Permanent Adhesives (9 page)

“I helped him build his band website and make the videos and their merch and stuff. I started out making their tee-shirts, and then I pretty much laughed at their website when I saw it, so they challenged me to make a better one, and it turned out it came kinda easy to me. Afterwards, they asked me to help with their videos, and thus I have an expanded skill set.”

I smiled at Elias. “So it all started with tee-shirts?”

“Yeah, I kinda made them for myself and Benson noticed one I had on and asked me ‘bout it.”

“Really, that’s cool, so yeah, let’s make some tee-shirts.”

“Okay, cool, I actually have a bunch of blank ones we can start with.”

Elias Bickler might have been a little unstable (freaking out on me one evening and being so sweet the next), but yet pretty cool. “You want a pop or something?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

When I returned to my room with two cans of pop, Elias was lying facedown on my bed with his mouth slightly parted and lightly snoring. I was going to wake him, but then seeing he did not sleep the night before, I left him lying there.

I sat on my bed and drank my pop, while Elias slept. After a bit my phone rang. It was Kate. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to talk to her or not. I figured she was kind of right about what she said. They say the truth hurts doesn’t it, or something like that.

“Yeah,” I said, answering my phone, getting up off my bed, and wandering into the kitchen.

“Have you seen how many hits your video has? You’re like famous.”

“Great, just what I want to be famous for.” I plopped into one of the kitchen chairs that had cracked, brown, vinyl seat cushions on them.

“Mol, look, I’m sorry if I…”

“Forget about it.”

“But really, you know I can be a jerk. I’m the only one who knows about, you know, your stuff. Well, maybe Roberto, so that’s how I can say that. Nobody else views you that way. Wait, no, I don’t either, and you can barely understand what Elias is saying in the video anyways.”

“I know, I said forget it. Uh, hey, guess who I hung out with tonight?”

“Who?”

“Elias.”

“What!” Kate shouted. “That crack head. He’s a douchebag. Why would you do that?”

I sighed. “It’s a long story. He’s not all that douchebaggish.”

“Molly,” she said. “He’s like totally unhinged. After you left, he barfed on my lawn, and started crying. The dude’s crazy.”

Hmmm, I thought. Elias skipped over the whole him crying part. “I know. He’s crazy and an ass, but—”

“You still like him,” Kate said, cutting me off. “I sure hope you know what you’re doing. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’m not crossing over into the liking, like as in liking him territory. He’s just making it up to me by helping me with my comic.”

“Helping you how? Does he draw?”

“No, he’s gonna redo my blog and make some tee-shirts I can sell and stuff.”

“Oh,” Kate said, sounding surprised. “That’s kinda nice.”

“Yeah, and he has all these other ideas.”

“Okay Molly, if you say so. Don’t let him buy back your likeyness with all this stuff, but hey, that was so superb watching you kick his ass. We all got the warning, don’t make Molly Pearson mad.”

I sighed. “That is so embarrassing.”

“Why are you embarrassed by everything? You rock.”

It was my turn to say
okay, if you say so.
I didn’t want to be known as the angry girl. After a bit I let Kate go, and went and sat back on my bed. I propped myself in the corner and without realizing it, I fell asleep because before I knew it, somebody was slapping me in the face. I groggily opened my eyes. It was Janie.

“Why do you have a boy sleeping in here?” she asked. She was wearing a red polo and khakis; her required wear for work.

“We just fell asleep while going over some stuff. Gimmie a break.”

“If that’s what you say,” Janie said, sitting down on her bed and pulling off her shoes, then throwing them into the abyss of our room. “Who is that anyways?”

“You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Janie raised an eyebrow.

“Elias Bickler.”

“Is that name supposed to mean something to me?”

“From across the street.”

Janie bit her lip thinking about it before it dawned on her. “Oh my God, eww, what’s he doing here?”

“Shhh.”

“Don’t shhh me, he’s sleeping.”

