She just felt an arm go around her, and that little side hug - the only kind that Gwen gave out without having to think about it, but that didn't make them any less special - was what broke her and made her slip into French so they could have some privacy. "I can't believe I won't see you at all for the next few weeks."
Gwen made a little noise at that even as she followed her into the language without even blinking. One day Michelle was going to find out just how many movies she watched because every word was perfect. One day. "Getting ready for Christmas won't take that much time! You're going to get sick of me by the time school starts again."
"Am not," Michelle murmured as she snuggled closer because she knew what a lie that was. She wasn't sure if she'd have a moment to herself for the whole next week after today. "At least I'll have you for New Years," she sighed and waited for the answer she knew was coming. Only it didn't. There was just the sound of a sucked-in breath and sudden tension that made her shove herself up and stared at the girl, who wasn't looking at her at all now. "Crazy!"
"I - " Gwen started before she stopped so she could swallow. "Mom and dad - "
"They won't let you come?!" Michelle could have howled at that. She did throw herself back into the seat before she had an idea so wild that she couldn't believe that Crazy Girl didn't think of it first. She never tried, but all the teenagers snuck around on the base. Sometimes it seemed like that was all the older girls talked about, who was sneaking over so they could see whoever they were sweet on. She still remembered how they laughed and whispered to each other even as they showed her how she should do her hair and makeup, and some of the things they said…
They didn't make any sense, no matter how much those girls giggled and swore they would when she got older. Sometimes she almost wanted to ask the girl sitting next to her, and maybe she would have if Gwen wasn't ten months younger and almost her little sister. It just seemed wrong even if teasing her with them was fun.
Almost as wrong as missing New Years, which was why Michelle leaned in a whispered, "It's just going to be me and the family this year. You can't leave me alone with them! Just sneak over! Mom and the Colonel think that you're coming over anyway and you're only a couple of blocks away! They won't even - "
"I can't," Gwen whispered back, and she looked so miserable as she did.
"Why not?! We did it all the time back at the base when there were armed guards everywhere and you're a ninja!" Michelle groaned and put her hands on her eyes because there was only one reason that made any sense. "I can't believe this. You have to learn to stand up to your parents, girl. I do, and the Colonel could have me shot!"
"No, he couldn't."
"That's not what he says." Michelle shook her head, her words as automatic as the denial. "Ask them again! I mean, you've got the best grades in our school and that's got to be worth a little partying on New Years, especially on the biggest one ever! Things could blow up!"
The news had been going on and on about how the computers were going to die and then everything else would too and it was either party or hide and Hallams didn't hide. They didn't party alone either, and that was why she hit the redhead with her best puppy dog eyes.
Gwen let out a little whimper when she saw them, and that should have been the best thing that happened today. It might have been, but she ruined it by repeating, "I can't."
"Why?"
"I have plans."
That stopped Michelle. "And you didn't tell me?"
"It's nothing big. My Aunt and Uncle are having a party and I told my cousin we'd hang out."
"You're kidding!" Michelle groaned at that because she understood it way too well. She didn't even know how many plans she'd had ruined because the gremlins needed watching. It didn't make it any easier, or any more fair, and maybe that was why she said the thing that she'd only ever thought before. "You deserve fun, too! After all the things you do? Can't someone else be on shrimp patrol for a night?!"
She knew she screwed up the second Gwen went stiff, she just didn't know how much until she saw Gwen glaring, her green eyes filled with the warning that rattlesnakes only wished they had. "He isn't a shrimp! Don't - !"
"Sorry!" Michelle said as she flinched away even as she raised her hands because she couldn't even blame Crazy Girl for getting mad. Not after some of the stories she heard. The ones that just slipped out after a whispered call at lunch that stole the smile off her friend's face and put murder in those green eyes. She never got any details, but that didn't matter. She'd be furious if anyone treated her brothers like that. Or her cousins, even though she only saw them every couple of years if she was lucky. They were still family, and family was everything. "I know he isn't and I'm sorry I said it. It just stinks that I can't see you on Christmas or New Years, but it's cool that you get the time with him."
