Australia

Melanie

I turned carefully into Howard High’s school drive next to a 2003 white Camry, still in good shape. Yeah, I know a little about cars. Even though I’m only in the tenth grade, I drive to school because my house is in the country and my mom goes to work too early. I had the choice of driving to Howard High, taking the bus to Hoobert Riley, or going to boarding school. Of course I picked driving. I love driving, plus I wanted to go to high school with Denna. Howard High is the best school in the area, academically, and it gets the most scholarships. Not that I care...

I slid out of the driver’s seat of my green 2005 Cherokee Jeep and firmly shut the door.

“Melanie!” Denna screamed as she ran to me, crazy dark curls flying everywhere, and practically jumped into my arms. See what I mean. Insane.

“Hey, I earned enough money from babysitting last week to get the hairstyle I wanted.”

“Awesome! I can’t wait to see it!” Denna said excitedly.

“Want to come shopping with me after school?”

“Well, I don’t know...I gotta ask my mom and its shopping...ugh!” She complained.

“Please! I just want to get some new clothes real quick and we’ll go to Tom and Ann’s. Then we can do whatever you want.” I begged. Denna laughed, jumping up and down.

“Deal, but I’m driving!” She laughed again and ran for 1st hour Chemistry at the sound of the school bell. It’s surprising that the school hasn’t already blown up or gone up in flames with her in that class. Switching to high school, we don’t have a lot of the same classes anymore.

I’m so going to regret this. You’d understand if you’d ever been in a car that Denna was driving.

The day sorta flew by for me, day dreaming about the Jonas Brothers and listening to my iPod. Most of my teachers don’t really care as long as I turn in my homework. I turn it in most of the time.

The last class, P.E., took forever to end! We had to dress out today even though its the last day of school AND a friday!!! I wouldn’t have come except I wanted Denna to hang out with me after school I stared at the digital clock sticking out from the white concrete block walls. We had seven minutes left. A ball hit me in the side of the head. I pulled my eyes from the clock to find the culprit. Denna was smiling at me sweetly.
“The bell will ring when it rings.”
“I know that.” I said, picking up the ball beaming her in the head.
“Hey!” She yelled, “I’m on your side!”
“That’s what you get for hitting me! Ha!” I yelled. I ducked under a flying orange ball. Crap! Now I am Ambrose‘s target. I’m pretty good at dodge ball, especially better than Denna (she can’t throw worth crap most of the time and she knows it), but I can’t compare to Ambrose. He is one of the best dodge ball players ever. Actually he’s great at almost every sport. I threw a curve ball at him, but he caught it. Fudge! I sat down next to Tim on the out bench. He is super crazy Asian if you ever met one.

“Look a blue ball is coming towards me!” he said trying to reach the ball without getting up. We can’t get up while were out or we’ll have to do push ups. The ball stopped rolling.

“Dang it!”

“Ha, you jinxed it!” I laughed at him. Another orange ball flew at me. I ducked and Tim caught it. He stuck it under his shirt.

“I am now Uniboob!” He chuckled. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Dang it, Melanie, stupid Ambrose caught my freakin’ ball!” Denna complained as she sat down next to me.

“Look.” I pointed to Tim, who now had two balls under his shirt. Denna started laughing loudly. “This would be perfect for my story. This dodge ball game is the perfect scene!” I said to her. The game had eventually escalated into a war and the gym teacher had lost interest. No one was worrying about following the rules now. Damian was pulling himself across the floor by arms, like his legs were broken. Alex and Max were having a showdown. Denna started laughing again.

“Due to high amounts of oxygen, I was born with three lactaid producing lumps of fat.” He said seriously while shaking his fake boobs. OMJ that was freakin’ funny!

The bell rang loudly. I looked at the clock and looked back at... Denna was gone.

After running to grab my back pack and checking the school several times, I realized Denna was probably waiting near my car. I was wrong. Somehow she was sitting in the driver’s seat of my jeep grinning at me. I swear I locked before going into school! How does she do that?

