"Twisted Joy: The Rules"
The first day of school is always the worst. Julie Yorke agreed wholeheartedly as she walked in through the front doors of the private high school. The year before, her best friend had been arrested and hauled off to some juvie boys' detention camp where he went through some odd sort of rehab. He'd been cleared of the charges and brought home, but Stanley had changed dramatically. Immediately upon his return, his dad struck it rich with a cure for foot odor, and they came into more money than even the wealthiest occupants of Demire had ever had.
Unfortunately for her, Stanley Yelnats the fourth had been her only friend at the private school. So she walked in, bag slung over her back, book clutched to her chest, trying not to let her lip quiver.
She opened her locker and stuffed her things inside. Closing it, she rested her head against the cool metal and sighed. She'd changed quite a bit over the summer. Undergoing a growth spurt, she'd put on nearly four inches, making her five and a half feet tall in her stocking feet. Her long brown hair had been dyed black and blue and had been cut off at her earlobes. She thought she was quite a bit prettier than she had been at the end of the previous year. She'd pierced her ears and her cartilage, and learned how to use dark makeup to great effect. Her sister said she'd gone Goth.
Hearing an astonished murmur near the doors down the hall, she looked up, jolted out of her thoughts as her heart leapt up hopefully. A large crowd was blocking her view of the door, so she pushed through to see. She stopped short when she saw Stanley, looking extremely proud of himself, and a group of six others.
Her grey eyes widened as she stared at her former best friend. He was leaner and taller, and as handsome as he'd always been. But right then, he had a self-satisfied smirk on his face that did not belong there. "Yes. These are my friends. This is Rex, and Pit, Zig, Squid, and Magnet. And this is my best friend, Hector."
Something in her chest burst and Julie couldn't hold her tongue, or her temper, any longer. "Best friend?" she repeated, voice low and cold. All attention turned to her and several pairs of eyes widened. "Strange, isn't it, how easily you replaced me?"
The one he'd called Pit whistled. She turned her icy glare on him and he paled under his dark skin. "Joy?" Stanley's eyes performed the look-over she'd become accustomed to since she'd sprouted. She lifted an eyebrow in acknowledgement, but stayed cool. "You look...wow."
She snorted inelegantly and spun on her heel, shoving through the crowd, away from him. He'd been gone nine months, and already she was old news. She, who'd known him all her life, who'd stayed his friend even when he'd had to move into that dingy little apartment and share a room with his grandfather. She, who'd stuck up for him when the bullies at school picked on him. She'd taken a beating for him once or twice in their friendship too. And this was how he thanked her? By leaving her behind and finding himself a new best friend. A boy best friend.
"Joy, wait!" he called after her. She kept going. He put one hand on her arm and she spun, resisting the urge to lash out at him.
"Don't touch me," she said slowly. "And don't call me Joy. My name is Julie. Only my friends are allowed to call me Joy." She stressed 'friends.' Julie was quickly losing a hold on her anger and it was morphing into tears.
"Julie, then," he repeated. "I called your house. I wanted to introduce you to my friends before the summer ended."
"The number was disconnected," she interrupted. "Dad didn't pay the bill. Dad never pays the bills. Ever since Mom left, he's been using the utilities money to buy booze. But you wouldn't know that, would you? You went off and left the real world behind. You left me behind, Stanley Yelnats the fourth. And this time, there's no going back." She brushed her dark hair back from her face and walked away.
"Joy..." she heard him try once more.
"My name," she repeated, "is Julie." He sighed and she turned the corner, trying hard not to cry. She'd ruin her makeup.
First period was boring. She sat in the back row, next to the window. Damn alphabetical seating. She stared out at the sunny schoolyard and sighed heavily. What she wouldn't give to be at the air-conditioned mall with Stanley, like in the old days. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and noticed him looking at her. Or maybe not at her, she realized. His new best friend was on her other side. Last name started with a Z. Seems like all of his friends were in the same first period. She ignored them devoutly.
She had meant what she'd said, in an odd way. There was no returning to the past. She'd been abandoned by her mother. Abandonment by her best friend was just the next step.
