But after my first final, I thought the rest would be that simple. My luck ran out. Why couldn’t Mrs. C be my teacher all day. Math was a disaster. It should be against the laws of high school to have to be in the same class as your ex-boyfriend and your ex-best friend who screwed him while you were dating, and the teacher who makes you sit in between them should be hanged. Enough said. I bet you can guess how well I did.
Sign language was a little bit better. It’s an introductory course so how much can we be expected to know. I’m confident I passed. ASB—it’s in the bag. English, more writing, but I don’t feel so well-prepared. It’s all in the interpretation. As long as you defend your point of view, who’s to say one person’s opinion is better than someone else’s? I don’t get it. But the most difficult final I’ve ever taken in my life was in World History. Mr. Marino dropped the hammer on us. I’ve never done so much writing in my life. My fingers can’t move. They’re rigid, still in the same position as if I’m still holding a freakin’ pencil. Okay, so I’m exaggerating. But I wasn’t the only one whose hand kept cramping. Most of my classmates were shaking their hands out throughout the entire final. And when the bell rang to signal time was up, only one of us was finished—Keesha. She walked up to the front of the class, placed her final on Mr. Marino’s desk and handed him a candy cane.
“Merry Christmas, Mr. Marino,” she had told him, and I could see her glowing smile even though her back was turned to me. It will be nice to
not
have to see her ogle over our teacher for two weeks. Sure, the man is hot but the novelty has worn off for me. He’s just another teacher to me now, but to Keesh, he’s like the rock star you wish you could meet and marry some day.
So Christmas break. I’m not locked up anymore. I can go out. I can leave the dang house. I can leave the confines of my eight by eight cell. I can hang out with my friends, go to parties, have people over, see my boyfriend. The one who cheated on me. Omigod. Here I go again. Thinking about it. It just creeps up on me. One minute Alex and I can be having a great conversation, and the next I’m imagining him with his tongue down someone else’s throat. That’s a shitty image to have flashing though your thoughts when you're least expecting it.
Alex got back into town last night. I haven’t seen him though. Everyone’s coming over tonight. I can finally leave the house, and everyone wants to come over here. Go figure. The plan’s to hang out and watch a movie outside, probably light a fire too.
“Wooohooo. Christmas break, two weeks off, no homework. Just time to party,” Josh yelps. He and Jon slap hands.
“Yes,” I screech. “These last three weeks have been the longest three weeks ever.” I glare at Alex. “Double threat my ass,” I gripe.
Alex laughs, so does Steph. I was being serious.
“Double threat my ass?” Travis looks confused. “What does that mean?” Yes, Travis is here. Turns out he really didn’t know anything about Amy and Eric. I swear he's one of a few people on campus who didn't watch the whole debacle unfold last year. But he got rid of her as soon as he found out, so we’re all friends with him again.
Alex pulls me in so that I'm leaning up against him while he hugs me tightly. “My woman here is a double threat.” I look up at him. His brows flutter up and down. His arms always feel like a cozy blanket you've been waiting to snuggle up to all day.
Jon slaps his hand down on Keesh’s thigh. “So’s my woman.”
Dom tousles Steph’s hair. “Mine too.” He winks at her.
“Okay, you said double but there’s three of them.” Travis looks at everyone, squinting in confusion. “I don’t get it.”
I glance at Alex. “You tell him, babe, you’re the one who started it.”
“Alright, alright,” Alex agrees. “So these girls here are double threats. Being in ASB practically guarantees you can get away with almost anything. You know, it's like…what are you doing out of class? I'm in ASB. Why are you late? I had to do something for ASB? It says you were truant? I'll take care of it, I was in ASB,” he explains, using his deep authoritative teacher voice.
Travis nods. “
And
...” Alex continues, “they’re in honors classes too. People expect them to be geeks, so no one ever suspects them of doing anything wrong. My little girl would never go to a party and get wasted, she’s studying with her friends. My baby would never miss class, there must be a mistake.” He has us all laughing with his mocking shrill motherly tone. After a pause he says, “So that’s what I call a double threat. I guess you could say the Megster and Keesh are triple threats because they’re athletes too.” He leans forward and pecks me on the cheek. It’s such a relief to have him here with me. It’s when I’m alone that I have those nagging thoughts.
