Seventh Circle

THOSE SUMMER NIGHTS
AUGUST, 20--


THE OUTCAST
The sunset was a deep, rich purple over the sloping hillside of Oakwood Heights. It was a small Midwestern town, at times indistinguishable from another... Eileen Fisher chuckled a little to herself from behind the lens of her brand new digital video camera. Her freshman year, she had accidentally sat on the opposing sides' bleachers because she couldn't tell one team from another. That's how it was around here... uneventful, humdrum… but charming. Especially here, on the grassy hillside, the colors of the dusk sky sparkling on the plasma screen as she captured the last moments of daylight. Up here, it was easy to forgive the cruelty of the people below in the valley, pretend that humanity had treated her just fine, forget that her peers had decided to shove her into a locker for three hours the year before…
Eileen sighed and put down her camera. School was starting just the next day, and she’d be back in the thick of it, back to the taunting and the jabs about her looks. Certainly she was no beauty… she had never claimed to be. All she had ever claimed was that she was a person. But for the majority of her senior class, that was apparently too great a claim. Her favorite tormentor, a Barbie-doll rip off who masqueraded by the name of Rachel Antella, seemed to take special pleasure in pointing out each and every one of Eileen’s flaws in the middle of the crowded cafeteria. Eileen could almost hear the jeering now… “Ooo, there’s little Miss Know-It-All again, her nose stuck in a book. And ooo my gosh, look what she’s wearing! What’s a matter, Fisher, someone steal your fashion sense? Someone should have burned those clothes a decade ago!”
Eileen flinched, and with another sigh stood up and stowed her camera back in her bag. Still… it was her senior year. Certainly that meant more than a few insecure blondes. One more year in that seventh circle of hell. One more year ‘til she got the heck out of dodge. Even better, they were offering a Film Studies course this year, something Eileen had been begging them to do since she stepped foot in the high school. And who knew what the future held? Maybe this year she’d even find a boyfriend-
She quickly shook her head, as if trying to shoo the thoughts away from her brain. She needed to STOP letting her impractical side run away with her imagination. A boyfriend… yeah right! What guy would ever date her? She chuckled to herself; maybe a blind one who didn’t mind debates about operas and politics. Still chuckling to herself, she turned onto the path and slowly made her way back down into the valley.


THE CRIMINAL
Hacker blew a long, lazy circle from his cigarette. He’d have to get more tonight from the corner gas station, seeing as he wouldn’t have time tomorrow. Fucking “police escort.” After the whole mess of the summer, Officer Keystone had made it his personal mission to see that Connor Vise made it to each and every day of school, and stayed there from first bell until last. “You’re going to graduate,” Keystone had told him quite simply, after his third attempt to buy alcohol underage mid-July,” And you’re going to like it.”
Fuck. Graduation. As if people like Connor ever graduated. Graduating was for stuck-up prudes like Kerri Bennie and Eileen Fisher…
Hacker scowled up at the ceiling. Fuckin’ great. He hadn’t seen or thought of Fisher all summer, and was glad of it. Memories of dreams from junior year still haunted him-half the reason he didn’t show up to classes was because she was in almost all of his. That and his teachers were know-it-all douche bags. Well there was no way she was any of his this year, he’d made damn sure of that. No way would a prissy “intellectual” like her take an independent film studies. She was way too book-smart for that.
“Whatca thinkin’ about?”
He glanced over at the girl he had brought him from the bar last night. Upon closer inspection in the morning light she hadn’t looked nearly as good topless, but hell, he took it where he could get it. He couldn’t even remember her name. “Nothing.”
“Oh yeah?” the redhead smirked, and slid her hands underneath the blankets,” Seems you’re ready for another go.”
He’d been thinking of those dreams, and involuntarily blushed. Fuck, he hated it when he did that. It was the one childhood habit he’d never been able to break himself of. “Get off, I don’t feel like it.”
“Aw,” the naked teenager next to him cooed,” Come on, Hacker. You can’t hide from me. You remembering last night, to get you all fired up like this? Oo! I don’t even remember you being this hard this morning!”
He looked back up at the ceiling. Fuck school starting tomorrow. Fuck Officer Keystone. And fuck Eileen Fisher……
“Yeah,” he rolled over,” I’m good for another go.”