A piece of paper folded into a triangle landed between her elbows. She looked down at it in mild surprise and automatically unfolded it.
We need to talk.
She balled it into a crumpled mess and set it on the corner of her desk for disposal. She did not want to talk to him. She tuned back into what the teacher was saying. "...a detailed oral report on the other's life thus far. With a longer written report to be handed in the week after the oral reports. Now, I've already paired you up, so let's get started." For a long moment, Julie panicked. If he'd paired her with Stanley, she might very well die. Though she could easily do the report without his help, it would mean she had to talk to him again, and she wasn't willing to do that just yet. She blanked out the list until she heard her own name being called. "Julie Yorke and Hector Zeroni."
Now that was something she hadn't anticipated. To be stuck with her old best friend's new best friend. This was going to be interesting. But the teacher wasn't through yet. "No, wait, that's one too many. Hector, you'll be working with Stanley. Julie, I'll have you work with Alan Smith."
"Huh?" she blurted eloquently. The gangly brunet Stanley had called Squid turned around and winked at her. She stiffened in her chair.
"I said you'll be working with Alan Smith, so I can give Deirdre a partner. She isn't here today." Julie shook her head and looked down. "Any problems with that, Miss Yorke?"
"No, sir," she sighed.
"Good, now sit with your partners and start your interviews. You have a half hour." Alan Smith smirked and beckoned to her, indicating the chair next to himself. Julie raised an eyebrow and shook her head, tilting it towards the recently vacated seat of Hector "Friend-Stealer" Zeroni. Her partner seemed surprised; so surprised that he actually got up and came back to her.
"Good luck working with the battle-ax, Squid," Stanley said scathingly, his comment more for her than for him. Julie ignored him completely.
"Why does he call you Squid?" she asked without preamble.
"Nickname. We all got 'em at camp."
"What's his?" she asked without thinking.
"Caveman," he replied innocently. Her indelicate snort of laughter was heard across the room.
"Something funny about your partner's life, Miss Yorke?"
"No, sir. Something funny about my own." She lowered her voice. "But your real name is Alan. Which do you like being called better?"
"Truth be told, I'm not sure. I like Squid, but only from my friends. Call me Alan for now." She nodded absently. "Your nickname's Joy, right?" She stiffened so fast he thought he'd said something taboo. "If you don't mind my asking-"
"My initials are J.O.Y.," she said before he'd completed the question. "Juliet Ophelia Yorke. My mother was a Shakespeare nut. I got in the way of one of her obsessive phases. I used to let people call me Joy before Mom ran off, because I was happy then. The name doesn't fit any more." Her voice was quiet, and he was loathe to interrupt her when she was being so open. He didn't want to say the wrong thing and have her go all mean on him like she had with Stanley earlier. "When we were little, Stanley and I called each other by our initials. We have the same middle initial, did you know? Only his middle name's Owen, not Ophelia. He called me Joy, I called him Soy. It was our own game." She sighed and blinked sadly. "We grew up next door to each other, and then his dad developed an obsessive need to cure foot odor..." She trailed off suddenly and spun in her seat. "Didn't your mother teach you that eavesdropping is rude?" she snapped.
"Like your life is all that interesting," Stanley retorted.
"You used to think so," she shot back. Then she turned and stared stonily at her desk. Squid spent the rest of the period discussing his own early years to fill the sullen silence left by her outburst. She didn't even look at him when the bell rang. She only picked up her bag, got up, and left.
Stanley stopped him before he could head to the next class. The others stayed behind as well. "I thought you said she was friendly," Magnet commented, looking after her. "You sure that ice princess and your friend Joy are the same person?"
Stanley looked after her thoughtfully. "Something else is going on. She obviously has some abandonment issues. And she's gone completely Goth. But that's definitely Joy."
"The only thing that the ice princess and the picture you showed us of Joy have in common is looks. Sort of. You weren't lying when you said she was a looker," X-Ray put in. "Of course, now she hates you, and we're guilty by association." Stanley nodded absently, a plan starting to form in his mind.
"I have an idea."
"Uh-oh," Squid teased. Stanley punched his arm.
