Teen Angel (29 page)

Sonny kicked the Buick’s fender. “How am I supposed to know?”

“Even her own parents can’t stand her guts,” Marilyn said. “I bet they didn’t pick her up.”

Sonny looked at her. “Yeah. So what about it? That’s not my fault.”

“What are you getting so hot and bothered for?” Hansy demanded. Then she saw D.B. and Miguel walking toward them. “Well, if it isn’t Miss Sexpot,” she said loudly.

D.B. had her arm around Miguel’s waist. “Hey, you people!” D.B. said. “Steve said we could have a party at his house.” She turned to Sonny. “In honor of our new warlord.”

“Thpeech! Thpeech!” Mary cried.

“Come on, Sonny!” Hansy socked her playfully in the shoulder.

“I don’t know what to say,” she began. “I didn’t really do anything that much. I mean …”

“False modesty!” Marilyn cried.

“Put ‘em up!” Hansy continued to spar with her.

“Let’s see how tough you really are.” Marilyn grabbed Sonny from behind and pinned her arms.

Mary tickled her under the arms. Sonny began to laugh uncontrollably.

“Stop it!” she demanded, unable to stop laughing.

“You’re ticklith!”

“That Linda Torres of the Debs needs the shit kicked out of her,” Crystal said. “Like this.” She nicked Sonny’s face.

Mary kept tickling her.

“Come on,” Sonny cried. “You guys!” She was getting sick to her stomach. “Knock it off!”

“You’re not chicken, are you?” Crystal asked.

D.B. said, “She beat the Gooch real bad.”

“Stop it!” Sonny cried. “I said stop it!”

“Make us,” Marilyn said

“I’m going to kill you!” Sonny screamed. Suddenly, a hiccough wrenched her body. “Shit!” She hiccoughed again.

“It looks like Sonny has the hiccoughs,” Hansy said.

Another hiccough forced itself with such impact that it brought tears to her eyes.

Marilyn let go of her arms. She began to flail them wildly. “If any of you come near me,” she began, but a hiccough interrupted her.

“Hold your breath,” Crystal advised.

Sonny tried and managed it for several seconds until another hiccough erupted from her chest. She felt like she was going to throw up any second.

“God, you look weird,” D.B. said.

“Maybe they’ll go away if you just ignore them,” Dot said.

Sonny continued hiccoughing, each one crushing her chest and leaving her weak. “Goddamn it!” she cried.

“All you need is thomeone to thcare you,” Mary said.
“That’th the one way to get rid of hiccoughth. Think of thomething thcary.”

“BOO!” Miguel yelled. “I’m the Teenage Werewolf!”

“I’m Godzilla!” Dot cried, making a horrible face.

D.B. waved her hands in front of Sonny’s face. “I am a ghost and I come to haunt you from the dead.”

“Cut it out, you all!” Sonny screamed.

“Your mother’s dying!” Mary cried, circling her. “I just thaid that to scare you.”

Crystal gasped. “There’s a roach crawling up your leg!”

Sonny jumped. Then she hiccoughed again, spitting out saliva. “CUT THIS SHIT OUT!”

Hansy said quietly, “The Gooch is dead, Sonny.”

“What?” she cried.

“Didn’t you hear?” Marilyn said, looking at Hansy. “We didn’t want to tell you–”

“What?”

“She died last night at the police station.”

“How?”

“She slit her wrists with a razor blade.”

“NO!” Sonny screamed, cupping her hand over her mouth. “No! I don’t believe you!”

“You killed her,” Marilyn said.

“No,” Sonny repeated, covering her face with her hands. “I didn’t! I didn’t!”

Everyone began cracking up. “You look funny,” D.B. said.

“At least you lost your hiccoughs,” Hansy said.

Sonny grabbed her and began shaking Hansy. “What about the Gooch? What happened to her?”

“We just said that so you’d get scared. You should have seen your face.”

Sonny held her stomach like she was going to be sick. “I don’t think that was funny.”

“What are you getting so upset about?” Marilyn asked.

Sonny picked up her books and bag.

“What’s the matter?” D.B. asked, her voice sugary like rock candy. “We’re still best friends, aren’t we?”

For a moment, Sonny stared at her. Then she turned away. “I’ve got to go.” She took several tentative steps.

“How come you’re acting like that?” Mary asked.

“You’re the new warlord,” Crystal said.

Sonny continued walking, holding her books to her chest.

“What, do you think you’re too good for us?” Marilyn jeered.

“She was always stuck up.”

Ruben and Steve stood in front of the school. Steve blocked her way and said loudly, “I’d like to put my dick in your ear so you can hear me coming.”

She walked past him.

“What’s with her?” Steve asked as he crossed the street to where the Teen Angels stood.

“She thinks she’s better than we are,” Hansy said.

“Where are you going?” D.B. called after her. “We were just playing.”

“Just because she beat the Gooch, she thinks she’s hot shit.”

“No, she doesn’t. Do you?” Dot yelled.

“Thnob,” Mary grumbled.

Ruben caught up to her as she entered the school building. “So you beat the Gooch,” he said, smiling so that she could see his missing tooth. “How does it feel?”

“It doesn’t feel like anything,” she said, turning away from him.

“You going to the party?” he asked.

“Maybe.”

As she walked up the stairs to Mrs. King’s class, her brain whooshed like some thought that was grown-up, and spooky too, had taken a leak in it.

Teen Angel
, originally published in 1978, launched Sonia Pilcer’s career in her twenties. She went on to publish several more novels:
Maiden Rites, Little Darlings, I-LAND: Manhattan Monologues, The Holocaust Kid
and forthcoming
The Last Hotel: A Novel in Suites
. She has also adapted her work for theater and film. Pilcer lives in New York City and Upstate New York.