16He slammed the phone down with such force that it slipped off the cradle and onto the wood of the end table. That of course just pissed him off more as a string of profanity spewed out of his lips and he yanked the phone out of the wall. That didn't pacify him either, so he grabbed the silver-coated picture frame containing the smiling face of a pretty girl. He sneered at it and tossed it at the wall, satisfied with the dent it caused and the tinkling of the glass, or the sound of mocking demons in his opinion.
"She tossed ya, didn't she?" the smooth, if not slightly amused tone of his best friend reached his ears, "I told ya at the start, Chase, she'd dump ya by school. She didn't care about you at all. Not one bit. Girls like her don't. Girls like her don't give a flying fuck about guys like us."
Chase Pierceson lifted his stony blue eyes and gave his best friend a glare. "Shut up, Jason."
"I mean really. Did you think that Melanie Ferguson would give you the time of day?" his friend couldn't help taunt a bit as he spun around in the desk chair, " I'm surprised she actually went out on those dates with you."
"Shut up"
"-If you can call them with the meeting you downtown at places her stupid-ass friends wouldn't see you. Never wanting you to pick her up. Her refusing to see ya on your own turf."
"I said shut up"
"I never thought you'd put up with crap like that, but then again, you've had the hots for her since jr. high. So I suppose you'd let all your common sense, such as it is, fly out the window-" "I mean it! Shut the hell up!" Chase stood, shouting at his friend.
Jason paused, catching his foot on the edge of the desk and glanced up at Chase. Seeing the serious expression he immediately put his hands up in a peaceful gesture, "Chill, man.I'm seein' ya like this pisses me off."
Chase glanced into the mirror on his wall, and with an exasperated sigh ran a hand through his blue spiked hair, "Forget it. Let's go board and forget about bitches like her, deal?"
Jason grinned as he jumped to his feet, grabbing the skateboard he'd brought, off the floor, "Do you even have to ask?"
Chase just shook his head and grabbed his board from the closet, " was I thinking..Let's go.." Yeah, Melanie, what was I thinking?
Madeline O'Patrick sighed inwardly as she watched the other three girls lounge around Melanie's room. She'd just moved to sunny southern California and it was just her luck to move next door to stuck up Melanie Ferguson. It wasn't that Melanie was stuck up, she was just extremely shallow, self-indulgent and oblivious to other people's needs. She'd just watched as Melanie had broken it off with some guy she'd been stringing along. What's more is the other three girls, Dana, Beth, and Sarah had been listening in on the other lines in the massive house. She hadn't stuck around to hear the whole conversation but instead had excused herself to hide in the bathroom. She glanced at herself in the mirror, wondering what was wrong with her. Just half a year ago she'd have been laughing along with them. But then again things had changed since then. Now that she was back, the girls were finishing their peels of laughter and they turned their attention to Madeline.
"Oh Maaaaddddy.." Melanie said, drawing out Madeline's name with a grin as she sat up on her fluffy white feather bed, holding a magazine in her hand.
"Yeah...Oh!" Madeline uttered in surprise as her gaze fell upon the front cover. It wasn't just any magazine, it was Dance America, extremely popular in the dance industry. It just so happened that her picture was on the front cover. It wasn't her solely of course, there were a few other people all mixed into the collage, but she was there all the same, in her pale green ballet outfit on Pointe executing an exquisite arabesque. The magazine article was an old one, done last year around November.
"Where did you find that?" she asked coming out of her shock as she stood and reached for it.
"I have tons of these magazines and I thought I recognized you when I first met you. I was right!" Melanie said as she tossed the magazine to Dana who stood up, and cleared her throat.
"Who's the next prima ballerina? It looks to be Madeline Elise O'Patrick. An upcoming star, she has already performed on the stages of Carnagie Hall and worked with professional dancers such as El Rinardo Suztez and Fernando Kertz, traveling as far as Russia and Japan to compete and show off her ingenious dance skills." Madeline wanted to yell at her to stop, but she didn't want to risk alienating her new friends. So instead she sucked in her breath and forced herself to sit in the desk chair once more, a fake smile on her face. Not that the other girls could tell, after all she'd gotten really good at forcing realistic looking smiles.