"Since you're still crashing at my house, I'd be nicer. I'm having a study party tonight. And she'll be the guest of honor."
"Uh, I hate to be the one to bust your bubble, Caveman," Zigzag spoke up. "But she hates you, remember?"
"Yeah, but she loves my mom. So if I have Mom invite her over when she comes to pick us up after school, she won't say no."
"She won't be mysteriously 'busy?'" Squid asked.
"She hasn't seen my mom since the month before I was sent to camp. Ten months. With her own mother gone, she'd rather dive into a yellow-spotted lizard pit than say no to mine," Stanley replied with satisfaction.
Julie practically ran out of the building after the day was over. She had every single one of her classes with her former best friend and she couldn't escape him. Her own fault, she remembered. They'd scheduled their classes the year before, when they'd still been close. And it looked like he'd managed to get all of his new friends into all of his classes, so she was stuck with them too. The only reprieve she'd had from them was at lunch, when she'd hidden in the girls' toilet.
A car horn blared and she looked up in irritation, which quickly melted into delight. She ran over to the oversized van and leaned into the window. "Mrs. Yelnats! It's so good to see you again!"
"Well, my word, Julie Yorke! But aren't you a pretty picture! You've grown." Julie flushed. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
"Yes, it has."
"Hop in. Tell me about how you've been since I saw you last. You can come to the house with us for some lemonade, and then I'll drive you home." Julie blushed, but as Stanley had prophesied, she couldn't refuse. She opened the door and climbed into the front seat. "So, what have you been up to since Stanley left for camp?"
"Mom left," she said slowly. "For good this time, it looks like. Dad's been drinking more often now, and the phones got cancelled." Words continued to tumble out of Julie's mouth and before she knew it, before any of the boys had even reached the car, she'd poured out her whole miserable nine months to her former best friend's mother, who was better than her own.
The back doors slid open as she was struggling to control herself and Stanley's mom turned to talk to them. By the time she'd regained control, they were leaving the school parking lot. "What time does your dad expect you home, honey?"
"If he comes out of his drunken stupor enough to realize I'm gone, I consider myself lucky," she muttered darkly.
"That bad?" Stanley ventured from the back seat, squished between Armpit, who was easily the largest of his new friends, and Hector, who was easily the smallest. For his mother's sake, she was sweet.
"Yeah," she said softly. "It's that bad. It's why Cordie was so eager to go to college in another state."
"Did she get into Yale, like she planned?" Mrs. Yelnats asked.
"Full ride. I can't wait to get out of here too. She's got a boyfriend now, did I tell you? Some rich guy who's so desperately in love with her that he's willing to send me money to keep her happy." She was sounding more like her old self now that the conversation was away from her father. "Sent me a check this month for five hundred dollars. I bought my supplies and clothes and still had enough left for groceries." She shrugged. "Cordie always was lucky with her friends."
That was it. She refused to say anything else the whole ride to the Yelnats' new house, and no one wanted to push their luck. She stared out the window with a dreamy look on her face, her grey eyes distant.
Stanley's grandfather waved from the driveway, and stared in open astonishment when she got out. "Is that Julie I see?"
"Grappa!" she cried, using the old name she'd used as a baby. She hugged the old man and for a moment, her smile was quite her own again. He hugged back and released her abruptly, wandering off down the drive. She quickly fell silent and dreamy again.
"Come on inside for some lemonade, honey. I'm sure you need to study."
"We'll all study together," Stanley said.
"What a great idea!" his mother exclaimed before Julie could protest. Instead, she smiled and nodded meekly.
Before she could say a word, Stanley had grabbed one arm firmly and Squid the other, and they were towing her up the stairs. The others followed behind with refreshments. One out of his mom's hearing, she attempted to jerk free. "Just because I love your mom doesn't mean I've changed my mind about you, Stanley," she hissed when they two boys wouldn't let go.
"I know," he said, eyes glittering strangely. He dragged her into a huge room and finally released her. She went to a far corner and dropped into a tailor's seat with her back against a wall. Drawing her bag into her lap, she pulled out the journal she'd kept since she was five (in a series of books) and tried to ignore the boys.
