The BSC Legacy - Book 1: Brave New World of High School
By: CNJ
PG-13
5: New Feelings, New Complexities
Kristy:
Shannon, Stacey, Logan, Mary
Anne, and I got the the huge party near my house at around eight. Sam,
who'd given us a ride, peeled off in the direction with a bunch of juniors
and seniors. Probably to flirt with girls, I thought. First we stood, talking
some and mostly watching the others milling around and some dancing. The
living room was sort of a dancing room while the food was in the kitchen.
I could tell there were no parental units around just by the wild feel
to it. As we headed toward the kitchen to get food, we smelled cigarette
smoke and saw a few cans of beer.
We grabbed sodas and filled
plates with things like pretzels, chips, and doritos.
"I've never been to a party
with beer," Stacey told us.
"Me either," I said.
"Hiiii!" Gloria Getterstein,
Viola Holtz, and Tara Bloke came in to get food.
Gloria's a senior and Viola
and Tara are juniors.
"Good you could make it!"
"Hey, we're glad we were
able to come," I smiled at them. "Too bad Claud, Abby and Anna couldn't
make it."
"Claudia Kishi, right?"
Tara asked. We nodded. "I'm in the yearbook with her and she's one great
artist..." We chatted a while. Gloria's in the journalism club with Mary
Anne, so those two talked mostly to each other about the Beacon. Mary Anne
had been nervous about going to a party with a lot of kids we didn't know,
but now she seemed to be relaxing. Just then a soda can flew into the kitchen
and smacked against the wall opposite of us and clunked down to the floor.
"That Laurie Angler..."
Viola pointed and shook her head. "She loves attention." We glanced over
and following her gaze, we saw a tall, skinny girl with a tie-dyed T-shirt,
a mohawk haircut, and five or six chain belts dancing wildly up and down
the hall to the music.
"Heeeey, Gloria!" she called.
"You're with that baby-sitting group?"
"Yeah..." Gloria waved her
hand dismissively.
"I wonder maybe if she's
insecure..." Mary Anne asked.
"Don't mind her," Gloria
said. "She's in my history and Spanish class and usually she's cool and
calm." I could see that Laurie had had a little too much to drink already
as she danced back down the hall.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary Anne:
The music was loud. Logan
and I stayed in the kitchen while the others went out to mingle. I don't
like dancing in front of others, so Logan and I slow-danced in the kitchen
and occasionally kissed.
"Hey, the moon's full,"
I whispered, turning off the light. We looked out the window. Soft pale
bluish light wafted into the dark kitchen. We kissed some more and listened
to the others talk, dance, run around, get drunk, and laugh. Someone squealed;
another person belched. Logan and I pressed close. My heart was pounding.
I could feel his heart beating too as we stood close. God, we're growing.
It was the first time I'd ever had this feeling...kind of tingly. It was
strange, pleasurable, and startling. Our hands were snaking up each other's
shirts. I felt a jolt, a pleasurable kind run through me as I felt Logan's
hands brush my breasts, which are finally growing. We were getting
close to...
"Shit, looka Alan imitating
Elvis..." someone laughed right outside the door. I guess that fact that
Logan and I were in the kitchen where somebody might walk in on us and
the fact that we didn't have any rubbers with us stopped us from going
all the way. We kissed one last time, then pulled slowly apart, then rejoined
the others. Sure enough, there was Alan Gray, Cokie Mason, and Pete Black.
"Look who was puked up but
Mary Anne and Logan from a tree..." Alan sang and I had the feeling he
was a bit tipsy. We ignored him and wandered around until we found the
others in the BSC. Kristy and Bart Taylor were dancing very close and at
one point their hands disappeared under their shirts. They did several
songs, then the party was starting to get really wild, so we decided to
head home. Several kids were doing unstable handstands, three couples were
making out wildly on the couches, and Alan was swirling around strumming
an imaginary guitar and doing a really bad imitation of Elvis. I even glimpsed
Grace Blume dancing wildly with some older guy who looked like a senior.
We found Sam and grabbed a ride back home.
"Quite a party, huh?" Sam
asked.
"Yeah..." we agreed.
"You could actually SMELL
the beer," Kristy added.
"Just as long as they're
no fight or anything," I added. Our first high school party. It was a different
ball game from middle school. We were moving up within the ranks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kristy:
I glanced over at Mary Anne
several times during our Monday meeting, wondering if she and Logan had
done it yet. They'd been in the kitchen an awfully long time on
Saturday night and when they came out, they looked rather flushed. After
a client call, Mary Anne must have sensed my curiosity because she mentioned
that she and Logan had come close to doing it.
