* * *
"Tommy's right," Kirsten said. "Ozomatli totally rocked!"
"Seriously, Guy, you should have been there. The show was totally rufus."
Guy turned his face to his locker and rolled his eyes. He was sorry he ever announced that 'rufus' (a word he made up just to get a reaction) was the new phrase that pays. Now EVERYONE was saying it � and it really was a stupid word.
"I'm sorry I missed it � it sounds like it was a lot of fun. But Mrs. Johnson kept me tied up so I couldn't get over there in time for the show."
In actuality, while everyone else was at Delloser Hall, Guy had gone to Na-Na's to apologize to Aldys for years of misery. And got almost nothing for the effort. He had gone home and laid awake nearly all night, replaying their conversation in the parking lot.
He still couldn't believe that Aldys was having fun in high school, despite the fact that she was considered the biggest nerd in South Glen South and therefore constantly teased. But then again, his life was supposed to be perfect since he was the most popular guy in school, and he was actually quite miserable most of the time.
He thought about Mrs. Johnson and her meddling. Then he laughed to himself at how obvious she had been. He was still smiling when he heard a joyous voice behind him call out.
"Hi Guy. Guys. Guy's guys."
It was Josie, smiling confidently at them. He grabbed onto his locker door and kind of leaned over, smiling back at her. He was about to say hi back when he saw she had an ink stamp of some sort on her forehead, so instead of just greeting her normally he ended up saying, "Hi�Loser," as he read the smudged stamp out loud.
He instantly regretted it when he heard Kirsten and Gibby cry out, "Loser!" and laugh hysterically. He hadn't intended to read what was on her forehead � and certainly hadn't intended to make his greeting sound like the insult it had instantly become.
He watched as Josie made her way down the hallway, catcalls following in her wake. Obviously she had no idea that stamp was on her forehead. Surely she would have washed that off this morning when she was getting ready for school?
Guy slammed his locker shut and started to walk away when he heard Gibby guffaw loudly, "And she's even wearing the same tacky dress she embarrassed herself in last night."
The first thing Tommy had told him that morning was how Josie had gotten up on stage and danced along with the band. Tommy was laughing about it, but Guy could tell he also had some grudging respect for her because Josie actually got up on stage with the band.
But that respect was gone now, because of an ink stamp and Guy's inadvertent insensitivity.
* * * "Hey there, I'm Rob."
Guy shook the proffered hand and grinned back at the friendly face in front of him.
"Guy Perkins. Nice to meet you. You're new here?" Guy moved his backpack off the library chair next to him and set it on the floor. He gestured for Rob to sit down.
"Yeah, my family tried to hold off our move until the summer when I went to college but decided that my final two months of school could be spent here anyway."
Guy nodded mutely and went back to looking at his magazine. He was on a study period before lunch but didn't feel like bringing out his books.
"What are you reading?" Rob asked.
Guy laughed and closed the magazine. "I'm actually not reading, just kind of sitting here staring at pictures." He held up the front cover to Rob. Sports Illustrated. He put the magazine back down nearer to Rob on the table.
Rob pulled it to him and flipped through a few pages. "I'm hoping to play baseball here. I've spoken to the coach already about getting special permission to play in some of the remaining games if he likes the way I play."
"Coach Romano is pretty cool, so you should have no problem doing that, if you're any good." Guy paused. "What classes do you have?"
Rob looked at his class slip and said, "Well, lunch is next � which is always a good thing. Then I've got Math, then English, and finally a study period."
"Then shouldn't you be in class now?" Guy inquired, deciding that he liked this new student. He seemed nice enough, and it would be interesting to have someone new to talk to, since he was obviously not going to be able to talk to Josie any time soon.
Rob grinned, causing his eyes to almost disappear behind the laugh lines crowded there. "Well, you know � first day and all. I can't very well go to every class on the first day."
The bell rung and students began filtering out of the library to go the cafeteria.
Guy stood up and grabbed his backpack. "C'mon," he said to Rob, "I'll introduce you to my friends and you can eat with us."
Rob hopped up enthusiastically and said, "That would be great! I'm in the mood for cole slaw!"
* * *
"I'm the cole slaw king of the world!" Rob yelled at the top of his lungs before spitting cole slaw all over the students crowded around him. Next to him, Brett put down his tub of cole slaw in disgust, having lost the competition.
Guy laughed and clapped his hands. This new guy was a nut! He saw that Gibby, Kirsten and Kristen were looking at Rob as though they wanted to eat him alive. He had heard them whisper to each other about how cute Rob was the minute he introduced them all to each other. Just as they were about to go over to Rob and help clean him up, someone else beat them there.
