Hello to my VERY few readers ( !! well, there's a little bit of language in
this chapter, so you're forewarned. and "Don't Make Me Over" is by Dionne
Warwick.
* * * * *
Marissa said goodbye to her mom and had to leave the boarding house at around four in the morning to be able to get to school on time, and she was sleepier than she ever remembered being at the wheel. It was a surprise how she even managed to stay on the road. She kept the radio going the whole time to keep from falling asleep, and found herself waking up to the songs, her voice reverberating through her car.
"Don't make me over, now that I can't make it without you
Don't make me over, I wouldn't change one thing about you
Just take me inside your arms and hold me tight
And always be by my side, if I am wrong or right Don't make me over
Don't make me over,
Now that you've got me at your command,"
"Don't make me over," Marissa laughed, talking to no one in particular. "Yeah, right," Someone had definitely made her over this past weekend. She wondered how the guys would react. "I wonder if Ronnie's gonna like it..." she began to wonder, but she cut herself off. "Ray. I'm with Ray...I'm supposed to care what he thinks. Jeez, Missy, get your names straight," But she knew it wasn't a matter of getting names mixed up. She'd rather have been with Ronnie. Hell, she'd rather have been with anyone, but she couldn't change that, so why dote?
By the time she reached the house, she was bright and bubbly. She bounced up the front steps, unlocked the door, and grabbed her books off of the kitchen counter. Then, she went back into her car and drove for about ten minutes until she reached Hal's diner.
"Orange juice, please," she said brightly to Lou Ann, the waitress.
"Coming right up," she smiled pleasantly.
"That you?" Hal said from behind the counter.
"Sure is," She laughed. Lou Ann placed the drink in front of her. "Thanks," she said. For about ten minutes, she went on, describing her weekend to Lou Ann and everyone else who would listen.
Then, she heard the door hinge swing, and two familiar laughs. She turned around and saw Gerry and Alan walking in. Before they could notice her, she turned her back and giggled slightly. She gave Lou Ann a wink, and she smiled back in comprehension.
"Hey, who's that?" Alan said, gesturing to a girl who had taken his usual seat. "Have we seen her somewhere?" Apparently...they couldn't recognize the back of her head. She tried to keep her calm, knowing that her laugh would give it all away if she let it out.
"Don't know," Gerry said. "Go check her out," he laughed, nudging him forward. Alan sat next to her, leaning his elbow on the bar. Marissa turned her face away, trying not to laugh.
"So, have you been in town long," Alan said in what he thought was a smooth voice.
"Pretty long," Marissa laughed, turning her face toward him. His jaw dropped. "That's right, now you're speechless. Don't really give a damn now that it's just me, hm?" She giggled, elbowing him playfully.
"Gerry, get over here!" he said. Bertier came running over, and his reaction was almost the same.
"What happened to your hair?" he said. "It used to be straight as a line, and now it's—crooked,"
"Ah, I decided that having straight hair isn't worth brushing it for two hours, non-stop," she shrugged. She had decided to follow her mom's advice to be less uptight and more easy-going, and to just start being herself again.
"Well, we've got eyes like hawks," Gerry laughed, sitting down so that Marissa was between him and Alan. "In case you thought we wouldn't notice,"
"You know, now that we're all here," Marissa said without getting up, "I wanted to talk to you about something that's been on my mind this weekend,"
"Look, I know you've got an obligation to ask me this, being the 'good girlfriend' and everything, and that's really sweet, but my mind's made up," Gerry said, knowing exactly what she'd have asked him next. "Ray's not getting back on the team, and I mean it,"
"I know he's a real jerk, and it's his fault. I ain't denying any of that, and once he's over feeling sorry for himself, his ass is in trouble once I get through to him," Marissa said, "But isn't this whole thing a little drastic? Maybe this thing about him being kicked off could just be temporary, you know?" Gerry shook his head. "Okay, okay, I got it. I guess I can't say I didn't try," she said.
"Look, we gave him even more chances than everyone else got," Alan said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Truth is, he wouldn't stop pretending to be in charge. I mean, you know what I'm talking about, right?"
"Whatever," Marissa laughed. "So, you guys want to hear about this thing I did at the karaoke place? It was the weirdest thing! Okay, so, there was this group of people, and they had to, like, connect so that everyone was touching everyone else,"
"I bet you couldn't make us do it right now," Gerry said.
