As the final bell rang on Friday afternoon, Mary Anne found herself joining the crowd of students heading to their lockers eager to leave the building and start the weekend. As she was loading her backpack with the books that she needed to take home over the weekend someone tapped her on the back. She turned around, finding Abby and Dawn.
"Oh…Hi," Mary Anne said.
Dawn skipped such pleasantries. "Can you do me a favor?"
"I guess."
"I doubt that mom and Richard will be around this weekend, but if they are, can you let them know that I'll be at Abby's? You can tell them that we're doing homework."
"You're going to stay at Abby's all weekend? What are you going to do?" asked Mary Anne.
"We're going to party it up, that's what!" Abby said grinning.
"Abby!" Dawn shot her a glance. She turned to Mary Anne. "We were going to invite you, but we weren't sure that you had a good time at the last party. I mean, you weren't too thrilled about the Howie thing. Maybe you can hang out with Kristy."
"We don't really want to have to see you puke again," Abby explained.
Mary Anne rolled her eyes. She was almost glad that Dawn would be gone all weekend. That was she wouldn't have to deal with her.
"Whatever, that's fine," Mary Anne said dismissively. "I'll see you Sunday."
"Thanks Mary Anne, you're the best," Dawn yelled over her shoulder. She and Abby were already halfway down the hall at this point.
Even though she definitely didn't want to be involved with what ever Abby and Dawn had planned for the weekend, she was still a little hurt that they hadn't asked her to come to their party tonight. Mary Anne had just about resigned herself to the fact that it was unlikely that she and Dawn would ever be as close as they used to be. She was mostly okay with that.
Turning again to her locker to retrieve her books, Mary Anne was surprised when Kristy stopped alongside her.
"Mary Anne, you've got to do me a favor," Kristy began.
Mary Anne sighed. Was she having déjà vu?
"Sure, what do you need?" she asked.
"Can you spend the night at my house tonight? Mom and Nannie are taking all of the kids to see a play in New York City, and they will be staying over at a hotel. If you don't come over, I will have to spend the weekend alone with Sam…and Stacey."
Mary Anne thought about the situation. "I'm not really sure…"
"Why, do you have something planned with Dawn?"
"No, she's spending the weekend with Abby.
"All the more reason to come over. Please Mary Anne. We can do whatever you want."
"Oh Okay," Mary Anne relented.
"You're the best- I totally owe you one!" Kristy exclaimed. "Now hurry up and get your things, or we're going to miss the bus."
"The bus! I need to get home and get my things! What will I wear?"
Kristy rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about it. You can wear some of my clothes."
Mary Anne grimaced. Kristy's style hadn't exactly changed much since eighth grade. In fact, Mary Anne was still pretty sure that Kristy was wearing the same exact clothes from two years ago; she had never been one who liked to go shopping. Still, it wouldn't be that bad. It's not like anyone would see her besides Kristy, and maybe Sam and Stacey.
"That will work," Mary Anne responded weakly.
"Good. Now come on!"
"I'm coming," Mary Anne complained, though she couldn't help smiling. This Kristy in charge reminded her of how things used to be.
On the bus ride to McLelland Road, Mary Anne used Kristy's cell phone to call home and leave a message on the answering machine explaining where she was spending the night, and where Dawn would be all weekend. She didn't have any idea as to what her father and Sharon had planned for the weekend, but she suspected that she was leaving a message in vain for an empty house, and that she would be the one to receive it when she arrived home sometime tomorrow. Always the dutiful daughter, she did it anyways. She still had some qualms about what had happened the previous weekend, and was therefore striving to be responsible in every other area of her life.
As the bus made its stop at the end of the Thomas-Brewer's driveway, Mary Anne looked out the window and saw Bill and Melody Korman playing outside. She smiled. As they stepped off the bus, Kristy waved at Shannon Kilbourne, who was across the street sitting on her porch with her sisters Tiffany and Maria. Mary Anne waved too, even though she hadn't talked to Shannon since eighth grade.
When they arrived inside, Kristy let Shannon the dog out into the backyard to run amongst the birdbaths. They took turns throwing balls for her to fetch. When she was finally tired of that, the girls made their way upstairs to Kristy's bedroom. As they passed Sam's room, Mary Anne noticed that the door was shut, and that there was a red rubber band tied around the door handle.
"What's that?" she asked Kristy
"You don't want to know," Kristy replied, grimacing.
