1. With you
The next day was warm, and the morning wasn't exactly as happy.
"I AM UP!" Spinelli screamed downstairs to her parents. She made an agitated noise and messily put up her hair. She grabbed the catalog and opened it, forgetting how many people signed up. Only five? She groaned and slammed it down into her backpack and slung it around her shoulder.
Running down the stairs, her parents were sitting at the table reading the paper. She grabbed a glass of orange juice and downed it in two seconds. "Ashley. Please. Take time to drink."
"The name's Spinelli." she grumbled and headed out the door. If she got a tardy, she would be in detention for sure. She ran down the roads, hoping to catch her friends so they would be late with her. But they never appeared. "Dammit!" she cursed. Usually, other people would act like cursing was a big, horrific thing, but she saw them as words that just expressed feeling. They were fun, anyway.
The school stood ahead, and she heard the bell ring. Spinelli picked up speed and went on in, running down the halls with her shoes squeaking on the floor. Did she have any other homework? She ran over last nights events and then suddenly halted, remembering the thought. And remembering it was true and how big it was.
She suddenly felt the pain in her side from running for twenty minutes non- stop. She walked, trying to catch her breath. It was true. She wanted it to happen. And it was so. weird for a fourth grader. Her classroom appeared and she went in, glad to see people were still getting ready. She sat down in her seat without a word and stared at the windows. Everything seemed so different, now.
At recess, Spinelli gladly sat out of the game of kickball, with the surprise of the other players. She used the idea that 'Gretchen should be treated fairly, and should get buffed up for a real game, anyway.' Now, she sat in a corner trying to sort things out while staring at him.
Okay. so she liked King Bob. A lot. and now it was like her eyes just opened up to the real him. At first, she pictured him as having no life and enjoyed turning peoples requests down. She saw him sitting up in his throne, kind of slouching. Someone was talking to him, and managed to make him smile. Probably out of the person being so pitiful it was funny.
Spinelli smiled, too. She used to think his smiles were evil and brought living hell upon the playground, but not anymore. Now he was laughing, and she realized just how gentle he looked, even though it was out of seeing someone pathetically pitiful. Maybe she liked him because they were interested in the same things. Then she realized that she kind of always had this attraction toward him as an example of being a person, even if it wasn't what it is now.
"What's wrong with you, Ashley Spinelli?" asked an annoying voice.
Her lip annoyingly quivered as she forced a mad grin. She hated it when people called her by first name. "Randall. I'm starting at ten. Ten, nine, eight."
He amazingly stood. She got an even more twisted grin knowing she might actually be able to nail a big one across his misshapen head. ".Seven, six, ONE!"
At one, she sprang up and grabbed his shirt. "Why aren't you running, weasel?"
Randall, now lifted up off of the ground, looked nervous but still talked. "I know why you're eyeing the king."
She immediately felt her stomach do a flip. She narrowed her eyes and then pressed him up against the wall. "Keep talking."
"You're interested in politics!" Randall made a weird laugh and she dropped him. "Oh, no! You figured me out." she rolled her eyes.
"And that's not all. I'm telling people. Imagine what they'll say when they figure out the Ashley Spinelli is actually associated with it!" He went running off like a retard, and she busted out laughing to herself. He was getting cheaper every day.
She realized it was good that he was that far off from what she was really thinking. Randall usually was very correct with his guesses. So, if he was that far off, no one would have a clue what she was really thinking. Standing and smiling at his stupidness, she turned and then felt her stomach do another kind of flip. King Bob was looking right at her. When their eyes met, he looked over to where a guard was talking to him.
Spinelli looked away, too, blushing. She wasn't a shy little girl who is afraid to talk to boys. was she? If she would blush from that, talking to him might be hard, too. Would she have to prove it to herself by talking?
The bell rang and she walked in, being sure to be at an angle so King Bob would pass next to her. When he did, some random kid was asking for something, and he didn't seem to be listening, but annoyed.
Getting from school about two days later, she flipped her TV on and went to the TV guide channel. While looking at all of the times of shows, she saw a preview for a movie called 'Underworld' that was rated R. It was something like Vampires vs. Werewolves. She immediately wanted the vampires to win. She then got an idea in her head. She could prove to herself that she wasn't a shy little girl.
At school the next day, she was anticipating her idea.
"Spinelli, are you alright? You seem happier than normal." Gus pointed out, but she shrugged, smiling.
"I'm just in a good mood. That's all." She grinned.
"He's right, you know." Vince commented. "You're kind of acting like an Ashley."
She stopped walking altogether and slowly turned her head around. "SHUT UP!"
