Disclaimer: I have to give my friends credit for BEING these characters. Tinsley is Rose, Effie is, well, Effie, same case with Bailey, and Bridget is Faith. Of course, I have enemies in here, too...my "friend" Calista is Winter, and of course, the person I hate the most in the world is Andy...guess who Allison is? This is based on a true story...
August 1st, 2005
9:02 AM EST
"Oh. My. God." Allison stopped dead in her tracks, halfway through the doorway to the morning acting workshop.
"What?" asked her friend Rose. "What's wrong?"
"Hi-Hi-Him!" Allison said, disgusted, pointing one finger straight out into the room.
"Oh no," Rose said. "This can't be good."
"Who's that?" asked Bailey.
"I don't recognize him either," Effie whispered.
"You KNOW camp is going to suck when HE shows up," Allison said. "It's what's-his-name, my old rival from Art Club. We hated each other, oh, we did."
Bailey and Effie leaned in for a closer look. The boy was tall, maybe 6'3, brown hair, brown eyes.
"Would it be bad for me to call him hot?" Effie, forever boy-crazy, asked.
"YES!" Allison and Rose said.
"He's a pompous ass," Allison elaborated.
"Can we go in? We're blocking the door," said Bailey.
The group walked in, Allison and Rose defiant, Effie and Bailey looking bewildered.
"Hey," the boy said, by way of greeting, aimed at the group.
"Hi," Effie and Bailey mumbled back.
"We meet again," said Allison, sounding like an evil villain in an old movie.
"Here we go," Rose muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.
The day progressed mostly without incident, though there were a few times when Allison got so pissed off that she took off her sandal and tried to whack the still-unnamed boy with it, ending up being restrained by one of her friends.
August 2nd, 2005
12:08 AM EST
"Why do you hate him so much?" Rose asked, sitting on Allison's bed.
"I just...do," Allison said. "I don't know. He just gives me a...a bad feeling." She seemed uncomfortable with the topic. "Why do you always have such sex hair?"
"I don't have sex hair!" Rose said, pulling her long red hair in front of her face. She was lying and she knew it. Though the girls and all of their friends were only thirteen, all virgins but one and that was an accident occuring in the second grade, sex, and Rose's perpetual sex hair in particular, was the butt of many of their jokes.
"Yes you do, drama queen," Allison said.
"Ooh, don't mess with the mullet! MULLET GIRL!" Rose said sarcastically, referencing another of their "hair jokes". Allison had cut her hair short in the middle of seventh grade, last year, and as it grew out, it had become flipped at the bottom in back, and she refused to cut it, claiming that she wanted it to grow out as fast as possible. When their group of friends had found a "Mullet Man" clip on the internet one day, that was that. For the rest of their lives, Allison would hear cries of "Mullet Girl! Don't mess with the mullet! Business in the front, party in the back!" following her. Not that she really had a problem with being known as the Mullet Girl, but she didn't so much enjoy being called a "British boy", a stuffer, a slut, a whore, or any of the other names some of the girls in their grade decided would be hers.
"Yeah, well, at least it's not sex hair," Allison muttered, giggling.
"Wow. It's past midnight, do you realize that?" Rose said. "We better go to sleep. Otherwise we're not going to be able to get up in the morning." She was pretty much living with Allison for the next two weeks, because each of their parents were on vacation, and since Rose's little brother was staying with a friend, as was Allison's older sister, that left the two of them, completely free of any parental interference, to crash at Allison's house during camp.
"Fine. Be that way." Allison loved feigning being pissed off. She was too sarcastic for her own good, and she knew it. She rolled over and grabbed a blanket, throwing one to Rose. The girls were asleep in minutes.
August 2nd, 2005
9:37 AM EST
"Is she doing what I think she's doing?" Rose whispered to Bailey and Effie.
"Flirting? With HIM?" Effie responded.
"Doesn't she hate him?" Bailey asked. "What gives?"
Rose glanced at the group, utterly confused, as Allison giggled, blushing, as Andy, that was his name, told some joke. Probably a stupid joke, too. Is she under some kind of spell of something? What's wrong with her? Wasn't it just last night she said he creeped her out?
