There is a time jump from last chapter (end of 6th grade) to this chapter (end of 8th grade).
...
8th Grade, Spiro T. Agnew Middle School
Age: 13-14
June 2006
...
Vince turns into the cafeteria and stops dead in his tracks, the sudden change in momentum barely keeping him from walking smack into Ashley Boulet. The girl has cut in front of him, holding a stack of bright pink envelops in her hand.
"Geez, B, what gives?" he says.
She thumbs through her stack and pulls out a pink envelope, holding it out for him to take. When he takes it and looks, he realizes it has his name in the same curly Ashley scrawl he's used to seeing, with hearts still dotting the I in his name like they're all still in elementary school.
"You're, like, totally invited to our end of the year party," she says. "It's the night before the dance and it's gonna be, like, so great."
He shakes his head. "I'll, like, so think about it," he says, mocking her tone.
The girl glares at him but pushes past to hand an envelope to another kid coming in the cafeteria. Vince just shakes his head. He had thought that moving on to middle school would make the Ashleys less...Ashley. Spiro Agnew funneled three of the six elementary schools together and he thought that would dilute their obnoxious and self-absorbed nature, but it didn't. If anything, they became worse, jockeying with a few other similar cliques for the right to be the head clique in high school.
Of course, he can't say much has changed for his friends either. Their two years of middle school haven't seemed too much different than the seven years they spent at Third Street. They're all still best friends and even if they don't share many classes or even after school activities any longer, they've made it a priority to sit with each other at lunch every day.
As he walks toward his usual table, he sees Spinelli standing near a table with some girls she plays sports with and walks over. In her hand is the same obnoxiously bright pink envelope that he just received. She must see him walking toward her because she says goodbye to the girls and meets him midway.
"I see you got a pink envelope too," he says.
She lifts it up and glares at it, like the envelope might catch fire and destroy itself under her gaze.
"Unfortunately," she grumbles. "I tried to hand it back, but Ashley A was insistent. Something about how I'll be happy I went."
She rolls her eyes as they continue on to their table. "But I don't see how that could be the case. I hate the Ashleys. I hate parties. It sounds like a lose-lose situation to me."
He nods his head. Anything involving the Ashleys never ends up good. They usually have something up their sleeves and he is glad his friends still don't cater to them the way some people in the school do. The Ashleys are nothing more than a bunch of rich girls. They're not even nice.
"We'll just have our own end-of-the-year party," he says.
Spinelli smirks. "Now that I can handle."
Only Gus and Gretchen are seated at their table when he and Spinelli sit down, Mikey and TJ probably still in the lunch line. He takes a quick glance around and sees that Gus and Gretchen also have the offensively pink envelope in front of them and that there are two other envelopes in front of the empty chairs TJ and Mikey usually sit in.
"So everyone got one of these things, huh?" Vince asks.
Gretchen nods. "Ashley T dropped all four down just a moment ago."
Gus turns to him, unbiting the lip his teeth were sunk into in order to speak.
"You don't think it's another rating system, do you?" he asks, his voice only exhibiting the slightest amount of quiver. "I don't think I can handle being another zero."
Spinelli rolls her eyes.
"It's an invitation, Jarhead," she says, using her finger to slide open the envelope flap. "An invitation to a stupid party. Or maybe it's just a joke. I'm kind of hoping it's a joke actually. I don't wanna go to no party."
Gus's eyes widen. "What are you doing?"
"I'm opening it. Duh," she says. She removes the enclosed piece of bubblegum-hued cardstock and wrinkles her nose. "What is this? Some sort of riddle?"
Gretchen has opened hers as well and a huge puff of glitter lands on the table. Gus and Vince shrug and go to open theirs as well.
Gus manages to tear into his first and his eyes widen even more. He waves his in the air and when he speaks his voice is an octave higher than usual.
"Why did they kiss mine?"
Vince pulls the actual invitation out of the envelope and skims the glittery gold ink.
"You have been cordially invited to an exclusive End of the Year party thrown by the Ashleys. Celebrate the end of middle school by bringing your best pucker – we'll supply the rest."
"What does it even mean?" Gus asks, done reading through his as well.
Gretchen inspects the wording again and shrugs. "A reasonable hypothesis is that they are planning a game of spin the bottle. Or perhaps another kissing game. But, regardless, my assumption is that the pucker refers to kissing."
"Spin the bottle!" Gus exclaims, his face turning bright red. "Why would they want to play spin the bottle?"
All three friends turn toward him with their eyebrows raised and Gus ducks his head.
"You know," he mumbles. "Besides the obvious."
Vince watches as Gretchen turns around, her eyes scanning the cafeteria. He looks as well. There doesn't seem to be any sort of rhyme or reason as to who is receiving the Ashleys' invitations. At first, he thought it was just the popular kids, but Ashley Q just completely bypassed Vance Lombardi. Then he looks to see if it's just former Third Streeters, but all the Ryans – the Ashley-esque clique of boys that formerly attended 13th Street School – each have a pink envelope of their own.
