Chapter Three: "I Didn't Know The Jocks Pimped Hoes."
WELL, the day has come where I have to show team spirit and attend the boys' first football game of the year.
It 's a lot warmer today than it was earlier in the week, so I sufficed today's attire with white ripped shorts and a Panic! At The Disco sideless t-shirt. It's honestly one of my favourite shirts, even though I'm not one who usually wearsâlet alone ownsâa whole lot of band shirts.
The school was let off half a day early than usual to prep the fields and the fans. The cheerleaders were out in the team dressing room to get their stupid cheers ready, and the boys were in the locker rooms going through positions and how the game will work thorough, mathematically.
I guess having a math genius and a PE teacher as your sport coach has its perks.
I'm sat beside Lacey and Johnny on the top of the bleachers. It's now 2:30, and the game starts at 3:00. Jody, Jason, and Casey arrive all together a few minutes later, and situate themselves around us. Casey nudges my arm from behind me, and I shake my head furiously. Today is not the day I want to discuss myself. This is Justin's night, and I won't let anyone ruin it.
"So, who's all coming 'round tonight?" I ask the group, turning my body slightly to get everyone's attention. We all decided that we'll stay the night at my place tonight, and throw a small party tomorrow. I've already cleared it up with my dad; as long as the house looks the same as it did when he left, then he doesn't care what I do.
I know my mom won't be happy about it, but I got a message from her this morning saying that she'll be staying until Sunday night; Monday morning at the very latest. Not a check-in, just an update.
"I am," Johnny cheers.
"Yep, me too," the two girls chirp in.
"I thought we were having our own night tonight!" Casey frowns.
"Got a problem with me hanging out with my girlfriends instead of my boyfriend?" Lacey says with raised eyebrows and crossed arms.
"Well, since she's going I guess I have to, too." Casey grumbles. "You owe me."
"I don't owe you anything," she says. "You still need to pay for the light you broke in the kitchen."
"It wasn't my fault! Your idiot brother threw the damn ball at my face and it bounced off and broke your mom's stupid lava lamp."
"I know it's stupid but you stained the carpet!"
"It wasn't my fault, Lace!" Casey exclaims, flailing his arms around. I needed to duck a few times to avoid getting punched in the face. "Your stupid brother hates me!"
"My brother is three, he doesn't even know what a door is called."
"Yeah, well he sure knows hate." He grumbles.
"I'll have to talk to my parents about tomorrow. My sister is coming down from Jersey and we don't know when she'll be arriving in." Jason says, cutting off Lacey and Casey's little argument.
An argument like theirs is never uncommon. Casey has a point, I'm pretty sure her brother hates him, since whenever we go over, he jumps into Jason and Justin's arms, but punches Casey in the gut and sticks his tongue out at him whenever he sees him. Maybe it's because it's another boy in their lives since it's just Lacey, her brother Lax, and their mom. Her father died last year, so maybe he's just thinking that boys aren't allowed if their father wasn't. I think he means that he just doesn't want their dad to be replaced.
A smart little bugger, Lax is.
"Okay, cool." I grin.
We all start having conversation for the next while until the game starts. The warning whistle goes off a few minutes after our team, the Sea Hawks, storm out of our school hooting and shouting.
I notice Justin's figure, which looks shaken and flustered. I notice his stiffness and see that he's mumbling to himself.
He's giving hisself a lecture.
He catches my eye, and instead of running to their coach, runs over to us instead.
I give him a large smile, shaking my head and toss him his water bottle. The flustered and annoyed look on his face drops immediately. He didn't bring a refresher, I think mischievously. He's so forgetful like that with himself, but he's the total opposite with his friends. I guess that proves how much he cares about others instead of his own wellbeing.
"Don't know what I'd do without you." He breathes, taking the bottle swiftly from my hands and kisses my cheek.
"Go get 'em, tiger." I reply, and push him off to his teammates.
The game starts five minutes after. Kickoff starts, and I watch patiently as the bodies run and collide with one another, tackling and blocking the opposing team. I catch my best friend getting hit from behind as he goes in for the pass, and I can physically feel his pain radiate. My face scrunches up and my hands collapse over my lips and a groan escapes. That's gotta hurt. But, Justin recovers like nothing happened and chases after his attacker.
After what feels like eternity, Justin gets tossed the ball and makes a break for the yard line. He dodges other players easily, while his mates prevent them from getting to him. I scream and jump out of my seat once Justin throws the ball down at the touchdown, and the whole crowd follows, but not half as loud as our friends are.