She rolled window down and stuck her hand out for the keys.

“I want to come out of this alive.” I held on to the keys.

“Yes ma’am.” Denna saluted me with a serious expression.

Denna

Melanie looked relieved when I pulled slowly out of the school parking lot. As soon as I passed the school slow zone, I slammed down on the accelerator.

“Dang it, Denna! Do you have to drive so fast?” Melanie yelled at me. Wow, that's almost a real cuss word.

“I think we should go to Tom and Ann’s first. It’s closer and you’ll get to see that cute guy, Zak.” I laughed, ignoring her question. I yanked the car into a turn off of 20th and headed down town for Melanie's favorite hair salon. I can't help it, driving is so boring that I have to do SOMETHING to entertain myself. I almost rammed her precious baby into a parking spot in front of Tom and Ann's. Melanie would kill me, reincarnate me, and make me pay for the damage if I actually had crashed. Before she could take a breath to argue, I was already out of the car, keys in hand.

“But I have an appointment at five! I can’t come this early!” She argued any way, even though she knows she can't change my mind right now.

“Yes you can. There’s hardly anyone in there anyways.” I shook her wildly curling hair in the wind and grabbed her hand. “Come on!”

Zak was leaning his arms on the high counter at the front of the hair salon. The long sleeves of his black and purple striped collared shirt were pushed up above his elbows. The top buttons were loose, revealing his luscious pale throat. The long black bangs that fell in his soft brown eyes flipped out of the way when he looked up from his phone to greet us.

“Hi.” He said softly.

“Hi, she has an appointment, but we were wondering if we could come in earlier.” I asked quietly, leaning against the counter. I, for some reason am extremely scared of total strangers. It's a good thing we've talked every now and then. You can't get me to talk to a stranger for anything unless you introduce me or start the conversation. What can I say? No one is fearless unless they're an idiot. I'm proud to say I am not an idiot...

“Sure, I’m free now. What is your name, Melanie Phillips, right? You've been here a lot.” His brown eyes flicked over to Melanie and he smiled. Melanie nodded stupidly. Zak flipped through a three ring binder behind the black granite counter.

“You wanted your hair cut and dyed, right?” He walked to back to one of the sinks, grabbing a couple of bottles in the way.

“Yeah.” she followed right behind him, after giving me a mortified glance. I winked at her and sat in one of the leather armchairs by the window. This is going to take a while and I have nothing to do.
A hand shook me awake. I groaned and opened my eyes. The armchair wasn’t as comfortable as I thought.

“What do you think?” Melanie grinned and spun around. Her lovely blonde hair was cut short enough on top to stand up like fan while the rest was layered to her shoulders and her bangs were cut to sweep over her right eye. Thick dark blue-almost-black streaks ran through the main part of her hair while thinner ones ran through her bangs and the top part.

“Awesome! It looks great on you. Let’s go!” I hoped out of the chair and bounced to the door. Melanie turned and waved at Zac.

“Thanks.” She said uncertainly.

“You’re welcome.” He said, a smile playing on his sexy lips.

“Hot Topic, right?” I looked over at Melanie. She was tense and rigid, her fingers digging into the seat. Jeez, I wasn’t driving that fast. I mean, we’re on the highway!

“Yeah.” Her voice came out a little strangled.

“We should stop and get some Red Bull.” I said just to mess with her.

“NO!” Melanie yelled. “There’s no way I’m letting you drive on Red Bull!”

“Why not?”

“Don’t play stupid with me. It’s the same as letting you drive while you’re drunk.”

“Fine.” I pouted and drove in brooding silence. Melanie leaned forward and turned her CD player on. I should get a hundred dollars for guessing which CD it was. Jonas Brothers. Ugh!

If the heart is always searching, can you ever find a home? Joe sang out of the speakers.

Thank goodness, it’s not one I recognize. I hate it when I recognize a Jonas Brothers song. I pressed a button on the steering wheel, turning on the radio instead.

“Hey!” Melanie glared at me. I ignored her, letting a smile spread on my face.

