CHAPTER 5
I could feel hot tears sting the corners of my eyes as I zipped up the backpack lying on my bed. My entire life was in that bag. Mom had pissed me off beyond belief just now, and finally I'd realized that my only option for a better life was to leave. I'd looked to Brad, but he'd stuck with Mom, like he always does. And today wasn't any different. So I was running away.
After all, Jimmy seems perfectly content in the warehouse, living on a steady diet of marijuana and stale food. I could too, then. I thought of it as a holiday, a long holiday, except I'd never have to return. I wiped my eyes, now cheering up slightly. This could work, it really could. I slung my guitar over my shoulder and snuck out of the house carrying my backpack. I arrived at Jimmy's home quickly.
"Jimmy?" I called.
"Yeah?" Jimmy came to the door and his eyes widened. Seeing by backpack hanging loosely over my shoulder. "You ran away?"
I nodded, hoping my face wasn't blotchy from crying as Whatsername came to the door also.
"You chose an excellent night, kid!" Jimmy grinned enthusiastically and held up cannabis and blowtorches. "Bonfire night!"
I perked up a bit. Bonfire nights were always loads of fun, and Jimmy always did something odd on each night. My mom had usually impeded me coming, though.
Whatsername took my guitar and suitcase inside, and then we all went around back to the industrial-sized dustbins behind the warehouse. Jimmy tossed several cans of stolen hairspray from the salon nearby, and then he lit the torch. The entire trashcan caught fire, and the three of us jumped back, howling with delight. The huge fire lit up the entire alley behind the Boulevard, so called by most of the city's residents, though recently it had become known as the "Boulevard of Broken Drams" because of some kid's vandalism. It was a pretty slummy street, really.
Whatsername handed me a bottle of beer. "Feel better, kid," she told me, kissing my cheek. I blushed a vivid red, but we were all pretty red in the firelight. Jimmy had stolen some mannequins also, from the department stores in the mall, and effigyied them all to be the teachers and principals who'd ever put him in suspension. We watched interestedly as he took out his dead dad's pistol, shot several rounds into each mannequin (there were about ten) in a row, then set each one individually on fire by dousing them with gasoline. Whatsername and I cheered as they burned, and laughingly, Jimmy lit his joint with the principal effigy and began smoking.
"And here goes Mrs.Miller!" Jimmy screamed, tossing the torch nose toward the last mannequin. Grinning, we all curled up upon a blanket that smelled faintly of marijuana and sex. Whatsername sat between me and Jimmy, and Jimmy had his arm around her. I have to admit, I was jealous. Jimmy always got the girls and me … well, Whatsername was just so awesome. A secret part of my heart hoped Jimmy would go away so I could have her, but Jimmy's my best, and pretty much only, friend.
We sat for what seemed like hours as Jimmy passed the joint around to us and we slowly got stoned. He lit another in the dying fires, and then came back to us on the blanket. I'd thought that Whatsername was asleep, but to my surprise she slipped her hand in mine and smiled sweetly. Jimmy noticed, and smiled, I saw, like the father of a girl who was getting married to a man he approved of. Did Whatsername like me? And would Jimmy's small smile mean that I was allowed to like her back? I fell asleep, my hand still around her's, pondering the questions racing through my mind as the fire died down to the bitter charcoal pieces of the effigy of the school police force. Whatsername held my heart in her hand, and with every little move she made, she squeezed it a bit more. But it was welcome.