by Davis Ashura
“Anyway, the reason I keep trying it is because I keep hoping that just once it’ll actually taste like chocolate pudding,” Jason said. “It’s stupid, I know, but . . .” he gave an eloquent shrug.
“It is stupid,” Lien said, all blunt truth. She didn’t sugar-coat anything, and while at times it could be annoying, at least a person always knew where they stood with her. “If something has never changed in the past, it is not likely to change in the future.”
“It’s not dumb,” Serena disagreed. “Seeing if something that was once bad might have improved seems worth doing.”
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Albert Einstein,” Lien countered.
“Quoting Albert Einstein isn’t a proof of anything,” Serena said. “Jason isn’t conducting an experiment on universal laws. He’s tasting food. Food changes.”
A brief tension rose between the two girls, but Lien ended it with a smile. “I like her,” she announced. “Welcome to the coolest, smoothest lunch table at St. Francis.”
“I don’t know if we’re cool or smooth,” William said.
“Speak for yourself,” Lien replied tartly.
“Exactly what brings you to our fair city anyway?” Jason asked Serena.
“My father,” she answered. “He works in an import business. A job opportunity came up, so here we are.”
“What does he import?” Daniel asked.
“I have no idea.”
“None?” Daniel asked in surprise.
“None.”
“What about your mother? What does she do?” Lien asked.
“She doesn’t.” Serena’s face clouded. “She died a long time ago.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” William said.
“Sorry I said it, or sorry about what happened?” Serena asked.
Her intense focus caused William to fidget, but he forced himself to meet her gaze. “Both.”
“How did you get such wonderful hair?” Lien asked. She directed her question to Serena. “It’s so dark and pretty, like Terri Garber’s.”
“Who’s Terri Garber?” William asked.
“The pretty brunette from North and South.”
“The one who was also in Star Trek: Wrath of Khan?” William asked.
“No. The other one.”
“Oh. That one.” William grinned widely. “Yeah. I wouldn’t kick her out of . . .” He coughed into his hand. “Never mind.”
Lien rolled her eyes. “I knew you would eventually remember her.”
After lunch Serena continued to accompany William from one class to the next, and while she remained friendly whenever members of the popular cliques struck up conversations with her, that appeared to be the extent of it. William got the sense that she didn't want to prolong the conversations with them. Even when some of those same popular girls offered to show Serena around to the rest of her classes, she chose to stay with William.
He tried to appear indifferent whenever it happened, but inside, his heart and self-confidence soared. In fact, when the day ended he realized that this had been the best first day of school in his life, and his shoulders slumped in disappointment when the final bell rang.
“See you in the morning?” William asked on their way to their lockers. Serena’s locker, which she had to herself, stood next to the one he shared with Jason.
“Definitely. And thank you for showing me around school, Mr. Wilde,” Serena replied, her tone teasing once more. “You were an excellent tour guide.”
William doffed an imaginary hat. “It was my pleasure to squire you about, Ms. Paradiso.”
Jason arrived just then. “Ready to go?” he asked. “Daniel and Lien should be waiting by the car.”
Serena’s head swiveled as she glanced around, appearing lost or like she was looking for something. For the first time that day, William thought she appeared unsure of herself. It took him a moment to figure out why.
“Do you have a way to get home?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” Serena said. “I don’t have a car, and I don’t know which bus to take.”
“I can take you,” William offered.
“You’d do that?” Serena asked with a hopeful expression.
“Of course,” William replied, surprised at her surprise.
Jason turned to Serena. “You’re sure you’re fine hanging around us?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because we’re what the French call ‘le nerds,’” William answered.
“Speak for yourself,” Jason said.
“A nerd, huh?” Serena smiled. “I think I figured that part out by myself.”
“What gave me away?” William asked.
Serena tapped her chin, pretending to ponder the matter. “Maybe it had something to do with that doodle you made in English, the one of the man with claws. Bearman. Is he supposed to be friends with Superman?”
“That was Wolverine,” William corrected. “He’s from Marvel. Superman is DC.”
“Same difference,” Serena pronounced with a dismissive wave of her hand. “And you just made my point.”
William’s mouth dropped open. Marvel. DC. The same? Sacrilege. “It’s not the . . . ” He quieted when Serena arched her eyebrows in challenge. “Never mind,” he muttered. “Where do you live?”
The address she supplied was the home in which William had grown up, a couple houses down from where he now lived with Jason and his grandfather, Mr. Zeus.
“That’s my old house,” William said.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
Serena’s face fell. “I’m sorry if—”
“I didn’t see you move in,” William interrupted, knowing what she intended on saying—probably something sympathetic—but he didn’t want to hear her pity.
“We got in late last night,” Serena answered. “The moving company is supposed to deliver our furniture later in the week.”
“Moving into my old house. Same class schedule. Locker near mine. Those sure are a lot of coincidences,” William said with a teasing smile. “You sure you aren’t stalking me?”
Serena held her hands up in surrender. “You figured me out,” she said. “I’m actually a member of a super secret spy organization. I’m here to test your skill set and recruit you to our cause. And by recruit, I mean by any means necessary.”
