A List of Best Intentions

Life wasn’t totally back to normal yet. I mean, I had Cody back as my partner-in-crime, but that was it. I didn’t have Stephanie. Even Keisha was kind of distant, even if we passed each other between classes a lot more often. And when I tried to say hi to Nick in the hallways at school before break, he ignored me. (Well, he always did that, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.)

Still, I had to count my blessings. At least I knew I Am You Are were still kinda on my side, from the Christmas thing. That was nice.

So I guess things weren’t total crap…

But I still hadn’t spoken to Steph…

I hate to say it, but the few days after Christmas, I was in a funk, man. I never left the house. When I talked to Cody, it was through the phone. I didn’t even feel like listening to CDs or playing video games.

It was bad.

One little ring of the doorbell turned that around.

I was watchin’ Rocket Power in the living room on the 27th when out of nowhere I heard it. It surprised me, of course, and for the five seconds it took to walk to the door, all I thought about was who could be at the door.

Well, I opened it and saw who was there, but that only presented more questions…

Cody was at the doorstep with a big old grin on his face, holding a paper bag that looked real heavy. He wasn’t alone, though.

Dakota was standing next to him.

The last time I saw that kid was just over a month ago. And even then, it was in jail! How the hell…why the hell…

“What…” I stuttered, staring at Dakota.

A grin broke out upon his pale, freckled face. “Miss me?”

“How…jail…Cody?! What’s going on?!” I spat.

Cody licked his lips. “Oh, you’ll see…”

“We gotta get you to quit moping around, Kev,” Dakota deadpanned, putting his hands on his hips. “From what I hear, you been doing nothing but complaining.”

I blushed. I was forced to think about that funk, though I didn’t think anybody else had noticed it.

Cody put the bag down and pulled an item out of it; it was a Roman candle. “We’ve got a plan, see.”

“Fireworks?” I asked. It took a second for things to click. “Oh…oh! Oh my God, number twelve!”

“Yup,” Cody smiled. For the first time in a while, it was genuine. Not mocking, not sarcastic. “You’re gonna have a fireworks show, and we’re helping.”

I tilted my head at them. So many things had just been thrown at me, and I was still trying to process them. Dakota out of jail? Me with a social life? A fireworks show?!

“How’d you get outta jail?” I asked Dakota, ignoring Cody for a second.

He smiled real big and crooked. “’Good behavior.’”

“Now, we got a couple things we gotta do before the 29th. Before the show,” Cody diverted.

“Whoa, wait – when? The 29th?” I gasped. “That’s…that’s the day after tomorrow!”

“Yeah, then the day after the day after that’s New Year’s Eve, then it’s New Years – 2000,” Dakota said. “And I Am You Are is doing a party on New Year’s Eve. You gotta have the firework show before then or no one’ll come.”

“How’m I gonna do everything in one day?”

“You’re not in it alone,” Cody said matter-of-factly.

“We’re getting the fireworks. Me and Thomas here are,” Dakota explained.

“Keisha’s taking care of the food,” Cody went on.

“I Am You Are wants to do an acoustic set,” Dakota added.

“All you have to do is get a hold of people you wanna invite,” Cody informed, brushing his hair back.

I had a chance to cross off one of the only things left on my list – the list I’d been working at for four months. For a second, it dawned on me that I’d done almost all of the twenty-two things on it. Two were left, not including the ones I’d crossed off after realizing they were near-impossible.

Twelve – throw a kickass fireworks show.

And two – kiss a girl and mean it, true blue.

I stared blankly at nothing, zoning out completely.

Cody and Dakota looked at each other and smirked like they knew something I didn’t. Then, Dakota reached out and slapped the side of my head; I snapped out of it.

“We’re going into town with Kara. Call everyone,” Cody told me, turning around to leave.

