High School Royalty

I was banned from Wal-mart for a year because I stole a pack of gum. I was fifteen and the thought of making out with Julia Marks, who was a senior at the time convinced me nothing was more important than fresh breath.

I had just spent my last five bucks on a used Nintendo game and the knowledge that this categorized me as a total dork throbbed like a bad zit. It hadn't exactly crossed my mind that I might need that money in case I had the chance to stick my tongue down the throat of the girl at the top of the social ladder. Guys like me clambered to touch the dirty shoes of the people that hung off the bottom rung. I had an opportunity here and I had no intention of fucking it up because of stink breath. What harm would it do to swipe a little pack of Dentyne Ice? No one would get hurt.

I ended up spending the evening in some back office in the recesses of the Superstore Wal-mart while Julia Marks made out with my best friend in the back seat of her father's car. I didn't blame him, I would have done the same thing.

I saw Julia Marks at the bank the other day. She was wearing a tie dyed dress that looked like she had plucked it out of someone's bag of clothing on it's way to the Goodwill donation bin. Her hair was a rat's nest of dirty blond knots and she was only wearing one shoe. Needless to say, she wasn't the Julia Marks I had spent a year avoiding Wal-mart for.

I used to think the popular kids in high school were royalty. They could do no wrong and when they summoned you from the lower quarters of the cruise ship that was high school you took off running. Just a smile from one of those girls and you were suddenly on the radar of social acceptance. They held our balls in their perfectly manicured hands and we all knew it.

Now Julia Marks looked like a crack addict. I couldn't help but wonder what could possibly go wrong in her life to transform her into the transient that stood in front of me in the ATM line. I could smell her from a few feet away and it wasn't her usual Glow by JLo that used to give me a hard on when she brushed past me in the hall.

Her hands shook as she slipped a well worn bank card into the ATM. She pressed some buttons and when he machine beeped it's rejection she slammed her palm into the screen.

"Excuse me ma'am, is there a problem?" The beefy security guard asked her.

She shook her head and punched in a few more numbers, hoping for a different outcome that clearly didn't exist. I imagined what she might have spent her last five dollars on and if she regretted it.

Back in high school I had been so upset about missing my chance with Julia Marks that I never even played the new Nintendo game. It was because of that very game that I had stolen the gum and been held in the back room of the Wal-mart until my mom showed up, steam pouring out of every orifice.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," the security guard told Julia after she slammed her palms against the ATM screen. Insufficient funds blinked on the screen in front of her.

Denial. The only coping mechanism a person has after left everything has gone to Hell. I avoided that video game because it reminded me of what I had missed out on. Julia Marks, blond hair, legs for miles wanted to fool around with me and I had bad breath because I wanted to play Mario Kart on my GameBoy.

The security guard grabbed Julia's arm and dragged her towards the door. I shook my head and took out the money I needed for my son's birthday present. His first bike without training wheels.

Outside of the bank the wind whipped through the trees. A storm was rolling in, I needed to get home before the rain started, I had left the bedroom window open that morning and the carpet would be soaked. Lost in my day to day distractions I didn't notice Julia Marks slink up behind me before her skinny arms were around my waist.

"Hey baby," she cooed, her voice cracking.

I stepped out of her grasp and turned around. She looked even worse than I thought. Her teeth were yellow and crooked. Her skin was so pale it was almost blue and her one of her eyes pointed to the left while the other bored right into me.

I had wanted to make out with this creature? That gum incident was turning out to be the best thing I ever did.

"I'll give you a blow job for ten bucks, you interested?" she said, her raspy voice clawing it's way up from the depths of her throat.

I took another step back, repulsed.

"C'mon, I'm real good at it," she said and laughed, a low cackling sound that dropped to the pavement with the weight of it's insincerity.

"No thanks," I mumbled and turned around to unlock my car door.

"Hey, don't I know you? Didn't you go to Eagle Heights?" she asked, grabbing my arm.

"No, no I didn't go there," I told her shaking my arm out of her grasp.

"Yes you did. You're Jimmy Tomlin, I remember you," she said. "C'mon, I'll make it five for an old friend," she purred.

I just shook my head and got into my car, closing the door against her blank stare. I backed out of the parking space sped out of the lot, towards home. In the rearview mirror I watched Julia Marks, high school royalty proposition the next guy that had the misfortune of leaving the bank while she lurked.

Turns out high school isn't forever. Who knew.