"Hi, I'm Tracie. I'm 16, I'm a gymnast and I don't have a boyfriend."
Rob smiled at the vivacious girl sitting next to him, wiping his face clean. "Cool," he said. The Trio from Hell were taken aback and rather than admit to defeat went back to talking amongst themselves.
Guy just sat there quietly, smiling to himself.
* * *
Guy saw Rob at the front entrance to the Senior Class Fair and called out, "Yo, Rob! Wait up!"
Rob waved at him and greeted him boisterously with a slap on the back. "This is great! I didn't think they still had these fairs for Senior Prom! I always loved these! This has been the best first day of school I've ever had!"
Guy laughed as they walked in together and immediately bought a bunch of tickets for the various rides.
"Where's your crew?" Rob asked as he pocketed a fistful of extra tickets he had bought.
"They should already be here wreaking havoc. I ran late and told them to come without me."
"Well, you and I can find our own trouble, can't we?"
Rob and Guy proceeded to hit some of the games set up around the Navy Pier fairground. It was expensive, but it was all for a good cause: the best Senior Prom that South Glen South would ever have. Guy still didn't intend on going, but he knew that he should still try and help everyone else have a good time by giving them money to help pay for everything.
"So you had a good time on your first day of school?" Guy asked as he drew back to throw a pie into Brett's face. The pie missed, causing Brett to hoot loudly at Guy.
Rob put a dollar on the counter and picked up a pie. "Oh yeah � your friends are pretty great." He heaved back and threw the pie: a direct hit. Brett's face was completely covered in whipped cream.
The crowd around them laughed at Brett as Guy and Rob continued on to another booth. "You like my friends?" Guy asked incredulously. Was he the only person that saw through them? Guy checked himself quickly. Actually, no, Aldys saw right through them as well.
Rob smiled over at Tracie, who was standing nearby with a few of her gymnast friends. Turning back to Guy, he said, "Well, they are definitely particular about who they like and don't like, but it's just high school, man. Once high school is over what are they gonna be? I'll tell you what they are going to be: FRESHMAN. Dude, once they get to college they are gonna have to start all over again at the bottom of the totem pole. So you just have to laugh it off now."
Guy smiled broadly. Finally a person that understood!
"Now," Rob continued, "I believe that everyone has something worthy in them. Even your friends have something good about them. It's just hard to see sometimes. There are people in this school that are amazing, and it's just not as noticeable because they aren't in your group."
"You're right about that," Guy acknowledged, thinking instantly of Aldys.
"Actually, there's a girl here at South Glen South that I used to date, and I can't believe she's not a part of your group."
"Who's that?"
"Her name is Josie Geller. Cute blond, really smart, goofy sense of humor."
"Yeah, I know who she is. She is cute, I agree with you there. I don't know much more about her though because we don't have any classes together."
"You should get to know her � she's a pretty great girl."
"I've said hello to her a couple times." Guy cringed inwardly, knowing that it was a slight lie, since in the first of those two instances he had all but called her stupid, only to accidentally call her a loser the second time.
"Well, as I said, you should get to know her."
The rest of the evening passed quite quickly. Rob and Guy hung out for a couple hours, continuing to donate their dollars to the games. At one point Tracie came running over to Rob, begging him to take her on the Ferris wheel. Rob looked at Guy and shrugged as she dragged him off, but Guy could tell he didn't consider it a hardship.
Guy continued walking around, watching his fellow students have a great time. He felt so relaxed and content that he began talking with other classmates he hadn't spoken to in years -- people that Tommy had usually ridiculed and made fun of (which Guy realized was most everyone outside of their small group).
At first people seem shocked when Guy said hello, but when he continued talking with them after his initial greeting, they warmed up and he ended up having some great conversations throughout the night. While talking with a girl in his Physics class he saw Aldys and the rest of the Denominators walk by, and Guy debating breaking off the conversation to approach her.
But he decided against it and continued talking with Marcie about their teacher's latest Physics lesson plan gone awry in a haze of smoke - literally. At the end of the conversation they agreed to get together to study for the next exam, something Guy had never done before due to his misguided fear of appearing too smart.
By the time the fair ended Guy knew that South Glen South would have an amazing Prom, but more importantly, he knew that he had become a changed man. Thanks to Rob, he realized he could be himself and be happy.
* * *
"Josie Geller?" Tommy squeaked in disbelief. "No way, man."
