Kiss Me

PART I, chapter 3

- III -

I almost decided to drive myself to school next morning, but then decided to walk. The weather was nice and the school wasn't that far. I made it there with plenty of time to spare, and decided to pull my hairbrush out of my backpack and fix my hair real quick, when I saw Danny.

"Hey, Danny," I said quietly when he got closer to me.

He stopped and looked at me. A small 'I-know-you-from-somewhere' frown greased his forehead.

"I am Stephanie Palmer," I said quickly. "You used to trim our front lawn a couple of summers ago..."

"Oh, yeah," he said, and his frown was gone. "That's right... What's up?"

"Not much," I shrugged. "Trisha said you were home-schooled?"

"Yeah," he shuddered. "Nightmare it was..."

"I was home-schooled too," I said, and he looked at me sympathetically.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"No, it's all right," I shoved my hairbrush into my backpack again. "I just want to ask you something..."

"Sure, go ahead," he looked around and smiled at a blonde girl who waved to him.

"How long ago did you come to this school?"

"A semester ago," he said.

"That's all?!" I was amazed. "It looks like you know everybody, and everybody knows you..."

"Yeah," he agreed with a small smile. "I come in handy..."

"How..." I stuttered. "How did you manage to make so many friends so quickly?"

"Not friends," he looked at me with his grey eyes. "Acquaintances. I only have, like, three or four real friends. All these people," he looked around. "They are not friends. They are..." he smiled again. "Customers."

"Yeah," I mumbled, feeling uncomfortable. "Trisha told me..."

"It's just a job," he shrugged. "Pays well and I don't have to worry about hours and such."

"What if you get... you know..." I looked around and he laughed.

"Busted? That's not gonna happen! I am good at what I am doing. And even if I will get busted one of those days..." He shrugged. "The worst thing that's gonna happen, they will suspend me from school for a week, that's all. I am not stupid, you know... I don't keep heavy stuff on me. The only thing they'll be able to find on me is some pot, and nobody cares about that..." He smiled at me once more. "If you ever need anything, let me know. I'll give you a discount, since I know you, and you were home-schooled."

"What does home school have to do with that?" I was confused, and Danny laughed again.

"It's like a prison, lady! You deserve a discount!"

"Oh," I laughed at that weakly. "Right... I don't do that stuff though..."

"s**t happens," he shrugged. "You never know..."

"Right," I said again and saw Trisha. I waved to her.

"Okay then," Danny said. "See you around."

"Bye," I said, but he already walked off.

Trisha looked at me with wide eyes.

"Okay," she said when she got closer. "First things first. Your hair is, like, wow! Very awesome... And the second thing..." She looked at Danny. "I thought you said you didn't use anything..."

"I don't," I said. "I just said hi to him, since I know him."

"Oh..." Trisha didn't seem convinced. "Sure... Oh, your jeans are neat too," she added. "You might wanna wear a different shirt though..." she said critically, and I blushed.

"Yeah," I mumbled. "I planned on that, but it's sort of revealing... And it's red..."

"You should've worn it," Trisha said with reproach.

"I will," I nodded. "Tomorrow."

...The day was almost over, and I was so hungry that my ears were buzzing.

"Trisha, I need food..." I muttered when we were walking down the hall.

She looked at me intently.

"Losing weight?" she asked, and I nodded. "Good for you! Now, rule number one to lose weight quickly..." She stopped when I leaned on the windowsill. "Learn to ignore the hunger. Try to welcome it. When I feel hungry, I feel like I achieved something."

"Ugh," was all I could say to that.

"Okay," she nodded. "If you can't ignore the hunger, then try and trick it by drinking something substantial."

"Like soda?" I muttered.

