Robin, Boy Virgin: Original Series

The weeks trickled by. There are only a few things of note worth mentioning:

1.) Minnie and Cora had, abruptly, become solid friends. Minnie sat with us at lunch, now, and we had all accepted her into the group. I mean, at first it was kind of like '... um why is Minnie sitting with us?' but she ignored it as did Cora so no one said anything. And who's really going to complain about having another friend, you know? Like, 'five is just one too many, Minnie you can't join'. Or if we're throwing conventions out the window then 'Clarissa, you're out'. That would be awesome.

2.) Bonnie and her crusaders still harassed me pretty frequently. They were trying their damnedest to get me to join LOVE club and I was trying my damnedest not to get sucked into it. I could avoid them easily enough if I just ate quickly and went to Music Composition early. Usually, Cora didn't come early with me because she enjoyed eating lunch with Minnie, her friend, and taking her time. Freaking weirdo, right?

3.) People still put condoms in my locker. I'm telling you, I have half a mind to not ever have sex just to shove it in their faces that they wasted their money. Yeah, take that! I'm going to be a virgin forever, so, HA!

Sigh.

4.) Erica and the other popular evils went back to ignoring Cora and Cora, in turn, ignored them. I, however, still received the occasional abuse from them. And I could see their eyes looking at me, and sometimes looking at Cora. Looking, glaring, judging- it's all the same coming from them.

5.) People STILL avoid me in the halls. I can still feel them look at me funny, and there's still the hushed gossiping now and then that just won't freaking die already. I even get a skittish underclassman girl or two give me a wide berth in the halls because they're worried I'm going to jump on them and beg for sex.

As October drew to a close, posters crept up on the school walls, boasting that the school was going to host a Halloween dance. Oh... dances. Where do I even begin?

1.) I think I should start with saying that dances are classified as the ultimate, seventh circle of Hell type of torture for awkward people like myself.

2.) Dances are just archaic. The school administration assumes that teenagers can't control their raging hormones and need a place that's sanctioned, safe, and supervised to let loose their pent up crazy. It's plain disgusting.

3.) They are also pretty much an excuse for the popular girls to dress like sluts and for the popular boys to dress like freaking backstreet boys. Then those popular people get drunk and show off how edgy they are, showing up at a school event wasted.

Fuck, I hate dances! It probably also has to do with the fact that I can't dance with a damn. White boy virgin music geek? Yeah, pretty much just screams uncoordinated disaster on the dance floor. I avoid dances like the plague. I'm just post-dancing, ok? And besides, imagine for a moment what everyone would do or say to me if I showed up at a school dance. Yeah, it'd be a nightmare.

So I got a little panicky when Cora brought up the dance at lunch on Wednesday, October 29th.

"What's the deal with this Friday Night Frights business?" She posed the question to any of us: Harold, Minnie or me (Max and Clarissa weren't in attendance at this particular luncheon). I forced myself to swallow the bite of sandwich I had in my mouth, my heart pounding. See, for one person, Cora has a lot of sway. If she decided that she wanted to go to the dance, it pretty much went without saying I'd be getting dragged there too.

"Is it, like, mandatory?" She asked.

"No, no. But they really push for people to go to discourage teen drinking and minimize the amount of delinquency that goes on in the streets during Halloween," Harold explained patiently.

"But not mandatory?" Cora double-checked.

"No one forces you," I spoke up. Well, no one can force Cora to do anything. Me on the other hand...

"Good, because school dances are awful. Especially Halloween ones," Cora said. I actually breathed a sigh of relief, prompting a quick, curious glance from her. I just looked down nonchalantly at my sandwich. Don't ask me about dances, Cora, please. I'm begging you via telepathy.

"We should throw a party instead," Cora said. Everyone just looked at her. I think sometimes she forgets the type of people that she's befriended.

"... and invite who, exactly?" I challenged her proposition, squinting at her critically. She looked at me coolly. Damn those hard blue eyes. They will never stop making me a little nervous.

"You keep up that attitude and you won't be invited," She warned.

"Oh good," I said perkily, when in fact, her warning worked and made me actually want to go to her party. You see the crazy power Cora possesses?? She rolled her eyes and looked away from me.

"It doesn't have to be a big thing. Even just us four and Max and Clarissa is a party," She said.

"That's not a party," I scoffed before thinking. Cora looked at me again.

"Oh really? So, you wrote the official rule book on parties?" She asked me. Fuck her; being witty and poking holes in everything I say. I rolled my eyes and picked up my can of Coke, swishing it around.

"Ok, look, call it whatever you want, Boy Wonder. It's still a party to me," Cora said, her tone nice again.

"We can have it at my house," Harold offered generously. Harold's family is pretty loaded and they live in a nice, big house.

"Cool! Where do you live?" Cora asked. Minnie started giggling.

"... if you give me a ride, I'll give you directions," I offered resignedly. Cora grinned and put her arm around my shoulders, shaking me.

"There you go, get into havin' a party. You're only young once," She said. Minnie giggled again and Harold grinned.

"So, then, now that Harold has given us the venue, I will supply the refreshments," Cora said.

"Refreshments?" Minnie asked curiously. I looked at Cora out of the corner of my eyes.

"Beer? Coolers? Whatever you like," Cora said kindly to Minnie with a shrug. Ok, I'm not a total straight edge loser, I have had a drink before. Just not in like a party with your friends and get wasted kind of way. So that made me a little nervous. Just a little.

"I don't know what is good. I've never gotten drunk at a party before," Minnie said honestly. Wow. You know, I don't think society gives girls enough credit for being brave. Guys always get pegged as being brave, but girls out-brave us in so many ways.

"Neither have I. I'm not a hundred percent sure about this, Cora. Since it's, you know, illegal and I've never gotten drunk before. But I'm open to it, I think. If it's just at my house that seems like a pretty safe environment for a first go at it," Harold said. Screw him for messing up my theory, but props to him for speaking up.

"Robin?" Harold prompted for my opinion. Go back to just screw him.

"Whatever Cora wants to get is fine," I said with a shrug. What is my problem? The other people at the table had established an atmosphere of honesty and I was still worried about having a cool image. Frick I'm retarded. But Cora accepted my statement and grinned, pleased.

"Ok, then. Leave it to me," She said.