Homecoming Scandal

By: CNJ

PG-13

6: Boomeranged

Jana:

Almost zero hour. My last night at Connecticut U. Because Pink, my stepdad, was covering my tuition, he'd been notified of my being kicked out. And naturally, neither he or Mom were exactly overwhelmed with pleasure at the news.

I kept the window open as I packed; the air-conditioning hadn't been turned on yet and the evening was warm and humid. It seemed ages ago, but it was just two short years ago on a warm night much like this one that Randy and I had been in my living room at home, making plans for college. We'd of course be together and Randy would be on the football team at Connecticut U. and I'd be on the homecoming committee. We'd be back on the top of the social strata.

We'd felt that we deserved that after our disaster in high school where we'd been at the top for just mostly our sophomore year. In the fall of our junior year, the kids who weren't so popular and a lot of geeks started shoving their way up to the top by starting some dumb movement to improve the media image of youth by writing letters to newspaper editors. As if they could really change this messed-up world.

It had actually been started by some dweeb at Stoneybrook High, our rival. She was in this goody little group of baby-sitters and of course they joined in and actually called their campaign Operation Good Kids or something inane like that, the kind of name that hopelessly idealistic peons think up.

And then they'd gotten almost their whole school in on it, then our high school, Burkeview, caught wind of it and a lot of kids got in on that nonsense and sent letters also. Our group struggled to stay on top, but a lot of kids stopped paying attention to us and started hanging around with and admiring the losers of the school.

Then in the spring of eleventh grade, that awful mess of the baseball game came where it ended in a brawl. Randy had tried to protect me from being pushed or hit, but a whole bunch of our group got the blame and Burkeview's rotten excuse of a principal, Mr. Brooke had hauled us into his office and blamed our group for the incident and kicked the athletes off the teams, which wrecked our group at Burkeview High for senior year.

It was the night before our high school graduation that Randy and I had vowed to get back on the top of things. We'd been sooo excited to be adults out on our own and looked forward to great parties, games, homecoming dances and everyone admiring us once again. And we know a lot of cool kids, but none of the nerdy losers from Burkeview would be at Connecticut U. with us.

Well, we'd thought we were adults, but it's really our parents footing the bill for our lifestyle. Our fun didn't last because of some idiots screaming foul at last fall's homecoming election results and getting us busted.

Now, we'll be shunted back home to our parents and be treated like kids again. I was depressing myself just thinking about it, so I was relieved when Logan came by.

"If I get any more depressed, I'll have to start digging," Logan moaned. He had several suitcases with what I guessed to be all his stuff.

"Me too," I laughed a little. "I feel like we've taken a huge step backward into kidhood again. It'll be even worse, because as it is, they probably think we're too irresponsible to handle being adults since we've had this mess and they'll be telling us what to do like we're back in high school again."

"Oh...God..." Logan flopped on the bed. "Don't remind me. Dad got the news and just called me a while ago to bawl me out for like about an hour. What's worse is that Hunter's not too thrilled about having to share the game room again with me again after he and Kerry had it to themselves for a couple of years." Hunter and Kerry are Logan's younger siblings. "This is going to be sooo embarrassing facing my little brother and sister."

"My parents aren't jumping for joy either," I told him as I flopped on the bed next to him. I'd met Logan's family before and felt sorry for what he was going to have to face once he got home. Even though he was only suspended, I knew his dad was really going to kick his butt big-time for getting into this mess.

We lay on the bed a long time, listening to the crickets chirp outside and whispering little things back and forth. The bed had a huge indentation in the middle, so we wound up on top of each other, dozing off...


Logan offered me a ride home the next morning and gratefully I accepted. It felt a little weird waking up with him in my bed since he used to be Melanie's boyfriend.

But Melanie and I hardly talk anymore; not once has she called to ask how I was and if the truth be told, I was not interested in listening to her wail and whine anymore about being alone. She obviously doesn't care about Logan or me. Just her stupid self. That's all.

I called my mother and stepdad to let them know that I had a ride home, so they wouldn't have to drag the half-hour ride to Conn. U. to pick me up.

"Logan's giving you a ride." My mother said it like a statement.