"I said substantial," she looked at me like I couldn't understand plain English. "Soda is a very big no. Way too many calories. Stay away from coffee as well. Coffee will make you even hungrier. Apple juice is okay, but not great because of all the sugar. Orange juice is better, but the best thing is tomato juice. No sugar, but enough substance to trick your stomach and kill hunger for a while. And when you feel hungry again, just have an apple or yogurt. Or something else that won't make you to balloon to, like, size twelve," she grimaced.

"Tomato juice," I said. "That sounds fantastic... Where do I get some?"

"I think they just put some V8 into the vending machine downstairs," Trisha said and grabbed my backpack. "Come on, it's only this hard in the beginning. It gets much easier once you get used to it."

We went downstairs and I managed to push the quarters into the machine slot, my fingers trembling. A little box of V8 slid down, and I all but dove for it.

"I never thought that I would be so happy to see a box of tomato juice..." I muttered, pulling the straw out of its plastic holder.

"Be careful with that," Trisha warned me. "These boxes are weird. Don't push the straw too hard..."

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered, furiously trying to push the straw through a little foil covered circle.

"Steph, careful..." Trisha said. "Here, let me do it..."

"I got it..." I muttered and pushed the straw harder.

"Steph, you are going to..."

"There..." I said when the straw finally slid into the circle, ripping the foil around it.

I lifted the box and realized that it was dripping tomato juice on the floor.

"Oh, Steph..." Trisha moaned. "Get rid of this thing before it falls apart... Here, let me get you another one..." She slid some change into the machine.

I looked at the box and realized that Trisha was right about the boxes being weird – it seemed like the entire container was about to split apart. I grimaced and quickly turned around, searching for a trashcan.

"Oh my God!" The container almost exploded in my hands, and I instinctively pushed it away from my face.

Dark-red tomato juice shot an angry fountain everywhere, it seemed, but almost all of it ended up on the white dress of the girl who was standing next to the vending machines, waiting for someone.

"Oh..." she breathed in astonishment, looking down at her dress.

"Oh my God..." Trisha whispered, clutching her backpack.

I couldn't believe this. I stared at the girl's ruined dress and felt like crying.

"I am so sorry..." I muttered. "God, I am so very, very sorry... I..."

"Oh..." the girl breathed again. She looked at me, and suddenly, laughed. "It's all right," she said.

"I am so sorry..." I whispered again, looking at her face that looked almost porcelain.

"No, really," she shook her head. "I mean, it sucks," she laughed again. "But it's just a dress..."

I stared at her in disbelief. Just a dress? I briefly thought what my mother would do if somebody just poured an entire container full of tomato juice on her pure-white dress, and shuddered. The girl brushed her long black wavy hair off her face and smiled.

"Really," she said again. "Don't worry about it... I'll just go home and change real quickly."

"Hey, what happened?"

And just when I thought this couldn't get any worse, he appeared.

"What happened?" Tyler repeated, taking off his Ray Bans. "God, Laurie, did someone try to murder you?!"

Laurie?! No, no, no, no... This isn't happening to me...

"No," she laughed and kissed his mouth. "Just a tomato juice disaster... Come on; take me home, I need to change!"

"Okay," he said and slid his sunglasses back on.

He hugged her shoulders and they walked away, leaving me standing by the vending machine in the pool of tomato juice. Right now I didn't even want to die. I simply wanted to curl into a ball behind the vending machine and just lie there for the next hundred years.

"That was Laurie Drey..." Trisha said in a small voice.

"I figured..." I whispered.

"Way to go!" Suddenly, Danny slapped me on the shoulder with laughter. "You just became famous!"

"Oh, God..." I mumbled and felt tears burning my eyes.

I am not going to cry... I am not going to cry... I am so not going to cry...!

"You sure you don't need me?" Danny asked me with quiet mockery.

I looked at him and he let go of my shoulder.

"Okay," he said. "Here comes Sunshine," he added quickly. "Have fun!"

Sunshine? I looked around and saw a very angry man who was carrying a mop and a bucket of water.

"What the hell did you do?" he barked at me.

"It... it was an accident..." I muttered, and he shoved the mop in my hands.

