Bite Your Tongue

Brad Pitt Is Sexy

8:15 A.M.
Brian;;


I groaned as I read the sign that was the first thing you saw upon walking into the school. The administrators would sometimes jot down messages for the different grade levels, or for the entire student body, things like announcements for Senior Pictures, or something about prom. In today’s case, the sign informed me that everyone had homeroom for thirty minutes before first period so registration forms for next year could be distributed. Sounded like fun.

I decided to go to my locker beforehand, so I headed downstairs to the hallway where it was located. When I turned the corner, the first thing I saw was Korinne pounding her fist against the locker a few away from mine. She glanced down at the sheet of paper in her hands and twisted the combination lock, but the locker didn’t open. She sighed exasperatedly and her shoulders drooped.

I felt a pang of sympathy for her—the lockers here were near impossible to operate unless you had been at the school for a few years. With her being new and all, there was no way she’d be able to get it open. I walked over.

“Need a hand?” I asked. Korinne jumped and clutched a hand to her heart, and I laughed softly.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

She shook her head and I took that to mean that it was okay. I noticed that her eyes kept darting around the hallway, like she was looking for someone, or something.

“You okay?”

She nodded quickly, and the thing with the eyes ceased a bit. I pried the sheet of paper from her hands, glanced at it quickly, and easily opened the locker for her. Her jaw dropped.

“I can’t believe they just got around to giving you a locker…” I said to myself. “Anyway, you wouldn’t have been able to open it. It takes practice.”

Korinne looked slightly relieved. She took a few books from her backpack and arranged them inside the locker.

“Just find someone to help you if you can’t open it again, okay?”

She nodded.

“Attention: All students should report to their homerooms this morning before first period. Again, all students should report to their homerooms this morning before first period,” said the voice over the intercom.

Korinne sighed again as she shut the locker door.

“Who’s your homeroom teacher?” I asked. She shrugged, looking completely overwhelmed.

“Well…why don’t you just come with me? They usually clump students with the same homeroom together for lockers, so if yours is in this hallway, you’re probably in my homeroom. Come on.”

I led the way to the door a few feet away. Korinne followed me, and once we were inside, I went up to the teacher’s desk.

“Mr. Quick?”

The elderly man looked up. He pushed his glasses up his nose so he could see and squinted at me.

“Brian What can I do for you?”

I glanced at Korinne and gestured for her to join me.

“This is Korinne Reynolds. She’s a new student, and she doesn’t know what homeroom she’s in, but her locker is really close to mine, so I was wondering if she could possibly be in here.”

Mr. Quick nodded. He shuffled through some papers until he found the attendance roster and peered at the names.

“Ah, yes. Korinne Reynolds. Do you have a brother? I have an Elias Reynolds on file here, too,” Mr. Quick said. Korinne nodded. For some reason, I got the feeling that she and her brother didn’t get along very well. I mean, he didn’t even tell me about her when I first met him. No one would have known that he had a sister if the guys and I hadn’t gone over to his house that day.

The first bell rang, and Korinne and I found seats at a table near the window. I had always hated homeroom, but now that I had someone to talk to, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

+++

Korinne;;

I was freaking out. Brian, from what I had gathered about him so far, was pretty observant. And I was hoping he wouldn’t be paying too much attention to me today.

I was wearing a pair of jeans, instead of the shorts I usually wore, since my legs were covered with bruises. There was no way for me to hide that, and I already felt uncomfortable wearing long pants in this warm climate. I had been able to camouflage the bruise on my face slightly with concealer, but if anyone looked too close, it was definitely visible. I forced myself to keep my gaze on the table, no matter how badly I wanted to look at Brian.

And then there was Elias…I mean, he had threatened to kill me if I didn’t leave him and his friends alone. But, according to Mr. Quick, he was in this homeroom. He would be here any minute, and he would see me sitting with Brian, and that most definitely wasn’t a good thing. I was counting on the presence of the rest of the class to prevent him from doing anything.

“Korinne?”

I turned to look at Brian, forgetting about my vow to keep my eyes down. It was a reflex, really. I couldn’t help but want to look at him.

He opened his mouth to say something, but frowned slightly. I felt his gaze on my cheek and immediately looked away.

“What happened to your face?”

I mentally cursed myself for being so stupid as I turned back to him. I decided to pretend that I didn’t have any idea what he was talking about and hope that he’d just drop it. I tilted my head to the side and looked at him in false confusion.

“You…your cheek,” he said. He reached out and touched the spot, and I flinched, not only because it hurt, but because an electric shock shot through my entire body when his skin touched mine.

