Twisted

by N. L. Greene

  I was so envious of how she could so easily talk to just about any guy that approached us. Whether it was at school, the mall, or the beach, it really didn’t matter. Guys would come up to us, trying to talk and hit on us, and Mel would be all animated and flirty while I stood there dumbly giving yes or no answers. There were actually even a few times when the guys were interested in me, even asking for my number, but somehow I always fumbled over my words and Mel would have to draw their attention from me, saving me from embarrassment, and then she would slide them her number. Sometimes I would get upset with her, feeling like she’d stolen the guy from me, but then she would remind me of what an idiot I had already made of myself and ask me how exactly I planned to carry on a conversation over the phone, if I couldn’t even talk to them for a few minutes in person. Of course I knew she was right, but it still stung.

  I started to feel like Mel was blossoming and growing while I was wilting and retreating. Where her confidence grew, mine became more dependent on my friend. I began to rely on what she thought I should say, wear, or do. I needed her to help me get through a multitude of awkward moments, and found myself floundering and fumbling when she wasn’t there to talk me through them. I knew somewhere in the back of my head that it probably wasn’t completely healthy to be so dependent on someone like that, but honestly, I couldn’t see the difference between mine and Mel’s friendship and that of the other girls our age.

  I spent every weekend with Mel and Ash (I was allowed to be friends with her too, simply because Mel was). A few times my mom actually brought up how I never asked to hang out with anyone else anymore. Or she would ask what happened to this friend or that friend, and she even told me to be careful and not to sacrifice good friendships for just one, but she didn’t understand. When you’re as close to someone as I was with Mel, none of those other friendships mattered in the long run. Mel and I were tight, and always would be. We knew each other better than we knew ourselves, we were closer than sisters, and letting someone get in the middle of that was not something either one of us was willing to do. No matter how frustrated I could get with her, I knew she would always have my back, just like I would always have hers.

  Best friends are a huge deal for girls that age. They depend on each other to help them through hard times, guide them into making the right decisions, and share the joy and happiness that life brings them. I knew in my heart that my need for Mel’s approval was completely and utterly normal. I loved having such a close best friend, and counted myself lucky to still be hers.

  High School

  Chapter 5

  Thank God, we FINALLY made it to High School! We may have only been freshmen, the low man on the totem pole, the tiny fish in the sea, but it was so nice to finally be out of Middle School. It almost felt like we had a chance to start all over again, with a clean slate. All of the problems of the years before were gone, forgotten. We would get to make new memories, and hopefully this time they would be great ones.

  Mel and I registered over the summer for classes together, so after what seemed like a lifetime, we finally had a somewhat consistent class schedule. In actuality we were both really smart, even though she didn’t like anyone to know it, so the classes we had together were Advanced Placement ones (or A.P. for short) and were probably going to be legitimately hard ones. We also decided to share a locker so we would still get to check in with each other in between the classes we didn’t have together.

  We were also going to be bus riders on the same bus again, but this year Ash would be riding with us. Riding the bus seemed to suck all of the sudden, since there were so many kids at school that either drove or had a friend to drive them, so luckily I had been able to convince my parents to let me walk home after school. Ash, Mel and I all walked home together with a few other kids that lived by us. It was great because we had this secret short cut that we all took. It was called Blueberry creek and it cut through a few of the neighborhood streets into the woods, so it was a great way to smoke on the way home from school without getting caught. And Mel always had cigarettes for us. Either James would buy them for us, or we would sweetly ask one of the guys at school if we could bum one. Usually it took a groping hug from them in exchange for the cigarette, but it was a small price to pay. I used to think it was weird asking people for free stuff like that, especially when sometimes it’s a guy we don’t really know, but Mel reassured me that it wasn’t a big deal and the guys actually liked the attention. And since we were never turned down and usually made a friend out of the exchange, I figured she was right.

