Love and Fandoms (17 page)

MANDY

As Luci pulled
into a parking spot, Wyatt and Kareem hurried to the car. The looks on their
faces proved they had something urgent, but nothing earth shattering. No doubt
it had to do with Alex, the Pigs, or both.

Once the fracas
ended yesterday and Alex had left, everyone took stock. Mr. Bream and Mr.
Jenner, the two adults present, had a bloody nose and a bloody lip,
respectively, and the church group football players had similar wounds, as well
as some various bruises from the punches and kicks the Pigs delivered. One
other kid who ran in to stop it received a black eye for his troubles, and a
few others had minor bruises, but that was it.

After everyone
caught their breath, they went back to the haunted dungeon, more determined
than ever to make it great. Mr. Jenner promised to talk to the police, more to
see if they'd occasionally check on the church and clubhouse every so often
than to report the Pigs. He also hoped they'd be close by next weekend in case Alex
and the Pigs got it in their heads to ruin the event. Even that thought didn't
scare anyone; the prevailing emotion running through the group was to put on a
triumphant two nights.

Kareem gave Luci a
sweet little kiss on her forehead, and then turned his attention to Mandy.
"Alex and the Pigs are hanging out in the senior quad, and all four look
pissed. I don't know if you wanted to do anything about it, but we thought
you'd like to know."

"I should
talk to him. I was going to go find him anyway." She let out a sigh.
"I tried both texting and calling last night, but he didn't answer. I
doubt it would be any different this morning."

"Want us to
go with?" Luci asked.

"No. If I go
alone, I'm more apt to pull him away so we can talk. If he stays with the Pigs,
he won't open up to me."

"Did you guys
see him during the fight?" Wyatt asked.

"Yeah,"
Kareem said. "It was a big party for him."

"So much for
him changing back," Mandy said.

Luci gave her a
hug. "You'll get it sorted out."

She hurried
towards the senior quad, making sure she had enough time before the bell for
first period sounded. She saw the four of them standing in the center of the
quad, brooding, like Wyatt and Kareem said. It might have been funny if the
Pigs weren't so hateful, so dangerous.

As she approached,
the Pigs didn't say anything, but the way they leered at her made her feel
absolutely dirty. They each violently undressed her with their eyes, and none
tried to hide it. Alex noticed, but instead of stopping them, he smirked. She
grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

"Don't be
pussy whipped, bro," one of the Pigs called. She didn't look back, but
imagined them high-fiving after that.

"Pigs,"
she muttered, not meaning their group name. Alex scoffed but didn't say
anything. She dragged him to their hidden alcove by the Language Arts building,
and said, "Well?"

He glared at her.

"Spill
it," she said. "What's your problem?"

"What's
yours?" he spat back.

"My problem
is you. It's a haunted house put on by a teen church group. Why did you think
it would be fun to start a fight?"

"I didn't
start anything. That was all the Pigs."

"Give me a
break, Alex. You know they'll do anything you say. Even if they did start it,
you could have stopped them in a second."

"Maybe I
tried and they didn't listen."

It took all her
willpower not to kick him in the kneecap for his boldfaced lie. "Not only
was I there, but everyone saw you laughing hysterically. You wouldn't have
found it so amusing if you were trying to stop anything."

He shrugged.

She blew out a
deep breath. "That's my problem. Tell me what yours is."

"You should
have had my back when the old guy yelled at me. I was a big help all
weekend."

"I won't
argue that you were a big help, but you ruined it by letting the Pigs get out
of control. How did they even know you were there?"

"I thought
they might like to meet some of our competition."

"Yeah, right.
You knew what they'd do. So you wouldn't talk to me, return my texts, because
of that?"

"You should
have left with me. Maybe you didn't agree with me, but you're my girl."

"I should
have played the demure little girlfriend, huh? Give me a break."

"Hey, if you
want to be with a superstar, you have to play the game. You need to publically support
me, no matter what."

It was her turn to
scoff. "Do you know how full of crap you sound right now?"

"I'm just
saying how it is."

As she rolled her
eyes, the first period bell rang. "Whatever. I don't want to be late to
class."

"Me,
either." He stalked off, not looking back. That was fine with her.

WYATT

Wyatt and Kareem
walked a bit quicker than normal from Physics. They were anxious for Kareem to
get to Luci so they could find out what happened between Mandy and Alex. Alex hadn't
looked happy in 1st period, but the anger he wore when they saw him with the
Pigs that morning was gone. They figured he would be with Mandy, so she
wouldn't be able to talk. Kareem could get the scoop from Luci, and he could relay
the story to Wyatt during 3rd period.

