Lessons I Never Learned at Meadowbrook Academy (9 page)

After Spanish, I ran into Annie out in the hallway. She had pulled her red hair up into a ponytail, which made her freckles really stand out. We both had Biology next, so we started up the stairwell to the science lab.

“How was gym?” I asked her.

“Lame, but at least I didn't pass out like Mervin. How was Spanish?”

“Good. I think that's my favorite class so far.”

“Why, because Mr. Riveria is a piece of ass?”

I could feel my face instantly flush with heat as I shyly looked away.

“Don't be embarrassed. It's okay to be hot for teacher. Mr. Riveria is a piece of ass; there's nothing wrong with that.”

“I don't know, that just seems kind of gross.”

“My mom slept with him,” Annie said rather matter-of-factly.

Shocked, I stopped abruptly between two stairs. A boy behind knocked into me. When I turned to apologize, he gave me a
you're-a-loser
kind of
look and walked past.

“Your mom slept with Mr. Riveria? Are you serious?”

“No, I'm lying. Of course I'm being serious.”

I was dumbfounded. We continued walking up the stairs.

“My mom, she's really pretty and young-looking and stuff. You know, Botox, boob job, collagen lip implants. She's had everything done. My dad's a plastic surgeon.”

“Your dad performs surgery on your mom?”

Annie nodded. “Oh yeah. It's like instead of giving her flowers, he gives her an ass lift. Not anymore, though. They're divorced, so I think he secretly prays for one of her boobs to explode.”

An upperclassman, drop-dead gorgeous, blonde girl was coming down the stairs. She looked at Annie and made a halfhearted attempt to say “hi.”

Annie totally ignored the girl and continued right on with our conversation. “But my parents, they still live together. Our house is a complete and total nightmare.”

“Your parents are divorced, but they still live together? That doesn't make any sense,” I said.

We had reached the top of the stairs, and I held the door open for her.

“Look, Roberta, don't judge my family.”

“I'm not judging your family. My family's crazy,” I said as we headed down the nicely carpeted hallway toward the bio lab.

“Does your mom sleep around, too?” Annie asked.

Instinctively I scrunched up my face in disgust at the mere thought of my mother having sex. “No. My mom's not the
type
to sleep around.”

“What does that mean?” Annie's tone got rather defensive.

“It doesn't mean anything.”

A boy with a big head and small body nervously asked us if we knew where room 501 A was located.

“Nope, sorry,” I said.

And Annie just kept walking, totally ignoring Big Head. “Are you calling my mother a slut?”

“No, of course not. I just meant my mom is not…”

“What, a slut?”

We reached the bio lab and hung outside the doorway. Annie's eyes got small and angry-looking. It felt like she was trying to burn a hole right through my face with her stare.

“Annie, I never said your mother was a slut.”

“But she is.” She smiled. “I'm just messing with you, Roberta. My mother's a slut, plain and simple. Who cares? I don't. My dad's an egomaniacal asshole, my mother's a slut, and they hate each other. Big shit. The world's a horrible place.”

I leaned up against the wall. “If your parents hate each other that much, then why don't they just live in different houses?”

“Because then they couldn't possibly torture each other as effectively as they do now. I mean, what's the point of bringing your girlfriend around if you can't rub it in your ex-wife's face?”

“Your dad has a girlfriend?”

“My dad has many girlfriends. And so does my mom. Not girlfriends, boyfriends, but then again I seriously wouldn't rule anything out with her. My house is like the flagship office of a horribly dysfunctional dating website.”

“Wow,” I said. “That's intense.”

“Besides, if they moved out, then inevitably someone would have to be stuck with me and my brother. I guess it's just easier to stay put and have the maid take care of us.”

I had absolutely no idea how to even respond to this. I decided it best to just change the subject. “I didn't know you had a brother. Older or younger?”

“Older. He's the varsity football team captain.”

Oh. My. God.
An instant panic spread over me about what I had done earlier in the cafeteria to Adonis and all his friends. Mervin had said Adonis was the captain of the football team; could Adonis be Annie's brother? “Your brother…is captain of the varsity football team here at Meadowbrook?”

Annie nodded.

Kids started piling into the bio lab. A teacher from the classroom next door came out and closed her door.

