Not seeing Andy in school that day made Allison feel even worse than she did before. It had all been her fault. She was the one who asked for the sex. She was the one who succumbed to a whim she had. Now Andy was on bad terms with his family and was actually jealous of her for her parents not caring who she screwed with last night.

That morning, after getting about an hour's worth of sleep, she'd proudly marched into the kitchen, where her parents Danny and Marty were sitting, drinking coffee and reading two different newspapers. "I had sex last night without a condom," she announced loud and proud. Marty didn't stir.

Her father looked at her for about 4 seconds and said, "It's garbage night. Empty out the bathroom before dinner."

And Andy was jealous of this life?

Allison couldn't pay attention in any of her morning classes. She just pictured Andy being treated like he was in boot camp all day with his father as the drill sergeant. And all of it being her fault, it just made her feel like shit.

At lunch, she sat at a small round table in the corner of the cafeteria taking slow, occasional bites of her ketchup and banana sandwich. It would only be Bender and Claire sitting with her today. Where were they?

After about 15 minutes, Allison looked up just as John Bender heaved himself in the seat across from her. He looked a little ticked off. Allison sighed and stared at him. Claire was nowhere around. Bender pulled out his backpack and took out a lunch sack labeled "Tommy." He pulled out a peanut-butter sandwich and a carton of juice. He groaned.

"Some of these freshmen are going on crash diets just to starve me. Don't they know it's a fucking domino effect?" Bender said, exasperated. Allison stared more. "What's eating you?"

"Where's Claire?"

"Not here," was Bender's bitter reply. "She's been avoiding me lately, ever since that new guy transferred from Oregon. Dickface," he muttered. "He's paying special attention to her, and her prep set friends aren't helping either."

"What do you mean?" asked Allison.

"I heard her talking with two of 'em, both of them saying that she should drop me and go with Mr. Dickface."

"That's horrible," said Allison, finishing her sandwich. She had an orange, but instead of eating it, she slid it across the table to Bender, who graciously picked it up and began tearing away at the peel. "You think she will?"

"I don't think so," said Bender. "If she drops me for Mr. Dickface, it will be the biggest mistake she'll ever make, and she knows it."

"You love her that much?" asked Allison. "You'd beat up a rival for her? That's romantic," she continued without much feeling.

"She wants me too, she's just trying to juggle two guys at once—"

"—and you don't mind that?" asked Allison.

"It means she's taking after me! She'll have a wallet full in no time!" he said with a mock-pride.

"But when you first got with her, you burned your wallet and dumped the girls inside," said Allison. Bender didn't reply. She'd crossed a line and knew she shouldn't look into it anymore.

"Why do you look so down in the mouth?" asked Bender. Allison groaned and whimpered.

"Andy and I did it last night," she said. Bender smirked and began laughing. "And his dad caught us." Bender kept laughing louder and longer. "Shut up, you asshole! It's not funny!"

"Is Sporto lame in the sack or something?" Bender didn't let up on laughing as he spoke.

"I got him in trouble with his father! I feel awful!" Allison yelled, getting up angrily and storming away. Bender bit his lip and hid more snickers as he watched Allison storm away.

The next day, Andy did appear in school. Allison couldn't talk to him until lunch. But when lunchtime did come, she waited for Andy outside the cafeteria. She gave him a hopeful smile. He didn't smile back, but he did stop and say hello.

"Wanna go in the courtyard and talk?" asked Allison. Andy nodded quickly.

"Yes. Yes, I do," Andy decided quickly, taking Allison's hand in his and guiding her out to the courtyard. The courtyard was a space of open air sandwiched between the cafeteria and the library. It was technically off-limits to students, but when two or more people wanted to duke something out or be alone, they went out there and usually weren't caught. It was just a pile of stones and an old weed that had managed to grow into a small tree. Once, when Allison and Andy were freshmen, a tornado warning in late spring had kept everyone in school until the warning expired. Allison recalled walking by a window on the second floor overlooking the courtyard, and seeing about 4 couples making out in the down below (she might have seen Bender among the couples, but then again she could never be sure). Vernon had caught wind of it and had the door sealed shut. But the students found a window with a loose pane, and whenever someone would want to go out into the courtyard, they could move the glass pane aside and climb down into the courtyard and be totally alone. Andy moved aside the pane for Allison and they found themselves alone in the forbidden courtyard.

Allison propped herself up in a corner. Andy leaned beside her. They were silent for nearly 5 minutes before deciding to speak. It was Allison who spoke first.

"How bad was it yesterday?" she asked. Andy swallowed a huge lump in his throat and shook his head.

"I was at the club until 5 last night, then he took me out for burgers," Andy replied. "My knee was killer when I came home, so I soaked in the bathtub for at least an hour. How did your parents react?"

"Just like they always do…they didn't," Allison hissed. If Andy said anything about her being lucky, she wouldn't hesitate to kick him in the groin right there, bad knee or not. Andy didn't say anything. "Claire's snubbing John," she added.

"Oh?" Andy asked for more information.

"It's because of Neil Dickens. John calls him Mr. Dickface. Claire's smitten, but it's most likely a fling. John's not too worried, although he's afraid of her rich friends having an influence," Allison explained. Andy looked like he really wanted to say something. Allison could tell he was trying to keep it hidden.

"Al, I'm moving," Andy said. Allison almost didn't hear the words, Andy made them barely audible.

