* * *
Guy woke up with a start and slammed his hand on his beeping alarm clock to turn it off. Blinking tiredly, Guy's first thought was, 'Only forty more days of school left. Thank God.'
The past two weeks had dragged by longer than he could have imagined. He surreptitiously watched as Josie and Aldys became friends, which in a small way was a relief. Josie had joined the Denominators and it was obvious that she was happy with her new friends.
He hadn't spoken to Josie since that first day in the cafeteria, although he sometimes caught her staring at him in the hallways in between classes. But most times just as he was about to smile at her, she would look away or bury her head in her locker. He thought about going up to talk to her but he was usually surrounded by his sycophantic friends and didn't have an opportunity to approach her.
As for Aldys, she continued to completely ignore that he even existed, despite his numerous attempts to find her in the library or at Na-Na's.
Getting out of bed, he resolved to be in a good mood for the entire day - even if it killed him.
* * *
Mid-day. Only four more hours left of school. Thank God. Guy was milling the hallways with the gang when Sydney, the class president, began her post-lunchtime announcements. After saying something about an asbestos problem somewhere in school, she said, "We've picked the theme for this year's prom!"
The entire hallway came to a standstill. Guy noticed that Aldys and Josie were standing near the corner of the hallway, also listening to Sydney's announcement.
"This year's theme is�The Millenium!"
The entire hallway erupted into happy cheers, and Kirsten and Tommy hugged as though Sydney had just announced something legitimately important.
Guy snorted to himself. Prom. What a joke. He probably wouldn't even go to Prom.
Gibby was smiling up at him, saying something about beating out East Glen East for best prom.
Just for kicks, Guy pushed himself off from his perch on the wall and said, "Rufus. The Prom is gonna be rufus."
They all turned to him, eagerly asking what 'rufus' meant.
Trying to hide a mocking smile, Guy replied magnanimously with a wave of his arm, "It's my new, cool, hip phrase - spread it around."
As the gang followed him down the hallway they gleefully crowed, "Rufus!" and began discussing prom plans.
* * *
"So you going to The Court tonight, bro?" Tommy asked Guy as they left school at the end of the day. They walked in the general direction of the parking lot, where Tommy's car was parked.
"No, I'm probably just going to stay home tonight."
"You know, Guy, something's going on with you lately, and frankly, I don't like it. What's your problem?"
Guy stopped walking and turned to Tommy. "What do you mean?"
Tommy dug his keys out of his pocket and twirled the keyring on his finger as he squinted at Guy searchingly. "I can't say what it is�but you seem really out of it. And what's even worse - I've seen you staring at Alpo and that new girl Josie. What gives?"
Guy let out a grunt, trying to mask the sudden discomfort he felt at how close Tommy hit the nail on the head. "I don't know what you're talking about Tommy. Life is good. I mean, we have our prom theme and we're shoe-ins for Prom Court. Who could want anything more?"
Tommy nodded and then grinned at Guy. "Just checking, man. I'm not the only one that's noticed. Gibby asked me about it the other day."
"Tell Gibby to mind her own business and that I'm fine. Everything's fine. Look, I'll go ahead and come to The Court tonight, okay?"
"Great - I'll pick you up at eight."
"No thanks, I'll get myself there."
* * *
"Grab a beer, Guy," Gibby called as Guy walked up to the gang near the bonfire they had built in an old trashcan.
"Not tonight, Gibby, thanks." Guy put his hands out over the fire to warm them up a bit. It may have been late April, but the Chicago nights were still chilly.
Gibby perused Guy for a few moments over the fire. Guy met her stare with his own expressionless gaze.
"Guy, can I talk to you for a minute?" she finally asked, motioning to the abandoned car several yards away from the group.
"Why certainly, Gibby," Guy drawled.
Once away from the group, Gibby grabbed Guy's arm and squeezed it. Hard. "Tell me what's going on, Guy."
Guy sighed impatiently before saying, "Gibby, didn't Tommy tell you to mind your own business?"
Gibby laughed scornfully and replied, "Since when has that stopped me?"