"Thought so..." I grinned.
"They do have the supplies
in the school nurse's office," Claudia put in, tossing M&M's into her
mouth.
"Really?" Abby asked. "They
have rubbers and the pill and stuff?"
"Not the pill; you have
to get that from a doctor usually," Claudia told us. "But they do have
rubbers."
"You've been there?" Stacey
asked.
"Yeah," Claudia nodded.
"Mary Anne, if you need some, I can give you some of mine."
"Thanks..." Mary Anne nodded.
Her face flushed again. "I don't know if Logan and I are...ready to go
all the way yet." We talked back and forth, wondering how would we know
if we were ready for it yet.
"I think we should all take
a pledge to make sure we have protection if any of us go all the way,"
Kristy announced. "I know we all have big dreams for our future and I know
I'm not ready for a baby yet, cute as they are." We all did.
"And disease," Stacey added.
That too. We really were getting closer to the complications of adulthood
every day. I had the feeling this year was a turning point for all of us
and we had officially entered true adolescence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Abby:
Looking like a real twenties
suffragette on Halloween night, I bounded out the door with Anna, who had
dressed as Marcia Clark and headed over to the Monster Mash dance at school.
Halloween was still almost the same as middle school with dressing up and
all and it was fun having a break from the adjustment of growing up for
the night. Once we were there, we met the other BSC members in the gym
and exchanged things like "Hiii!" and "You look great!" and "Where did
you find that get-up?" Kristy was dressed as a football linebacker ready
for the kill; Claudia looked spectacular as a waterfall with a rainbow
complete with tinsel. Stacey made a terrific Statue of Liberty. She joined
us, holding her torch and reciting, "Give me your tired your poor..." Even
her hair was green! Shannon was a ghost from the movie Beetlejuice,
while Logan was some kind of medieval character. Mary Anne looked wonderful
as a sixties hippie.
"Peace!" she greeted us,
waving the "peace" hand gesture. "Good will and love to all humanity."
"Peace..." we all added,
then all of us giggled. She'd tucked her bangs in a long wig that came
to her waist and had a flower painted on one cheek and the peace sign painted
on another. Jessi and Mallory were there. Jessi was a jockey and Mallory
was a twenties bloomer. "We're from the new roaring era!" Mallory joked
when she saw me and my costume.
The dance was rather exciting.
And nice and spooky. We knew Dawn would be enjoying this night because
she LOVES ghosts stories and scary movies. A shoe flew across the floor
that seemed to came from outside and somebody screamed, "A ghost!"
"That's silly," Kristy called.
"Ghosts don't exist."
Mary Anne's dark eyes were
wide. "I've seen one."
"Where?" I asked.
"Well, I didn't actually
see one, but once I was home studying alone and the doorbell rang. No one
was there and when I came back up, this little flower was there! No one
else was home and I screamed I was so scared." Mary Anne gulped and glanced
nervously from Logan to Kristy.
"Maybe it blew in the window,"
I suggested.
"The window was closed,"
Mary Anne's voice shook.
"Did you ever see the movie
'Always'?" Jessi asked. Some of us had.
"I think some form of ghosts
exist, but you can't see them or hear them. Kind of like in that movie."
Jessi told us.
"It's entirely possible,"
Stacey added. "Maybe when somebody close to us dies, the soul kind of goes
on on our heads."
"I sometimes think Mimi's
spirit comes back to check on us from time to time," Claudia put in. Mary
Anne was starting to get teary-eyed, so we went to get something to eat.
It was after the dance was over and we were heading home that we saw something
in the bushes a small dark shape. Mary Anne stifled a squeal and clamped
a hand over her mouth, but the shape stood up and it was none other than
Susan Perry holding up a shoe.
"Here it is..." she grunted.
Then she saw us. "Oh, hi, you all."
"So that's where the shoe
went!" Kristy laughed.
"Yep," Susan put it on.
She was dressed as a civil war soldier. "Some people thought a ghost was
haunting the dance. Well, happy Halloween, what's left of it," she called
as she headed home.
"You too..." we called.
Then slowly we headed home ourselves, enjoying the chilly fall night. Maybe
we could have some of the apple cider if there was any left over from the
kids in the neighborhood trick or treating.