“Are there maybe two captains of the varsity football team?”

“No. Why?”

“Oh, shit…” I meekly said. I was devastated. I just obliterated my chances at making new friends. Annie was going to hate me. Absolutely hate me.

“What's wrong with you?” she asked.

I had to tell her the truth, just rip it off like a Band-Aid. “I did something, something kind of bad, after you left lunch.”

Annie waited for me to finish.

“I didn't know he was your brother.” I averted her stare out of complete and total shame for my actions. “He was just saying some really mean things and I…I told him to get a life and then I spit on his face.” I braced myself for Annie's response.

First her mouth dropped open, and then absolute shock filled her eyes.

“I didn't know he was your brother,” I said again. “I swear.”

“Let me get this straight. You told my brother to get a life?”

“Yes.”

“And then you spit on his face?”

I nodded.

Annie looked directly into my eyes. “You have no idea how much…”

There was absolutely no defending myself against this one. Whatever Annie was about to say, I deserved every word of it. I mean, you can hate your own family, but when someone else messes with them, all bets are off.

“How much I freakin' worship the ground you walk on right now! Roberta, I hate my brother. I mean, I loathe him. He's an arrogant, obnoxious, self-righteous jerk. And that's describing his good qualities.”

Annie's description did seem rather accurate.

“Did you see that perfect blonde chick we just passed in the stairwell?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, she's his girlfriend, and I hate her, too. She's a bitch. Abbey-the-bitch and Zachary-the-douche.”

“Unreal,” I said. “I just never would have thought the two of you were related. You're so…different.”

“Yeah, well, according to my mother, he received all the good genes in the family.”

The second bell rang. We waited for a couple of kids to walk in before us and then we headed in.

“Are you sure you're not angry?” I genuinely asked.

“No way. Roberta, my family's so royally
f'd-up
. Thank God we're rich; it's our only saving grace. I can't wait till they all die one day. Then, hopefully, I'll inherit our house and the first thing I'll do is burn it to the ground.”

I had never in my life met anyone who hated their family as much as Annie seemed to hate hers. “At least you have a plan,” is all I could offer.

“You live and you learn. Where do you want to sit?”

I pointed to the back of the room. We plopped down at a black two-seater lab desk. There was a small sink in the middle. I turned it on and sure enough, water spilled out from the spout.

A burning question came to my mind. I leaned in so only Annie could hear. “When did your mom sleep with Mr. Riveria?”

“At the
M.A.M.
fundraiser,” she whispered back. “Over at the Short Hills Country Club.”

“What's M.A.M.?”

“Moms Against Mercury. It's very political. Mr. Riveria was a guest speaker. She forced me to go and after some delightful cucumber finger sandwiches, I found her fixing her hair and he was buttoning up his shirt.”

“Whoa. That's like…whoa.”

“Tell me about it. They were coming out of the handicap bathroom
.
”

I leaned back in my seat as our teacher, Mrs. Martel, asked for everyone's attention. I was absolutely bewildered that Annie's family was seemingly more messed up than my own. I kept fading in and out of what Mrs. Martel was saying about the upcoming semester.

At one point, I looked over at Annie and saw that she was drawing a picture of a bear with an erect penis. It made me laugh, and Annie flashed a devilish grin. Then she drew a small bunny underneath the giant erection and made a voice bubble coming out of the bunny's mouth that said:
Please save me! Save me!

Annie was truly one of the oddest people I had ever met.

She finished the picture off by adding an arrow through the bunny's heart.

After class, we headed back down the stairwell to the first floor. Mervin, with his glasses propped on top of his head, ran over to us holding a limp plastic yellow flower. “Hey guys, look what I just pulled out of someone's ear!”

“Cool,” I said.

“Great, Mervin. You're a freakin' miracle. Okay, time's up. Are you guys coming or not?” Annie asked. “I need to know.”

“Coming where?” Mervin said as he placed the flower in his pocket.

“The reservoir.”

Mervin pushed his glasses back down over his eyes. “You're still on that thing?”

“It's not a
thing
,
Mervin. It's real and I'm going.”

“No, you're not,” Mervin said.

Annie calmly crossed her arms. “Yes. I am.”

I decided to interrupt. “Why do you want to do this again?”