Marissa got up and looked between the two boys. "Oh, that's easy," she laughed. "You two, make your shoes touch or something." They did it, then Marissa smirked and sat on Alan's lap. "Hah! I told you it wasn't hard," she laughed.
"I think we should play this game more often," Alan laughed, putting his chin on her shoulder. "I like it. How many girls usually play?" Marissa hit him playfully on the head.
Then, Gerry cleared his throat and cocked his head to the side, where Marissa's gaze soon followed. Ray had walked into the diner, and was staring at the scene, tongue-in-cheek. He narrowed his eyes at all of them, including Marissa, who got up and walked over to him. She knew she was bound to get an earful now.
"You're just gonna betray me like that?" he asked.
"I'm not betraying anybody, and I ain't gonna stop having friends just for you," Marissa replied defensively, crossing her arms. "Here you go, accusing me again! What do you think you saw?"
"After all you told me, you run off with them?" he asked. She rolled her eyes and said nothing. He let out a short, angry hiss and he slapped her—practically punching her, if anything. Truth be told, Marissa didn't really feel it. She wasn't really concentrating on the feeling, but if she had been in her right mind, it probably would have hurt like hell. Luckily, she was too angry to really feel anything, and the next thing that Ray said only made it worse.
"I don't know what the hell you're accusing me of, but it sure isn't fair," Marissa said calmly, regardless of the burning sensation in her left cheek. "You didn't even know the whole story."
"There's nothing else to see," he said. "You know, I believed that crap you told me. You're a little liar,"
"Takes one to know one," she said spitefully, "Anyway, the only one who should be feeling little right now is you,"
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, receiving no reply. Marissa just crossed her arms and stared at him with a vague look on her face."You think I deserved to get kicked off of the team, don't you?"
"Gee, I guess you had to figure that out somehow." she said with a straight face. She was going to give it to him, plain and simple. "It's sort of too much of a coincidence. I could hear Lastik call the play all the way from the sidelines. It's hard to believe that you couldn't hear it when you were right next to him. I mean, I don't exactly have superhuman hearing, so I don't know how you, of all people, could miss it. That plus the fact that you've never blocked for Rev right before just doesn't add up too well."
"You're siding with them?" Ray said. "Just my luck, isn't it? You know, I never thought you'd sell me out for a reason to get on the good side of these guys—"
"Believe what you want," she snarled suddenly, slapping him with every bit of weight she could put behind her arm—which was a lot, considering that very same arm lifted her up doing countless flips nearly every day. Had she been in a normal mood, she would have apologized, but she wasn't feeling normal at all. She was fed up. "This is really it," she said, narrowing her eyes in disgust, finally seeing the vile, hateful person standing in front of her. "I've really had enough this time," She turned towards the door and left. Now, everyone in the place was staring.
"Nice move," Gerry said out loud to his former best friend as he and Alan stood up. "The girl tries to get you back on the team, and you blow it. She almost had us convinced, too," Then, they got up and left as well. Alan ran and caught up with Marissa, who had parked across the street.
"Was that a break-up I just witnessed?" he asked.
"Honestly, I don't care what it was," Marissa sneered. "I don't know. I need to talk to somebody,"
* * * * *
"You did what?" Rev said as he and Marissa walked over to their first class of the day. "You hit him? What were you thinking?"
"Well, when I got hit, I wouldn't have usually swung back, but I couldn't think straight. I sort of went crazy," Marissa muttered, "But I meant all of it. I've had enough of his hissy fits every time I talk to other people. Now, let's get over it, okay? I'm more upset about the fact that I left my orange juice at the counter—I paid for it, and I couldn't even finish it." She laughed. Rev opened the door for her, and it must have been the shock of everyone's life, seeing Marissa so happy just after the big split. Apparently, word had spread about the scene at Hal's, as gossip often does among teenagers, and everyone was expecting the big "kiss and make up" scene to happen before class started so the day could go about as usual. But they certainly hadn't expected this. Instead of her usual seat between Ray and Emma, she sat down by Rev and Alan.
"I can't believe you actually did that," Alan laughed while the teacher was already lecturing in full blast about poetry in preparation for their unit on Shakespeare.
"Too bad," Marissa laughed, "He didn't even get a chance to notice my hair,"
"Excuse me," said Mrs. Hector, "What would you be talking about in the middle of my class?" Mrs. Hector actually didn't dislike Marissa, but seeing as she was one of the only girls who got passing grades in her class, she liked to make an example of her.
