A/N: Wee, I wrote the third chapter quicker than I thought I would. It's definitely my favorite so far (why do I always love the third chapter I write in stories?) and it's longer than the last one! :pats self on back: Hope you like, and thanks for the reviews! And Punk Poser, thanks for the tip! It worked, you rock. Keep em coming, you know you want to. I'll give you a banana. ;)
Cruel Despair
Chapter Three
Spinner Mason lay on his twin bed in his small, untidy room, throwing a brightly colored Nerf football up into the air and catching it. Throwing it a little too hard, it hit the ceiling and then came back down, smacking him on the forehead. He cursed loudly just as the phone rang, making him jump. He reached over to his bright red phone with a tangled cord, and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"
"Spin!" a voice shouted on the other end. "It's Jimmy," he added.
"Oh, hey, Jimmy," Spinner replied, laying back on his bed and staring at the neon football that now sat in his fish tank, water splattered on his plain, white wall and wooden desk. "What's up?"
"Nothin'. Paige is dragging me to the mall with her.. Hazel can't go and I think Terri's pissed at her or something." Spinner could almost see Jimmy shrugging on the other end. "You wanna go?"
Thankful to finally have an excuse to get out of his house, Spinner nodded, and then remembered Jimmy couldn't see him. "Yeah, sure," he said.
"All right. Come over and then we'll go."
"Sweet. See ya." Spinner stood up and hung up the phone, then out of his room and into the small bathroom with peach and white decor across the hall. He examined his forehead in the mirror. Slightly red, but not too noticeable. Checking his hair and dabbing on some cologne, he then raced out of the bathroom and down the steps. "Going to the mall!" he called to anyone who would listen, and then, picked his wallet up off the coffee table in his living room, grabbed his jacket, and walked outside.
The cold winter air hit him right away, and he hurriedly put his jacket on, shivering. He rubbed his hands together as he walked down the sidewalk towards Jimmy's, glancing around the neighborhood. He saw kids playing in the snow, making snowmen, angels, forts. Laughing, throwing snow at each other. A sudden desire came over him, a feeling of emptiness. It wasn't something new; he'd been feeling like something was missing for a long time, but could never quite figure out what. He had good friends, wasn't a huge loser. But still, that feeling lingered silently inside him, torturing him. He knew his friends could tell something was wrong, at least, Jimmy could; he hadn't picked on a grade seven in over a week.
Before he knew it, he had arrived at Jimmy's. He and Paige were already waiting in front. They looked up as they spotted him. "Hey, man," Jimmy greeted him.
"Ready?" Paige asked, smiling.
Spinner nodded. "Ready."
The three walked down the sidewalk side by side, Paige in the middle, always the center of attention. "So, why are we going to the mall, anyway?" Spinner asked, staring ahead of him.
"Hazel's birthday present," Paige responded. "I'm thinking.. Maybe a cute skirt, or the new *NSYNC DVD." Spinner caught Jimmy's eye, and the two laughed.
Paige hit them both playfully in the stomach. "Shut up!" She let out a dreamy sigh. "You both just wish you were in *NSYNC."
That made Spinner laugh harder. "Uhh.. Yeah. Sure."
A few minutes later, they came to the town mall, sort of small and in dire need of improvement and new stores, but it worked. They walked up the sidewalk to the doors, Spinner pulling one open. Paige walked in, Jimmy followed, and Spinner trailed behind.
"Let's go in here first," Paige said, pointing to a store chock full of junior girl's clothing, pink halter tops, jean shirts, long, black dresses.
"Uhh.." Jimmy glanced at Spinner, who shrugged. "Why don't you go in, and we'll wait outside? We can sit on this bench." He tapped a wooden bench painted fire engine red, chipped in parts.
"No way," she said, grabbing both their wrists and dragging them inside of the store. "You have to help me pick something out!"