"I smell four skunks wearing designer perfume," Spinelli says, crossing her arms. "They're definitely up to something."
"Hold up," Vince says, standing from the table. "I'll go ask B what's going on."
He walks across the cafeteria to Ashley B, who has just handed pink envelopes to Sam and Dave but no one else at their table. As she looks through the remaining invitations, he taps her shoulder and she turns around, rolling her eyes.
"Like, what is it, LaSalle? I'm busy."
He holds up his envelope. "What is this? We're not doing anything before we find out what it really is."
Sam and Dave both turn their heads.
"Yeah," one says, at the same time that the other adds, "We wanna know too!"
"It's a party," she says.
The three boys just stare at her and Ashley B huffs.
"Fine. We're having the party because we, like, don't want to go to high school without being kissed and we figured the rest of you lot thought the same. We originally planned on spin the bottle but, like, that's too risky, so we're gonna pair everyone up for seven minutes in heaven so it's, like, totally controlled," she says, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Get it?"
Sam and Dave look between each other and shrug, apparently fine with the prospect. "Count us in," they say in unison before turning back to their table.
Vince, however, isn't quite so easily swayed.
"So, what? This is like some pre-planned spin the bottle or something?" he raises an eyebrow. "Isn't that a little lame?"
Ashley B looks at him, at first appearing worried but then her face morphs into a slow smile as her eyes dart across the room to where Vance Lombardi is sitting with a few of his lacrosse teammates. Vince follows her gaze.
"Vance isn't coming," Ashley B says. "We didn't invite him. But we did invite you and TJ and your crowd of, like, total misfits."
Vince turns back to her and opens his mouth to argue about her calling his friends misfits, but she speaks first.
"Aren't you sick of having Vance one-upping you like that?"
He hates that she's right.
Vance Lombardi, the bane of Vince's middle school existence, had come home from summer camp that year with a girlfriend. For the majority of their eighth grade football season, he talked about it nonstop and many of their teammates hung onto Vance's stories with baited breath.
It wasn't like the notion of coupling up was new or anything. Not long into seventh grade, lunchroom romances became a thing, which Vince found utterly ridiculous. Two kids would sit next to each other for a few days, the boy would buy the girl some treat with his extra lunch money, and they would bat eyes at each other for a day or two before the boy went back to sitting with his friends. Luckily, his group of friends all agreed that the concept was ridiculous – with the sole exception being Mikey.
By the time Vance started bragging about his experience, they knew more about relationships than they had at Third Street and – while it wasn't something Vince was particularly interested in at the moment – he somewhat saw the appeal of it down the road. Girls no longer had cooties and they were actually sort of cute all of a sudden, even when they were giggling or being weird.
But the one thing that Vance talked about more than anything else was kissing. He puffed out his chest, proud to be the first to kiss someone, and he continued to brag about it until about midway through their football banquet at the end of the season. Because that's when Sam, looking confused, turned down the table to where Vince and TJ were sitting and slammed his hand down to get everyone's attention.
"Hey, TJ!" he says, loud enough to catch the attention of the majority of the team. "Did you and Spinelli do it wrong or did you just lie about it back in fourth grade?"
Vince watched TJ turn bright red, but he also saw Vance's chest visibly deflate at the notion of being beat to the punch. But no one was looking at Vance anymore. Every former Third Streeter – and the rest of the team too for that matter – just stared at TJ, the only oracle of knowledge they had to confirm Vance's claims, and TJ did everything in his power not to meet anyone's eyes.
Vince doesn't remember what happened next – a joke most likely – and the topic swayed away from girlfriends and kissing. Then Vince started basketball and Vance started hockey season, so the two didn't have much interaction and wouldn't until high school football preseason. It wasn't the first time he was thankful that he and Vance only shared one sport of the three each of them played.
And Vince forgot all about Vance and his kissing until right now.
He grunts and Ashley B smirks.
"Don't you want to have your first kiss before you go to high school?" she asks. Then she shrugs. "We totally do."
He forgets about his life competition with Vance for a moment, finding her last aside interesting. "You all haven't kissed anyone either?"
She shakes her head. "And we are so not going to high school as weirdos who haven't been kissed yet. So, like, totally up to you, but..." She contorts her face quickly into a wince before she adds her next thought. "I'd hate to see you drop in popularity because Vance and TJ have already kissed someone and you haven't. It would be a shame."
To be honest, his popularity isn't something he holds up on a pedestal, but the thought of Vance being more popular than him for the sole reason of having kissed a girl before him grates on his nerves. In Vince's opinion, Vance does not match his natural athleticism, but for some reason everyone loves him just the same, with his floppy blond hair and his easy-going grin and goofy nature. Vance is, essentially, TJ and Vince squished into one person and Vince would be lying if he didn't think that gave Vance an advantage over the two of them in social standings.
