High School Has Its Perks

"MERRY CHRISTMAS MOTHER FUCKERS!" Ross announced. as he walked into school. The gang was a bit confused.

"Ross, Christmas was like a week ago" Leena said.

"Yeah but I got the gifts for you guys that I was talking about" he said. He opened up his back pack and gave out the gifts; Just tiny envelopes. They all opened it up.

"OH MY GOD TICKETS TO KANYE WEST!" Bryan shouted. He attacked Ross in a giant hug, they all did.

"Yeah it's right after graduation" Ross said. They let go of him.

"This is a dream come true!" Sean said. Joe got on his knees and bowed down to Ross.

"Get on your knees mother fuckers" Ross said. The gang laughed but they did it anyways. Ross smiled at his authority. "Ok, you can get up"

"How was your vacation?" Ross asked them.

"Well I went to canada to go skiing with my family" Bryan said. "And it sucks cause I can't ski for shit" Leena chuckled.

"My brother took us all to California since he loves it so much" Leena said. "It's pretty awesome. I got to meet a few of his friends from the LAPD. Damn, they're so gorgeous!"

"Why did he even transfer here?"

"I'm still figuring it out" Leena said. "But now Lauren can have her wishes. I think she got pulled over on purpose just to see him"

"That's Lauren Kramer for you" Bryan said. "Did you hear Emma and Mike are back together?" Joe sighed.

"Yeah I heard" he said. "Disappointed but whatever. I knew it wouldn't work anyways"

"We'll find a better girl for you" Sean said. He patted Joe on the back. "Someone just as gorgeous"

"In this school?" Ross asked. "There's no one as gorgeous as Emma Holm in the universe"

"Thanks for being supportive"

"You're welcome, that's what I'm here for"

"You know what's awesome?" Bryan asked. "On Saturday I went in to get my pay check and they hired a new cash register girl" he smirked. "She's hot and she goes here"

"Really?" Ross asked. "Name, age, grade" he said.

"I don't know her name. I don't know anything about her. I think she's a junior" he said. "She looks like a junior"

"Well find out mother fucker!" Ross said.

"I will" Bryan said. "I'll see you guys later, bro's night at my place, right?"

"Yup!" Bryan walked away. "So I got my Umass letter in the mail" Leena said. "I haven't opened it yet"

"Well we can open ours together" Ross said. "Cause I got mine over the weekend"

"Sweet"

Mackenzie and AJ walked down the hall holding hands. "Excuse me I have some gloating to do" Leena said. She walked over to Mac and AJ as they laughed together. "Hey Mac"

"Hey Lee"

"How was your vaca?"

"Awesome, how was yours?"

"Amazing"

"I'll talk to you later" AJ walked away. Mac and Leena smiled at each other.

"You like crabby patties don't you, Squidward?" she asked Mac. Mac laughed. "Before the break you sounded pretty sure that you were going to break up with him"

"I didn't say that" Mac said. "I just...we'd never kissed until Saturday and it was amazing and awesome and I'm so done with taking things slowly"

"Thank god, I've been holding my breath for months now" she said. "Well how awesome is he at kissing?"

"That's none of your business!"

"I dated the guy briefly" she said. "So tell me!"

"He's an amazing kisser!" Mac gushed. "He has some serious tongue skills"

"I want your life"

...

That night the gang met up at Bryan's place. "Did you seriously bake us cookies and make us pink lemonade with the fucking umbrellas again?" Ross asked. "Do I have to ask it?"

"Nope" Bryan put a tray down on his living room coffee table. "I was bored after work so I decided to get crafty"

"So did you find out about that new girl yet?" Sean asked.

"Yeah. As Ross requested. Her name is Sydney, she's a sophomore and she's fifteen" Bryan said. "And she is hot hot hot!" Leena chuckled.

"So when are you going to make the move?"

"She seems kind of...hesitant to flirt with me" he said. "So we'll see"

"I'm looking for a girlfriend, too" Joe said. "I'm ready to get back in the scene and date again"

"Well that's good for you" Ross said. "Do you want a slutty freshman or a bitchy junior?"

"Uh, never mind I will continue masterbating"

"Good choice"

"Are we going to open our Umass letters yet?" Ross asked. Leena reached into her bag and pulled out her letter. "Ok, on 3. 1-2-3!" Ross and Leena both tore into their letters. They began reading quickly.

"I GOT IN!" Ross exclaimed. Leena sighed. She covered her face. Bryan and the others didn't know what to say. What do you say to the girl that's been rejected by her top two schools?

...

The next day in school, Sydney and Shay sat outside their lockers talking before the first bell of the day rang.

"Bryan freaking Matthews keeps flirting with me at work" Sydney started. "He's so cute, I just can't help myself" Shay chuckled. "Who would you rather date, Bryan Matthews, star of the football team or Dillon Zales"

"Well" Shay started. "Bryan's great but Sohee dated him so it's against like every girl/sister-code in the book" she said. "Dillon is great, he's not as attractive as Bryan but his brother Sean is hotter than Bryan in my opinion so...hmmm. Based on personality I'd choose Dillon" she said.

"Personality is your tie-breaker?" Syd asked. "Just look at him!"

"Bryan wins looks, but Dillon wins brains" she said. "Dillon is awesome. He's sweet and compassionate and amazing. Bryan will leave you if you're not what he wants in a partner" she said. "Or he'll get scared and chicken out. I've seen it. At least Dillon cares about the girls feelings"

"I guess you're right"

"You guess?" Shay asked. "You KNOW I'm right"

"Ok fine, I KNOW you're right" Syd said. "So hows life with Gary?"