“Sorry,” Brian said. “Did you fall or something?”

Yeah, sure, let’s go with that. I nodded. I glanced at Brian quickly and saw that he seemed to have accepted that as an answer. Thank god.

“Alright, settle down,” Mr. Quick said, right as the second bell rang. He picked up a pile of papers and held them up for everyone to see.

“These are your registration forms. You have the rest of homeroom to get a jump start on filling them out. They’re due on March 5th, so make sure you get them in on time.” He began to walk around and pass out the forms as everyone resumed talking.

I did a quick sweep of the room and was relieved to see that Elias wasn’t there. Then the relief vanished. If he wasn’t in school, then where was he? Buying poison to kill me off with? Interviewing hitmen to find the perfect one to do the job? Shit.

I looked down in confusion as the front pocket of my jeans started to vibrate. It took me a few seconds to remember that I had put my phone in there. I took out the device and flipped it open under the table, surprised to see that I had a new text message from my mom.

Hey, K. Boss just emailed & said there’s a last minute meeting in Seattle this weekend, so I’m on my way to the airport as I’m composing this. I’ve been told that there’s a formal dinner sometime, & a date is required, so I’ve dragged Elias along w/me. I trust you & I know you’ll be able to handle a weekend home alone. Oh, I saw your note. & Yes, you can go to that sleepover, if you can find someone to drive you. Have fun and be safe xox Mom

I blinked and reread the message again. Almost instantly, I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.

Elias was on his way to the airport with my mom—that was why he wasn’t here. And he wouldn’t be here all weekend…which meant that I could go to the slumber party if I wanted to. I replied to my mom’s message with a simple ‘ok’, and then put the phone back in my pocket right as Mr. Quick set two registration forms on the table.

Brian sighed and reached for his. “Well, this should be fun,” he said, rolling his eyes. “What core classes are you taking next year?” he asked. I slid my form over to him so he could read it.

“Honors English Lit, Algebra II, Honors Physics, and Honors World History?” he read. “But those are all pretty much sophomore classes…” His eyes widened in what I guessed was disbelief. “You’re a freshman?”

I nodded.

“No way!” Brian exclaimed. “You don’t act like a freshman at all.”

Um…okay? I stared at him and waited to see if he was going to say anything else.

“Huh…well, don’t worry. It’s not that big of a deal. Though it does kinda suck that you still have three years of school left,” he said.

I widened my eyes and nodded in agreement.

“If you need help with anything, let me know. I’m happy to help.”

Hmm, I wonder if he’d be happy to help if you told him that you needed help taking a bath…

Would you stop?!


The rest of homeroom passed relatively quickly. Most people finished with their forms within the first ten minutes and sat around and talked for the remainder of the period. I got to talk to Brian some more—well, he talked, and I wrote on a piece of notebook paper. The more time I spent with him, the more I liked him. And that was bad, not only because he had a girlfriend, but because I was going to be around said girlfriend for quite a bit tonight and I already sensed that she didn’t like me. But it’s not like I was a threat to her; Brian and I were just friends.

I managed to secure a ride to Stevie’s house from Brian after showing him the text message from my mom. He assured me it wouldn’t be a problem, since he had to drive Zoe anyway. I was surprised that Zoe didn’t drive…either she wasn’t old enough, or she was just stupid. I kept my fingers crossed for the second option as the bell rang and everyone departed for their first period class.

+++

6:34 P.M.
Brian;;


I honked the horn again, waiting impatiently for Zoe to emerge from her house. She was always a few minutes late, no matter what. Even if I told her to be ready twenty minutes before I actually planned on picking her up, she would find some way to be late.

At least Korinne was punctual. She had been sitting outside on her front porch when I pulled up about fifteen minutes ago, packed and ready to go. I glanced at her in the rearview mirror. It looked like she was staring sadly at her shoes.

“You okay?” I asked. She looked up and nodded. It was then that I noticed that she was wearing jeans. What the…?

“Korinne…why are you wearing jeans? It’s like eighty-something degrees, and it doesn’t get much colder at night. You’re going to get heatstroke,” I said. She shrugged and looked away quickly.

Maybe she likes the heat? I don’t know. I shrugged as well, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zoe making her way outside. About damn time.

“Hey,” she said, sliding into the passenger seat. “Hey, Korinne,” she added as an afterthought. Korinne smiled a bit in response.

“Finally,” I said. “I feel like we’ve been waiting for hours.”

Zoe rolled her eyes and threw her nearly-bursting tote bag under her feet.

“Stop being so dramatic, Brian,” she said as she closed the door.