They jumped from the outburst, and then looked at each other, confused when she continued with her normal happiness. Spinelli gladly opened the doors, and ran right into Randall. He was in mid-sentence and was talking to a crowd that was giving him looks like he was overly reacting. "-into politics."
He gave her a smug look. "Well, it's out! What are you gonna do?"
The crowd shook their heads, smiling at how stupid he was and walked away. Spinelli was now really sick of him. "What I'm gonna do? I don't know. But what I think you should do is go screw a mailbox or something to pass you're time."
He gasped and had a surprised look on his face. It was the most offending thing ever said to him! He just gaped as she happily walked down the halls. Her friends were standing with him, too. "What was all THAT about?" TJ asked to no one in particular.
At recess, she walked up to the jungle gym. The guards leaped to block the way. "What do you want, tomboy?" one of them snapped. She smiled. "To see the king, obviously. It's VERY important."
They parted, talking amongst themselves as she went up to see the King. Once on the highest level, King Bob sat looking the other way. His eyes were on a group of people talking way too loud. The occasional word 'king' could be heard, so it was no surprise he'd be focusing on them.
Suddenly, a wave of nervousness hit her. It wasn't as easy as she thought it would be. "Um. King Bob?"
He didn't look at her. She repeated his name, and he still was too zoned out to hear. She finally poked his shoulder and he jumped. "What was that for?!"
He turned and saw it was Spinelli. "Oh. What do you want?"
She once again remembered just how frustrating he could be. "Have you seen the commercials for the movie 'Underworld?' "
He nodded, looking like he didn't know what this had to do with recess.
"Well, are you planning on sneaking into it?" she asked, and he nodded again. She continued, "I kind of have this bad luck of being caught all the time and I REALLY want to see it since it's werewolves vs. vampires. I was wondering if you could help me sneak in? I'm voting for the vampires."
He stared at her. He slowly answered, "Why would you need me? It's just a movie, and anyway, I wouldn't do it if my life depended on it."
"Just a movie?" She laughed. "Yeah. Especially how you named two animals after horror icons. Like I said, I'm really bad at sneaking in. Anyway, wouldn't you have a better chance, too? Because you wouldn't be aloud in the theaters ever again if you get caught."
"Fine. Then when are you seeing it?" he asked, slightly rolling his eyes.
She smiled, glad at his slight stupidity and how he was so unaware of what she was doing this for. "The seven showing on Friday. It'll be really crowded and easy to get in by then."
He nodded and turned back to the group, listening. She did a happy bounce and walked over to the 'exit' of the top floor. "Spinelli."
She turned to look at him. He had this really concentrated look in his eyes. ".Werewolves are so gonna win."
Spinelli grinned and left. Once out of view of anyone and on the floor below, she pumped her fist in the air. Just being by him was like a feeling she never felt. After all, this was the only time she had really liked someone like this.
Throughout the rest of the day, every time she saw him in the halls he would be smiling at someone. Whenever he smiled, she felt warm and happy. Not something she would feel too often. After school, she and her friends were walking home. After TJ, Vince, Mikey, and Gus left at their houses, it was only Spinelli and Gretchen.
"Spinelli, since females detect emotion much more easily than males and it has been scientifically proven, I'm sure I'm the first one to ask you this: What's wrong, and why are you acting so ditzy?" Gretchen asked out of nowhere.
Spinelli cocked her head to the side. "Ditzy? I haven't been anything near ditzy."
Gretchen counted on her fingers, "First, during kickball instead of running to kick the ball you SKIPPED and then kicked it. Second, at Lunch you were staring off into space with this goofy face and third, I can just tell there is a major difference in attitude. So, tell me. Who is he?"
Spinelli stopped. "What do ya mean, who is he?"
Gretchen stopped along with her. "You're in love. Or at least a temporary crush. I know people make a big deal out of it, but it's natural. I bet over half of the class likes someone."
"You'll laugh."
"No, I won't. We're both friends, and I understand that it's very immature for people to overreact about something like this."
Spinelli mumbled something, and Gretchen nudged her. ".King Bob."
"The King?" repeated Gretchen, and Spinelli was glad she didn't laugh. "I don't care if he's two years older than me, it isn't that much of a difference, and it shouldn't matter anyway, so -"
"Spinelli! I don't have anything against it. But can I give you a suggestion?"
She looked at her intently, like she wanted to get any thoughts out of Gretchen that were negative. ".Just don't tell any of our guy friends. They take any kind of romance the wrong way. Even if it's in a movie, they overreact."