  Unfortunately, our excitement over starting high school was dashed a bit when we found out that the cafeteria was getting remodeled, and we would have to eat our lunch every day in the gym. What happened to all those fabled stories about being able to eat off campus, or about serving restaurant-style food at school, you ask? Total lie at our high school. The seniors were allowed to leave campus, but once the new cafeteria was done they wouldn’t even be able to do that either. Luckily for them it would take practically the entire school year to finish it. So in the meantime, we all got to sit on the bleachers in the hot, stinky gym and eat our bagged lunches, and we didn’t even have our senior year to look forward to being able to leave campus. The only bright spot with this whole lunch debacle was that Mel and I had the same lunch period with Ash.

  Sitting on the bleachers turned out not to be totally horrible either, although I couldn’t tell by how much Mel bitched about it. I usually just tuned her out, though. Mel and I sat where we could get a pretty good view of everyone as they came in, which was great since there were a lot of new kids from other schools that we didn’t know yet, including cute boys.

  That was where we were, a few weeks into the school year, sitting and talking about nonsense when Mel leaned over and whispered, “Hey, check out that boy and his hair cut. It looks like someone put a bowl on his head and cut around it.” I glanced over and we all burst out laughing. I was really a nice person and never said anything mean about other people, but Mel couldn’t seem to help herself. And as much as I hated to admit it, she was usually telling the truth and it was usually pretty funny. That incident was a perfect example, because that poor boy’s hair totally did look like that. The boy heard us laughing and looked over. My laughter turned into a soft smile when I saw his face. He was really cute! He glanced at everyone, but his eyes kept darting back to mine before he finally offered a shy smile of his own.

  Mel didn’t miss where his focus was. “Oh, I think Bowl Head likes you, Nat.” She didn’t care what people thought or if she hurt anyone’s feelings, so she didn’t even try to lower her voice when she said that, even though she knew we had his attention. Normally I would have been envious of her carefree attitude, but now it was just embarrassing.

  I looked at her sharply and then glanced back to the hot guy, hoping against hope that he hadn’t heard her careless words, yet knowing that he had. I could tell this by the slight blush in his cheeks and the less casual smile on his face. My own cheeks flushed and probably matched his now. I felt bad. Mel could be so harsh sometimes and if you didn’t know her or understand her personality, it was easy to take it personally. She didn’t really mean it; it was just how she was.

  Mel totally disregarded my sharp look and just shrugged her shoulders. “Are you going to go talk to him or what?” she asked; so loudly that I knew the guy had heard her that time too. Thankfully though, instead of thinking we were all batshit crazy, he took her question to me as an invitation. I watched as he grabbed his bag and moved over to sit by me. He didn’t come too close, and he still kept himself out of our circle, but he definitely made it clear that he was there to talk to me.

  Mel shoved my arm, which made me slide across the wooden step of the bleachers until I knocked into the side of the new boy. I looked up embarrassed, but he just smiled at me; one that reached his eyes and matched the one he’d given me before Mel had started talking. I smiled back and then dipped my head back down to look a
t my lunch in my lap.

  “Hey, I’m Chase,” he said, making me look back up at him.

  “Hey. I’m Natalie,” I answered softly; still embarrassed and not really knowing how to talk to him.

  Mel of course heard our conversation, or lack thereof, and decided to step in and ‘save me’. “Jesus,” I heard her say under her breath before she slid across the seat closer to us. “I’m Mel, and this is Ashley.” She motioned to herself and then to Ash with a roll of her eyes, as if she was supremely bothered by having to even do that. Chase raised his eyebrows slightly but nodded his head in greeting. Mel continued, “So you’re new, right? Are you from a different school or did you just move here?”

  Although on the surface Mel’s words seemed like they were friendly, her tone was bored. I knew she was only trying to help me break the ice with this guy, but I was beginning to get worried that she would scare him away. I started to open my mouth to try and help the situation, but just then Chase winked at me and answered the questions.

  “I just moved here.” He smiled at me.

  “From where?” Mel asked quickly.

