After School Activities (19 page)

“What does that mean?”

“Yes, he doesn’t want to go, and, um, no, I’d rather just spend the

night with you?”

“Let me get this straight.” Kai said. “Because Adam’s not going,

now suddenly you don’t want to either?”

“I mean, when you put it that way, it sounds kind of….”

“No, that makes perfect sense.” His words practically dripped with

sarcasm.

“Really? ’Cause your words are saying one thing, but your tone is

saying another.”

“I mean, why would you want to go? You don’t have anyone to go

with.” “I feel like we’ve established that already.”

“You don’t know a single other person you could take. Nope, not a

one.” “Okay. I think I see where this is going.”

“It’s not like there’s anyone you’ve been friends with since

forever…”

“Kai….”

“…Who has always wanted to go to a cheerleader party…”

“First I’m hearing about it.”

“…’Cause he’s been trying to make it with Sandra for, like,

ever….”

“I remember things a little bit differently. One might say gayer.”

“Someone who has stuck by your side through thick and thin, good

times and bad….”

I sighed. “Kai, do you want to go to Charlotte’s party?”

“What, me? I’d have to check my schedule,” Kai said with a mixed

look of smugness and feigned innocence, and a grin like he thought he was

clever. It was embarrassingly satisfying when, a second later, Mel dropped

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her books on the desk behind him, making him jump slightly in surprise.

Try and play that one cool, doofus.

“The weirdest thing just happened to me,” Mel said as she sat

down. “What’s that?” Kai asked, turning his startled jump into a pretend

stretch. No one was fooled.

“Out in the hall, I was banked by a horde of cheerleaders. Before I

knew what was happening, I was right outside the lunchroom where

Charlotte Pierce herself made a big deal about asking me to come to her

New Year’s Eve party. She was, like, really weirdly insistent. She

mentioned your name, Dylan, no less than six times. I counted. I found

myself saying yes, simply because she was so oppressively nice to me. I’m

not certain I was physically capable of saying no. I made it halfway back

here before I noticed I was carrying a bag of homemade cookies and a

personalized thank-you note.”

“Do you still have those cookies?” Kai asked, “’Cause I know a guy

who….” Mel handed him a cookie, and he shoved the whole thing in his

mouth. “Ooo, they’re good.”

“Dylan, I think she might legit be an evil genius,” Mel said.

“Maybe she just really wants you to come,” I said.

“No. I go to Charlotte’s New Year’s party every year. That’s not

what this is.”

“Seriously?” Kai said. “Am I the only one who doesn’t get invited to

this thing?”

Mel ignored him. “I get the feeling she went to this length so I would

convince you to come, Dylan.”

“What about me?” Kai whined. “I want to come.”

“No, Malachi. She specifically said you’re not invited.” Mel said

dryly. “The only thing I can’t figure out,” she continued, ignoring Kai’s

sulk, “is why she would be worried you wouldn’t come. The other night

you were really excited to go.”

“Oh, you know,” I said, “I thought it might be more fun if we did

something just the three of us. How long has it been since the gang’s been

together, am I right?”

Mel gave me a flat look. “Let me guess,” she said to Kai, “Adam

doesn’t want to go, so now Dylan wants to stay home and mope.”

“What is with the both of you and…?” I began, indignant.

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After School Activities

“That’s exactly what it is,” Kai said, cutting me off.

“I figured. Listen, Dylan, I know it bothers you that Adam doesn’t

want to be seen with you in public….”

“What? That is
not
why I don’t want to go to Charlotte’s party.”

Both Mel and Kai gave me identical “really?” looks, down to the angle of

their raised eyebrows. They
had
to have practiced that. “Okay, maybe that’s a tiny part of it.”

“Exactly,” Mel continued. “And you knew that was the deal going

into this. You’ve even said that you were okay with that, how many

times?”

“I don’t know….”

“At least a million,” said Kai.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that many.”

“At. Least. A. Million,” Mel reiterated. “So you are in no way

allowed to mope about this. You are coming to this party with me.”

I sighed. Clearly I’d lost the argument. No sense in putting up a

fight. It was a very real possibility that Mel would literally drag me to this party. She’d done it before.

“Well, I guess it
would
be fun to party with you.”

“Damn straight it will be.”

“Just to be clear,” Kai said, “I am coming to this party too, right?”

“We’ll see,” I said.

“If you’re good,” Mel said.

We laughed.

“No, but seriously, I get to come, right? Guys? Stop laughing at me!

I’m starting to feel insecure. Seriously? That makes you laugh harder? … I

hate you guys.”

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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

WHEN NEW Year’s Eve finally rolled around, I wasn’t sure what to

expect. I had never been to one of those high school megaparties before.

Sure, Oak Lake was a small school, but if it was true that most of the

junior and senior classes were coming, even if they did filter in and out

throughout the night, that still meant there’d be hundreds of kids there.

Now, Charlotte’s house was easily big enough to swallow crowds of

people, but I imagined it had to be overflowing. I mean, I really just had

movies and TV shows to go off here. I was picturing walls shaking as

enormous speakers pumped out dance music, discarded beer cans, and

drunken teens rollicking around the yard, broken windows with scantily

clad people hanging out of them. That whole schtick.

Imagine my surprise when I showed up with Mel and Kai, and the

only signs of a party were the lights in every window, and the occasional

silhouette. Well, that and all the cars parked on the street. We had to circle around for about twenty minutes before we found a place to park over a

block away.

“Not what I was expecting,” Kai said. I grunted in agreement.

“You were thinking it would be a rager?” Mel asked.

“Well, yeah. Basically.”

Mel shook her head. “Charlotte always throws classy affairs.”

“Seriously, how did I never know about you going to these parties?”

Kai asked.