When someone handed her a pillow, her head snapped up. "I remember you always used to put a pillow on your lap when you wrote in your journal," Stanley explained. She accepted it wordlessly and went back to writing.
My life is horror. I've lost everything. First Cordie, then Mom...I'm losing Dad, and I've driven Stanley away. My clothes aren't the only thing that's gotten darker. My heart has too. And I don't know how to stop it. I don't know how to be me anymore.
The first day was a nightmare, as it always is. Stanley showed up, all cool, with a bunch of new friends that are actually living with him for the school year. He's got a new best friend, and I'm just yesterday's news. Always yesterday's news.
Dad hit me this morning when I asked him for money for lunch. Told me he wouldn't give his favorite dog money for lunch if it dressed like a dyke. It was all I could do to keep from crying and smearing my makeup. I don't look that bad...do I? I mean, I rather like my new hair, and my makeup is fun. Cordie says it makes me look more mysterious. So I escaped to the girls' room for lunch, to avoid having to watch everybody else eat.
May invited me over to have lemonade, but I think she'd going to make me stay for dinner. Actually, from the look on her face. I'll be lucky if she lets me go home tonight. Just like in the old days.
She couldn't contain the sniffle anymore. She had to bite her lip to keep the tears in check, and only just managed it. Looking up, she watched the boys study diligently and wished it was the old days again. When her dad was sober and her mom was still around. When Stanley and she would get together to study for the classes they had together.
She sighed and rubbed her forehead. The door opened. "Julie, honey, someone would like to speak to you." Confused, she got to her feet and took the phone from May.
"Hello?"
Hi, sweetheart, it's me.
"Cordie? What's going on?"
May called me and told me everything you told her. Joy, I don't want you going back home tonight. May has offered to house you until you can talk to child services. Tomorrow morning, she'll take you to pick up some stuff. Until I get there, you're staying with the Yelnats'.
"Cordie, I'll be fine. It's no big deal."
Don't argue with me. I know you love Stanley, so it will be no big problem.
"I don't," she forced herself to say. "I hate him and everything he's done to me in the past nine months. I'm not speaking to him, and I...I..." She took a deep breath.
You're staying with the Yelnats'. Dad will never notice that you're gone. And that is final, young lady. With a decisive click, her sister hung up the phone. Growling, Julie did the same and handed it back to May. Muttering bitterly under her breath, she re-entered the room and stalked to her corner.
"I'm sure Stanley will let you borrow some of his clothes until we get yours," May offered gently before she left.
Julie waited until she was sure the woman was out of earshot before she replied. "I'd rather rot, thanks."
"What's she talking about?"
"You're stuck with me until my sister can come take care of me," she snapped. "And I wouldn't be caught dead in your clothes."
"Dinner in twenty minutes!"
Amid the chorus of "awesome," Julie's voice rose. "I'm not hungry!" she shouted angrily. Then she pulled her knees up and rested her math book on them. Big mistake, on her part, trying to sweeten her mood with her worst subject. After five minutes, Hector looked up just in time to duck and save himself a braining by the flying textbook. It struck the wall with a heavy thud.
"I'm going to assume you didn't aim that at me deliberately," he said slowly.
"Assume whatever you want," she snapped.
For the first time in her life, Stanley Yelnats the fourth revealed that he did, indeed, have a temper. "Look, Juliet, I don't know what your problem is. You've been my best friend since we were babies, and I didn't think nine months apart was going to change that. You're bitter and cynical and dark, and I don't like it. This has to stop before you kill someone!" Instead of shouting at him, she seemed to diminish with each word. She shrank back into her corner and covered her head with her hands. His tirade stopped when he realized her antics. "Jules?"
"Don't hit me," she whispered. "I'll be good, I promise." The silence was echoing. Stanley crossed the room and squatted in front of her. He put a gentle hand on her arm, pushing it away from her face.
"Jules?"