"Good," he said. "Now clean it up! I am not your slave!"

He put the bucket of water next to my feet and limped away.

"Come on," Trisha said softly. "I'll help you..."

"Sunshine...?" I asked and she shrugged.

"He is really mean all the time, so one kid called him Mr. Sunshine once, just 'cause it was funny... And then it just stuck. Now he is Sunshine."

"He is a janitor, right?"

"He prefers to be called custodian," Trisha grinned. "Hey, are you still hungry?"

"You kidding?" I asked her bitterly, and dumped the mop into the water. "Oh my God... I can't believe I just did this..."

"Yeah, it was pretty awful," Trisha agreed. "Hold on, let me get some paper towels first..." and she ran off.

I stared at the puddle of tomato juice, and the whole scene flashed in my mind again. I closed my eyes and moaned softly.

"Here," Trisha rolled up her pants and wiped some of the mess with paper towels. "It'll be much easier to wash now..."

"Thanks," I whispered. "I am so finished now, aren't I?"

"What do you mean?" She threw a soaked red towel away and got another one off the roll she brought from the bathroom.

"I just spilled tomato juice over Laurie..." I said, furiously scrubbing the floors with the mop. "I am worse than dead now..."

"Nah," Trisha got more paper towels. "Laurie is cool," she said. "Plus, she has so many clothes that she won't even remember about that dress tomorrow."

"Tyler saw me," I whispered.

"So?" Trisha shrugged. "Big deal..."

"I looked like an i***t," I pointed out.

"Yeah," she agreed. "The best thing for you to do now is..."

"To die?" I finished bitterly.

"No," Trisha said patiently and threw away the rest of the paper towels. "Here, wash this and it should be fine. No, not to die. Just act as if nothing happened."

"Right," I snorted. "Like I could do that!"

"You have to," Trisha said. "Just laugh it up. This way, everyone can see that you are okay, and that you are cool enough to make fun of yourself. And believe me, Laurie is not going to hate you or anything like that. As I said, she is pretty cool..."

...Trisha was absolutely right. The next day when Laurie saw me, she actually smiled and waved. I waved back weakly. She didn't seem mad or upset at all. It made me feel better and worse at the same time. Better – well, that was obvious. The prettiest and the most popular girl at school didn't hate me and didn't plan on making my life miserable. Worse – because Laurie being nice and understanding, didn't fit into my Cinderella scenario at all. She was supposed to be a huge drama queen, who made me feel small and insignificant, and Tyler was supposed to be the one who finally told her to leave me alone, that the whole thing was just an accident... The fact that Laurie didn't care about her ruined dress, and that she didn't make a scene, actually made her a better person, and I didn't like that.

"Ready for gym class?" Trisha asked me, and I looked at her with horror.

"Oh my God," I said. "I completely forgot about it! I didn't bring any clothes..."

"Well, you are going to have fun then," Trisha winced. "She'll eat you alive!"

"Maybe I should just go to the nurse and fake stomachache..." I said desperately.

"That won't work," Trisha said. "Everybody tries that before the gym class... Ms. Bergman is like Tonya Harding on steroids... The nurse doesn't even listen anymore. She just says, 'Suck it up and go'..."

"Great..." I muttered.

"Hey, what are you doing this weekend?" Trisha asked suddenly.

"Nothing," I looked at her. "Why?"

"It's Labor Day weekend," she said. "Wanna go with me to a party?"

"Where?" I asked, trying to figure out a good excuse about my forgotten gym clothes.

"Danny's house," she said. "His parents are leaving for, like, the whole weekend."

"And they are okay with him having a party?" I looked at her in disbelief, and she laughed.

"Of course, not," she said. "They will never know! Danny always does stuff like that. If his dad finds out, he'll kill him though... That's why Danny never lets anyone smoke in the house."

"I don't know," I said doubtfully, and Trisha looked at me slyly.