“So why the whole
double threat my ass
thing then?” Travis asks.
Jon’s gaze fixes on me. “Good question.”
“Because…I got caught. I ditched and I got caught. My parents grounded me for three weeks. And I doubt I have good grades anymore. Finals sucked ass. I’ll be lucky if I can pull Bs in everything. Hence, double threat my ass. My secret’s out. I can’t get away with anything now,” I lower my voice, “I’m suspect.”
My friends look at each other, look at me, and the laughing begins again. Big belly laughs. Jon’s rolling around in his chair, and Dom’s slapping his thigh. Keesh is crying, she’s laughing so hard. Steph is wheezing. Travis still looks confused, like he’s an outsider on this inside joke.
“Really. Was it that funny?” I question, not sure if I want to laugh too or if I’m offended.
One. Two. Swing out. One. Two. Swing out. I keep going through the steps in my brain as we head out to the OC for Swing Night at some club for all ages. Now that Erica gave Josh the boot because he’s not old enough to hit the club scene with her, he’s been determined to find a place for us to go dancing. Other than school dances. I’ve been telling him it’s not a big deal, that he should just get over it, but it’s like he’s obsessed.
After staying up way too late watching movies
On Demand
, Josh came across a really old movie called
Swingers
and forced us all to watch it on my garage door. He’s in love with this movie. The guys really like it. If they quote another line from that film, or call each other
baby
one more time though, I’m going to hurt someone. The characters don’t call each other dude, or hey man, or brother—no no, they call each other
baby
. And I mean, they say it like every five seconds. Even Alex and Ben can’t resist jumping on the
baby
bandwagon. Seriously, we should make a drinking game out of it. Like every time someone says baby in the movie, you have to drink. We’d be trashed in the first twenty minutes, but at least it wouldn’t be so annoying.
It’s kind of funny though to see Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn in their younger days. I still can’t believe it’s them. I hope I age like Heather Graham though, she still looks exactly the same.
So now Josh has convinced us to all learn how to swing dance so we can go to this
club
. It’s hardly the type of place that’s going to make Erica run back to him begging for forgiveness. It’s clear it’s not even a club club, it’s like an old veteran’s center or something.
“Where the hell did you bring us Josh?” Keesh asks, as we all spill out of Dom’s van.
“This is too funny,” I hear Ben say as the rest of the gang empties his van. Thankfully they both have big families or we’d never be able to go places together, that aren’t in walking distance. I didn’t think Ben and Ness would even come. We don’t see much of them anymore. But since I’ve needed him with the whole Alex thing, he’s been around a lot more, offering an ear to listen. And…he really liked that dumb movie. Ugh.
“Hey, baby,” Alex says, punching Josh in the arm. “This looks like a happenin’ place. You got those bear claws ready?” he teases him. Great. Here we go.
“Alright alright…let’s just go in and check it out,” Josh says, trying to shake off the jabs thrown his way.
Steph walks ahead. “I’m going. I didn’t just spend the last couple days on YouTube trying to learn how to dance this stuff for nothing,” she calls back.
“I’m with you,” I say, following her. One. Two. Swing out. One. Two. Swing out.
“And I didn’t wear this dress for nothing,” Keesh chimes in, spinning around with her dress flaring out.
“I hope you wore some clean chones, babe,” Jon yells after her, slapping hands with Josh.
“Oh, I did, and this is about as close as you’re ever gonna get to seeing them, Jon Jon, if you don’t shut up.” She spins again, and some of the boys whistle, while the others clown on poor Jon Jon. I swear he just spews out the first thing that comes to mind.
Inside the hall, it’s surprisingly cool. A band is on stage playing real instruments, like trumpets, trombones, saxophones, and other horns I don’t know the names of. I’m not sure what I expected, but it’s so different than the bands we listen to with just drums, bass, and a keyboard. And they’re really singing—no digital effects that make their voices sound good. Just pure raw talent. I catch myself with a big cheesy smile spread over my face. I look at my friends, and they’re as dorky looking as I feel right now.
“Let’s find a table and sit,” Steph says. “And then we can watch for a little bit.”