"I'm not stupid enough to tell them!" Spinelli replied, acting very offended.
"So." Gretchen adjusted her glasses. "Any success in getting him to notice you, or whatever your plans are?"
"We're seeing Underworld," she quickly said. "Not as a date though. He's helping me sneak in because we both love horror movies and he's snuck into movies before."
Gretchen was amazed at how soon she could get that. She'd never seen someone that wasn't that nervous. "Oh. How do you know he likes horror, too?"
"You know how we were selling those catalogs a couple of days ago? Well, I went to his house and we kind of talked for like. ten minutes. He plays guitar and has a dog named 'Malaki' and a cat named 'Voorhees.' Pretty cool, huh? He likes my kind of music, too."
"I was wondering why it was taking you so long. Well, I gotta go. You might not have noticed but we've been standing in front of my house for a long time."
She walked up to the porch, waved at Spinelli and went inside. For about five seconds she just stood there. It felt good to know someone else will know, but not go running to the mainstream, point at Spinelli and shout, 'SHE'S IN LOVE!'
She started walking. It was true. She was actually in love. It wasn't a crush. She loved him. She started walking again, and then noticed something white poking out of one of her jacket pockets. She pulled it out, and read it. It was the lyrics of 'with you.' She had wrote it a long time ago. Re- reading it, she realized just how convenient the lyrics were.
I woke up in a dream today
to the cold of the static
And put my cold feet on the floor
Forgot all about yesterday
Remembering I'm pretending
to be where I'm not anymore
A little taste of Hypocrisy
And I'm left in the wake up the mistake
Slow to react
even thought you're so close to me
You're still so distant
And I can't bring you back
Its true the way I feel
Was promised by your face
the sound of your voice
painted on my memories
Even if you're not with me
I'm with you
You, Now I see
keeping everything inside
You, Now I see
Even when I close my eyes
I hit you
And you hit me back
We both fall to the floor
The rest of the day stands still
Fine line between this and that
When things go wrong I pretend the past isn't real
Now I'm trapped in this memory
And I'm left in the wake of the mistake
Slow to react
Even though you're close to me
You're still so distant
And I can't bring you back
Its true the way I feel
Was promised by your face
the sound of your voice
painted on my memories
Even if you're not with me
I'm with you
You, now I see
keeping everything inside
You, now I see
Even when I close my eyes
No matter how far we've come
I can't wait to see tomorrow
With you
She stared at the paper, walking. How could she like him? No. just two seconds earlier she actually said loved. It was impossible! She hated him before, and he most likely hated her. Did that mean that they'd never. . . Wait a minute?! Whatever inhuman thought would come next would be WRONG! A fourth grader plus a sixth grader would equal just plain wrong! And who ever heard of going out?! It sounded like venom, and Spinelli twitched. CURSES TO BEING SO INDECISIVE!
She came to her house and went up to her room like always. Sitting on the bed, she groaned. Why did she even bother to ask herself why she had to like him? She could always just look at all the bad sides of him and force herself to hate him like always! Spinelli smirked, glad that she finally found a solution. The good side was that she would get to a see a good movie.
- - -
Spinelli walked down the streets wearing a black jacket, but nothing else changed. She eventually learned before that wearing dark helped with not getting noticed. It was at least six forty, and by the time she would get to the theaters, it would be only ten minutes later.
Once arriving there, she looked around and noticed King Bob. Wow, he actually decided to show up, she thought and walked on over. "Any ideas?" she asked, tilting her head toward the ticket booth.
He shrugged. "I just wait until the movie ends and someone walks out of the back exit. If that doesn't work, you just go in with the crowd."
He's really careless and is too stupid to know what would happen if we're caught. It'd be HIS fault, she thought, remembering to notice everything bad. Bob looked out towards the exit door, and grabbed her arm. "WHAT?!" She shouted while being dragged along.
He let go and made a mad leap to grab the door. He didn't really look too royal doing that. Then she realized someone came out from the movie and he didn't want the door to lock from the outside. On the ground now and holding the door slightly open, he looked around. "Is there anything to prop the door open with?" he asked. Spinelli looked around and saw a single rock.
Even though it was only two inches wide, she threw it to him. Bob caught it and kicked it into place near the hinges. 'That was so close. If he didn't catch it we would have to be sneaking in from the front,' Spinelli glared at him, thinking.
He then leaned up against the wall and slid down to where he was sitting on the pavement. "Um, what are you doing?" Spinelli asked. He looked up at her like she was a retard. "It'll be a while until the clean up crew finishes whatever they're doing. You might as well wait."