August 12th, 2005
11:24 AM EST
"So are you going to the camp party?" Allison asked, hoping, hoping. Suddenly she was the eternal optimist, a big change from her realist life approach that she'd kept since her hair was cut. How did he get her to do that? Some secret power?
"Yeah, I'll be there," Andy said, grinning with a charm that almost made Allison weak in the knees. Oh God, he's going to go! Oh God! What do I do? Say something! Say something, Allison! Don't just stand there gaping like an idiot! Smile! Flirt! Anything! Just stop looking like a lovedrunk penguin on speed!
"Oh-k-kay," she stuttered, grinning. "I-I'll see you there then."
October 21st, 2005
6:43 PM EST
"Do you see him?" Allison said, joining the end of the large line trying to get tickets for the school's annual Haunted Hayride.
"No," Rose said, looking around.
"Hey girls," he drawled, coming up behind them. "Al, I already got you a ticket." He handed it to her, and she gave him the $5.
"Well, the rest of us have to get tickets still, so we'll be right back," their friend Winter said, eyes wide, gaping openly at Andy.
"Here, I'll come with you guys," Allison said.
"I'll hold our spot, okay?" Andy said.
"Alright." Allison smiled and waved at him as she followed her friends.
"Oh. My. God! THAT'S him?" Faith, the tall blonde guy magnet, whispered.
"Yup," Allison nodded her head proudly.
"Wow. Just wow," Winter said. "If he wasn't already yours, Al, I'd say that damn, do I ever want him." She pushed her prepbangs out of her eyes, the blonde highlights showing up well in the dark brown.
"He's not 'mine', okay? We're not even dating!" Allison said, wishing.
"Yeah, but he knows you like him," Rose said wisely.
"You told him?" Winter asked.
"Yeah, the other day on the phone," Allison explained. "I don't think he likes me back though, all he would say was that he liked 'a whore', that's exactly what he called her. But it's cool, because it's just a fact of our friendship that I like him. I doubt it'll ever go anywhere, not while he likes that whore."
"But he called you hot a couple weeks ago, remember?" Faith pointed out.
"He did not call me hot. I was trying on tight jeans and I said 'I don't think I want to wear these, they're too tight.' and he said 'Why wouldn't you want to wear something that would make you look hot?', which isn't calling me hot. Guys think about sex like every six seconds. I read it somewhere. And he probably calls a lot of people hot."
"But he called you hot."
"Not really."
"Yeah really."
"WhatEVER." Allison gave up. "Just...whatever." Secretly, she had to admit, she wanted him, and she wanted him BAD. There was just something about him that made her forget all her hatred for him and just want him. She'd never dated a guy who wasn't gay before, and that was once. She was five, he was eight, and he moved across the state that same year. She barely remembered the whole thing, to be totally honest. So she was completely inexperienced here, working from instinct alone.
October 21st, 2005
6:52 PM EST
"Back," Allison announced, walking up to Andy, standing close to him, as close as she could without looking conspicuous.
"Good timing," he announced. "The hayride's here."
The group piled on, and of course Andy and Allison sat next to each other, Allison on the end of the row, and next to Andy, Winter, then Faith, and Rose at the other end.
Various attractions passed as the hay trailer moved slowly through the fields, and everyone was either scared or pretending to be. Just to try to crack Andy up, Allison moved towards a werewolf and stuck out her hand.
"Hi. I'm Allison," she said, shaking his hand.
"I'm a werewolf..." the boy under the mask said, bewildered.
"How are you tonight, Mr. Werewolf?"
"I'm okay...I gotta go scare people, excuse me..." The werewolf turned away and jumped off the side of the trailer, obviously completely thrown off by the girl trying to talk to him.
Andy laughed loudly, and Allison smiled. Score one.
The ride arrived at a building, supposed to be a haunted school. Everyone filed in, but somehow Allison and Andy, though getting off almost first, ended up at the very back.
"I'm scared," Allison whispered, only half-pretending. She was rather claustrophobic, really, and this wasn't helping in the least. She leaned on Andy, almost slipping her hand into his, but not quite.