Dana glanced around and seeing she had an attentive audience kicked it up as she continued to read, "This past Christmastide, in fact, she spent countless hours working and practicing for her part, which included a dance solo, in the annual Nutcracker performance. Not only does she do work in her well placed talent of Pointe ballet, Madeline competes, but is not limited to, a jazzy type feel of music with her dance team, The Contenders at her local high school. These contenders just happen to be the number one dance team in the nation for four consecutive years, under the direction of top coach Jessica Cashoebick. When asked about goals after graduation O'Patrick replied, "I hope to gain admission to Julliard and after that be accepted to an international team that travels around the world. I'd love to do that!" Somehow with her busy schedule she manages to find time to spend with friends and family, which is made up of her mother Kathleen O'Patrick, 42, father, Jericho O'Patrick 43 and twin brother Aaron O'Patrick, 16. It seems that in the very near future we will be hearing more about this extraordinary girl."
Dana finished reading with flair and sat back down, a satisfied smile on her face. The room was silent for a moment until Sarah broke the silence, a huge grin on her face, "Guess this means that we have a chance at nationals this year!"
"Pardon?" Maddy asked trying to ward off her growing headache with another smile. "Don't tell me Melanie hasn't told you?!" Beth shrieked.
"Told me what?" she asked, glancing up at Melanie who looked as if she was the cat who had just eaten the canary.
"I was saving this for a surprise..but I'm captain of the dance team! Well..co-captain," she added after Dana had cleared her throat impatiently, "with Dana. We always get beat out by a team in Northern California. Although we would have had a good chance if that idiot Gloria hadn't been on the team!" Melanie had an annoyed expression on her face as she mentioned the girl's name, but just as quickly as it appeared it slid off, a bright smile forming on her lips, her blue eyes shining with excitement, "Oh but you have to try out Maddy! Say you will! You absolutely must!"
The other girls all murmured their agreement as Madeline sighed inwardly, her smile dying a few watts. Please no! I thought that chapter of my life was over!
"Of course I'll try out," she told them pleasantly, all the while feeling as if she'd just signed her death warrant, "just tell me when and where. I wouldn't miss them for the world.
The girls all squealed with excitement before Beth jumped up, "This calls for a celebration! I'll order from that new Greek restaurant! That okay Mel?"
"Yeah ahead and charge it to the credit card on the counter. Daddy said he'd pay for dinner tonight," Melanie told her.
Madeline took her opportunity and jumped in, " I can't stay.I've got things to do before school tomorrow," at the disappointed looks from Dana and Sarah she hastily added, "Mom's orders you know.." Understanding lit in their eyes and Beth huffed, " Tell me about it! My mom is so horrible. Do you know she is actually making me do my own laundry now?!"
Madeline flashed them all a smile and hurried out of there as fast as she could. Once in the yard she kicked off her sandals and picked them up in one hand, her other going to her forehead where she winced at the headache she was getting. Crossing the property line she walked up to her own massive house and stepped up onto the porch. Confident that no one was watching her through the lattice work she moved her hand and touched the hearing aid hidden so carefully behind her thick red hair, wincing a bit. Could this day possibly get any worse? she thought to herself
Suddenly the front door opened and out bounded her twin brother, Aaron who crashed into her.
"Ahh! Maddy! Watch where you're going, you idiot!" He said giving her an angry glare, catching himself on the doorframe.
Before she could retort he stomped off towards the black ford ranger the two of them shared. She shook her head as she watched him peel out of the drive and squeal the tires before tearing off at an outrageous speed. Madeline sighed and stepped into the entryway of the house. "I can't believe that jerk is still mad at me." she said to herself as she dropped her sandals on the black and white marble.
Madeline didn't want to think about why Aaron didn't like her anymore, but as she started up the curving staircase her eyes drifted to the pictures hung on the wall. The first few were baby pictures of her and Aaron. In most of them you couldn't tell which was which except for the fact that she was in a dress and Aaron wasn't. She continued to ascend the stairs her smoky blue eyes drifting over captured memories of birthday parties, zoo trips, snowball fights and dance recitals. Her eye caught one picture in particular.
It was of her in the pale green dance outfit, the same one that had been on the front of the magazine. She was standing in the dressing room with her brother Aaron who looked stunning in the suite he'd worn to Carnagie Hall where she'd performed. The had their arms slung around each other and in her hand that she was holding up was a yellow rose he'd gotten her. What got to her was the big goofy smiles on both their faces. They'd been so happy then. The best of friends. But somehow their friendship had twisted and turned into a never-ending argument. Maddy wasn't sure how it had happened, but it seemed whenever she tried to repair the broken bond she stepped into a spider's web and got tangled in the confusion of his anger again.
