“That's Awkward Amy. She came here about a year ago and didn't totally assimilate. I swear she was almost hot when she started here. She used to wear contacts and lipstick, I think she just stopped caring because everyone either ignored her or was totally mean to her.”
“Unfortunate,” Peggy said cringing as she watched the girl scrunch up the paper and walk to the wastepaper basket, two girls laughing at her as she went past.
“Don't get me wrong,” said Lacey, “I like Amy, but she's a mess, and if I hung out with her, well, you know.”
Peggy did know. She was an Amy in the present.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” Peggy asked bluntly. She knew enough about High School politics to have worked out that Lacey was one of the cool kids, or at least something a lot higher up on the food chain than Awkward Amy. Way higher than she herself had ever been.
“I like your earrings,” Lacey shrugged.
Peggy put a hand to her earrings, the turquoise triangles she'd had on when she left.
* * *
Lunch was gross. All the food looked like it had already been eaten once already. Peggy played it safe by grabbing a salad and a 7UP and put it on Janet's tab. She turned the can in her hand, smiling at the retro design. She'd seen loads of these old cans in antique stores. She'd always wondered if it tasted the same.
She followed behind Lacey quickly, like an obedient lapdog following her to a back corner of the cafeteria. The cafeteria seemed like the only part of the school that had undergone a serious renovation in the last thirty-three years. In her time the tables were silver, long and rectangular, running across the entire space so you always had to sit next to everyone. It was a social nightmare. Magz and Jack had taken to bringing packed lunches and eating in the quad or sneaking out for burgers. There were rules at St C's about leaving school grounds during the school day, but Magz and Jack constantly broke them in order to avoid their nemeses and socially terrifying situations like cafeteria lunches.
Putting her tray down Lacey motioned for Peggy to do the same next to her. In 1983 the tables were white plastic ovals. Lacey was in the middle of the oval and Peggy sat where the oval began to curve out. The chairs were white plastic too, it was just like the outdoor furniture at the swimming pool, only without the umbrellas. It didn't exactly match with the dark wood and stained-glass windows. It was kind of hilarious, and yet very awesome.
“This is Peggy,” Lacey waved a hand towards Peggy. “This is everyone,” she waved her other hand at everyone. A buff jock looking guy and the dark-haired scary girl from home room looked up at her. Peggy opened her mouth and was about to say hi when she caught the eye of Sammy Ruthven sitting at the other end of the oval, next to the sexy blonde from home room. On his other side sat another blonde, she seemed softer and more natural but just as hot and intimidating. Peggy’s mouth went dry and she was unable to utter a word. She closed her mouth again. She felt like a moronic fish. She could've sworn she saw the corner of his mouth move slightly and felt herself make a weird contorted face in his direction as the blonde leaned in close to him and whispered something.
Peggy forced herself to look away, sitting down completely flustered.
“On a diet?” asked Lacey motioning towards Peggy's salad while slurping on a Diet Pepsi.
“No, I just didn't like the look of that,” she pointed at the slop on Lacey's plate. Lacey just blinked and began pushing it around with her fork.
“Everyone still on for pizza tonight?” asked the scary girl. Peggy didn't really know what she was, or how she'd come to be in this group of friends, but she was kind of intimidated by her. In fact, when she looked around the table, she was intimidated by them all.
“Does the new girl wanna come too?” asked the jock, an attractive, if you were into that kind of thing, tanned and buff guy sitting on the other side of Sammy. She wondered how they ended up being friends. They were a kind of motley crew. It was like James Dean, Joan Jett and Ginny Weasley's sexy older sister had thrown a dinner party.
Lacey nudged Peggy, “wanna come for pizza?” she asked.
“Hells yeah,” Peggy replied with perhaps too much enthusiasm, be cool for god's sake. Peggy couldn't remember the last time she was invited on a social outing by anyone other than Jack.
“Hells yeah?” asked the beefy jock.