I waved, but didn’t say anything. I was speechless.

~~~~~

I was sort of shocked when I learned that news. First of all, it wasn’t like Cody had a copy of my list for himself. And secondly, where the hell did Dakota come from? I had my doubts that he actually got out on “good behavior.”

And then…why did they care if I was moping?

Why did Cody go from hating my guts to actually going back to normal? It couldn’t have just been ‘cause of the IAYA party. It hurt my brain. I never really understood people in general, especially not back then.

But that wasn’t the head of my problems, though. It was the 27th. I had only a day to contact everyone I wanted to invite.

Not to mention getting this past my parents.

I decided to get the worst over first and ask them five minutes after the show was decided upon. Mom and Dad were out in the backyard, taking down some of our Christmas lights, while I braced myself for a stern no.

When I went back there, I looked up at the roof and saw them doing their thing.

“Um…Mom, Dad…”

“Yeah?” Dad said. He didn’t look too happy. Neither did Mom.

“Uh…can I…can I put on a fireworks show on the 29th?” I asked desperately.

Mom chuckled.

“Where at?” Dad inquired.

“Here…” I whimpered.

A pause. My parents looked warily at each other.

“Alright,” Dad agreed. “You haven’t been too much trouble in the past month, and as long as it’s here, we can supervise everything, so…”

It was like a dream come true. I wasn’t expecting them to agree to it (my hopes had been down to the ground lately), so that just made it better.

The first of many doors had opened.

~~~~

“…Well, I’m makin’ cupcakes and Cody says he’s gonna bring chips,” Keisha informed me over the phone. “My brother’s gonna come, too. He says he’ll bring root beer and iced tea.”

I scrambled to write it all down. This girl had it down to an art – getting people to bring food.

“My Nana can’t come, but she’ll make her sweet bread, too.”

“Holy crap, we’re gonna have tons of grub, Keish,” I laughed.

“It’s a party. We gotta have food,” she explained. “Who else is comin’ so far?”

I hit a brick wall, figuratively. Leaning against the couch, I sighed. “I wanna invite a bunch of people, but I dunno how.”

“Do you have their phone numbers?” she asked.

“I have Stephanie’s,” I mumbled. I tried calling her earlier, but she didn’t pick up. Damn caller ID…

Keisha gasped. “Oh yeah, and Jackie’s coming too. Piano-player Jackie, I mean. I got her to come.”

Way to steer things off-topic, I thought. There were a couple people I wanted to contact – Nick and Elton, but it wasn’t like I could call them outta the blue. “I know a few people, but I don’t know their numbers.”

“Who?”

“Um, the zombie movie kid and the dude I went to Liberty with,” I told her. I didn’t bother using names.

“Oh, Cody told me ‘bout Nick. I’d wanna meet him,” she giggled. “You should invite them.”

“I would, but I don’t know how to get in contact with him. Same with Elton, the other kid.”

“Oh. The theatre boy? Yeah, Cody told me ‘bout him, too,” she said. (How often did she and Cody talk?)

“He lives in Westburg, though,” I grumbled. “Haven’t really talked to him since October.”

“I bet you can find him. He’s probably given his info out to a bunch of scouts. I know kids like him,” she assured.

My heart fluttered – wait a second, I thought. “Hold on. I’ll be right back.”

I dropped the phone and bolted to my room, digging through my backpack. Through papers and books, I tore into it looking for the business card Elton gave me months ago. At the time, I found the action cocky, but then, I was beyond thankful he gave it to me.

When I found it, I yelled, “Yes!” and ran back to the phone.

Keisha laughed. “You found his number?”

“Yep!” I grinned.

“I guess I’ll talk to you later then,” she spoke, beaming. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Kevin.”

