(Author's note: the Green Day reference is dedicated to a friend of mine. :P)
"You come up with anything yet, Cal?" Mike was wiping the dirt off of his forehead. He forgot that he was supposed to slide feet first, not head first. To tell the truth, it was hilarious. He ended up with a big cut on his forehead in the end. "Casey and Frankie are getting kinda impatient." Casey Weston was our bass player. Kinda shy, but he wanted to overcome that and be a star, probably more than any of us. Alan Carlson was our keyboarder, and was in charge of our MySpace. He keeps talking about how we're doing so good and how everyone's downloading our songs. We don't have a computer, so I wouldn't know. Either way, Mike decided that Alan wasn't a good name for a person in a rock group, so he gave him the nickname Frankie. I call him Alan anyway when I see him in the hallways at school.
"Nope. Just what you have." I glanced over at Crys. She was bored, I could tell, but she was still smiling. Something really didn't seem right.
"Okay then. Crystal?" Mike looked over at her. "We need a screaming fan to make us seem like we're the best things since iPods." I chuckled when I heard that. We weren't that good, but we weren't that bad either. "Can you do that?"
She went hysterical. "OHMIGOD! OHMIGOD! BOYS OF DESTINY!" Let me pause and say that that was the name I came up with. What can I say? I was a Freshman when we started the band. "Oh, that Calvin is soooooooooooooooo hot!"
"Okay, perfect!" Mike gave her the thumbs-up and she leaned against the wall again, checking her cell phone. "Yes sir, Cal. We're gonna strike it big. I mean sure, today MySpace, tomorrow, people all over school buy our CD, and the next day, who knows?"
I resisted the temptation to roll my eyes. "You better believe it."
"Just think Cal. We're gonna join the ranks."
"What ranks?"
"Duh. Of band leaders and the almost more popular than him people. You know, like Lance Bass and Justin Timberlake. Nick Carter and Chris KirkPatrick. Uh... Billie Joe Armstrong and Tre Cool."
"Who?"
"That's not important. Also..." Mike took a look at Crystal again, "...make sure you don't mess anything up with Crystal before tomorrow."
"What?"
"Something's going on with you and that new girl. Don't mess this up." Susie? Mike was getting bent out of shape because of the notes Susie had been sending me?
Swallowing my pride, I said "Don't worry about her. I don't even know her that well."
"Whatever, Cal." Mike smirked and then jumped on his bike. "I'm serious. Don't do anything stupid." With that, Mike rode off, almost falling off of his bike when he hit the curb.
I looked back at Crystal and joined her on the wall. When I touched the wall, she quickly closed her cell phone. "Hey," I said. "I'll give you a ride home."
She panicked. "Uh... that's okay. I can get a ride on the city bus. I'll call you when I get home, bye!" She kissed me lightly on my cheek and then picked up her bag and ran off. Figures, I thought. I'll never understand girls. Oh well, no worries.
--
Or so I thought. My mom almost met me at the door. "Calvin, you're home. Help me set the table." She was dressed casually and was cooking something. Whatever it was smelled good too. I didn't know why she was doing this. Was there something she told me that I forgot about? I seem to do that from time to time.
"Uh... what's the occasion?"
"The Derkins' are coming over for dinner." And that's all it took. After I finished setting the table, I went upstairs and buried my head in my pillow. Well... this is nice, I thought. Mike's already on me for just taking notes from her, and after what happened yesterday... goodness, what a day. I turned on my CD player, put on my headphones, and drifted off into a song.
--
The doorbell rang. "Calvin! Come down here!" Here we go again, I thought, leaving the words of John Lennon to go join Susie and her mother. I saw Susie from the doorway, wearing a windbreaker and loose-fitting jeans. "Um... hello," I shyly called out to Susie.
"Hey Cal," she called back. I just then remembered that Crystal was supposed to call me during the night. It was gonna be really hard for me to talk with Susie here. I knew I was supposed to be loyal to Crys, and I didn't know how Susie felt anymore.
"Dinner will be ready in a second. Until then, make yourself at home." Thank you for breaking up the awkward moment, Mom. I went upstairs hoping to stay up there alone until dinner.
--
Of course, it didn't happen.
Susie knocked on my door and entered. "Hey Cal." She sat down on a bean bag in the corner of my room, and took off her windbreaker to reveal a short-sleeve shirt. I acknowledged that she was there, but I ignored her for the most part. "Something wrong?" she asked me. I couldn't answer exactly, so I just shrugged. She picked up a baseball and started tossing it in the air. After a while, she said, "Your friend Casey asked me out today."
I didn't know how to respond to that. Like I said earlier, Casey's kinda shy. Something had to be up. "I said no. I couldn't," she said after that.
"Why not?" I think I said. I don't remember saying much, just hoping that Susie's decision didn't have anything to do with me.
"Cause I'm a lesbian," she said, smiling.
"Wh-- what?" Really?"
"Nope, just kidding." It wasn't funny to me, at least. "Casey seemed nice, he just... wasn't my type."
"Well what i--" the phone interrupted me. I knew who was calling too. "Hello?"
"Hi, Calvin." Crystal didn't sound very excited to talk to me.
"Hey Crys," I said, looking at Susie out of the corner of my eye. "Listen, it's not a good time to talk..."
"Why? Is Mike over there listening?" I saw that Susie wrote "It's okay, I'm not here" on a piece of paper.
"Uh..."
"Listen, I've been thinking... (Be quiet. I'm saying it...) Maybe we should see other people. I was stunned.
"Why? What, are you cheating on me? Who was that you were talking to over there?"
"Listen, you're a nice guy Calvin, but..."
"Forget it. Mike's gonna kill me anyway. Bye, Crystal." I hung up the phone and buried my head back into my pillow, swearing under my breath. For that split second, I forgot that Susie was even in the room.
"Something wrong?" she asked again.
"Oh... oh nothing." I answered, not even looking at her. I didn't understand any of this. What did I do to deserve this all of a sudden? The questions were filling my head like a water bottle, but none of the questions had answers to go along with them.
"Crystal's brother just got out of jail." My ears perked up and I looked at Susie. "I overheard her talking to her friends about how he was going to hurt you if he saw you with her. Was she your girlfriend?" Susie never ceased to amaze me.
"No, you're lying. You have to be! S-she was with me this morning! And in the afternoon!"
"She didn't know how to break it to you, Cal. I'm sorry..." All of a sudden, words erupted from my mouth.
"Oh sure. You're reaaaaaal sorry. Really sorry that you just happened to reappear. Nothing bad was happening then. Then you start sending me notes, you give me this bad news, Mike's mad at me for you sending me these notes, and--" I stopped. I didn't want to say anything that I'd regret. Susie got out of the beanbag with almost a blank expression on her face.
As she left the room, it was the first time I had seen the scars on her arm.
--
Dinner was roast beef with a side of light conversation. Susie didn't have any though. As it turns out, she's a vegetarian. I simply took a couple pieces of bread and made a sandwich while I watched Susie sit on the couch listening to her iPod. I couldn't stop thinking about her arm. I mean, I couldn't even imagine it. Susie Derkins of all people, sitting on a bed or whatever, taking a razorblade or whatever and slicing her arm with it.
I stopped when she looked at me and gave me a "Take a picture, it'll last longer" look. I didn't want to say anything, since Mrs. Derkins was in earshot. I continued to eat while Susie sat on a couch, and I listened, although not entirely, to our moms talking.