Guy said nothing.
"Look, Guy. I've seen you. I've been watching you for a couple weeks now. I've seen you staring at Alpo and Josie. God, you've been so obvious about it that it's really kind of sad. They're nerds, Guy."
"They aren't nerds, Gibby. They're just people like us."
Gibby's eyes turned to saucers as she pointed at her chest and hissed, "Those girls are nothing like me, and I resent that. Are you saying that you want to be friends with them or something? You know, it's supposed to be the other way around � they want to be us. Are you saying that you want to give up everything you have and become a Denominator? You'd be a loser, Guy. You know that, don't you?"
Guy sighed, wishing he could tell this snobby girl what he really thought about her and her friends. Because he didn't consider them to be his friends anymore. He hadn't thought of them like that for a long time. But the cowardly desire to avoid conflict took over.
"No, Gibby, I don't want to be a Denominator. I don't even like those girls," he lied. "I mean, c'mon - it's me. Why on earth would I want to hang out with Alpo?"
Mentally, Guy kicked himself for taking the easy way out and speaking badly about the very person he wanted to make amends with. But he also knew how miserable his life would be in the final weeks of school if he rejected this particular group of people.
Gibby's mouth opened but no sound came out. Then pursing her painted lips, she just continued to stare at him, not quite believing what she was hearing.
Just then Guy heard a car pulling up near the entrance to The Court, and he immediately recognized Josie in the passenger seat of Aldys' station wagon, looking into the abandoned parking lot where he and the gang were hanging out.
Gibby chuckled evilly under her breath as she saw the car, and then said to him, "Prove it, big guy."
Guy turned to her, a question in his eyes.
"You say you don't like them? Prove it. Go and tell Alpo to get out of here."
It was exactly the opposite of what he wanted to do. Guy could feel his body shut down at the thought of Tommy's response if he instead got into Aldys' station wagon and asked her to drive away. He glanced at the car, then back at Tommy where he stood by the blazing trashcan. Guy's feet didn't move.
Gibby snorted in an undignified manner and then snarled, "All right, fine - I'll do it, you coward."
Gibby moved from beside him and started walking over to the car, but Guy suddenly lurched into motion and stepped ahead of her, attempting to reach the car before she did. Tommy, Kirsten and the rest of the kids at The Court were now watching Guy as he leaned into the passenger side window.
Regretting the words the instant they left his mouth, Guy said loudly, "Well, if it isn't Alpo. Last time I checked, the dog park was that way."
Aldys glared at him and said, "Last time I checked, it was still a free country."
"You aren't seriously trying to hang out at The Court, are you, Alpo?" he asked.
He could feel Josie stiffen up in the seat next to him, a look of mild fear on her face. But Aldys was anything but timid.
"Oooh, cheap wine coolers and a fire in a trashcan. Where do I sign up?" Aldys said scathingly.
Guy leaned further into the car, inching closer to Aldys. "Look, why don't you just go home, fickle around on your calculator or whatever it is that you do, and figure out how many lifetimes it will take you to get cool?"
With those words, Aldys sucked in a deep breath. But instead of responding, she turned from him, the hurt obvious in her eyes as she put her car back into gear. Without another word she slammed her foot on the gas pedal, jerking the car forward just as Guy was moving out of the way. Guy stood in the middle of the street watching the tailights disappear around the corner.
He briefly looked down at the pavement, hearing Tommy's hooting at the incident that just took place. "Yeah, Guy! Way to show them!"
Guy turned his head and looked over at Gibby, whose eyes were sparkling with glee. Her arms were crossed and she had a look of triumph on her face. "That's more like it," Guy heard her say as she moved back closer to the bonfire.
Guy stomped over to the bonfire and snatched up a cold beer from the cooler at Tommy's feet. Popping the top he guzzled down the whole beer before throwing the empty bottle into the trashcan. As the glass splintered among the flames he felt his own heart shatter into hundreds of pieces.
Instead of making things better with Aldys, he had just made it even more difficult. And he had never felt worse.
* * *