"I didn't say he was cool," Gwen said with a sigh and a flip of her hair. It would have worked better if her red hair was a little longer or if she hadn't gone Defcon 2 a second before. "He's a total Doofus, but I put up with him anyway."
"Whatever you say, Crazy." Michelle nodded as she fought down the eye roll that was right there. Not for the family thing, but there were more important things. Things she swallowed down until the bus finally stopped at the end of Gwen's street and they got off because she knew how loud she was going to be. Loud enough that French wouldn't do. Neither would Arabic. Only English or German would, and she didn't know enough German to do it justice. She grabbed her friend's arm and spun her around before Gwen could go any further and it all poured out. "But it's the biggest party night ever! Don't waste it at your cousin's! Come over. Have a life!"
"I have a life!"
Michelle rolled her eyes and opened her mouth so she could give that the answer it deserved, but she never got a chance. A snort filled the air behind them before she could even say a word. "Says you."
They both spun around and Michelle glared at the boy with messy brown hair who pushed himself away from the tree he'd been leaning on. The boy she never even saw standing there before he decided he should be a jackass. Way too much of one for the Shag Carpeting shirt he was wearing, which was just a couple of the reasons she bit out, "Excuse you?"
The boy smirked at the words, but he didn't even look at her. No, his eyes and smirk were both locked on her friend as he strode forward like an attitude and a mouth could hide the fact he was a good two inches shorter than either of them. "What? I'm just talking to the Dweeb."
Gwen glared right back as her hand found her hip. "What are you doing here, Doofus?"
"Do you know this loser, Gwen?" Michelle demanded. A nosy jackass was bad enough, but a bully...
The boy blinked and finally looked at her with that, his green eyes wide and shocked. "Did you just call me a loser?"
The words weren't a growl, but Michelle almost took a step back anyway because his t-shirt and the long-sleeved green one he had under it didn't hide his arms or the muscles in them. He didn't look any older than her, but that didn't mean anything. Not when he stood there like he was just waiting for a fight, and no one picked a fight with her friends. So she jutted her chin out at him instead and snapped, "You heard me."
She waited for the flash of anger, but it didn't come. Instead, his eyes flickered back over and he almost sounded disappointed as he asked Gwen, "Loser?"
And Gwen laughed. It was the last thing Michelle expected. Not just for the betrayal, but because she never heard her friend laugh like that before. She still had a hand over her mouth, but her eyes gleamed as she shrugged. "She's new."
"Yeah, but loser? You told me her dad was in the army! I thought she would know something cooler than - " That was as far as he got because Gwen cut him off mid-sentence by glomping him.
Michelle didn't know whose eyes went wider, hers or his as he was knocked back three steps. The laugh was one thing, but a flying hug? She looked up, sure that the world ended two weeks early, but the sun was still there and still bright. She might have been every bit as shocked as the boy was, but he was the only one who blushed. His hands twitched at her sides like he didn't know what he should do with them even as he leaned in close and whispered right in her ear, "No fair!"
And Gwen just giggled.
Michelle gawked at the sound, at the laugh she'd been trying to get out of Gwen for months. Months of teasing and movies and sleepovers or just talking and she never giggled like that. She just laughed into her hand like she thought that she was doing something wrong.
Months of trying and the boy got it with a couple of words. He got a hug, too. A full-bodied one. Michelle just stood there and stared even as her best friend ducked her head down so she could rest her chin on his shoulder like it belonged there.
It was like Michelle didn't even know the girl.
When Gwen finally pulled back - she didn't pull away. She couldn't, not when her right hand stayed on his left shoulder and his left finally found a home on her hip, and Michelle just goggled at that. Not that Gwen noticed, she just smirked as she brushed her fingers across the side of his face. "Oooo, that's a good one!"
The boy glared back, but as hot as his cheeks burned he didn't really look mad as he stood there frozen. The only part of him moving his eyes as they met Michelle's for just a second, just long enough that he squirmed at the attention. Squirmed, but he didn't even try getting away. He just repeated, "No fair," as his free hand twitched and she stared.
