Freezepop

"Guys, I'm going to the library! I'll be back in like, twenty minutes!" I shout as I grab my stuff and start to head out of Winifred's house.

"Grab me a book!" she shouts. I can just imagine her hanging over the back of the couch, an arm outstretched to stop me.

"Me too!" Kat shouts.

It's weird because, lately, I've been spending more and more time with Kat and Winifred. More time than I've ever spent with Ella and Mitchy, and I've known them much, much longer. I don't know what it is, but there's just something about Winnie and Kat that gives me this calm feeling, like maybe life doesn't completely suck. With Mitchy and Ella, I'm always comparing myself to them because they're smarter, they're more talented, they're skinnier, they're more beautiful. See what I mean?

When I think of Winifred and Kat, the song Angel of Mine by Evanescence comes to mind. 'Angel of mine, can I thank you? You have saved me time and time again. Angel, I must confess, it's you that always gives me strength, and I don't know where I'd be without you.' Call me cheesy and weird, but sometimes I feel like those two have saved me from myself.

Somehow, as I'm walking to my car that's parked across the street from Winnie's house, Brendon starts walking with me. I swear he just appears from thin air. Because he's always around anymore. As often as I'm with Kat and Winnie, that's how often I see Brendon. And Ryan and Spencer. It's like they have no lives of their own. Of course, it's not like us girls do either, but at least we're not constantly badgering the boys. I will say this about them though, they've kept me from having to hang out with Mitchy and Ella.

I don't even look at him as I ask, "What do you want, Brendon?"

"Where are you going?"

"To the library. What's it to you?" I realize that I'm being pretty mean to him, but he's getting on my nerves. I keep catching him looking at me, and anytime we're anywhere, he always has to flick things at me: like sugar packets, straw wrappers, ice cubes. He especially loves it when I wear anything relatively low-cut because then he can aim them down my shirt.

"Can I come?" He sounds so hopeful that my pushover nature surfaces, and I tell him sure, of course he can come. When I pull into the parking lot of the public library, Brendon says, "Wow. I didn't even know this was here."

"You don't get out much, do you?" I reach into the backseat and grab a stack of books. Brendon looks at them wide-eyed, but I just shrug and climb out of my car. "I like to read," I say more to myself than to him. There's no reason for me to justify my stack of books, but I still feel the need to say it out loud, just in case.

"What book are you going to get?" Brendon asks rather loudly after I've turned in my others and am browsing through the fiction.

"Be quiet," I hiss at him. "You can't talk so loudly in a library."

"And why not?" He hasn't lowered his voice, and my fingers itch to smack him upside the head.

"Because people are reading, and it's rude, Brendon." I guess he finally registers the harshness in my voice because he quiets down.

I finally find the author, and book, that I'm looking for, and when I pull it off the shelf Brendon quickly steps to my side, looking over my shoulder with his chin rested on it.

"What book did you get?" This time he whispers, and I'm thankful because I'm sure that I would have hit him in the face with my book if he hadn't. I don't say anything, just hand him the book over my shoulder and move back up to the beginning of the alphabet to try to find Kat and Winnie's books.

"What's it about?" He hands it back, and I tuck it under my arm.

"I don't know. Kat suggested it to me. She said he's an amazing author, and his books are pleasantly twisted."

"You like to read twisted things?"

"It's better than cheesy romance or outrageous fantasy. I like my fiction to be plausible."

"That doesn't make sense." Out of the corner of my eye, I see Brendon shaking his head. "It's fiction. Nothing in fiction is plausible. That's why it's fiction."

"No," I say, putting my search on hold and turning to him. "Take.. Eragon for example. The chances of a boy finding a dragon egg and becoming the next great dragon rider who saves his world and his people, is completely impossible. But the chances of a boy gaining an outrageous opportunity that changes his whole life around and forces him to grow up and take responsibilities way beyond his years, that's plausible."

"So explain me an implausible fiction," Brendon challenges, still clearly confused by what I mean.

"There's stories out there, where the main character's next move is completely impossible. Say you're reading this story, and this girl starts out as a small child. Her family's poor, and they live on a farm where they work hard to make ends meet. Then one day, these strangers come from nowhere, and tell the little girl's father that he owes them an extensive about of money, and that if he doesn't pay up, they're going to take his land. The father doesn't have the money, big surprise. He also won't give up his land, big surprise. So they kill him, right in front of the little girl, and out of nowhere, this stream of light shoots out of the palm of her hand and kills the bad guys. Turns out she's a witch, she has magical powers, and she's the answer to all of the world's problems. That's an implausible fiction."

"No, that's sexist."

"How is that sexist?"

"It's possible when it's a boy saving the world, but not a girl?"

"Brendon, I'm a girl."

"Maybe you're sexist against your own sex." He shrugs.

"Eragon is plausible because the fate of the world doesn't rest in his hands alone. He can only go so far and do so much. Throughout the whole story, he has to rely on other people and his dragon Saphira. The other story is implausible because everything rests in the girl's hands and hers alone. Only she has the power the save the world, and everyone fears and reveres her. In the real world, no one solely has the power to save the earth. Everyone depends on each other. That's what makes a plausible fiction."

Without another word, I walk away, leaving Brendon standing in front of the shelf marked 'O'. I'm angry now, because my otherwise good day has been ruined. I was perfectly happy sitting at Winnie's with her and Kat, all three of us reading. I didn't want to leave and go to the library, but we'd read everything within reach, and Lord knows they're too lazy to have come with. I was perfectly happy before Brendon had showed up, and even then, I was perfectly happy before he started talking.