"Poetry?" Marissa said, trying to mask a laugh. "The different kinds and—stuff,"
"You think you would mind coming up and presenting an example of a poem with a meter?" Mrs. Hector said.
Marissa giggled and cleared her throat, reciting a most interesting limerick.
"There once was a man from Nantucket,
Who kept all his cash in a bucket
He got really lucky
And moved to Kentucky
Move back to Nantucket?
Aw, f—"
"Perhaps something more meaningful?" Mrs. Hector interrupted.
"Well, I'm sure I could do that," Marissa laughed. "Of course, I might need a little time," "You have ten minutes. By the end of the lesson, I expect you to come up here and share your findings with the class,"
"Yes ma'am," Marissa said, flipping opening her book "This is your fault," she muttered at Alan. He wrote a little note in the corner of his notebook— You're welcome.
The ten minutes came and went, and Marissa hoped Mrs. Hector had forgotten, but she apparently hadn't. One second after her ten minutes, Mrs. Hector looked at her and called for her.
"I assume that nothing in your poem rhymes with bucket or Nantucket?" she laughed. Marissa just smiled brightly.
"Why don't she finish the old one?" Alan laughed, "I never learned what happened to the guy from Nantucket,"
"That's for discussing after class," Mrs. Hector said. "Now you can start, Miss Donovan."
"Well, I was just thinking," she said, resting her elbows on the podium at the front of the room, "And I can show you all exactly what they mean by meter. I mean, meter is the same thing as a beat, so I have the perfect example," She smirked. "Alan, get your butt up here," Alan looked at her and raised his eyebrow, walking up slowly.
"What do you think you're doing?" he muttered.
"I'm showing you how grateful I am to you for getting me into this," she whispered with a smile. "Now," she said, more loudly, "What can you think of that has a beat?" she smiled.
"The cheer?' he said unsurely. Marissa nodded, smiling slyly. "You mean, you're making me do the cheer?"
"Exactly," Marissa laughed, going back to her seat. She tried in vain not to laugh as Alan stood up there alone. Of course, she and Rev played his echo, because that was the best part of the cheer. By the end, nearly everyone was laughing. Marissa, still rosy-cheeked and short of breath, stood up. "I could have used any cheer, or any song if I wanted to, but then I wouldn't have had the chance to embarrass Alan," she laughed, putting an arm around his shoulder.
"That was good," Alan laughed, coming up to her and shaking his head.
"Let's call it even," she said. "We're square,"
The rest of the class was spent just talking, since Mrs. Hector couldn't seem to get the class back in order. By the time the class period ended, Alan, Rev, and Marissa, had already named every flavor of ice cream they knew, and had started talking about the most random things.
When Marissa left the classroom, she walked down to her History class as fast as she could. She took her seat and rested her face on her hand, leaning away from Ronnie.
"What's this I've heard about you hitting Ray this morning?" he asked, elbowing her jokingly, "And I thought you didn't like playing rough with the boys,"
"Only because he hit me first," Marissa laughed dryly, leaning farther away and trying to conceal the other side of her face.
"What?" Ronnie said, eyes bulging out slightly. "Quit messing. That ain't anything to laugh about." Apparently, that hadn't been the answer he was looking for."He hit you? Show me the other side of your face." Marissa just scooted a couple of inches away, rolling her eyes. "Look, Missy, I hate to boss you around, but I'm telling you to move your goddamn hand,"
Marissa flinched, brushed her hair out of the way and turned her other cheek towards him, her eyes wide at the language he had just used towards her. Then, he saw it. It wasn't so dark that it completely offset her face, but it was a big bruise that spanned her entire cheek, and it was dark enough.
"He did that?" Sunshine said, squinting at the bruise.
"Look, I just ain't in the mood to talk," she said. "I didn't get breakfast. Maybe at lunch, all right?" She turned away, back to her book.
The class seemed to go by slower than any other. She couldn't talk to Sunshine, because she knew he'd just go on and on, saying that he told her so. Lunch was the most welcome thing in the world. She was glad to walk down to the cafeteria with Gerry, Julius, and Sunshine, instead of hanging around her locker waiting for Ray. To top it off, they met up with Alan, Rev, Petey, Louie, and Blue. Together, they easily took up more than half of a table.