She closed her eyes to blink back the tears and quickly ran up the stairs and down the hall, her bare feet not making a sound on the plush beige carpet. She rushed into her room, barely pausing to grab her robe off the desk chair as she crossed the light blue carpet to her bathroom. Once there she paused and composed herself in the dark doorway. This was silly she scolded herself as she reached out her delicate hand and flipped the lights on in her enormous bathroom.
The bathroom was composed of rosy marble flooring and a black Jacuzzi bathtub to her left. There was a double sink just under the mirror with vanity lights. The counter was cluttered with hair products, curling irons, brushes and cosmetics. There was a linen closet to her left where she kept all her bath products, towels and clean bed sheets. The room had been painted a deep red color that matched the towels, floor mats and toilet top that covered the lid.
She paused and looked at the reflection in the mirror. She was amazed she looked as confident as she did. Delicate was the way to describe Madeline. She was slender with a dancer's build. She stood about 5'8 with long slender legs that ended in light pink painted toenails. Her arms where just as thin only they ended in dainty hands that included a light pink polish as well. Her firey straight red hair fell just past her shoulders and blue eyes stared out at the pale girl in the middle of the shiny surface. Yes that was another thing to mention. Maddy was pale, but not scary pale. Her sensitive skin just didn't tan and she never saw the purpose of going to one of those cancer beds to get a fake tan. Besides the paleness always contrasted nicely with her dance outfits. Her chin was lifted like that of a queen and she emitted a presence of reigning over her subjects, which at this point would be a blue toothbrush and some fake plants.
Shaking her head she walked over to the bathtub, depositing her white terry cloth robe on the toilet seat. She plugged the stopper in the drain and began to fill the tub with hot steamy water. She grabbed a rosy scented bubble bath mix off the back of her toilet and poured it into the water. She also added some bath salts. Next Maddy crossed the room to the light switch and used the dial to dim the lights. Too much light tended to give her headaches and with the one she already had she didn't need her head pounded on any more. She bent down and flipped on the cd player that sat flush with the wall. Soft classical music filled the room as she made her way back to the sink. Carefully she moved her hair back behind her ear, wincing a bit at the sensitive touch. Just as gingerly she pried the hearing aid from the inflamed area of her ear, glad she'd only worn the one today.
Suddenly the room went silent, a very unnatural silent as if she were in a vacuum. Closing her eyes she tried not to panic and focused on taking deep breaths. Finally after some time had passed she opened them as faint sounds begin to register in her brain. She set the hearing aid on the sink counter and quickly moved to the tub, turning off the water so it wouldn't overflow. Maddy felt as if someone had stuffed cotton in her ears and her music sounded as if she was listening to it through a tunnel. Once more she crossed the room and turned the volume up a notch. She wanted to cry as she saw that she'd had to move it up two more clicks. It had been the same last week and the week before. She kept having to turn the volume up more and more.
Maddy turned away and undressed pushing the memories of broken glass, tears and sterile hospital rooms out of her head. She stepped into the scalding water of the tub and sank down into her array of bubbles, suppressing the memories of the accident and focusing all her energy on how she was going to convince Melanie she didn't want to try out for the dance team.
Aaron sped down the road towards the skate park he had spotted on one of his earlier drives to get a feel for the place. He turned up the volume as the Dashboard Confessional came on playing "Screaming Infidelities". It matched his mood. He'd gotten off the phone a few moments before he'd rammed into Maddy on his way out the door. Aaron had been talking to his best friend Westlie (West for short) Chester. Yes the humor was not lost on any of their gang of friends, or what was left of them. He'd talked about Southern Cali and how it was great with all the sun, sand and surf, not to mention the great skating. West had filled him in on what was going on back in New York, who was dating who and who'd got fired from what. There was something odd about his voice though. It seemed a bit reserved and Aaron found out why just before they said goodbye.
"Yeah..well I gotta go man. I want to check out the skate park before it closes and I get bogged down with school crap. Man I can't believe I go tomorrow" Aaron complained.
" sucks" West agreed. There was a bit of a silence before he added "Hey Air?" West asked.
"Yeah?"
"Ya think you could ask Mads to stop writing me. No offense but I'm over her, and with all that happened." he just kind of let his sentence hang.
