1This is a typical day in my chaotic life. And it just happened to be election day. Paraphrased according to interesting things that happen in a day. (And also because there's way too much dialogue that would ever be reasonable to write.) Maybe now you can see why I'm so weird- it's all in the friends!
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A girl sat on the ground against the blue brick wall on the dusty tile floor of the school commons. She was wearing all black clothing, had shoulder length frizzy blond hair, a pale face with dots of acne, and bright blue eyes. A small instrument case sat beside her with "ERICA'S OBOE" etched and painted on the side. She sighed and bumped her head on the wall as she stretched her legs out. There was loud chatter throughout the whole commons, all coming from everyone except her.
Another girl came through the doors, a huge backpack slung over one shoulder and a flute case in her free hand, the other clutching the strap. She was quite short, also dressed in black clothing. She had curly raspberry hair just below her shoulders and gray-blue eyes, a bit of a dimpled chin and a cute little nose. All the way from across the huge cafeteria the two locked eyes. They waved broadly and excited, which seemed a bit strange if you didn't know them.
"Hey bitch," the blonde, Erica, greeted happily as the one with the dyed hair crashed on the floor in front of her. "'Lo, cum lips," she returned in her rather high-pitched voice. They both laughed as the new arrival, Kate, looked around. "Where's Blooke?" she asked. Erica shrugged. "Probably being raped by his father in the locker room," she answered casually. Kate snickered. Their friend, Blake, was the son of the coach, therefore he was always early to school.
Rolling over to their little area, an out-of-place guy wheeled his way toward the two on his drum cart. He had short blond hair that was gelled neatly and blue eyes the same as his cousin, Erica. He was rather tall considering he was supposed to be in seventh grade. He wore a tucked in red Oxford shirt with neat blue jeans and tennis shoes, complete with an L.L. Bean web belt. Someone needed to tell him that it wasn't a uniform school. "Kate! Erica!" he called out cheerfully, both of them turning to him and responding with the same enthusiasm, but not at the same time, "Sammy-Bo!"
Sam seated himself by Kate. "You seen Blooke?" Kate asked quickly, not bothering to use proper English as usual. He shrugged. "Damn him! I will chop off his penis, I don't care how sexy he is!" she yelled loudly, all three laughing now. "Seeing as how the majority of the country now is Republican, I don't think Kerry has much of a chance, as much as I try to deny it," he broached. "God dammit Sam, don't say that!" Kate yelled. Erica knew not to interfere when Kate was nagging Sam's pessimism. She felt the same as her cousin though, too many brainwashed Christian-rednecks out there to ever allow a Democrat in office. Erica gasped suddenly, and in unison the two girls exclaimed, "Holy shit, voting today!" And yes, it was common for them to forget things important as that until about five minutes into a conversation. They looked at each other confused. "That was weird," Kate commented at their simultaneous expletive. Erica laughed. "It's been happening a lot lately," she added.
Kate didn't see who was approaching until Erica pointed and screamed, "Blooke ahoy!" A rather heavyset guy with a black and red Richmond band shirt on and worn out jeans was approaching, shaggy black hair and glasses over brown eyes. He waved with a smile. Sam scooted out of the way, knowing his place, so to speak. It was just tradition that he sat by the wall. "You little bastard," Kate greeted, hitting his leg as he sat down. "Ah, what'd I do?" he asked, as was common to himself. "Absolutely nothing," Erica assured with a grin, patting him on the head lightly. "Why were you late?" Kate asked. "I had to put up my trombone, and the outside door to the band room was locked," he answered, and the two girls let out an enlightened, "Oh."
Erica put her pencil down, looking around to see if her assumption that she was the first finished was correct. Of course it was. It was an easy quiz. They'd been studying colonial America since Kindergarten, so how was it that people could fail Social Studies? It was a mystery to her. She leaned back in her little plastic chair and put her feet on the under-seat basket of the desk in front of her, tapping her black fingernails on her desktop rapidly. Mr. Middleton, a man who could barely fit his head under the doorway let alone his legs under his teacher's desk, looked up from grading papers at her. He mouthed, "Are you finished?" She refrained from some snappy comeback about her suddenly becoming narcoleptic and just nodded. He got up and grabbed her paper. "Whenever you finish, just put your papers on the edge of my desk," he announced to the class. He could have told them that sooner.
