Chapter 6: Zoe sucks

I watched the bottle spin around and around until it began to slow down. Keep on going, keep on going. I told it as it came to a full hault pointing towards me.

“Oooh! Alyssa and Ray, seven minutes!” Maya giggled, starting the timer on her watch. I met Ray’s anxious gaze and stood up. Matt’s hand fell to the floor as I pulled mine away. I walked into Matt’s small laundry room and Ray locked the door behind me.

“Hi.” He smiled, and sat down on the concrete floor. I sat down across from him and sighed.

“Hey.” My breathing slowed, but my heart was still slamming against my bones. I admired Ray, he was beautiful, which led me back to that annoying-but-true question, why am I still with Matt? And I truthfully didn’t know why, I was just taking life as it came, which was wrong, of course, for stringing Matt along with me. Ray’s black hair was shaggy and shiny, and his eyes were dark brown and innocent. He was asian, the exact opposite of, ahem, my boyfriend Matt. I was sick to my stomach, I felt so ashamed.

“So, your sister decided to tag along?” He asked. Of course, it all comes down to Zoe. I scoffed in my mind.

“No, Matt invited her. All his friends think she’s hot.” I rolled my eyes.

“Ew. She’s fourteen, what the hell?” He grimaced.

“I know!” I agreed, laughing. I wanted to kiss him so badly. I'd liked Ray since seventh grade. And I swore to my grave that he liked me back then too, and I still believe that. He’d started seeing a girl named Charlotte, who stole my hairstyles, grrrr, and we never talked after that year. Except for the excruciatingly painful fact that he was friends with Matt. Woohoo.

“Hey, you want to hang out next weekend? I’m always so bored at home alone, you should come over. We could go to the beach, or something.” He suggested.
“Uh... sure.” I bit my lip to stop it from trembling in fear. I remembered his house. We’d once gone biking around in seventh grade, and then we’d gone back to his house, and he’d burned me a Beatles CD, which I listened to for months alone in my bedroom when he got with Charlotte. Double grrrr.

“Time’s up!” Everyone yelled from outside, but I noticed that Matt hadn’t. I knew his voice perfectly, and it hadn’t yelled with the others. I stood up and brushed the dust off my skirt, and we hurried out awkwardly. I maneuvered quickly over to Matt and sat down next to him and grabbed his hand right away. He stared down at the floor.

“Nothing happened, Matt. We just talked.” I smiled over at him, and quickly snuck a               kiss.

“Good.” He grinned, and squeezed my hand. The rest of the night was over-all boring. Zoe went into the closet with Scottie, and apparently when they come out they were somehow together. Whatever. Sammy and Ethan chatted in a corner for a while, which I didn’t give a damn about, because I had officially begun shunning Sammy. How do you like that, Sammy? Revenge is a dish best served cold.

“Hey, how’s Charlotte?” Pete teased Ray. The world came back to me-whoosh-because I’d spaced out during our normal, boring conversation. Blah. I turned swiftly to face Ray, as the guys chuckled.

“Man, she keeps e-mailing me. Like, these love letters. ‘Take me back!’ ‘I love you!’ It’s getting creepy.” He explained, pulling out his iPhone. He scrolled through his email and held out one of hers for us to see. It was pretty darn sappy, and I was glad it wasn’t me e-mailing him and being laughed about at Matt’s party. Very glad.

“Wow. Never go out with her again, man, promise me.” Pete ordered him. Ray grinned.

“I won’t, don’t worry.” He snort-laughed. Matt’s mom had come down a while ago with a whole plate of shrimp and a punch bowl. We all had a plastic cup full of the bright red fruit punch, a.k.a, kool-aid. Ray grabbed a shrimp and popped it in his mouth.

“We’ve gotta go. I’ve got a curfew.” Maya nodded toward Noelle, and Noelle looked upset. I couldn’t blame her, I was having fun too. Too much fun to leave anytime soon, that was certain.
“Aw, man. Thanks for coming. See you guys at school.” Matt waved, and Noelle leaned down and gave Jeremy a kiss. With tongue, I swear I saw some tongue. They scurried up the stairs and left. I rested my head on Matt’s shoulder and sighed.