'Good god! Can anyone be any more expectant? I swear. if he -'
"Is there a reason why every time I say something you glare at me like I just killed someone?" Bob asked, with a crooked smile. "You're the one that needed me, and I just came here for the movie so don't be expecting for me to treat you like a queen."
"I have the same excuse. You're not king of anything outside of school, so I don't have to treat you like one, either!" Spinelli spat out. He got this angry look in his eyes. During the school, he would've ordered his guards to be on her faster than a hobo on a sandwich. But now, he couldn't do anything.
He looked away, obviously mad and with a sigh, she also sat down against the wall at least five feet away. She should have never went down that street while making people order from a retarded catalog.
I hit you
And you hit me back
We both fall to the floor
The rest of the day stands still
Fine line between this and that
When things go wrong I pretend the past isn't real
Now I'm trapped in this memory
And I'm left in the wake of the mistake
Slow to react
Even though you're close to me
You're still so distant
And I can't bring you back.
Spinelli closed her eyes. Great. Now a song she probably hated the most in the world at the time was stuck in her head. Five minutes later, they felt the wall tremble a bit as a low note played on the opening credits. "Come on." Spinelli stood up and dusted herself off. "I said, come on!"
She turned around to him, and she laughed. This was priceless. "WAKE UP!"
King Bob jumped and looked around him like he didn't have a clue what was going on. "Has it started?"
She nodded and rolled her eyes a bit, even though she couldn't help but notice he looked kind of cute while sleeping. She mentally cursed herself while he got up and too dusted himself off. They opened the propped open the door and entered. On the screen, it was showing the beginning credits with music meant to sound creepy.
Whispering, Bob asked, "Are you too offended or do you want to sit together? If one of us gets caught, like me alone, only I'd get in trouble and not you."
Spinelli glared. "For my own sake, yes."
They got to the back row and sat down, with luckily no one acting like they were committing a great, horrific crime.
Along in the movie, there was lots of gore and blood flying everywhere. Spinelli noticed that King Bob would flinch more than her, and she grinned, thinking of another bad thing. He was a pansy.
After the movie, they had to walk out without being noticed by anyone and were successful. After seeing a good movie, Spinelli would always try to rethink of every scene and what lines she could remember so she could recall every moment fast. Whatever Bob was thinking about, he wasn't talking.
After a while, he finally shouted, "I HAVE IT!" and made Spinelli jump a mile high.
"What are you talking about?" She snapped, mad at him for making her forget a line one of the vampires had said.
"I thought of a new rule for the playground." he said, acting like he had just discovered the cure for all diseases known to mankind. He got that thinking face again, and Spinelli waited. ". . .Well, what is it?"
He gave her another one of those 'why the heck are you asking me?' looks. "Why would you want to know?"
"Because you just interrupted my important thoughts, and now that you just RUINED everything I was thinking about, I might as well get occupied by talking about something else." She retorted.
"The KING and a fourth grader. Conversation. I don't get it."
"It's pretty funny how you act like a simple conversation can open up the gates of hell and let demons rule the earth, and then you go to the movie theatres and that's all okay!"
"Yeah. TO SEE A MOVIE! NOT TO HAVE SOCIAL TIME!"
"If this is so bad, I wonder what you would think if someone was dating! You'd most likely kill yourself and hope in your next life you had nothing to do with such a horrific thing!" Spinelli laughed, and didn't realize what she had said until a split second later.
King Bob didn't say anything, but just stared forward. 'Oh, no.' She too looked off to the side quickly. 'He probably knows now.'
She had this bad feeling in her stomach between nervousness and sadness. Does she still like him enough to care? At the time, she couldn't tell because of the feeling of being nervous. If she felt so scared, did that mean she still liked him, or was scared he would think she did, but she actually didn't. This was so confusing.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the word 'mason' and then realized that it was the name of Bob's street. "Um. this is your street," She pointed out, and he looked up, recognizing the houses.
"Oh. Bye." He lifelessly said, and started walking in that direction. Without saying a word, she started walking, too. Everything suddenly seemed so cold.
You, now I see
keeping everything inside
You, now I see
Even when I close my eyes
Spinelli grinded her teeth and cupped her hands over her ears, sick of everything that had started, and this stupid song stuck in her head. Why did she have to just ask? Why couldn't she be like an Ashley and like an actor that had no talent but was hot? Why did she have to like the King of all people?! Not being able to take the building pressure anymore, she started running, but wasn't exactly sure where she would go. Stupid, stupid, STUPID lack of control!
She wanted to be anywhere but home.
