Soria Girl

Sa-sa-sa-satellite!

…I’m sorry. After twenty-nine chapters of holding in all of the song outbursts, I couldn’t resist.
Well anyway, in a couple days, Dad and I were driving through Atlanta. Georgia was speeding by outside the window and my fingers twitched at the thought of Claymore. It would only be a matter of time before I’d be…ah, home.

And those hours went by quick as quicksand. The seconds trickled into minutes while minutes slowly melted by, hours passing through just as we sped down the interstate at seventy miles an hour. I was a little nervous, I’ll admit, but I was more anxious.

We entered Florida and I got even more excited. This place was just like I remembered it so far, which relaxed me a little. Good God, I hoped the guys would welcome me back. I had a ton of things to tell them about. Stories, people, you name it.

Before long, we were officially back in Claymore. The sun blazed, making the cool November air feel warmer. At around 5 o’ clock we pulled into the old neighborhood, kids stopping to stare just like in Santa Monica.

And when we went into the driveway, my heart took a leap.

A big banner was hung across the garage. In big sloppy letters, “Welcom Back Soria,” was written, “Welcome” being spelled wrong - so I laughed. But really, I was crying out of joy.

Ren, Brendan, and Luke stood under the banner, grinning as if their lives depended on it. That made me happy too, my best friends welcoming me back home.

Brendan used to have just a mussed mess of hair on his head. Now his neater black hair was thicker and super curly, but not nearly as long as Luke’s. His was almost as long as mine - which was short for a girl but long for a dude. Both of them got even taller, at least half a foot over my head. Ren looked nearly the same. Other than being graced by puberty, thus shooting up two or three inches (as if he couldn’t possibly get even taller), and having more cerulean eyes, he was still the kid I could recognize a mile away.

I jumped out of the car, dropping all my crap and running over to give them each a big hug. Tears streamed down my face, but I didn’t mind. Each of them held me tightly, only letting go when I moved on to hug the next one. It almost felt like a dream, though this was real life, and I was loving it.

The air was silent for a few seconds while I just stood back and stared at them with an enormous smile. They smiled back, but I was crying too. Can’t blame me for being happy, though.

“Welcome back,” Luke greeted, and the others echoed him.

Brendan wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me into the air. I gasped and held onto him in fear, yelling “Put me down!” When he finally did, I laughed in relief with them.

Ren squeezed my shoulder, his beaming face inches from mine. God, his eyes were…were…well I don’t know the word, but they made me a little dizzy. It took all of my strength to not just grab him by the hood and kiss him then and there.

Out of instinct I pulled him into another embrace, not feeling cold anymore, despite the chilly November winds. “Aw, group hug!” Brendan cheered while he and Luke smothered us.

Just like old times.

Dad must’ve gone back into the house since I didn’t see him. I grabbed my bag and headed in with the guys trailing behind me, patting my back and laughing and all that good stuff. The house was a little darker than I remembered, but with the sunlight and lamps we’d put it, it would be bright, just like I knew it could be.

They helped heave in boxes, and before long, most of our crap was out of the U-Move, but that didn’t stop them from socializing with the new-old kid herself.

“So what’d you do in California?” Luke asked. I shrugged, thinking about Aliyah, Crash, Kobe, and Travis. And, duh, Mike.

“I got together with a few old friends,” I said, “and school was crazy.” They all looked at each other.

“Crazy?” Ren asked.

“Yeah, there was like a gazillion kids on my bus and in my classes. It sucked without you guys.” I snapped my fingers, remembering something. “Oh yeah! I got a couple songs…”
I pulled open my bag, digging out a few songs I’d written over the several month period. One was called “Time,” and it was about the wackiness of a new school I didn’t feel right in. The other was called “Be Still,” and it really didn’t mean anything. For one thing, it was so old that it was pretty much dead until I rewrote it. I just got lyrics in my head that ended up as the chorus, and went from there.

They took both of the songs and huddled around them, reading every word. Luke looked up and explained their odd behavior. “We were suffering Soria withdrawal,” he said.

“We tried writing songs but they were total shi….Um, crap,” Brendan added, “They just didn’t have that Atkinson magic.”

Dad passed by and smiled at us. “Hear that? We’re magic,” he chuckled.

When he exited the room, we went silent. Then Brendan went, “Well okay!” and we were back on topic.

“You wanna reform the band for the dance?” Luke announced.

I didn’t hesitate to say yes, of course. “How long did you guys know about the dance?” I questioned.

“Principal came to us and asked. And we were all, ‘Not without our guitarist,’ and she backed off. But if we’re back together, we can show our stuff,” Brendan explained.

“What do you mean, ‘back?’ We’ve always been together,” I said, and apparently, it called for a hi-five.