Lacey shrugged. “She's from Canada.”
There was an understanding of nods and strange looks.
“Is that a yes then?” asked the scary girl eyeing Peggy up and down.
“Yeah, sounds great,” Peggy said coolly, already freaking out that she had absolutely nothing to wear.
“That's Tricia,” Lacey said, “she looks a lot tougher than she is.”
“I’m tougher than I look,” said Tricia scowling through layers of thick black eyeliner.
“And that's Ben.” The beefy jock gave her the thumbs up and a cheesy grin.
“That's Leigh,” Lacey continued on, “with the real blonde hair, and next to her is Rochelle and well, you know Sammy.”
“Everyone knows Sammy,” Tricia said rolling eyes.
“I don't know Sammy,” Peggy said a little too loudly as a sudden silence fell on the table.
“Now you do,” Sammy said throwing a paper napkin on the table and vacating his seat, Rochelle following behind.
“Hi Nick,” said Lacey as a guy who was like a shorter not as hot version of Sammy joined them, taking Sammy's place.
“What's up Lace?” Nick asked smiling.
“This is Peggy.”
“Oh hey, yeah, you're that new girl from Canada, right?” he stood up and shook her hand. He was sweet in that boy next door, wouldn’t date him but would make a great friend kind of way, kind of like Jack.
“Hi.” Peggy said, unable to say more as she was so overwhelmed by meeting everybody.
“Love to hear all about Canada later but now I gotta go find Sammy about some stuff,” Nick looked around. “Where'd he go now?”
“Went out for a smoke with Ro,” Tricia said.
Nick's face fell for a moment and then he smiled again. “Well, it was nice meeting you Peggy.” He waved and walked off in the same direction as Sammy had.
“I totally cannot wait for pizza,” Lacey said stuffing her face with the unidentified lunch slop.
“How do you stay so slim?” Tricia moaned.
“Genes,” she mumbled with her mouth full.
“I can't even have a sandwich without getting totally bloated,” said Tricia.
“It could be the gluten,” Peggy said.
“The glu glu what now?” asked Lacey.
“You could have a gluten intolerance, Tricia,” said Peggy.
“I don't even know what you are saying,” Lacey said polishing off her plate, obviously able to eat anything with no problem.
“Me neither. I need a smoke,” said Tricia taking her tray and leaving just Lacey and Peggy.
“Wanna go for a smoke?” Lacey asked.
“Not really, I don't smoke.”
“Well, you better come anyway or else your social life is gonna die right now.”
* * *
They all sat under a big old tree behind the school but out of view. Peggy was trying to sit a little way away from them without looking too weird and unsocial. Sammy had his back up against the tree and Rochelle had her head resting on his thigh. Peggy found herself looking too long at his thigh. She looked away. A stupid crush, that was all it was. She tried to remind herself he was old, like as old as her dad. Except that he wasn't. He was right in front of her, he was seventeen and he was pretty much perfect.
“Anyone up for the Fire Station after pizza?” asked Lacey pulling another cigarette out of a packet that was being passed around. “It's the best bar in Santolsa,” Lacey explained to Peggy.
“It's the only bar in Santolsa,” Nick said taking the packet next.
“That's not even true, there's the Bowl and McGill’s.” Lacey said.
“The Bowl i
s for preppies and McGill’s is where the teachers go,” Tricia pointed out.
“And,” said Ben, who also appeared not to be smoking, “the Fire Station is the only place that doesn't card.”
“True, it's not like we even have a choice,” Lacey shrugged.
Sammy stubbed his butt on the tree and flicked it onto the grass next to him. Peggy caught his eye and she must have been making a face at him because he reached over and picked the butt back up, just as the bell rang.
“Crap, we're gonna be late!” Lacey dusted the grass off her skirt and picked up her books hurrying the others up.
As they rushed to class Peggy noticed Sammy flick the butt in the trash on the way up the front stairs. He looked back at her and she could’ve sworn he winked at her. Did he actually wink at her? She totally imagined it. She must have. Boys like Sammy Ruthven did not wink at girls like Peggy.