William knew her words were most likely spoken in jest, but he couldn’t help himself. “Really?” he asked, his voice quavering with suppressed hope.
“No. Not really.” Serena shook her head in disgust.
Jason brayed laughter.
“Let’s go,” William muttered.
The parking lot rang with sounds of celebration as everyone grinned and laughed that the first day of school was over and they’d all survived. Freshmen and sophomores chattered away in excitement before boarding their school buses, while upperclassmen stood next to their cars, many of them intentionally speaking and laughing loudly enough for others to notice.
William rolled his eyes. More peacocks signaling their coolness.
Based on Serena’s dismissive smirk, she wasn’t impressed by their poses, either.
“Are we dropping Serena off?” Daniel asked. He and Lien waited by William’s car, a lemon-yellow T-Bird.
“I bet it isn’t out of our way either,” Lien said, wearing a smile like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.
“It’s my old house,” William answered.
Lien’s knowing grin faded.
“William told me after lunch about what happened to his family,” Serena said. “I’m sorry if it bothers—”
“Don’t worry about it,” William cut her off. “Someone was bound to move into it eventually. And it’s not my home anymore. I’ve barely set foot in the place since . . . you know.”
Daniel rapped the T-bird’s roof. “Let’s get going,” he said, and William privately blessed him for changing the subject.
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“Who gets the front seat?” Lien asked.
“Shotgun,” Serena said.
“Wait!” Jason protested. “I always sit up front.”
Serena gave him a condescending smile. “Then you have to speak up faster next time.”
“But—”
“No,” Serena said.
“I’m his—”
“Still no.”
With a deflated sigh, Jason acquiesced. “Fine,” he huffed.
Everyone clambered into the T-Bird with William and Serena up front and the others in the back.
“Nice car,” Serena noted.
“Thanks. It was my father’s,” William said. “Dad bought the car junked, and Landon and I helped him fix it up. We put in a new dash and leather seats. Same with the headliner, stereo, engine, and chassis.”
“I like it,” Serena said, as she stroked the upholstery. “Corinthian leather?”
William laughed. “No. That’s a Chrysler. This is a Ford. And I’m guessing you don’t have a car of your own.”
“Good guess.”
“None of these losers do, either.” William gestured to the back. “They don’t like to drive.”
Daniel slapped the side of William’s seat. “Let’s go,” he urged. “Look at that line forming up.”
The single exit from the school grounds was backing up and getting longer by the second.
William keyed the ignition, and the T-Bird’s V-8 engine rumbled to life. The radio came on, and everyone rolled down their windows as William eased forward, waiting for his turn to pull into the exit lane. Patience and cooperation were needed to get out of the packed parking lot.
As if he wanted to put a lie to William’s silent assessment, Jake Ridley rolled up in his Corvette, and even though William had the right of way, he stuck the nose of his car in front of the T-Bird. Sonya Bowyer rode with Jake, and the two of them gazed imperiously upon William and his friends.
William’s anger fired, and he strangled an urge to flip Jake the bird. He wasn’t worth the aggravation. He decided on a pissed-off scowl.
The notes of a familiar song playing over the radio soothed the last of his anger.
Lien shouted in his ear. “Turn it up!”
William did so, and grinned in anticipation.
Lien belted out the first line of the song in her Chinese accent. Daniel’s tenor soon joined her high-pitched wail. Jason added his voice next.
Their loud singing drew Sonya’s and Jake’s attention. The two of them stared in bemused disbelief at Jason, Daniel, and Lien before they started laughing.
“Losers!” Jake yelled.
Jason must not have had William’s reticence. He flipped Jake the bird and sang louder.
William turned up the radio and added his voice to those of his friends.
Jake flipped them off in return while Sonya wore a sour grimace, as if she’d just smelled something bad.
There had been a time, just this morning, in fact, when earning the good opinion of Sonya Bowyer had been of great importance to William. Now? Not so much. He gave Sonya a mocking salute. The entire situation became perfect when a few other students tuned their radios to the same station and sang along.
Jake shook his head in disgust at William and mouthed something coarse.
William’s answer was an easy grin. He knew it would piss Jake off even more, and best of all, with Jake distracted, William cut in front of him and pulled out into traffic.
Jason crowed in triumph. “Stupid Corvette’s worth nothing if the driver’s a moron.”
“Is leaving the school grounds always like a musical?” Serena asked, wearing a dazed expression.
“Only on the good days,” Lien replied with a grin.
“Anyone want to go to Graeter’s?” Jason asked.
“Hell, yeah!” Daniel said.
“What’s Graeter’s?” Serena asked.
“The best ice cream in the world,” William replied.
Five minutes later, they sat ensconced in a booth with their luscious riches arrayed before them. Before they ate, though, of one accord they all leaned in toward Serena, waiting for her verdict.
She slipped a lock of hair behind an ear and took a delicate bite of her chocolate chip ice cream. Her eyes rolled up in an unmistakable expression of bliss.
“I think she likes it,” Lien chuckled.