“So, how about you two lovebirds? You never had any fun tonight.” Pete arched an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes.

“True dat.” Matt remarked, gazing down at me carefully. I smiled, avoiding Ray’s gaze. I didn’t expect him to look all torn up, the way I had looked whenever anyone used to mention him and Charlotte. I didn’t expect him to feel anything for me. Nothing.

“The bottle has spoken.” I raised both eyebrows, smiling sweetly.

“Yes, it has, hasn’t it?” Matt grinned, and Zoe giggled over by Scottie.

“Yup.” I sucked in my cheeks and let the air puff out, letting my eyelids sag over my tired eyes.

“And I don’t care.” Matt exclaimed, and pulled me into a kiss. My eyes bulged as I looked around. I squealed and pushed him off as he laughed. His friends clapped and whooped. I rolled my eyes, and smacked him in the chest in irritation.

“Damn you.” I stuck up my middle finger and let a smirk slip through my stern-angry-don’t-wake-the-sleeping-bear-face. Matt slipped his hand under my cardigan, not under my tank top, you perv, and tickled my ribs. I giggled and fell against him.

“Well, we really should go too.” Shannon glanced at Hannah.

“Us too.” Becca spoke for her and Jamie, I assumed. They all stood up, and the guys booed.

“Boo you, w****s!” Scottie exclaimed, and all the girls giggled in fear of Matt’s mom coming down and giving him a big spank on his bottom. Now that would be a sight to see. Zoe laugh was stretched out and fake, and it was obvious she was flaunting it. By it, I mean the fact that she now apparently owned Scottie.

“I should probably get the babies home safely.” I teased Sammy and Zoe, standing up. Zoe’s cheeks turned red and she pursed her lips together. Oopsie. I told myself. Now, she was mad.

“Party poopers. Girls suck.” Pete stuck his tongue out at me.

“Yo, Sammy! We’re leaving. Feel free to hitch-hike home.” I called across the room.

“Ethan’s driving me home.” Sammy sneered at me.

“Well, goody. Let’s go, Zo.” I clapped. Matt stood up, and kissed me quickly.

“Hey, wait. Here’s my number, Alyssa.” Ray called, and I turned around. Score. He reached over and handed me a slip of paper. Apparently he carried many copies of his number on a Q-card everywhere. Interesting.

“Oh, she’ll love that. Be prepared to be answering the phone at three in the morning, she can get a bit cooky.” Zoe shot at me, but pretended like she was talking to Ray. My eyes widened, as the guys laughed.

“Bye Matt.” I murmured, and stomped upstairs.

“Bye, Diane.” I smiled at Matt’s mother fakely, and she waved sweetly. I hurried outside and climbed into the front seat of my old truck, sighing as I started the car.

“I’m not a baby, so you’re not allowed to call me one in front of our friends.” She scoffed, climbing into the passenger seat. She propped her feet up on the dashboard above the glove compartment and chewed her gum loudly.

“Our friends?” I yelled, “You really think if I told Ray that you liked him, which I don’t, that it would bother you? They’re not your friends. They don’t care about you, and Scottie just wants to get in your pants.” Zoe’s eyes welled up with tears. She was trying to be brave, I could tell.

“Shut up. And they are my friends. And Scottie likes me. Just because I’m prettier then you doesn’t mean no one can look past that and like who I am.” She whimpered.

“No, it doesn’t mean that. But I know for a fact that Scottie doesn’t like who you are.” I spat, and began to back out of the driveway.

“It was an honest mistake, what I said to Ray. You used to be so into him, I thought you still were.” She shrugged.
“Oh, so that gives you the right to say that? Great job, Zoe. You suck.” I replied. Zoe opened her mouth to speak but gave up. She sighed and curled up against her car door, a tear rolling down her cheek.

Reviews

[J.A.N]

I don't think it was rushed, like you said before.
And I am so SORRY it's taken me so long to read.

You're writing quite an interesting story.
Liss and Zoe are fighting so much. ):
Are they gonna get better? I mean, I completely understand why their fighting.
I just wonder what Zoe's feeling about everything.

RAY.
I'm sorry, Matt's cool and all.
But I'm so on Team Ray. No doubt.