So Pete is staying at Firkle's house. Sexy? Anyway let's see what happens with Ike as well. What is he going to do about the party? Wouldn't you like to know?

Chapter 9 – Ike's Idea

When I woke the next morning, Pete was still asleep next to me. He also still wasn't wearing a shirt. He had his back turned to me, giving me the perfect view of his raven tattoo. It was a bit like one of those Hena tribal tattoos or something, were it was a design of a raven rather than an actual picture. Tentatively, I reached out a finger and lightly started tracing it.

As soon as I touched his skin I felt him shiver. I ignored it and continued tracing the tattoo until he gave a great shudder and rolled over to face me. I gave him a small smile.

"Morning, sleepy," I greeted. He gave me an amused grin.

"I've had more creepy ways of being woken in the morning, but this one is up there," he told me. My smile widened.

"Really? What other ways have you been woken?" I asked.

"I'm not going to tell you, you creepy little perv!" he exclaimed, putting a hand on my face and shoving me. I nearly fell off the bed.

"Are you going to put your shirt back on now?" I asked him as I got up. He shrugged as I walked over to my vanity and started reapplying my make-up.

"What? I don't turn you on, Firkle?" he wondered, wiggling his eyebrow at me. I smirked and rolled my eyes.

"Don't take it personally, Pete," I said, "No one turns me on."

It was very quiet, but I swore I heard him mutter, "Uh-huh, sure."

As I finished putting on my make-up, I heard Pete put his shirt back on and pack up his stuff. "Hey, you want me to drive you to school, and maybe pick up some breakfast along the way?" he offered.

"That would be great, actually," I replied, "It would give me time to redo all the homework that got ruined by the pool. And hopefully replace my textbooks."

"Do you have money for lunch?" Pete wondered as I gathered up my stuff.

"No. I usually just take money from my mom's purse when she's not looking," I explained. Pete looked at me, then dug into his backpack and pulled out his wallet.

"Here," he said, handing me some money, "Use this." I waved my hands at him.

"No, Pete, I couldn't," I objected.

"Seriously, I insist," Pete said, shoving the money into my hands, "I don't want you to starve. It'll make me feel better." I sighed slightly.

"All right. I'll take your money," I told him, "But I'm not happy about it."

We almost made it out the door incident free, but somehow Tammy sensed that we were leaving and that Pete was coming with me and she managed to latch herself onto his waist and torso and wouldn't let go until I smacked her with a newspaper. We left before she could cry for mom and dad.

Because of Pete, I arrived at school half an hour earlier than I usually would. Plus I didn't already feel starving. Maybe I should get my friends to drive me to school more often. I would drive myself, but my parents wouldn't let me get a license.

I went to my homeroom to attempt to start redoing my homework. It was almost the weekend and I didn't have a lot of time left to get it done. Hopefully my teachers would understand about my textbooks. They were totally ruined by the pool.

But then I got to my extra notebooks, the ones where I kept my writings and I grew furious and also depressed. My poems, my stories, my life's work… they were all ruined. In frustration, I threw my bag on the floor and slammed my head on my desk.

Fuck that Filmore! Why did he have to do this to me? Why did he hate me so much?! If he had a problem with me he should just come out and say it!

I still had my head in my arms and I didn't look up when I heard someone else come in. Knowing my luck, I was pretty sure I knew who it was already, especially when I heard them sit next to me. He was in my homeroom after all.

"Firkle?" Ike said in a concerned voice, "Are you ok?"

"No," I muttered, "I finally looked inside my bag and found out that everything is ruined. My homework, my textbooks, my poems, my stories. Everything. I'm so frustrated!" I had lifted my head to speak and immediately put it back down.

I felt Ike reach over and put a hand on my back. I expected him to say something encouraging, but he didn't. We sat there in silence for a few minutes before he suddenly sighed.

"I'm sorry, Firkle," he murmured, "I feel like it's my fault you got knocked into the pool and your stuff got ruined."