Michelle wondered if he would have complained if she wasn't, and when her best friend forgot she was. She couldn't think of another reason why Gwen would have jumped like that, or why else she blushed as she spun around with her mouth gaping.
No, she could. There was one so obvious that she couldn't believe she missed it.
There were so many rumors around school. Rumors about Gwen's mystery boyfriend. Not that anyone said anything when Gwen was around, but when she wasn't, when the other girls managed to corner her in the bathroom or the locker room they told Michelle all about it and she tried as hard as she could not to believe a word even as she noticed the phone calls and texts that Crazy dropped everything for, the way she always grinned when she pulled out her phone, and how red she got every time she got teased about it…
Not when she knew the truth, that it was just Crazy Girl's…
Michelle's voice caught as she stared at the two of them. She couldn't believe that she fell for the whole cousin story. Like anyone got that excited when their baby cousin called! Michelle squealed with a giggle of her own as she charged forward and shoved the girl. "You stinker! Why didn't you just tell me you really do have a boyfriend?!"
She sounded as mad as she was, been mad and she was, but she couldn't stay that way. Not when their faces almost matched the color of Gwen's hair at those words, and somehow they looked even more adorable as they jumped apart as the boy stammered out, "W- What?! No, we're - !"
Michelle ignored the obvious lie and really looked at him. He was even cute now that she knew the whole jerk thing was just him teasing Crazy Girl. He even had the same messy brown hair that Hanz did, and it made all the jokes she made about the redhead flushing every time she saw the poster hanging over her bed even better. It was almost as good as the boy's taste in music, and when she saw the bright band-aids around his fingers and knuckles…
She never once imagined that Gwen would fall for a boy who got in fights, but it made so much sense. She'd seen Crazy Girl with bandaids too after karate. They might have even met at the dojo! It was so romantic and naughty, them sparring in their pajamas, that she almost dragged the girl off then and there so she could hear everything!
And that was before she even saw those green eyes staring at her. Eyes that looked emeralds in his face. Eyes that looked like -
"So not!" Gwen shouted and cut right through that thought, the words spilling out of her so loud and fast that Michelle forgot about his eyes and stared at hers. They were huge as she shook her head. "Really, really, really not!"
Maybe they weren't yet, but considering how they were both freaking? Michelle bounced on her toes and squeezed her hands together as she bit back another squeal. If she had known that her friend had a crush she would have helped. Not that it looked like it would take much. They were obviously -
"This is my cousin, Ben!"
It was amazing how the human body could keep going even after the brain checked out. She heard the Colonel say that once and his voice and those words rang through Michelle's skull as she just stood there and she knew what he meant for the first time. She blushed a little. She blinked a few times. She even managed to keep breathing, but she wasn't even looking at them.
Instead, she was thinking back and trying to figure out how she'd read everything so wrong. The giggle, the hug, the blush. She had not felt this dumb since her last Algebra test. Just like then, everything pointed at one answer.
Just like then, the teacher said it was the wrong one and she didn't know how. Not when they were inching closer even as she stared at them. Close enough that their hands and shoulders brushed together. Too close. The Gwen she thought she knew liked her personal space and what happened today proved that the hard way. It even took her weeks before Gwen stopped jumping when she gave her a hug. She still didn't relax into them, not really.
The boy - Ben - her cousin was obviously exempt from that little rule.
Everything Michelle saw screamed one thing, but it couldn't be right. She had to say something. She knew that. Standing there like a statue would only end in bad places, and she didn't trust any of the thoughts that were rushing through her head. So she said the safest thing she could after she glanced down at the hand that was brushing her best friend's. "Nice watch."
"Thanks," Ben said. He smiled as he said it, but he looked a little panicked and she didn't miss how he hid the bulky gray thing behind his back. She couldn't miss it, but she couldn't figure out why. Did he think he was going to try to steal it or something?