The next day was warm, and the morning wasn't exactly as happy.
"I AM UP!" Spinelli screamed downstairs to her parents. She made an agitated noise and messily put up her hair. She grabbed the catalog and opened it, forgetting how many people signed up. Only five? She groaned and slammed it down into her backpack and slung it around her shoulder.
Running down the stairs, her parents were sitting at the table reading the paper. She grabbed a glass of orange juice and downed it in two seconds. "Ashley. Please. Take time to drink."
"The name's Spinelli." she grumbled and headed out the door. If she got a tardy, she would be in detention for sure. She ran down the roads, hoping to catch her friends so they would be late with her. But they never appeared. "Dammit!" she cursed. Usually, other people would act like cursing was a big, horrific thing, but she saw them as words that just expressed feeling. They were fun, anyway.
The school stood ahead, and she heard the bell ring. Spinelli picked up speed and went on in, running down the halls with her shoes squeaking on the floor. Did she have any other homework? She ran over last nights events and then suddenly halted, remembering the thought. And remembering it was true and how big it was.
She suddenly felt the pain in her side from running for twenty minutes non- stop. She walked, trying to catch her breath. It was true. She wanted it to happen. And it was so. weird for a fourth grader. Her classroom appeared and she went in, glad to see people were still getting ready. She sat down in her seat without a word and stared at the windows. Everything seemed so different, now.
At recess, Spinelli gladly sat out of the game of kickball, with the surprise of the other players. She used the idea that 'Gretchen should be treated fairly, and should get buffed up for a real game, anyway.' Now, she sat in a corner trying to sort things out while staring at him.
Okay. so she liked King Bob. A lot. and now it was like her eyes just opened up to the real him. At first, she pictured him as having no life and enjoyed turning peoples requests down. She saw him sitting up in his throne, kind of slouching. Someone was talking to him, and managed to make him smile. Probably out of the person being so pitiful it was funny.
Spinelli smiled, too. She used to think his smiles were evil and brought living hell upon the playground, but not anymore. Now he was laughing, and she realized just how gentle he looked, even though it was out of seeing someone pathetically pitiful. Maybe she liked him because they were interested in the same things. Then she realized that she kind of always had this attraction toward him as an example of being a person, even if it wasn't what it is now.
"What's wrong with you, Ashley Spinelli?" asked an annoying voice.
Her lip annoyingly quivered as she forced a mad grin. She hated it when people called her by first name. "Randall. I'm starting at ten. Ten, nine, eight."
He amazingly stood. She got an even more twisted grin knowing she might actually be able to nail a big one across his misshapen head. ".Seven, six, ONE!"
At one, she sprang up and grabbed his shirt. "Why aren't you running, weasel?"
Randall, now lifted up off of the ground, looked nervous but still talked. "I know why you're eyeing the king."
She immediately felt her stomach do a flip. She narrowed her eyes and then pressed him up against the wall. "Keep talking."
"You're interested in politics!" Randall made a weird laugh and she dropped him. "Oh, no! You figured me out." she rolled her eyes.
"And that's not all. I'm telling people. Imagine what they'll say when they figure out the Ashley Spinelli is actually associated with it!" He went running off like a retard, and she busted out laughing to herself. He was getting cheaper every day.
She realized it was good that he was that far off from what she was really thinking. Randall usually was very correct with his guesses. So, if he was that far off, no one would have a clue what she was really thinking. Standing and smiling at his stupidness, she turned and then felt her stomach do another kind of flip. King Bob was looking right at her. When their eyes met, he looked over to where a guard was talking to him.
Spinelli looked away, too, blushing. She wasn't a shy little girl who is afraid to talk to boys. was she? If she would blush from that, talking to him might be hard, too. Would she have to prove it to herself by talking?
The bell rang and she walked in, being sure to be at an angle so King Bob would pass next to her. When he did, some random kid was asking for something, and he didn't seem to be listening, but annoyed.
Getting from school about two days later, she flipped her TV on and went to the TV guide channel. While looking at all of the times of shows, she saw a preview for a movie called 'Underworld' that was rated R. It was something like Vampires vs. Werewolves. She immediately wanted the vampires to win. She then got an idea in her head. She could prove to herself that she wasn't a shy little girl.
At school the next day, she was anticipating her idea.
"Spinelli, are you alright? You seem happier than normal." Gus pointed out, but she shrugged, smiling.
"I'm just in a good mood. That's all." She grinned.
"He's right, you know." Vince commented. "You're kind of acting like an Ashley."
She stopped walking altogether and slowly turned her head around. "SHUT UP!"