No, boys like Sammy Ruthven did not wink at girls like Magz.
Peggy, she didn't know about yet.
Fourteen
Makeover
Janet started throwing clothes onto her king-sized bed. Her bedroom was Japanese style, a giant blue fan adorned the wall above the bed and a floral dressing screen stood separating a section of the room, various abandoned outfits hanging over it.
“What are they like?” Peggy asked, picked up a leopard print shirt. She held it up against herself and made a face in Janet’s dressing table mirror.
“Who?” asked Janet.
“Lacey and Ben… those guys.” She deliberately didn't say his name.
“They’re the rebels.” Janet threw Peggy a pair of green leather trousers.
“Green leather?” Peggy shook her head.
“It's not for everybody,” Janet shrugged.
“Not for me, definitely.”
“How about black leather?” Janet yanked more clothes from the wardrobe and tossed a short skirt in Peggy's direction.
“Let’s stay away from leather.”
“You're hanging out with the rebels tonight, they all wear leather.”
“Are they really that bad?”
“No one is half as bad as what they think they are.”
“What does that mean?” Peggy asked searching through the pile of clothes on the bed.
“It means you shouldn't judge people based on what I tell you, or what anyone else tells you. I'm sure what I see at school is very different to what you’ll see out tonight. I’m sure they will be much, much worse.”
“Lacey seems really nice,” Peggy said as she tried a pink blazer on over her yellow school shirt.
“That jacket, yes,” Janet nodded. “Hot pink really is your color. And sure, Lacey seems nice enough, Rochelle on the other hand…”
“I met Rochelle, she's dating Sammy Ruthven, isn't she?” Peggy’s voice caught on the th in Ruthven. So obvious.
“Don't tell me you already have a crush on Sammy Ruthven Peg. Most girls usually wait a week.”
“I don't have a crush on him, I was just saying...” How the heck did Janet work that out so quickly? Peggy looked down at the floor.
“I don't know what the deal is with those two. From my home room desk, it looks very hot and cold and on and off again and when it's on it seems a little one sided. But who knows? That Sammy,” Janet shook her head. “Well, Sammy Ruthven is…”
Peggy’s heart skipped a beat. It was exactly what Old Janet had said to her in the future. Peggy held her breath waiting for the end of the sentence.
“…a closed book,” Janet finished. Peggy let her breath out. It was not the golden nugget of info she was hoping for.
“It looks like it's on right about now.” Peggy flopped down on the bed.
“Watch out for Sammy, Peg. He smokes, he drinks, he drives fast cars, he skips out on school, he breaks hearts, but,” Janet shrugged, “I’m sure he’s not all bad.”
Peggy heard the warning in her ears and felt a thrill in her heart.
“Is he going tonight?” Janet asked curiously as she began throwing clothes on top of Peggy as she lay with her eyes closed, fantasizing about watching him eat a pepperoni pizza and mumbled a positive response.
“Come on then, we have work to do. I'll go see if I can find the hot rollers. I put them away years ago when I cut my hair short, but they’d be perfect for you. You could really use some air in your hair.”
* * *
Peggy looked at herself in the mirror when her make over was complete. Her hair was big and bouncy, her lips bright pink. She wore the pink jacket over a white top tucked into a short black skirt. Try as she might, Janet did not succeed in getting Peggy to wear a pair of heels. Peggy did not do heels and luckily for Peggy, they didn’t share the same shoe size.
“I could text Lacey and get her to bring some shoes for me if I had her number,” Peggy said looking down at her brown flats. They so didn’t go with this outfit. These were so not the shoes she was going to be wearing when Sammy Ruthven was going to fall in love with her.
“Text?”
“You're from the future, you remember texting.”
Janet shook her head.
“Of course, I keep forgetting you're from the nineties. You probably didn't have the internet either.”
