Price Check On Monogamy

“Tiger, you’ve been talking to that waiter from Winter Ball, haven’t you?”

Crap. I’d been ambushed.

I fought the urge to cringe and chose, instead, to turn away from my cereal and roll my eyes at a very pissy looking Caleb and a very exasperated looking Jeremy. I’d gotten up early and decided to actually eat before going to school today; obviously, the lovely people at Captain Crunch were conspiring against me. “You know what, Caleb? I’ll just skip asking why you want to know this, and ask, instead, how the hell you figure it’s any of your business?”

Caleb narrowed his eyes and bit out, “You’re breaking the rules, Tiger. Do I have to call mom and dad and tell them--“

“What the hell is your deal?” I shouted, standing up and crossing my arms. Ever since he’d broken up with Heather two weeks ago, he’d been a total ass, and I was sick of it. “If you miss her so much, spare us all the heartache and get back together with her!”

I’d never seen Caleb exactly that shade of tomato red. He opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and stomped out of the house. I waited until I heard the front door slam shut behind him to sigh and collapse into my chair.

“Oh, you should not have said that,” Jeremy sighed and sat down in the chair next to me, shaking his head. Looking up at me, he asked, “So? Have you been talking to him?”

Groaning and slamming my hand down on the table, I snapped, “Yes, alright? Don’t worry about it; it won’t fuck with your stupid little bet. We’re just friends. Tragically,” I added under my breath.

Jeremy caught on and perked up. “Guy problems, Tiger?”

“Why do you care?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

Jeremy shrugged. “I’ve known you for years, and now you’re playing a pretty big part in my life, remember? I’m not allowed to care?”

I raised an eyebrow and leaned back. “Fine, then. While we’re being all buddy-buddy, how’re you and your girlfriend?”

Jeremy crinkled his brow and tilted his head. “Girlfriend? I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Sure you do. You and the Valedictorian chick, right?”

Jeremy burst out laughing. “Her? Nah, that was a one-night thing, at Winter Ball. We’re not dating.”

I sighed and shook my head. I probably should have guessed that one. “That’s kind of low, isn’t it, Jeremy?”

“What are you talking about?” Jeremy asked, tilting his head again. “She turned me down. Said it was a mistake and ran out of Winter Ball almost as bright red as her dress. Or as your brother about two minutes ago.”

My eyes widened. Usually, it was easy to tell if Jeremy was joking or lying; but it was hard to believe that he wasn’t right now. The girl practically lived in her textbooks; it had been just short of a miracle that she’d even gone to Winter Ball. She was the type of girl who sat in the back of class acting better than everyone because she knew that she was smart, but she never really talked to anyone’ just sort of stared wistfully at guys when she thought no one was watching. It just seemed so backwards that she would turn down Jeremy, one of the most popular guys in the school, as stereotypical and shallow as it sounds. “Err-- sorry for your loss, I guess?”

Jeremy waved it off. “Nah, it’s not like it’s something I’m not used to.”

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Really? Being turned down by the smartest girl in our grade is something you’re used to?”

Jeremy laughed. “Not specifically, but generally, yeah. Tiger, when was the last time I had a girlfriend?”

Damn. He had me there. Taking my silence as his answer, he propped his head in his hands, elbows on the table. “Anyway, back to the original question. Well, actually, the original question was whether or not you’d been talking to waiter guy, but this is a lot more interesting. So spill. Guy problems?”

I gave him a droll look. “I’d rather not get into it right now.”

Jeremy laughed and held up his hands. “Fine, fine. But hey, if it helps, feel free to leave his ass any time.”

“We’re not really dating!” I said exasperatedly. “And you only don’t care if I leave because of your stupid bet.”

Jeremy shrugged. “Yeah, yeah. Details,” A car honked outside and Jeremy grinned. “Well, time to cockblock your boyfriend. C’mon.”

Jeremy jumped up without waiting for me to respond and grabbed my arm, dragging me out to the car with him and, ignoring Tandem’s protests, got into the car right before Kip, Tawny, and Lexy.

“All aboard,” Jeremy said with a grin. Tandem rolled his eyes and got into the driver’s seat, giving me a curious, almost irritated look.

I grinned in the rearview mirror back at Jeremy, who was doing the same thing.

- - -

“Where’s Milo?”

I jumped at the mention of his name and looked up with a glare at Adam. “Why the hell do you care?” I snapped, making Adam’s eyes widen. Usually, I wasn’t so bitchy right off the bat with him out of respect for Tawny, but I really didn’t need to think about Milo right now. After all the talk about Tyler this morning, I didn’t want to think about yet another complication in life.

God, who would have thought that I might actually have choices?

“Chill, Tiger,” Adam said, backing up. He looked around for a second, probably hoping to find Tawny to come to his defense. When she didn’t magically appear, he continued, “Anyway, I need his advice on something. Where is he?”

I sighed, standing up and grabbing my bag just as the bell to end class rang. Last period was always the longest, and it was usually because Adam didn’t know how to shut up. “He’s training for a snowboaring session up in the Alps. Unless you’re planning on flying up there and tracking him down, you’re not going to get his advice for another week.”

Adam groaned and kicked the desk in front of him. “Dammit. Fine. Thanks, I guess,” he mumbled, turning and walking toward the door. “Now where’s that little chick of mine, she’s late…”

“Excuse me?” I snapped, grabbing his shoulder. “What did you just call her?”

“Chill, Tiger!” Adam pried my hand off his shoulder and shoved me back. “I didn’t call her anything bad.”

“You’re a fucking idiot,” I glared at him. “Apologize.”

“Go to hell!”

“You better wise the fuck up, boy, or I’ll be sending you there myself,” I growled. Adam looked like he was about to say something, probably another lame, generic comeback, when he thought better and closed his mouth. When Adam decides to do something smart, it usually only meant one thing.