They jumped from the outburst, and then looked at each other, confused when she continued with her normal happiness. Spinelli gladly opened the doors, and ran right into Randall. He was in mid-sentence and was talking to a crowd that was giving him looks like he was overly reacting. "-into politics."
He gave her a smug look. "Well, it's out! What are you gonna do?"
The crowd shook their heads, smiling at how stupid he was and walked away. Spinelli was now really sick of him. "What I'm gonna do? I don't know. But what I think you should do is go screw a mailbox or something to pass you're time."
He gasped and had a surprised look on his face. It was the most offending thing ever said to him! He just gaped as she happily walked down the halls. Her friends were standing with him, too. "What was all THAT about?" TJ asked to no one in particular.
At recess, she walked up to the jungle gym. The guards leaped to block the way. "What do you want, tomboy?" one of them snapped. She smiled. "To see the king, obviously. It's VERY important."
They parted, talking amongst themselves as she went up to see the King. Once on the highest level, King Bob sat looking the other way. His eyes were on a group of people talking way too loud. The occasional word 'king' could be heard, so it was no surprise he'd be focusing on them.
Suddenly, a wave of nervousness hit her. It wasn't as easy as she thought it would be. "Um. King Bob?"
He didn't look at her. She repeated his name, and he still was too zoned out to hear. She finally poked his shoulder and he jumped. "What was that for?!"
He turned and saw it was Spinelli. "Oh. What do you want?"
She once again remembered just how frustrating he could be. "Have you seen the commercials for the movie 'Underworld?' "
He nodded, looking like he didn't know what this had to do with recess.
"Well, are you planning on sneaking into it?" she asked, and he nodded again. She continued, "I kind of have this bad luck of being caught all the time and I REALLY want to see it since it's werewolves vs. vampires. I was wondering if you could help me sneak in? I'm voting for the vampires."
He stared at her. He slowly answered, "Why would you need me? It's just a movie, and anyway, I wouldn't do it if my life depended on it."
"Just a movie?" She laughed. "Yeah. Especially how you named two animals after horror icons. Like I said, I'm really bad at sneaking in. Anyway, wouldn't you have a better chance, too? Because you wouldn't be aloud in the theaters ever again if you get caught."
"Fine. Then when are you seeing it?" he asked, slightly rolling his eyes.
She smiled, glad at his slight stupidity and how he was so unaware of what she was doing this for. "The seven showing on Friday. It'll be really crowded and easy to get in by then."
He nodded and turned back to the group, listening. She did a happy bounce and walked over to the 'exit' of the top floor. "Spinelli."
She turned to look at him. He had this really concentrated look in his eyes. ".Werewolves are so gonna win."
Spinelli grinned and left. Once out of view of anyone and on the floor below, she pumped her fist in the air. Just being by him was like a feeling she never felt. After all, this was the only time she had really liked someone like this.
Throughout the rest of the day, every time she saw him in the halls he would be smiling at someone. Whenever he smiled, she felt warm and happy. Not something she would feel too often. After school, she and her friends were walking home. After TJ, Vince, Mikey, and Gus left at their houses, it was only Spinelli and Gretchen.
"Spinelli, since females detect emotion much more easily than males and it has been scientifically proven, I'm sure I'm the first one to ask you this: What's wrong, and why are you acting so ditzy?" Gretchen asked out of nowhere.
Spinelli cocked her head to the side. "Ditzy? I haven't been anything near ditzy."
Gretchen counted on her fingers, "First, during kickball instead of running to kick the ball you SKIPPED and then kicked it. Second, at Lunch you were staring off into space with this goofy face and third, I can just tell there is a major difference in attitude. So, tell me. Who is he?"
Spinelli stopped. "What do ya mean, who is he?"
Gretchen stopped along with her. "You're in love. Or at least a temporary crush. I know people make a big deal out of it, but it's natural. I bet over half of the class likes someone."
"You'll laugh."
"No, I won't. We're both friends, and I understand that it's very immature for people to overreact about something like this."
Spinelli mumbled something, and Gretchen nudged her. ".King Bob."
"The King?" repeated Gretchen, and Spinelli was glad she didn't laugh. "I don't care if he's two years older than me, it isn't that much of a difference, and it shouldn't matter anyway, so -"
"Spinelli! I don't have anything against it. But can I give you a suggestion?"
She looked at her intently, like she wanted to get any thoughts out of Gretchen that were negative. ".Just don't tell any of our guy friends. They take any kind of romance the wrong way. Even if it's in a movie, they overreact."