"Yes, Mother," I sighed and rolled my eyes. She knew that Randy and I hadn't spoken in a little over a month now. Would we ever speak again? I wondered with a weird pang. Randy seemed to be making himself really scarce these days anyway and I have a sneaking suspicion that he's been hiding out with Melanie.

"I really wish you and Randy would work things out instead of just blaming each other," she stated.

"We're not blaming each other," I told her. "It's more complicated than that. Logan's been more understanding, especially since he and Melanie broke up."

"But with your best friend's ex-boyfriend..." Mom started, then hesitated.

"Looks like ex-best friend," I added. "Melanie hasn't exactly been supportive in the past few weeks either. So, I'm on my way home. Bye." With that, I hung up and got into the car with Logan and we started for home. The campus was quiet and I guessed that most students were still asleep. They're just going on with their lives while we're way beyond screwed. Dandy. Grand.

"...so there I was with the ball in my hand and running and before I knew it, I'd scored a touchdown," Logan finished his story on his glory days on the football team back when he'd gone to Stoneybrook High.

He'd gone there for two years, then the summer after tenth grade, his family had moved to Bridgeport and in eleventh grade, he'd started going to Burkeview and that's where he and Melanie started dating.

I sighed again and stared out the window as we edged into Bridgeport. How bleak, I thought bitterly. Home sweet home had never looked so depressing.

Logan had been talking nonstop for the whole half-hour trip. He started in on some story about Kerry hiding a cat. "...and to make matters worse, it was my then-girlfriend's cat and boy was she upset. She was a big crybaby as it was and spend days bawling over that cat, I think its name was Tibsy or something like that.

"Then Hunter's allergies started acting up with Kerry having the cat in her closet and then this girlfriend was baby-sitting them and she was the one who found the cat and when I got back, she blamed me! Can you imagine? I didn't know Kerry was hiding a cat and that the cat was hers. She didn't let me explain, just stalked out and slammed the door."

"So, that's how you two broke up?" I asked, hoping he'd end his monologue. I'd heard that he'd gone out with a girl from Stoneybrook for almost two years.

"Not really. We broke up in April of ninth grade because she felt that I was getting...get this...too controlling. Sheesh. Her problem was that she was way too sensitive for her own good and spent too much time thinking about things."

Off he was again on another monologue about some of the friends he used to have back in Stoneybrook. And boy, some of those friends sounded like losers anyway. It slowly dawned on me.

"You used to hang out with that group who baby-sat back then, didn't you?" I asked, finding it hard to believe that Logan Bruno ever hung out with such geeks. That whole group had been a bunch of hopelessly idealistic peons who were always trying to change the world.

"Sort of," Logan shrugged.

"Cheesh..." I snorted, ground out my cigarette and stared out the window. Then I flipped on the radio to some rock station.

Logan kept up his talk over the radio. I slowly was getting the feeling that he was keeping up a pretense when I knew he was falling apart inside over this scandal. He reached over and flipped the radio to some country station. I usually like country music, but today I wasn't in the mood to listen to twanging guitars and drawling drawn-out vocal soap operas.

"Hey, this reminds me of Kentucky," he told me.

"Well, it reminds me of backwoods hillbillies," I snapped, getting tired of Logan's facade of going over old memories. Maybe if this trip had been longer, Logan would be going over how swell Kentucky was. Well, I was in no mood for it. I guess I'd gotten to Logan, because he wilted a little, then turned off the radio as we headed up toward my house.

"My dad likes this music and he's no hillbilly," he told me stiffly.

"Oh, right, he's filthy rich," I muttered.

"Quit it with the sarcastic little comments!" Logan sniped. "I gave you a ride home, didn't I?"

"Well, yeah, I guess you did."

"Some thanks I git..." he mumbled as he pulled over to my apartment.

"Oh, and I'm supposed to be oh-so-grateful!" I was realizing that he is almost as self-centered as Melanie. "All's you did was talk about YOURSELF the entire trip! Maybe you and Melanie deserve each other."

"Well, I don't sit around sulking like some people around here do!" Logan bit back.

I got out of the car, grabbing my purse. I started unloading my lighter bags onto the sidewalk as Logan hauled the heavier stuff out.