When they turned
the corner to the main thoroughfare of campus, they saw the girls rushing
towards them, no Alex in sight. Luci floated into Kareem's arms, and Wyatt was
probably imagining it, a twist of wishful thinking, but he thought Mandy
twitched towards him to do the same before she caught herself. It made him
wonder even more about what happened this morning.

"So guess
which three idiots got in-school suspension this entire week," Luci said,
and then gave an evil chortle, which got the rest of them laughing.

"Sweet,"
Kareem said. "Did you hear any details?"

"No,"
Mandy said, "We overheard Alex telling someone else during Home Ec."

"I bet Mr.
Jenner didn't want to press charges as long as they were punished somehow,"
Kareem said. "He's big on lesson learning."

"I'm guessing
those three are too stupid to learn any lessons," Luci said.

"At least
they got something," Wyatt added.

The four of them
started towards the math building to meet up with Allyssa. Kareem asked Mandy how
her conversation with Alex went, but she said she'd tell them when they got to
their destination. Not only did she figure Allyssa would want to hear, but
there was less of a chance of being overheard there.

Kareem threw his
arm over Luci's shoulders, while she weaved one of hers around his waist. Wyatt
walked next to Mandy, and she reached over, grabbed his hand, but quickly
dropped it. "Sorry," she whispered, and when he glanced over, her
face turned bright red.

He whispered over
to her. "Did you break up with him?" That might be why she was acting
this way.

She shook her head.
"Nothing earth-shattering happened. I wish I could get a hug,
though."

"Friends can
hug friends," he said, and he hoped his voice didn't crack when he said
it.

She gave him a sad
look. "Not at the moment we can't."

Before he could
wonder what she meant, Luci said, "What are you two whispering
about?"

"We're
commenting on what a cute couple you two make," Mandy said.

Luci smiled and
shrugged, while Kareem said, "Yeah, we do," and gave them a wink.
Wyatt was impressed with how upbeat Mandy seemed. By the way Alex looked in
Language Arts, he assumed she'd be a bit depressed, maybe even angry. But then
again, she needed a hug, and when she said he couldn't give her one, she seemed
down. Why did all of this have to be so confusing? And that wasn't even bringing
up the fact that they were on their way to see his girlfriend, who he was way
happy with.

And speaking of
Allyssa, as they approached her, there was no mistaking the look of annoyance
directed at Mandy. He'd seen such looks from her before, sometimes simply at
the mention of her name, but never this blatant. But, like always, she hid the
expression almost as fast as she made it and replaced it with a big smile.

"New break
buddies!" Allyssa said, and ran up to give Luci and Mandy big hugs.
"What, did you dump your hunk of a boyfriend over yesterday?" As she
said it, she draped herself over Wyatt in a way she never had before, and even
he, as clueless as he usually was, recognized it as a show of possession on her
part. Mandy flashed him a quick look of what he thought might be pity. What in
the world had their conversation on Saturday been? On second thought, he was
probably better off staying in the dark on that subject.

"So what
happened?" Kareem asked. "Did you talk to him?"

"Yeah, but
first the Pigs leered at me. And not that thing where they undressed me with
their eyes, but like they were raping me with their minds. It made me feel so
dirty that I wanted to go home and scrub the top layer of skin off. And Alex
didn't do anything to stop them."

Wyatt's insides
clenched, and, not for the first time, he wished for super powers so he could
kick the crap out of Alex and the Pigs. But this was real life; what could he
do? Not a damn thing. He needed to join the gym. Yeah, because that would help.
It was a good thing it would never work out with Mandy because he was less than
worthless.

"When was
this?" Allyssa asked, and they filled her in on the morning's backstory.

"Once I got
him alone," Mandy continued, "he was pissed at me. He couldn't
believe I didn't stand up for him when Mr. Jenner yelled, or then that I didn't
leave with him."

"Did you
laugh in his face?" Luci asked, wearing an expression of disbelief.

 "Get this,
he said that since he's a superstar, I need to publicly agree with him and back
him up no matter what he says or does."

"What a bunch
of barbaric bullshit," Wyatt said, earning a smile from Mandy but a scowl
from Allyssa. That again lasted only a second before she was nodding along with
everyone else.

"So what are
you going to do?" Luci asked.

Mandy shrugged.
"Nothing for now, I guess. He's grounded, and his dad is pretty strict, so
he's basically housebound except for school and football. I have a feeling
he'll reach out to me sooner rather than later."