It didn’t take long for us to get to Stevie’s. Zoe babbled the entire way about something or other, but I wasn’t really listening. It was most likely something I had heard her complain about a million times before.

+++

Korinne;;

We pulled up in front of the large brick house, and Delia came running outside as Brian cut the engine. According to Brian, she lived right down the street, so I guessed she had just walked over earlier.

“STEVIE! THEY’RE HERE!” she shouted, practically loud enough to shatter an ear drum or two. Stevie appeared in the doorway.

“Hurry up and get your asses inside!”

Brian chuckled as he unbuckled his seatbelt to help us with our stuff.

“Have fun,” he said sarcastically. I grabbed my bag off of the seat next to me and got out of the car.

I headed over to where Delia was standing. She pointed towards the house.

“Go on inside; Stevie will show you where to put your stuff.”

I nodded and followed the edge of the driveway up to the steps in front of the house.

“I’m so glad you decided to come, Korinne!” she exclaimed. “You can put your bag in the basement. First door on the right.”

I walked into the house and immediately fell in love with the set of spiral stairs leading to the upper floors. For some reason, spiral stairs amused me. I gaped at them for a few seconds before locating the door to the basement and going downstairs. Loud, girly music was blaring from the pink iHome on a small table next to the stairs. The entire room was painted a violent lime green, and the carpet was a dark teal color. Several beanbag chairs and a couch were situated around the biggest plasma screen TV I had ever seen in my life, and there was a long, food-laden table taking up half of the wall on the opposite side of the room.

I set my bag down next to the table with the iHome on it and resisted the extreme urge to change the song to something different. I went back upstairs to see that Delia and Stevie were standing in the entryway, impatiently glaring at Brian and Zoe, who were still outside.

“I swear if she doesn’t get in here within the next ten seconds, I’m going to blast that girl with a fire extinguisher,” Stevie said.

I smiled—that actually didn’t sound like a bad idea. I watched as Zoe said something to Brian and then wrapped her arms around his neck to kiss him. I forced myself to look away, wishing more than anything that it was me who his strong arms were wrapped around, me whose lips he was kissing.

“For the love of Tofurky! Stop making out already and get the hell in here!” Delia shouted. Zoe broke away from Brian and slowly walked towards the house. Brian waved to us and got into his car, waiting until Zoe was inside to drive away.

“Right, now that Zoe’s done sticking her tongue down Brian’s throat, let’s get this party started!” Stevie yelled. She let out a loud whoop and galloped down the basement stairs.

+++

7:09 P.M.

“So I guess I’ll see you, I’ll see you around, spinning while I’m falling down, and now you know why I’m begging you to staayyy,” Stevie sang badly in time to the music.

Delia covered her ears. “Shut up! You’re going to deafen the entire west coast,” she said jokingly. Stevie grabbed a handful of chocolate-covered pretzels and tossed them at Delia.

“Hey!”

“You asked for it!”

I faintly heard the doorbell ring from upstairs as Zoe changed the song. The opening lines of ‘Miracle’, by Cascada, filled the room, and Stevie’s mom shouted something down the stairs.

“What?” Stevie shouted back.

“I SAID, THE PIZZA’S HERE!”

Stevie squealed and leapt up from the floor. She was halfway up the stairs by the time the rest of us had gotten to our feet.

We spent a few minutes piling pizza on our plates—well, daintily arranging two slices, in Delia’s case—and then went back downstairs.

“You know what? I think we should play Truth or Dare,” Delia said as she wiped some tomato sauce off of her mouth with a napkin. Zoe scoffed.

“Please. That’s such a typical sleepover game,” she said.

“So? I don’t see you coming up with any better ideas,” Delia countered. I raised an eyebrow. I got the feeling that Delia didn’t like Zoe that much, which was kind of a relief, since it meant I wasn’t alone.

“Truth or Dare it is!” Stevie shouted. “Who wants to go first?” she asked, taking a huge bite of pizza.

“I will!” Delia volunteered.

Stevie set down her plate and regarded Delia seriously. “Okay, truth or dare?”

“Um…truth,” Delia answered finally.

“Hm…” Stevie looked around as she struggled to come up with a question. “Alright, do you like Zacky?”

Delia choked on the sip of water she had been taking and turned bright red. “N-no! Of course not, he’s a jerk!”

Zoe rolled her eyes. “Bullshit. You so like him.”

“I do not!”

“It’s obvious, Delia! Even if someone had never met you guys before, they’d be able to tell,” Stevie insisted.

“No they wouldn’t!”