She awoke suddenly by the teacher's booming voice, "If everyone's finished, you can get up and have some talk time." Erica blinked rapidly and stretched her legs out in the aisle. At least she'd added a few minutes on to the sleep that she always missed. She slowly got up and moved to the other end of the class as usual to Kate's desk. "Holy shit, I forgot to tell you this," Kate quickly started as Erica took a seat and scooted it closer. She nodded for her to continue. "Okay, last night I was with Mamie, of course," she began. Mamie was a high school senior whom she had been friends with since she was three. "And we went to Wal-Mart. Big deal who cares, blah, blah. But, we go to the checkout and she goes, 'Kate do you need cigarettes?' So of course I say yes. So she tells Mark to get me some!" Erica raised her eyebrows. That was a shocker.
Kate's mother and father were not quite model parents. Yes, they did do drugs. They do drugs would be more accurate. Now, that's not much of a big deal anymore, she thinks it's funny. But, in return, they don't much care for their children. Including her older brother, Hank, whom they don't even know is homosexual, and her younger brother, Andrew. Since she was eight years old, Kate had made friends with the bad high school crowd. She would go to parties on the weekends with plenty of alcohol and they would think she was just the coolest thing. She began smoking and drinking constantly. In her sixth grade year, she lost her virginity to one she thought she loved at the time. But how can someone love at that age? After that relationship ended, she became friends with Erica. She tries to keep her out of trouble, but you just can't help that sometimes. After all, she's the self-proclaimed 'Infamous Kate Sherman.' But, enough for now, back to the present.
It was only silent for a moment before Erica started singing softly the beginning to a familiar, '"Don't waste your touch, you won't feel anything. Or were you sent to save me? I've thought too much, you won't find anything worthy of redeeming…'" Kate grinned and let her continue, not knowing the words until the chorus. '"Yo he estado aqua muchas veces antes y regreso…'" they both smiled and sang/yelled the next part loudly, banging their heads, "To break down and cease all feeling, burn now what once was breathing. Reach out and you may take my heart away!" Kate stopped Erica before the second verse of The Leaving Song Pt. II. "Wait, wait, I can do it," she stood up and held her hands out for a moment. She closed her eyes and bent her head down, then pulled back up and moved her hair with one hand, opening her eyes slowly. Erica clapped and laughed. "That's hot," she commented, "He's hot." Of course she meant the one she was imitating, Davey Havok, the lead singer of AFI. In the music video to the song he does the exact action. "I'm so cool," Kate boasted, laughing with Erica as she sat back down. "Oh god, I just had ten orgasms," she joked. Erica faked like she was trying to hold one back and they busted out laughing. "He's the epitome of sexiness," Erica added.
"I don't know, there's always Johnny Depp," Kate objected, only knowing the word epitome because Erica had told her what it meant. Erica gasped, "Oh piss, I forgot about him!" Kate fake slapped her. "How dare you?" she simulated anger just as the familiar electronic beep came over the intercoms. Erica rushed up before anyone else and went back to her desk to get her trapper. (Binder.) "Wait for me fuc- I mean… fudge face!" Kate screamed across the room, almost calling out a profanity. She laughed at the way she censored herself, Erica doing the same, though surprised she heard her. She was practically deaf along with blind. She wore contacts, but without them she wouldn't se able to see four inches away from her face without it being blurry.
Erica did as Kate asked and waited at the door. "Slow-ass bitch," she whispered, as Mr. Middleton was standing right behind them. "See you after A3," she ignored Erica as she went into the room next to the Social Studies classroom. Erica stopped at her locker and shoved her textbook in carelessly, replacing it with her Choir folder. As if she needed it though, they would most likely go over the same elementary-level music as always. The people who were holding them back needed to be shot twice in the head, in her opinion. She got her singing skills from her mother, also a prodigy soprano. Like mother, like daughter, no matter how much she denied it.