"Come on, guys!" Faith, always fearless, yelled from farther up in the crowd.
Allison and Andy walked through the throng of people, nearing Allison's friends, and suddenly the black trashbag makeshift wall moved in, and someone behind it jumped out, lunging, and nearly grabbing Allison by the upper arm. Allison screamed, and her hand was in Andy's, and she was almost crying.
"It's okay, it's okay, you're okay," he whispered. "It's fine."
They progressed through the haunted schoolhouse without any other major incidents, and piled back on the hayride. This time, Andy was next to Allison again, but the rest of the group was on the other side of the opening to get on and off the trailer, and they couldn't hear each other over the noise.
Andy was teasing Allison good-naturedly about her fear of the man behind the bags, and she retaliated jokingly.
"Yeah, well, at least I don't like a whore."
"Okay, fine," he confessed. "I like you, okay?" Oh God, oh God, oh God! He likes me? What do I do? What do I do? Oh God!
"Re-really?" she whispered. I can't believe this is happening. Oh God. He likes me. Oh God.
"Really," he responded, taking her hand in his. "Are you going to tell your friends about this?"
"I-I guess, some of them," she said, smiling broadly, not believing what was happening. He's holding my hand! Oh God! I can't think!
"Will you tell them about this?" He gently lifted her hand, still in his, and kissed it, lightly, so lightly she barely could believe it. I knew I didn't need gloves. This is keeping my hands plenty warm...
"N-no," she managed, elated. He kissed my hand! He kissed my hand!
She didn't stop smiling all night.
October 24th, 2005
1:57 PM EST
"What are you so happy about?" Ari asked, looking up from her music work.
"Nothing, nothing," Allison said. I'm happy, but I'm not...There's too many emotions mixed in. I can't believe what happened at the hayride, let alone what happened the day after, but I don't know...I feel like I should be really happy, but something just doesn't sit right.
"Something you want to tell us?" Ari pressed. "You take that X again? You know I told you not to, Al! Damn it, I'm going to have to call rehab again! Why do you do this to me? Jesus!" The girls weren't on drugs either, as far as any of them knew, but it was another major joke source. And after the video on X, where they showed footage of a rave and Allison started dancing to the music in Health class, at least Allison's past with drugs was dubious, to the people who didn't know her, and since no one brought it up to her face, she pretended it didn't exist. She was like that.
"Maybe someone has a little bit of explaining to do about Friday night, eh. Allison?" Rose said knowingly, even though she was well aware of what happened the day after.
"Maybe so, but it's not so much Friday night as Saturday day." Allison was using her I-know-something-you-don't-know voice.
"Whoa, what happened Saturday?" asked the shorter girl, as Rose bit her lip in anticipation. Al, you going to tell her? How is she going to respond when she finds out what happened with someone who lives down the road from her?
"Let's just say that I've finally beaten the rest of you out base-wise, and leave it at that," Allison said, looking away.
Rose looked from girl to girl, trying to find out what would happen next. Is she avoiding eye contact with Ari because she doesn't want her to find out who it was, or is there something I'm missing here?
"Jesus Christ, you got felt up?" Ari asked, a little too loud. Allison flinched.
"GIRLS! QUIET DOWN!" Their teacher, Mrs. Hanton, glared at them from the desk where she was forcing the class to listen to jazz.
"Yes," Allison said, rather stiffly. She has a weird tone in her voice, what is it?
"Well, who was it? Someone we know?" Ari was hungry for details.
"It was Nick. He's 14. Brother of a friend, lives in NYC." It's not a total lie, right? I mean, Andy IS fourteen.
"Fuck, Allison, what are we going to do with you? You're such a slut!" Ari said sarcastically.
"What are you doing for your project, Ari?" Rose asked, sensing Allison's discomfort.
Ari ran off on a tangent, forgetting all about the conversation, and Allison was glad. That was close. I don't really feel right about any of this, though, not just lying to one of my friends about the name, and to everyone about my feelings. But it was just a bad experience, right? I mean, everyone has weird experiences. It's normal...right?