Spinning at the Seams

My phone started going off early on Saturday. I blinked trying to determine what was going on, I had just been pulled from a great dream about Adam, and something had woken me up. I looked around, my alarm clock read 9 A.M., I scrunched my brow trying to concentrate. There was no paper meeting today, apparently the school wanted the kids to have a weekend with their parents after the amount of high school kids who had gotten busted at the party. My head shot to the side as I heard the sound of my phone vibrating, or rather having a seizure for how fast it was moving. I moved to grab it, before it vibrated of my nightstand.

“Hello?” I said, I hadn’t bothered checking the caller ID.

“Hey Toni, its Allison.” I frowned, Allison never called me, she had my number, everyone on the staff did, but that didn’t mean she called me.

“Uh, hey, what’s up? Paper was canceled right?” I threw in that last part, just in case I had heard the announcements wrong on Wednesday.

“Yeah, paper was canceled, stupid freshmen calling their parents, anyway, I wanted to know if you wanted to join the girls for some Christmas shopping? I need to go, but I really don’t want to go by myself, so I thought perfect girls day. What do you say?” I considered it, I still had to get Adam, Olivia, Julia, Marc, and Diana’s gifts. I had only managed to get my friends gifts when I went with Tristan. Marc didn’t have practice today, it sounded perfect.

“Sounds great, when are we meeting?” I asked as pulled myself from my bed.

“I’m thinking at 11, the mall will be open then, and we can get lunch there.”

“Sounds good, I’ll see you then!”

“Awesome! Bye Toni!” I grinned as I shut my phone and headed to the bathroom for a shower.

When I walked back into my room, I was surprised to see Marc standing there, staring at my wall.

“Uh can I help you?” I asked, pulling my towel tighter around myself.

Marc jumped, and spun to face me. “Oh, yeah, I was wondering what you’re doing today.” I raised an eyebrow; Marc never cared about my plans before.

“I’m going Christmas shopping with some friends, why?” Marc just shrugged, before pulling out his cell and texting someone.

“No reason, but Adam wanted to know.” I froze a little at the mention of his name, he had been acting strange all week, and practically avoiding me. I’d tried telling him my Christmas plans twenty times, and he didn’t listen to me during any of them, eventually I had just given up, and let him lead the conversations. Therefore we really hadn’t been talking lately.

“If you’re texting Adam, tell him I’m busy all weekend, and after school all week.” I said calmly, Marc looked at me amusement present in his features.

“What you and the bf fighting?” He asked in a singsong voice, I shrugged, and I tied the towel and started searching through my closet.

“Oh, who knows, he’s being weird. Won’t listen to me, at lunch I’ve just gone back to eating with my friends. He has yet to notice I’m not there. When I did eat with him, he just stared into space, not listening to me. But if we had a fight it must have been one I wasn’t present at.” I said getting annoyed as I pulled out a light brown long sleeve tee, and blue jeans.

“So the lovebirds are coming to an end who would have thought.” He said as he walked out of my room closing the door, but staying near by. “ I mean, I thought you wouldn’t break up till at least Prom.” I rolled my eyes, but was a little scared by his idea of an end.

“Marc, can we not talk about an end please.” I asked quietly, opening the door.

He looked up, amusement leaving his face to be replaced by guilt.

“Sorry, want to talk about it?” I was too busy worrying to be shocked by him asking that.

“No, I need to go. Can you watch them for me?” He nodded, and I walked past him, trying not to let my troubles overtake me.

Everyone was at the mall when I arrived. I surveyed the group, Allison was talking to Madison who held a notebook in her hands. Mel was humming along to her iPod, while Molly bounced up and down excited at the prospect at shopping. Mallory was on the phone and Shannon was next to her texting some one. Sophie greeted me as I walked up.

“Hey Toni, we’re just waiting for one more person.” Suddenly I felt two hands wrap behind me pulling me into a hug.

“TONI! Oh my goodness its so good to see you! I heard Adam made you second in command, and his girlfriend!” I smiled as I spun to face Macy. I gave her a hug, and started filling her in on our lives.

“CAN WE START NOW? HI MACY! I GOT COFFEE THIS MORNING! AND MY MOM FINALLY GAVE ME A CREDIT CARD! ISN’T THAT GREAT! NOW I CAN GO SHOPPING WHENEVER I WANT!” I was horrified, Molly was the last person who needed a credit card. Everyone in the group looked just as terrified of the idea of Molly with a credit card, on caffeine. Shannon rolled her eyes as she walked up to Molly.