After four grueling classes, finally lunch came. Erica and Blake walked down the hall from Health, still laughing about how many times their teacher says penis in one class. "God damn, I am so fucking hungry," Erica complained. Not that she would get any lunch or anything, but maybe there were some extra cookies that no one would want. "Good thing it's chicken patty Tuesday," Blake commented. "What? Oh yeah! Food!" Erica cheered, slamming her books on the usual table three away from the end row of tables. Everyone knew not to sit there by now.
Now time for a brief history on Erica. Her parents divorced when she was four, so the impact was next to none on her. But her older brother, Austin, sometimes thought the separation was because of him because he would sometimes listen to them fighting about the kids. That was when they lived in Belton, a town sixty miles from where they are now. Her mother got custody and became a cleaning lady just barely able to afford their two bedroom house. Later on, they moved to a bigger house when she re-married an asshole with a son, but that's all over with now. At least she gets her own room now, instead of sharing with her currently pothead brother. Still, Erica's mother struggles with paying bills, borrowing money from her mother every month, sometimes even borrowing from her kids. Sometimes they don't have food in the pantry. Therefore, Erica rarely gets any breakfast, and she certainly doesn't have any money to buy school lunch. But, Erica still gets straight As in school, and that's about all that matters to her. Who cares if her father is a psychopathic drunk Chiropractor/Blackjack dealer?
Kate's trapper was already at the table. "Better go get me oboe," she proclaimed cheerily, imitating a stereotypical pirate accent. She trotted down the hall toward the lockers. Kate, of course, was at her own locker getting her flute. "'Lo crack hoe," she greeted without looking up from the padlock. Erica continued to her locker, which was all the way down at the end, popped it open, (as it had no padlock) and nabbed her instrument and eighth grade band book.
Kate sat her tray down on the table, loaded up completely with what had to have been just under the lethal dose of salt. A circular breaded disc with a dollop of mushy white with greenish liquid spread over it was the main course. Also known as chicken patty with mashed potatoes and gravy. And, believe it or not, that was the best thing the cafeteria prepared, students looking forward to it all week. Ah, the joys of public schools. Sam sat down beside Kate, soon followed by Blake, all carrying identical trays, except with less salt. A skater-ish kid came up to Erica and tossed her a carton of milk. She smiled and caught it. She had him trained, though she wasn't sure why he hadn't yet run out of money on his account from her daily chocolate milk.
"That chicken patty sure looks good," Erica commented enthusiastically. Kate knew the routine and cut off a piece with her fork and handed it to her. "Sweet," she commented, and scarfed it down happily. Sam handed her his spongy roll, and Blake did the same. A few others at the end of the table caught on, and soon she was inundated with rolls.
"This roll is really getting nasty," Erica murmured, standing outside Kate's bathroom stall, a half-eaten roll in one hand. "Then toss it," Kate called to her, pushing open the broken door as Erica moved out of the way. Kate meant toss it in the trash, but Erica smirked from her not specifying. She moved into the open stall and held it over the toilet, casually plopping it into the water. Kate busted out laughing, not expecting it at all. Erica strolled out nonchalantly, grinning as she passed a few of the normal people with questioning looks. "Wait," Kate managed to yell through laughing, now leaning on the door for support. "Leaving you," Erica called back with a laugh.
Another electronic 'ding,' and the crowd of eighth-graders spilled into the halls from the commons, which was also the morning waiting area. "On to another shitty day of band," Kate groaned. "At least we're not the ones that suck pussy," Blake told her, catching up with them. They were a few of the leaders of the class, along with Sam and a semi-friend Whitney. She was one of the in-between people, having friends of just about all types. She was a good person, and an awesome clarinetist, she just never shut up. But, they all loved her for it. Sam especially, but that's another story.
It was a good thing that the band wasn't especially bad that day, because they hated spoiling Mr. Pointer's good moods. Ah, Mr. Pointer. Of the Posse, Erica, Kate, and Blake, the band director was by far their favorite teacher. In their eyes he was a genius. He had been teaching at Richmond for twenty-five years, and in total he had been teaching thirty years. He was a rather large man, but he was great. He was goofy when he needed to be, stern when a student wasn't doing the right thing, and always the bright teacher and friend that they all knew and loved. He didn't allow any bullshit was a way to put it. He and his teacher Mr. Seward were the reasons that Richmond bands had very high standards.
