AN: Tomorrow I'm going to catch a flight to California, where I'll stay in a dorm until the ninth of July, so don't expect any updates until then :( . Yeah, I'm P.O'ed too. There's no computer AND no television, meaning, tragically for me, that I'm going to miss the premiere of Wrath of the Spider Queen, and, tragically for all of you, that you'll have to wait ages and ages for Chapter 8. Sorry 'bout that. Make up for it by enjoying this chapter like a bat enjoys chicken (that is, enjoy it a lot). :) Until next time...
Billy giggled, sitting on his bed and wiggling from the sheer amount of happiness inside him. Mandy, who had refused to sit by his side, was situated Indian-style across from him. Billy glanced at her and giggled again. Mandy's face colored pink as she checked her skirt- her panties weren't visible, but really, who knew what kind of things Billy would look at without letting her know?
"Quiet," Mandy said sharply. "You have no reason to be so vocal about your happiness." Did he?
Billy stopped his obnoxious chuckling, sliding down off his bed so that he was sitting on the floor as well. "Sorry!" He tried and failed miserably to restrain a wide, overjoyed grin. Billy reached out and ran one finger over Mandy's black hairband.
"Except for the fact that you're stupid."
Smack!
Mandy viciously beat Billy's arm back away from her face. She watched him suspiciously, lest he try to touch her again; by this time, however, even Billy had gotten the point. "Touching equals pain, Billy. Process that fact carefully." Mandy's thoughts drifted back to him holding her hand. To him holding her while she slept... without her consent. She scowled in his face.
Billy stared back at her. His eyes, as they had been so often lately, were eager and full of delight. He was looking at her as if he simply couldn't wait for what she'd do next.
Her own eyes must have gone slightly out of focus while she pondered him, because the next thing he said was, "Whatcha lookin' at?"
"An imbecile," Mandy replied sharply.
"A windowsill?"
"An imbecile."
"A free refill?"
"An imbecile."
"Jack n' Jill?"
"An imbecile."
"A BEACH?!"
Mandy slapped his face, hard, and refused to reply. "Heehee," Billy said quietly, almost to himself. "Hey, want me to read your plams?"
"It's palms," Mandy corrected him icily, "and no."
"Great," Billy replied gleefully. He seized her arm and brought her palm up to his face, mere inches from his eyes, and squinted at it intensely. "Hmm. HMMMM. Well it says here that your soda line's getting softer, which could mean more babes by the wayside, mmhmm, and right here it wants to make me pork! Hey-a, Mandy, that reminds me... are there one or two P's in the word exciting?"
"Give me that," Mandy snapped. She jerked her hand away. "You can't read palms, you idiot."
Billy blushed, giving a guilty chortle, and leaned his head on his fist. "Yeps. I can't."
Mandy was tempted to get up and leave, while something inside her was telling her to stay. Stay.
Mandy got up and left.
Her innards had been right.
When she got home, she regretted having left.
-GABM-
Mandy switched through channel after channel. Where was the violence? Where were the horror movies? She flipped to the Sangre Station- it was in tune with her personality, most of the time- and saw that they were doing a special on tongue piercings.
Mandy wrenched the television's power plug out.
It was a shame you could only kill someone once. She stretched and forced herself to calm down- not calm meant not in control, and not in control just wasn't Mandy. It's better to safeguard yourself with iron discipline, Mandy thought, even if it means you didn't get to go on some sort of violent rampage.
Even if it means you walk away from a situation that's become the reason you live the life you do?
Mandy stared at the blank TV screen. Billy. The world is about what I want, Mandy reasoned quickly, and I'd rather spend time with Billy than sit on my butt watching garbage on television.
She picked up the phone. Her fingers punched in the numbers aggressively- automatically.
"Hello," a voice said smoothly on the other end, "you've reached the temple of slow redhead-play, High Priest Harold speaking. What can I do ya for?"
"Put Billy on the line."
There was a long, awkward pause.
"Oh," the voice said finally, "you're not-"
"If you knew what was good for you, Billy's dad, you'd put Billy on. Immediately."
"I'm on!" Billy's voice rang from the receiver at once. "D'aww, why'd you leave like that, Mandy?"
"Dance. Tonight. Hammy's Hotel. Seven. Be there." Click.
Mandy glanced at the clock. She folded her arms behind her head, relaxing slightly; she had just over two hours. Not that she planned on doing anything besides brushing her hair. Dances had never interested her. Maybe, just maybe, using Billy to her advantage, she would be able to thoroughly ruin the event. That interested her a bit more.
Mandy stretched out on her couch. Glancing at the clock, she shut her eyes, dozing off for a few minutes before the dance came around.
-GABM-
When she arrived, the place was loud, garish, crowded with people. Mandy scanned the crowd for that familiar face, and listened for that idiotic giggle. Billy was never hard to miss.
"Hello Man-dy," sneered a familiar voice. Mindy was leaning up against a punch table, wearing a smirk that made her look unattractive, a dress that made her look wenchy, and heels that made her quite a bit taller than Mandy was. "I see you've dressed up for the occasion!"
Mandy was wearing her usual pink dress. "I see you've dressed down for it," she said, unruffled.
"Oooh! Loser insults. I'm so embarrassed." Mindy gave a loud, unpleasant laugh. "What kind of boy is going to ask you to dance, I wonder?"
Mandy said nothing. She reached for a glass of punch.
"Billy?" jeered Mindy. "He's right over there. He said he was meeting you here, but I guess he isn't very interested, is he?" Mindy pointed rudely over to a clump of girls in the corner. Mandy turned to look at them, and something wet splashed on her shoulder. -Mindy had thrown a paper cup full of punch at her, and Mandy felt herself go red as the punch began to stain her dress, some dripping down her arm in a sticky wet trail.