"This is so much better then getting stuck with Ray at lunch," she laughed, "I mean, he's one guy. Who needs one when you have eight? I think it's a pretty fair trade," She took a bite of her turkey sandwich and smiled brightly. She laughed as soon as she had finished the bite and leaned against Sunshine, who still seemed to be doting on the bruise on her face.
"Glad to see you feeling so much better," Rev said, sitting on her other side, "But that bruise ain't looking too great. It's still the color of a grape."
"What kind of grape?" Marissa asked, "The green kind? You can't go wrong with the green ones."
"I think he means the dark ones." Petey said. "You know, the purple kind you make wine out of."
"Ew," Marissa muttered. "I hate that color. It reminds me of a stain I got on my cheerleading sweater once—but that came from grape jelly." Then, she burst out laughing. She hadn't been so comfortable and energetic outside of pep rallies since she and Ray had become "official".
"So, I wanted to run something by you," Gerry said, "I had this idea—we're going to give Ray the official brush off,"
"Brush off?" she asked. "Is that tradition or something?" Back at her old high school, people got kicked off of teams all the time, and there was always some kind of ritual, like a de-initiation, she called it.
"More like spite," Alan said. "And let's face it, Missy. If anyone here's got a reason to want to spite the guy, it's you,"
"Oh, I'm so glad you asked, then," she laughed, "I mean, I have so many ideas. Just get the whole team to that empty lot across the street from my house. Let's get started,"
* * * * *
"Why am I the one who has to tell him?" Marissa whined. "I don't feel like talking to him. He just maimed my face!"
"Well, it's closest to your house, so it's the only way," Alan said, "Besides, you're the only one he'll listen to You said you wanted to help."
"Okay," she sighed. Then, she took a deep breath and walked over to Ray's locker, where he was dropping his things off.
"Hey," he said, "You forgive me?"
"I wouldn't count on it," Marissa said, crossing her arms. "Meet at Marsh Field at five o'clock—The one across the street from my house." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, but she didn't react with anything more than a step backwards. She wiped her face furiously with her sleeve, turned and walked away. "Let's go," she said, grabbing Alan and Gerry by their sleeves while the rest of the group followed behind. "We've got planning to do,"
* * * * *
Marissa said goodbye to her mom and had to leave the boarding house at around four in the morning to be able to get to school on time, and she was sleepier than she ever remembered being at the wheel. It was a surprise how she even managed to stay on the road. She kept the radio going the whole time to keep from falling asleep, and found herself waking up to the songs, her voice reverberating through her car.
"Don't make me over, now that I can't make it without you
Don't make me over, I wouldn't change one thing about you
Just take me inside your arms and hold me tight
And always be by my side, if I am wrong or right Don't make me over
Don't make me over,
Now that you've got me at your command,"
"Don't make me over," Marissa laughed, talking to no one in particular. "Yeah, right," Someone had definitely made her over this past weekend. She wondered how the guys would react. "I wonder if Ronnie's gonna like it..." she began to wonder, but she cut herself off. "Ray. I'm with Ray...I'm supposed to care what he thinks. Jeez, Missy, get your names straight," But she knew it wasn't a matter of getting names mixed up. She'd rather have been with Ronnie. Hell, she'd rather have been with anyone, but she couldn't change that, so why dote?
By the time she reached the house, she was bright and bubbly. She bounced up the front steps, unlocked the door, and grabbed her books off of the kitchen counter. Then, she went back into her car and drove for about ten minutes until she reached Hal's diner.
"Orange juice, please," she said brightly to Lou Ann, the waitress.
"Coming right up," she smiled pleasantly.
"That you?" Hal said from behind the counter.
"Sure is," She laughed. Lou Ann placed the drink in front of her. "Thanks," she said. For about ten minutes, she went on, describing her weekend to Lou Ann and everyone else who would listen.
Then, she heard the door hinge swing, and two familiar laughs. She turned around and saw Gerry and Alan walking in. Before they could notice her, she turned her back and giggled slightly. She gave Lou Ann a wink, and she smiled back in comprehension.
"Hey, who's that?" Alan said, gesturing to a girl who had taken his usual seat. "Have we seen her somewhere?" Apparently...they couldn't recognize the back of her head. She tried to keep her calm, knowing that her laugh would give it all away if she let it out.