It takes me a grand total of five more minutes to find Winifred, Kat, and myself a couple of books to last a few more days. As I stalk up to the counter and resist the urge to slam the books on the checkout desk, Brendon saunters up beside me. He doesn't say anything, just stands next to me and patiently waits as I pull my library card out of my wallet and hand it to the lady.

"Your card's expired," she tells me.

I shrug. "Okay." I see Brendon look at me a little concerned, and he opens his mouth to speak, but the librarian cuts him off.

"Do you still live at the same address?"

"Yep."

"Same phone number?"

"Yep."

She scans the card and hands it back to me. "It's good for another year." She picks up the books and scans them as well then runs them through the little machine that I don't even know what it does. She waits as the printer prints off the due date and sticks it in the cover of the topmost book. "These are due back June 5th."

I thank her, pick up the stack of books, and head out to my car. When the door closes behind us, Brendon asks, "Do you want me to carry those for you?"

"I don't necessarily want you to, but you can." I stop and hand him half the stack then continue walking.

"When I offered, I meant I'd carry them all."

"I can carry three books, it won't kill me."

"I know it won't kill you." He stops and opens my car door for me. I give him a funny look but shake my head and climb inside. When he joins me in the passenger seat, he takes the books I carried and puts them on his lap. "I was just trying to be a gentleman."

"Like you were in the library?" I can't help but think that's a double standard. He's a gentleman in private? Brendon Urie, you confuzzle me.

"Why do you hate me all of a sudden?" My stomach clenches at the words.

"'Hate you'? I don't hate you."

"You sure have a funny way of showing it." He sulks in the seat next to me, and I'm scared that I may have come off as a bitch in my angry state.

"I'm sorry." I say it so quietly that I'm not sure he heard me over the radio and the rumble of my beast of a car. "I didn't mean--" I'm cut off by the sound of my phone. "Excuse me. Hello?"

"Hey, Tracy. When are you having that pool party?"

"I don't know."

"Tracy!" Ella whines. She always whines at me. "Come on."

"I don't know, Ella! We have to shock the pool because it got scuzzy from the rain the other day." That's only half true. It did get scuzzy, but not enough to prevent anyone from swimming in it. The chlorine we pump into the pool will kill everything within the next couple of days.

"Well hurry up and shock it or whatever. I wanna swim!"

"I promise, once everything's set up, I'll have a pool party, and we can invite the whole world." This seems to satisfy her, and she says bye, pleasantly.

When I hang up, I've lost all nerve to apologize and explain. I'm sure Brendon doesn't even remember any of it anyway because he immediately turns to me and asks, "You're having a pool party?"

"My friends Ella and Mitchy really want me to. They've wanted me to for the past three years, but I've successfully put it off."

"Why?" He chuckles a little and the sound relaxes me, calms me.

"Because I don't want them and their boyfriends half naked in my backyard. Plus, it's not even a 'party' with just five of us."

"What about Kat and Winifred?"

"Everybody hates each other. The only reason they even associate is because of me, but that barely even keeps them being civil." They'd kill each other if I wasn't around. Not to sound conceded, but I really am the only barrier separating the two teams from clashing till death do them part.

"So, you don't want to have a pool party because you don't want your friends in swimsuits, and you don't have enough people?"

"I don't care if my friends are in their swimsuits, I just don't want their boyfriends oogling over them."

I had a feeling that Brendon was hinting that I should invite him and Spencer and Ryan, but I got distracted when one of my favorite songs came over the radio.

'Never know how much I love you
Never know how much I care
When you put your arms around me
I get a fever that's so hard to bear..'

"You have a beautiful voice," Brendon says over the quiet tune and my singing. Immediately, I become self-conscious and wish I had kept my mouth shut and just listened. "Do you normally sing?"

I shake my head, but then change my mind. "Well, I was in Chamber Choir last year, but that's about it."

"So you do sing," he stated.

"Merely for my own entertainment."

When we arrive back at Winnie's house, Brendon carries all six books up to Winnie's door. I open it and start to head inside, assuming that he'll follow, but when I hear him clear his throat, I turn around expectantly.

"Here you go." He hands me the stack of books.

"You're not coming in?"

He shakes his head. "Nah. I think I'll try to find Ryan and Spencer, hang out with them for the rest of the day."

"Okay." I nod. "Thanks for carrying these for me. It was very gentlemanly of you." A smile slowly breaks out on Brendon's face, and I can't help but do the same. We say 'bye,' and I close the door softly behind me, biting my lip and still smiling. "Lucy, I'm home!" I shout.

Walking into the living room, I see Ryan and Spencer spread out on the couch with Kat in a chair on the end closest to Ryan and Winnie in a chair on the end closest to Spencer.

"Brendon's looking for you guys," I say.

"Really?" Ryan asks.

"When did you see Brendon?" Kat asks.

I shrug and stand uncomfortably behind the couch. I want to sit and talk with my friends, but the only spot left is on the couch, and I don't want to push Ryan and Spencer over. "He went to the library with me."

"Did he now?" Winifred gives me this smile as if she knows something.

"Yes, he did," I say matter-of-factly. "And Ella called on the way back. She's still bugging be about that stupid pool party."

Ryan sits up quickly and looks at me. "Pool party?"

"Yeah."

"Can we come?"

"Well, I wasn't going to--"

"Hey, that would be fun," Kat cuts in. I stop and think about it: Maybe it would be fun if I have them come too, and that way, Ella will have her stupid pool party, and she'll leave me alone about it.

"Okay. Let's do this, and get over with. I'm tired of Ella calling me about it."