Tango

Chapter Two



There are some basic simple rules about lunch in a cafeteria. One is that if possible you don’t want to sit alone at the table in the corner. Two you never read a book…even if it is a good one. Lunch is a time to socialize with others. Three you sit with your own crowd. That means that geeks don’t sit with jocks and Goths don’t sit with the popular people. The only time to break these rules is if A: You are a total loner that likes to read and sit in corners, and B: If you fall into more then one crowd. I always sat with the Goths. I wasn’t one, but Aaron, Derek and my best, best, best friend Anita were. So I sat with them. Although I did wear a lot of black, there was always color hinted in my outfits. And I never did get the point of black lipstick and nail polish. It was no big deal, I wasn’t really all that popular, and I wasn’t a jock. So technically I went against the rules, but there are always loopholes.

So, as Scarlet and I went through the lunch line, I wondered what clique she was in. Noticing how people always said hello to her in passing I guessed that she was fairly popular. So that means that I would sit with her friends at the popular table.

That’s a weird word popular…at my old school most of the popular people came from rich families and wouldn’t give others the time of day. They all were clones from Banana Republic and the Gap and not many had a real talent for academics.

“That will be $3.85 dear.” The voice of the lunch lady snapped me out of my thoughts. I handed her the money that my ‘uncle’ had given me that morning. She handed me back the change and I waited for Scarlet to pay for her lunch. I then followed her to a willow tree that was in the field behind the school, directly behind the cafeteria. She disappeared under the foliage and I followed suite. There was a picnic table set up and on and around it people were sprawled eating their lunches. One was Nicholas. Everyone looked up at Scarlet and myself.

“Everyone this is my cousin Renee from Vancouver. Renee this is everyone. Come on lets eat. I’m hungry.”

“As usual.” Laughed a girl from up in the tree, “It’s a wonder how you stay so skinny doll, considering all that you do is eat, eat, eat.”

“Funny Alex. But I happen to like her just the way she is.” Replied a really good-looking guy with sandy hair who was sitting at the table. Scarlet just laughed and walked over to the guy. Kissing him she sat down beside him.

“Renee, the one really important person that you need to know here is this guy to my left. This is my boyfriend Ben. So you don’t need to pay attention to Alex up in the tree. She’s just full of hot air and hot dogs.” Scarlet was smiling so I knew she must not have meant it seriously.

“I heard that!” came a mock-angry voice from the tree. Looking up I could see that Alex was climbing down. I could now see that she had curly brown hair and rosy cheeks. She seemed really nice, and I was soon proved right. “Don’t listen to your cousin Renee. I am the person to know here. And to prove it, I’ll introduce you to everyone properly. The two redheads are the twins Brad and Meagan. The curly blonde is Kelly and the brunette next to her is Jessica. That’s Leo with the dreads and his girlfriend Dakota beside him. And over there is Nicholas with the guitar, Blake is the red spikes, Tom is the blonde, and Cory with the sunglasses and toque in the middle of September, which is against school rules young man.” She said in one long breath, chastising Cory as she was ending. “Together those four and Kelly are in a band together. They are going to be playing this weekend in the city at a club called The Underground. You should come with Scarlet and have fun!”

To me, Alex came off as the real talker of the group. She was the one who would always have her ear to the ground listening to gossip. Just then my stomach growled. I hadn’t had time to eat breakfast, and I had forgotten about the muffin that Scarlet had given me that morning on the kitchen table.

Alex heard and laughed. “Come up and sit in the tree with me. I’ll tell you anything that you want to know.” She winked and started to climb up the tree. I handed up my bottle of juice and my salad wrap up to Alex and climbed up myself. Using the trunk of the tree as a backrest, I put my feet up on the branch that I was sitting on and started to eat. I was hungrier then I could have guessed. While I ate Alex filled me in on all of the activities that were going to be happening that month and she was just starting to tell me about the formal dance at the end of the month when the first bell rang signalling the end of lunch. Everyone groaned and collected their stuff.
As we were all leaving Scarlet seemed to remember something. “Hey guys,” She said, “We still all on for tonight?”

Almost everyone was nodding but Brad and Jessica both spoke up. “Me and Meagan have to do the whole family thing with our aunt Ruth who is down visiting.”

“Yeah I have to wait for a phone call from my dad. But I might show up later.” Said Jessica.

Scarlet and everyone seemed to accept the excuses as if they were regular issues. I was slightly confused but Jessica’s answer though… Why did she have to wait for a phone call? Even if it was from her dad, where was he that he couldn’t call whenever? Luckily Alex saw the look on my face. “None of us know where her dad is. She never has told us. But he calls once every two weeks or so. The date is always set before in a letter. It’s kind of a weird situation but none of us pressure her into telling us what’s up. As long as we all remember this was how it was.”
I shrugged. What business was it of mine anyways?


- - - - - - -


The rest of the day went but fairly fast taking into consideration that I was behind in most of the subjects and that I didn’t know anyone. I actually was enjoying school, except for the fact that Nicholas was in every one of my classes. But I could deal. It was just a guy after all…and it wasn’t like his but was all that nice. But I learned quickly in small towns, just like everywhere else, that a nice but doesn’t mean anything. In fact most of the guys know that they are good looking so they become even more arrogant. It was a pity really, but there were always the odd guy who was good-looking and really nice to others. Like Derek was before I left.