"You shouldn't have done that," Mandy said in a low voice. She unclenched her fists, surprisingly enough, turned her back on Mindy, and began to walk towards the group of silly girls.
"Ooh! I'm so scared!" Mindy called to her retreating back. Her words were followed by another bout of unpleasant laughter.
Mandy felt anger burn inside of her, but did not turn around. She'd deal with Mindy soon enough. For now, Billy was probably getting himself into some kind of trouble, and Mandy would be needed to pull him out. She only hoped he was where Mindy had said- the lot behind Hammy's Hotel was enormous, and right now it was crammed with people.
A few of the girls, all dressed in outrageously racy outfits, turned to look at Mandy. Disinterested, they looked back at whatever they had been a few minutes before. She managed to worm her way into the half-circle. Sitting in a corner, with a curly-haired girl on his lap and a cute, petite young woman clinging to his side, was Billy. Mandy felt her heart sink slightly. She counteracted this by enveloping it in more and more layers of stone. "Billy." She didn't know what else to say to him.
"Mandy!" he cried, overjoyed. He easily tossed the girls away and ran up to Mandy. "I been waiting for you." Smiling happily, Billy gave her a brief, heartfelt hug. "Hey, you gots something sticky on yer shoulder! Deeheehee." He picked her up by the waist and spun her around once, setting her back down on the ground.
Mandy felt dizzy- more dizzy than she should have, considering she'd only been spun once. "It's punch," she said to him, trying to give her voice its habitual edge. The girls in the group were looking at Mandy with something between jealously and respect.
"Hey, girls," Billy said to all of them, "this is my bestest bestest friend in the whole wide world: Mandy!"
"Don't ever give me that introduction again," Mandy growled in his ear.
Billy giggled in response, hiccupping halfway through. Mandy eyed him. She supposed he'd been sitting among those girls all evening so far, drinking himself sick and sillier on punch; an overload of sugar that he seriously shouldn't have gotten to. "C'mon Mandy," he babbled, "we gotta go wash that punch off your purty dress before it turns all red and sticky-like." Billy grabbed her hand and began to drag her away.
"Where are we going?" Mandy asked sharply. "I don't want to go into the hotel; it's sleazy and full of-"
"Nah! We're going to the river, so's you kin wash your dress! C'mon, it'll be fun," Billy beamed at her. Mandy felt something go softer in her chest. Keeping her glare carefully, she allowed Billy to lead her away from the noise and the lights, towards a darker place. She had to blink to let her eyes adjust to the blackness around her. The noise was still audible, but it was very muffled and distant, as if coming from another world. Even the air was a little bit cooler. As her surroundings became more visible, Mandy could see that Billy was leading her through a forest of huge white pine trees.
"Hey, we're almost there!" Billy said, sounding as though he had just won the lottery. At any other time, Mandy would have slapped him or perhaps pinched the area between her eyes, but now, he wasn't quite so annoying. In fact, he wasn't annoying at all.
They reached the river's edge and Billy let go of her hand. He made eye contact with her and didn't bother trying to suppress his grin. Maybe it was a trick of the moonlight, but his smile didn't seem to be coming from mere stupidness this time... it was a happy smile, yes, but calm and innocent. It was the smile of someone who had nothing but sweet thoughts in their mind and sweet intentions in their heart.
Mandy cast her eyes away. Somehow, that smile made her very sad.
"Right," she tried to say briskly. Rather than her usual "let's-get-down-to-business" tone, however, her words issued themselves from her mouth in the form of a whisper.
"Whassat?" Billy said. "You gots to speak up. Otherwise I can't hears ya!" He sat down, feet dangling off the edge of the riverbank, singing a love song under his breath and mangling the lyrics.
"You dragged me all the way over here so I could wash my dress," Mandy replied, her voice found. "And I'm not in the mood for a swim."
"D'aww, I gotcha," Billy said, covering his eyes. "You gots to take your clothes off."
"You'd better not look, Billy." Mandy kneeled down by the water and lifted her punch-soaked dress off, shooting a glance at Billy, knowing in her heart that he wouldn't look at her unless she was decent. Mandy dipped the shoulder of the dress into the clear water, watching little tendrils of artificial coloring remove themselves from the fabric. Oddly enough, even as she watched the water run over her dress, she wasn't thinking about revenge. Of course she would later. Now, though, her thoughts flowed more in the direction of feeling.
What was she feeling for him? The word "friendship" was always used so casually. The word "love" was always used so falsely.
Mandy tried to scrub the punch spot with her fingernails. It was barely noticeable now, just a spot of pink that was slightly darker than what it should be. She lifted her dress out of the water. The cool night air blew about gently- but strongly enough, Mandy hoped, to dry her dress off quickly. Not that she felt awkward. Billy, she confessed to herself, was the only person she'd trust not to peek; Mandy was completely comfortable around him right now. No, better than comfortable. She was glad to have him here.
"How'd ya get punch on yer dress?" Billy asked, bringing her back from her thoughts.
Mandy looked at him. He was still covering his eyes with his hands. "Mindy dumped it on me," Mandy said. The words should have brought anger, but instead, Mandy regarded the situation with apathy.
Well, near apathy.
"Billy," Mandy said, donning her partly wet dress, "how would you like to start the hugest, most disgusting food fight in the history of Endsville?"
"Yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah!" Billy blurted out eagerly.
She pulled one of his hands away from his eyes, helping him up, surprising him with the thoughtfulness of the gesture. Mandy herself didn't bat an eyelash.
"Let's go."