"Why would it be your fault?" I wondered, lifting my head.

"Because if I hadn't been stalking you, as you put it, you wouldn't have gotten mad at me and stormed off like that," he explained solemnly. I sat up and looked at him.

"Ike, don't blame yourself for that," I told him, "I would have gone that way anyway, even if we hadn't fought."

He seemed to feel a little better at my words, but I was still miserable. I huffed in annoyance. "When I see Filmore again I'm going to kill him," I growled.

"Won't that get you into trouble?" Ike asked.

"I don't care," I hissed, "If I do get in trouble, at least Filmore will be dead first."

Ike gave me a sad look and reached out to put a hand on my arm, but before he could, the door slammed open, startling us. Filmore and Quaid came in and walked over to Ike, completely ignoring me. The asshole slammed his hands down on Ike's desk while his lackey stood next to me. Filmore grinned at Ike.

"So, Ike, have you decided about the party yet?" the jerk asked. Ike sucked on his teeth.

"I don't know," Ike muttered, "I really don't do parties."

"Come on, Ike!" Quaid begged, "It won't be the same without you! Everyone will be there! Along with a ton of girls!"

Ike pursed his lips and looked down at his desk. Then he looked at me. I raised an eyebrow at him. This seemed make him come to a decision. He turned to Filmore.

"All right, I'll go to Mirabelle's party," he decided. As Filmore and Quaid cheered, he held up a hand to stop them. "On one condition."

"What's that?" Filmore wondered.

"I'll go… if I can bring Firkle with me," he announced.

"WHAT?!" Filmore, Quaid, and I all shouted at the same time.

"Ike, are you crazy?" I hissed at him, "I don't want to go to some bitch's party!"

"And we don't this loser at the party!" Filmore added, then muttered something under his breath that I couldn't hear.

Ike folded his arms stubbornly. "Well that's too bad," he said, "If Firkle can't go, then I'm not going."

Filmore bit his lower lip then glared at me as if this was somehow my fault. Finally, he let out an annoyed groan. "Fine!" he snapped, "We'll let Dorkle come to the party, even though he's just going to drag the whole thing down!"

"Fuck you!" I growled, "I don't even want to go to your dumbass party!"

Filmore sneered at me before he and Quaid walked away. Ike turned to me and desperately grabbed my arm. "Firkle! Please go to this party with me!" he begged. I snorted with a brisk laugh.

"Why should I?" I scoffed.

"I don't want to go to this party either," he explained, "But I know Filmore will somehow make me go whether I want to or not. I figured if I had someone else who doesn't like parties with me maybe it won't be so bad."

"Ike, we're not even really friends," I reminded him, "We're acquaintances at best. Why can't you just hang out with your own friends? Filmore said they'd be there."

Blushing slightly, Ike looked down. "Well, yes, they are," he said, "But my friends are party animals. They can get wild and I really don't want to deal with that. I would like someone sane with me."

I sighed loudly. "I don't even know who this Mirabelle is," I pointed out. Ike blinked at me in confusion.

"Are you serious?" he asked, "Firkle, Mirabelle is the head cheerleader who has a crush on you. You know, the quarterback's girlfriend?"

I stared back at him. "I didn't realize she had a name," I confessed shyly. I could tell by the look on Ike's face he was trying hard not to facepalm.

"Anyway, this just means I have even more of a reason not to go," I continued, "I don't want that bitch following me around the whole time, trying to hit on me, while her boyfriend tries to beat me up."

"What if I was with you the whole time?" Ike asked, "I wouldn't leave your side for the entire party, and I'd make sure Mirabelle and Filmore and everyone else you hate would stay away from you for the whole thing."

I bit my lower lip and looked down. I really didn't want to do this. Why should I sacrifice a perfectly good Saturday to hangout with a bunch of people I didn't know or like? Plus I hated loud music, alcohol, dancing, games, social interaction, and pretty much anything else that went on at a party.