Pink I guess saw us from the window and came out to help us. He and Logan carried in my heavier bags while I got the light stuff inside. That reminded me of Randy, who had always helped me with heavy stuff.

Pink then invited Logan in for lemonade since it was hot and they were both sweating, but Logan declined and left. I was panting and sweating too.

As I went upstairs, I wondered if Melanie and Randy were home yet. Maybe they'd ridden home together. I wouldn't put it past either one of them.

I wanted to flop down and maybe read the latest issue of Ingenue but Mom told me to unpack first and put everything away. I sighed and hauled one of my suitcases on the bed to begin unpacking. Back home with Mom and Pink telling me what to do already. Gross.


Melanie:

This really stinks. I woke up and realized that yes, I was back home in my old bedroom. How depressing. Well, at least it'll be until just next winter. But it still stank being back home with my parents, who aren't too thrilled.

Boy, did my Mom give me this big lecture, then she became silent and gave me these long disappointed stares all throughout dinner last night.

"Heeey, Melanie!" called my fourteen-year-old brother. "It's breaaakfasttiiiiime!" he sang in this absurdly happy voice.

"I'm eating later," I told him. Jeff barged into my room without knocking. "Knock." I told him.

"Mom and Dad want all of us to have breakfast together," Jeff announced, shoving a spike of his ash-blond hair out of his face.

"Ohhh, bliss, they want to play at being the happy little family," I groaned, rolling out of bed.

The fiftieth depressing thing...having Jeff pestering me again. Only this time as a teenaged pimply squawker. Not even squawking now because his voice is going through that change and sometimes croaks. More like a frog pest, I thought as Jeff bounded downstairs and I got dressed and brushed my hair.

Then I headed down. In the hallway, I was surprised to see a lot of old boxes with some of my old things inside, including my old desk lamp.

"What's with all the boxes in the hall?" I asked as we were eating.

"We figured you'll need them now that you're back here," Dad helped himself to more scrambled eggs.

"But I'll be only here for about what, like seven months, then I'll be back in college," I sipped my juice.

"I think you'll be here longer than that," Dad stated.

"What...why?" I looked back and forth between them, sensing that they'd made some major decision about my life without asking me. Were they going to not let me go back to college at all! I hoped they wouldn't tell me I was grounded until I was forty, puh-lease!

"Your mother and I decided that starting in January, you'll be going to Stamford University instead of returning to Connecticut U," Dad said firmly in a voice that told me that this discussion was closed before it even got off the ground.

"So, you're grounding me here indefinitely!" I almost screamed, dropping my fork with a noisy clatter. "I'm an adult; I'm almost TWENTY, for crying out loud!"

"You'll live here until you can conduct yourself like an adult," Mom told me evenly.

"Right, until I'm forty!" I snapped.

"Right now, you haven't been behaving like an adult," Mom's voice rose a little.

"Oh, spare me, Mom," I groaned, rolling my eyes. "I know your adulthood and responsibility lecture by heart."

"Don't talk to your mother that way!" Dad warned sharply. Mom gave Dad a meaningful look, then let out her breath and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Melanie," she stated. "Remember where that lecture started. You were a senior in high school and it was a few months before you graduated and I came in to talk to you about making career plans?"

I nodded, remembering that day very well. I'd had a pitsy day; I'd gotten into a fight with Jana and flunked an economics test.

"You said you were going to be a nurse, as I recall," Mom continued. "Have you taken any steps in that direction at all? Have you even given it any thought since you started college?"

"I've taken..." I searched for the words to placate Mom. "...some steps in that direction. I took a science course last semester." It had been required and had been sooo boring that I'd nearly fallen asleep several times right in class.

"I think you need to be more than just 'taking a few steps,' young lady," Mom countered. "I suspect you haven't given it much thought at all or you'd be mentioning it more. Instead, whenever you've come home on breaks and for the summer, all's I've heard from you is parties, Logan, and ball games."

"All right, all right, I'll go," I quickly told them just to shut them up. "Not because I have any choice," I muttered under my breath as I excused myself and left the table. I just couldn't believe my parents. I absolutely could not believe they were for real.