Aaron's grip had tightened on the black cordless phone, "What do you mean? Is she pulling this crap again? Geeze I'll kill her!"
West sighed over the line, "Dude.I thought you kinda listen I don't want to start anything between you two. Just tell her to lay off if you would. It's not funny anymore."
"Yeah man," Aaron told him, his voice strained from anger, "See ya."
"Bye"
And with that Aaron had hung up and tossed the phone on the white couch in the living room, making a satisfied thump. He thought he'd finally gotten over being angry at Maddy for screwing up their lives. Obviously he hadn't. This fresh wave of anger hit him so hard that he really wanted to shove Madeline off the porch after he'd bowled into her. But instead he'd taken a look at those blue eyes so like his and had seen the pain in them. So sufficing for an angry glare he'd left.
Suddenly the skate park came up on his right and he turned, an involuntary grin playing across his lips. He found a spot and jammed the truck into it. Pocketing his keys he got out and grabbed his element board skating over to the curb of all the ramps. "They've got a fuckin' full pipe. I can't believe it." he said to himself.
"I know, 's awesome. They put it in when the park was built about five years ago," a voice broke in, interrupting Aaron's thoughts.
Aaron turned his head to the sound of the voice and saw a guy a little taller than him with blue spiked hair looking at him, "That so? Man it's like the face of heaven." he grinned most of his anger dissipating as he looked out over the park.
The guy next to him chuckled, " it was hell to get. So I don't think I've seen ya around?"
"That would be because I just moved here at the beginning of summer." Aaron shook his head in disbelief, "It's sad to think it's been like a month and a half since I've been skating."
The guy laughed again, "Well if you're from near here I take it you're starting school tomorrow? And if you're also from near here you'll be going to Hell High..or as the principle likes to call it Hellton High School named after some guy who did something no one can remember. And now for the point of my incessant rambling.I'm Chase Pierceson so if you feel lost tomorrow just grab me and say "Hey Chase get me out of this nuthouse" And I'll say.."Sure thing"
Aarron turned his attention back to Chase lifting a brow, "You high?"
" here's just a major goof. One of the nicest guys you'll ever meet." A voice behind Aaron said.
Aaron turned to see the new voice and found himself facing a guy in basically all black. Baggy black jeans, black shirt proclaiming "I'm not antisocial, I just don't like you" black hair, black fingernails and eyes so dark they seemed black. "And you are?" Aaron asked, unfazed by the guy.
"Jason, Chase's best bud and partner in crime since grade school," he said offering a hand to shake, a slight cynical smile playing across his lips.
Aaron laughed and shook the quasi goth's hand, " Well Chase and Jason, the name's Aaron and as much as I enjoyed meeting you, I came here to skate. Not stand around. So if you'll excuse me." He flashed a grin at them, hopped over the curb with his board and took off down a hill olliing up on a rail and grinding down it.
Jason and Chase looked at each other and as if agreeing silently that they were not about to be insulted as passerbys they each took off on their boards and went to go skate.
Gracie Renton glanced up at the computer as she put the finishing touches on her green nails. Scowling she added another line to the letter she was typing to her best friend Gloria who'd just transferred to a private school a few counties away.
It's gonna suck this year without ya Glory, but I'm glad you finally found a place your happy with. I hate that you're not gonna be on the dance team here with me, but hey there's no way I'm going to quit just to please that ass Melanie. See ya BFF Gracie
After rereading the letter she erased the last line up until the see ya. Gloria didn't need to be reminded of the Dance team. Melanie had made her life a living hell ever since try out rules had changed and her or Diana couldn't pick just their uppity friends to be in it. So they'd done everything to make Gracie and Gloria quit. Gracie pretty much ignored their pitiful attempts, but Gloria was a different story. She was the impressionable type but very nice. Melanie told Gloria that she was fat, and the thought just stuck in Gloria's head. Soon Gracie had noticed her friend wasn't eating enough and had become too skinny. Then at the state dance competition Glory had collapsed on stage. Apparently she hadn't had anything to eat for a week except water and some crackers. After that she was hospitalized and immediately her parents had put in a transfer of schools for her. With her excellent grades Glory of course got in, but the damage had been done. When Gracie had visited her last week she knew Gloria was still struggling with anorexia, and it seemed as if her spirit had been crushed. Gracie knew the other girls expected her not to try out this year, but little did they know that not only was Gracie going to try out, but she was going to be the best dancer on the squad.