She didn't know why he was freaking out and glancing over at Gwen didn't help at all. Her friend had the same fake smile on now that she'd only ever seen her use when the It Girls walked up and seeing it now - seeing it used on her - hurt. It hurt enough that she found a lock of her hair and started pulling on it, glad that she hadn't done it up this morning so she could pull the curl out of it and keep it out of her voice, mostly anyway, as she asked, "Watch Boy's your cousin?"
"My Doofus," Gwen corrected, and he nodded before the panic came back. "And his name's Ben! Not - "
"The one you are going to spend New Years Eve with." Michelle rolled over her and got another nod. She watched Gwen glance over, and Ben caught her eyes. The blushes came rushing back then, just a little. If she wasn't so crazy aware already Michelle didn't even think that she would have even noticed.
But she could have been blind and still noticed the obvious. Like he so wasn't eight like she thought and like Crazy always made him sound in her stories. Like she made him sound just a few minutes ago on the bus. "He's the one you're babysitting?"
This time there wasn't anything subtle about how the boy - Ben - Crazy's cousin spun around. "Babysitting?"
"Well..."
"Please." Ben snorted as he poked Crazy's shoulder. "They're ringing in the Bennenium and I'm the one stuck on babysitting duty."
Gwen gave his chest a shove at that. "No way! You say that again and I'm going to kick your butt all over the mat at the next practice!"
Ben scoffed. "Who kicked whose butt last week?"
Gwen grimaced and her hand went back to her backside. Michelle had wondered why her friend had sat on her jacket for most of last week and now she knew. She winced and squirmed as she imagined getting a bruise there. "You got in one lucky kick and I slipped! And it's only supposed to be a figure of speech, so you can wipe that smirk off your face now!"
"Bennenium?" Michelle broke in, her voice crackly as her hand found her own bottom and she imagined remembering that smirk every time she sat down. The thought made her shiver, not that either of them noticed.
"My cousin is delusional. Ignore him, everyone else does." Gwen said as she poked Ben in the chest again. "Besides, it's going to be the Gwennenium."
At least the arguing sounded normal. Sounded like family. She must have misread everything. Gwen could have just thought it was fun embarrassing him. The giggling, the smile, the whisper in the ear. She must have misread it all.
It sure wasn't anything she'd ever done with her cousins, but that didn't mean anything. Did it? And they were cousins. Now that she was looking it was written all over their faces, but especially in their almond-shaped eyes. They had the exact same eyes. Not just the same color, but the same everything. She'd never seen anything like it before.
"It won't even be the Gwenecade." Ben snorted. "I didn't see a statue of YOU when - "
She'd never seen anyone move as fast as her best friend did either as Gwen shoved her hand on Ben's mouth at that and they both gave Michelle a look that was just this short of panicking. Michelle just shook her head. Every time she thought she had a handle on this thing between them, they did something else strange.
Like him licking her palm.
Gwen let out a disgusted little squeal and pulled her hand off of Ben's mouth. She glared at him and wiped her hand on her jeans as he just smirked back.
"You two are weird. Like Ripley's weird." Michelle gave her friend a look that felt like she was smiling even as her thoughts spun around in circles. "This is why I call you Crazy."
Ben's attention moved to Michelle and the smile changed into something that still looked like one but so wasn't. "You do?" It almost sounded like it was just a question, but the snake rattle was back. Apparently, it wasn't just their eyes that they shared, but Michelle never would have guessed that being protective was genetic. "Crazy?"
"Don't even think about it, Doofus! She's the only one who can call me that." The words were heated as Gwen grabbed his arm and so was her glare. "Unless you want her calling me Dweeb."
He winced at that, one more bit of weirdness thrown on the pile. At least the way he said, "Whatever," was almost normal. So was Gwen's smirk because she won, but there wasn't anything ordinary about how she didn't let him go. Michelle stared at her hand on his arm and how neither of them even noticed.
"What are you doing here, besides being disgusting?" Those words sounded normal, too, but the way she grinned as she said it? Michelle never saw her grin like that, not even when they sang karaoke.
"Grandpa's back."