A few e-mailed conversations:

(Matt) Zeboski26 aol to (Sara) Coolgirl yahoo and (Parker)Dnoman yahoo: Guys...you'll be happy to know...just before we went home, I remembered that just before the dean booted us out and suspended you, Parker, I saw Keith heading out of Mr. Conway's office practically running. I noticed that he was actually SHAKING! Man, imagine that! Keith, the egomaniac scared for a change. I'm so glad that rotten bastard got kicked out.

But it stinks that we got the shaft too. My parents, as you can imagine, aren't overjoyed. They lectured me for an hour yesterday when I got home, then Dad told me that first thing Monday morning, he was taking me to the employment agency to look for full-time work. This sucks big time. I better go to sleep before I get any more bummed out over my ruined life.

(Melanie)Cheerlder67 aol to (Randy)Quarterback aol and Coolgirl yahoo: Randy, Sara, if this makes you feel any better, I'm not going back to Connecticut U. after my suspension's up. My parents (God, I can't believe them) are making me live here at home and commute to Stamford U.

Sooo, it looks like we're all stuck here in Bridgeport for God knows how long until our parents unground us, which could be until we're fifty. I was in bed last night and got up to get some water and overheard my parents talking in the kitchen. My mom sounded all quivery and kept saying how "dismayed" she was at my "lack of mature judgment." I peered down into the kitchen and saw that my mom was actually CRYING over this whole stupid mess! And she wasn't just sniffling with a little tear here and there; she was actually sobbing, her face streaked with tears and Dad was fawning over her and pouring her a cup of tea like she was sick or something. Can you imagine!

Mom's been acting like somebody died around here or something since I came home. And Dad keeps touching her shoulder and comforting her like she's in mourning or something. I'M the one who got busted, not her! You'd think they'd both be giving ME a little support! But nooo, I guess they think I'm some irresponsible little kid who "dismayed" them with my alleged "immaturity."

This is nauseating, disgusting, etc, etc nauseatum. To sum it all up, my life really STINKS! Good night.

Coolgirl yahoo to (Randy) Quarterback aol and (Melanie) Cheerlder67 aol: Hey, Mel, hey, Randy...my life's a mess too. Mom yelled at me about how I'd wasted my 'rents tuition and all that crap. My dad just gave me this long disappointed stare. They say I have to look for full-time work. It's so depressing.

Here our group was so cool and we had such high hopes before the weasels got all jealous and ratted us out. They're nothing but losers.

Speaking of losers...Logan, who only got suspended, was sniveling over this a few days before they sent us back home. Mel, sorry to tell you this, but I ran into Jana and Logan that day. I was with Matt and Parker and of course when they confronted Logan, Logan tried to worm his way out of it. And Jana...that girl makes me so sick; she told me to shut up when I said my piece. Boy, I felt like slapping her stupid face! But she's not worth my time.

Sooo, Mel, she hasn't called you, has she? I suspect not. Sorry, Mel. Well, onto the bed, then the great job hunt in the world out there tomorrow.

Quarterback aol to Coolgirl yahoo and Cheerlder67 aol: What a rat. Logan, I mean. I never could stand that guy. So it figures that he's hanging around my girlfriend. Or ex-girlfriend? Oh, I don't know. All's I know is that my dad's so pee-od about this mess that he'd been rambling on and on about responsibility and how it's time I started acting like an adult.

Mel, my mom's been acting almost as weird as yours. I haven't seen her actually break down bawling, thank God, but she's been quiet and acting like she's at a funeral too.

Hey, maybe your mom and mine could get together, dress in black and have a funeral party for our "lost souls" or something. I bet your mom would jump at that and bawl her head off. Better yet, Mel and Sara, maybe all of our parents could get together, hold a candlelight vigil and mourn the "disappointment" their kids are, starts some anonymous psych group, and swap stories of how they grounded us for the next seventy years.

God, this is depressing. I gotta look for work too; my dad's been shoving the employment section of the Bridgeport Post in my face every morning since I came home. Where the hell am I supposed to work anywhere decent without that degree I'd hoped to get from Conn. U? I doubt the NFL would post in there, lol. I better log out before I get any more depressed. Good night.