Stacy's deadly glare meets gaze with my victorious one as she cheers and bounces in her miniskirt. I shrug her off, and continue cheering as yet another touchdown is made by one of the others.
An hour and a half later, the score's are nail-bitingly close. The last time remaining has the tally up at 43-43 for the Sea Hawks. If we get one more goal, then we win. If the Urchins, our rival team, get the point, then we won't be having all too much a blast tonight.
"I gotta pee," I say to Lacey, who is at the edge of her seat just as badly as I am, but for different reasons. "I'll be back."
"But the scores are tied! You have to hold it, you can't leave yet." She argues, glancing at me from the corner of her eye before turning her full attention back to the game.
"I've been holding it for the last ten minutes. I can't choose when my bladder needs its release." I roll my eyes. Nonetheless, I am ignored so I step off the bleachers and jog my way to the bathrooms. The school is empty, so I rush to the stalls and relieve myself of my misery. Running back, I'm just outside the fences when a whistle is blown and screams and cheers are erupted through the stadium. I turn to see the commotion, and see Justin running at me full speed and tackling me into a hug. I get thrown off and lose my balance, but he catches me quickly and begins laughing.
"We won, we won, JâLo!" He shouts, and I laugh along with him, but squeal when he lifts me onto his shoulder and carries me on the turf, hooting. His mates all surround us, and I'm thrown into the air by the whole football team. I try to stop myself from screaming, so I just gasp and laugh as they all chant Justin's name.
"Justin! Justin! Justin!" They all cheer, and my cheeks flush.
"You got the last one?" I yell over the screaming, down at my best friend who is holding my rear as others grab my counterparts and start to crowd surf me. Oh no, please not this. I can't help but begin giggling though. This feels pretty great, just as long as they don't drop me.
"I did," he yells back, and I blush.
My best friend just made the winning touchdown, and he's a sophomore on a senior team!
The crowd quickly dispersed and I was let down. Stacy's sluts glared at me as I was the one getting carried by the football team and not them. Justin said his farewells and walked to the showers, saying he'll come over once we're ready and dressed. The two girls came back to my house with me to get ready, and as soon as the clock hit 6:00, the doorbell rang and I wobbled down the stairs in the heels I was forced to wear, and opened the door.
My jaw dropped.
"Daddy!" I squealed, and pressed myself into him in a warm embrace. "You aren't supposed to be home yet."
"I couldn't let you go to a dance without your father being there to see how beautiful you looked. Which, by the way, is a total understatement. You look absolutely stunning, honey."
"Thanks, dad." I smile up at him.
"So, where are those boys of yours?"
"Justin's mom is driving them soon." I answer happily.
Seeing my dad here on Homecoming night feels amazing. I'm glad he came home early to just see me. It makes me feel loved, and I couldn't thank him more for it. The fact that the dress I chose yesterday fits me amazingly made my eyes bulge out of my head. Lacey was a thousand percent right, and I did think I looked great. Out of the few times I had to wear dresses these past couple years, I couldn't help but think that tonight is the best I've ever looked. My long dirty blonde hair was curled, and my grey eyes looked lighter with the shades of eye shadow gunk that Jody put on my lids. I couldn't thank my best friends anymore than I already have.
Their hands were magic wands.
"Great! I haven't missed the lecture yet." He grins, winking at me. I roll my eyes and follow him inside, closing the door behind him.
"Am I cancelling the party tomorrow?" I ask. As much as I love my dad, he's one of those who thinks he is still a kid and a party crasher. He claims he was the life of the party in his teenage years, and the fact that my own father could be trashing a party in his own house makes my stomach turn. I don't need to be embarrassed about how my father lives in the party world for the rest of my life.
"Nope, I already got it covered." He smiles. "I'll be hanging out with Eddie at the pub."
"Oh, okay then. Cool; thanks dad."
"Yep. Now, where are those friends of yours?"
As if on cue, my two best friends step down the stairs and walk into the living room. Jody's black hair is done up beautifully in a waterfall braid, and Lacey's green eyes are popping out more than the colour yellow in a sea of black. They look amazing.
I'm seriously starting to underestimate myself right now.
"My, my! You girls look lovely. Jody, you clean up very well when you put the effort in." My father laughs, and winks at her. Out of all of us combined, Jody is definitely the messier one. I don't remember what her floor looks like, and I just came from there.
