Lie In The Grass, Next To The Mausoleum

"Nice to meet you." I smiled, shaking Pete’s hand.
His eyes locked with mine and I felt nervous all of a sudden, so I looked away and he turned to Siobhan, offering his hand.
They made brief introductions before Pete turned back to me, grinning.

"I've got to run to the drugstore to get some batteries. You guys wanna come along?"
Siobhan looked to me for an answer, and I shrugged.

"Love to."

We walked down the sidewalk in silence for a few moments, dodging the occasional sprinkler and kicking pebbles into the street. It was incredibly awkward. Pete finally broke the tension by turning to smirk at Siobhan and me, piping up with

"So is there any particular reason you two were on the roof in your skivvies, or is that some kind of Winnetka thing?"
Siobhan and I burst out laughing, relaxing immediately.

"We were sunbathing!" Siobhan giggled "And they were bathing suits, not 'skivvies'"
Pete put his hands up in fake defense and grinned.

"Sorryyy. Sunbathing, huh?"

I laughed. "Yes! Sunbathing. I need a tan, in case you haven't noticed."
Pete took this opportunity to scan my body; I could see his eyes drinking in my long legs and small waist, the curve of my hips and chest. The hazel orbs finally made their way up my long neck and to my face, where they met my eyes fearlessly. He raised his eyebrows.

"You are pretty damn white, girl." He said, his face crinkling into a smile.
Siobhan snickered and I punched Pete playfully on the arm, grinning.

"Oooh, abuse!" He said, making a sad face and rubbing the spot I "punched", and I put my hand on his arm casually.

"And that’s why I’m in therapy." I said, winking to let him know I was kidding and patting his arm. He laughed, and we fell into silence once again.

"So," Siobhan began, attempting to start another conversation. We were still a good five minutes from the drugstore, and I don’t think any of us wanted another awkward silence.
"What high school are you gonna go to?"
Pete brushed his hair out of his eyes and cleared his throat before replying.

"New Trier. I start tomorrow."
For some reason, this put me in the best mood I’d been in for days; and I couldn’t control the grin that spread across my face.

"Really? We go there too!" Siobhan said excitedly, and Pete beamed.

"No shit? What year?"

"Juniors." I supplied, feeling I should insert myself back into the conversation about now.
"You?"

"Same." Pete said, and I grinned again, both anticipating and dreading him looking at me. His eyes locked on mine for the third time, and I blushed a little as he declared

"Well! I guess we’ll be seeing more of each other then!"
I didn’t dare say "I sure hope so", as I was tempted to do, but smiled back at him kindly, nodding.

By this time, we were outside the doors of the drugstore, and Pete exclaimed
"Oh! Maybe you guys know my best friend Casey, he's a junior at New Trier too!"

I could hear the disdain dripping from Siobhan’s voice as she replied.

"Casey Greene?"
Apparently, Pete didn’t catch it, because he grinned broadly as we made our way down the electronics aisle.

"Yeah, that’s the one! We’ve been best friends for years; we played rec soccer together!"
Siobhan nodded, looking like she had just smelled a skunk or something, so I piped up.

"Siobhan and Casey dated. For two months."
For Siobhan, the memory was not a pleasant one. Casey Greene was the school pimp. All the girls wanted him and all the guys wanted to be him. Basically, an all around jerk-off. For instance, he couldn’t pronounce or spell Siobhan’s name, so he called her Rachel. Even while they were dating.
When questioned about this, Siobhan usually growls "It was cute at the time."
Anyways, there’s a little back story for you.

"Ooh. There’s a party killer." Pete said, obviously fighting off a fit of laughter.

"It's okay, you can laugh. I did." I grinned, and Pete snickered, still trying to hold it down.

"Well, here’s the thing. Casey is meeting me here around… Ooh, I'd say now." Pete said, and the look on Siobhan’s face was absolutely priceless. She looked around wildly for the nearest exit, but I grabbed her arm before she could make a break for it.

"C'mon baby, you're gonna have to face him sooner or later." I said soothingly. The truth was, I liked this Pete Wentz character. Like a lot. And I didn’t want to leave.
Pete smiled at her apologetically before pointing down the aisle.

"And there he is."

Casey Greene looked exactly the same as three months ago, at the start of summer vacation. Tall. Dark. Scruffy. Gorgeous. Sexy. I could go on for days.
And the hard thing was, I actually liked the guy! He was a total ass hole, no doubt about it, but he was an entertaining guy to be around.
But when he dumped Siobhan the day before summer vacation began, I was forced to lose all contact and give him the silent treatment. It was my duty as best friend.

He bounded up to our little threesome and, grinning (he was always grinning like a madman), hugged Pete, slapping him on the back.

"Hey man, how've you been?! Haven’t seen you for a while!" He yelled, then noticed Siobhan and beamed obliviously.

"Rachel!" He yelled, and pulled her into a hug too, smiling the whole time. Siobhan eyed him suspiciously after he released her, scooching closer to me like a puppy.

"Al!" He yelped, spotting me. Casey always called me Al, don’t ask me why. Something to do with Al Sharpton, because my name was Evangeline and Al Sharpton was Evangelical. I dunno. Casey’s brain works in mysterious ways.
He held his arms out to me and I squeezed Siobhan’s arm comfortingly before accepting his hug, grinning. Casey turned to Pete, pointing at me.

"I like this chick. She's a cool cat." He said, slapping me on the back, and I laughed. Casey was such a moron. Pete nodded, also grinning, and looked at me.

"I like her too."

Suddenly, the rest of the school year looked a whole lot brighter.