GB96 - Run!

You didn’t come here to fight. Besides, these guys aren’t huge, but they’re still boys. The smallest of them is taller than you are.

“Let’s go,” you say, bolting for the car. Ellen and Stef scramble in with you, slamming doors and punching the locks down.

You start the engine and let out a shriek as one of the boys swings his board against your window, which cracks spectacularly.

“Fuck me!” You put your foot down, and the tires squeal. You wrestle with the wheel, getting the car turned around and rocketing toward the road that’ll take you through the swamp and back to the highway.

You don’t stop checking the mirrors until you’re across the county line, but the boys didn’t chase you. Not really.

The window to your left is destroyed. It’s still there, but you can barely see through it.

“What the fuck was that?” Stef demands, and Ellen cringes.

“I’m sorry,” she says, shrinking into a ball in the backseat.

“OK,” you say, heart still pounding. “It’s OK. But yeah, what the fuck?” You thought you could control your temper, but you can’t.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know!”

“What is their problem?” Stef asks, reaching into the backseat to grab Ellen by her shirt.

“We made a bet!” Ellen squeaks, shielding her face as though she thinks Stef will hit her. Stef won’t hit her. Stef’s a pussy. You’ve lost track of the times that you had to stand up for her when you were little. “I won!”

“What kind of bet?”

“A bet that I couldn’t ollie onto the stairs back there. I did it. Jeff bet his board.”

“Didn’t look like they thought you should have it,” you snarl, glancing at your window again, then nervously at your mirror. You’re still freaked out, and this is your mom’s car. This is a fucking mess…

Stef has let go of Ellen, but she’s still glaring.

“Look,” Ellen says, a hint of temper coming out. “I’m the only girl who goes there. They let me skate with them and do that stuff because they thought I was going to put out. When I didn’t, they… stopped being cool about a lot of things,” she says through gritted teeth.

You deflate a bit. What she’s saying tracks. You nudge Stef, who backs off.

“Sorry,” she mutters to Ellen, who just looks away.

“You’re still paying for that,” you tell her.

“I…” she begins, but sighs. “I will. But…”

Yeah. Replacing this window will cost like a couple hundred bucks. Ellen doesn’t have that. So the fact that she will pay you later does you zero good right now, when you have to go home and return this car to your mom. Getting mad won’t fix it. You take deep breaths.

This isn’t Ellen’s fault. What a shitty afternoon. To stall for time and calm down, you go to the diner in town. A piece of pie helps your nerves quiet down, but the conversation is awkward. Ellen doesn’t say much, and Stef is just uncomfortable after that.

“Glad it was your car and not mine,” she says, and you kick her under the table. It would’ve been way less of a disaster if it had been Stef’s piece of shit that had gotten slapped. Oh well.

Ellen apologizes several times, then leaves. You and Stef let her go; she’s nervous and feeling terrible. The two of you hanging around her won’t make her feel better. At least not tonight.

“Want me to help explain what happened to your mom?” Stef asks.

“Yes, please,” you say gratefully.

Stef stirs her spoon in her coffee and gives you a sly look. “Maybe we could watch more of that cartoon porn?”

You snort. “You need a girlfriend.”

“Well, uh, we can scratch the skate park off the list of places to meet chicks.”

“We go to a high school full of chicks.”

“Straight chicks. That are all cooler than me,” Stef mutters, suddenly depressed.

You sigh and roll your eyes.

At home, your mom is pissed. Having Stef there to vouch that it wasn’t your fault helps a bit, but the bottom line is this is your problem.

“I’m sorry, what?” you say.

Your mom is firm. “You heard me. You’re getting a job. Then you can destroy your own car.”

“Mom, I’m doing tutoring and stuff. I don’t have time,” you protest.

“You still have weekends,” she says.

Yes, but those are for… you know this isn’t a fight you can win. Whatever. At least she didn’t ground you.

After dinner, Stef takes a shower, then you do. You return to your room to find her sitting on your bed with your blow dryer, glumly staring at the posters on your walls. It’s become habit to check the window, and you know exactly what’ll cheer Stef up.

You grab her arm and yank her off the bed.

“Check this out,” you say.

“Huh?” she replies, clutching at her towel so it doesn’t fall off. She joins you, kneeling at the window to peer across at Mary’s house.

She passes the window. The glimpse is fleeting, but you see a bra.

“Whoa, what?” Stef says, her mind blown. “Is that Mary?”

“Yeah. Shhh.”

Mary comes back into view. Yup. She’s wearing a skirt and bra; she must be getting undressed. It’s too perfect. Stef’s breath catches and her eyes get wide.

But then a second figure steps into view. It’s that guy from the party last night!

You watch in horror as he wraps his arms around Mary and kisses her. As he fumbles with her bra, Stef turns away from the window and sits, her stare zombie-like.

“I’m going to blow my brains out,” she announces.

Cringing, you sit down beside her. “OK, I’m sorry,” you say. Right. You think that Mary’s hot, but Stef has an actual crush on her. This is bad.

Stef wilts in front of your eyes. She’s devastated. She slumps over against you, and you put your arm around her.

“Sorry,” you say again, feeling terrible.

You have to cheer her up.

Comfort her?

Or… maybe Lily could help cheer her up?