“Of course we had the internet!”
“On your phone?”
“At the library.”
Peggy laughed. “I have internet on my phone, along with my whole life.”
“Your whole life is on your phone?” asked Janet.
Peggy took her phone out of her pocket and groaned when she saw she had only 2% remaining. She should have turned it off, it was not like she could even use it here.
“It's about to die,” said Peggy.
“What's about to die?” Janet asked frowning.
“My phone.”
“Die?”
“The battery.”
“Show me!” Janet leapt onto the growing mound of clothes on the bed to see the futuristic technology.
Peggy had just enough battery to slide the screen unlocked and touch the internet browser app which came up with the usual error message before it switched off.
Janet sat staring at it, her mouth slightly open.
“It's pretty amazing when you think about it. All my music, photos, camera, diary, shopping, books, everything is on it.” Peggy handed it to Janet anyway.
“It's so futuristic.” Janet turned the pink glittering object in her hands. “You should definitely not have this here though. What if it fell into the wrong hands?”
“I had it in my pocket when I came here. I thought I was going back to Mrs. Willis' class, how the hell was I supposed to know I was going to come out in 1983?” Peggy shoved it back in her pocket.
“Just keep it out of sight and don't bring it back with you again.”
Peggy hadn't really spent much time thinking about the future. She wasn't even sure if she could get back.
“I don't even know if I'm going to go back,” she said.
“If you want to stay you can stay with me, but don't you want to go and explain to your family and friends that they're never going to see you again?”
Peggy shrugged.
“You can't just disappear, Peggy. Everyone will think something awful happened to you.”
“Or that I just ran away.”
“Would you do that?”
Peggy thought of Jack. “I guess I will have to go back, but I don’t want to think about that tonight.”
“Do I look OK?” Peggy fluffed up her big hair in the mirror. She had never worn it big before and she felt slightly unbalanced.
“You look incredible. Sammy Ruthven won't know what hit him.”
Peggy’s face blushed under the pink blusher packed onto her cheeks.
“Come on, you're going to be more than fashionably late if we don't get going. And I’m going to be late for bowling!” Janet grabbed the green leather trousers and a white shirt and stood behind the dressing screen to change.
“
Janet,” Peggy said, starting to feel as if she looked just slightly ridiculous. “Is this outfit too much for pizza? It kind of just feels way too over the top.” She tossed a black fringed bag over her shoulder, checking her reflection one more time.
“Peggy,” said Janet stepping out from the screen dressed in the green leather trousers. She grabbed a thick black and silver belt and cinched it around her waist before stepping into a pair of black patent stilettos. “This is the eighties, Peggy. If you can’t wear your hair big here, where can you?”
Fifteen
Super Pan
“Excuse me,” Peggy mumbled as she squeezed past some cowboys who were sitting at the bar staring into their beers and watching their cigarettes burn out. She coughed a little. She felt super self-conscious in her totally eighties outfit, but Super Pan was the kitschiest little pizza parlor Peggy had ever seen and she couldn’t help but smile a little. The décor was classic with red and white tablecloths over small round wooden tables, matching chairs patiently waiting around for some butts to sit in them. Vintage style posters of Italy adorned the walls. The waiters wore white shirts, and all seemed to be sporting proper moustaches. She nervously fiddled with the strands on her purse as she looked around for her group. It was probably all a joke, a set up for the new girl. Pretend she's invited out with a bunch of cool kids, let her stand around waiting for about half an hour, then when she walks out, realizing she's been stood up, have the whole school out the front laughing at her.
“Peg!” called out a voice and she turned around. It was Lacey waving at her from a booth up the back.
“Hey lady in pink, you look great,” Ben said to her as she sat down at the empty seat next to him.
“Thanks, Ben,” she said getting a whiff of his beer and olive breath.
“What's your name again?” he asked. “I suck at names”.
Class of 1983: A Young Adult Time Travel Romance Page 8