Chapter 13

I sighed and checked the clock on the wall. "Oh, what's the use in this?" I said to myself. I should have known Kendall would make sure that I wouldn't go to the dance. I was the only girl still at the dorm, apart from my dear new friend, Pillow. I hugged Pillow, trying to fight the anger and tears when my cell phone rang.

"Hello?" I said, trying not to sound like I was fighting tears.

"Rusty? Where are you?" It was Robyn.

"Still at the dorm." I said glumly. "Waiting for Rudy."

"Oh, damn. That boy better get over there, or I'm gonna go run home, grab him by the hair—"

I jumped at the sound of a motorcycle. I ran to the window, and saw the shape of Rudy in the dark. "He's here!"

"He probably heard me," Robyn said. "I'll see you there."

"Okay." I closed the phone and ran down the stairs, coming down the last few steps as Rudy jogged over.

"I'm really sorry I'm late, the traffic was just—" Rudy stopped, and stared at me.

"What?" I said, feeling myself get hot.

"You're beautiful." I looked down, feeling my cheeks get hotter. "I mean it. You are beautiful." Rudy said.

That, ladies, and gentlemen, felt better than being called hot or sexy.

At the dance, Robyn was the one letting people go in. "I'm making sure you don't get mixed up with any Royalty," she said, grinning.

We went in, and Rudy was kind of quiet.

"I want to make it up to you for being late," he kept saying.

"Rudy, it's fine. It's not your fault the traffic was—" Rudy suddenly gave me a kiss on the cheek. I blinked. Did that really happen?

"Ugh!" Kendall sneered at me, sticking out her chest at Rudy to show him that she was, in her opinion, a real woman. She was wearing a tight red dress that was in a narrow V that went all the way down to her stomach. "Can I talk to Rusty for a sec, Rudy? Just girl-talk."

Rudy tightened his grip on my hand, but I said, "No, it's okay."

"Rusty, Robyn told me what happened. I'm not letting you go," he said.

"It's okay, Rudy. She's not gonna do anything in a crowd of people," I said, and followed Kendall off to the side. "I hope," I mumbled when I saw her eyes.

Come on, Rusty. Don't look like you're intimidated. You're not. You're not scared either, because you have Robyn, Aurora, Angela, Amanda...Rudy. Oh, now that Rudy was mentioned, I felt like giggling like a maniac. I managed to keep it under control.

Kendall stood there for a second, looking at me. I looked back, making gestures for her to talk. When she didn't do anything for a while, I sighed and said, "Are you gonna say anything or are we going to have a staring contest? I mean, we went through all this—"

"How'd you do it?" Kendall suddenly burst out.

"Come again?"

"How'd you..." she gestured at the dancers. I raised my eyebrows. "You know, make everyone help you? What'd you do? Did you promise to do their homework for them? Pay them? Get into the computer and make their Fs into As? Sleep with them?"

"Ew," I said. "Uh, Kendall, I think that you need to realize something."

"I know, this dress makes me look fat," Kendall said angrily.

"No," I said, trying not to laugh. She was so incredibly stupid. "Kendall, I didn't do anything to them."

"Then how'd you get Robyn and Aurora to hang out with you? What did you do!" Kendall shouted in anger. I looked around and saw some people looked at us, but the music was so loud that no one really heard. "Rebecca!" Kendall said, grabbing my face and making me look at her. "I'm frigging ready to have a tantrum here!"

"What I didn't do was be spoiled, rich, and a slut," I said, looking straight at her. "I didn't act like I was above them. I didn't stereotype. I was different, Robyn and Aurora were too. And I don't mean different like they had boots instead of the normal flat shoes. I mean that they did whatever they did without caring what people thought of them. Their friend, Nigel," I said, wondering if I should tell her. She looked at me, hungry for the things I was saying. Yes, let's see her reaction. "The gay boy that was at Ross with us that one day—" her face was pure shock but I continued "—you saw how he was dressed when you came in. He's gay, and he doesn't give a shit what other people think of him. He's happy with himself, and that's all that matters. That's all that should matter."

I left her and went over to Rudy.

"What'd she want?" Rudy said suspiciously as he took my hand again protectively.

"She just wanted to talk, like she said," I said innocently. "I just told her Nigel was really, you know, gay. Her face was pretty much the same as last time."

"Yeah, I think Robyn has it on video," Rudy said, jerking his chin over to the entrance. I looked over, and saw Robyn's face lit by the light of a camera. She looked like she was enjoying herself, and I heard her laughter over the music.

After the dance, me and Rudy went for a walk around the school gardens that the Sisters took care of it, and were very strict about keeping food and trash out of their precious babies.

"You know," I said, fighting a shiver. Rudy slipped out of his jacket and put it over me. I grinned at him. "My dad was wrong. Private Catholic school wasn't less sinful than the public schools. And to think, I might've been a Religious if I hadn't met Robyn on my first day. Weird, huh?"

"Rusty, don't take this the wrong way," Rudy said, "but I don't think you could've ever fit in as a Religious. You're perfect with the status you have right now."

"Rudy, I don't have any status," I said.

"Exactly." Rudy said, grinning. I grinned back.

Maybe my dad was right, after all. Maybe private Catholic school was for me.