  “Illinois,” Chase told her while still looking at me.

  “Why?” Mel fired back, getting agitated with his lack of attention on her.

  “My dad got a job transfer,” he answered again.

  “What grade are you in?” I could tell that Mel was also starting to get frustrated with the fact that he wasn’t bothered by her nosiness or quick questions either.

  “10th,” he answered immediately, with a smirk on his face. It was obvious that he was aware of his effect on Mel, and I thought he was enjoying it. Deep down, I was too.

  I had been looking back and forth between the two of them during Mel’s Q&A session, so much so that I started to feel dizzy. I stopped when I heard Mel huff out an annoyed breath. I glanced at her one last time before quickly turning my face and attention back to Chase, so that Mel wouldn’t see the laughter that was trying to escape my lips. Most people didn’t get the last word in when it came to Mel, because she usually intimidated them to the point where they got flustered and started fumbling for words or explanations. This didn’t happen with Chase, and Mel was clearly not happy about it. I kept my face averted all while I heard her mumbling about Chase being an ass and telling Ashley to go with her. I finally looked up again when Chase called my name.

  There was a small smile on my face, but I knew my cheeks were pink from Mel embarrassing me, which only embarrassed me more. “So? That’s your friend?” he asked in a playful voice.

  “Umm, yeah. She’s pretty protective. Sorry.” I defended her behavior.

  “Hmm…” he said thoughtfully, with a quick glance toward Mel, but returned his attention to me and started asking me questions before I could ask him what he was thinking. “So Natalie, what grade are you in?”

  “I’m a freshman, and you can call me Nat if you want.” I fumbled with my words at the end, much to my embarrassment. This was the first time in a while that I’d met someone new without Mel being there to lead the conversation and introduce me. And I had gone to school with most everyone here for my whole life, so everyone that I knew had always called me Nat. So this was the first time I really had to tell someone they could call me that.

  “Okay, Nat.” He smiled at me again and it made me feel calmer. His smile was nice. He had straight white teeth and full lips that fit perfectly on his face. His eyes were light brown, surrounded by long, thick eyelashes that helped make them look kind. His face was slightly chiseled, giving him firm cheek bones and a nice jaw line, but there was still that baby softness to it. Although his hair did look a little too perfectly cut, it was a nice shade of brown and I could tell it would be soft and silky to the touch. I glanced back at his eyes and noticed that he was studying me just as intently as I was him. The realization made me blush again.

  “That’s really cute, you know,” he said softly.

  “What?” I asked dumbly; having no idea what he was talking about.

  “When you blush,” he said with a soft touch of his finger to my cheek.

  There was now a slight tingle on my skin where Chase’s finger had just touched me, and even though I knew he couldn’t tell what I was feeling, it made me blush even deeper. Chase chuckled.

  “So, Nat? Do you think you would want to go out with me sometime?”

  A huge smile spread across my face and I nodded my head. “Yeah.” I knew my voice was reserved but I couldn’t help it. I was intimidated! Chase was incredibly cute, not to mention the fact that he was also a year older than me, and the best part of it was, he wasn’t scared of Mel. He was the perfect boyfriend material already, and he had just asked me out! I was almost giddy with excitement.

  “How about you give me your number, and I’ll call you. Maybe we could go to the movies Friday night?” he asked hopefully. I liked that. He was confident, but not cocky.

  “Definitely!” I told him with another smile, as I opened my notebook and pulled out a pen before ripping off a corner of notebook paper. I scribbled my name and number on it and handed it to Chase. I hadn’t noticed him doing the same, but I was even happier when he handed me a matching scrap of paper with his number on it. I tucked it into my pocket just as the bell to end our lunch period rang.

  “Is it okay if I call you tonight?” Chase asked me as I started getting my stuff together.