"She used to date the drummer from the Big Bad Voodoo Daddies?" Jason asked.
Guy shook his head, saying "Ain't that something - I've always wanted to be a drummer. Always."
Rob nodded, grinning from ear to ear. "Yeah, but she dumped him."
Guy was fascinated by the stories that Rob was telling about Josie. At the fairgrounds the week before Rob had talked about what a great girl she was, but Guy was amazed by how many great things Josie had done in her 17 years. He decided he wanted to try and get to know her better. He had messed up by insulting her twice and thought it would be good to try talking to her again -- especially since Rob thought so highly of her.
* * *
This sex ed class is hilarious, Guy thought as he stared at Pam Kitterman, the woman teaching the class. She was shooting straight from the hip and was making what could have been an awkward class pretty fun instead.
Guy and Jason were sharing a table with the Trio sitting in front of them. Josie was seated near the front with Tracie, the girl that Rob had been spending a lot of time with. Aldys and the other Denominators were in the very back of the class, doing their own thing. Guy had noticed that recently Aldys and Josie hadn't spent much time together and wondered if they had had a parting of ways.
He watched as Josie and Tracie had a conversation, wishing he could hear what they were saying. He stifled a grin when Mr. Coulson snuck up on their conversation, causing Josie to accidentally shoot her condom at him from the banana on which it was supposed to go.
Suddenly the loudspeaker crackled to life.
"Hey kids, Sidney here. Bad news about the prom - East Glen East is gonna do the Millennium, too!"
The class erupted into groans and shouts of frustration.
Mr. Coulson brought the class back to order and said, "All you need is a new idea."
Pam Kitterman suggested 'Under The Sea', which made everyone groan again. Mr. Coulson said, "How about the Eighties?", which caused Gibby to say, "What do you think we are, amateurs?"
Guy finally stood up and got everyone's attention when he said, "All right. Josie."
Josie's head whipped around in surprise as Sera giggled and said, "That's not a theme!"
Guy frowned at Sera and replied, "Uh, thank you. No, Josie will have the answer."
The whole class turned to Josie and waited. Josie looked gratefully at Guy for a moment and then suddenly looked fearful. She stood there for a few quiet moments, mentally searching for the perfect theme for Prom. She looked down at Tracie and then suddenly said, "How about 'Meant for Each Other' -- famous couples throughout history?"
The students looked at each other, checking for approval. Finally Guy said, "Absolutely. Absolutely!" causing the whole class to burst into applause along with him. He heard Gibby say, "That is so brilliant!"
Josie's face broke into a beautiful smile as she looked at Guy thankfully. He just continued smiling at her and applauding her choice for theme. Eventually she turned to look at Mr. Coulson, who was smiling back at Josie as well.
* * *
Over the next few weeks Josie began spending even more time with Guy and his group. She was brilliantly funny and goofy, and became quite endearing. She went shopping with Gibby, Kirsten and Kristen, who had all but forgotten the fact that they had made fun of her when she first arrived at South Glen South.
Guy also managed to talk to her quite a bit on their own. They would hang out in the library and talk about politics, religion, and what was going in their lives. She didn't talk much about her family or her life outside of school, but Guy enjoyed talking with her nonetheless.
She still seemed kind of shy and blushed a lot around him. He also noticed that she spent a lot of time with Mr. Coulson, her English teacher. Josie had joined the Prom Committee so she did a lot of after school work with Mr. Coulson as far as picking music and making the decorations for the country club. But Guy always made sure he was there to take her out for a bite to eat afterwards.
Rob, meanwhile, had made it onto the baseball team with one single tryout -- and was turning into the best player the school had. One day the group decided to go watch Rob practice at the field. Guy took along his guitar and hung out with the guys while Josie and the girls sunned themselves at the top of the bleachers.
At one point they began hooting and hollering for Rob and started doing a victory dance. Guy strummed on his guitar and watched Josie talking with the girls. Josie totally fascinated him. She seemed older than the Trio, but also seemed more na�ve in many ways. He really liked that about her. The other girls seemed so hard and callous, whereas Josie was so soft and feminine.
He decided that he was going to ask her to prom. For a long time he hadn't wanted to go, but then he started hanging out with Josie and found that he really desired her company more than he expected. There was no one else he wanted to ask. He knew he'd have an amazing time with Josie.
"Kegger at my house tonight!" Rob shouted to them as he came running off the field.
Perfect, thought Guy. Tonight at Rob's house I'll ask Josie to Prom.
* * *