"Pretty chill. He's no Dillon or Bryan but he's still great" she said.

"Well that's good"

"Hey, do you know Jenny Hartman?"

"Jenny Hartman the junior?" Syd asked. "Yeah, why?"

"She called me a snob the other day. Why?"

"You look kind of snobbish from your clothes" she said. "But when you get to know you, you're just like anyone else. Jenny Hartman is the snob. She thinks she runs the school or something"

"She keeps talking shit about me and it's annoying" Shay said. "I wish I knew what I did to piss her off so much"

...

Stephen watched as Karo went inside the local convenient store. He had his four closest friends in his car with him.

"As soon as she gets out we jump her ass" Stephen said. "I can't let her sit innocently after what she did to me"

"Stephen, one last time" his friend Tommy started. "Are you sure she's the one who put the drugs in your locker?"

"OF COURSE SHE IS!" Stephen yelled. "She's the only one I know who'd have access to that kind of cargo" he said. "I spent six weeks in that hell" he said. "I can't let her get away with it" Tommy and the others sit back and waited. They weren't in the mod to cross him.

Karo walked out from the store and started walking towards her car. Stephen got out of the car. He put his hand over the knife in his pocket.

"Let's do this" he said.

...

Ross left Joe's home. They had a little bro's night at his house after ice hockey practice. Leena spent the two hours they spent together moping and complaining about how she didn't get into Umass or Northeastern.

Ross chuckled. Joe became the assertive one when he told Leena to stop being a little bitch since Joe didn't get into any of the four colleges he's applied to so far. It was awkward, but it helped. He guessed they all needed a wake-up call sometimes. Leena would get into a good school, she just had to wait a little longer.

Ross stopped at a local convienet store to get some ciggarettes. He wasn't 18 yet but Mike works the register and would do anything for him, especially since it's just a box of smokes.

He didn't even get to the door. He saw a trail of blood on the ground, or at least he thought it was blood. I mean why would someone paint this on the ground? it's not art it just looks like a puddle of blood.

He followed the trail for a few feet then into an alley. He saw Karolina propped against a wall looking unconscious. Someone must have dragged here there.

"Karo!" he exclaimed. She was unresponsive. He was shaking at his core. He didn't know what to do. Who's supposed to teach you about what to do when your friend gets stabbed?

He sat down next to her and tried to find the source of the bleeding. All he had to do was open her jacket to see one stab mark in her lower chest area. "Damn it" he cried. He cupped her face in his hand. "Karo" he said. She seemed a bit responsive now. She opened her eyes slightly. She tried to say something but only blood came out from her mouth. "Oh my god" he said. "Oh my god" he repeated. He reached into his pocket for his phone but he left it in his car.

He ran back to his car, grabbed his phone but he was shaking. He couldn't press the buttons. Was he going into shock or something? His heart was racing, he was sweating, he was shaking all over. He messed up calling 911. He was just smearing blood onto his phone. He ran into the closest store and saw Mike at the register.

"Call 911!" he exclaimed.

"Why?"

"Just do it!" Ross left the store and ran back to Karo. "Karo hold on" he sat next to her again. He didn't know what to do but he had to do something. "Karo hold on, I promise everything's going to be ok" she gripped his arm and squeezed it, or tried. Her grip wasn't strong.

Mike ran outside with his phone and saw this disaster. "Oh my god" he said. He couldn't handle it either.

"CALL 911!" Ross screamed. "Do it!" Mike quickly started to type the numbers onto his phone, but like Ross this scene was terrifying. Ross held Karo's hand. "Mike get me a cloth or something!" he said. Mike nodded and ran into the building. "Do not give up on me Karolina, you better not give up on me!" more blood was coming from her mouth, she could barely keep her eyes open. "Karo please!" he said. "I can't do this again. I can't let someone die" he started to cry. "Please" he said in a whisper. Mike came running with a towel he found.

Ross took the towel and pressed it to the wound. "Does she have a pulse?" Mike asked. Ross felt Karo's neck.

"It's faint. Can you get me some water and bandages?" he asked. "Quick!" Mike ran off again. Ross held the towel on her wound and pressed down. He had no idea what he was doing but he had to do something. Karo's grip was starting to let up. "Karo, hold on" he said. "Hold on" she started to close her eyes slowly. "Karo!" he shouted. He felt her pulse again, it was barely there. "I can't do this" he started to cry.

He started to hear the sounds of an ambulance in the background. He took a breath of relief. "Everything's going to be ok, Karo" he told her. Her eyes were closed now and she barely had a pulse. He didn't want to think she was dead, though, so he pretended in his mind that she was still alive and could hear him. "Everything's going to be just fine, we're going to get on that ambulance and you're going to live to graduate and we're going to have a kick ass time at graduation" he said. "We're going to have a giant party, we're going to get high of course. It'll be what we waited four years for" he said. "So you can't die on me" he said. "You can't die on me, Karo" he could see the flashing lights of the ambulance. "What am I going to do if you die?" he asked himself. He could feel a tear running down his face. "Leena will be a mess, so will Brook" he started. He used his free sleeve to wipe his tears. "We can't take another death" eh said sadly. "We just can't take another trauma. We're not built for that. I'm seventeen years old for fucks sake. It's just not fair"

- end -