Around ten, I met up with the rest of the boys at Kyle's house; Kenny came, much to Eric's annoyance; I wondered why Eric was being so strange but shrugged it off, assuming that that's just how he was. I was the only one who didn't already have a big snow shovel at home, since when it did snow in NY, the street cleaners did the job for you and you'd only have to put salt on your porch, if you even had one. Thankfully, Kyle's dad was home and went into the attic to find me a spare; his family was really nice and giving in that sort of way, even when it was small.
"Thanks, Mr. Broflovski," I said.
"Any time, Emma," He responded. "You kids have fun out there."
"What's fun about shoveling snow?" Eric groaned.
"Well, with all the money you make, you can buy video games," He said, trying to be enthusiastic.
"Yeah, but I can just get my meeem to do it," He said.
I rolled my eyes at Eric.
"We'll be back later, dad," Kyle said, before we departed.
Throughout the day, we ended up shoveling probably four yards; we knew we had to be done by three if we wanted to meet the Goth kids by four; I didn't expect the others to be so eager about joining me, since they weren't partial with the Goths, but I was happy that they were on board with the plan. We didn't tell Eric about it though; actually, the excuse we made up was that we had to be done early because Kyle had a dentist appointment; Eric made fun of him for this, but he ignored it. I'm sure Eric also got plenty cavities in his life too.
Once we finished, Eric, thankfully, went home and we all went back to Kyle's to drop off our snow shoveling gear. Kyle's mom said that she was more than willing to drive us to Benny's so we wouldn't have to walk a ways in the cold, which I was appreciative for; I'm sure the other three were as well.
The Goth kids were standing outside smoking when we arrived. Kyle's mom didn't know we were hanging out with them though, so she just made a negative comment regarding them before driving away. My dad said he was going to pick us up at five; it was four now.
"Hey!" I greeted, smiling, as we approached the Goths.
"Hey, Emma," Pete and Michael said in a monotone voice. Michael flicked his cigarette onto the ground and crushed it; Pete did the same, following him.
"Hey," Firkle said.
"How was shoveling snow?" Henrietta asked. She put her finished cigarette in the ash tray that the others didn't notice before.
"Frustrating," Kyle answered; I would've said the same.
"Why's that?" Michael asked.
"Well, Cartman wouldn't shut the hell up," Stan sighed.
I nodded, "His constant complaining was getting on my nerves a bit; but we made bank, so it's alright."
"Mmmph," Kenny nodded.
"Let's go inside," Pete flipped his hair to get it out of his eyes.
"Yeah it's colder than tits out here," Firkle muttered.
We all made our way inside; when the usual waitress saw us, she sighed and brought us to our rounded table in the corner near the big window.
"Thanks," Kyle said and she grimaced at him; I thanked her the first time, but she was so negative towards us that I didn't think she deserved it; I guess Kyle would learn the way we all learned too.
"So coffee?" She said, grabbing out her pen and pad.
All but Kyle and Stan ordered coffee; they ordered hot cocoa. I was surprised that Kenny ordered coffee, even though he ordered decaf; although I did see a few bags of it lying around when I went to his house this morning. It was probably better than whatever tap water came out of their faucet.
"So, um, how's Wendy?" Michael asked Stan, trying to make small talk.
"She's good," Stan said.
The awkward small talk went on until our drinks came; once they took a sip of coffee, they were able to communicate much more effortlessly, even though they seldom took to speaking; I could see that they were making an effort to be friends with my other friends and it made me so happy. This went on until out of the corner of my eye, I saw Eric enter Benny's with his mom. I couldn't believe it; I wondered if it was coincidence or if he found us and knew we were lying.
"Kenny," I nudged him and pointed since he was the closest to me.
"Oh shit," He said; it was muffled but I understood it pretty clearly.
Kyle and Stan looked up and groaned, which got the Goth kids' attention.
"Should we, like, sneak out?" Henrietta asked.
Eric was seated at a table on the other side of the restaurant from us, so we figured he wasn't aware of us and forgot about it.
For the most part, we had a decent time; I could see the apprehension between the two groups to socialize, however there was still decent conversation nonetheless. Around 4:55, we paid our bill and were walking out the door when we heard a shriek.
"Meeemmm!" It was Eric. "Look, it's my friends who said they were too busy for me!"
"Oh, dear," I heard her gasp.
"Shit shit shit," I muttered, grabbing the hands of whoever was near me and ran out.
Once we made our way out of the restaurant, I realized that one of the hands I had grabbed was Michaels and quickly recoiled, awkwardly. He gave me a strange look, but said nothing of it.
"Why are you so freaked out?" Kyle insisted.
"My dad is friends with Eric's mom and if he finds out that I was a part of the plan to ditch Eric, I'm grounded," I said, a bit frazzled.
"Mmmpph," Kenny said; it sounded kind of like 'it's okay', but I wasn't sure.
"We'll think of an excuse to fix this, Em," Stan said.
"Yeah, and we've got your back," Henrietta said.
"But her dad hates us, remember," Pete sighed and flipped his hair from his eyes; it was windy out and having fringe that long must've been a fashionable burden.
"Every adult hates us, Pete," Michael added.
"Yeah," Firkle agreed.
I sighed, sitting down on the sidewalk with the boys as we waited to be picked up. The Goth kids decided to all walk home together, so that they could smoke without being harassed by any adults. The sun was setting when my dad finally arrived, ten minutes later than he said; I didn't mind, but it was cold.
"How was it, kiddo?" Dad asked as we all four loaded into the car; I sat in the passenger seat.
"It was cool, dad," I forced a smile, nervous.
Hopefully this wouldn't bite me in the ass.
