The Untitled Diary of a Girl Named Bones

I was leaning on Erin, who was sitting on Jon. Tom was sitting to my left, and occasionally, feeding me a disgustingly greasy French fry. We had agreed on a truce, and coexist on a strictly platonic level after my little revenge episode earlier that morning. Brittany was also in our booth, lying across Tom, Erin, Jon, Brendon, and I who were crammed in one side of a booth in the mall food court.

Aimee, Christine, Bill, Ryan (who was noticeably moping, probably at Tom and I), and Spencer, were shoved into the other side of the table. Obviously, this booth was not meant for the eleven people we were squeezing around the poor, dilapidated table.

There was no reason for Ryan to be so owlish, like he had been since Tom and I had decided to be good friends. He obviously wanted me to start some kind of spiteful revenge-war. I wasn’t up for that kind of drama, so I was ignoring him until he snapped out of whatever funk he was in.

There had been a fairly long, comfortable silence, the only apparent noise in the food court was the bustling of workers and people coming and going. We had been sitting, all distracted by our own thoughts until Christine burst out, “Is cotton candy really….candy?”

I gave her a blank ‘what the hell’ look, and she stared back insolently, apparently expecting an answer. Bill scratched his head, and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Erin started laughing, shifting her weight on Jon, causing him some…..discomfort.

“Of course it is, Christine, it’s sugary and obviously teeth-rotting! It has to be candy”, Aimee explained in all seriousness, putting a hand on Christine’s shoulder.

I rolled my eyes and pressed my forehead against the table. My friends are morons.

I felt Tom, shift and lean down to whisper in my ear. “You know, they’re not that bad. Bill tends to think he has to embarrass me at every opportunity. He’s only being quiet now because he likes Christine,” his breath tickled my ear and neck. I felt a hot shiver run all the way up and down my spine.

I smiled and looked him in the eye as he pulled away. He winked at me, and I giggled quietly both at the fact that I knew the feelings Christine had for Bill were mutual and the whole “tingles and hot/cold” feeling from Tom.

It was strangely addicting.

I looked over and smiled at Christine and Bill, who were muttering quietly to themselves about some new Final Fantasy video game. Christine noticed my gaze, and gave a worried look. I must have had my ‘planning’ face on, because she went from worried to deathly scared. I giggled.

I probably should have noticed the fact that steam was practically pouring out of Ryan’s ears, as well as his fist balling on top of the table. At the time, that fact seemed so insignificant, I just ignored it. I was having fun with my friends, and I wasn’t planning on giving Ryan the satisfaction of dragging my mood down too.

Aimee and Erin, as if connected by some force, whined “I’m bored.”

Bill gave them a wide-eyed look and Tom muttered under his breath, “I thought we were supposed to be the twins.”

I laughed at him, “Coulda fooled me. You boys look nothing alike.”

Bill stuck his tongue out like a five year old, flashing the barbell in his tongue. “Yeah, he’s weird. He dresses like he stepped out of the ghetto, yet he plays guitar and has a lipring. You tell me what disorder he has.” Bill took a drink, and I heard Tom kick Bill under the table, causing Bill to spew soda all over Ryan.

Ryan gasped and stared, shocked at Bill. Bill quickly set his cup down, and started to apologize, “Ryan, I am so so so sor-“

Ryan held up his hand, “It’s fine. I’m just going to go to the bathroom. And clean up.” He poignantly glared at Tom, and then turned a slightly softer, but still scrutinizing gaze on me. He was on the outside of the crowded booth, so he slid out and stalked off to the bathroom.

“What bug crawled up his ass?”, Brendon murmured, sliding down in his seat.

Jon, taking a sip of his drink, and peeking around Erin contributed, “Tom did.”

Tom glared. I elbowed him lightly in the ribs. He cringed.

Well, I thought I did it lightly!

I clapped my hands loudly, causing my dead-to-the-world friends to look up. As well as the entire population of the mall food court….but that’s just a technicality.

“Let’s go do something!’ I decreed. I crawled over Tom, which is something I am now regretting, seeing as he probably enjoyed the half a second that I was practically straddling him.

He smirked, and held out a hand for me to pull him up. I rolled my eyes and instead pulled Brittany out instead.

“You’re a big boy, Tom. You can get up yourself,” I cooed. He made a face at me.

Which I returned.

What? I’m only seventeen. I don’t have to act like I’m an adult for another year or so.

“Come on, kids!”, I shouted, receiving glares from shoppers and workers.

Hah. This reminds me of school. Except at school, it’s teachers and students. Wow, I just anger people wherever I go.

Yay!

I grabbed Brittany’s hand and started running towards the center of the mall, where all of the major wings converged.

I stopped, out of breath, and sat down on the ledge next the fountain and shallow pool thing.

It makes sense when you see it, alright?

I panted and rested my hands on my knees, lowering my head so it was nearly level with my heart. I giggled.

Brittany and I had caught our breath and begun playing a random game of Patty Cake by the time the rest of our morons showed up, all laughing about something. Well, the rest of the morons, minus Ryan. He was probably still pouting in the boy’s room.

Christine and Bill were still arguing about whatever game they had been obsessing over while crammed in the booth. Most of the gang sat on the ground, leaning up against the little ledge.

Brittany and Spencer were the only exceptions to the whole sitting down thing. They preferred to be lame and sit on a bench. Psh.

I was trying to convince Brittany to let me sit on her when I saw Bill lightly shove Christine on the shoulder. Their argument got a bit more heated after that, and Christine shoved Bill a bit harder, but not hard enough to actually hurt. Christine began to laugh like a mad woman as Bill’s eyes got wide and he swayed, losing his balance.

In slow-motion it seemed, Bill’s expression turned from shock to malice in one quick instant, and he grabbed Christine around the waist, pulling her backward with him into the water.

There was a huge splash, and everyone in the general vicinity pretty much snapped their attention to the two idiots in the fountain.

Christine surfaced first, the look on her face bordering between incredulous and furious. Bill came up next, popping up like a seal in an ice floe, completely calm. He grinned, and then started laughing. His makeup was miraculously only slightly smudged, and his hair was dripping wet. Christine just splashed him, and attempted to stand up, but her clothes weighed her down.

I collapsed, laughing. I was laughing so hard I had started actually sobbing, leaning on Tom for support. He was laughing nearly as hard as I was, clutching his stomach.

“Hey, you kids! What the heck do you think you’re doing?” a noticeably obese security guard yelled.

Erin’s tear-filled eyes grew wide, and through her laughter she choked, “RUN!”

So, now we were laughing, running through the mall like maniacs, with two soaking wet people.

Typical.