Elmo's World

“...Right,” I took a breath, and a really deep one at that. Gerard shot me a cautious look. God, he was literally splitting his sides laughing.

I stared at the expectant faces of my fellow classmates. “Where the HELL did you get that?”

“Oh, this?” Caleb was one of the guys, seated at the teachers table, having plugged his own laptop into the projector system. How he managed that, I have no idea. “Nothing much. Let’s just say she crashed the party yesterday, and this is our revenge.”

“Very nice revenge,” Gerard spluttered, voice muffled by a hand over his mouth. “How’d she get into that kind of pose?”

Shifty looks were exchanged between more than one person. I caught the undercurrent: To tell or not to tell?

So the entire class was in on Amy’s humiliation. Wonderful, that’ll kick her off the top of the social ladder.

Caleb cleared his throat – an unofficial spokesperson of the matter at hand. “We had help.”

“Ah,” I nodded knowingly. ‘Help’. Usually in the form of spiked drinks and mellifluous speech to coax the victim.

“How far public is this going?” Gerard shot a question out of the blue.

“Let’s just say...” the bespectacled teen at the table pushed his glasses further up his nose, inspecting his nails carefully. “VERY far.”

I giggled as Gerard sniggered along with me. “That’s one hell of a revenge.”

“Well,” a new voice spoke up from behind me. “She deserved it.”

I whirled around on the spot, spying the familiar brunette leaning against the doorframe, both hands stuffed into pockets. “Fang!”

She gave the once-over and nodded her head, seemingly impressed (by what?). “Yo.”

“You were there?”

“She was,” Caleb resumed his post, folding arms across his chest. “She did most of the talking...didn’t you?”

Fang nodded, a smug, self-satisfied smirk sliding slowly onto her pallid features. “It was fun. Well, fun enough. She’s awfully air-headed.”

Caleb sighed melodramatically. “Ah, but of course; yet another carbon copy version of your stereotypical prep.”

Gerard’s hazel eyes met my own in an expression of curiosity. Mm-hmm? So I guess this proves we shouldn’t stereotype everyone.

Uh, yeah.

I shrugged, smiling to myself. So high school DID have nice people after all. But the non-socializing thing was basically fault on my part, so...

“Man, alcohol can make people do such stupid shit,” Fang wasn’t exactly done with her lengthy explanation. “She can’t hold her liquor, can she?”

She pointed at the screen, directing the question at the rest of the chatter-filled class. Scattered giggles erupted throughout.

“Hell yeah!” someone called, and Fang burst straight into laughter, clinging on to a nearby desk for support, her right arm clutching her stomach. Clear, crystal tears sprung into her eyes as she tried to wipe them all off.

This husky, infectious laughter didn’t seem to belong to her. But I felt the atmosphere lift and rise like lemonade bubbles in rekindled excitement. Heck, this might be the FIRST EVER event to properly unite the class and draw out some form of class spirit (useless now as that might be).

“Oh yeah, we’re having ANOTHER party today, people,” Caleb turned to readdress the masses like he was some sort of priest handing out a sermon. “To make up for the one that she ruined. Damien, you free?”

“Oh yeah,” Fang murmured into my ear as she slid past me. “I’m dumping you.”

I blinked. What?

“What?”

She grinned, almost as though expecting this exact response. “You heard me.”

Followed this, a nudge – more like a blow – to the stomach that left me winded and gasping for air.

I smiled back, earning myself a smug ‘heh!’.

“Thanks.”

“Uh,” Fang looked nonchalant, and shrugged indifferently. “No problem.”