THE INTELLECTUAL
His school books lay scattered across the carpet like broken paper butterflies, but he only continued to lay sprawled across his bed. Somewhere in the distance he could hear the phone ringing… but the world was empty and hollow. He didn’t want to think about the upcoming school year. His senior year. His fucking senior year, he was supposed to be happier than this! Why the hell did he feel so miserable then? The summer. Yeah, this summer was when it all went wrong…
“Adam, honey! The phone’s for you!”
“I got it, Mom!” he yelled back through the open door, and listlessly he lifted the receiver from his bed stand to his ear,” Yeah.”
“Hey, Adam… it’s me.”
Adam’s body tensed with nerves. He glanced nervously towards his bedroom door; his mother could be heard shuffling around in the kitchen. “I told you not to call here!” he hissed into his phone.
“I know, I know you did, but… well, you haven’t stopped by in a few days,” the voice on the other end sounded hurt, but Adam chose to ignore it,” And you haven’t been online… I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m FINE,” Adam growled, trying to keep his voice just above a whisper,” I’m fine, don’t ever call here again!”
“Adam, wait!-“
“What?” he snapped.
“School’s starting tomorrow…”
“I know that, what do you think I am, a retard?”
“No, I just mean… maybe we should talk about this summer. Ya know, before we get back into classes and all.”
“There isn’t anything to talk about.”
“But Adam, what we did-! What we shared!”
“Yeah, and we both agreed it was nothing. Isn’t that what you said?”
“Well… yeah, I guess, but-“
“So there you go. Besides, we didn’t ‘share’ anything. Way I hear it, you’re a whore all across town, so why the fuck should I be so damn special?”
“Adam-“
“It was nothing! This summer… never talk about it again, do you hear me? And never call here again!” and with that, he slammed the receiver down onto the bed stand.
“Adam?” his mother yelled from the hallway,” Who was that?”
“It was nobody Ma!” Adam yelled back, and went back to staring blankly at his ceiling.


THE ATHLETE AND THE SOCIALITE
The party blundered on, well after the sun had set, as the hot August night folded down around them. Everyone who was anyone could be found in the Brooks’ barn, slamming cans of THE MILWAUKEE BEAST and dancing to the rap music blaring from a fifty-year old radio among the rafters. Rachel Antella was just beginning to get bored with her drink when she spotted, across the crowd, the familiar square shoulders and well-muscled back.
“Oooooh, Tom!” she waved her perfectly manicured hand in the air as she clutched her beer with the other,” Over here, OVER HERE!”
He turned, and his well-tanned, handsome face broke into a mischievous grin. “Yo, Rach!” he bellowed, and pushed his way abruptly through the mass of underclassmen,” Haven’t seen you around all summer. You have fun in the Bahamas, or wherever?”
“Oh Daddy’s yacht was fabulous,” Rachel answered offhandedly,” But it always is. But I’ve been away all summer! I’ve missed all the best gossip! And-“ she stuck out her plump lower lip, glimmering with lip gloss “-I haven’t heard from you at all! Don’t tell me you found a girl to roll all these weeks, that you forgot about me!”
“No way babe,” Tom Tonel leaned on the haystack next to them, smirking,” No girl could make me forget about you.” He raked his eyes up and down her, taking in every detail-the strap high heels, the tight high skirt, the blouse that opened just low enough to tease,” You are looking exceptionally hot tonight.”
“I’m feeling exceptionally hot,” she tossed her platinum curls over her shoulder.
“All cause you saw me, right?” Tom cut in, his deep voice husky.
“Tom, you’re so naughty!” she batted at his shoulder playfully, but her green eyes sparked dangerously,” But I DID hear you got a new truck, am I right?”
“Yep,” he shrugged,” Mom’s feeling guilty for the last guy she brought home.”
“Well,” she glanced at him from the corner of her eye; her thick lashes fluttered,” I would LOVE to see it.”
“Oh yeah?” he cocked an eyebrow,” Well it’s way out back. Not a lot of lights out there.”
“Long as you’re there,” she simpered,” I think I’ll be okay.”