"I'm sorry. I...I didn't mean to lose my temper. I just...I was so excited to see you. I spent all summer trying to be prettier, so maybe someone besides you would notice me. Maybe someone at all would notice I was a girl. And then you came back with a new best friend, and I just couldn't take it." She handed him her latest journal and folded his hands around it. "Maybe this will explain it better. I...I have to go wash."
She got up and left the room, wandering down the hall in search of a bathroom. She washed her face clean of all the makeup and stared at her pale reflection. A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. A bit dramatic, but his yelling at her had just started an automatic cower-and-protect response. Without the dark makeup, unfortunately, the fading bruise around her eye was more visible.
From the bathroom, she entered someone's bedroom. She had no idea if it was Stanley's or one of the others', but she didn't much care at that point. She grabbed a shirt and jeans that she thought might fit her and went back into the bathroom to change. With her own depressing clothes folded over one arm, she walked slowly back to the rec room.
"Um, I hope no one minds, but I borrowed some clothes..." She halted when she realized that they were all staring at her. She flushed slightly.
"You look different without all the makeup," commented Magnet. She tried a smile. His eyes widened. "And you look angelic when you smile!" Her face flooded with color.
"Um, thank you. I think. I hope no one minds that I borrowed their clothes. I have nothing else to wear, and as my sister is forcing me to stay here..."
"You're welcome to them," X-Ray commented, letting his eyes tell her what he was really thinking. "I'm not going to miss one shirt and a pair of jeans."
"Thanks," she said, tossing her clothes into a corner. She combed her fingers through her hair and sighed, going back to her corner with her clothes and leaning against the wall.
"This is an interesting read, to say the least," Stanley remarked suddenly, flipping the black book closed and waving it in the air. His eyes glittered at her oddly, amused and something else. She smiled sweetly. "I had no idea how you really felt." She shrugged, but her smile held.
"I was going through a rough time. It was everyone's fault but my own. Don't worry. Half the stuff in there is completely irrational."
"And the other half? 'God, what I wouldn't give to have him see me as a girl for once in my life.'" He quoted.
"Ahem," she replied. "You aren't supposed to read it out loud, you know. Actually, you weren't really supposed to actually read it. I figured you'd skim over it like you do other books."
"And miss out on a chance to find out who your secret crush is?" he teased. She shook her head.
"Sorry, Yelnats, but even I'm not silly enough to write that down." He shrugged.
"Had to try. So I suppose that means you aren't going to tell me?"
She stared at him as if he were looney, and suddenly smiled wickedly. "I'll tell if you will," she finally said, making her oldest friend go pasty. Then his face cleared.
"I don't think that's public knowledge," he remarked hastily. She nodded.
"Good, just so you know my terms."
Stanley sat back and caught Magnet's eye. He raised an eyebrow, and his Latino friend smirked. "Yo, X-Ray. Truth or Dare?" None of the boys batted an eye, and Julie immediately sensed the expert trap that she'd fallen into. She shot Stanley a glare, which he ignored.
"Truth."
"Why do you hate your real name so much?"
"Because my dad chose it," he said casually. "And I hate my dad. And no, I don't want to talk about it. Squid, truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"What did you really think when you saw Miss Julie this morning?" Forcefully controlling her blush, Julie waited patiently for his answer.
He muttered something she couldn't quite make out. X-Ray poked him in the side, and he sighed. "I thought she was hot." When she didn't react, he quickly strove to turn the attention away from himself and his tomato-red face. "Pit, truth or dare?"
"Dare."
"Oh, a first victim." He drummed his fingers on his leg idly as he thought up a fitting dare for his large friend. "I dare you to wear one of Zero's shirts for a whole day." The others fell over laughing at this, while Julie merely watched, not comprehending.
"Fine. Mag, truth or dare?"
"Truth," Magnet said immediately.
"Dude, what's your real name?"
"I was hoping you wouldn't ask me that. All right, seeing as I'm under oath...Maria Rodriguez. Jose is what I begged my mom to let me change it to." Even Julie had to hide laughter at that one. "Now you know why I like being called Magnet. Zig, man, truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"You guys are weak, man! All right...what did the aliens say when they took you aboard the mothership?"
"Dude, I'm paranoid, not insane. Ask a real question."