While I was pondering, I felt Ike nudge me. "Please, Firkle?" he begged, "I know you're an introvert and don't like large groups of people, but I think maybe it would be good for you to try something new for once. And we don't have to stay for very long. Maybe half an hour, an hour tops. If you really start freaking out we can leave even sooner."

I looked at him from the corner of my eyes and sighed heavily. "Fine! I'll come with you to this stupid party!" I finally relented, "But I'm not going to enjoy it!"

Ike smiled at me. "Oh trust me. I'm not either," he said.

…

"Wait, you're actually going to that party?" Henrietta asked in disbelief, "You didn't just tell Ike that to get him off your back?"

I shook my head. My friends and I were in Michael and Pete's dorm room. I was glad to see that whatever it was that Pete and Michael had been fighting about appeared to have passed. Though, Pete did still look a little weary.

"I figured if I try to blow him off he'll just drag me from my room," I said, "It's not like I want to go to this. But I figure this way he can't ask me for any more favors. Besides, he promised we wouldn't stay very long and that he would stay by my side the whole time."

From where he sat on his bed, Michael clicked his tongue. "I wonder why he wanted you to go with him in the first place," he mused, "He has other friends. Doesn't that seem rather odd to you?"

"Yeah," I replied, "He said his friends are too wild for him and he wanted someone calm to go with him or some shit like that. I don't know if I really believed him or not. I don't believe half the thing that come out of his mouth."

"So, who's throwing this party?" Pete wondered.

"The cheerleader chick who has a crush on me," I told him, "Apparently her name is Mirabelle."

"Wait, she has a name?" Henrietta was just as surprised as I had been.

"Hold on, if this chick is the one throwing the party, doesn't that mean her boyfriend and all the football players will be there?" Pete asked me. I nodded and he suddenly grew pale. "Firkle, I don't know if I'm comfortable with you going to that party."

Suddenly, I felt an angsty rebellious side of me starting to take hold of me and I cocked my head. "Why not?" I wondered, sounding slightly affronted.

"Those football players hate you, remember?" Pete explained, "And there's bound to be alcohol at this party. Alcohol has a way of stirring up negative emotions," I couldn't help but notice his eyes glanced over at Michael as he said this, "And whipping people into a frenzy. Firkle, if you go to that party, they might try to kill you."

I felt my heart pounding in my chest at his words. Now that I thought about it, yes, the football team might try to kill me if they got drunk enough. Or they might do the thing that I feared even worse than death. What they had already done to me and scarred me for a lifetime, leaving me with nightmares of what they did.

Suddenly, I grew very afraid. What if the football team did decide they wanted to do it again? I doubt anyone at the party would care and Ike would definitely not be enough to stop them if they wanted to remind me of the reason why I never told on them. My eyes grew wide as horrible memories flashed through my mind. A terrible shudder raked through my body.

"Firkle!" Michael shouted, snapping me out of my daze. I blinked rapidly and shook my head. Pete and Henrietta were also staring at me.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Are you all right?" Henrietta asked with concern, "You looked really scared there for a moment. It was like you were having one of those waking nightmares or something."

"Sorry," I muttered, "Pete, you're right about the football players, but I already promised Ike I would go with him. I promise I'll be all right."

Pete gave me a worried look before sighing. "Fine," he murmured, "Just… text us every ten minutes to let us know you're okay, all right? And if anything goes wrong we'll be there in an instant to bail you out."

"Or more likely I'll be there in an instant," Henrietta corrected.

After I went home for the night, I couldn't help but wonder why it was Pete in particular who was so worried about me. When I went to sleep, I had a nightmare about the football team and what they did to me in that shower room.

I was going to put the party in this chapter, but that would make it way too long. So unfortunately you have to wait one more chapter. Sorry! In the meantime, some strange stuff is going on, huh? Have any ideas about any of it? Let me know in a comment!