“Hey Molls, why don’t you give me the card, I’ll put it in my purse so you won’t have to worry about it falling out of you pocket, okay?” Molly shrugged, then nodded handing her the credit card before proceeding to bounce up and down, talking a mile a minute. Everyone just nodded their heads as a response as we headed into the mall.

“So where to first?” About twenty different suggestions came from that, so we decided to split into groups, and meet up at the food court later. Shannon grabbed my arm, Mel and Mallory following close behind her. Molly joined the group too, bouncing up and down, talking about all the clothes she wanted to see. Madison, Macy, Sophie and Allison promised to take her after lunch.

“So Romans, being second in command, I say you pick stores.” Shannon said, pushing me to the front. I decided to start with Marc’s gift and began leading them towards the sports store Marc frequented.

“Hey can I ask you guys a question?” They all nodded, except Molly who just continued to bounce up and down, but she stopped talking, so I took that as a yes.

“You know how Adam’s been avoiding me, what do you think that means?” I watched their faces as they mulled it over. Mel’s face cleared first.

“It could mean a lot of things. I mean, Corey avoids me sometimes when he’s got something planned. He says that if I’m around him, he’ll spill the secret, because it’s so hard for him to keep things from me.” Shannon was about to comment, when she stopped and waved at someone. I turned to see Breanna walking towards us.

“Breanna!” I screamed giving her a hug, she smiled, and looked at the group.

“WE’RE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING! DON’T I KNOW YOU! YEAH I KNOW YOU! YOU WERE AT THE FOOTBALL GAME! YOUR BOYFRIEND’S IN THE BAND! DON’T YOU PLAY SOCCER?!” Breanna just nodded, and turned to me.

“Can I join your shopping group?” I nodded.

“Of course.” She fell into step besides Mel, who was now on her cell phone talking to Luke.

“No, Luke, I am not getting your girlfriend a gift!”

“Because, that’s your job!” I rolled my eyes, and turned to Shannon, who gave me a sad smile.

“It could mean a lot of things, I mean, if you’re worried he wants to break up with you, don’t. He’s head over heels for you.” I nodded, but uncertainty was still plaguing me.

“You know, we’re not officially going out? What if this is his way of breaking up with me?” Shannon didn’t respond, she just shrugged.

“I really doubt that, if he wanted to end it there would be signs,” said Breanna, from the back.

“Like what?” I asked, this relationship thing was an enigma to me, I really hadn’t trusted a guy like this before.

“Well, he’ll start looking at other girls, he’ll avoid your phone calls, when you say you have plans won’t at least wonder what they are. You know, just won’t care at all.” Breanna ticked them off on her fingers as she went. I thought about it, Adam had only done one of those.

“There’s a test you know, it’s called call him and see if he answers,” said Shannon, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I was just about to do that as we arrived at the sports store, Molly suddenly stopped moving behind me.

“NO! I AM NOT GOING IN THERE! THERE ARE NO CUTE CLOTHES IN THERE! IT’S ALL SPORTS! THAT’S A BOY STORE! I WANT TO GO TO AEROPOSTALE! NOT A SPORT STORE! I WANT PINK! NOT YUCKY BLACK AND WHITE TRACK SHORTS!” She was about to walk away when Mel grabbed her arm, and dragged her in, all while still talking to Luke.

As we looked through the store, Molly’s protests could be heard. She was still being held by Mel, who looked perfectly at ease holding the arm of a tiny shouting girl, walking through the isles, and yelling in her cell phone at the same time. Must be all the marching band practice I thought, as I examined the jerseys in front of me, trying to find the one Marc wanted.

“Hey Toni,” I looked up to see Mallory standing there, looking concerned.

“Hey Mallory.” She smiled and held up the jersey I was looking for. Her eyes were scanning for the rest of the group. Breanna was looking at soccer equipment, while Shannon was looking at baseball jerseys. Mel was standing in the middle of the shoe section, Molly ogling the tennis shoes. Mel was watching her warily, ready to chase after her, if she decided to bolt. But based on Molly’s expression, she was going to have to be dragged away from those shoes.

“So you and Adam are?” I shrugged, and took the jersey from her.

“I have no idea, he’s so odd. One moment he’s holding my hand the next, he’s walking away from me. I have no idea what to make of it!” I said exasperated. Mallory looked at me.

“Have you tried mentioning it to him.” I nodded.

“I’ve tried talking to him plenty, but every time I try to talk to him, he makes up some excuse to avoid the conversation. It’s like he doesn’t want to talk to me.” Mallory nodded, and held out her hand. I just gave her a confused look.