"Don't know," Gerry said. "Go check her out," he laughed, nudging him forward. Alan sat next to her, leaning his elbow on the bar. Marissa turned her face away, trying not to laugh.
"So, have you been in town long," Alan said in what he thought was a smooth voice.
"Pretty long," Marissa laughed, turning her face toward him. His jaw dropped. "That's right, now you're speechless. Don't really give a damn now that it's just me, hm?" She giggled, elbowing him playfully.
"Gerry, get over here!" he said. Bertier came running over, and his reaction was almost the same.
"What happened to your hair?" he said. "It used to be straight as a line, and now it's—crooked,"
"Ah, I decided that having straight hair isn't worth brushing it for two hours, non-stop," she shrugged. She had decided to follow her mom's advice to be less uptight and more easy-going, and to just start being herself again.
"Well, we've got eyes like hawks," Gerry laughed, sitting down so that Marissa was between him and Alan. "In case you thought we wouldn't notice,"
"You know, now that we're all here," Marissa said without getting up, "I wanted to talk to you about something that's been on my mind this weekend,"
"Look, I know you've got an obligation to ask me this, being the 'good girlfriend' and everything, and that's really sweet, but my mind's made up," Gerry said, knowing exactly what she'd have asked him next. "Ray's not getting back on the team, and I mean it,"
"I know he's a real jerk, and it's his fault. I ain't denying any of that, and once he's over feeling sorry for himself, his ass is in trouble once I get through to him," Marissa said, "But isn't this whole thing a little drastic? Maybe this thing about him being kicked off could just be temporary, you know?" Gerry shook his head. "Okay, okay, I got it. I guess I can't say I didn't try," she said.
"Look, we gave him even more chances than everyone else got," Alan said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Truth is, he wouldn't stop pretending to be in charge. I mean, you know what I'm talking about, right?"
"Whatever," Marissa laughed. "So, you guys want to hear about this thing I did at the karaoke place? It was the weirdest thing! Okay, so, there was this group of people, and they had to, like, connect so that everyone was touching everyone else,"
"I bet you couldn't make us do it right now," Gerry said.
Marissa got up and looked between the two boys. "Oh, that's easy," she laughed. "You two, make your shoes touch or something." They did it, then Marissa smirked and sat on Alan's lap. "Hah! I told you it wasn't hard," she laughed.
"I think we should play this game more often," Alan laughed, putting his chin on her shoulder. "I like it. How many girls usually play?" Marissa hit him playfully on the head.
Then, Gerry cleared his throat and cocked his head to the side, where Marissa's gaze soon followed. Ray had walked into the diner, and was staring at the scene, tongue-in-cheek. He narrowed his eyes at all of them, including Marissa, who got up and walked over to him. She knew she was bound to get an earful now.
"You're just gonna betray me like that?" he asked.
"I'm not betraying anybody, and I ain't gonna stop having friends just for you," Marissa replied defensively, crossing her arms. "Here you go, accusing me again! What do you think you saw?"
"After all you told me, you run off with them?" he asked. She rolled her eyes and said nothing. He let out a short, angry hiss and he slapped her—practically punching her, if anything. Truth be told, Marissa didn't really feel it. She wasn't really concentrating on the feeling, but if she had been in her right mind, it probably would have hurt like hell. Luckily, she was too angry to really feel anything, and the next thing that Ray said only made it worse.
"I don't know what the hell you're accusing me of, but it sure isn't fair," Marissa said calmly, regardless of the burning sensation in her left cheek. "You didn't even know the whole story."
"There's nothing else to see," he said. "You know, I believed that crap you told me. You're a little liar,"
"Takes one to know one," she said spitefully, "Anyway, the only one who should be feeling little right now is you,"
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, receiving no reply. Marissa just crossed her arms and stared at him with a vague look on her face."You think I deserved to get kicked off of the team, don't you?"
"Gee, I guess you had to figure that out somehow." she said with a straight face. She was going to give it to him, plain and simple. "It's sort of too much of a coincidence. I could hear Lastik call the play all the way from the sidelines. It's hard to believe that you couldn't hear it when you were right next to him. I mean, I don't exactly have superhuman hearing, so I don't know how you, of all people, could miss it. That plus the fact that you've never blocked for Rev right before just doesn't add up too well."
