Chapter Three: Guy Talk

I pulled on my usual red shirt and my jeans. I had had no sleep that night... I had huge dark circles under my eyes.

"Wow, Brick," Butch said, walking into the room, his hair gelled and his backpack slung over one shoulder. "You're a mess. What happened to you?" He plopped down on his side of the bed.

"Meh, just couldn't sleep," I replied groggily.

"Oh." He put his hand to his mouth, thinking. "Wait, were you thinking about school?"

"No, finals are over."

"Oh. Then, what about girls?"

"I'm not dating anyone," I replied.

"Well, that's probably it," he said with a smirk. "You're not getting any action." He snickered and hit me on the shoulder playfully. "You need to get out there, buddy. Have some fun. Hey, listen," he said, getting up, "I'm going to this awesome party tonight. You were invited, but you haven't said anything, so I think you forgot. Anyway, you've gotta go. Lots of girls, lots of guys... lots of rooms..." Butch laughed.

"I don't know..."

"Boomer's going too. Oh, I almost forgot! You'll never believe who got invited and decided to go," Butch went on, not caring if I listened. "Guess who."

"Who?"

"Buttercup, Blossom, and Bubbles!" he exclaimed, waving his arms in the air enthusiastically. "Amazing, right? They're too goody-goody, and they haven't been to a party this entire year. But apparently one of their buddies is hosting this one, so they're going." He hid a blush, but I caught it. He wanted to talk to Buttercup.

"Hm... I'll think about it."

"Dude, you have to go. It'll be so much fun."

"I said I'll think about it. You're looking forward to seeing Buttercup again, aren't you?" I grinned and watched Butch get tense.

"Eh... sort of kind of. She's hot, I guess," he said, rubbing the back of his head with one hand and tapping his finger on the other. It was fun to watch him squirm. "I mean, she's a lot like me, but not exactly like me, and that's a good thing to look for when hunting for girls, you know --"

I stopped him. "It's okay. We should probably be getting to school, huh?"

He nodded thankfully. "So you'll go then?"

"Sure, why not?" I replied, slicking back my hair and putting on my signature red baseball cap. "It should be fun."