Annie and I are 'grounded'. We're not allowed to leave the school grounds for a month. Traci is in far more trouble because she got drunk and she got taken to the nurse's office to sleep it off.
I'm not benched, we have a big game on Friday, but if I put a foot wrong between now and then I will be. Our parents have also been notified that we snuck out, I can't wait for the phone call from my mom. She'll probably yell for about half an hour, then hang up on me before I can reply.
Traci got taken to hospital during the early hours after telling the nurse she was pregnant, they decided since she'd had so much to drink it would be best to get her checked out.
Annie called the hospital pretending to be Traci's cousin and found out that she was ok and as far as they could tell no damage had been done to the baby.
I've been in a state of panic all morning. Maybe that kid isn't mine, but Traci's new boyfriend sure as hell isn't showing any interest in her or the kid's welfare.
I take a deep breath and knock on her door. Missy, her roommate and co-captain of the cheerleading squad, opens the door. She gives me a surprised look.
"Is she sober yet?" I ask coldly.
Missy looks surprised, it's the first time she's ever heard me say anything even remotely derogatory about Traci. It's probably the first time I've ever said anything derogatory about her.
"Sure, but, like, I don't think, like, she wants to see you."
Missy is a cheering cliché. Completely brain dead.
I sigh. "Well, like, I, like, wanna see her!" I push past her and walk into their room.
Their room is hard on the eyes. Missy's half is pink and covered with pictures of Britney Spears and is over-populated by stuffed toys, Traci's half is red and there are cheering trophies all over the place.
I thought girls knew that red and pink don't work well together. Even Annie knows that and she hates being a girly-girl.
Traci is lying on her bed with an arm thrown over her eyes.
I glare at Missy, who's still standing in the doorway, staring at me in surprise. "This is private."
She nods understandingly, but doesn't move.
"Go away." I spell it out for her.
"She doesn't have to. In fact, she can stay and you can go." Traci says, moving her arm momentarily so she can flash a glare in my direction.
I push Missy out of the door and close it in her face. "Hi, Traci." I say.
"Go away." She puts her arm over her eyes again.
"What, no thanks for getting you back to the dorm last night?" I ask.
She sits up and glares at me. "Thank you?" She repeats incredulously. "Should I thank you for getting me into trouble? Should I thank you that I'm benched from cheering? Should I thank you that my parents now know I'm pregnant?"
I feel my anger rising. How can she be mad at me? I should be mad, not her. "No, you should thank me for caring about you when all your friends ran off and left you."
"Go to hell, Luis!" She snaps, standing up to face me. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you, but I don't need you."
"Yes you do." I tell her firmly. "Or at least you did last night. You were the biggest bitch last night, and still Annie and I took care of you and tried to get you home without getting into trouble. Just for the record, Annie and I have been grounded for a month. That's because of you. We were going to stay out overnight, but then you appeared and we had to get you back here and we got caught. We're in trouble because of you."
"You and the lesbian." She spits out. "Like that matters. My parents are going crazy because I'm pregnant."
I take a deep calming breath. "They were going to find out eventually."
"No they weren't." She snaps. "I was going to have an abortion, ok? Mick won't help me and I don't want you, so the only option was an abortion, but now everyone knows and my parents think abortion is murder. Thanks, Luis. Thanks a lot."
I bite down on my lip hard. What happened to the sweet girl I fell in love with? Why does she have to be so rotten?
"Get out and leave me alone. I don't want you around." She crosses her arms across her chest and glares at me.
I'm too stunned to do anything but comply.
*~*~*~*
"She said that?" Annie asks gently.
I sigh and lean against her. I wasn't in the mood for company after talking to Traci so I came straight back to my dorm room. Jay, my roommate, took one look at me and went running to get Annie.
As it turns out, he did the right thing. I love having Annie around. At times like this, she switches off the crazy personality and knows exactly what to say. And a nice bonus of her being a lesbian is that I get lots of hugs without having to worry if one of us is hitting on the other.
"Do you think I'd make a good gay man?" I ask, lifting my head to look at her.
"Why?"
"All women are insane." I reply.
"Amen to that." She chuckles. "Sure you would, I mean look at you. You dress well, you always smell nice, and you have good hair. I'd say you'd make a great gay man."
I rest my head on her chest once more.
"Or I could be straight and date you." She suggests. "Would I be your type?"
I shrug, which is hard to do when you're lying down with your arms around your best friend. "I don't know what my type is."
"Me neither. Lunacy seems to be a big theme."
"I guess we're both stuck dating girls then." I sigh.
"Guess so." She strokes my hair again.
The door bursts open and Connie flies in. She sees me and Annie lying on the bed and asks, "Have I interrupted something."
"Only in the literal sense." Annie replies coolly.
I glance at Connie, she's been trying to get hold of me all day, but I kept asking Jay to get rid of her. "Don't worry, I'm not going to tell Guy about you and Averman. If you want to cheat on him, fine. Whatever. I've got bigger problems right now."
"Oh, right." She looks uncomfortable. "Um, are you ok?"
Annie snorts.
"Fine. But I'd appreciate it if you didn't go running off to Julie to tell her that you've just seen me with my arms around a girl. It's hardly exciting gossip, and I'm sick of being your main topic of conversation." I say.
"I… uh…"
"What Luis is saying," Annie explains patiently. "Is that he doesn't want you in his room right now, neither does he like your gossipy attitude to him, so how about you stop talking about him and he won't say a word about you slagging around." She gives Connie a thousand-watt smile.
"And just for the record, I'm 100% dykedelic. If Luis was a girl, you'd have just walked in on something exceptionally kinky right now, but he's not. I'm gay, he's straight, and we don't have the impulse to get in each other's pants." She grins even bigger. "But if you need a gossip topic, that can be it. Annie, the big lesbo. Don't let the door hit you in the ass as you leave."
I laugh as Connie processes what Annie just said, then leaves quickly and quietly.