Allison, upon understanding what the words meant, let out a squeal of surprise. Andy was WHAT? Did she really piss off George Clark that bad? Great, as if Allison didn't feel bad enough. Now she felt like falling off a cliff.

"Did your father get THAT upset?" she asked sadly, but calmly. Andy shook his head.

"He'd been planning it for awhile and just now told me. I'm leaving Saturday," he informed Allison.

"It's Wednesday!" Allison declared. "Three days?" she yelped. "Can I see you before then?" she asked.

"Al, it's only for a month," Andy said. "I'll be in Kenosha—"

"—Wisconsin?"

"Yeah, Wisconsin. My brother's having problems with a girlfriend and my dad wanted us to be with him until everything with Adam's settled. I should be back by the holidays," he assured her. That WOULD be true should he manage to keep Allison in his mind for a month.

"That doesn't make sense," Allison muttered. Why would Andy move away to a different state for only a month's time?

"What?" asked Andy. Allison shook her head. Andy wouldn't lie to her.

"Nothing, just a notion," she said. "Can I see you before you leave?"

Andy thought a moment. "No," he concluded. "Not outside school. Dad's still on bad terms with me," he said.

"I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble," Allison said, starting to cry. That was another thing Andy envied. He was always so afraid to show emotion for fear of being seen as a weakling. Allison would be the first in a crowd to laugh at a joke or cry at a funeral.

Andy took Allison into his arms. "No. It had nothing to do with you—"

"—who are you trying to fool? I was EVERYTHING to do with it! If I'd never screwed around with you, then you wouldn't be moving away, and I'd be able to see you!" Allison cried to herself. Andy looked hurt.

"Al—"

"Go away!" Allison just wanted to be alone. She couldn't see how Andy was trying to pin it all on himself. It just made her feel even worse. She pulled out of Andy's grip and ran away. She yanked the window pane aside and heaved herself back into the school, leaving Andy standing in the old courtyard.

As if trying to prevent Andy from pursuing her, Allison replaced the window pane before running down the hall.

Allison and Andy took different buses, so Allison didn't see Andy for the rest of the day. Brian had the same bus route as her, but since he graduated a year early (he'd skipped the 4th grade and kept up with the rest) Allison sat all by herself in the back of the bus. She was so down. Andy actually felt sorry for her, and she couldn't feel worse if she'd shot President Reagan and killed him. Allison was one of the last stops on the route, so she pulled out her charcoal sketch pad and began doodling around with a charcoal pencil. She made several sad images in her book, but nothing she could turn into a piece for her art class. Every 3 minutes or so, the bus would stop, and a wad of people would get off. Allison was dropped off about ½ a mile from her apartment building, Ambrosia Towers, on Magnolia Lane with about 9 other kids (most of them were lower class like herself, Magnolia Lane wasn't exactly a part of the richie section of town where Andy lived).

Once Andy got inside the apartment building where she lived, she check her apartment's mail slot (#17) and retrieved the 4-5 bills within. Her landlord, Mr. Samuels, was checking his own mail. Mr. Samuels was a sleazy fat old man. Allison once drew a picture of him hanging by his ankles in front of an oncoming train. No wonder he was 50 and single. He hit on her and every other single girl over 15 in the building.

"Miss Reynolds, remind your parents to pay their rent! They're behind a few months!" Mr. Samuels bugged. Allison was surprised as she began climbing the stairs that he hadn't tried to grab her ass (again). Maybe he was hungover. He got like that a lot more, and as horrible as it sounded, Allison and the 12 other girls/women he'd gone after at one point or another liked it better when he was hungover from overdoing the booze. Allison's apartment was on the top floor along with apartments 18, 19, and the 'penthouse apartment' down the hall (the penthouse wasn't bigger or better than the others…it was where Mr. Samuels himself lived and it made him feel more superior to label his letters "Fredrick Samuels, Ambrosia Towers Apartments, Penthouse").

She got into the apartment and went into the kitchen. Yet another note was taped to the refrigerator:

We're gonna be stuck in Chicago tonight. Won't be home until tomorrow afternoon. Big court case we both need to be on. Leftover ham in the freezer for dinner. Lock the door on your way to school tomorrow.

Danny & Marty

Allison ripped the note off the fridge and tossed it over her shoulder. She hated ham. Instead, for a snack, Allison dug around in the cupboards until she found a brick of Ramen Japanese Noodles. She boiled a pan of water and dunked the noodles in; then she sat on the counter and looked out the window until they were done.

She felt a moving wad of fur smashing itself up against her feet. It was her skinny black cat begging for attention. Allison smiled. Only her cats could make her smile after dealing a miserable deal such as this.

"Hey Fritz," she greeted her cat. "Where's Ingrid?"

Fritz howled in delight. Almost as if on cue, a peanut-butter colored cat with twice as much body fat as Fritz came waddling into the kitchen, mewling for Allison. Sometimes she wondered if she really could communicate with her two old lazy pets. Before March 24th, 1984, they were her best friends on earth. "Ingrid, you pig in cat's fur! Did you eat all the tuna before Fritzi got to it again?"

Ingrid mewled, proud of herself. Allison groaned woefully and turned off the stove. Suddenly, she wasn't in the mood for noodles. She felt a fresh batch of tears welling in her eyes as she flopped onto the couch in the living room. Fritz and Ingrid followed her onto the sofa and began mewling more.

Allison just wanted to become a cat. At least if a cat fucked with another cat, they didn't have to worry about being forcibly torn apart afterwards.