“He’s actually in my English class now and helping me out with some comic stuff.”

“It’s still gross.”

“How and are you like ten or something?”

“No, it’s just eww, look at his mom and where they live.”

“Uh, look around and have you met our parents?”

“Still.”

“Whatever, you have issues.”

Janie flipped me off and went in the kitchen to eat something. After a bit I decided to wake up Elias because I wasn’t sure if he had work the next day or not; it took me a while though. I started with some gentle shoulder tapping and then some shaking, some yelling, and then finally Janie came in with a nefarious grin and a pot and large spoon. That quickly woke up Elias.

“You’re so evil,” I said to my sister, who stood standing in the bedroom doorway laughing at the newly awoken and confused Elias. Janie went back to the kitchen seeing that her self-appointed job was done.

“Hey,” I said, leaning on the doorframe.

Elias rubbed his eyes. “Uh, er, sorry.”

“No, that’s cool. I just woke you up cuz I wasn’t sure if you had work tomorrow or not.”

“Thanks, I actually do have to work at the store tomorrow, sooo…”

“My club has their meeting on Monday after school, so if you want to meet up with us there, and you could share your ideas and such.”

Elias gave a head bob while standing up. “Yeah, that would work.”

Elias left and I brushed my teeth, flexed my still slightly sore hand, put on some jammies, and climbed back into bed. I stared up at the dark ceiling wondering if I was crazy for forgiving Elias so easily, or if he was actually crazy or unstable like Kate said. So Elias’ reason for lashing out seemed to have come from confusion over how his home life and social life were overlapping, and I was able to see where he was coming from. However, he was a dick, but then I did punch him a couple of times. He also said me crossing over the boundaries into his life scared him, so, maybe he wasn’t unstable; perhaps he was just scared.

Monday morning was pretty typical for starters. Well, the bus ride at least. Then I walked into school, and it was as if everybody knew who I was. It seemed all students at our school had seen the video. I gave out lots of high-fives and exploding fist bumps and that was even before I hit my locker. All of which was weird because our school was so large you didn’t know half the people in your class, but yet here were all these people acknowledging me. By simply punching somebody in the face, I somehow got out of my comic book world bubble that I might have been trapped in and thrust into the belly of our school which was full of people who seemed to know who I was because I said
hi
that morning to a lot of people and the thing is, I didn’t know most of them.

I wasn’t sure how I was feeling about everything. I think, deep down, I was scared that somebody would bring up what Elias said before I punched him, and should I really walk around with my head held high because I beat somebody up? Isn’t it said that violence isn’t the answer? Was everybody all riled up because it was a boy I went crazy on, or just the simple fact that it was caught on video? I’m not an attention monger or anything, but the extra attention wasn’t that bad, and I was enjoying all the exploding fist bumps.

When I got to my locker, a small crowd awaited me: Kate, Nicki, Brian, Dean, Roberto, and Reynaldo. Usually it was just Kate.

“Molly,” Kate shouted when she saw me. Her hair was done in her usual braids, but that day, she had pink ribbons tied to the ends.

“Hey guys,” I said with a forced smile.

Everybody waved or gave a little
hey
back, but Nicki yelled, “I still can’t believe you beat up Elias Bickler!” She wore a polka dotted dress that looked like it was from the fifties with striped tights.

I nodded in response.

“You okay?” Roberto asked. “You kinda just left when we were at Quirks.”

“Yeah, my form of a response to the video I think. I looked like a crazed person. And I think hasty exits might be my new thing.”

“He deserved it,” Roberto said.

“Hasty exits should be your new thing.” Nicki said with a laugh, twisting her hips, making her skirt twirl a little. “At the end of every class or club meeting, just run out.”

“I’ll have to contemplate it, but has anybody seen Elias today?” I asked.

Kate laughed. “I did. His face looks like shit. You pack a punch girl.”

“Want us to rough him up some more?” Brian asked, puffing his chest like he was a tough guy. Reynaldo and Dean nodded in support of their friend.

