You Give Love a Bad Name

When I walked up to Frank and Bob, Cara was standing next to them with a disapproving look on her face. I didn't even have ask what was wrong, Cara hated cigarettes and people smoking in general.

When I used to smoke, she was always on my case about me dieing from throat cancer. I guess that's one of the main reasons I've stopped; I didn't want one of my best friends worrying about me. Now, I would sneak a smoke here and there, but only when I was extremely stressed and needed to calm down. I guess you could say that I half quit, but at least I wasn't smoking two packs a week like I used to.

"Turn that frown upside down," I said in a singsong voice, putting a hand on Cara's shoulder from behind, which caused her to jump a bit.

"Way to creep up on me like that," Cara turned around to face me, punching me in the shoulder lightly. "Now that you're here, can you please talk some sense into those two? Not only are they slowly destroying their health, but they're also stupid enough to do it in school, where smoking can get you a detention in the least."

"You're not my mother, Cara. And don't act like a fucking saint, 'cause each and every one of us here knows that's not the case," Frank scowled, putting out the cigarette on the sole of his Converse nevertheless.

"You're right, I'm not your mother, or a saint for that matter, but that doesn't mean that I don't care about you and your health. That goes for you too, Mr. Bryar," Cara stared at Bob harshly until, with a sigh, he followed Frank's example. "And way to back me up here, Lena."

I raised my eyebrows and put up my hands in defense. "Hey, I'm not a hypocrite. You know how I feel about smoking; if it floats your boat, go ahead, smoke by all means, but I'm not stupid enough to ignore the consequences either."

Cara groaned as Bob and Frank high fived either other, both of them sticking their tongues out at her. "Seeing that I'm fighting a lost case here, we're moving on. Now, about Laurie's part-"

"Wait a second," I interrupted Cara with raised eyebrows. "You knew about that?"

She gave me a confused look as we started walking towards the student parking lot, where Frank's car was parked. "Yeah. Ray sent me a text during Foods, saying that we're having a party for Laurie, but wouldn't say why 'cause he said that she wanted to tell us in person. You didn't know? I was going to ditch, but I thought one hour wouldn't make much of a difference."

I turned to Frank and Bob in annoyance. "Did it ever occur to you two morons to call Cara instead, if I'm obviously not answering my phone? It's not like she couldn't pass on the message."

Frank and Bob looked at each other frowning as we neared the car.

"Well," Frank started, scratching his head, and getting out the keys, "we didn't really thi-"

"Fraaaaaaaank!"

The four of us turned around to see an attractive red haired girl, dressed in skinny jeans and a one of those loose tank tops, topped off with at least three big necklaces, dodging parked cars and students, waving frantically to get our attention.

"Shit. Someone hide me," Frank mumbled with wide eyes, pulling me in front of him.

Too late.

"Frankie! Why didn't you stop? I've been calling your name for the past two minutes, silly," the girl laughed, throwing her arms around him in a hug, as I managed to jump out of the way just in time.

Frank gulped and smiled nervously. "Oh, hi, Sandra. Sorr-"

"Manda," she corrected him, with a hurt look on her prettily made up face.

"Of course, yeah. You just look so much like my friend Sandra-" he started bullshitting his way through another one of these 'situations' that he often had.

I pursed my lips, feeling sorry for the girl. It was like watching a car crash; horrible, but so intriguing that you're not able to look away. Manda was gazing up at Frank with adoring eyes, as he 'explained' to her why he forgot to call, confidence radiating from the every cell in his body as he looked at her with a lopsided grin on his face.

"Yeah, Lena was just so upset that I had to come over comfort my best friend, you know?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. It was true that I was upset yesterday, but he was the reason. Besides, I was pretty sure that he was supposed to call her a week ago or something.

I guess Frank saw my sour expression because he hugged Manda and promised that they'd go to the movies tomorrow.

"You're an asshole, you know that?" I said bitterly, getting in the back seat with Cara, knowing that Bob liked the shotgun. "I would never use you as an excuse."

Frank sighed and placed his sunglasses on top of his head, turning around to stare me straight in the eyes. "I'm sorry, it's just that I was getting frustrated, and wanted to go away from her as soon as possible."

I rolled my eyes, biting on my bottom lip in annoyance. "Whatever, Frank."

He looked hurt, but then his face split into a wide, cheesy grin. "I love you, Lennie-poo."

I laughed despite the fact that I was still mildly angry at his antics. "Call me crazy, but I love you too."

"Awww," Bob and Cara cooed at the same time, both of them clasping their hands together.

"How cute," Cara said, in a tone of voice that my grandmother would use.

"Midgets in love," Bob added, smirking.

I snorted as Frank kicked him in the groin.

"Jesus," Bob groaned, clutching the front of his jeans. "What the fuck was that for?"

"For being an idiot," I replied, as Frank started up the car.