"Tyler always comes to Danny's parties," she said casually, and I looked at her suspiciously.

"So?" I tried to sound indifferent.

"Just thought I'd tell you," she shrugged and pushed open the girls' locker room door.

I followed her, biting my lower lip. Tyler always comes to Danny's parties... I started wondering if Laurie was going to come, when Trisha leaned towards me and whispered, "And Laurie is going out of town with her parents... They always go visit her grandmother for Labor Day..."

"I don't care," I said, and immediately blushed.

Trisha shrugged and pulled off her blouse.

"Whatever," she said, her eyes twinkling. "Just sharing information..."

I watched her put on her gym clothes, and couldn't help but envy her flat stomach and lean legs. I also realized that I could see almost all her ribs, and it dawned on me that I haven't been able to see my own ribs in a while. That made me feel fat and very unattractive. I sighed and leaned against the lockers.

"What should I say to the gym teacher?" I asked.

"No idea," Trisha said seriously. "Whatever you say, she'll still hate you."

"How come you are not changing?" Suddenly, there was voice right behind me, and I jumped, startled.

I turned around and stared into a very pretty face of a girl who was taller than me. She was a blonde, blue-eyed beauty, whose full lips made her look like she was constantly pouting.

"I forgot my gym clothes," I mumbled.

"Well, today will be fun!" the blonde smiled, and Trisha let out an exasperated sigh.

"Leave her alone, Ashlee," she said. "She is new."

"Oh, Trish!" Ashlee sighed, her blue eyes twinkling. "You are always the protector of fat and innocent..." and she walked away with laughter.

"Fat...?" I mumbled, and Trisha hugged my shoulders.

"Never mind Ashlee," she said quickly. "She is just a b***h. You are not fat!"

"I am too," I said angrily. "I hate my body!"

"Well, you are losing weight, aren't you?" Trisha asked and I nodded. "So wait a little! You'll be fine! You know," she whispered. "I know for a fact that Ashlee loves hamburgers, and pizza, and all that junk... I saw her eat an entire Big Mac once..."

"How does she stay so thin?" I asked in bewilderment, and Trisha grinned.

"She is bulimic," she said very quietly.

I stared at her.

"Bulimic?" I repeated. "You mean she throws up after she eats?"

"Yup," Trisha nodded. "How sick is that? I mean, I am trying to lose weight too, but to make yourself throw up?" She grimaced. "That is so gross!"

I looked at Ashlee who was laughing at something one of her friends said, and suddenly, I was wondering if it was indeed that gross.

...I dragged my feet into the gym, and stopped dead in my tracks the minute I saw the teacher. Ms. Bergman seemed to be in her late twenties, she was tall and very lean. She looked like one of those female athletes you see on TV – flat-chested, short haired woman with strangely full, sensual lips that seemed very out of place on her gloomy face.

"And who are you?" she asked me shortly.

I shifted uncomfortably.

"I am Stephanie Palmer," I said in a small voice. "I... This is my second day here..."

"Okay," she nodded. "Why aren't you dressed?"

"I forgot my clothes," I whispered.

She looked at me silently, her brown eyes so intense that I could almost feel her gaze burning my skin.

"Do you have your class schedule?" she asked finally.

"Yes, ma'am," I said without looking at her.

"Do you look at it once in a while?"

"Yes, ma'am..."

"Can you read?" she demanded, and I silently nodded. "Good," she nodded. "So if you can read then why didn't you bring your clothes, since you saw the words Gym Class on your schedule?!"

"I... I am sorry," I whispered.

She sighed.

"Go sit on the bench," she said shortly. "Next time, you better be ready!"

"Okay," I muttered and walked to the bench, knowing that Ashlee and her gang were listening to the whole conversation.

