July 20th
Things are changing. I can sense it. I sort of know when the chips are going to hit the fan (where did that phrase come from? I know there's a variation with swearing in it, but where did THAT come from? It doesn't even make any sense).
I think the Claudia fiasco has toned down a lot. Which is good. The stress of that was driving me insane. Plus I wasn't sleeping very well because I was stuck lying to Dad and Carol, and staying up until all hours of the night waiting for her to get back home.
But since Sunday, she's been back by ten-thirty at the latest (which is about the latest any of us are home).
I'm glad I know what's going on with Amalia, but I don't know if she told Sunny. I don't want to call Amalia, just in case she's at the hospital, but I don't want to ask Sunny if Amalia told her, just in case she hasn't. It's such an annoying, frustrating circle.
Today I went out with Stacey and Ducky. We went to that cool theatre that shows old movies on Tuesdays and saw Bringing Up Baby, which I'd seen before, a loooong time ago, but neither Stacey or Ducky had. I swear, I don't think I've heard two people laugh more at a movie in my entire life.
Afterward we went and got frozen yogurt (Stacey had a fruit bar out of a package since she couldn't tell how much sugar was in the soft serve yogurt) and talked about the drama that's been happening.
"Where's Justin?" Stacey asked. "With Kristy?"
Ducky nodded. "Yeah."
"Does it bother you that you're not getting to spend any time with him?"
"Not really," he said, "I mean, I understand that he likes hanging out with Kristy. Besides, you guys are leaving in a week and a half. Then what am I going to do with my time? Hang out with Justin, of course."
"Good point," I said. "I don't know what I'm going to do. But then again, I haven't been doing much at all."
"Then we should change that!" Stacey said. "Let's go out tonight. It's a Tuesday night, so there shouldn't be anything crazy going on."
"Like a club? Because I'm not doing that again," I said.
"You know," Ducky said, "I read about this huge outdoor party going on tomorrow in Anaheim. It's sort of like a one-day San Francisco Love Parade. They have it every year. It's all day, and it's known for it's overly wacky outfits, and the huge creativity of the costumes people put together. They had pictures from last year's, and these people were done up in spandex and feathers, and had some bird theme going on. They were talking about this one girl who hadn't actually dressed, but painted on her clothes. And got away with it for the event, even though she never would have under normal circumstances."
"That's it!" Stacey exclaimed. "Dawn, we should go to that. The three of us. Or even more. Maybe Claud would want to go. Any excuse to wear a crazy outfit, you know she's up for that."
So we got home, Claudia thought it was a great idea, and Sunny was over, hanging out with Claud and Mary Anne and SHE wanted to come. I tried to see if Amalia had talked to her yet, but she gave no clues. But you can never tell with Sunny. Not anymore.
Mary Anne didn't want to go, though. I guess after the club, one crazy party was enough.
"But I guess you're used to going to these sorts of things," she said, sounding extremely haughty and very unlike herself. It was, of course, directed at me and not anyone else.
"Not really," I said. I know at some point I'm going to have to talk to Mary Anne about this. They're leaving soon, and I don't want her to leave and us be in this semi-fighting state.
Claud started putting together outfits and Ducky found the article in the newspaper. He spread it out for the rest of us to read. It DID sound like fun. It sort of sounded like the Bash, but a little wilder, not such a family event.
Ducky called Justin and Kristy. Justin agreed to come, but Kristy said no thanks. I think the idea of more sunlight turned her off from it. I don't think she's ever been more sunburnt in her life.
Claudia wants to go to the thrift store for costume ideas.
July 21st
So. Tired. Had so much fun, but I'm beat! It's almost eleven, but I called Dad to tell him we were running late and he appreciated it, and he said that he hadn't even noticed. Which, well, I appreciated, but I had to admit I felt a little hurt because he didn't realize we were still gone. Or maybe just didn't realize the time.
But the party thing was awesome. I'm so glad I decided to go. And I'm so glad I wore the outfit Claudia picked out for me. I wasn't sure about it, but in the end, it was fantastic.
I was wearing green plaid pants (Claudia's), a black tank top, and my platform sneakers. Then, something that Claudia had found here in a costume shop, I had ripped up, mesh fairy wings. My makeup was all done in blue, and then my eyelids and lips were coated in glitter. I wore a black fedora with most of my hair pulled up into it, so it looked like my hair only went about halfway down my neck (Dad nearly had a heart attack when he saw my hair. He actually liked the rest of the outfit.) I looked like a crazy, punk fairy.
Claudia had dressed Sunny in what she called a "Gothic Lolita" outfit. I learned later that's a term for a Japanese style. She wore a short black dress that had crinoline under the skirt so it poofed out (If she moved the right way, you could see her underwear, the skirt was so poofy) with a white apron over it and had white lace around the sleeves and neckline. She wore knee high black fishnets and clunky black Mary Janes. She did Sunny's makeup in this very Japanese looking style with a white face (clashing with her tan skin, but who cares?) and black eyeliner and red lipstick. Sunny had her hair pulled up and wore a tiny black top hat on the side of her head, held on with a string that tied beneath her chin.
