“Hey you! Long time no see,” June called out, walking across the lawn and coming to sit with me. “What’s wrong?” she asked, upset. Even in the dark, I guess she could see my swollen red rimmed eyes. I used to be able to tell her stuff when I couldn’t talk to James, she was the one who helped me when I got my period for the first time and showed me what a tampon was and how to use it, but I could never talk to her about James, he was her little brother after all. So, I kept it pretty vague.
“I had a bad day today and yesterday too, and now I’m probably going to be grounded for a month or two at least,” I told her, trying not to sound sniffly. She put her arm around my shoulders and held me close.
“What did you do? You’re always so good,” she said, sounding slightly excited.
“I hit Reggie. Really hard. Right across the cheek,” I told her, feeling a little guilty but not too guilty, she almost deserved it. June actually started to laugh, first inside, making her shake but then when she couldn’t contain it, out loud.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she stopped her little laughing tirade. “Why?” she asked, clearly delighted.
“She was being Reggie.” I explained, knowing June would know well what I meant. June didn’t like Reggie, not one bit and the feeling between them was mutual. June knew pretty well how big of a bitch Reggie could be. “And she said something about my mom.” I informed her. That was enough for June to get the picture and not ask any more questions, which she loved to do.
“You go, girl,” she said squeezing me tighter. Eventually, June left and went back inside and I let the stars and moon guide me to sleep.
James
Okay, so I felt bad for giving Mickey a dirty look when we were walking home but Tiff and everyone was really harshing on me for dumping Ali. They were all saying I was too rash with her or that I was crazy because she was a sex machine. So, when I saw Mickey behind me and I was already in a bad mood, I felt a lot angrier because every time I saw her, I felt guilty for what I did, even though what she did to me was pretty bad too but still not as bad, not nearly. I didn’t mean to make her leave but I guess the look I gave her pretty much told her, get the fuck away from me freak, so she walked an extra thirty minutes, which she somehow managed to do it in fifteen, which was pretty impressive. I waited on my front porch for her to come home and when she noticed me, I shouldn’t have left and acted like the sight of her repulsed me but I was still too pissed.
June finally came back from the store after almost an hour. She had told me she’d be back in five minutes, so my day wasn’t exactly going well.
“What took you so long?” I asked, losing my mind as she came back into the living room, where the TV still remained on pause. “Where are my Oreos, you took that long and don’t even have the Oreos!” I groaned in frustration and shook my head at her.
“Oreos? Oh, I forgot sorry. I can go back and get them,” she said turning to leave again for the car. Well, my car but I wasn’t allowed to use it for another four months, until my sentence was revoked.
“No stay, we don’t need them.” I said quickly. Who knew if she’d even return this time? “Where were you?” I asked, wanting an explanation.
“Oh, Mickey was outside and I stopped to say hi and she was crying,” she said sadly. “I probably shouldn’t have told you that,” she said thinking it over and driving me crazy. Why was she crying? What happened? Was it because of me? I felt my stomach sink. “So, we talked. You should talk to her James, she’s been having a bad time at school and she seems really sad. Oh, and Reggie is being a major bitch, she even insulted Mickey’s mom!” she exclaimed. That sounded like Reggie but still it hurt to hear that she would do that to Mickey, that was low, even for her. “I know right, but don’t worry, Mickey slapped some sense into the girl, literally!” she laughed, making me laugh too. Mickey was not aggressive at all so it was really hilarious to imagine that. I realized it was the first time I’d had a good laugh for real, when someone talked about Mickey and it felt good, I didn’t feel bad about it. “So now, she’s grounded and sleeping outside to avoid punishment,” June summarized for me. I was grateful June was still close to Mickey; otherwise, how would I get my Mickey fix? We finished the rest of the movie, but I wasn’t really paying attention, my mind was reeling back to Mickey and when we would watch the stars and fall asleep under them. We used to do that almost every month at least once, if it wasn’t too cold out and the sky was pretty. I should talk to her, a friend would but I wasn’t her friend anymore and I never would be again.
The weeks went by and Mickey and I didn’t speak so much as one word to another. But we did look at each other more often, like if we passed