"You're siding with them?" Ray said. "Just my luck, isn't it? You know, I never thought you'd sell me out for a reason to get on the good side of these guys—"
"Believe what you want," she snarled suddenly, slapping him with every bit of weight she could put behind her arm—which was a lot, considering that very same arm lifted her up doing countless flips nearly every day. Had she been in a normal mood, she would have apologized, but she wasn't feeling normal at all. She was fed up. "This is really it," she said, narrowing her eyes in disgust, finally seeing the vile, hateful person standing in front of her. "I've really had enough this time," She turned towards the door and left. Now, everyone in the place was staring.
"Nice move," Gerry said out loud to his former best friend as he and Alan stood up. "The girl tries to get you back on the team, and you blow it. She almost had us convinced, too," Then, they got up and left as well. Alan ran and caught up with Marissa, who had parked across the street.
"Was that a break-up I just witnessed?" he asked.
"Honestly, I don't care what it was," Marissa sneered. "I don't know. I need to talk to somebody,"
* * * * *
"You did what?" Rev said as he and Marissa walked over to their first class of the day. "You hit him? What were you thinking?"
"Well, when I got hit, I wouldn't have usually swung back, but I couldn't think straight. I sort of went crazy," Marissa muttered, "But I meant all of it. I've had enough of his hissy fits every time I talk to other people. Now, let's get over it, okay? I'm more upset about the fact that I left my orange juice at the counter—I paid for it, and I couldn't even finish it." She laughed. Rev opened the door for her, and it must have been the shock of everyone's life, seeing Marissa so happy just after the big split. Apparently, word had spread about the scene at Hal's, as gossip often does among teenagers, and everyone was expecting the big "kiss and make up" scene to happen before class started so the day could go about as usual. But they certainly hadn't expected this. Instead of her usual seat between Ray and Emma, she sat down by Rev and Alan.
"I can't believe you actually did that," Alan laughed while the teacher was already lecturing in full blast about poetry in preparation for their unit on Shakespeare.
"Too bad," Marissa laughed, "He didn't even get a chance to notice my hair,"
"Excuse me," said Mrs. Hector, "What would you be talking about in the middle of my class?" Mrs. Hector actually didn't dislike Marissa, but seeing as she was one of the only girls who got passing grades in her class, she liked to make an example of her.
"Poetry?" Marissa said, trying to mask a laugh. "The different kinds and—stuff,"
"You think you would mind coming up and presenting an example of a poem with a meter?" Mrs. Hector said.
Marissa giggled and cleared her throat, reciting a most interesting limerick.
"There once was a man from Nantucket,
Who kept all his cash in a bucket
He got really lucky
And moved to Kentucky
Move back to Nantucket?
Aw, f—"
"Perhaps something more meaningful?" Mrs. Hector interrupted.
"Well, I'm sure I could do that," Marissa laughed. "Of course, I might need a little time," "You have ten minutes. By the end of the lesson, I expect you to come up here and share your findings with the class,"
"Yes ma'am," Marissa said, flipping opening her book "This is your fault," she muttered at Alan. He wrote a little note in the corner of his notebook— You're welcome.
The ten minutes came and went, and Marissa hoped Mrs. Hector had forgotten, but she apparently hadn't. One second after her ten minutes, Mrs. Hector looked at her and called for her.
"I assume that nothing in your poem rhymes with bucket or Nantucket?" she laughed. Marissa just smiled brightly.
"Why don't she finish the old one?" Alan laughed, "I never learned what happened to the guy from Nantucket,"
"That's for discussing after class," Mrs. Hector said. "Now you can start, Miss Donovan."
"Well, I was just thinking," she said, resting her elbows on the podium at the front of the room, "And I can show you all exactly what they mean by meter. I mean, meter is the same thing as a beat, so I have the perfect example," She smirked. "Alan, get your butt up here," Alan looked at her and raised his eyebrow, walking up slowly.
"What do you think you're doing?" he muttered.
"I'm showing you how grateful I am to you for getting me into this," she whispered with a smile. "Now," she said, more loudly, "What can you think of that has a beat?" she smiled.
"The cheer?' he said unsurely. Marissa nodded, smiling slyly. "You mean, you're making me do the cheer?"