“Where are we going? I thought we were going to Legends.”

“I never said that. We’re going down town Kansas City.”

“Why?”

“One of the few times I’ve been down there, I found a bigger, better stocked Hot Topic. And I wanted to see the sprint center since well... you know.”

“You haven’t seen it yet?”

“No, I- whoa!”

Toto, we’re not in Leavenworth anymore. There was no warning for when the suburbs would transform into the city. Suddenly the sidewalks were beautifully paved with red brick and cloudy blue tile. The trees, still bare from winter, were decorated with white Christmas lights. Neon signs and blinking lights were everywhere. The majority of the people walked quickly with a purpose, while I was gawking like a country bumpkin. I guess you could call me one, since you can barely call Leavenworth a suburb.

“Hey, Denna, you just passed it!” Melanie waved her hands in front of my face.

“What? Oh! Ok, let’s find a parking spot now.”

“How ‘bout that one?” She pointed to a narrow spot in front of Cold Stone.

“Your jeep will never fit in there!”

“Just try!”

“It’s your jeep.” I muttered under my breath and squeezed the jeep in between two Nissan Sentra’s, one black and one white. When I got out, I spun around to get a better look at the street crowded with stores.

“Come on!” Melanie yelled. She was already pulling the doors to Hot Topic open.

“I’m coming!” I yelled back and ran to catch up.

Melanie

“Wow, it is bigger. And it’s got dressing rooms too!”

“Yeah, but it still stinks like the other one.” Denna commented and wrinkled her light tan nose.

“What are you talking about? I don’t smell anything.” Denna rolled her eyes at me. She walked by a black painted wooden shelf and pulled something off.

“Hey, I should get some fish net.” Denna joked.

“Yeah right!” I said satirically, spotting a rack displaying some awesome jackets. Hey, I used one of our English words!

After a lot of debating I settled for a Tokio Hotel shirt, a Bullet for My Valentine tee, a piano belt, a blue and black striped hoodie, and some awesome blue and silver striped zebra shoes. What can I say? I earned about two hundred bucks babysitting this week and I got all this on discount.

While a girl in all black and a really cool death belt rang up my stuff at the cash register, Denna leaned against the counter and stared at me with narrowed eyes.

“What?” I asked nervously. I hate when people stare at me; it makes me nervous. With Denna, though, it’s different. Just by staring at me she can make me smile or even laugh sometimes.

“What’s this all about?”

“Oh, I just wanted some new clothes. I’m tired of wearing the same things.

“Liar.”

“Am not!” I angrily snatched my bags and stormed out of the store.

“Are too! You don’t do stuff like this without planning ahead and saving money for it. This is about the Jonas brothers, isn’t it? You don’t have to be anything for them, especially if they’re as wonderful as you think they are.”

I sighed. She saw right through me.

“There’s that, but I really am tired of the clothes I have. Now, where do you want to go?”

“Hmmm... Let’s stop at Cold Stone’s and then find a restaurant, I’m starving!” Denna made a beeline for the ice cream shop in front of my jeep.

We carefully left the shop with ice cream piled high on waffle cones.

“What now?” I asked. Denna bit a Reese’s chunk off the top. She’s probably more addicted Reese’s than she is to Red Bull, and that’s saying something.

“Well... mmm yum... let’s just walk and see what they have around here.” Denna suggested with her mouth full.

“Okay.”

After walking a couple of blocks and rejecting numerous restaurants a bunch of neon blue and yellow signs kept saying we were in the Power and Light district.
“Hey, I have heard of this place! Maybe they have some good restaurants.” Denna mumbled around the last of her ice cream. Wow, that was fast! I’m only half way done with my Neapolitan. We kept walking as the crowds of people began to thin out.

“What the hell! It’s been ten minutes and I haven’t seen one restaurant just bars.” Denna complained. “And I’m hungry!”

Denna was right. There was something different about this place. We were seeing fewer families about and more police officers. When we rounded another corner, Denna and I pressed to the building to let a sudden group of really loud girls walk by.

