Larry sauntered over to the punch bowl table to grab a cup for Claire, not expecting anything except the occasional "Hey, Tudgeman!" from random passerbys.
But just as he reached for the ladle, out of the blue popped a voice: "Hey, Larry!" it said enthusiastically.
He dropped the empty cup and turned his head in the direction of the voice. When his mind and vision cleared, he saw a faint semblance of familiarity in the young man's face, but that didn't stop him from squinting in confusion as he spoke.
"Hey," Larry said uncomfortably. An awkward pause followed, for Larry's failure to recognize the guy and the guy's assumption that Larry knew who he was.
"Oh, come on," the boy whined. "You can't be serious."
"U-um," Larry sputtered. "Excuse me?"
"Damn, Tudgeman, I thought you were a nice guy," the Mysteryboy choked. Quietly, he spoke to himself, "I mean, as far as I was" He stopped short and returned to usual volume. "No. No, I thought you were a nice guy. Claire and her posseI see why they don't remember me. Lizzie and Miranda? Yeah, I see that, too. But you? I thought you were different."
Reaching the obvious finale of his lecture, the Mysteryboy walked back in the direction from which he came from. And Larry just stood there blankly, speechless.
~~~~~
Claire swallowed down the fear rising up her throat. That fear of being alone and feeling like a loner, sitting by herself, as she was. Her eyes darted around the room to find a safe haven--- someone with whom to stay while Larry was getting her some punch. But no luck. In fact, the whole place seemed to be packed with people she'd never seen before, causing the fear to tremble in her stomach.
"Hello," a woman's voice came from behind her. Turning around with her nose in the air, she saw a short, thin redhead before her.
"Um, do I know you?" she responded in her snottiest voice. The infamous snotty voice, used to ward off any so-called "losers".
"Perhaps you do, perhaps you don't," the woman said ambiguously. "My name is Veruca Washington." She smiled proudly. "And I believe yours is" She put her finger to her chin and pretended to ponder. "Claire, is it? I guess all that extra weight you have now threw me off a bit. Oh, no offense, though." Veruca smiled deviously.
Veruca, Claire thought disgustedly. Who the hell does she think she is?
As a look of malice spread across her face, she quickly concealed it with a fake grin.
"None taken." Looking Veruca up and down, she continued, "I see you've changed quite a bit in the last few years." The evil smile returned. "So what was it, Veruca? Slim-Fast? Dexatrim?" She titted lightly. "Bulimia?"
But instead of growing angry as Claire thought she would, Veruca began to laugh as if it were some sort of hilarious joke.
"Really," she said between laughs," it's like you people never grew up." She brushed the hair out of her eyes. "I'll be seeing you later" She walked off before muttering, "Mrs. Tudgeman."
~~~~~
"Ethan!" Kate yelled out. "Eeeeethan, are you in here?" She quickly peeked down a desolate corridor. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," she joked, still moving around and searching.
Just as she was about to give up all hope, a slight rustling came from behind the door. She pushed the door closed and sure enough, there was Ethan.
"Hey, Boo," she laughed. "Hiding in the shadows again? You're gonna get awful pale back there." But his head stayed as it was, hanging limply from his neck. "Ethan, are you alright?" His head slowly rose from its stiff downward position. When their eyes met, Kate was taken aback. "Ethan, you've"
"Been crying?" He nodded in affirmation. "Thanks. I'm aware."
Taking a seat, Kate heaved a sigh.
"Am I the only one here who hasn't cried yet tonight?"
"By the end of this night, you will have." Ethan smiled weakly, as though it hurt him to. But the color was beginning to return to his ghostly face and swollen eyelids in that unlighted hallway.
"What happened?" Kate asked softly. And their entire conversation continued like that, as if they were prohibited from speaking about what they did.
Ethan explained the story in full and in detail, everything from the bang on the head to the note on the floor, with no detail too minor to go unmentioned. Sitting and listening attentively, Kate tried to absord everything he was telling her. But it was so hard to wrap her mind around the fact that Ethan was in love with Mirandaand had been for so many years.
"and I feel like such a jerk." Kate noticed more tears were slipping down his face. He was quick to wipe them away. "Do you think I deserve to be killed?"
"Killed?!" she said in shock. "Ethan, you only" She gulped. "kissed her."
"Yes, and now she hates me for it," he said as his head hung in shame.
"Well, you must've thought she was" Another gulp. "coming on to you. Right?" Kate tried to convince herself.
"I–I don't know." He worked his brain trying to come up with an answer. "One minute I thought she was, but then, the nextshe's pushing me away." He looked down at his hands. "Put yourself in Miranda's position. Would you hate me?"
Kate closed her eyes and thought about this. I'm Miranda Sanchez. I'm in love with this guy and I don't know if he loves me back. My best friend hates me. And now, this guy that I used to like kisses me out of the blue. She smiled a bit at this. Ethan loves me. A frown took over her happiness. If only I was Miranda Sanchez.
"I wouldn't hate you, per se." She wringed her fingers. "I'd just kindabe angry. For a little while." As much as she wanted to lie to him, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She shoved her feelings aside for the moment and spit out, "You're gonna get that girl, and I'm gonna help you." She grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. "Let's go."
"Wait," he said, suddenly. She turned around to face him. "You'regonna tell anyoneyou know"
"Your crying?" she giggled, then nodded. "Your secret's safe with me." She started back out.
"Wait," he said again. She flipped around and jutted out a hip.
"Yes?" she asked impatiently.
"Thanks."
--------------------------
[A/N: What can I say? As much as those 50 billion "hurry up!!" reviews annoyed me, I have to say, if it wasn't for that persistent reminder, this story wouldn't have been updated today.it probably wouldn't have been updated for another 5 months. So thanks, people (or is it just person?).but please don't do it again. Heheh, I love you, I really do.
I gotta go read the very end of "How Far?" by love-fool. Amy rocks, yes she does. She gets special recognition cause she is muy cool. So is funky pink high top. I am the groovy aquamarine sandal. Okay, I'm weird. You should all be reading the following:
"Things I'll Never Say" by Diva
"No time to waste" by TheRealXenocide
"Wish You Were Here" by love-fool
"Unexpected" by KarasumaFirestorm
"Oh, The Places We've Been" by Jennifer
In fact, just raid my "Favorite Stories" section and read all of them because they are the bestest stories ever. Yes.
I'm babbling. Please shut me up. Next to be updated: Questions Unanswered. (Hopefully.)
Lemme know what you think: please review. Thanks!]