“It’s divine.”
William took that as a sign to tuck into his Cookies n’ Cream. He tried to eat slowly, wanting to take small bites and savor it, but despite his best intentions, it was gone all too quickly.
He glanced at the others.
As usual, Jason had gobbled his down as though it might run away from him, while Lien and Serena were just about finished with theirs as well. Daniel, though, being the slow-motion eater that he was, hadn’t yet reached the halfway point of his own dish.
William surreptitiously surveyed the others again. No one was paying him any attention, and he wondered if could get away with licking his cup clean.
Serena noticed his speculation. She raised a questioning eyebrow an instant before a knowing smile lit her face. “You’re thinking of licking your bowl clean, aren’t you?”
William sniffed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Her throaty laugh told him that she didn’t believe him.
William pretended to ignore her amusement as he looked around the ice cream parlor. A few other students from St. Francis had come in, a trio of skinny juniors whom William recognized. He’d played D&D with them.
“What is that disgusting, desiccated creature on their shirts?” Serena asked, nodding at the other students.
Jason looked where Serena had indicated. “Eddie the Head,” he answered. “Iron Maiden’s mascot.”
Serena’s eyes widened. “You know who this thing is, this celebration of the horrific?” she asked, sounding appalled.
William shifted in his chair, not wanting to admit that he had a poster of Eddie on his bedroom wall.
“He’s famous,” Jason said, sounding as defensive as William felt.
“He’s repulsive,” Serena countered, sounding like a schoolmarm.
“They couldn’t have left the Ring with Tom Bombadil!” one of the skinny juniors shouted. “He’d lose it in the barrows and not even remember he did it.”
“They’re barrow-downs, dumbass,” one of the other boys corrected.
“Whatever. The point is that the Ring would have ended up back in Mordor in two snaps of a Balrog’s whip.”
“If the Balrog got ahold of the Ring . . .”
“What are they talking about?” Serena asked with a perplexed expression.
“Lord of the Rings,” Jason answered. “William could tell you all about it.”
Lien also appeared to be eavesdropping on the other group’s conversation. “I know we’re kind of nerdy, but those three take it to an entirely new level,” she noted. “And what is a Mordor anyway?” She sounded both contemptuous and baffled.
William did a double-take. “You don’t know about Mordor, the land of shadows?”
“Of course not,” Lien replied. “I try to have a real life instead of living it through some book.”
“Your loss,” William replied. “Some books contain the truest magic.”
Lien rolled her eyes. “Yes, Master Yoda.”
“Hi, Kettle. I’m Pot. You’re black,” William said, calling Lien out on her knowledge of geek culture.
“Shut it,” she replied.
“I think it’s sweet that they long for magic,” Serena interrupted, “but the land of shadows sounds as awful as the creature on their shirts.”
“Mordor is much worse.” William briefly explained to Serena about the One Ring of Power.
“One Ring to give its wielder unfathomable power,” Serena mused.
“And corruption,” William reminded her.
“I think I should read this book they’re talking about.”
“You can bor
row my copy,” William offered.
“Yeah. He’s only read it like twenty times,” Jason said with an insufferable grin.
“Do you read it so often in order to study the nature of evil?” Serena asked.
“Pretty much,” William lied. The truth was that he read Lord of the Rings because he loved losing himself in Middle-Earth, a better, brighter world than the real one. While reading Tolkien’s epic, William often imagined himself as a member of the Fellowship, journeying into danger and performing great deeds while singing songs of love and valor. But he didn’t want to admit that to Serena.
“That’s too much philosophy for me,” Daniel said, finally surfacing from his still-unfinished bowl of ice cream. He waved his spoon for emphasis. “Life’s complicated enough. I like my entertainment to be light-hearted and simple.”
“Like your brain?” Lien asked.
“Ha, ha,” Daniel replied.
“Or like Hardcastle and McCormick?” William asked. “How does that theme song go again? Something about slow-motion men.”
Daniel gave him a sour scowl. “Again, ha, ha. I don’t eat in slow motion.”
Serena wore an air of bemusement. “Is this how your group always interacts?”
“Interacts?” Lien asked. “A big word when all we’re doing is joking around with one another.”
“Done,” Daniel announced as he pushed away his empty dish.
“Finally,” Lien said.
They piled back into William’s car and drove the short distance to their neighborhood. It was a newer subdivision that ended in a cul-de-sac with homes that were all less than fifteen years old.
William pulled into the driveway of a tan-brick tri-level with an attached two-car garage, and everyone got out of the T-Bird. Daniel and Lien called out their goodbyes and crossed the street to go to their home, a two-story with a gray vinyl siding.
Serena stood by William’s car and appeared to be waiting for something. Jason caught the hint and excused himself to head inside.
“We leave for school around seven if you need a ride in the morning,” William said.
“You have no idea how much I was hoping you’d say that,” Serena said with a grin of relief. She hesitated a moment later, appearing as if she wanted to add something more but then changing her mind. “See you tomorrow.” She headed off to her home—William’s old simple ranch. As she departed, she gave William a final glance over her shoulder.