Stacey went with her usual brand of sophistication, and dressed entirely in black, except for a red rose she wore in the buttonhole of her blazer. I don't know how she didn't sweat all day, but her makeup was perfect. She pulled back her hair into a bun and wore a black beret over it. You couldn't even see her hair.
Ducky and Justin looked, well... gay. I said that to Stacey and she laughed at me, and agreed. Both of them were shirtless (Ducky said Justin spent about half an hour convincing him to take off his shirt), and Claudia had painted extremely realistic looking white and gold angel wings on their backs. Justin was wearing a gold halo on a headband, and both of them wore blue jeans with holes in the knees that had been bleached quite a few times.
However, none of us could beat Claudia. She had found a wedding dress that looked straight out of 1985 at the thrift store for twenty dollars. She pulled off the train, realizing that people would be stepping on it all day, but left the lacy sleeves and poofy capped shoulders. She spent an hour curling her hair with hot curlers and then teasing it and used about half a can of glitter hair spray to keep it from getting flat. She wore bright blue eyeshadow and too much blush.
If I hadn't known better, I'd say Claudia had stepped out of a time machine. If I had tried that, I would have looked like an idiot. She looked awesome.
Sunny didn't have to find someone over 21 to get us drinks, these people just assumed everyone was old enough. However, the only thing they were selling was various brands of beer. Now, I'm not a fan of alcohol. But beer is the most disgusting thing on the face of the planet. Feed me red meat and sugar before you give me a beer.
Sunny, however, didn't mind the taste at all and got one right away (even though it was only three in the afternoon). She had to hide it around the cops that were everywhere, because THEY were checking ID's.
Things turned for the worst a couple hours later when we ran into three guys from school - Cro-Mags. All it took was one look at Ducky and Justin who were holding hands, and the insults were flying.
"Lookie look! Bambi has a boyfriend!"
"Always knew he was gay! Alwaaaays!"
"Holy sh-t! Randall?"
It was just me and the guys. Sunny, Stacey, and Claudia had gone off to look at this art booth. I was trying to stare the guys down and Justin's face was set in a scowl.
"Yes, it's me."
"You're some kind of faaaag?"
"Some kind, yeah." He sort of stepped in front of Ducky, like a human shield.
The guys started taunting them, so I yelled, "Shut up, you closed minded jerks!"
They turned onto me. "I guess they're not that faggy," one of them said. "They got themselves some hottie jailbait."
The biggest one of them grabbed me and I shrieked. I tried to pull away, but he had a firm grip. My hat fell off and my hair went flying. One of the other guys, grabbed my hair and yanked on it hard. I screamed again, this time out of pain.
All of this happened in about five seconds.
Then both Ducky and Justin jumped on the huge guy and I was able to pull away. I fell into the arms of the third guy who thought this was time to shove his hands up my shirt and feel me up. I elbowed him hard in the ribs and when I got turned around, I kicked him in the crotch. Needless to say, that did the trick and he fell to the ground, holding himself, crying.
Ducky and Justin were still fighting the other two guys and there wasn't really anything I could about it. I panicked. So I screamed at them. "STOP IT! STOP!" Especially since Ducky was getting clobbered and Justin was doing everything he could to keep from losing his place beating up the largest guy.
"STOP!" I screamed uselessly.
"What's going on here?"
I turned around to see three cops. They pulled Justin off the first guy and pulled the second guy off of Ducky.
"They provoked my friends," I said, "And they grabbed me, and they were just defending me."
I guess I sounded convincing enough (probably because it was true), because the police believed me. They carried off the two Cro-Mags and the third followed with a very significant limp.
One of them was struggling against the cops, screaming "Those fags got what they deserve!"
Justin helped Ducky off the ground and carefully dusted off his dirty, bruised back. Amazingly enough, both of their angel wings were still in pretty much perfect condition. Justin's halo was ruined, but my hat was okay. Which was good since it's actually Claud's hat.
"Jesus," Justin muttered. I got my first look at Ducky. I could see a bruise coming up around his eye and his lip was bleeding in two places and he had a gash across his left cheek.
"Ducky!" I exclaimed. "Is there like a first aid tent around here or something?"
"I'm okay," Ducky said. He winced at moving his lip. He smiled and winced again.
"Come on," Justin said, putting his arm around Ducky's waist. "Let's go find a first aid tent. Or at least some bandages. That cut doesn't look good. C'mon, Dawn."
I saved Claud's hat, but my wings got ripped in half. They were still hanging off my shoulders, but in two. I pulled them off and threw them away. Now I just looked crazy. Luckily, Carol took a ton of pictures of all of us before we left so we could later compare our pictures. (She'd been to this thing in years past which is how we got permission. Looking back on it, I have no idea why she let us go. Maybe she was 14 the first time she went?)
We found a first aid center and they were cleaning up Ducky. I was standing in there watching when my cell phone rang.
