Chapter Nine

 

Chapter Nine

            High school was a whole new experience for Sophie, Oliver, and Jillian. While before their classes had been small and their schedules uncomplicated, they now had two times as many classmates and several electives on top of their general courses of study. While Sophie was in Music History, Oliver had Advanced Chemistry. And while he was solving chemical equations, Jillian was in Portrait Art. Luckily, though, the three managed to be placed in the same lunch period.

            After the first few weeks of school, Oliver's visits to the cafeteria started becoming less and less frequent. So one afternoon, during a rare lunch together, Sophie and Jillian decided to confront him.

            "Hi," he beamed, as he sat down his tray.

            "Oh, hi, Oliver," Sophie replied tersely.

            "Yes," Jillian chimed in. "Good afternoon."

            He laughed uneasily. "Uh-oh. What'd I do now?" He asked, half joking.

            "I don't know,' Sophie said, folding her arms across her chest. "You tell us."

            He frowned, shaking his carton of milk. "What are you talking about?"

            "You haven't really been here all that much lately," Jillian replied for her. "Actually, this is the only day this week that you've eaten with us. So what's going on?"

            "Oh." The bright smile returned to his handsome face, making his blue eyes shine brighter. And both girls couldn't help smiling with him. He obviously had a good explanation. "I've been going to the gym," he said finally. "With the guys on the football team. See, tryouts were today and I've been trying to, um, bulk up."

            "You want to be on the football team?" Sophie asked, scrunching up her nose.

            Jillian frowned. "Why?"

            He simply laughed. "I thought it might be fun. Anyway, I tried out this morning and Coach Warner wants me to be the JV quarterback!"

            Neither of the girls were as excited as he obviously was, but neither had the heart to act anything less than thrilled. Of course they couldn't understand his need for such inclusion, or his desire to play some inane sport. But they did understand how happy it was making him.

            "That's great, Ollie," Sophie said. "When's the first game?"

            "Homecoming game is in a few weeks,' he replied. "You guys will be there, right?"

            "Of course," Jillian said.

            "Duh," Sophie added, good-naturedly.

            After lunch, Oliver hurried to English while Sophie and Jillian walked to Study Hall together. As they were passing a flyer advertising the first school play, Jillian stopped abruptly and studied it.

            Sophie, who'd been talking about a cute boy in her music class, stopped and looked at her. "What?" She asked.

            "I should do this," Jillian replied, more to herself than to Sophie.

            "Huh?" She studied the flyer of Dorothy and Toto, trying to see what she saw.

            "It's a musical," Jillian said. "And auditions are after school today. I should try out, Sophie. My mom's always saying how I should get more involved in school stuff."

            "Sure – go for it." She knew that Jillian was interested in drama and lately had been dragging her to the movies more and more. But as happy as it would make her friend, Sophie couldn't help but dread what might happen if she did get a part in the play.

            With Oliver on the football tram and Jillian in the school play, where did that leave her?

            Later that week Sophie agreed, albeit reluctantly, to join Jillian as she auditioned for the part of Dorothy in the high school's production of The Wizard of Oz.

            "I really hope I get it," Jillian said, pacing back and forth in the backstage area. "I might not be all that experienced, but I have red hair at least! They won't have to waste money on a wig."

            Sophie laughed. "Just do your best, Jill. I'm sure you'll get something."

            Just then her name was called. She looked at Sophie, her eyes wide with fear.

            "I can't go out there," Jillian panicked. "I can't remember any of the lines. I don't even have my script – where's my script?" She looked around frantically.

            Sophie merely smiled. "It's in your hand," she said patiently.

            "Oh." Jillian looked down and smiled as her name was called again. "Okay –." She took a deep breath. "Here I go."

            As she disappeared behind the curtain, Sophie looked around at the other kids, most of them in the drama club, rehearsing their lines with each other. She smiled to herself, amused at their seriousness in it all, and decided to go outside for some air.

            She quickly found a door marked with a red EXIT sign and stepped out, relieved to no longer feel so awkward and out of place. Then she saw a small group of students huddled in a circle near the fence that surrounded the school grounds.

            You've got to be kidding me, she thought, rolling her eyes. Are they seriously praying they get a part in the play? She turned to go back in but stopped when one of them called out to her.