"I'm not stupid enough to tell them!" Spinelli replied, acting very offended.
"So." Gretchen adjusted her glasses. "Any success in getting him to notice you, or whatever your plans are?"
"We're seeing Underworld," she quickly said. "Not as a date though. He's helping me sneak in because we both love horror movies and he's snuck into movies before."
Gretchen was amazed at how soon she could get that. She'd never seen someone that wasn't that nervous. "Oh. How do you know he likes horror, too?"
"You know how we were selling those catalogs a couple of days ago? Well, I went to his house and we kind of talked for like. ten minutes. He plays guitar and has a dog named 'Malaki' and a cat named 'Voorhees.' Pretty cool, huh? He likes my kind of music, too."
"I was wondering why it was taking you so long. Well, I gotta go. You might not have noticed but we've been standing in front of my house for a long time."
She walked up to the porch, waved at Spinelli and went inside. For about five seconds she just stood there. It felt good to know someone else will know, but not go running to the mainstream, point at Spinelli and shout, 'SHE'S IN LOVE!'
She started walking. It was true. She was actually in love. It wasn't a crush. She loved him. She started walking again, and then noticed something white poking out of one of her jacket pockets. She pulled it out, and read it. It was the lyrics of 'with you.' She had wrote it a long time ago. Re- reading it, she realized just how convenient the lyrics were.
I woke up in a dream today
to the cold of the static
And put my cold feet on the floor
Forgot all about yesterday
Remembering I'm pretending
to be where I'm not anymore
A little taste of Hypocrisy
And I'm left in the wake up the mistake
Slow to react
even thought you're so close to me
You're still so distant
And I can't bring you back
Its true the way I feel
Was promised by your face
the sound of your voice
painted on my memories
Even if you're not with me
I'm with you
You, Now I see
keeping everything inside
You, Now I see
Even when I close my eyes
I hit you
And you hit me back
We both fall to the floor
The rest of the day stands still
Fine line between this and that
When things go wrong I pretend the past isn't real
Now I'm trapped in this memory
And I'm left in the wake of the mistake
Slow to react
Even though you're close to me
You're still so distant
And I can't bring you back
Its true the way I feel
Was promised by your face
the sound of your voice
painted on my memories
Even if you're not with me
I'm with you
You, now I see
keeping everything inside
You, now I see
Even when I close my eyes
No matter how far we've come
I can't wait to see tomorrow
With you
She stared at the paper, walking. How could she like him? No. just two seconds earlier she actually said loved. It was impossible! She hated him before, and he most likely hated her. Did that mean that they'd never. . . Wait a minute?! Whatever inhuman thought would come next would be WRONG! A fourth grader plus a sixth grader would equal just plain wrong! And who ever heard of going out?! It sounded like venom, and Spinelli twitched. CURSES TO BEING SO INDECISIVE!
She came to her house and went up to her room like always. Sitting on the bed, she groaned. Why did she even bother to ask herself why she had to like him? She could always just look at all the bad sides of him and force herself to hate him like always! Spinelli smirked, glad that she finally found a solution. The good side was that she would get to a see a good movie.
- - -
Spinelli walked down the streets wearing a black jacket, but nothing else changed. She eventually learned before that wearing dark helped with not getting noticed. It was at least six forty, and by the time she would get to the theaters, it would be only ten minutes later.
Once arriving there, she looked around and noticed King Bob. Wow, he actually decided to show up, she thought and walked on over. "Any ideas?" she asked, tilting her head toward the ticket booth.
He shrugged. "I just wait until the movie ends and someone walks out of the back exit. If that doesn't work, you just go in with the crowd."
He's really careless and is too stupid to know what would happen if we're caught. It'd be HIS fault, she thought, remembering to notice everything bad. Bob looked out towards the exit door, and grabbed her arm. "WHAT?!" She shouted while being dragged along.
He let go and made a mad leap to grab the door. He didn't really look too royal doing that. Then she realized someone came out from the movie and he didn't want the door to lock from the outside. On the ground now and holding the door slightly open, he looked around. "Is there anything to prop the door open with?" he asked. Spinelli looked around and saw a single rock.
Even though it was only two inches wide, she threw it to him. Bob caught it and kicked it into place near the hinges. 'That was so close. If he didn't catch it we would have to be sneaking in from the front,' Spinelli glared at him, thinking.
He then leaned up against the wall and slid down to where he was sitting on the pavement. "Um, what are you doing?" Spinelli asked. He looked up at her like she was a retard. "It'll be a while until the clean up crew finishes whatever they're doing. You might as well wait."