It doesn't really matter now, but what about high school? He does not want to lose homecoming court to Vance and he becomes absolutely livid thinking that Vance could use whatever he has over Vince to become the top wide receiver on the high school football team just because he has an in with the quarterback and gets more passes.
No, Vince needs to go to this party.
"How are the pairings decided?" he asks, because he knows the rest will ask.
Ashley B smirks. "So, you're coming?"
He gives her a nonchalant shrug. "Maybe. If you tell me how you're picking the pairings."
"The four most popular boys will go to us," she tells him. "We'll pick out of a hat. Then everyone else we'll pair together based on who we think fits best socially."
Vince rolls his eyes. That's Ashley-speak for pairing everyone based on how they line up on the social ladder. It's all based on popularity. Of course. He should have known.
"The girls are gonna want to know who the worst person they could get is," Vince says.
She glares at him. "You're not coming if your whole crew doesn't come?"
He shrugs. "It's all or nothing."
Ashley B rolls her eyes and mutters something that sounds vaguely like of course. Then thinks for a second.
"If this is your way of asking about Randall, the answer is no. We didn't invite him. Or Menlo. Or any other of the bottom dwellers – except Blumberg and Griswald."
She finishes with a chuckle. Vince glares at her and she crosses her arms defiantly.
"Anything else?" she asks. "I've got invites to give and not a lot of lunch left."
He shakes his head and she turns around, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she moves along to the next table. He watches as she drops an envelope in front of Phil, who is turning out to be quite the baseball catcher, but not Gordy, who sits next to him. Vince isn't upset Gordy isn't invited. He sees Gordy enough at church and youth group things when basketball doesn't get in the way. To be honest, he sees enough of Ashley B at these things too, but at least she doesn't hate TJ for no reason like Gordy.
He turns around and heads back to his table, trying to figure out how best to present the information so the others will want to go. Like Vince told Ashley B, they're a package deal and he really wants to go.
When he arrives back to the table, he's happy to see that TJ and Mikey have just sat down. It'll be better that all six of them are there when he gives his intel on the party structure. TJ will make sure everything is fair and he can have a shot at convincing the others to want to go. Because, like he kept telling Ashley B, they're a package deal and he knows he needs a majority for them all to go. His winning strategy is to go for Gus, Gretchen, and Mikey. Spinelli is going to be a lost cause and he is confident that TJ will go anyway just because Vince wants to go. If he can convince two of the other three, he'll be set.
Vince sits back down just as TJ wrinkles his nose. "Ah, man. What are the Ashleys up to now?"
"It's actually not that bad," Vince says quickly.
Spinelli turns to him and glares. "Not that bad? It's the Ashleys!"
TJ puts a hand on her shoulder and her mouth shuts. The two exchange a look and then TJ hands her a dessert off his tray.
"Last one," he says with a boyish grin. "Thought I'd grab it for you."
She smiles and takes the treat, starting in on it before she even finishes the rest of her lunch.
Vince grins. Smooth move on TJ's part to distract Spinelli with food, otherwise they'd be listening to her rant about the Ashleys all lunch. And Vince needs this time to convince them that they all need to go to this party.
TJ turns away from Spinelli and back to Vince. "I take it you talked to the Ashleys, then?"
Gus nods for him. "Yeah, he just went over," he says. Then he turns to Vince. "You were gone a long time."
Vince shrugs. "I got all the details from B," he says. "Essentially, it's a party so that the popular kids can get their first kisses out of the way before high school."
Spinelli looks up and rolls her eyes. "I've already had my first kiss."
"Well, you're not the only one at this table, Spinelli," he says, a little shocked at the venom in his own voice. But he can't have her sway the others by bailing immediately. The others might too and then he'll be out numbered. "Just hear me out. It actually doesn't seem that bad."
Spinelli opens her mouth to complain some more, but TJ puts his hand back on her shoulder, effectively shutting down her rebuttal, and turns back to Vince.
"You want to go?"
Vince nods.
"Okay, what else do you know about the party?"
He tells them what Ashley B told him, trying to make it sound appealing to Gus, Mikey, and Gretchen at the very least. If he can get the vote to sway in his direction, that's all he'll need for TJ to side with him and Spinelli will be out of luck. By the end of his story, Gus looks intrigued and Gretchen seems to be weighing the pros and cons in her head.
"Teej, you and me will probably get an Ashley," he says. He isn't too thrilled about it himself, but what can he do? "Everyone else should get someone decent, I would guess."
Gus shrugs his shoulders. "I'm in!"
Vince turns to Mikey next, who seems to be having some sort of internal dilemma. "What about you, big guy?"