            "Hey – you!"

            Sophie turned to the group and realized that her previous assumption, that they were thespians, had been terribly wrong. There were five of them – three boys and two girls – and they were huddled around the joint that one of the boys held.

            "Me?" Sophie questioned stupidly.

            "Yeah." One of the girls, with jet black curls and huge brown eyes, stepped forward. She looked older than Sophie by about two years and was quite pretty. However she would've been much prettier without so much dark eye shadow and liner. "What's your name?" She asked, twirling one of her curls between her fingers.

            "She hesitated. "Um, Sophie."

            "Hi," the girl said, walking over to her. "My name's ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Tara. Now, you're not going to go running to Principal Collins about this, are you?"

            Sophie shook her head. "No, I was just – I was just going back inside." She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans, hoping this girl – Tara – wouldn't notice her sweaty palms. She couldn't explain why, but she made her feel so intimidated.

            "Well, good. 'Cuz we weren't doing anything wrong. Just having a little smoke. Right, Sophie?"

            "Yeah, sure. I'm not – I mean, I wasn't planning to – I'm not going to tell on you."

            Tara studied her, trying to figure out if she was lying or not. Then she gave her her first genuine smile. "No, you probably aren't. And since you're being so cool about it, why don't you join us for a hit or two? It's the least I could do."

            "Oh, that's o.k.," Sophie replied, hoping that her refusal wouldn't make then all deem her a bore, or a nerd.

            "Don't sorry about it," Tara assured her. "We've got plenty."

            "Oh . . . well, I would, but I have to get back inside. My friend . . ." She trailed off as Tara's facial expression appeared to grow bored.

            "Well, see you around Sophie." As she sauntered back to the group, Sophie watched them, wondering why she so wanted to join in.

            When she got back inside, she found Jillian talking to a short chubby girl with frizzy hair and a tall thin boy wearing a pink polo shirt neatly tucked into the waistband of his khakis.

            "Hi," Sophie said. "How'd it go?"

            "Great!" Jillian enthused. "Oh, this is Abby and Colin. They want me to join the drama club with them."

            Sophie smiled politely at the drab girl and obviously gay boy. "That's great," she said. "Um, you ready to go?"

            "Actually –." Jillian glanced at her new friends. "There's a drama club meeting today, and I was going to stick around for it."

            "Oh." She forced a smile. "Yeah, that should be good for you. Have fun."

            "I'll call you later," Jillian promised.

            "Okay. Bye." She walked away and out the same exit door as before.

            Sure enough, Tara and her friends were still there, passing around a joint and laughing about God knows what.

            Tara smiled and beckoned her over.

            Sophie looked around and quickly approached them.

            "So you came back," Tara said, sounding pleased. "I knew you couldn't resist the allure."

            Sophie smiled. "Something like that."

            "Well let's get the intros out of the way." She pointed to the only other girl, who looked young but mature with brown dreadlocks and baggy jeans. "That's Haley." She motioned to two boys, both with impossibly blonde hair and T-shirts with big marijuana leafs printed on the front.  "That's Bobby and that's Mikey. They're fraternal twins." She put an arm around the last boy, who was oddly shy and painfully quiet. He was cute, in a different way, with a mass of curly brown hair and a pointed nose. "And this is my very best friend, Max. We fucked once, but that was way back in the ninth grade."

            Sophie frowned. "What?" She asked, not sure she'd heard right.

            Tara laughed. "You're so cute – it's going to be fun corrupting you."

            Max laughed the first sound Sophie had heard him make. "You're crazy, Tara."

            She smiled. "Thanks."

            Haley looked at Sophie for the first time, through heavy lidded, bloodshot eyes. "Hey, you're in my music class. My boyfriend copied off of you once. That was like the first time he didn't get an F."

            Everyone laughed, including Sophie.

            "Come on." Tara grabbed her arm and stared walking, as everyone quickly followed suit. "We're going to my house." She looked at her. "You can come, right? I mean, do you have to be home for anything?"

            Sophie thought about Brian, who was alienating her more than ever and her mother, who only care about having Brian's child these days.

            "Nope," she replied. "There's nothing waiting for me at home."