Just as Kristy responded, the sound of a female voice screaming in pleasure rose above the music that could be heard coming from Sam's room. Kristy closed the door to her own room, and shook her head.
"I bet you anything that Stacey will be knocked up before she's sixteen."
"Kristy!"
"It's not like I'm excited about it. Do I look ready to be an aunt?" Kristy continued. "At least she knows enough about child care. She has the Babysitter's Club to thank for that."
At fifteen, Mary Anne did not feel ready to be talking about anything like that. She quickly changed the subject.
"Dawn is staying over at Abby's house all weekend. I guess they are having a huge party tonight."
Kristy shot her a look. "If you are even thinking about going over there, I don't even want to hear about it. Seriously, the less time I spend with Abby Stevenson, the better. And your sister isn't so high on my list either. No offense."
Mary Anne shrugged her shoulders. At this point, Dawn wasn't too high on her list either. "Believe me, I have no desire to go over there. I've had enough partying to last me for about five or six years.
"Good," Kristy said, smiling. "Me too."
With just the two of them together in the room, Mary Anne could tell the Kristy had let her guard down a little bit. Feeling brave, she took this opportunity to ask something she had been wondering about for a long time.
"Kristy, what happened between you and Abby last year?"
The word hung heavy in the air between them. Finally, Kristy began to speak.
"Everything was fine at the beginning of last year. We were both running cross country, and we had a bunch of classes together, and everything seemed to be going really well. Sometime around November she started to change. She didn't care about anything- not sports, or her grades, or her family. Around the same time, I got caught up with everything that was happening here. We just became two different people. Honestly, I didn't see her much last spring, even though we were both on the softball team. And I didn't see her at all last summer." Kristy shrugged as she explained this, but Mary Anne could tell that it hurt her more than she let on.
Mary Anne reached out to comfort her friend, but Kristy had already put her guard back up. Mary Anne could practically see her pushing the issue out of her mind.
"Mom left money to order pizza," Kristy said, consciously choosing to change the subject. Does supreme work for you?"
Mary Anne nodded. "I like everything."
"Okay, good."
Kristy called for a pizza, and it arrived shortly thereafter. The girls ate and gossiped for the next few hours. As the night went on, more and more cars began to flock towards the Stevenson house. Abby apparently had quite the social network for a sophomore.
Around nine, they decided to put on pajamas and get settled watching movies. Mary Anne changed out of her jeans and pink hoodie into the sweatpants and Krushers t-shirt that Kristy gave her. Pulling her hair into loose pigtails, she deemed herself ready for a night of comfort and relaxation.
The girls hadn't rented any movies, but the Thomas-Brewer's had pay-per-view, and Mary Anne as able to convince Kristy to purchase the new version of Robin Hood, which Cam Geary starred in. He was so incredibly good looking. A few minutes into the movie, Sam and Stacey walked through the living room, heading to the Stevenson house. Kristy turned up the volume on the television in attempts to drown out some of the noise that was coming from the party. It didn't really work .
Around eleven thirty, as they were in the middle of A League of Their Own, the doorbell rang. Kristy and Mary Anne looked at each other for a second. Who would be coming over at this time of night.
"This better not be someone coming over drunk from Abby's party," Kristy muttered.
Mary Anne followed Kristy to the front door. Kristy looked through the peep hole, and then turned to Mary Anne with a puzzled expression on her face. She opened the door, revealing her dad and Sharon on the other side.
"What are you doing here?" Mary Anne asked. She was kind of worried. She couldn't remember the last time her parents had been in town on a Friday night, much less out tracking her down.
"Our plans for the weekend fell through, so we came to pick up you and Dawn. We just didn't like the thought of the two of you staying out so late," Richard explained.
"I left you a message saying where we were," Mary Anne said weakly.
"It's not a problem for Mary Anne to stay here," Kristy offered. "My mom said it was okay."
"All the same, we would like Mary Anne and Dawn home tonight," Richard responded.
"We just want to spend some time with our girls!" Sharon exclaimed.
Mary Anne looked at Kristy, who shrugged helplessly.
"We'll go get Dawn while you get your things together. Now what house is Abby's? I don't think that I have been there before." Richard looked at the girls expectantly.
Kristy and Mary Anne looked at each other, and then in the direction of the Stevenson house.
Just as Mary Anne was opening her mouth to speak, two squad cars with their sirens blaring barreled down McLelland Road and came to a screeching halt in front of Abby's house. Inside, the music stopped.