“Phone, we’re trying Shannon’s idea.” I gave her my phone reluctantly, and watched her dial Adam’s number, and put it on speaker. I froze as it began to ring, realizing I had no real reason to call him. Suddenly the ringing ended and his voice filled the other line.

“Hey, Tweety.” I blushed as Mallory raised an eyebrow, ‘Tweety’ she mouthed. Shannon suddenly wandered over, curious about the phone being out, Breanna behind her.

“Uh, hey.” I shot Mallory a ‘help me’ look and she rolled her eyes. ‘Wing it’, she mouthed before Adam started.

“So what’s up? You okay? Marc told me you were shopping today, and that you seemed upset.” No duh, I thought, you’re Mr. Multiple personalities, and I’m Miss Overanalyze, being upset is completely odd.

“Oh, no, not really, just don’t want to get the wrong gift.” I said weakly, I saw Shannon roll her eyes, ‘Lame’ she mouthed, I just shrugged

“Okay, I don’t really believe that you know. Something else is wrong, what’s up?” I looked desperately at my friends who now all stood nearby, I really didn’t want to do this any more. Mel grabbed the phone, after handing hers to Molly to babble into happily.

“Adam, hi, I know you want to talk to your girlfriend, but we kinda need her right now. I’m so lost on a gift, so she’s gonna have to call you back.” She turned the speaker off as she listened to his response.

“Sure, I’ll tell her, yep, ok, bye.” She hung up the phone and handed it back to me.

“He wants you to IM him later.” Mel stated simply, taking her phone back from Molly. I could hear Luke now screaming at Mel, demanding to know what that was. To bad describing Molly is easier said then done.

Molly got her way after we left the sports store. She proceeded to drag us to every brand name store there was. I was forced to try on outfits that Molly thought would look cute on me, but that she couldn’t pull off herself.

“THAT LOOKS SO CUTE ON YOU! WHY CAN’T I LOOK LIKE YOU! MALLORY, THAT’S ADORABLE! BREANNA, NO YOU CANNOT WEAR SOCCER SHORTS WITH THAT! MEL THAT HAD BETTER NOT BE WORN TO MARCHING BAND PRACTICE!” It went on after that, I was relieved when Allison called, asking us to come to the food court.

At least I was relieved, until I saw who was walking towards us.

“Oh, look what the cat dragged in. And here I thought mall’s banned the hopeless.” Tiffany flipped her blond hair back as I rolled my eyes.

“NOPE, IF THEY DID YOU WOULDN’T BE HERE! AFTER ALL THAT SHIRT IS FROM LAST SEASON!” I turned to look at Molly shaking my head a little. Tiffany just laughed.

“And that shirt is from when, three seasons ago?” I crossed my arms.

“What do you want Tiffany?” I asked as her cronies came around the corner. I was surprised to see Carter with them.

“Just wanted you to give your brother a message for me,” she started, but then Carter put his hand on her shoulder and she continued, “I mean us.”

“What’s that? That you finally realized that there is no brain in there? Because we all realized that a long time ago.” Mallory quipped, I laughed, but Tiffany just glared.

“No, my message was that I wanted him to stay away from me, and my friends.” I looked at her blankly.

“Your friends, well that shouldn’t be to hard seeing that your only friends are standing behind you, and even then I wouldn’t consider them friends so much as clones.”

Tiffany continued to glare at me, and Carter took a step forward, coming to stand directly beside Tiffany. “You really want to insult my girlfriend in front of me?” He asked his voice had a menacing edge to it.

“Your girlfriend, huh, guess take it where you can get it?” I watched him take another step forward. Shannon stepped forward beside me, cocking her head to the side, her eyes judging him. If it was him versus Shannon, my money was on Shannon.

Before it could get there, Macy breezed by them coming to stand in front of us.

“Are we eating or not? Because I’m starving.” I nodded, and turned to Tiffany.

“I’ll tell him, but I hope you realize that my brother was the best thing that could have ever happened to you, and you let him get away. You may walk around him thinking you’re above us all. But guess what, you’re not and one day you’ll realize that, and then you’ll regret what you’ve done. So I’m glad my brother’s staying away from you, because you don’t deserve him.” I then proceeded to follow Macy past a shocked Tiffany.

“No one has ever stood up to her before.” Mel said, she looked back at Tiffany whose face looked shell shocked, before resuming its normal haughty appearance.

As we ate, I realized something, I had never stood up for my brother before. He had always fought his own battles, and I fought mine. Now I stood in the cross hairs for him, it was an odd feeling. My actions would be rewarded later, as I would soon watch Marc stand in the cross hairs to save me from myself.