Overall, the class wasn't too eventful, besides the normal crummy Pointer jokes and odd occurrences in the trumpet section involving stray drumsticks and slide oil. The usual happenings.
"Hey, Erica!" a shrill voice called out from behind her, though she knew not from whom it came. Erica looked over to Kate, who shrugged. "Some little sixth grader," she guessed. Couldn't they get any solace in their after-school hours? "How do they know my name?" Erica whispered from the side of her mouth, holding back a laugh. Again the piercing voice tried to get the attention by calling out livestock fodder. Erica grinned and spoke up, imitating the voice, "Hey what?"
"Are you goth-lick?"
They both exploded with laughter. Back when they were both in sixth grade, someone had stumbled upon the word when trying to insult them by claiming they were architecture. They had repeated it since as a way for the fool to never live it down, and look what it had gotten them. Erica turned around to see a bewildered kid and his little gang of Abercrombie slaves. He apparently didn't see his mistake. He forced a smile, trying to not seem the fool in front of his friends. Erica smiled and shook her head, approaching the little boy. She slapped both of her hands on his shoulders and leaned down right into his face. "Marinara," she enunciated clearly, springing a string of screeches in protest. Kate was holding her sides and leaning over, the weight of her backpack almost too much along with her flute and textbooks in her arms. Erica straightened up and backed off, turning around just in time for a dusty silver minivan to pull up. Her confused mother's face was visible, raising an eyebrow at the teetering Kate. Erica picked up her oboe and spiral notebook from the grass and balanced out her friend so that they could depart from the cursed school grounds.
They spilled through the back door of Erica's house, Kate kicked off her shoes and Erica headed directly to the pantry. Her miniature Dachshund, Dixie, came barking loudly and clicking her little claws on the kitchen linoleum. "Shut up dog. Umm… want some… stale Doritos?" she asked.
"Doritos? Hell yes!"
"But they're st-"
"I don't give a flying fuck!"
Erica was holding the bag before Kate ripped it from her and bolted. Erica shrugged and headed to the front room where the creaky old stairs were. She could head Kate stumbling slowly up already. "You now I'll beat you bitch," she called out with a sigh. "Nuh-uh, cunt!" Kate yelled back. Erica laughed as she took them three at a time, pushing Kate to the side, just in time to have her leg grabbed by a cackling Kate. Nonetheless, she pulled free as Kate had to catch her breath and Erica slithered to the landing, heaving with a loss of breath. "What are you girls doing?" her confused mother asked. "We- stairs- fall- I win!" Erica choked between laughs. She pulled Kate by the arms up the remaining steps. The door right at the top of the stairs had a frame that went at a 45 degree angle from the actual door, which had been placed off so many times the corner was now a curve. Duct tape was at the base of the handle, as it once got stuck and they had to break the door. It never completely latched the same again.
Erica rammed the door with her shoulder three times before it gave way to her surprisingly clean room, besides the multitude of empty Best Choice soda cans on her computer desk and TV stand. The bed was made, the Cheshire Cat on the comforter greeting them with a grin. Though it was the afternoon, you would never tell from the black curtains. Kate headed for the computer chair with one arm. "I'm checking my e-mail," she announced as Erica headed to the closet. It served as a bed for those who spent the night. A pallet was spread on the floor, which she stepped on to get to the stereo. She took a large binder from the shelf above, which read "Professor Flapjack's MUSIC!" in metallic silver Sharpie. She flipped near the back, where the "S" CDs were located. "Toxicity or Steal This Album?" she asked Kate which System of a Down album to put in. She'd narrowed it down to the two. "I dunno, Toxicity?" she answered, not really caring. They were both equally great. Erica popped it in and pressed 'Play' as she cranked up the volume knob, put the CD book back on the shelf, and flopped onto her futon with a big thud. Prison Song began playing, and Erica mouthed along with the words. Her bottle collection on top of her computer desk clinked together a bit. "Douche," Kate insulted with a smirk as she slowly typed in the URL of her mail server. Erica sighed tiredly. "Damn…"
"What?"
"I have to piss."