Mikey runs a hand through his hair. "I dunno," he says softly. "The art of kissing is that of shared passion between two souls who love each other fiercely."
Vince rolls his eyes. "TJ and Spinelli kissed–"
"I thought we weren't gonna bring that up again!" TJ interrupts from across the table.
Vince turns to look at them and they're both red in the face. But before he can say anything, Gretchen adds her two cents.
"Theoretically, Mikey, a kiss ignites a chemical reaction in the brain and, most likely, this is regardless of whether or not one shares romantic feelings for the other," she states, like a walking encyclopedia. "If nothing else, this party could actually be a very nice follow-up for our fourth grade experiment."
There's little TJ and Spinelli like talking about less than the experiment and Vince doesn't think he has ever seen either of them as red as they are currently. TJ's jaw is clenched so tightly that Vince is a little worried about his best friend's teeth, so he decides to be nice and steer the conversation away. It'll be better for his cause in the long run.
"Come on, Mikey," Vince prods. "It's not like you have to marry whoever you kiss. And, hey, maybe you'll make a friend out of it. Are you going to join me, Gretch, and Gus?"
Mikey nods. "Sure, if you all wish to go, I'll go as well. It might be a pleasurable experience."
Vince turns to Spinelli and smirks. "So, that's four to one. You lose. We're going."
She crosses her arms and glares at him. "Okay, fine, but I'm not happy about it."
"Perfect," Vince says, standing up. "Let me just go RSVP." And then, before anyone can change their mind, he heads off to find the Ashleys.
...
Vince drops his bike in the Detweilers' front lawn just as Gretchen arrives, so he waits for her before going to the door. The party is being held at Ashley Q's, which is closer to Mikey and Gus on the other side of the Third Street school zone. TJ said for Vince and Gretchen to meet at his house and the four would just meet Mikey and Gus at Ashley Q's. Vince just hopes Gus and Mikey don't chicken out with the others not there to prod them.
"You ready?" he asks Gretchen as they walk to the front door.
She shrugs, but her face betrays the casual nonchalance of her behavior. Her eyes are a little wide and her hands fidget as Vince knocks on the door.
"I suppose so," she says. "It can't be that bad, right?"
He nudges her arm. "It could be good. You never know until you test your hypothesis."
That at least puts a smile on her face.
Mrs. Detweiler opens the door and ushers them inside, commenting on how cute they look. Vince isn't thrilled that he has to dress up two nights in a row. The semi-formal dance tomorrow night has a strict dress code that he had been prepared for in advance and while the Ashleys didn't require the same sort of attire they made it very clear that they expected everyone to look nice.
He keeps debating on whether or not this party is actually worth it.
After a minute of polite chitchat, Mrs. Detweiler tells the two that TJ and Spinelli are in the basement. Vince leads Gretchen to the stairwell and he takes the steps two at a time. When he gets to the bottom, he expects to find the other two finishing up a round of Mario Kart or some other game while they wait, but that isn't the case at all. Instead, it looks like they're not even halfway through Ghostbusters and neither are dressed up. While he wouldn't put it passed TJ to rile the Ashleys up by attending their fancy party in his pajamas instead of a button down, Spinelli is wearing TJ's old baseball sweats and the dress Vince thinks she is planning on wearing tonight is balled in a pile on the floor.
"What are you wearing?" he demands in lieu of hello. He bends down and picks up the dress. "Get this on and let's go. We gotta get out of here."
Spinelli crosses her arms and gives an exaggerated shake of her head. "I'm not going," she says firmly.
"What?" Vince exclaims. "What do you mean you're not going?"
"I'm not going to the Ashleys' party tonight," she says, slowly, condescendingly really, as if she's talking to a toddler. "They're gonna make me kiss Randall so they can get a good laugh!"
Vince blows out a breath and tries to keep himself in check. Right now what he really wants to do is grab her and her attitude, toss her tiny body over his shoulder and carry her to the Ashleys so they can get there on time.
"Spinelli, I've told you a million times. Randall isn't coming," he says slowly. "Ashley B told me herself that he wasn't invited."
"And you believe Ashley B? She probably lied just so I'd go!" she exclaims. She shakes her head continuously as she continues to talk. "And I'm not playing that game with them. Nope. Nuh uh. I'm going to sit here and continue watching my movie, thank you very much."
"Fine. Stay," he says with a huff. Then he turns to TJ. "Come on, Teej. Are you seriously wearing that?"
TJ fiddles with his hat and Vince narrows his eyes as he watches TJ fidget.
"Look, Vince, I just...kind of agree with Spin on this one," he says, his eyes looking everywhere but Vince's. "I don't want her to have to kiss Randall or someone else."
"Randall. Isn't. Going." Vince feels fire bubble in his gut. "Look, we already kind of know what the pairings are – Teej, you'll get an Ashley and Spin'll probably get like...Sam or Dave or someone like that. It's fine."