The downfall of that?
She cleaned her room two days ago.
"Ah, Mr. May, always a pleasure to get your opinion on un-concerning matters." Jody retorts with a grin. We talk about each other's outfits, and before I know it, the doorbell rings once more, and my father opens it wide to reveal three handsome looking boys.
"Well, don't you troublemakers look dashing." My father shakes hands with Justin, who shakes his head with a smirk. Justin has a silver tie hung around his neck, his white tuxedo looking forever adorable on him. It hugs his muscles no doubt, and if I weren't best friends with him, I'd drool.
Cheesily, the boys wanted to 'match' with our dresses, so they simply asked us the colour and matched their ties with our outfits. I have to say, it sounds cliché but it really does go with the dates. Jason is wearing a Jade coloured tie to match Jody, and Casey is wearing a violet one.
The boys pass my dad and stare at us in awe.
I already knew I didn't have to worry about a date, since Justin and I would be going to all dances together unless someone else interfered and asked. Even though we both knew we were going as friends, I couldn't help but blush at his face. He looked handsome as ever with his hair gelled back, and he was taking no shame in checking me out with a happy face. I smiled back at him then changed my glance to the girls.
Lacey's fixing her brown hair before fully stepping out in front of the boys. Justin looks at her with a wide smile, but not as wide as it was with me. Jason's jaw drops once he notices his date, and Casey's speechless.
"Wow. . ." He finally manages to breathe out.
"You look absolutely great," Jason winks at Jody, who blushes under his gaze.
"Thank you," she says shyly, "you don't look so bad yourself. Your tie looks amazing."
"So does your dress."
I see Lacey's blush intensifying as Casey finally uses his brain and whispers something in his girlfriend's ear, making her face go red and he smirks.
Why these two are on and off is beyond me. They're literally perfect for each other. They both annoy the shit out of me, and their personalities are scarily alike, that I could mistake them for siblings.
"Alright, alright, get out of here before you miss your night." My dad interrupts, and literally throws me out the door, but luckily Justin and Jason steadied me.
"I'll see you when I get home!" I yell back from the end of my driveway.
"Have fun! Don't do anything stupid!"
***
"You guys did a great job this year," Johnny compliments Lacey as we enter the gym where the Ball is being held.
This year's theme of the Homecoming Ball is Hollywood. Pretty basic, but the stage was decorated like those winning Grammy's, and if we weren't in a small high school gym, then it'd definitely feel like we're at the Grammy Awards. There's a swarm of teens surrounding our gym, and many more inside. All girls how flowy ball gowns on, the men in tuxedos or fancy button up shirts. The decorations are formally displayed; the snack and drink bar being the corner off to the side away from the dance floor. There's a bunch of stage lights of all different colours circling the gym in wacky directions.
It looked like a nightclub by the way all the flashes were going.
The DJ is standing up on the stage off in the corner, mixing up some beats. The current song was Bang Bang by Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, and Jessie J. The song just started, and girls were already dragging their dates to go and dance.
"I'm going to go find us a table." Jody yells through the music as she taps my arm. I nod my head and watch as her and Jason dissipate through the swarm of students. I notice Stacy and her date, who happens to be Ian from her mid-hallway make-out sesh on the first day, and watch as she sways to the beat steadily. She catches my eye and gives me a disgusted smirk before turning her attention back to her friends and dancing. I clutch onto Justin's arm, who in return gives me a comforting squeeze.
"Don't over-think about it, JâLo. Just have fun, alright? I'll be here the whole time. She can't do anything." Justin whispers in my ear, and I hesitantly nod at his words. He is right; I can't let anyone get the better of me tonight. Any other day I probably would, but not tonight. I didn't waste money to look awful, and I didn't fight with my girlfriends forever just to go and ruin it by sulking because Stacy wants to make a scene and get a reaction out of me.
"You're right." I agree, and give him an assuring nod. He grins down at me and just as he's about to say something in reply, I Know You Want Me by Pitbull blasts through the system and I drag my best friend onto the dance floor. "I love this song! Come on." I grab his arm, and drag him to the center. Justin laughs, and connects his fingers with mine as we start dancing to the song.
I notice from the corner of my eye, Lacey and Casey jumping beside us, screaming at the top of her lungs, "One, two, three, four, uno, do, tres, cuatro!"
I laugh as we all start to sing along to the song amongst other students. I find it particularly easy since I come from Spanish origin, so singing the song isn't as difficult as it would be for someone who can't roll their R's.