'Good god! Can anyone be any more expectant? I swear. if he -'
"Is there a reason why every time I say something you glare at me like I just killed someone?" Bob asked, with a crooked smile. "You're the one that needed me, and I just came here for the movie so don't be expecting for me to treat you like a queen."
"I have the same excuse. You're not king of anything outside of school, so I don't have to treat you like one, either!" Spinelli spat out. He got this angry look in his eyes. During the school, he would've ordered his guards to be on her faster than a hobo on a sandwich. But now, he couldn't do anything.
He looked away, obviously mad and with a sigh, she also sat down against the wall at least five feet away. She should have never went down that street while making people order from a retarded catalog.
I hit you
And you hit me back
We both fall to the floor
The rest of the day stands still
Fine line between this and that
When things go wrong I pretend the past isn't real
Now I'm trapped in this memory
And I'm left in the wake of the mistake
Slow to react
Even though you're close to me
You're still so distant
And I can't bring you back.
Spinelli closed her eyes. Great. Now a song she probably hated the most in the world at the time was stuck in her head. Five minutes later, they felt the wall tremble a bit as a low note played on the opening credits. "Come on." Spinelli stood up and dusted herself off. "I said, come on!"
She turned around to him, and she laughed. This was priceless. "WAKE UP!"
King Bob jumped and looked around him like he didn't have a clue what was going on. "Has it started?"
She nodded and rolled her eyes a bit, even though she couldn't help but notice he looked kind of cute while sleeping. She mentally cursed herself while he got up and too dusted himself off. They opened the propped open the door and entered. On the screen, it was showing the beginning credits with music meant to sound creepy.
Whispering, Bob asked, "Are you too offended or do you want to sit together? If one of us gets caught, like me alone, only I'd get in trouble and not you."
Spinelli glared. "For my own sake, yes."
They got to the back row and sat down, with luckily no one acting like they were committing a great, horrific crime.
Along in the movie, there was lots of gore and blood flying everywhere. Spinelli noticed that King Bob would flinch more than her, and she grinned, thinking of another bad thing. He was a pansy.
After the movie, they had to walk out without being noticed by anyone and were successful. After seeing a good movie, Spinelli would always try to rethink of every scene and what lines she could remember so she could recall every moment fast. Whatever Bob was thinking about, he wasn't talking.
After a while, he finally shouted, "I HAVE IT!" and made Spinelli jump a mile high.
"What are you talking about?" She snapped, mad at him for making her forget a line one of the vampires had said.
"I thought of a new rule for the playground." he said, acting like he had just discovered the cure for all diseases known to mankind. He got that thinking face again, and Spinelli waited. ". . .Well, what is it?"
He gave her another one of those 'why the heck are you asking me?' looks. "Why would you want to know?"
"Because you just interrupted my important thoughts, and now that you just RUINED everything I was thinking about, I might as well get occupied by talking about something else." She retorted.
"The KING and a fourth grader. Conversation. I don't get it."
"It's pretty funny how you act like a simple conversation can open up the gates of hell and let demons rule the earth, and then you go to the movie theatres and that's all okay!"
"Yeah. TO SEE A MOVIE! NOT TO HAVE SOCIAL TIME!"
"If this is so bad, I wonder what you would think if someone was dating! You'd most likely kill yourself and hope in your next life you had nothing to do with such a horrific thing!" Spinelli laughed, and didn't realize what she had said until a split second later.
King Bob didn't say anything, but just stared forward. 'Oh, no.' She too looked off to the side quickly. 'He probably knows now.'
She had this bad feeling in her stomach between nervousness and sadness. Does she still like him enough to care? At the time, she couldn't tell because of the feeling of being nervous. If she felt so scared, did that mean she still liked him, or was scared he would think she did, but she actually didn't. This was so confusing.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the word 'mason' and then realized that it was the name of Bob's street. "Um. this is your street," She pointed out, and he looked up, recognizing the houses.
"Oh. Bye." He lifelessly said, and started walking in that direction. Without saying a word, she started walking, too. Everything suddenly seemed so cold.
You, now I see
keeping everything inside
You, now I see
Even when I close my eyes
Spinelli grinded her teeth and cupped her hands over her ears, sick of everything that had started, and this stupid song stuck in her head. Why did she have to just ask? Why couldn't she be like an Ashley and like an actor that had no talent but was hot? Why did she have to like the King of all people?! Not being able to take the building pressure anymore, she started running, but wasn't exactly sure where she would go. Stupid, stupid, STUPID lack of control!
She wanted to be anywhere but home.