Thinking of Derek brought tears to my eyes. It was really hard to know that I would probably never get to see him ever again. And if I ever happed to get the chance, he’ll probably be dating someone else. After all…he never did tell me that he loved me, so why would he wait? I guess the only way not to get hurt would to not get involved in the first place.

That evening, as Scarlet and I were clearing off the dinner dishes, I remembered what she had said earlier at school.

“Scarlet,” I asked, “What’s happening tonight? How come everyone is coming here?”
Scarlet gave a sheepish grin. “I guess I forgot to tell you that tonight everyone is coming over here to watch movies and stuff. It’s ok with you right?”

“Of course it is. I really want to get to know everyone. What movies?”

“That is what we have to decide. How about we finish up here and walk down town to the rental place to pick some out. What are you in the mood for?”

We finally got to Gino’s Video about a half hour later. After a lot of arguments and some reminiscing, we finally settled on four different movies; three slasher/horror flicks and comedy starring a Canadian actor for a change of pace. We decided that horror was the way to go and what we would save the comedy for after so that we could use it to wind everything down. Plus, Scarlet had said that lately, because of Halloween being just around the corner, everyone has been crazy over watching horror movies.

It was a quiet walk home. Home. It was slightly weird to think of Scarlet’s house as home. But right now that was what it was. And it was going to stay that for the next couple of days, weeks, months, maybe even years. I was supposed to stay here until either the people who were after me were caught or I was found out.


- - - - - - -


Scarlet and I were just walking up the driveway when I heard a car horn coming from behind us. I turned and saw that Alex was behind the wheel of a white mini van. She honked the horn again and drove past us to park her van in front of the house. Her door opened and she skipped towards us to help us with the bags of junk food that we had picked up on the way back. The passenger door opened also and down stepped Nicholas.

I had completely overlooked the fact that it was possible he was going to be here with everyone else. But he was Scarlet’s friend and a part of her crowd so why wouldn’t he come with everyone else? I just wished that my stomach hadn’t suddenly started to feel funny. The back doors slid open and Cory, Tom, Kelly, and Blake jumped out.

“How was practice?” Scarlet asked Alex as she was walking over to us.

“It was the usual. Nicholas was all work and no play, Tom was complaining about the lyrics that Kelly wrote, Blake fell asleep at the drums again and I was forced to listen to Cory belch the whole time. All in all it was pretty good. I think that we are ready for the battle of the bands at the underground.”

“I am not all work and no play.” Spoke up Nicholas from behind Alex, “I just hate to waste practice time, you know that. Oh hey Renee.”

Whoa this was new. After today at the locker I thought that he would never be civil to me again. So I waved a small, almost unnoticeable wave. There was an awkward silence between him and me. Alex opened her mouth as if to say something but shut it after a couple of seconds. Even she didn’t know what to say. Nicholas was just staring at me, an unreadable look in his eyes. It was kind of making me nervous. His eyes were such a clear blue it was almost unnatural and it arose an unnameable feeling right from my toes to my cheeks. Which were suddenly starting to feel very warm.

Almost as if he had a sixth sense, Cory shouted, “Hey you guys, can we go inside now or what? The drinks are getting warm and I have a 3 o’clock curfew.”

Alex and Scarlet were forced into motion and headed towards the house, but I couldn’t seem to move either my feet or my eyes. Nicholas’ stare bore into me, like he was finding my inner most secrets and I couldn’t tear my eyes from his. Finally he looked away and suddenly I regained my motorization skills. I followed him into the house and found everyone gathered in the kitchen getting the provisions ready before starting the movie. I was put in charge of taking orders for drinks and I in a matter of minutes I had gotten everybody but Nicholas. We were going to start the movie soon, and I didn’t want to miss the beginning, so I went looking for him. He was nowhere downstairs but I could hear muffled noises coming from above as I stood at the bottom of the stairs. Figuring that Nicholas was making the noise I started to follow my ears. I stopped in front of my bedroom and pressed my right ear to the door. I could hear Nicholas’ voice coming from inside the room.

“No I’m not going to ask her tonight…Are you crazy? Have you seen her? She probably thinks that I’m some roadie, herbal-user type… I don’t really need one you know… I know that, but still…Oh all right I’ll talk to Alex about it… No she’s not here yet. Why?… Like I care about her or what she thinks of me… Yeah I know that and I still don’t care…Sure I’ll see you soon. Bye.” I heard the click as the phone was set down then I took a couple of steps back and a deep breath. I was just going to go into my room when the door opened.

Nicholas’ face went white and then a lovely red started to creep across his cheeks. “Uh, hi Renee.” He said.

“Just coming to get a sweater. What were you doing in my room? Reading my diary?”

“No I was…uh…looking for the bathroom but I… got lost?”

“Second door on the left.” I almost asked him whom he was talking to on the phone and what about but I held back. It really was none of my business, and it was asking too many questions that had gotten me into major trouble before.