A surge of relief flooded over me.

I opened my mouth for a second, but then hesitated. Shit. Here it comes. Gotta come clean now before Michael pops up later and rears his head and we all get fucked up from a dirty little secret.

“Yeah?” Brendan urged.

Take a deep breath, Soria.

“Er…back in Santa Monica…” I blushed, trying to explain. Nobody had a clue what I was trying to say. So how could I say it? “I met this kid…”

Luke gave me a funny look.

“A kid?” Ren asked. My heart beat rapidly.

“Yeah, a kid,” I went on. “And…he…uh…well, we got along, ‘cause we liked the same bands…”

“A ‘he?’” Brendan raised his eyebrow.

Silence.

“Yeah. Uh…” I struggled, biting my lip. Oooh dang. “And…we, um…kind of…went out for a little bit.”

A white lie at its finest.

Now Ren was looking at me funny. Brendan was covering a laugh with his hand and so was Luke.

“Did’ja kiss him?” Brendan said, asking the question that made all those nerves rush back to me.

“No – psh, whaaat? Hah, not even close!” I said, out of a freaking stupid instinct.

Shit. SHIT. SHIT! ASS! NOOOO!

Ren was staring me down, now. I stared back. I didn’t know who the hell was controlling me, and I didn’t know why I didn’t just come out and tell them all that we almost did – well, technically, I told the truth. We never did kiss. I was innocent. I guess that’s why I got the courage to look him in the eye.

All of us were silent.

“Well, how come you two don’t kiss right now if you’re so lost in each other’s eyes?” Luke teased.

And all those nerves disappeared. Thank you, Luke. Someday it’d be of ripe timing to tell Ren. But not that day…

The conversation died down after half an hour and I decided to take a visit to my old room. It looked the same, but empty. Well, duh. A room you haven’t been in for so long is supposed to be empty.

I took in a deep breath, reality seeping in. Here I was, back in Claymore, and I felt fine. And Plaster Caster was definitely rocking the Thanksgiving dance. I smirked just thinking of all the possibilities. A huge weight was lifted off my chest. That’s one of the best feelings ever.

A tap on my shoulder snapped me out of thought. Ren stood behind me, smiling warmly and quiet as always. “Hey kid,” I said. He said hey back and then we stood in uncomfortable silence.

Finally he spoke. “Um, Soria…remember that night with the webcams, and I said I loved you…and then a few days later when I said I just liked you?”

I nodded, mentally preparing for heartbreak.

“I…I dunno. I mean…uh….er…well, I know this: I know it’s a lot more than like. But…I dunno if it’s…you know. But I kinda wanna still, you know…try it.”

By now his face was completely red and his hands were shaking. I didn’t blame him at all for being nervous since I was too. Like a death metal bass drum, my heart could have pounded right out of my chest.

“I’m up for that. I know I feel a lot more than ‘like’ towards you too, dude.”

He reflected my smile back at me, taking my hand with his. It was warm and a little sweaty, but I knew him well enough to know that he was easily worked up. Still I felt a little tingly inside when I clearly saw his eyes - they reminded me so much of the ocean.

“So…will you go out with me?” he asked, his voice shaking.

Like I said: easily worked up.

See, junior high “will-you-go-out-with-me’s” mean nothing. I knew that much, but I knew better when he stood by me. This kid was my best friend and I trusted him more than I’d ever trusted anybody. Not to mention the fact that there was a lot more than “like” between us.

I said, “Yes.”

I could feel his joy through his hand touching mine. We couldn’t quit beaming, just staring at each other in the doorway of my room. I know it sounds real cheesy, but it kind of was, and it was like a moment before Ren did something I never thought he’d do.

He leaned over and kissed me for half a second.

It took me a while to realize he just did that. Once I did, I felt my face turn bright red, remembering that impromptu little kiss he gave me before I moved, that little thing on the cheek that still tingled when I felt the area. Those tingles raged even more when we touched.

And something told me that it was miles ahead of anything Michael would have done.

“God, you’re cute,” I laughed while he stared at the floor, the same kind of blush on his face.
He squeezed my hand gently. “I call it payback.”

Just then we noticed Luke and Brendan standing behind us, gigglesnorting their brains out. “You so owe me five bucks, dude,” Brendan poked him.

Luke slapped a dollar bill in his hand, muttering something under his breath. “It was only a matter of time,” he said to us, grinning again.

“Yeah. I’m proud’a ya, boy,” Brendan said, smacking his back a couple of times. We just smiled knowingly at each other while they kept on saying things like “I knew it would happen,” and “It’s about time!”

Pretty soon, all the boxes were unpacked with Plaster Caster’s help, and I felt home again.

I don’t think any other day in my life compared to that one.