“Ow!” Denna said suddenly.

“What?” I glanced over at her.

“Oh, nothing, I just stab my arm on the corner of that building. Those corners are sharp!” She said, clamping her hand over her left arm. Blood trickled down between her fingers.

“You’re bleeding Denna!” Denna waved me away.

“I’m fine!”

“And STAY OUT!” A voice followed a bald man flying out of a bar door in front of us. We just stopped and stared at the man with our mouths hanging open. The man picked himself awkwardly up from the ground. He looked at us with blood shot eyes and broken blood vessels around the eyes and on the nose. An alcoholic.

“Hey, doll.” He mumbled and slithered up to me, putting a hand around my waist. “How ‘bout you ‘n me get away from your friend and- “Tan hands, one covered in blood, slammed down on his shoulders and ripped him away from me.

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Denna slammed him up against a brick wall and twisted his arm up against his back. “Her friend can get pretty jealous.”

“Get your hands off me, bitch, or I’ll fuck you and your friend ‘till you can’t stand.” The man growled through his teeth. Denna twisted his arm a little more, and the man was suddenly in tears, begging for her to let go. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I was only kidding!” Denna grinned and twisted a little more. The man screamed. A thickset dark man with dark sunglasses poked his head outside the door. When he saw Denna and the alcoholic he smiled and went back inside.

“Stay away from us or you’ll lose more than your sorry assed pride. I’m glad we had this little chat. It’s too bad you have to leave so soon.” Denna whispered into his ear and then released him. He took off at an ungainly rate, stumbling and tripping.

“Okay, how about we just leave and get something to eat on the way.” Denna suggested.

“That’s the first thing you think of after you just man handled that alcoholic?” I asked, shocked.

“What? I’m hungry!” Denna rubbed her stomach with her clean hand.

“What about the Sprint center?”

“We can drive by it. Let’s go!” Denna started walking quickly for the jeep.

“I’m driving!” I yelled and ran ahead of her to block the driver’s side. Denna frowned. “You’re bleeding and you have blood all over your hands. Just worry about finding something to staunch the blood flow and clean you hands.” I’m on a roll with these smart words. Woo hoo! Finally on the road again, I put Tokio Hotel into my CD player for Denna’s benefit.

“So... where do you want to eat? It’s only seven o’clock at night. You did tell your mom you’d be back before ten, right?”

“Yeah. I don’t know.”

“How about... McDonalds?” I suggested as a common golden double arch flew by my window.

“Gimme that filet-o-fish. Gimme that fish. Gimme that filet-o-fish. Gimme that fish. What if it were you hangin’ up on this wall? If it were you in that sandwich, you wouldn’t be laughin’ at all!!!!!!!!!!!” Denna sang at the top of her lungs.

“So... do you want to go?”

“No, I hate McDonalds.” Denna said. I sighed. “Hey look, Olive Garden! Want to go there?” Denna suggested.

“Sure.”

Denna

I ordered the thing I usually get. The Chicken Gnocchi soup and salad. Yeah, you’d think I’d be open to change, the way I act. Well I’m not. I’m afraid it’ll be something terrible and I’ll have to buy it anyways. What a waste! Plus I’m a picky eater. I leaned in close Melanie, smirking after I paid the bill.

“It looks like Kansas men really like your new hairstyle. The waiter was checking you out.” I smirked. Melanie blushed beet red. We got up and left. I heard Melanie laugh.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. That girl wasn’t too happy about the way her boyfriend was looking at you.” She chuckled. I rolled my eyes. “I guess I’m not the only one.”

“Hey, I’m sorry about ruining your evening.” I said, getting out of the jeep.

“What are you talking about? It was awesome, especially when you beat that guy up! I got what I wanted and my night was interesting. What more could I want?” Melanie said sincerely as she leaned out the window.

“Ok. Thanks for taking me. See you next Friday.” I said and walked up the drive to my house under thousands of stars peering through the dark.