"I don't want to kiss them!" Spinelli hisses.
"You're in a freaking closet – talk about wrestling for seven minutes, I don't care, no one will even know," Vince says. He shakes his head. "Come on, we said we were gonna go."
"Well, I'm not. You can go. Have fun," Spinelli says, turning around on the couch so her back is to Vince.
He groans and shakes his head. Typical Spinelli acting like the world revolves around her when she doesn't want to do something and being a huge brat about it.
"Come on, Teej. Let's go."
Vince watches as TJ looks at Spinelli first, their friend curled into a ball on the couch with her back to Vince and her arms crossed, and then back up to the other two. His eyes dart to Gretchen and then finally land on Vince.
"I, uh, I think I'm gonna stay with Spin," he says quietly. "She shouldn't have to be alone while we're all together having fun."
"She's doing it to herself!" Vince points out.
He can't believe what he's hearing. TJ is all about justice and fairness, majority rules and all that junk, and here he is openly choosing to stay behind with Spinelli than go to the party with the other four in their group. TJ is his best friend and Vince has gone on so many of TJ's crazy plans in the past that it's only fair that TJ go with him to something he wants to do. Instead, TJ's choosing to indulge Spinelli's selfish behavior and it makes Vince's whole body fill with an uncomfortable heat.
"I know, Vin," TJ says. "But, to be honest, I don't really want to go either. I'd rather stay here."
This is ridiculous. TJ is Mr. Life of the Party. When they were growing up, he could even take the attention off the kid whose birthday party it was without even trying. Sure, he guesses he can see Spinelli not wanting to go – she doesn't even have her own birthday parties let alone enjoy going to parties for anyone other than their group, but TJ? TJ is always down to have a good time.
"Come on, man. The Ashleys aren't my first choice either, but it won't be that bad," he says.
Spinelli's voice grumbles through the couch, where she has her face pressed. "You can't force him to kiss an Ashley."
"Shut it, Spin," Vince grunts.
Gretchen takes a step forward, almost inserting herself between the two fiery friends with her positioning. She puts a hand on his arm and waits to speak until he breaks his stare down with TJ to look at her.
"Vince, come on," she says quietly. "Mikey and Gus will think we're leaving them alone."
"If you guys decide you want to ditch the party, we'll be here so just come back," TJ says, a guilty expression etched in his features.
At least he feels guilty about ditching Vince, not that it makes him feel that much better. But regardless he just nods, tossing Spinelli's dress on the floor where he picked it up, and follows Gretchen back up the stairs and outside to their bikes.
"Are you okay?" she asks as they put their helmets on.
Is he okay? He is mad, sure, and a little hurt, but when he thinks about it, he supposes that this isn't entirely unexpected. Both TJ and Spinelli have kissed people before, even if it was each other and it was in fourth grade and they both said it was terrible, and so getting that 'first kiss' out of the way isn't quite as important to them as it is to Vince. But he still wanted TJ to come.
"Yeah," he mutters. "I'll be okay."
She accepts that and the two ride in silence to Ashley Q's house, finding Gus and Mikey waiting for them on the sidewalk in front of her house. They drop their bikes with the pile forming to the side of Ashley Q's garage and walk to meet the other two boys.
"Where are TJ and Spinelli?" Gus asks as they start toward the front door.
"They decided they didn't want to come," Gretchen answers. Vince is glad she does because it means he doesn't have to say anything. "But TJ did say that if we change our minds at any time to go to his house."
Mikey and Gus both nod. "That's good. I'm glad we have an escape plan," Gus mutters. "I'm a little nervous."
"There is nothing to be nervous about," Vince grumbles as they knock on the door. "Everything is gonna be fine."
A whole gaggle of tiny Brittanys open the door, holding a clipboard and asking for names. Vince rolls his eyes at the Ashleys using their younger sisters as doormen. But the fourth graders actually seem to be eating this up, checking off names and handing them party favors that includes a box of Tic Tacs and Listerine strips. When Gus peeks through the bag, even the tips of his pale ears tinge red.
The basement is crowded when they arrive and music plays in the background. Gus and Mikey decide to go straight to the snack table and Gretchen sticks behind with Vince until he tells her to join them. He sits on a chair in the corner, trying not to looks dejected.
"You look like someone just kicked your puppy."
Vince looks up without moving his head from his hand to find Ashley B standing over him, dressed to the nines in a sparkly yellow dress and glittery heels.
"I don't have a dog."
She rolls her eyes. "Where's the rest of your little gang?"
He points in the vague direction of where the snack table is set up. "Gretchen, Mikey, and Gus are somewhere over there," he says. Then he figures he might as well tell her the rest. "TJ and Spinelli bailed. I don't know how that affects your pairs or whatever."