“No, don’t worry. Oh, he’s coming to our meeting today.”

I swear in unison they all shouted, “What!”

I sighed. “It’s a long story, but he’s gonna help out with the comic.”

Reynaldo stepped forward. His tee-shirt that day said
Cat Barfed on the Carpet
. “We can’t allow that.”

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“It’s in your best interest. No douchebaggery allowed,” Reynaldo said.

“Mol, I gotta jet. Nerds, chill,” Kate said, shoving Reynaldo out of her way.

“Yeah, we’ll leave you with your club problems,” Roberto said, flashing me a sympathetic smile, and glancing over his shoulder at Nicki. She fell in step next to him, and they took off down the hall.

Dean, who was wearing an argyle sweater vest, spoke first after the others left. “Is that really a good idea Molly?”

I sighed. “I talked to him over the weekend, and it’s his way of trying to make it up to me. He’s gonna make tee-shirts I can sell and upgrade my blog.”

“All stuff we can do,” Brian said, crossing his arms over his thin chest. Reynaldo nodded.

“Give him a chance, okay? For me,” I said, puckering my lips.

“Fine,” Reynaldo said. “But we’re going to be on high alert.”

The bell rang, and we parted ways. I had gym and then English. During English, people just kept looking back and forth between Elias and me. When Mrs. Gomez saw Elias’ face she yelped, “Dear Lord what happened to you?” It might have been kind of funny. The rest of the day dragged on like usual. I heard my teachers talking in the background somewhere while I sat there and drew a panel with Becky Gonzalez; her high, dark ponytail bouncing behind her. Her doe like eyes opened wide and a smile spread across her face as she kicked in The Home Wrecker’s face. I was always cautious to keep an eye out for teachers who might have been suspicious of my actions. I was pretty good at making it look like I was taking notes; most of them were none the wiser.

*********************************

I approached room 205 after school, and I heard what sounded like a commotion coming from inside. I popped my head in, and Elias stood just inside the doorway with his feet parted in a steady stance and his arms crossed, wearing his messenger bag. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he stepped aside to reveal the scene that he was taking in; it was also the source of all the commotion. The classroom was full of club members sitting on the desks and in the desk chairs and leaning on the metal encased heating; all wearing tee-shirts with slogans only nerds would appreciate, and flannel and corduroy, with big plastic glasses and wire frames and braces, acne and baby barrettes (they belonged to Anna). I even noticed a couple of new faces. So in the midst of this, Reynaldo and Dean were holding back Brian, or maybe pretending to hold him back. Brian was flailing his arms about while shouting, “I’m gonna kill you Elias Bicker!” His eyebrows were raised all the way up his forehead, and spittle was flying out of his mouth; his skinny arms thrashing all about. I wasn’t quite sure on how to respond. It was a pretty funny sight to behold. I looked at Elias and raised an eyebrow. He shrugged in response.

“Brian, what the heck are you doing?” I asked.

Brian didn’t hear or pretended not to. “No douchebaggery allowed!” Brian yelled.

“Brian!” I shouted.

He stopped flailing and looked at me. His mouth was partially hanging open, and his eyebrows were still raised high.

Reynaldo spoke then instead of Brian. “Molly, why is little dude here, really?” he asked, pointing a finger at Elias.

I looked Elias up and down. He’s not that little, I thought. “Because I said so and that’s that,” I said, putting my hands on my hips. I looked over at Elias, who was studying the hardwood floor.

“I should just go,” Elias softly said, still looking at the floor.

“No, you’re staying.”

“Molly,” Brian said.

Elias turned towards the chalkboard that lined the wall behind us. He slipped off his bag propping it up on the edge and flipped it open. He pulled out the notebook from the day before and held it out to me. “Um, I wrote everything down for you. All your new account info is in here. Just change the passwords and stuff,” Elias mumbled, placing the notebook on a desk because I was doing nothing but staring at it.