Walking down the sidewalk, getting only a bit darker, the two were chatting about almost nothing. They were on their way to Erica's church for youth group. They were both atheist, but youth group was fun to go to. Besides, they hardly ever even talked about God for some strange reason, and their leader Mike was awesome. That day was for senior high, but, since they were both more mature than the junior high class they were supposed to be in, Mike let them go to both classes. Though, it was strange that they were more mature than their peers, but it was definitely true. They didn't gossip all the time about who was cheating on who's boyfriend, and the resulting fight between the two along with their suspensions from school. No, they preferred political issues if they really got into them. Mostly the upcoming election.
Kate pulled a box and a lighter from her zipper pocket of her worn-out jacket. She flipped open the top of her Marlboro Lights and placed a cigarette between her lips, fumbling with the lighter. She stopped walking, and soon Erica did too, taking a few steps back. She took a drag as the tip started to glow, holding it in a bit before exhaling slowly. "Ahh… I can feel my lungs blackening," she announced, causing Erica to crack up with laughter. And realization hit. "Hey, I have pocket goodies too!" She jammed her hands into the pocket of her Slipknot hoodie and pulled out a mini bag of M&Ms and a 'fun size' Snickers bar. She handed Kate the M&Ms and tore open hers ravenously. Kate shoved her candy, the lighter, and the cigarettes back into her pocket. "Wonder what's for dinner?" she thought aloud. "Probably more freezer cookies," Erica answered through a mouthful of chocolate, caramel, and peanuts.
Up, up, up three flights of stairs, and Kate was heaving for breath, whilst Erica was waiting at top, energetic as ever. Don't get me wrong, she was definitely NOT an athletic person. Not the least bit. Kate was more so than she. It's just that Erica got used to going up stairs quickly from living in her house for five years.
"Bitch," she muttered. "Hey, none of that now, we're in church, remember?" Erica teased, and in return received the finger. Finally, Kate had caught up enough so they headed to the light at the end of the hallway. Literally. The only light on was at the youth room at the end of the hall. "Hello Michael William Delbert Smith," Erica greeted cheerily as she saw him sitting on the floor trying to adjust the TV. Mike was a rather chunky man with buzzed brown hair and a beard of equal length as his hair. He was wearing his usual white tee shirt and blue jeans. "Hello ladies," he greeted as he looked back at them both with a smile. Kate waved and sat down on one of the beat up couches, looking across the room to an older skater/jock teen guy. "Jay's a loser," she yelled. "Kate's face," he countered lazily with a slight smile. A girl waved to them both as Erica crossed the room to her beat up recliner that she always sat in. Always. "Kate, you didn't say hi to me," the girl complained. "Oh, it's okay Nikki, I still love you, I just hate Jay more," she joked. Nikki laughed. Erica leaned back with a yawn, causing the recliner to, well, recline.
Mike was still messing with the television's settings. "What is he hoping to accomplish?" Erica asked Jay, who in return shrugged. "I saw your brother today," Nikki said to Kate. "Oh really? I did too!" she replied excitedly.
"He gave me candy."
"Yeah, we had a lot left over from Halloween."
"Thanks! I thought I was special for a moment."
"Oh, but you are," Mike spoke up, meaning it differently than what she did. "That's not very nice Michael," Erica scolded, trying too hard to be serious and laughing. "Yeah, I take offense," Nikki added jokingly.
"Oh yeah, by the way, we're going to watch a movie if I can get this dang thing to work," Mike informed them, now just poking random buttons on the control panel where the volume control was. "What movie?" Kate and Jay both asked at different times.
"Breakfast Club."
"Hey! I've wanted to see that for a long time!" Erica spoke up. "I've heard of it, what's it about?" Kate asked. "It's got a bit of cursing, but if you look past that it's got a good message to it."
Kate sat back in the couch once she saw the screen change from static to the DVD menu. "Ha ha!" Mike laughed victoriously as he pressed 'Play' on the DVD player, then got up and sat on the couch Kate was at.
They laughed, they cried, they turned down the volume when the bell choir came to practice. And that, my friends, is a hectic day in the life of the writer, trying her hardest to keep it all in third person. Hope your reading this didn't take too much of your valuable time. (And I won't question its value.)