She doesn't appear particularly shocked or even worried, which Vince expected her to be. He thought she might run away from him and over to the rest of her clique, reworking pairings or whatever they needed to do because while he knows Randall isn't coming, he's sure the Ashleys didn't pair Spinelli with someone that they would want to kiss themselves. And he's sure TJ was paired to one of them. So, he figures they'd be worried but instead she just looks indifferent.
"It doesn't really matter," she says. "We paired them together anyway."
He frowns. "You didn't put TJ in your popular boy bucket for you Ashleys?"
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head, something that Vince is getting really annoyed watching girls do. Spinelli rolls her eyes all the time and he could deal with a little less attitude from everyone around him.
"I know you and your friends think we're all, like, the root of all evil, but we are so over unnecessary drama," Ashley B says.
Vince almost laughs. The Ashleys love that kind of stuff and have since Third Street. They teased, bullied, laughed at, and insulted every single person on the playground – and that included their own clique members on the occasion they did something apparently atrocious.
"That's funny," he deadpans. She narrows her eyes. "But what are you talking about – unnecessary drama?"
She narrows her eyes even more and seems to wait for him to continue. When he waits for her answer, she raises her eyebrows and widens her eyes in surprise.
"You're seriously asking me this?" He gives her a little nod. "Look, TJ is popular and he certainly fits our mold of an acceptable boy, but, like, we aren't in the business of homewrecking."
"What does that mean?"
"Don't your parents have cable?" she asks sarcastically. He glares. "Doofus, they like each other."
He snorts. "They do not."
She blinks and then starts to giggle. "Maybe you really are a basketball brain, totally filled with air."
Vince stands up, ready to get away from her. Talking to Ashley B reminds him of why he doesn't like the Ashleys. They're stuck up and think they know everything about everyone. He doesn't even say goodbye and instead looks through the crowd, trying to find one of his friends. He knows Mikey should be easy to spot as he still stands quite a bit taller than the majority of their classmates, but it is Gretchen he looks for and finds first. He sees a flash of her dark auburn hair and he cuts through people, making his own path until he finds her talking to Phil and the twins.
He comes up next to her and, quietly, whispers in her ear. "I wanna get out of here for a minute."
She turns away from the three boys and steps a little closer, so she can talk to him without the others hearing. He feels a sweeping sense of gratitude for her friendship in that moment.
"What happened?"
He shuffles from foot to foot for a moment, not wanting to admit that he isn't so keen on kissing an Ashley anymore. If he leaves the party now he'll be even more of laughingstock than he would be if he stayed. Besides, if he leaves, the Ashleys may make his life miserable for ruining one of their nights as well, since it has been heavily implied that they paired him with one of them.
"I need some fresh air," he says, tugging at the collar of his shirt.
"We don't have to stay."
He shakes his head. "No, I wanna stay," he insists, even though it doesn't sound as forceful as he would like it to sound. "I just...need to prepare."
She nods her head and gestures for him to lead the way. He makes a quick excuse to Phil and the diggers and then takes Gretchen's hand so they don't get separated in the crowded basement. He sees a sliding glass door that presumably leads to the backyard, so he shuffles through the crowd in that direction.
Mikey and Gus are standing in a corner near the door. The smaller blond has wide eyes as he takes deep breaths in and out, shaking as his eyes watch a group of giggling girls in the opposite corner.
"Hey, guys, I think I changed my mind," he says as Vince and Gretchen approach, his voice cracking as Mikey rubs his back. "I think I want to leave."
Mikey just keeps rubbing his back in slow circular motions. "That's okay, Gus. We don't have to stay."
"Teej said if anyone wanted to bail to just go to his house," Vince reminds them. "Gretch and I were just going outside for some air if you wanna sneak out that way."
The two boys look relieved at Vince's suggestion and the four make their way to the door. Vince slides it open and they walk out into the night. Gus sighs happily as soon as the door closes behind them.
"Oh, I feel better already!"
"Yes, the fresh air does feel nice. It is quite hot in the basement due to all the body heat," Gretchen says with a smile.
"Are you two going to stay?" Mikey asks.
Vince turns to Gretchen and rubs the back of his neck. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to," he says.
She shrugs. "If you want to stay, I'll stay too. It's always nice to have someone with you."
As the other two say goodbye and head toward the bike pile, Vince watches Gretchen for a moment. Sometimes he feels like of the group he is the least connected to Gretchen. TJ will always be his best friend, but when he thinks of the group the others have tended to come first in the past. He and Gretchen have the least in common, after all. But tonight Gretchen has been a godsend to him, from leaving TJ and Spinelli behind to being a rock for him when he needed it after talking to Ashley B.
And now, as she leads him to the play set in Ashley Q's backyard, motioning for him to sit on the second swing.
"So, what happened that made you so skittish?" she asks.
He kicks at the sand beneath his feet. "Just...Ashley B."
"What did she do?"