            Tara lived in one of the less desirable areas of the neighborhood. She shared a messy, one bedroom apartment with her mother, who was usually either working as a waitress, passed out on the sofa, or at a boyfriend's house. Today she was working, so Tara took the opportunity to steal a bottle of vodka from the bottom of a hall closet.

            "To the bedroom!" She announced, leading the way triumphantly.

            Sophie couldn't help but laugh and feel instantly at ease.

            "Welcome, welcome," Tara said, opening the door to her surprisingly spacious bedroom.

            Magazines, empty takeout containers, and clothes littered the floor. On the walls hung posters of different bands and musicians and various pictures of several different narcotics. A lumpy mattress sat in the middle of the room, flanked on either side by plastic crates, upturned to serve as nightstands. A fading dresser, missing a drawer, stood against a wall, atop which were empty beer bottles, rolling papers, and a glass pipe.

            Bobby and Mikey flopped down on the mattress while Haley searched the dresser top for any remnants of pot and Max went to the open closet to turn on a small, scuffed stereo.

            Tara smiled at Sophie. "Probably not what you're used to, huh?"

            She shrugged, trying to appear more nonchalant than she felt. "Looks fine to me," she replied and sat down on the bed to prove it.

            Tara laughed, pleased. "Alright then, let's get this girl good and stoned."

            Haley squealed with delight, turning to face them all with a small baggy in her hand.

            "Looky what I found!" She exclaimed triumphantly. In the baggy was a small, but substantial amount of marijuana.

            "Awesome," Tara said, swigging from her bottle of vodka. She held it out to Sophie. "Want some?"

            Did she? Maybe. But would she rather have more time to think about it? Definitely. But as everyone – except Haley, who was busily rolling a joint – stared at her, Sophie realized that she had to accept the offer. If she didn't, then what would they think of her?

            So she smiled, accepted the bottle, and took a few gulps of the strong liquid, which instantly burned her throat.

            Max fussed around the stereo until finally, sounds of vintage Jimi Hendrix filled the room.

            "Hell yeah," Tara said, sitting down in a pile of clothes on the floor. She looked at Haley. "Come on – let's get a circle going."

            The girl sat down next to her obediently, the twins scooted up the mattress on either side of Sophie, and Max sat down next to Tara. They passed around two joints and when the first one got to Sophie, she awkwardly held it and took such a deep drag that she sputtered and coughed for a good five minutes.

            Bobby took the joint and demonstrated for her how to successfully smoke it, and then watched her do it again – this time, right. By the time the first joint got its last puff, Sophie was lying back on the bed, giggling uncontrollably.

            Bobby smiled down at her admiringly and turned back to the others. "Let's do some sharing," he said and they all knew what he meant. He helped Sophie back into a sitting position and she watched, fascinated, as Haley took a drag and then exhaled the smoke into Tara's mouth.

            When it became Bobby's turn, he puffed the joint and raised his eyebrows at Sophie. She nodded, pressed her lips to his, and accepted the acrid smoke into her mouth. Then, before she knew what was happening, he'd passed the joint to his brother and was kissing her.

            In normal circumstances she would've pushed him away and run away from the scene as fast as possible. But she just felt so good, and his mouth was so inviting. They fell back onto the bed, still kissing and it didn't take long for his brother's hands to creep up the back of her shirt.

            She shivered and did nothing to stop either of the boys, she was in control of them and it felt good to be wanted so badly. And to know that whenever she wanted to stop, she could and they'd keep on wanting her.

            Finally, when Mikey's hands came to the front of her jeans, she sat up. Tara and Haley looker at her, then at each other, and all three girls burst out laughing.

            "You are definitely going to fit in here," Tara said.

            Haley nodded. "And trust us, that's not the first time a threesome almost happened in that bed."

            Sophie laughed. "Well trust me, it was not about to happen just now." She looked back at the two boys, who'd fallen into a stoned sleep. "Especially not with two brothers."

            They all laughed again.

            "You won't be so sure of that for long," Tara said mysteriously. "We've both had the twins."

            "And I'd recommend them to anyone," Haley added. "With Mikey and Bobby it's like magical . . . or some s**t like that."

            Tara and Sophie exchanged looks that said it all about their thoroughly stoned friend and once again they were all giggling.