Chapter Two – A Night in Massachusetts

Saturday approached slowly, but eventually arrived, enabling Amy and Allison to forget their ever-plummeting grades and the disappointed looks on their teachers' faces when they walked by. Amy was hell bent on getting Allison out more, so she spent the night on Saturday. The girls drove out to rent anime movies, Amy drove past the video store, past the Chinese restaurant, past the many divisions of beach houses, even past the bridge that went over the state line. Where was this girl going?

"Hey, Amy? You wanna tell me where we're headed?" Allison said, confused.

Amy nodded. "The Riverview Café. The best place for us freaks to hang out on a Saturday night." She glanced around to make sure that there were no cops before flooring the accelerator.

Allison scrambled for her seatbelt. She'd been in drag races before – loved them – but Amy just wasn't self-controlled enough to keep them from going off the road and into the deep blue sea. Allison wasn't religious (okay she was wiccan but I had like 9 people tell me I shouldn't put that in), but Amy's behavior on the road always convinced her to say her prayers.

But regardless of how reckless the driver was, going ninety-eight miles an hour down a deserted blacktop ribbon in coastal Mass. was a rush for anyone.

Allison was very sorry when it ended. She and Amy stayed in the car for a few minutes, waiting for the aftershock to wear a bit. When they got out, Allison had to walk around a bit before she could move her legs correctly. As they walked to the door, Allison at the Riverview Café.

It was a small white house with the ocean just behind it. It had a low porch and blue shutters. There was a screen door and a sign out front with 'Riverview Café' painted in cobalt. All that was missing was a couple of pigs and a rocking chair on the veranda.

Could anyone say Hicksville?

"Amy have you been smoking anything lately?"

Amy smirked. "Don't judge a book by its cover. Come on." She gripped Allison's arm and pulled her to the front door.

"Step into my parlor," said the Spider to the Fly.

The Riverview was nothing like Allison had expected it to be. Yes, the inside as well as out was clearly the Lunch Counter, but the people couldn't have been farther from it. The people were as down-to-earth and eccentric as they came. Many of them looked barely eighteen, but alcohol was out and smoke filled the air.

Amy had explained that the Riverview was, from nine AM to nine PM, an actual restaurant. The interior spoke to that, with booths and a large kitchen designed to serve food for several people. There was even a pie display, but the pie had been taken out for the evening. But according to Amy, from Friday through Sunday, about a half hour after the Café closed, the owner's twenty-three year-old brother opened it back up to the pariahs of NH.

Allison called her cousin Sophia (13), when Amy, who'd all but forbidden her to contact Anyone, wasn't looking. She'd been off flirting with some guy who wrote poetry and had blue spikes in his hair. Sophia told her to be back by dawn and not to let Amy drive.

Allison left for the car to retrieve her notebook when a towheaded boy sitting on the counter stopped her.

"Where are you goin', darlin'?" he asked.

Allison almost laughed. His accent was definitely South Carolina, thick as hominy. "Just out to get a notebook."

"Homework?" he asked incredulously, wiggling his eyebrows.

Allison smiled. "Yeah, right," she scoffed. "Actually, it's fanfiction." She didn't wait for his reply, hurrying quickly through the dark parking lot. She hated to be outside in the dark, and watching a KaZaA download of the movie The Ring didn't make matters better. She hastily grabbed the notebook from the back seat. A hand closed onto her shoulder and she promptly let out a scream, flailing, running into the Riverview like the devil himself were after her.

Amy, who'd been laughing, lounging in the back corner, sat up abruptly, climbing over Jason, the blue-haired poet, to get to Allison. "Al? Allie, Allie, Allison," she said quickly when she reached her friend, trying to settle the other girl down, whose eyes were as wide as saucers and showed signs of potential crying. "What happened?" she asked firmly.

As if on cue, the platinum-blond from before burst inside. Amy's eyes snapped to him. "What the hell did you do?" she growled.

"I didn't do anything," he said defensively.

"Like hell," Amy spat. "There's a reason she's as jumpy as a virgin at a prison rodeo. I ask again, what the fuck did you do?"

Allison's heart rate had gone back to normal by then, and she quickly cut into the boy's apologies. "It's fine, Amy. He just followed me outside. Let it go."

Amy's eyes went back to Allison. "You sure you're okay?"

Allison smiled and touched Amy's arm tentatively. "I'm fine."

Amy stared at her in the space of a few heartbeats before glaring at the boy. "Do anything else fucked up, and I'll string you up by your favorite body part and see how many cigarette burns you can take without screaming." Without another word, she stalked back to her spot in the far booth.

"I really am sorry," the boy said guiltily. "She really cares about you, huh?"

Merry smiled and chuckled softly. "Yeah. Amy's a violent person, if you hurt someone she loves . . . let's just say she doesn't take it laying down." She glanced back at Amy, who was watching the boy intently. "Don't look into her eyes," Allison suggested, taking his sleeve and pulling him to a booth.

"I'm Spencer, people call me Spenc," he said.

She smiled. "Allison But everyone calls me Allison."

There was an awkward silence between them for a couple of moments, but Spencer opened the conversation.

"So what fanfiction do you write?"

Allison pushed herself against the wall and drew her knees up. "Mostly it's Saiyuki."

Spencer made a face. "Saiyuki? Couldn't I, just for once, meet a girl who wasn't obsessed with that stupid series?"

Allison's mouth dropped open. "I cannot believe you just said that. And besides, who said I was obsessed?"

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that you aren't obsessed?"

"No, I am. I just want to know why you automatically assume."

He shrugged. "You don't write fanfic about something you're only vaguely interested in, do you."

The corner's of Allison's mouth turned down, a contemplative gesture. "I guess not."

She proceeded to list the reasons why Saiyuki was such a good thing, while Spencer countered every pro with an equally argumentative con. Allison had resorted to near yelling as the Riverview cleared out some. Amy and Jason came up to the two of them.

"Jason and I are going to the basement. He's got something he wants to show me."

Allison raised an eyebrow. "No drugs, Amy. I am not taking you home stoned… again."

Amy grinned. "Your no fun."

As Jason dragged her toward the kitchens, Allison called after them, "None of that, either!"

Spencer smiled. Allison rolled her eyes. Even after their debate, despite his obvious flaws, she liked him. He was funny and quick with a comeback.

"You're an idiot, you river rat."

He blew her a kiss. "Now, don't go breakin' my heart, Allison. You know you want me."

Allison smirked.

"Glad you're not so jumpy anymore."

"And whose fault is it that I was jumpy in the first place?"

Spencer's mouth dropped open in incredulity. "I apologized!" he said, voice raised.

Allison smiled broadly, glad that she could get him defensive like that. "I'm kidding, river rat. I didn't mean anything."

Spencer picked up the pen that had been lying, abandoned on the table, and began doodling figures in the margins of her notebook.

"So why are you here?" Allison asked suddenly.

Spencer looked up. "What do you mean?"

Allison sat further back in the booth and shrugged. "You just don't seem the type who would come to a place like this. Don't you have friends back in Boston?"

He went back to his drawing. "Not exactly," he said quietly.

Allison was silently chewing her lip, thinking of what to say – she had obviously touched a nerve – when Amy and Jason came back up. Allison looked at the clock on the wall. Dawn was fast approaching. "Hey, Amy, we should get going, huh?"

Amy raised an eyebrow, but one look at Allison's austere expression, and she knew she'd never hear the end of it if she refused. She kissed Jason's cheek. "I suppose I'm your humble servant, master."

Allison rolled her eyes. "Oh, I'm such a tyrant, am I?" she replied sarcastically. "And that's 'mistress.'"