I never felt as hopefully anxious as I did right then, knowing that my month of doldrums was bound to come to a close. Things were finally pointing to the sky for me once again.

~~~~

It was kind of refreshing to talk to Elton again. I hadn’t spoken to him since October, really. And I wanted him at the party badly, even on the off-chance that he had forgotten who I was and went back to hating me.

He agreed to come, too. And guess who else he said he’d bring? Charlie. And guess what he said he’d bring?

“Four fried chickens, some dry white toast, and a Coke,” he had said.

When I told Keisha later on, she laughed. And I did, too, ‘cause I finally got the joke.

I knew he was kidding, but Charlie called me and said he actually would bring fried chicken. That was cool.

What wasn’t totally cool yet was the fact that I didn’t know how to contact Nick. Even when school was in session, I hardly talked to him during the day. If we saw each other, I’d wave and he’d blink. I think he forgot who I was.

It didn’t dawn on me ‘till a little later, but I knew Ryanna (“Ryannathorn”) lived in my neighborhood. We had the same classes in second, fourth, and fifth grade. I even went to her birthday party in second grade, and I remembered where she lived.

Risking looking like a total creeper, I went down to her house later that day. Maybe she could talk to Nick. She lived in an average-looking house – something I had to laugh about; she was far from average.

I knocked on the door.

Five seconds later, a hella tall, frazzled-lookin’ woman answered the door, her hair frizzy and gray. With sunken-in cheekbones and wide eyes, she scared me a little.

“Are you a friend of Ryanna’s?” she whimpered.

I didn’t want to say yes, but… “Uh, yeah.”

“A boy?” she gasped.

I nodded. Crazy lady. Hm.

“Ryanna, you have a friend here!”

“SEND HIM IN. I’M BUSY!” a voice yelled. Yep, that was definitely her.

I stepped inside her house. It smelled like onions in there, honestly. It was all dark and messy; there were books lying everywhere. Overall, I tried not to judge, no matter how hard it was…

I wandered to where I heard Ryanna swearing at something. I looked through the doorway to her room; she was hunched over a keyboard at a desk and had her eyes glued to a big-ass computer screen. That was the only light source in there, too.

“You stupid fuckin’ orc, ugh!” she growled.

“Um…Ryanna?” I spoke up.

She gasped when she saw me, jumping in her seat. “Oh my God!”

I flipped on a light switch. I regretted it, too. There were clothes tossed all over the floor, and there was even a hamster cage among the mess. Ryanna didn’t look like all that, either.

“Oh…” I trailed off.

I swear to God, she hissed at me. “Turn it off!”

I did.

“Why are you here?! How do you know where I live, Kevin?!” she fired.

“I went to your birthday party eight years ago,” I explained. “And I happen to remember things from childhood, Ryanna.”

She hissed at me. “My name is Ryannathorn.”

“Whatever. Well, I’m doing a fireworks show tomorrow. Can you come? And can you tell Nick to come too? And anyone else you know?” I wanted to get out of there ASAP, though I did want her on-board with the idea, since she and her pals were a part of what got me to that point.

She folded her arms. “A what? Fireworks?”

“Yeah,” I repeated. “I’m doin’ a party. And I thought you guys might wanna come.”

She shook her head, her short bangs brushing against her eyebrows. “No. We’re not going.”

“Why not? It’ll be fun,” I bargained. “Everyone’s bringin’ food, and there’s gonna be music, and -”

“And you guys can have fun laughing at us,” she fumed. “I’m not going somewhere where I don’t know anyone.”

“But I’ll be there, and so will Cody. And you can bring Nick and those other guys. No one’s gonna be mean, trust me.” I was begging. As disheveled as her house was and how she put me off, I wanted her at the show. Nick, too. And maybe Magathis and Nethrezar, if they were up to it.

Ryanna paused. She paced around her room slowly for a moment, but turned around with a little smirk on her face.

One last time, I pleaded with my eyes.

“Fine…I’ll go. I’ll see if Nick wants to go, too. But no guarantees about him,” she sighed.

“For real? Yesss!” I cheered.

I even almost hugged her – I went up to her and threw my arms out, but when I realized what I was doing, I receded and went back to the way we were before: standing on opposite sides of her room, keeping an awkwardly comfortable distance.