Boring Girls(22)

“Hey, Rachel!” Josephine said loudly as I approached. She was obviously drunk. “You were out there a long time.”

“Have another drink,” Erica said. “Sit down here with us. We want to get to know Jo’s new friend better.”

“No thanks,” I said. “I think I’m going to head out.”

“Oh,” Josephine said, “I’ll go with you.”

“No, it’s fine, stay,” I said. “I have to get home anyway.”

“It’s only 11. You still have an hour before your mom wants you home. Why don’t you stay?” Josephine continued. “Come on. I’d really like you to get to know Heather and Erica. You guys are all my best friends.”

“Yeah, Rachel! Come on. You can tell us all about Jo’s boyfriend! She won’t tell us anything.” Heather laughed, sliding over on the couch to make room for me. “Sit here.”

I almost said that Josephine didn’t have a boyfriend, then vaguely recalled something about whichever guy she thought was cute that week. The three girls smiled up at me, and I thought about sitting down with them. But then I saw Fern walk into the room, giving me the ready nod, and I shook my head at Josephine. “Sorry, I have to go. It was nice meeting you, thanks for the party. I’ll see you on Monday, Josephine.”

I turned my back on her disappointed look, and together with Fern, walked out the front door.

xXx

“Let me walk home with you,” Fern said, and I told her where I lived. “I’m not too far away from there, it’ll be fine.” So we walked and chatted. It felt amazing, wandering through the night with her, feeling fearless, the two of us, talking like we’d known each other for a long time. I was totally comfortable telling her about my lyrics, and she talked more about how she was trying to learn guitar. “We should start a band,” she joked, and we both laughed, but secretly I thought that was a pretty cool idea.

When we got to my house, we paused on the driveway. All the windows were dark.

“My parents are probably asleep by now,” I said. “Do you want to hang out here for a bit?” We sat down on the curb out front. “So you can get me a ticket for the concert?”

“Sure,” she said. “I’ll have to go down to the record shop next week. Why don’t you come with me? We can do some shopping too. Try to find something cool to wear to the show.”

“Sure,” I said. “And your friend will have room in the car?”

“Definitely. It’s just going to be me, that girl Yvonne, Craig, and maybe one of his friends. There’ll be room. You’re going to love Surgical Carnage, they’re amazing.”

“Sounds really cool,” I said. “My parents will let me go for sure. They’re pretty laid back.”

“I’m going to bleach my hair this week.”

I looked at her long pale hair. “It’s pretty light already.”

“Yeah, but I want it to be white.” She giggled self-consciously. “Like Marie-Lise, I guess.”

I giggled too. “That’ll look awesome.”

She lit a cigarette. “You should dye your hair too.”

“Yeah,” I said, inspired. “I’d like to dye it black.”

“Well, after we go shopping, why don’t you come back to my house? We can help each other do our hair,” she suggested. “I don’t think I can do a good job on mine by myself. My hair’s too long.”

“That’s great, totally,” I said. Going shopping, dying hair, going to a concert, with Fern, my new friend. It was like a whole bunch of opportunities were opening up in front of me. Black hair! A metal concert! Things were definitely looking up.

As we continued talking, I was horrified to hear the side door of my house open and close. I looked up the driveway and saw Mom, wrapped in a sweater, her feet shoved into sneakers, approaching us.

“Er, I thought I heard voices,” she said.

“Hello!” Fern said and, in one fluid motion, quickly discarded her cigarette by the curb and stood up.

“This is Fern,” I said. “Fern, this is my mom.”

My mother smiled politely at Fern. “Nice to meet you. Rachel, it’s after midnight. It’s quarter past.”

“Sorry,” I said. “We were just walking home and we stopped to talk for a few minutes. I was about to come in.”