He doesn't really want to get into what she said with Gretchen. That particular conversation hit a little too close to home with TJ choosing to stay behind with Spinelli rather than joining him at the party. He doesn't think it's true that they like each other. TJ would have told him if he had a crush on Spinelli. He and TJ tell each other everything.
Ashley B had sounded confident in her theory, but she's also an Ashley. She is conniving and manipulative. She knows exactly what to say to get under his skin if she wants to do so.
"Is being Ashley B a good enough answer?"
"I suppose so," Gretchen says, not really swinging. She just sort of sways in the chair. "Is she the Ashley you have to kiss?"
"God, I hope not."
Gretchen raises an eyebrow. "Is there an Ashley you'd prefer to kiss?"
He thinks for a second and wrinkles his nose. No. There is no Ashley he would want to kiss. He supposes of the four of them the least awful choice would be Ashley T, but even that is unappealing to him.
He puts his head in his hands. "Why am I even here?" he mumbles.
Gretchen must have supersonic hearing, he decides, because she hears him well enough – or perhaps just knows him well enough – to respond.
"Because you're competitive." She shrugs. "So competitive that you would kiss your own worst enemy just to catch up to Vance."
Well, she hit the nail on the head with that. Maybe Gretchen understands him better than he originally thought. He turns to look at her. He can barely see her face in the darkness.
"Why are you here though?" he asks. "You could go running to Teej's and yet here you sit."
Gretchen stops swaying in the swing.
"I am here because you shouldn't have to be alone." Then she digs the toes of her oxfords into the sand. "I know you were upset that TJ didn't join."
He grinds his teeth. "Yeah, well."
He doesn't know what else to say because she's right. He is upset. All the harebrained schemes TJ brought them on that Vince stuck his nose up at and now TJ ditches him when this is something Vince wants to do. Worse that than, TJ, who is so full of justice and equality and fairness, ditched Vince to cater to Spinelli's bratty behavior, rewarding her like a spoiled princess.
Yeah, he's a lot more upset than he thought he was earlier.
"I just don't get it," he grumbles. "Why is she so special? I'm his best friend."
Not according to TJ though. TJ would never put an actual name to a title like that, too afraid to hurt anyone's feelings. Fourth grade solidified TJ never calling anyone his best friend, but it's common knowledge that it's Vince. Everyone says it, even if TJ won't himself.
Gretchen either doesn't know how to respond or understands his need to rant because she just sits silently next to him, waiting for whatever he says next.
"He's already been kissed anyway. It wouldn't have been a big deal." But the ranting doesn't make him feel any better. So, rather than continue, he sighs. "Sorry I'm being such a downer, Gretch."
"No need to apologize," Gretchen says. "This is what friends are for."
He has sincerely underestimated Gretchen Grundler.
"Can we talk about something else?" he asks, sitting up on the swing and shaking his head.
"What do you suggest?"
He smirks. "Wanna see who can swing the highest?"
Gretchen shakes her head, but she agrees nonetheless. It almost feels a little like he is back at Third Street, swinging with Gretchen. First they go as high as they can. Next they see who can jump the farther from the seat. Vince wins both times. They race across the monkey bars, though Vince can nearly touch the ground now on the children's play set. They try the slide, but that doesn't work nearly as well as a teenager as it does as a little kid, and so they go back to the swings, reminiscing about how many times Swinger Girl attempted to swing over the top at Third Street and never succeeded.
They're having so much fun, they lose track of time.
Vince leaps from the swing, digging his heels into the grass like a long-jumper and turning around with his arms up in victory once he sticks the landing. Gretchen shakes her head and keeps swinging.
"Come on, Gretch! Beat that."
"There is no possible way I can beat that."
"If you jump now you can!" he encourages. "Come on! I'll make sure you won't get hurt."
She keeps swinging and for a moment he thinks she might just stop, but then he sees her ready her arms to jump. She takes a leap and he steps forward as she starts flying through the air, ready to catch her if she stumbles. Which she does. Gretchen was never the most graceful at Third Street and she still isn't now with her long lanky limbs and small coordination issues. He catches her and they both laugh.
"See, told you I couldn't beat you," she says.
"You know what? Trying is a win in my book."
She does roll her eyes at him this time. He sees it in the small amount of light coming out through the sliding glass doors of the Quinlans' basement.
"No, it is not, Vince LaSalle."
Before he can keep the joke going, they both hear a small gasp and turn toward the house. Ashley T stands toward the edge of the patio, only a few feet away from where Vince and Gretchen stand, fiddling with her fingers.
"Sorry," she mumbles. "Someone said you were out here and I've been looking all over for you, but...I'll just go inside."
He frowns as she turns around and starts to walk away, wondering why she is so nervous and panicky. Ashleys are never skittish.
Gretchen nudges him and he turns. "What?"
She nods to the retreating girl. "I believe she is your Ashley."