Laughing and protesting at the same time, the two boys reluctantly followed her inside the store. TVs hung from the ceiling, playing a Britney Spears music video. Rolling his eyes, Spinner followed Jimmy and Paige around the store while she examined different skirts, holding each of them up to the two and asking their opinions. "Ugly," was Spinner's only comment on every one.
"Shut up, Spinner! Really," Paige said, obviously irritated by Spinner's lack of interest.
"What do you expect? This is girl stuff," Spinner told her, shrugging. But Paige's eyes were looking beyond him, towards the entrance to the store.
Spinner turned around and saw what she was looking at. Marco del Rossi and Ellie Nash, two of his friends from school, were entering the store, laughing and talking with each other, not noticing the three of them.
At that moment, something hit Spinner, something that he couldn't begin to explain. It was like a pang in his chest; it didn't feel good, but it didn't hurt, either. It just felt.. weird.
Trying to ignore it, Spinner called out, "Oh, look, it's Ellie and her girlfriend, Marcy."
At the sound of his voice, Marco and Ellie looked up, seemingly startled. For a moment, Marco looked frozen stiff, and Ellie gave him a concerning look. Then, the two of them walked towards Spinner, Paige, and Jimmy, Ellie and Paige exchanging annoyed looks.
"Funny, Spinner," Marco said, letting out a fake laugh.
"What are you doing here?" Paige asked Ellie abruptly, and then turned to Marco and smiled brightly. "Oh, hi, Marco."
"We're shopping. That's normally what people do when they go to a mall," Ellie shot back, her eyes narrowed.
"But why in here? I mean.." Paige looked Ellie up and down, from her white tank top with black bra straps showing, her red and black plaid skirt, black tights, and combat books, holding a black jacket in her arms. "You just don't see, the, ahem, type to shop in a store like this," she said, a fake smile plastered across her face. The three boys stood back, glancing back and forth between the two girls and at each other, silently laughing and mouthing "cat fight."
"Not that it's any of your business," Ellie responded, and grabbed Marco by the elbow, who winced with pain, pulling him in a different direction. "Let's go, Marco."
"Bye, guys," Marco said, waving with his free arm and smiling.
As Ellie and Marco walked away, the same weird feeling flooded back to Spinner. It was almost a feeling of longing, and something, he wasn't sure what, wouldn't let him tear his eyes away from Marco. He started to notice things, little things; Marco's dark, almond colored eyes and long, black eyelashes; his hands that held Ellie's delicately and distantly as if her's would break any minute, medium sized and rough around the top, but with smooth palms; his skin, dark and almost tanned looking. He watched as Marco and Ellie laughed over the key chains they were looking at near the counter, and almost wished that it was him instead of Ellie that could be laughing with Marco like that.
Suddenly, it hit Spinner what he was thinking about, and he froze, panicking, confused. What the fuck? he thought, scowling at himself. What are you doing?
"Uhh, Spinner?" Jimmy's voice alarmed him, and he jumped slightly, shaking his head to stop himself from thinking. "You okay, dude?"
"Yeah.." Spinner replied slowly, looking away from Marco, still a little shaken. Pulling himself together, he grinned at Jimmy, who was giving him a questioning look. "I'm good. Marco's such a fag," he said, laughing, but feeling incredibly guilty about saying it.
"Dude, shut up, that's so old," Jimmy said.
Paige rolled her eyes, then turned back to the skirt that was held out in front of her. "This is the one," she announced, and headed towards the counter with Jimmy at her side.
Spinner lagged behind. "Fag," he muttered under his breath, but not about Marco this time.
A/N: Oh, crap, I forgot to mention. About the stuff between Ellie and Paige -- I'm not really sure what they feel about each other. I read somewhere about Ellie "not afraid to stand up to Paige" or something (I missed a lot of episodes ;x), and I figured they didn't like each other, but I don't really know, so if I got that wrong and they're like, friends or something (even though I've never seen that) then sorry about that. I'm gonna keep it though, it works.