Magnet laughed. "I saw you talking to your speech partner at lunch. Do you have a thing for her?"
"I just met her, so no, I don't have a thing for her. Caveman, truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Is it true that you sometimes dream about your best friend Julie?" Stanley coughed and Julie tilted her head to one side, watching him carefully. He met her eyes.
"Yes," he whispered.
"Well, at least I know you didn't completely forget me while you were gone," she said calmly. His eyes thanked her silently. Then they sparkled. "Now, come on! That's not fair!"
"Joy, truth or dare."
"Dare, damn you."
"I've got you trapped no matter what you choose, you know."
"Soy, your dares have always been weak sauce. I can handle them. I will not answer the question you would have asked had I chosen truth."
"Yes, well, this time I have six friends with devious minds to help me think up a dare worthy of you."
She faked a yawn. "Confer, then, by all means. I'll go help your mom with dinner." She got up and left and the boys traded wicked grins. Julie trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Can I help?"
"You can set the table. I assume the boys are still studying?"
"Not precisely. We started a game. Thanks, by the way. For letting me stay here, I mean."
"Honey, you're like my own child. I couldn't very well let you go back to that place, to a man who isn't your father anymore. You're always welcome in my home."
Julie grabbed the plates and started setting the table. She felt better. Even knowing she couldn't stay truly mad at Stanley for long hadn't prepared her for how good it felt to be around him again. She'd missed him desperately since he'd been away.
"Dinner!"
The thunder of feet on the stairs announced the arrival of the seven boys. They each took a chair, and Julie was left to choose. "Aren't you eating with us, Mom?" Stanley asked.
"Dad, Grappa, and I are eating on the patio," she replied. She set down the huge bowls of noodles and pasta sauce and left.
Julie grabbed a scoop of pasta and dumped it on her plate. She salted it and proceeded to start eating while the others helped themselves. "No sauce?" Squid asked.
"Joy has a thing about tomatoes," Stanley filled in for her, having her mouth full. "She doesn't like 'em. At all." She nodded and continued to eat. "You're not worried about your dare, are you?"
She raised an eyebrow at him. "If you embarrass me, you know what happens," she shrugged. It was an old issue between the two friends. There were consequences for anything too humiliating. There were always consequences. She sighed. "I might as well hear it," she added, taking another bite of pasta.
He waited with a delicious smile on his face until she had swallowed. She picked up her water. "Hold off on that. I don't need another shower today." She obeyed and refrained from drinking for the moment. "Remember that it was a collaborative effort, not just me."
"Tell me," she ordered. He leaned over and whispered in her ear. Her eyes widened, but she didn't otherwise react. "Consequences," she squeaked. "What're the consequences?" she squeaked. Magnet sighed happily.
"We hoped you'd ask."
"Why do I get an exceedingly bad feeling about this?" she asked rhetorically.
"Because you should," Stanley sighed. "And I swear, I had nothing to do with the devising of the consequences."
"All right. I suppose I may as well hear this and get it over with."
"The consequences are six-fold. Stanley wanted no part of it, so only six. One task for each of us. We're allowed to say what, when, etcetera," X-Ray began.
"We promise, no sexual favors," Magnet teased. "Though it would be nice..." he added wistfully.
"Get real," she inserted.
"And you have to do it. You know the rules."
Julie sighed. "Great." She glanced at Stanley. "Well, at least I have one less request to deal with," she added. "I'm done." She got up from the table and took her plate into the kitchen. Then she wandered out onto the patio.
The adults were farther off, so she had relative solitude. She sat down with her legs hanging off the edge and smiled. In only an hour, her life had taken a sudden uprising. She hadn't been so happy in almost a year.
"Joy?"
"Yeah?" she asked, turning around.
"I really missed you."
"I missed you too. You have no idea how much."
"I might have some," he replied, sitting down next to her. She sighed and leaned on his shoulder.
"I really have to do this, hm?" she asked absently. He put an arm around her shoulder and smiled, putting his chin on top of her head. She heaved another sigh. "Well, I've dug my own grave."
"You know the rules. And you did choose Dare."