“Yes, they would! Right, Korinne?” Stevie said suddenly. I froze, completely unsure of what to do. I didn’t want either of them to hate me. I shrugged.

“Here,” Delia said. She shoved a small dry erase board and a marker towards me. “Be honest.”

I uncapped the marker. “Well…I suppose it is kind of obvious…” I wrote.

“Ha! I told you so,” Stevie said triumphantly. Delia ignored her.

“Whatever. I officially declare my turn as being over. Korinne, why don’t you go next?” she said, turning to me.

Shit.

“Truth or dare?”

There weren’t any words to express my anxiety at that moment. No matter what I chose, I was bound to be humiliated somehow.

I sighed and decided to go with Truth. At least I could always lie if necessary. I wrote my choice on the board and held it up so Delia could see.

“Okay…if you were locked in a room with someone for twenty-four hours, and they could do whatever they wanted to you, but you could choose who it was, who would you want it to be?”

Brian, I thought instantly. But I can’t exactly say that with Zoe being right there…she’d kill me for sure…uh…

Some cheerful tune broke the silence a second later. I glanced up as Zoe took her cell phone out of her back pocket and looked at the caller I.D.

“It’s my mom,” she said. “I’ll be right back.” She got up and headed upstairs.

Stevie let out a loud sigh and flopped back into a beanbag chair. “Thank the lord,” she said.

“That girl has got to be the most annoying person on the face of the planet,” Delia added.

“You guys don’t like Zoe?” I wrote. Stevie burst into hysterical laughter.

“Oh, hell no. The only reason we put up with her is because she’s with Brian and we’ve known him forever. Trust me, if I had a choice between hanging out with Zoe and gnawing off my own leg, I’d choose the second one,” she said.

“All she ever does is complain about how Brian doesn’t pay enough attention to her, yet from what I’ve seen, he’s basically the sweetest boyfriend on earth,” said Delia.

I refrained from jumping up and doing a happy dance. So I wasn’t the only one who hated Zoe. Glory hallelujah!

“Anyway, we should stop talking about her in case she gets off the phone with her mom early. You never answered the question, Korinne.” Stevie grabbed her can of Sprite and took a gulp.

“Yeah, who would it be?” Delia asked. I shrugged, and Stevie rolled her eyes.

“Don’t lie. Everyone has someone they have dirty fantasies about.”

I shook my head. “Well, not me.”

Delia stared at me for a second before breaking into a smile. “You’re a terrible liar.”

What?!

“Who is it? We won’t tell, I swear.” I shook my head and kept my gaze on the ground.

“Don’t make us tickle you,” Stevie threatened.

My eyes widened. They couldn’t possibly know how incredibly ticklish I was, could they?

“Is it one of the guys?” Delia questioned. “Or someone from one of your classes?”

I could feel my face getting hot. They weren’t going to let this go.

“I’m just going to take a guess,” Stevie declared. “Jimmy?”

I shook my head, wishing she wouldn’t guess. Eventually she’d get to Brian, and I didn’t know if I could lie successfully about that.

“Matt?” Delia guessed, and Stevie shot her a dirty look. “What? I’m just asking. You’re probably not the only one who finds Matt attractive, Stevie.”

I shook my head again.

“Fine, what about Zacky?” Delia shot Stevie an equally evil glare.

“What? I’m sure you’re not the only one who finds Zacky attractive,” Stevie quipped. Delia threw a pillow at her.

“Johnny?”

I shook my head, and began to panic. It was only a matter of time until…

Stevie gasped wildly and clapped a hand to her mouth. “Brian?!

I knew I was turning bright red as I shook my head yet again.

“OH MY GOD!” Delia shouted.

“No way!”

I buried my face in my hands and tried to keep the silly grin off of my face. Delia tugged my hands away, however, and forced me to look at her.

“Do you seriously like Brian?”

“And don’t lie,” Stevie said. “We’ll be able to tell.”

I looked at each of them in turn before dropping my gaze to the floor and giving a tiny nod. Both of them shrieked and giggled.

“We won’t say a word, don’t worry,” Delia assured me. Footsteps on the stairs announced Zoe’s return, and Stevie and Delia immediately arranged their features into what passed for a calm disposition.

“What’d I miss?” Zoe asked, resuming her spot on the floor.

“Oh, nothing. Korinne was just telling us about the giant crush she has on Brad Pitt,” Stevie said casually. She caught my eye and winked.

Zoe crinkled her nose in disgust. “Ew, he’s old!”

“So? He’s still sexy,” I wrote. The girls burst into laughter that lasted for a few minutes before the game moved on.