“Good idea,” Dom agrees. “We should probably just get a vibe of what it’s like.” Steph leads the way and we find ourselves sitting at a long table, with enough seats for the ten of us.
Many of the girls are dressed like Keesh. She always knows what to wear, and tonight isn’t any different. Her black dress will swing just right when she dances. It’s kind of sexy too. Low cut in the front and fitted to her waistline. Me? Not so much. Black pants, ballet flats, slinky white tee, and a red cardigan will have to do. Besides, I can barely pick out a dress for school dances, much less stuff like this. Steph is in jeans and a sweater, and Vanessa is wearing a little dress. And by little, I mean a dress with very little material. I doubt Ben is going to be flipping and twirling her around. Whatever floats her boat, I guess. Old fashioned, my ass.
The guys look nice in black Dickies or jeans, button down shirts. Some, including Josh, are sporting hats. They remind me of something my dad would wear. I have to thank Alex later for not trying too hard and wearing one too. Since he has hair now, I love the messy look he’s going for. I also like being able to put my fingers through it. I can’t believe I used to be in lust with his buzz cut.
The dance floor is fairly crowded but somehow all the dancers manage to avoid bumping one another. Some couples are way fancy doing lots of complicated turns. If Alex and I try that we might look something like a pretzel, or it could end in injury. Simple. We will keep it simple. One. Two. Swing out. Repeat. And repeat again, I say in my head. We won’t be the only amateurs. There are a lot of couples out there dancing just like I have been imagining we will.
Ben nudges Alex. “We’ll go if you go.”
Alex raises a brow at me. “Why not.” May as well try. We’re here right.
The music is so different than hip hop. I like it. The sound of the horns penetrate my mind and make me smile. It’s such a happy feeling listening to the melodies. I love the saxophone, all powerful and smooth. The trumpets and trombones are less cool looking and the guys playing the instruments don’t make it look sexy like the sax guy does. The energy of swing just bursts through me even though I don’t know what I’m doing.
Alex holds my hands, and one, two, swing out. Lean to the left, lean to the right, and then swing out and open. How fun. I like it. We repeat this multiple times before Alex gains confidence and spins me. Whew. We actually landed on the right beat to swing out again. Omigod. This is so cool. I think we’re getting the hang of it.
The song starts to slow down when the dude holding this humongous violin thing between his legs plays a solo. Note to self: Google these instruments and figure out what they’re called. And finally our first swing dances comes to an end with a final blow of the trumpet. This music just makes me feel alive. We all stand facing the band and clap until the next song begins, which is a good thing because I really need to catch my breath.
The others decide to brave this new form of dance and music and join us. Travis finds someone to dance with. But Josh…oh poor Josh. He’s still hanging out at the table. He looks around but doesn’t look like he’s going to ask anyone to dance. I’m not sure if he’s nervous or if he’s thinking about Erica. He’s so not over her yet.
Or maybe he is. Some girl goes over to ask him to dance and here he comes. How cute. He holds her hand as they make their way to the dance floor.
Here we go. The band starts up again and we all swing along. One. Two. Swing out. Well, that’s what I’m calling it.
“This is so much fun,” I yelp into Alex’s ear.
He spins me. With a giddy smile, he yells back, “I know. I didn’t think it would be this cool.”
I glance at the others and they seem to be having just as much fun as we are. Dominic and Steph are struggling a bit. Every time they attempt a turn, they get tangled up and have to start over. Travis has disappeared into the crowd with his partner. Ben and Vanessa are taking baby steps. Her dress doesn’t allow for much more. I like Ness and all, but she’s just lame some times. Keesh and Jon are trying some trickier moves. Sometimes they get it, sometimes not. And Josh…let’s just say he better stick to the pitching mound. He totally looks the part tonight, but this form of dancing does
not
come naturally to him. Hopefully this girl takes mercy on him and doesn’t ditch him after the song is over.
And she doesn’t. They dance the rest of the night together. The music sucks you in and doesn’t let you leave the dance floor. Literally. We didn’t take a break once. My feet are killing me, but it is worth it.
“That was so much fun, Josh,” I tell him, as we all inch our way through the parking lot, deflated without the sound of the band bouncing us along.
Everyone agrees with me, shouting what a blast it was.