“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me. I’m a big ball of

mystery.”

“Right,” Kai said dryly. “Obviously. So what do we do, knock or

just burst in and join the mass of lithe and youthful bodies?”

“What do you mean, we?” I joked as we walked up to the door.

“You were just our ride. You can leave now.”

“Ha, ha. Very funny,” Kai said sarcastically as Mel knocked.

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Charlotte opened the door. “Welcome to my New Year’s

extravaganza! Where the fun….” She cut off when she saw who was at

the door. “Malachi,” she said in a tone the dripped with scorn. She turned

to Mel and me. “I thought I made it clear that
he
was in no way allowed to step foot in my house
ever
. He is the vilest, least popular scum to ever crawl the halls of Oak Lake.” With each word, Kai’s jaw dropped lower

and his face grew redder until he looked like an anthropomorphic tomato

about to eat a bowling ball.

Mel and I burst out laughing in unison, and Charlotte’s face went

from wrathful to grinning in a fraction of a second. Kai’s mouth snapped

close with an audible click.

“What just happened?” he asked.

“They told me to give you a hard time, hon,” Charlotte replied.

“Apparently you are the only person in the entire school who didn’t know

my parties are open invitation. Couldn’t pass that opportunity up, and

man, was it worth it.” She held out her hand. “Now, keys please.”

Kai, who was busy glaring at Mel and me, was taken completely off

guard by Charlotte’s demand. “What?”

“Your car keys. Give them to me. I do my best, but my punch

always ends up spiked and the jocks manage to smuggle in beer. I suspect

in their pants, but I’m not about to mandate strip searches upon entry—as

much as we’d all enjoy it, I’m sure. Point is, when you’re ready to leave,

you can get your keys back from me once sobriety has been proven.” She

wiggled her fingers expectantly. Kai heaved an exaggerated sigh, but

dropped his keys in her hand. “Now, welcome to the party!”

Inside, things were much more like what I was expecting. The living

room was absolutely packed with people. Nearly everyone held a red Solo

cup. Music played and people danced and filtered from room to room to

experience everything the party had to offer. The kitchen was stuffed with

mostly jocks, engaging in drinking competitions to the sound of “Chug!

Chug!” shouted at the top of their lungs. An office was packed with nearly

two-dozen people watching fail videos on YouTube and laughing

uproariously. A group chilled at the end of a hall, smoking near an open

window.

In short, the party was
awesome
. Whenever things would start to get

out of hand—say the music got so loud eardrums could burst or a fight

began to brew—Charlotte would materialize and flawlessly deal with the

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issue, redirecting everyone to the fun and celebration. She’d snatch drinks

in midair before they could spill, replace ashtrays, and subtly make certain

all the smoke made it
out
the window, all with a smile and enough charm to melt the iciest heart. And don’t even get me started on her ability to

dispense snacks. You’d have an empty hand for a fraction of a second, and

BAM there’d be a plate full of all your favorite foods. She was magic.

Right when we got inside, Kai immediately dove into the tangled

limbs and bodies on the dance floor, grinding up on every girl who would

tolerate his attentions. It would have been creepy if it weren’t for his

endearing enthusiasm, which was apparently enough for most of the girls

to not only tolerate, but welcome his eager undulations.

For a moment—just a moment, like a split second, I swear—I

actually felt a little jealous. Not because I wanted to be the one Kai was

grinding up on (okay, that was a little bit of it, teensy, honest), but because he had someone to dance with. Sure, I could have danced with Mel, or one

of my cheerleader friends, but not that crotch-bumping, sexual-energy-

fueled kind of dancing Kai was indulging in with such reckless abandon,

with no less than
three
girls simultaneously, for the record. Even if I had been able to convince Adam to come with me, that would still have been

off limits. In fact, having him there might have made this even
more

frustrating. Realizing that left a sour taste in my mouth and a kink in my

gut. But I was determined not to let it get to me. So Mel and I ran off to

experience the rest of the party, with all the brimming enthusiasm of two

coked-out kids at a carnival.

Upstairs the party had taken on an entirely different tone. The music

could still be heard from downstairs, but muted, as were all the sounds of

the party. Small groups gathered together for close-knit conversations on

everything from school gossip to who would win in a fight between Batman

and Spiderman. I weighed in on that last one, in favor of Spiderman,

obviously, provided we discounted the various bat-vehicles. It grew quite

heated there for a while. Mel had to drag me away before I punched

someone in his stupid, bat-loving face.

I walked into one room that was pitch black. Luckily my ears registered

the, shal we say, intimate sounds before my hand managed to find the light

switch. By the light from the hallway, I could see a small bowl filled with

condoms sitting on a table. I recognized Charlot e’s trademark touch—

uncannily prepared for every eventuality. Though, if my ears were as good at

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determining the sheer number of people in that room as I believe there were,

then Charlot e better have another one of those bowls stashed somewhere, or

there was a real danger of running out. I pulled the door shut, but paused for a moment before I took my hand off the doorknob. As dark as it was in there, I

could easily sneak in and join the fun without any guy realizing that I wasn’t exactly a girl. I noticed Mel giving me a knowing look. I quickly let go and

walked away.

I mean, I wouldn’t have actually done it. Sure, I was feeling a little

miffed about Adam not being there, and just general y about being the gay

dude outside the straight people’s all-you-can-eat buffet, but I wasn’t about to go hurting the guy who was becoming more and more important to me by the

day. I only wanted to, you know, let that possibility sink in so I could bring it back up when I was alone, in the shower perhaps. Or reenact the fantasy later with Adam.

Of course, it would have been even better if Adam had been there,

and we could have actually
done
it. Right there, in front of everyone, without anyone knowing. But this was not the time to dwell on that. This