  “Yeah, that’d be great.” He was just getting better and better! Not only did he want to take me out, but he also wanted to talk to me and get to know me. This was the first time anything like this had ever happened for me. With Noah it had been different, because we already had a friendship and knew each other pretty well. This was a new boy who would have to take the time and effort to get to know me, and oddly enough, it seemed he wanted to.

  “Cool.” He turned and took a step down the bleachers, but then he stopped and turned back. Before I realized what he was doing, he jumped back up beside me and kissed my cheek. “Later,” he called back to me as he left the gym.

  I stared after him for a second until Mel snapped her fingers in front of my face, effectively snapping me out of my dazed state.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled as I hurried to finish getting my stuff together. We were probably going to be late to class now, but I didn’t care. I was still floating on a cloud, and talking to Chase had been so worth it.

  “I don’t like him. He’s kind of a jerk,” Mel said from beside me as we hurried down the hall.

  I looked up, surprised. “Really? I thought he was really nice. We might go to the movies Friday.”

  “Whatever. I’m just telling you to be prepared. I think he’ll turn out to be a jerk and I’d hate to see you hurt again, especially after the whole Noah ordeal.” Although she said this in a hushed voice, it didn’t soften the embarrassment and hurt that immediately set in. I hated that she continued to bring that episode up. I was so over it, and Noah and I were still good friends. We talked all the time, hung out between classes sometimes, and we even gave each other dating advice. Although he and Mel still avoided each other like the plague, we were tight. It was the agonizing reminder of him and Mel kissing that still got to me, though. Sometimes it felt like she was rubbing it in my face. Noah never brought it up. Ever. It made me wonder if she was trying to remind me of the fact that I couldn’t keep my boyfriend happy and forced him to move in on my best friend. But then I would remind myself of how upset Mel had been when she’d told me. She had been so devastated that she’d actually cried! I hadn’t seen Mel cry since, and I knew she wouldn’t want to relive it again, either.

  I hesitated, but went with my instinct. “Well, he seemed nice to me and he’s super cute. I think I’m just going to take it slow and see what happens.” I couldn’t help the small smile that reached my face when I thought about Chase and how he’d kissed me softly on the cheek. I thought that maybe kissing him wouldn’t be so embarrassing. He seemed like the kind of guy who would take his time and be patient with
me.

  “Whatever,” she mumbled as we reached my class. We were already late, so she didn’t stop to say bye or anything. Not that I had expected her to, anyway. I gave a mental shrug and slipped into class quickly, hoping the teacher hadn’t noticed I was late.

  Chapter 6

  I spent the rest of the day trying to catch stolen glimpses of Chase in the hall. Even though I knew that most of his classes were in a different area than mine, I still couldn’t help myself. Unfortunately I never did see him, but he was on my mind the whole day. Mel didn’t bring him up again on the walk home from school and neither did I. It really sucked too, because I wanted to talk about him. I wanted to be able to confide in my best friend and squeal like the school girls we were over a boy, but I already knew she didn’t like him, and I didn’t really need her to tell me again. Instead, I just kept my mouth shut as we left school, and still stopped at our usual spot at Blueberry creek to smoke so the smell had time to wear off before I got home. I was impatient this time though, because I didn’t want to miss Chase’s call. It must have been pretty obvious too, because Mel and Ash both noticed. Mel didn’t say anything, but Ash couldn’t help herself.

  “So Nat, what’s up with you and the new guy?” she asked while blowing out a stream of smoke.

  “Nothing yet, but he said he’d call me tonight, and he already asked me out!” I grinned at her and took the lit cigarette she handed me. Mel only snorted at my comment.

  Ash glanced at her. “What’s your problem?” Ashley was older than us, so she got away with questioning Mel a lot more than I did. Mel wouldn’t dare piss her off, especially since Ash would be our ride to school next year. And even though Ashley wasn’t quite as out spoken or blunt as Mel, she wouldn’t hesitate to dangle that privilege over Mel’s head, and Mel knew it. I’ve even seen her do it once or twice, and as much as I hated to admit it, it was kinda funny.