"Exactly," Marissa laughed, going back to her seat. She tried in vain not to laugh as Alan stood up there alone. Of course, she and Rev played his echo, because that was the best part of the cheer. By the end, nearly everyone was laughing. Marissa, still rosy-cheeked and short of breath, stood up. "I could have used any cheer, or any song if I wanted to, but then I wouldn't have had the chance to embarrass Alan," she laughed, putting an arm around his shoulder.
"That was good," Alan laughed, coming up to her and shaking his head.
"Let's call it even," she said. "We're square,"
The rest of the class was spent just talking, since Mrs. Hector couldn't seem to get the class back in order. By the time the class period ended, Alan, Rev, and Marissa, had already named every flavor of ice cream they knew, and had started talking about the most random things.
When Marissa left the classroom, she walked down to her History class as fast as she could. She took her seat and rested her face on her hand, leaning away from Ronnie.
"What's this I've heard about you hitting Ray this morning?" he asked, elbowing her jokingly, "And I thought you didn't like playing rough with the boys,"
"Only because he hit me first," Marissa laughed dryly, leaning farther away and trying to conceal the other side of her face.
"What?" Ronnie said, eyes bulging out slightly. "Quit messing. That ain't anything to laugh about." Apparently, that hadn't been the answer he was looking for."He hit you? Show me the other side of your face." Marissa just scooted a couple of inches away, rolling her eyes. "Look, Missy, I hate to boss you around, but I'm telling you to move your goddamn hand,"
Marissa flinched, brushed her hair out of the way and turned her other cheek towards him, her eyes wide at the language he had just used towards her. Then, he saw it. It wasn't so dark that it completely offset her face, but it was a big bruise that spanned her entire cheek, and it was dark enough.
"He did that?" Sunshine said, squinting at the bruise.
"Look, I just ain't in the mood to talk," she said. "I didn't get breakfast. Maybe at lunch, all right?" She turned away, back to her book.
The class seemed to go by slower than any other. She couldn't talk to Sunshine, because she knew he'd just go on and on, saying that he told her so. Lunch was the most welcome thing in the world. She was glad to walk down to the cafeteria with Gerry, Julius, and Sunshine, instead of hanging around her locker waiting for Ray. To top it off, they met up with Alan, Rev, Petey, Louie, and Blue. Together, they easily took up more than half of a table.
"This is so much better then getting stuck with Ray at lunch," she laughed, "I mean, he's one guy. Who needs one when you have eight? I think it's a pretty fair trade," She took a bite of her turkey sandwich and smiled brightly. She laughed as soon as she had finished the bite and leaned against Sunshine, who still seemed to be doting on the bruise on her face.
"Glad to see you feeling so much better," Rev said, sitting on her other side, "But that bruise ain't looking too great. It's still the color of a grape."
"What kind of grape?" Marissa asked, "The green kind? You can't go wrong with the green ones."
"I think he means the dark ones." Petey said. "You know, the purple kind you make wine out of."
"Ew," Marissa muttered. "I hate that color. It reminds me of a stain I got on my cheerleading sweater once—but that came from grape jelly." Then, she burst out laughing. She hadn't been so comfortable and energetic outside of pep rallies since she and Ray had become "official".
"So, I wanted to run something by you," Gerry said, "I had this idea—we're going to give Ray the official brush off,"
"Brush off?" she asked. "Is that tradition or something?" Back at her old high school, people got kicked off of teams all the time, and there was always some kind of ritual, like a de-initiation, she called it.
"More like spite," Alan said. "And let's face it, Missy. If anyone here's got a reason to want to spite the guy, it's you,"
"Oh, I'm so glad you asked, then," she laughed, "I mean, I have so many ideas. Just get the whole team to that empty lot across the street from my house. Let's get started,"
* * * * *
"Why am I the one who has to tell him?" Marissa whined. "I don't feel like talking to him. He just maimed my face!"
"Well, it's closest to your house, so it's the only way," Alan said, "Besides, you're the only one he'll listen to You said you wanted to help."
"Okay," she sighed. Then, she took a deep breath and walked over to Ray's locker, where he was dropping his things off.
"Hey," he said, "You forgive me?"
"I wouldn't count on it," Marissa said, crossing her arms. "Meet at Marsh Field at five o'clock—The one across the street from my house." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, but she didn't react with anything more than a step backwards. She wiped her face furiously with her sleeve, turned and walked away. "Let's go," she said, grabbing Alan and Gerry by their sleeves while the rest of the group followed behind. "We've got planning to do,"