Tokio Derby

“So have any of you guys actually even tried to learn to play your instrument?,” Lena Doldrums asked, staring at all of us. It was our first time actually having a meeting without being in the roller rink. We had our instruments with us- minus me and Davon- and were sitting in Lena’s classroom while she sat on the teacher’s desk.

We all looked away, trying not to make eye contact on her. I don’t know about anyone else but I knew the reason why I didn’t practice. One, if I even touched Gustav’s drum set he would kick my butt six ways to Sunday. Secondly, how could I even think about playing the drums with all of this other stuff happening? With all this crazy stuff happening- Dominic’s possible relationship infidelity, Davon being all cozy with everyone else, the fact that school was ending soon- how do instruments even compare?

Ash raised her hand. “I learned to play the bass a little,” she said, moving her fingers as if she was playing an invisible bass. “It takes some getting used to, but it’s kind of easy after that.”

Marissa and Mariah then raised their hands. “We learned some guitar stuff!” they answered simultaneously. They then glared at each other. “I mean not together,” Mariah answered quickly. “I obviously learned it faster than Marissa.”

While they bickered about whom understood what faster, Lena looked at me and Davon. “And what about you two?” she snapped. “We already got the string instruments down. But we need a singer and beat.” She looked over at me. “You have a drum set at your house right?”

I nodded. “But Gustav would kill me if I even thought of touching it,” I replied.

Doldrums tsked. “I’ll talk to the little runt about it,” she replied, taking her phone out of her pocket. It seemed like even thought she was a teacher- and the youngest one o\at the school- she didn’t really care for the rules. She would stop class constantly to check her phone, chew gem when kids were taking tests, and yell at the lecherous teenagers when they so much as attempted to look up a girl’s skirt.

While Lena was having a very animated- and animated is an understatement- conversation with Gustav, Davon tugged on my sleeve. “Hey Clarissa,” she said, trying to make eye contact. “I was wondering if you maybe wanted to-“

“Yahoo!” the conversation was interrupted by Ash cheering in a manly voice, putting her fist up in the air. We looked over to see her standing up, holding the guitar in the air like she just killed 20 dragons with it. “I just learned how to play a new chord!”

Marissa sighed. “You are truly one of the strangest people I have ever met.”

Ash wiggled her eyebrows. “I’m not weird,” she sang, “I’m just a little bit eccentric.”

After about two hours of hanging out, listening to Lena yell about every single problem she was dealing with, and a small amount of time even playing instruments, the band line-up was decided. Marissa and Mariah were to play guitar, Ash was playing bass, me on drums, and Davon on vocals. Even though none of us have ever heard Davon sing, it was the only thing she could do because the rest of us sounded like a bunch of tone-deaf whales singing.

When Lena told us we could leave, Mariah gathered us up by the lockers near the boy’s bathroom. Don’t ask why; it was the closest thing found. “Let’s go to this restaurant near my house,” she exclaimed, checking her phone for some reason. “The food there is awesome and my brother says that he’s going to show up from his university.”

She didn’t need to tell us twice. Anything that close to a Greek god showing up in a place like this was something not to miss.
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“Here’s your milkshakes!” Marissa screeched, coming back to our table with our orders. She placed our tray of food down on the table and we sank into it like a pack of angry wolves.

“Hey,” Ash said in between fries shoveled in her mouth, “I have a plan.”

“What?” Mariah said, bits of burger flying out of her mouth.

“We should set Forte and Gustav up!” Ash replied, a big smile appearing on her face.

I almost choked on my milkshake. “What gave you that idea?!” I screeched, coughing on my milkshake.

“Think about it,” Ash explained. “Didn’t you notice the way that they were staring at each other when they first met?”

“Like a leopard about to hunt a gazelle,” Mariah added.

“But she won’t eat him,” Davon snapped.

“If their relationship goes any further, she just might,” Marissa added, wiggling her eyebrows.

Ash and I cringed. “But all creepiness aside, it would be a good idea,” Ash continued. “Forte has been talking non-stop about him and can’t wait until she sees him again. Plus, I need her out of the house. If I hear her saying ‘Did you see the way Gustav looked at me?’ one more time, I will punch her in the throat.”

“Are these the kind of friends you decided to make lil’ sis?” an unfamiliar male voice said, causing us all to turn around.

