I'm getting mixed reactions to the Goth thing, which is interesting. As for explaining why Ethan, Veruca or even Kate chose this path, I really don't go into it. Maybe I should, but I don't. Things happen, people change. With Ethan at least I think it would have to be obvious it's, at least to some extent, a reaction to his parents' divorce and the fact that he's feeling no love from them. With Kate, one might surmise that she simply cracked after all those years of playing the perfect princess. I don't know. I think it's more interesting to leave these questions unanswered and let everybody draw their own conclusions.

BK03 made a comment about not believing Gordo would be rude to Veruca. That hasn't happened yet, tho to some extent I think it's coming up. As for "Straights" being rude to Goths, I did some research by talking with my roommates, who are both former Goths, and they assure me that by and large most other kids are, if anything, afraid of Goths. I didn't want to go there too much, but I try to make it more a sense of uneasiness.

If any of you have any insight on the Goth situation, please share! Like I said, my research is limited, and I have always been more fascinated by "the fringe" than by the mainstream, so any comments/info/insight would be most appreciated!

-

-

Denny's was only a short distance from Super Sounds Studio, but as car after car of concertgoers arrived, a group gathered outside. The fresh air felt good, sobering everybody up as the group grew to fifteen, then eighteen, then twenty strong.

"They damn well better seat us," Andrew said.

"You know they will," Melissa answered. "We may look strange, but we tip well."

"Tip well! Tip well!" went up the cry as the odd-looking flock of black sheep approached the front door of the restaurant.

"Hey! Look!" Ethan cried, jumping up as he came through the front door. "Parker's working tonight! I hope she's our waitress!"

"What for?" Andrew wondered. "So you can give her a hard time again?"

"I never give her a hard time!" Ethan protested.

"Oh yeah? 'There's not enough coke in my coca-cola.' Sound familiar?"

"Man! I was so stoned when I did that!" Ethan laughed. "I'm not that stoned now---"

As Ethan said this, walking though the front door of the restaurant, he stopped short when he saw a very sweet looking young couple trying their luck at The Claw machine.

Lizzie and Gordo.

Ethan stopped talking. He even stopped walking. Veruca bumped into him from behind, yelling "Hey---!" but she too was stopped short when she saw who Ethan was looking at.

"Oh, God, not again," Cassandra moaned, moving past the immobilized couple.

-

Soon all of their friends were well into the restaurant, Parker McKenzie seating them in the furthest corner, away from as many customers as possible. But Ethan and Veruca stood in the foyer, staring at Lizzie and Gordo. They watched Gordo reach with the claw, move a purple giraffe, stand it up straight, lift it out of the pile of other wildly colored stuffed animals….then drop it on the way up.

"Awww!" Ethan moaned. "Tough luck, dude!"

Lizzie and Gordo turned suddenly to look at their audience. Oh, crap! registered briefly on both their faces, quickly followed by completely blank expressions, which were less rude, and a lot safer. It wasn' t that Lizzie and Gordo didn't like Ethan and Veruca…well, okay, they didn't much like them, but to a certain extent they were afraid of them. At the very least, they were afraid of what they represented.

Both Ethan and Veruca saw the look, and knew exactly what it meant. They had seen it many times, from many different people, and by this time, they should have been used to it, but it always hurt a little more when it came from the one you were so desperately crushing on.

Ethan kept staring at Lizzie in her pretty green v-neck sweater. Veruca was the first to speak.

"Hey, Gordo," she said brightly. "Hi, Lizzie."

They both mumbled a greeting.

"Any luck yet?" Veruca asked, coming to the side of the machine and looking in. "My dad used to be able to do this really good, you know. He was always picking up little teddy bears for me. I have about a million of them in my room. What are you going for?"

"The giraffe," Gordo said, trying again.

"Looks like you loosened it up good on your last try," Veruca said. "I bet you'll get it this time around."

Veruca and Lizzie both watched as Gordo dropped the claw again, but this try brought no results. Ethan still stood frozen to the spot, staring at Lizzie, mesmerized by how beautiful she looked in her bright green v-neck sweater.

"Ohhh!" Lizzie exclaimed, linking her arm through Gordo's. "Good try, sweetie. That's enough. Let's go sit down, okay?"

Gordo agreed silently, nodding quickly at Veruca and then Ethan as they walked past. Ethan was staring so heavily at Lizzie there was no way she could pretend she didn't see him, so she offered a weak, nervous smile as she passed, saying, "Hey, Ethan…"

"Hey, Lizzie," he returned, then continued staring as she and her boyfriend continued on towards their table.

Suddenly Ethan felt a strong whack on his back. "Don't just stand there like a jackass!" Veruca hissed.

Ethan jumped into motion. "Hey, Lizzie!" he cried, following the young couple to their table. Veruca was close behind.

Coming into the restaurant it was soon apparent that Lizzie and Gordo were on a double date. Miranda Sanchez and Larry Tudgeman sat together on one side of a booth. Lizzie and then Gordo slipped in on the other side.