I sat on the bench until the very end of the class, and couldn't help myself but stare at Ashlee and Trisha when they played basketball. Their legs nice and toned; their bodies tight and thin. I knew that the weight-losing process was long and slow, and it made me frustrated. "So if I starve myself for the next three months, I just might lose five pounds," I thought gloomily. There had to be a better and faster way. Suddenly, Trisha's words sounded loud and clear in my mind. "Ashlee loves hamburgers, and pizza, and all that junk... She is bulimic." I looked at Ashlee's thin frame and wondered if she was onto something. I mean, you can literally eat all you want, anytime you want, never starve yourself, and still look good. I bit my lower lip, thinking if I could actually do something like that, when the bell rang and Trisha ran to the bench.

"Well," she said, wiping the sweat off her forehead. "That wasn't too bad, was it?"

"Not for you," I muttered.

"Bergman didn't bite your head off, did she?" and she shook her head, letting her hair out of the rubber band.

"No," I said. "But I could seriously feel her eyes burning a hole in my skin..."

"Come on," Trisha said with a grin. "Let's go home. I'll give you a ride."

I climbed into Trisha's red Mazda and carefully buckled up. She laughed at that.

"You don't trust my driving?"

"It's not that," I said with a grin. "It's just common sense... Plus, the law, you know... The one that says you need to buckle up?"

"Pfft," Trisha grimaced. "Like they would pull me over for that!"

She started the car and turned on the radio.

"So," she asked five minutes later, when we got out of the parking lot. "Are you coming?"

"Where?" I checked my hair out in the mirror and liked what I saw.

"To Danny's party," Trisha said, rolling down the window.

"Oh..." I looked at her. "I don't know... He didn't invite me or anything."

"So?" Trisha shrugged. "It's not like he is sending out RSVPs. Danny never invites people. He tells two or three guys that there will be a party, and then people just find out about it and show up," she smiled at me. "It's Danny," she said. "He likes it when people come to his parties."

"Well..." I shrugged.

"It'll be fun," Trisha smoothly stopped in front of the red light. "Tyler will be there," she added softly.

"Trish! Knock it off!" I turned away from her.

"Okay, okay," she laughed and tapped the gas pedal when the light flashed green. "But even with Tyler aside, the party is going to be awesome! You have to come!"

"I might," I muttered. "What should I wear?"

"Something slutty," Trisha grinned.

"I don't have anything slutty!" I protested, and Trisha laughed.

"Let's go shopping tomorrow then," she said and stopped in front of my house.

I looked at her intently.

"Are you going to wear something slutty?" I demanded.

"Hell, yeah!" she nodded energetically. "I always do," and she laughed, baring one of her shoulders. "See...?" She wiggled her shoulder and pouted her lips.

She looked so funny that I burst into laughter.

"Hey!" I suddenly remembered. "Do you want some peach pie?"

She stopped laughing and looked at me with reproach.

"Pie?" she repeated. "You are eating pies?!"

"No, no," I shook my head. "Mandy made it on Monday and I haven't even touched it..."

"All right..." She relaxed a little. "No, I don't want any pie, thanks. In fact, I need to get home and rummage through my closet to see if I need to buy anything tomorrow."

I nodded and climbed out of her car.

"Oh, hey," I suddenly remembered. "When is the party?"

"I think Danny's parents are leaving around four in the afternoon," she wrinkled her forehead. "At least that's what happened last year... So if we show up around eight, it'll be fine."

"Eight PM?" I asked, and immediately felt stupid.

"No, eight AM," Trisha rolled her eyes. "Yes, Steph, eight PM. And then we can stay as long as we want, since his parents aren't coming back until Sunday night."

"Wait a minute," I frowned. "You are planning on staying at his house until Sunday night?!"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Probably not. I'll probably leave on Saturday afternoon."

"Oh..." I bit my lower lip. "I don't know if my parents are going to let me stay overnight..."

"That's okay," she nodded. "If they won't, I'll just take you home when you are ready."

"Okay," my mood brightened a little. "See you tomorrow then!" and I shut the door of her car.

"Bye," Trisha waved and drove off.