“Adam? Tiger?” Tawny came up behind me, letting me know I was wrong. Leaning against Adam and tilting her head at me, she asked, “What’s going on?”

“Your friend is just being pissy again,” Adam complained, wrapping his arm around Tawny just to irritate me.

“Your boyfriend is being a snarky little bitch again,” I snapped. Sighing at the look on Tawny’s face, I mumbled, “Sorry, Tawny. I gotta jet; going back to my old job today. Eli’s giving me a ride.”

Tawny brightened up. She knew, probably better than anyone, that normalcy had always been something my life lacked in extremes. Usually, that made me happy. It was beyond depressing that I had actually started to crave something that made me feel less like a soap opera character and more like an actual human. “That’s good,” she said happily. “Have fun, okay?”

I responded with what sounded like a strangled grunting sound and walked out of class, ducking to avoid having to see Tandem and getting in Eli’s car as soon as he unlocked the door.

“In a rush or something, Tiger?” Eli asked, eyebrow quirked. “Usually, you hate having to go to work. Don’t you hate your boss or something?”

I groaned. “Don’t remind me.” My boss, Karter Peg, was a slimy, disgusting jackass who would probably get along with Adam perfectly. He was a seniour at the local school, Green Public High, and he thought that he was a bad ass because he’d gotten kicked out of Evergreen’s. A bad ass that worked at a video store. Oh yeah.

He hated when I reminded him of that almost as much as he hated me in general. So, of course, it was my sworn duty to give him hell every day at work.

“How did you even get the job?” Eli asked with a laugh, turning out of the parking lot and cruising down to my work place. “Doesn’t he hate you? … didn’t he hate you when he came here?”

I groaned, flopping against the back of my chair. Karter had gotten kicked out because of drug use; possession of Prozac, if that can even sort of count. He’d bought the Prozac from me, but the administration had kind of turned a blind eye on that. That was probably the only time in my life that I’d ever been happy for my parent’s extreme… persuasive abilities. He’d gotten kicked out, I’d gotten to stay, and he’d never forgiven me for it. Why did I get the job if he hated me so much? Well, he hadn’t always been manager. The manager had been his friend Mitch who thought I was funny, and hired me because of that. When Mitch left for college, though, he’d promoted Karter.

At least I had a job, right?

“It’s a long story,” I sighed. “I think I told you about the whole Mitch Karter thing, right?”

Eli laughed, pulling into the parking lot of the little strip mall. “Oh yeah. Well, good luck, man.”

Getting out of the car and sighing, I jogged into the store, pulling my jacket off as I went. As soon as I walked through the door, though, I heard the same sharp, irritating voice I hadn’t missed at all in the last month call, “Sparks! Get your ass in uniform!”

“Shut your face, Karter, at least I showed up today!” I called back. Slipping into the backroom, I changed into my work uniform, black pants and a uniform polo shirt. I sighed and opened the door, almost slamming the door shut again. Karter was standing literally six inches in front of me, his little creeper face distorted in a disgusting grin.

“Sparks, where have you been?”

“Not six inches in front of your fucking face, Karter,” I snapped. “Back up, I have rights as a worker.”

That line always pissed him off. His shit eating grin smacked off his face, he hissed, “I’ll give you your rights, Sparks. Get your ass on the floor and start categorizing. Now.”

I rolled my eyes and walked over to the nearest stand. Oh, categorizing, scary. There were about sixteen stands lined up throughout the small store, and each stand had six rows on it. Since the place was a hang out spot for of the kids from Green High, they liked to fuck up the rows. Taking down the first row of videos and sorting through them alphabetically, I almost didn’t notice the silver bell ding above the door as someone walked into the store.

I didn’t notice, that is, until the entire stand that I was working on almost fell on top of me.

“SHIT,” I cursed loudly, falling back just a bit to avoid having the stand fall on me. Laughter exploded behind me. Standing up, probably bright red, I turned and screamed at Karter and his disgusting friend Leon, “You could have really fucking hurt me stupid ass!”

Karter sobered up quick, doing his best to pull on a regular face. His friend, however, didn’t. Leon had been coming in randomly since Mitch left, and the two were conspiring to kill me, I swear. “Watch your tongue, Sparks,” Karter said smoothly. “We have a customer.”

“Yeah, Tiger,” Leon said, still laughing. “Wise up.”

“You’re both as disgusting as ever,” I screamed. That made both of them snap to attention.

“You’re a real piece of work, you know that, Sparks?” Karter said darkly, leaning against his desk.

“Yeah, and you talk pretty big for a video store manager who couldn’t even keep his place at Evergreen’s,” I hissed. Leon’s eyebrows raised and he looked at Karter, who was slowly turning red. “What next? Gonna electrocute me? Maybe poison me with Prozac?”

“You little fucking--“

“Watch your mouth, Karter.”

Karter literally swallowed the rest of his sentence, blinking up at whoever it was who had just said that. Turning and staring blankly at the guy behind me for a second, I realized that it was Tyler, apparently come to my rescue.

He looked very, very pissed off.

“Tiger, are you alright?” He asked, hand on my shoulder.

“I’m alright,” I said slowly, wondering what the hell was going on. “Um, do you need something, Tyler?”

Tyler laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Nah, I’m okay. Just saw you from outside and wanted to know if you wanted to do something?”

“She’s on duty,” Karter said stiffly. “She’s not going anywhere any time soon.”

Tyler raised an eyebrow and pulled out his wallet. “Alright, mate. $500 to buy the girl for the day.” Pulling out five hundred dollar bills, he dropped them on the desk and, without a second glance, walked out, me in toll.

So… what the hell just happened?