Like Lacey, for example.
"Rumba si, ella quiere su Rumba como, Rumba si, ella quiere su Rumba como!" She screams at the top of her lungs, barely making out the pronunciation right.
"Si e' verdad que tu ere guapa, yo te voy a poner gozar, tu tiene la boca grande dala ponte a jugar, como!" I tag along, letting the words roll off my tongue.
Lacey turns around to glare at me, and dances on closer to us. "Stop being so Spanish!" She exclaims, and I roll my eyes at her.
She's always been jealous of my Spanish background, and loves the accent I have with it. My mother and father were both born in Mexico, and moved to the United States about three months after I was born. Then moved back to Mexico. Then finally moved back to the USA when I was twelve. They taught me the language fluently, but English as well, so I could at least communicate with other people. On the plus side, if I'm mad, I can scream all I want at them in Spanish and they wouldn't even know what I'm saying! But, downside too, is that I wasn't taught English until we moved here again in my preteen years, so some of it is still taking some getting used to.
But, even when I'm just frustrated or out of thought, I have a bad habit of bouncing from English ranting to Spanish. It confuses a lot of people.
"I'm sorry that you were born American." I say, rolling my eyes.
"I don't care about that!" She argues, "Teach me your Mexican ways!"
"You just want me to teach you how to roll your R's so you can purr properly." I point out, and she doesn't deny it as she shrugs.
"So? It's cool!"
"Just shut up and dance." I laugh, brushing her complains off as we continue to sway.
The song concludes, and a few more pass when I start to get tired. Justin's starting to sweat, so I excuse myself to go get hydrated.
I'm grabbing drinks for the group when a certain hoe comes up to me and reaches over me, nearly spilling the drinks in my hands all over my dress. I clench my jaw as I see Stacy shrug carelessly as she purposely gets in my way.
"Can you, like, not be near me? There's this thing called a personal zone, and you're trespassing." I hiss, placing the drinks down to prevent any 'accidents.'
Stacy whips her hair around and scoffs. "And what are you supposed to be? Pretty? Honey, this may be Hollywood themed but you aren't some beautiful celebrity. Look around; you're probably going to get the 'Least Liked Dress' Award."
"Puta." I snarl, and grab the drinks, brushing my shoulder against her arm and storming to the group. I feel tears prickle at the back of my head, but I keep reassuring myself that that's what she wants, and I'm certainly not giving it to her.
Once I place the drinks down, an arm finds its way on my shoulder and spins me around.
"What the fuck did you just call me?" Says the one and only, and I furrow my eyebrows and back away from her. Personal space, honey.
"I called you an angel." I say nonchalantly, sarcasm laced in my words.
"That's bullshit." She spits. "I don't know what foreign country you're from, but why don't you do us all a favour and go back to whatever alien planet it is and stay the hell there."
I refuse to let tears fall, so I stand my ground and bulk up, looking more intimidating. Whether it's actually working, I'm not sure.
All I know, though, is that a crowd is starting to form.
I don't see my friends, which is honestly starting to make me worry because hers are suddenly showing up. A large circle is being formed around us, leaving enough space in case a fight breaks out. I'm not sure what they're hoping for, but cat fights definitely isn't on my agenda, and so help everyone, she'll be getting a good beating from my friends if she even tries to engage in physical harassment.
"Get out of my face, Stacy, or else."
"Or else what?" Her date, Ian, interferes. Great. Just what I needed. Another one of Stacy's trolls.
"I didn't know the jocks pimped hoes." A familiar voice says, and I turn my head to see Casey making his way beside me, standing up for me.
"I didn't know the nerds pimped aliens." Stacy retorts.
"At least her ass is real." Casey growls, and I let out a chortling laugh. That is so, so very true. I seriously have no idea how many butt lifts that girl needed to get just to get that small little bump on her rear end.
Stacy starts saying French words, when in which I start calling her a whole bunch of unpleasant words in Spanish, everyone looking confused as I spill my thoughts. This school doesn't offer Spanish as an option for learning a different language, so luckily for me, most people probably have no idea what I'm saying.
Besides my small group of friends.
Suddenly like they got a secret SOS, my close mates show up and step up in front of me. Lacey and Jody start snickering as they listen to what I have to say, which is typically just your English version of a slut who has a wide-stretched, worn out organ that has been around every guy's piece of junk. And some other things.
