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"It's 9:45," She growled, "And I know you weren't at Ashley's."
"How would you find out something like that?"
"Ashley came by looking for you."
"That's impossible, she was with me."
"I guess she wasn't, then."
It was thenI realized how smart Ashley was. I also realized how much I'd miss her if we were fighting, and how it was my fault, and I knew I should do something. I really didn't want to fight with one of my best friends.
"Yeah, I was at her house, but we went out for a walk and we got into an arguement. She's really, really good at this stuff, Mom. She's trying to get revenge on me."
"She's going to have to tell me that herself."
I started to panic. She probably would never talk to me again.
Oh my God, what had I done?
I was being stupid. I should have valued my life long friend over things like boys and guitars. I picked up the phone and dialed Ashley's number. Her mother answered.
"Hello?"
"Hi, is Ashley home?"
"Yes she is, just a second." I could hear her calling for Ashley, and Ashley's disgruntled voice.
"Who is it, Mom?"
"It's Naomi."
"She's probably just calling to shove it in my face how much her guitar will cost to fix."
"What happened to her guitar, honey?"
"She dropped it and blamed it one me."
This made me mad, but I let it go. It was sort of my fault that she threw it, anyway.
"Just talk to her."
"Okay, fine. Hello?"
"Hi." I suddenly couldn't remember what I had planned to say.
"What do you want?"
"I...I'm sorry."
She laughed. "You think that fixes everything?"
"Come on, Ashley," I twisted the phone cord around my finger, "This is stupid. I was stupid. I swear I'll make it up to you."
"You're right you were stupid."
"Ashley, listen to me-"
"Did you like making me look stupid?"
"No," I sounded distant and whiny, and I hated myself for letting her walk on me like this,"Come on, Ashley, we were just kidding around. You were being a pansy." And then I wished I hadn't said that. Ashley was quiet for a second.
"Yeah, I guess I was, wasn't I?"
I let out a huge breath of relief.
"I'm really sorry, Ash, I swear it'll never happen again, I promise."
"I know it won't, Naomi, you wouldn't do that."
"Will you forgive me?"
"Yeah, but you have to do some things."
"Anything."
"Firstly, you can't be with Soda in that way."
"I already assumed that."
"And you have to help me look normal again, because I think I made a complete idiot of myself."
"I will. I promise."
"I guess that's all."
"Okay," I let the phone cord loosen around my finger, which was turning purple, "That's simple. But I need you to do something for me."
"Yeah?"
"You need to tell my mom about how you came by here and pretended you hadn't seen me because you were mad about that argument we had on the walk we took, okay?"
Ashley made a sort of squeak, "God, I'm sorry about that, I was mad!"
"That's okay, you just have to tell Mom."
"Yeah, I will."
Mom looked happier a few minutes later.
"You kids," she muttered, smiling, "Always getting yourselves into something."
I felt even more light hearted than before that evening. Ashley and I were friends again, and Christmas was in two hours! What had been bugging me again?
That happened alot, I'd be happy and I couldn't remember what had been bugging me a few minutes earlier.
Oh yeah. The next time I see Soda. I'd have to make up some sort of excuse, like...I already had a boyfriend? I was gonna have to sleep on this. I was a little upset about Ashley forbidding me to ever be with Soda, but I'd get over it. I always did.
At least, that's what I was going to keep telling myself.
Christmas Day
"Is it fixable?" Once she'd cooled down, Ashley felt really bad about my guitar.
"It's fine," I assured her, "It didn't even crack all the way through. It has a little different sound, but it's fine."
"You seem scared."
"I am scared."
"Why?"
"Come on, Ashley, you know."
"You're scared to face Soda?"
"Yes."
"You have no confidence."
"I just wish I didn't have to do this. I mean, it's Christmas. It's going toruin his day."
"Why would you say that?"
"Pony told us that he just had a girlfriend who hurt him real bad. Do you seriously think it's the best thing that I do this now?"
"Better now than later."
Really, though, I would have prefered never. It was quiet until we got to the Curtis's. I was sort of greatful for that.
"Have a good Christmas so far?" Pony asked as he opened the door.
"Yeah, it's been great!" Ashley sounded so happy and bubbly that I wasn't sure she remembered how I was feeling at the time, "Hows yours?"
"Good. Naomi, Soda wanted to talk to you." I felt sick. I looked at Ashley, an expression of horror on my face.
"Okay, let's go see Soda, Nay." Ashley took my arm and lead me into the other room.
