Chapter Five

The final bell of the day rings with an ever-so-steady resonance. I hightail it to my locker to avoid getting stampeded upon in the hallway. Francine is waiting for me there, tapping her foot and making small talk with some soccer player. When she sees me, she smiles and waves me over. "Come on! Muffy should be here any minute."

"Oh, yeah. I invited Fern and Buster, if that's okay."

"Yeah, that's fine." She waits for me to open my locker, checking her nails or something. I fumble like an idiot; I haven't gotten my locker combo memorized completely, and it takes me two tries to open it. I shove my books messily into my backpack and shut the door.

"Bonjour, darlings," a voice rings out from down the hallway. Muffy prances (yes, prances) down the hallway to meet with us. "I decided that it wouldn't be practical for me to walk to the Sugar Bowl in these heels, so I called Bailey. He should be here already."

As if on cue, Buster, Fern, and Sue Ellen appear from behind the corner. "Alright, let's go, I'm starving! I've barely eaten anything all day!" Buster runs outside to the limousine while Fern rolls her eyes playfully and Sue Ellen laughs.

"Hasn't eaten anything all day, huh? He snarfed down six Oreos during English. I was worried he might choke!" Fern takes me by the arm and walks outside. My arm suddenly freezes under her grasp as my eyes dart to Francine. She doesn't notice and follows the rest of us.

The Sugar Bowl is a lot less cool than it was when we were nine. The general vicinity is empty, except for a mother of three in a booth near the back. The guy working behind the counter looks bored. I bet business has been slow all day.

Buster and Francine have a rock-paper-scissors fight to see who gets to order everyone's ice cream and who gets to pick out the table. Buster loses. We give him our orders and Francine picks out a remote bench booth on the other side of the restaurant. Fern sits next to me, while Francine sits across. Sue Ellen accompanies Buster so he doesn't feel bad. Muffy has brought her own (designer) chair and sits at the end of the table. I try and make conversation.

"Are you sure you don't want anything, Fern?"

"Yeah, I'll just have a sip of your shake."

"Are you sure? I could give you some money—"

The bell on top of the door rings, and I turn to see Binky taking up the entire door frame. It's as if someone placed a G.I. Joe next to some Polly Pockets. Before he has the chance to feel awkward, however, Francine yells out, "Hey, BINKY!"

She grins and swings out of her seat. Binky is the strongest guy I know, but he is no match for one of Francine's hugs. His eyes pop open and he squeaks out a short, "Hey."

"I haven't seen you in forever!" Her embrace tightens.

Binky's eyes dart towards me, then at Francine, and then back towards me, as if to say, "Get her off me!" I cut in, "You better let go before he suffocates."

Francine laughs and walks back to our table. Fern is on her phone, typing in numbers and adding things up. Buster and Sue Ellen come back and set down our orders. Francine got a double chocolate chunk ice cream cone, while Buster apparently decided to order…everything. There are at least eight different ice cream flavors, all thrown into one bowl with whipped cream and a cherry on top. Buster unleashes his inner vacuum cleaner and chows down. Muffy inches her chair away from him in disgust while Binky looks at Sue Ellen with an expression that, at least to me, looked like a combination of deer-in-the-headlights and about-to-lose-his-lunch.

Sue Ellen sits down next to Buster, but Binky can't stop staring. I give Fern a nudge and tell her to break the ice between them. Looking up from her phone, she nods and leans forward toward Sue Ellen, saying loud enough for the whole table to hear, "Hey, do you remember that time that you, Binky, and Arthur discovered that little spot by the river? What did you call that place?"

Binky snaps out of his trance. "Arsubia."

Sue Ellen nods and laughs. "But Buster knew about it way before we did."

Binky attempts a laugh, but as soon as it begins to remind me of a hyena, he stops and sits up straight.

"I mean, yeah. I guess it wasn't as cool as we thought it was."

Sue Ellen frowns. "What do you mean?"

I can tell Binky is desperately trying to look cool in front of all of his friends. Although, given that he is sitting in an ice cream parlor at three-thirty in the afternoon, it's hard. "I just thought it was kind of lame, that's all."

Francine flicks her eyes between the two, and then towards me. She mouths something, but I can't make it out. I'm too busy staring at her lips. Fern changes the subject and I snap back into reality. "So, uh…what do you guys think about Leo Bates?"

I'm sure Fern is making a reference to some writer I've never heard about, but Sue Ellen perks up with enthusiasm. "He's brilliant! He's in my third period English class. I've never met someone so smart in my life!"

Binky grunts, but Sue Ellen ignores it. Buster, between bites of caramel crunch and chocolate vanilla swirl, chimes in, "Isn't he an exchange student?"

Muffy pulls out a nail file and nods. "From the UK. His accent is to die for."

Sue Ellen rolls her eyes. "Not only is he cute, he's also a gentleman." Her eyes land on Binky with disdain. "He's really in touch with the feelings of others."

Binky grunts again. "Whatever. He seems like kind of a pansy."

Muffy scoffs and Sue Ellen furrows her eyebrows. Fern softly replies, "Well, he's not."

Francine finishes her ice cream cone and shrugs. "I talked to him in gym. He seems nice." That's all it takes for this conversation to be over. Sue Ellen is giving Binky a death stare.

"I just remembered that I have homework. Maybe I'll call Leo up and ask him if he wants to work on it together." Sue Ellen picks up her bag and leaves. Binky, for once in his life, is speechless. I turn to Francine, who sighs and stands up.

"Maybe I should get going, too."

No, no, no! Leave it to Binky to screw everything up. But, being about as assertive as a six month old baby, I just mumble, "Okay."

As Francine is leaving, Fern turns to me and asks, "So…are you leaving, too?"

I think it over in my head, and shake my head. "I'll probably stay a little bit longer. I don't have any homework or anything."

Even though Francine and Sue Ellen (and soon after, Binky) left, my first afternoon as a high school freshman went pretty well. Fern, Buster, Muffy, and I stayed for another hour or so, catching up. Muffy offered everyone a ride home, but I declined. Sometimes I just enjoyed having some time to myself and my thoughts.

My dad was home when I got back to my house. "How was your first day of school, Arthur?"

Thoughts flash through my head. Interesting. Weird. Instead, my mouth says, "Fine." As if that's a valid response.

"Well, I'm glad. High school is going to be one of the best times in your life, you know. The friends you make now, the things you learn, they'll shape you and your future."

I do not say anything. I walk into the living room to find D.W. and Kate playing Mario Kart on the Wii. Yoshi and Princess Peach both keep falling off the sides of Rainbow Road. Every time they get back up and start to drive again, they fall off.

I hear Mom's van pull into the driveway and run upstairs to avoid more candid shots. My bedroom is the same as how I left it this morning. I pushe my comic books and drawings to the side of my desk and pull out a notepad.

Dear Francine,

I cross it out and start over. I'm not writing a penpal letter.

We've been friends for a really long time, and

What am I getting at?

I think I like you as more than a friend.

I reread it twice and crumple it up, making a half-hearted toss at the trash can. It's not as if I was actually going to tell her. I just want my thoughts to be out there on paper—I want them to be visible. To me, it makes them even more real.

And it makes me even more sad.