"What the hell is she saying?!" Stacy exclaims. "Don't any of you idiots know what she's saying?"
"We do," Justin laughs. "You're a pretty slutty slut, Stacy. Learn the language and see if you can catch on."
"Maybe I will!" She growls, and storms off.
"She is such a poo-da, am I right?" Lacey grins.
"It's puta." I correct her. "Puta. Sounds more like Punta or poon-ta than poo-da." I laugh.
"What the hell does that mean, anyway?" Says Jason.
Jason, well, he's the one who struggles more with the language than the others. Though I know he secretly doesn't care because I talk mostly English around him anyway, he still figured he'd try to learn just because everyone else does.
"She called her a slut." Justin explains, and Jason just snickers.
***
The rest of the night went uneventful after the little heated argument with Stacy. I was applauded by my friends since I stood up for myself, by myself, without any source of waterworks. Though it was very tempting and hard not to, I gained little confidence from that. Many in a few years time, I can actually not cry when someone calls me names.
It's now nearly midnight and the school is just starting to clear up. The gang and I are settling down and making plans on tomorrow.
"So your parents are cool with you throwing a party tomorrow?" Jason asks me as we start gathering our things.
"Yeah. My dad's going out with friends and my mom is probably still in New York. As long as I clean up my dad doesn't really care." I answer him, not really paying attention.
Jason doesn't answer, so I glance over at him to see him looking at me very confusedly. I furrow my eyebrows at him and frown. What did I do? Did I say something wrong?
"What?"
"I have no idea what the hell you just said. All I got from that was 'friends' and 'New York.' The rest is gibberish." Jason tells me, and I purse my lips. I must have spoken to him in Spanish. Sometimes I don't even realize I'm speaking it. It just flows out of my mouth. To me I'm saying what I want to say, but I guess not.
"Sorry." I mumble. "I just said that my parents will be gone. My dad's going out and my mom's in New York."
"See, now was that so hard to explain?" Jason grumbles, but I know there was no seriousness in it.
"Is this so hard to understand, Jason?" I say, and he just glares at me.
"I hope whatever you said, meant 'Jason is sexy', since that would make so much sense on why you put my name in a Gibberish sentence."
"In your dreams." I scoff.
"Yes, very much so." He grins.
"Really? So you understand that but nothing else?" I say crossing my arms as everyone else looks well amused at our discussion. It's nothing unordinary, however I usually argue with Casey and not Jason. But, I guess when it comes to speaking other languages, it's definitely Jason who I argue with more than Casey. At least Casey can hold an easy conversation.
"I know some things! It's not my fault I'm a slow learner!" He protests.
"Or a terrible listener." Jody snickers.
"Oh, come on! Not you too!" He says exasperatedly. "Okay, new rule. If it's after 8:00 at night, everyone speaks English. You hear me, Brookie? E-N-G-L-I-S-H."
"I heard you the first time, you idiot." I chuckle. "But, alright. I should get an exception though, because sometimes I don't even realize I changed languages."
Jason huffs and links his fingers with Jody's. "Fine."
I grin at him and lead us out to the car waiting for us.
"Hey, mom." Justin smiles as he welcomes his mother and takes the passenger seat.
"Hey, honey! How was Homecoming?" She says with a wide smile.
Justin returns the look and answers, "Not bad."
"That's great! So, where am I dropping everyone off at?"
Once Justin told his mom where we were all staying, Jody, Jason, and Lacey got dropped off at Casey's. Turns out, we just agreed we'd all go home instead of camping at my place in case my mom was home and moodyâotherwise they'd probably all be kicked out anyway.
After, Justin's mom dropped him and I off at my place. The lights were off, signalling that nobody was home, or awake.
I just finish taking off tonight's makeup and dress, when I step out of the room and see Justin shimmying out of his pants into his boxers, and grabs a pair of sweatpants from his own personal drawer in my dresser, throwing them on. He gives me a small smile as I throw on shorts and one of his shirts.
"You did great tonight." He speaks softly in a cute Spanish tone.
"I'm surprised I didn't cry," I tell him. "I was so close to when she called me an alien."
"You're just as much human as I am." He assures me, and I just give him a smile in return, hugging him quickly before jumping into bed. Justin follows suit, and turns off the bedside lamp.
"Thank you." I whisper.
"It's your life, Brooklyn. Don't let other people run it."
And with Justin's encouraging words, I'm falling into a slumber.