"He said Naomi alone," Pony called after us, but Ashley only tightened her grip on my arm. It gave me some comfort that she was with me, never mind that she was the reason I had to do this.
"Hi, Merry Christmas," Ashley said happily, as we went into the room. Soda looked up and smiled. He looked so happy that I almost just turned and ran out of the house.
"Hi, guys."
I casually leaned closer to Ashley. It seemed to offer me protection.
"Can I talk to you, Naomi?"
"Sure."
Ashley made no move to leave, and I was happy.
"Uh...could...could you give us a second, Ashley?"
"Is it that important?"
"Well...I guess..."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
I felt helpless as she left the room. I felt like I was going to be sick.
"Listen-" we both said at the same time, and both fell silent.
"Go ahead," I said, pulling on the curl infront of my eye harder than ever.
"No, you go ahead."
"I was going to say..." I really had no idea what I was going to say, "Last night was a mistake. It shouldn't have happened," I was staring at my shoes, noticing how they weren't very white anymore, "I mean..."
"Yeah?" I noticed Sodapop sounded like he might start crying. That made two of us.
"I guess...there's..." I trailed off again, not sure what to say.
"There's someone else?"
"Yeah."I bit my bottom lip.
"Okay." I had expected him to get upset or yell or something, but he just sounded defeated.
"I'm sorry-"
"It's not your fault."His tone of voice really made me want to cry. It was so sad and defeated.
"I'm really sorry."
"Are you going to tell me about this guy?"
I froze. I hadn't thought of any follow-up answers.
"Uh...his name is Jon. He takes singing from the same teacher as me." I said quickly, naming a random person from music lessons.
"You guys are probably happy together."
"We're not together."
"Oh." He was silent for a second, "Then I shouldn't feel like I did anything wrong?"
"No. It wasn't wrong. It was a mistake."
I walked from the room, and found Ashley with her ear pressed against the door. As soon as the door was closed, I just started crying. Ashley hugged me.
"You handled it well."
I wished I hadn't had to handle it at all.
December 30 1967
"Now, I want you all to think long and hard about this," Shirley was stepping around all of us sitting on the floor for our group lesson. We had it twice a year - two hours where all the voice students got together to do music theory and things like that, "What is your ultimate goal in singing?"
That was easy for me. To get to London. I wrote that down, but then I stopped. Did I really want to? Yes. I did. I was back to my old plan. I looked around, and I couldn't help but noticing Jon. He wasn't entirely bad looking, and he was genuinely a nice guy. But I couldn't imagine myself prefering him over Soda.
"That's all for today," Shirley called, "Hand in your papers here. I'd like to see these goals." I got up, grabbed my coat, and ran outside, only to be met by Ashley and Sodapop.
"Hey, Naomi!"
"Hey, Ash. Hi, Soda."
"Hi."
"We came to meet Jon," Ashley whispered, "Is he here?"
"No, I think he already left," I lied. Unfortunately, he came out right behind me. I could have gotten away with it, if he didn't have his name onhis coat sleeve.
"Hey, Jon!" Soda called, and I turned beet red, "Hi!"
"Hi." Jon looked confused, "Do I know you?"
"No, I just know Naomi. I think I heard about you from her once or something. I just recognize your name."
"Really?" Jon's eager green eyes lit up, "Nice to meet you."
"I'm Ashley," Ashley shook his hand.
"Wow," Jon ran his thin hand through his long dark hair, "It's nice to meet both of you. Bye!"
"You know," Soda said, once he was gone, "I think the guy likes you."
"Really?" I tried my best to sound hopeful, but it was hard when I didn't want anything to do with Jon.
"Yeah." Soda sounded distant for a second. I bit my lip.
"We should go," Ashley said suddenly, "I'll see you later, Naomi."
"Bye."
I was about to walk away, when Shirley came running after me.
"Naomi! Wait a second! I have something for you!" I turned around, and she handed me a few sheets of paper.
"These are for an Artsschool in London. I would have given them to you sooner had I know about your ambition."
"That's real nice of you, but I don't know that I'll get accepted."
"Ah," Shirley held up a finger, "That's where you're wrong. They have a representative coming over to the concert in February. You do good," Shirley leaned close to me, "And you're in."
I smiled. "Sure, I'll fill these out when I get home."
"Right on."
I strode off to the car. I would have to work extra hard for the concert in February. Then I caught myself wondering if Soda still wanted to go. Then to what would happen if Jon went to...this 'London Academy of Performing Arts' too. Then, I started to wonder if Soda still missed me...or had he already moved on?
Namely, to my best friend?