"Hello?"
"DAWNWHERETHEHELLAREYOU?"
I paused. "Sunny?"
"You were supposed to meet us fifteen minutes ago, and you're not there!"
Well, this was a switch. Sunny lecturing me on not being responsible. "Ducky and Justin got jumped by some Cro-Mags, and now we're at the first aid center," I explained.
"WHAT? Are they okay?"
"They're fine, just roughed up." Me too, I added silently, but what I'd gone through was nothing compared to what they'd been through.
"Claudia, Stace, and I will find you," she said and hung up without a good-bye.
"Who was that?" Justin asked. He was holding Ducky's hand.
"Sunny," I replied. "We were supposed to meet them and we got a bit side-tracked. They're on their way here, though."
He nodded. "Good." He looked at me and jumped up (nearly taking Ducky with him). "Dawn, your arm! Are you okay?"
I looked down where the guy had grabbed me. Sure enough, there was a HUGE purple bruise. It was black in some places. "Ew!" I said. "I didn't even notice." I touched it and winced. "It hurts. I was just so concerned about you guys."
"We're concerned about you," Ducky said. He stood up. His eye was very black now and he had a square bandage over his cheek. I had to admit, for having a sweet look and demeanor, the cuts on his lip and the bandage made him look pretty tough. The angel wings on his back took away some of that, though.
"DUCKY!" Sunny wailed. She ran into the tent and gave him a hug. "Are you okay? Look at you! Wow, you look scary. Holy sh-t, are you all right? Ducky?"
"I'm fine," he said and she gave him another huge hug.
I had to admit I was pretty pleased. Sunny was finally thinking of someone other than herself.
"You guys look great. Your costumes are awesome," said a guy, maybe a couple years older than myself. He was sitting on a seat in the tent with an ace bandage around his wrist. He was in a ripped up black t-shirt and huge baggy, black cargo pants. They matched his wavy black hair, but not his crystal-y blue eyes. He looked at me. "Don't you go to Vista?"
"We all do. Well, they don't," I said, motioning to Claud and Stace, "but the rest of us."
"I recognized you. The hair. You have beautiful hair."
I blushed and Sunny was digging a finger into my back. She hissed in my ear, "ASK HIS NAME!"
"I'm Dawn. Dawn Schafer," I said. "And you are...?"
"Christian Delgotto," he replied. "I'm going into sophomore year."
"And we don't matter," I heard Justin whisper to Ducky in a playful sort of tone. It made me remember that the rest of them were there.
"Oh!" I introduced them to Christian.
"It's great to meet you. I haven't seen anyone I know. I came here with my older brother and his friends and I promptly got ditched." He waved his bandaged wrist in the air. "Literally. Got shoved into a ditch."
"Ow," I said.
He smiled at me. His teeth were practically perfect, except there was the tiniest of gaps between his left front tooth and the tooth on its other side (not his other front tooth). Do I sound like I've got a thing? I didn't think so, but the second we left (after saying good-bye to Christian), Sunny started singing and dancing.
"Da-awn's in lo-ove! Da-awn's in lo-ove!"
"I am not," I said, my face surely going red. I looked at Ducky and Justin. "Do you guys know him?"
Justin shook his head, but Ducky nodded.
"I've seen him around. I think he was in our study hall."
"No way," I said. "You'd think I would have seen him."
Sunny started another round of her Dawn's in Love song.
The rest of the day was without incident, except for when we saw Christian again and he hung out with us for a few hours. I could hardly string two words together without feeling like I was sounding like a total idiot.
However, Christian (who likes old monster movies, fantasy and horror novels, hates playing sports, plays bass, keyboards, and guitar, is the youngest of three brothers, and doesn't currently have a girlfriend) didn't seem to mind.
We listened to some bands, ate gross processed food (Stacey and I found a natural foods booth, but neither of us were 100 percent sure of its natural-ness. She was freaking out about her blood sugar, but she figured eating perhaps non-natural food was better than not eating at all and letting her blood sugar drop) and finally we had to go home.
"I'll see you around," I said to Christian.
"Can I have your number?" he asked.
I could NEVER just ask a boy for his phone number.
Claud had a Sharpie (who keeps a SHARPIE in their PURSE?) and I wrote my phone number on his bandage.
"I'll be sure to keep this. But it'll be hard to get back together when I unwrap my arm." Christian grinned. "I guess I'll just have to memorize it.
He wrote his phone number on my hand. "I don't have worry about losing this," I said, "the Sharpie will never come off."
"All part of my evil plan. Maybe we could, you know, get together before school starts."
"Definitely!" I said.
He grinned again.
The entire way home I was teased about my wedding (Hello, Claud was the one in a wedding dress), what I'm going to name the kids.
"I'm going to be an auntie!" Sunny said.
"I get to baby-sit her first," Stacey said. (Which, when she pulled off the beret, her hair was completely sweat soaked.)
You know what, though? I didn't care. Not one bit.