Michelle could have cried at Gwen's excited gasp because that was a reaction she understood. The girl went on and on about her grandfather almost as much as she did her cousin and he sounded like the coolest man ever when she wasn't complaining about him being gone. It was easy to tell when he left, too, she always got so quiet and touchy for the next couple of days when he did. Almost as touchy as she was right now as she smacked the boy's arm. "And he couldn't pick us up? We rode the bus!"
"Duh, we saw you. Pick up the phone next time," Ben shrugged like it was obvious, as obvious as his smirk when Crazy's mouth dropped at that. "So we came here and waited. He's getting all the decorations out and - "
"He's decorating? But we always do that together!"
"So we've got to hurry. And I've got even better news," he said. He leaned in close again. "Presents!"
"Presents?"
"I saw him putting them on the table when I was coming to get you. We're getting two Christmases as soon as our parents get here!" The two of them did a happy little dance, and then Gwen ran over.
Michelle didn't even get a chance to blink, much less brace herself before the girl all but tackled her with a hug. She felt a laugh bubble up and a tease about how her cousin helped her relax, but she didn't get a chance. Not before an avalanche of words filled the air.
"MygreatauntishavingsurgerynextweekandGrandpasgoingtohelpher,wedidn'tthinkwe'dseehimatallthisyear!" Gwen said in an excited squeal, the words smushing together. Then Gwen just bounced and hugged her even tighter as she shouted the one word that mattered. "Presents!"
Michelle nodded, but she couldn't leave it like this. It would be easier if she could get Ben alone for a second, but she didn't know him well enough. Not for the test that she heard the other girls talk about even if it wouldn't have cost her first kiss and it would, which was too much even for her best friend. Gwen, though? Gwen, she could read. She hated to do this to her best friend, especially when she was so excited, but she had to know one way or the other. So she took advantage of the hug as she wrapped her arms around her friend and twirled the two of them around so that her back was to Ben. She didn't want him butting in as she leaned in and asked, "So that's the cousin, hm?" She said with a purr and waited.
Gwen's eyes went wide at the words, but they didn't burn with jealousy or the blind rage Michelle had seen before and dreaded. She didn't even have the fond mix of annoyed love that Michelle felt every time she thought of her gremlins as she looked over her shoulder. No, she just smiled and bit her lip as she looked over Michelle's shoulder.
It was a look that Michelle saw on her mom's face every time her father snuck up behind her and surprised her with a kiss. It was a look of pride and joy and something else. Something she had only ever seen in her mom's eyes whenever her father came back from deployment and her best friend came home. Even her tone was the same as the girl nodded and murmured, "That's my Doofus."
That look and those words were enough.
Michelle knew that she might be Gwen's best friend. but he was more. More than a friend, more than a cousin. It didn't make any sense, but he was. She wanted to scream and shake the girl. Instead, she gave her friend one more quick hug before she stepped back. "Cool guy. Call me when you get home. You can tell me about your haul."
Gwen nodded, but she got that squinty look in her eyes that always came when she thought something was up. Michelle knew that she was about to ask what was wrong when her cousin spun around on his heel and dashed down Gwen's street towards the RV that was waiting in front of her house and must have been there this whole time before it got lost in the drama. His smirk was huge as he shouted over his shoulder, "Winner gets the first present!"
"No fair, Doofus!" Gwen screamed right back, but her face glowed even brighter than it did when a teacher was proud of her. She gave Michelle a quick apologetic look and Michelle waved her off. With that, the red-head took off after her cousin and the street echoed as she hollered happy abuse at him.
Michelle watched and waved again at them, not that either looked back. Once she was sure that they wouldn't hear her, she let her hand drop so she could pull her hair over her shoulder and stroke it. Then she just shook her head and whispered, "Crazy. Crazy even for you, Crazy Girl."
- o - o - o - o - o -
Author's Note
ZilpaEden made another great piece of fanart showing the epic meeting in this chapter - and that inspired the clothes that they're all wearing. You can see it and leave her reviews at deviantart /zilpaeden/art/Who-s-this-Crazy-804758158?comment=1