Oh. Right. She seems hell bent on running in the complete other direction as him and, if he's honest, he isn't that upset. So, instead of run after her so they can get shoved in a random closet in Ashley Q's basement, he stays in place.
Gretchen, however, pulls away and crosses her arms. Her mouth forms a thin line as she waits for...something.
"What?" he asks.
She rolls her eyes. "This is what you came for, isn't it?"
He shrugs. He supposes he did originally drag everyone here because of the kissing game, but it doesn't seem to him that anyone else is really into it anymore. TJ and Spinelli ditched completely. Mikey and Gus left early. Ashley T didn't even fight for a chance to kiss him. Maybe Mikey was right in the first place. Maybe it's better to let fate decide.
"Come on, Gretch. Look at her," he says, gesturing to Ashley T, who is dragging her feet slowly as she approaches the doorway back inside. "If she wanted to kiss me, she would have dragged me into the closet."
"No, Vince, you look at her," Gretchen replies. "I'm not usually one to support the Ashleys, but Ashley T is walking that slowly because she's going to try to pretend that you kissed her out here so she isn't the only one of her friends tonight without something to say."
Vince turns back and wonders if that's actually the case.
"If you don't want to kiss her, that's fine. You don't have to but you came here for a specific reason and if you are going to spend the next however long complaining about not taking this opportunity when you should have, then you should do it now," Gretchen states. Then she shrugs. "She's the least of the worst when it comes to them, after all."
Vince sighs. She's right, like always. She knows his patterns well. He'll end up regretting it if he doesn't kiss her and he has to tell all his friends he chickened out, especially after the big stink he pulled at TJ's. He doesn't want to have Spinelli throwing that in his face tomorrow.
"Why do you have to make sense all the time?" he grumbles, but before she can answer, he starts jogging away. "Ashley T!"
She already has the sliding glass doors open when she turns around. What happens next is a split second decision. Vince isn't exactly sure how to do this, but he has seen enough romantic comedies given that it's Mikey's favorite genre to have an idea. He walks right up to her, takes her face in his hands, and presses his lips to hers.
It's...not bad. He doesn't mind it that much. Actually, it's somewhat enjoyable. They break apart and Ashley T's face is tinged red. He smiles a little. She's sort of cute when she isn't being an Ashley.
On the other side of the sliding doors, Sam shouts, "Man, you've done this before!"
"You're holding out on us!" Dave says.
"Show off!" Phil adds. "You're supposed to use the closet so the rest of us don't get judged against you!"
Then the twins and Phil start laughing. The Ashleys seem to appear out of nowhere, taking Ashley T back into the house, giggling madly as they take her away. Vince now comes back to reality, realizing that he just had his first kiss in front of the majority of the popular kids. He turns around and walks back toward Gretchen, only to find her also giggling.
"Don't even," he says as they head toward the bike pile.
"Don't even what?" she asks. "I was not going to say a word."
They grab their bikes and start walking toward the sidewalk. Before they start biking back toward their houses, he frowns and holds up her. She tilts her head to the side in confusion.
"You didn't kiss anyone."
She shrugs. "With Mikey and Gus leaving, there was an disproportionate amount of boys and girls, with more girls than boys. Someone wasn't going to get kissed tonight," she says. Then she smiles. "Besides, because of that, I had a front row seat to see you in action. Are you sure you didn't study some romantic comedies before we came over."
"Gretchen."
She laughs and under the streetlights he can see her smile take over her entire face with lines and dimples. As much as he wants to be angry with her for teasing him, he just can't. Instead, he finds himself chuckling a little, albeit more sheepishly and less wholeheartedly than Gretchen.
Once the laughter dies down, they ride home. Vince rides with her to her house to make sure she gets home okay in the dark. She stops and turns to him as she dismounts her bike and unbuckles her helmet.
"I had fun tonight," she says.
"Yeah, I heard you laughing," he jokes.
She shakes her head. "No, I meant on the swing set. It's been forever since I've actually played on one."
"Yeah, I don't think I have either. Not since Third Street, at least," he says. He smiles. "We should do that sometime. Get the gang to just play like we did when we were little kids."
She nods her head and then starts to make moves to go inside. Vince watches her stash her bike against the side of the garage and then climb the stairs to her house. She waves as she opens the door and then he starts riding off a few streets to his own house.
As he bikes, he smiles to himself. In the end, it wasn't a terrible night. Despite the start of the night, the end made up for it in spades.
...
Notes
I decided to do a time jump because, as Vince alludes to, not much changed for them in 7th grade and the more I wrote about it, the less it seemed necessary. If anyone wants to see any 7th grade, I could post it as a separate outtake.
Instead, I started with this moment because most of the action will begin in high school. There will be one more 8th grade chapter, which will include the 8th grade semi-formal end of the year dance, and then we'll jump straight into high school.
I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think!