Ethan and Veruca came to the head of the table, looking down at the four who had once upon a time been their friends, at least to some degree.

"Hey! Ethan! Veruca!" Larry called excitedly. "What's happening?"

Larry was a jock now, and had been since the middle of tenth grade, when he discovered that by applying scientific principles of force and motion, along with a mathematical knowledge of angles, and a lot of dumb luck, he could hit a baseball pretty damn far. Due to his performance, the Hillridge High baseball team had risen in the ranks, actually going to the countywide competition for the first time in years.

Since Larry's rise in popularity, he was now wearing more attractive clothes, washing his hair regularly, and going out with girls. Miranda had apparently been pursuing him for quite some time, and he had finally given in.

"Hey, Tudge…" Ethan said, gripping his hand.

"Hi, Larry," Veruca offered. "Hey, Miranda."

"Veruca!" Larry exclaimed, his eyes sparkling at her. "The hair! Wow!"

"You like it?"

"I love it!" Larry exclaimed.

"Yeah," Gordo quipped. "Lar, you got a thing for redheads, don't you?"

Larry blushed a little. "Redheads," he explained. "Blondes, brunettes…"

Here Larry grinned at Miranda, who was beginning to look a little perturbed. Then he turned back to Ethan and said, "You too, Craft. Interesting choice with the blue. What's that all about?"

Larry may be a jock now, but he could not so easily forget his many years as a complete social outcast. Been there, done that Larry refused to ostracize anyone for their peculiar interests or appearance. To him Ethan and Veruca were simple Ethan and Veruca, the same way he wished years ago his classmates could have accepted him as simply Larry. He wasn't condemning Ethan's strange choice of hair color, but with the same inquisitive spirit that has always caused him to excel at every Science Fair Project he had ever put his hands to, he simply wanted to know.

"Yeah…well…" Ethan began, "It's like this. My outward appearance reflects the inner condition of my soul. Right now I feel life is…bruising me a little, you know? Black and blue. Get it?"

Tudge nodded. "I get it," he said, but nobody else said anything, and there was an awkward pause until Ethan said, "And what's up with you, Tudge? Baseball, huh? "

"Yeah," was all Tudge would say about that. Then, "So…Veruca… " he said, unable to keep his eyes off her hair. "Bold fashion statement…Or are you also expressing your inner condition? "

Veruca shrugged. "No, I'm just the girl with the red hair."

At this point Lizzie and Miranda should have jumped into the conversation, turning it into girl talk, but they both sat stony and silent. Veruca smiled at Larry, appreciatively, but feeling uncomfortable and unaccepted by the others. She didn't care about Lizzie and Miranda, but it hurt her that Gordo would not even look at her. And why should he? She wondered. I'm a freak, ain't I?

Before Veruca had too long to stew over these morbid thoughts, Ethan piped up, "So…Lizzie…I called you earlier…"

Lizzie laughed nervously. "Really?"

"Yeah, talked to Matt. Didn't he tell you?"

"Haven't seen him," Lizzie said. "I try not to talk to him too much, if it can at all be avoided."

"Well, I just wanted to ask you about the homework in Cleary's class. I'm a little lost, and you always seem to know what's going on in there."

Veruca stifled a laugh, thinking, Way to pour it on, Craft!

Immediately, she realized that the others must think she was laughing at the idea of Lizzie knowing what was going on in a class. Veruca did not want to appear to be insulting Gordo's girlfriend, so she quickly said, "Like Ethan would ever know what's going on in a class. It's like---woosh---in one ear and out the other."

Everyone ignored this comment, and Lizzie said to Ethan, "I…uh….well, as long as you've read the book, you'll be okay."

"Which book?" Ethan asked.

Veruca laughed again, repeating "Woosh…" She usually wasn't so demeaning to her best friend, but being so close to Gordo was making her feel a little nervous and silly.

"Let me guess," Gordo said. "American Literature? Is it Mark Twain? Is it John Steinbeck?"

"Hey! Steinbeck!" Ethan exclaimed. "That's the dude. I remember his name. Damn, Gor-don. You're good. How do you know all this stuff?" Ethan figured complimenting Lizzie's boyfriend may earn him some Brownie points.

"Gordo took American Lit last year, in eleventh grade," Lizzie said proudly. "Now he's in English Honors, Shakespeare."

"I know!" Veruca said. "Me too! We're in the same class."

Miranda made a scoffing sound. "Shakespeare!" she said. "The only good thing about Shakespeare is that actor that played him in that movie. What was the name of that movie?"

"Oh, I know the one you mean!" Veruca exclaimed. She was very good with movies. "It was in the early 90's, I think. Gwyneth Paltrow was in it. And somebody Fiennes."

"Shakespeare in Love!" Larry provided, joining the game.

"Yes, that's it!" Veruca said, and as she did, Larry made a motion that invited her to have a seat, and almost before she knew what she was doing, she realized she was sitting down in the booth. Directly next to Gordo!

This evening was turning out to be more interesting than either Veruca or Ethan could have originally planned.

And it was about to get more intense than anyone would have ever wanted it to be.