“I told you guys, I want to see where Warren died.”

“No, I get that, but I guess I don't understand why?” After my cousin John died, his dad wound up selling their house. I have to admit, there was a piece of me that wanted to go into that garage one last time, to see where he died. Maybe I thought I'd find some kind of answer.

“Well,
why
?” Mervin pressed. “This makes no sense.”

It was clear Annie was getting frustrated. “I want to do something special.”

“Can't we go get ice cream or pizza? That's special,” Mervin said.

Kids hustled to their next classes, swarming all around.

“No, Mervin! I mean, come on, haven't you ever wanted to do something that doesn't make a whole lot of sense?”

“No,” Mervin said, shaking his head. “I never want to do anything that doesn't make sense.”

“Fine. Forget it! I'll do it on my own, just like everything else.”

“I want to go,” I blurted out, surprising both them and me.

Annie turned to me, her entire face lit up. “You do?”

I nodded, getting more excited with each second. Like Annie was saying, I don't know why, but it just felt right to say yes. And to be honest, I wasn't used to kids my own age inviting me along to do much of anything. So, for me, this did feel really special.

Annie linked her arm around mine. And in that moment, it felt like we had been girlfriends forever.

“Oh, great! So now, what? I'm the loser?” Mervin asked.

Annie knew she had him. “Well, Mervin, if it acts like a loser and talks like a loser, then, well, I guess it's a—”

“But I don't think this is wise,” he yelped.

“In or out?” Annie snapped.

Mervin let out a loud, irritated sigh. “All right, fine! I'm in, but I swear to God, if absolutely anything weird happens, like I see Warren's ghost, I will never forgive you.”

Annie reached over and squeezed Mervin's cheek. “I'll take my chances.”

Mervin, Annie, and I briskly walked down the hall toward our next classes.

“Okay, so we need a plan,” Annie said with excitement.

Mervin's face was a little green, exactly the same shade he was right before he fainted in gym.

“I just want to go on record of saying I am not happy about this,” he said.

Annie totally ignored him. “Right after school, we walk across the street to the mall.”

I shook my head. “But I don't have any money.”

“Don't worry about it. I have my own platinum card from American Express. It's got, like,
no
limit. We'll buy the raft and some provisions.”

“What kind of provisions?” Mervin asked, finally getting interested.

“Maybe some soft pretzels from
Pretzel World
or a couple of hot dogs from
Nathan's
.”

“Well, I do enjoy pretzels—”

“Oh, no…” I stopped walking. “I completely forgot I can't go today. I have detention.”

“For spitting on your brother's face.” Mervin fiddled with his book bag straps and turned to me. “I didn't want to tell you he was Annie's brother and make you feel any worse—”

“Oh, who cares about him,” Annie said.

The
spitting
incident wasn't even the real reason why I had detention, but I didn't want to explain the
Getting my period and missing English
or the
Special Needs Bus Pass
incidents, so I let them both think what they wanted to think.

“Whatever, I just can't go,” I said.

“Hold on one second. Mr. Wizard is the detention monitor,” Annie said.

“Okay?” I had no idea where she was going with this one.

A big smile spread across her face. “Well, I happen to know for a fact that he falls asleep during detention each and every time. I've heard my brother say that he and his friends sneak out to smoke pot when Wizard is monitoring because he always falls asleep.”

“Really?” Mervin said. “That's scandalous.”

“What do you want me to do?” I asked.

“When he falls asleep, you sneak out. You won't get in trouble because he'll be too embarrassed to admit that he was even asleep in the first place!”

The bell rang, and any kids lingering in the hall hustled off to their next classes.

“Trust me, this is the perfect plan! Let's all meet up at our lockers after the last bell and then Roberta, you go to detention, and Mervin and I will miss our bus and walk across the street to the mall. When Mr. Wizard falls asleep, you'll sneak out. It's foolproof.”

“You guys, I don't know…” I said hesitantly.

Annie got very serious and put both her hands on my shoulders, looking directly at me. There was something almost desperate in her eyes that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“Please,” she said. “This means a lot to me.”

Even though I had only known Annie for approximately four hours, the fact that it mattered so much to her, oddly enough, made it matter to me.

And against all my better judgment, I said, “Okay.”