The voice belonged to someone hat looked exactly like Mariah but also like Adonis. His blond hair was shaggy and looked like a halo around his golden skin, showing off his bright blue eyes. He was about 5’11” and muscular, his muscles showing through his Social Distortion shirt. He smiled broadly at us, his perfect white teeth showing. “Nice to meet you all. I’m Trevor.”

Just looking at him made us all stop what we’re doing. I could feel some of the milkshake falling out of my mouth, but it didn’t matter. I thought about how we must’ve looked to him: a bunch of girls tearing into food like we’d never eaten a day in our lives.

We were truly a sight.

Mariah was the first one of us to get up, not caring how she looked. She pulled her brother into a hug, not caring if her smeared face got on his shirt. “Hey butt face,” she greeted, “Long time, no see.”

“Maybe because I didn’t want to see your face,” he replied, just as venomous as her comment.

“Introduce your new friends,” he said, gesturing to us. “I want to actually meet two more people who actually want to hang out with you guys.”

Mariah introduced us while Ash and Marissa grabbed the napkins and tried to get ketchup and mustard of their faces. I said hello, trying not to gawk at him. He spent some time staring at Davon, making her blush and look away shyly. They greeted each other, talking about how much they liked Social Distortion and other band. Soon enough, he was sitting in the empty seat by her, playfully flirting with her. She flirted back with caution, saying certain things that made him laugh.

“Guys,” Mariah whispered, just loud enough for Davon to get out of her bubble with Trevor and listen. “I need to go put on some make-up. Can you guys come with me?”

We all agreed, Davon making me practically pull her from her seat to the bathroom. The minute Davon entered the bathroom Mariah said, “My brother likes you.”

“What?!” Davon exclaimed, her face going beet red. “How could he like me?”

“It’s obvious,” Marissa answered. “Have you seen the way he looks at you? He looks like he wants to eat you up.”

Ash made a crude joke about the comment and we all laughed except Davon, who turned even redder than I thought humanly possible.

“Oh come on Davon,” I patted her on the back. “Lighten up. What’s so bad about a guy liking you anyway?”

“Everything!” she creamed, putting her hands over her face. I cringed and stepped back, not used to her voice getting that high. She saw the look of fear on our faces and just whispered, “Just everything.”

Marissa’s face softened. “Whatever you say,” she said, pulling her towards the door. “Just let him down easy.”

We all watched Davon go up to Trevor, whose face was beaming now that she was around. I saw their mouths moving but they were so far away I couldn’t hear their voices. Trevor said something to her that made her face light up, and she was so happy she hugged him. They exchanged their phones and returned them. Then Trevor left the restaurant, but not before embracing Davon that was totally in a not friend-like manor. When we decided to leave the bathroom and approach her, her entire face was gleaming.

“What happened?” Ash asked.

“He asked me out on a date,” she replied quietly. Then her smile grew even louder. “HE ASKED ME OUT ON A DATE!”

We all squealed, jumping up and down like a bunch of schoolgirls. Davon followed suit, so happy it made her grey eyes bright. She looked so happy then; it made me feel like a complete jerk that I was thinking badly about her earlier. She was my friend after all; her happiness should be one of the most important things in the world to me.

After having Davon re-enact every single thing they said three times, Mariah and the other said they had something they were late for and left. That just left me and Davon standing next to each other.

“So Clarissa,” she said, picking up our mess and throwing it away. “There’s something I wanted to ask you.”

“What is it?” I replied, sitting down in a chair.”

“Do you want to stay over my house tonight?” Davon asked. “I mean, I know you probably have other stuff to do, but I have some important things to tell you. But if you don’t want to show up-“

“Stop,” I snapped, putting my hand up. “I’ll come over.”

“Really?” she asked, her face lighting up like a Christmas tree. “That’s great!” She muttered something to herself about telling Ariel to pick us up and quickly went to her phone. She talked quickly, saying something about putting on pants and to stop watching television, but I stopped listening after a while. I decided to check my phone, sending a quick message to Dominic about how I missed him.

After I sent it, I noticed the voicemail icon appearing on my phone. I got to my voicemail, thinking that it would probably be Gustav or Bill calling me about how I was doing.
But it wasn’t.

“Hi, sweetheart,” a familiar voice cooed into the phone. The voice sounded like it was high on some drug, probably coke. “You know who this is. I checked our house, but you’re not there. Are you visiting a friend? If so, remember to come home. We miss you and want you back.”

I started to breathe quickly, my lungs feeling like they were shrinking. Please, I thought, PLEASE let this message end.

“And just remember,” the voice continued. “Mommy loves you.”