The bell rang,
signaling the end of break. Before he could say goodbye to anyone, Allyssa
grabbed him and kissed him so hard she practically jammed her tongue down his
throat. She'd never done that before, in public, anyway, and he had no doubt it
was another display to show he belonged to her. When she let him go, both
Kareem and Luci were unsuccessfully trying not to laugh, but they at least
covered most of it behind their hands — well, forearm in Kareem's case. Mandy,
however, gave him an almost apologetic look until Allyssa looked at her, and then
she joined Luci and Kareem in laughing. Allyssa, for her part, looked proud of
herself.

As Wyatt and
Kareem headed into the math building and their Calculus class, Kareem punched
his shoulder and said, "See? Start hanging out with girls and the drama starts
up." Wyatt could only chuckle and shake his head.

MANDY

Friday's school
day over at last! She and Alex had avoided each other the rest of Monday and
all day Tuesday, and then acted like nothing had happened on Wednesday. She tried
hard to make it work, to love him, but every time she so much as looked at him,
she saw how he stood back and enjoyed the brawl. It wasn't until lunch today
that she even worked up the courage to ask him for details on what lead up to
the incident, and she hated the way he made it all into a huge joke. Now, as
Luci drove the two of them to the haunted dungeon, she relayed the story.

"So those
guys all play for the Bernardo Vista football team. They were saying how they
weren't looking forward to facing Alex and the Stingers next week. But, as Alex
put it, they knew their place and couldn't wait to see him at work. The Pigs,
of course, couldn't help putting in their two cents."

"Maybe
half-a-cent among them," Luci deadpanned, getting Mandy to let out a snort.

"If they're
lucky to have that much. Anyway, one of them said they were going to murder
them, except there were a few F-bombs thrown in. Another said, with more
colorful language, that it was going to be a bloodbath. One of the Bernardo
guys reminded them it was a church function and asked them to please watch
their language. I'm assuming he was very polite about it, but Alex insists he
was a jerk. Maybe you had a different experience, but I didn't meet anyone last
weekend that wasn't perfectly nice."

"Yeah, except
Alex and the Pigs."

Mandy nodded.
Though if they were going with people they already knew, she'd add Allyssa to
that list, but for a much different reason. She still hadn't mentioned anything
about that to Luci.

"One of the
Pigs, with as much eloquence, I'm sure, as he could conjure up, told him to
shut his mouth or they'd shut it for him. That led to one of the Bernardo guys saying
it might be best if they left. Alex said he demanded, but I highly doubt that.
Then the Pigs started punching."

"And Alex
stood back and laughed," Luci added. "No offense, but even his side
of the story makes him sound like a raging douchebag."

"No offense
taken. It really does." She hesitated for a few seconds before saying the
next part out loud. "I don't think I want him to be my boyfriend
anymore." Luci didn't say anything, but her utter lack of surprise shocked
Mandy a bit. It spurred her on to say, "Even when he was at his jerkiest,
I still loved him. His touches, his kisses, all held that intense spark I craved.
But since Sunday, it's gone. And after his explanation today, I'm not sure I
want it back." Once her feelings were out, no tears came. In fact, she
felt better, happier, than she had all week.

They pulled into
the church parking lot, and after Luci turned off the ignition, she leaned over
and gave Mandy a hug. "You know I'm hear for you no matter what, babe.
Don't do anything rash, but … well, I can see he's not the same guy you fell in
love with. I used to enjoy hanging out with him, but not anymore." She let
out a humorless chuckle. "Pretty crappy best friend advice, but I'll come
up with something better later."

Mandy kissed her
forehead. "No, it's good advice. I'll wait and see what happens for now.
But if all that isn't enough, there's something else."

"Oh, lord,
what?"

Before she
answered, she saw Wyatt and, maybe more importantly, Allyssa. "I'll tell
you later."

As they
approached, Wyatt tried to wave hello, but Allyssa chose that moment to drape
herself all over him, so much so that all he could do was give Mandy a confused
look. She wanted to shoot him a sympathetic shrug and smile, but she didn't
dare with Allyssa watching. At least Allyssa didn't glare at her, as she'd done
most of the week. Their Tuesday-Thursday study sessions had been icy and
awkward for the first time since they started. They exchanged fake smiles and
said, "Hi." Allyssa then gave Luci an overenthusiastic hug. With the
pleasantries, or lack thereof, out of the way, they headed over to join
everyone else in front of the haunted dungeon.

WYATT

Wyatt stood
quietly in the mostly dark haunted dungeon maze, anticipating the next group to
scare. He wore a rubber Frankenstein's Monster mask (he hadn't bothered
correcting the guy who called it a Frankenstein mask when he handed it to him),
an oversized pair of green rubber gloves, and waited behind a cardboard plank
with a window for him to push out of. An added growl, bellow, or sometimes
monstrous groan got the patrons screaming every time while putting a smile on
his hidden face. He'd been too quick on the trigger the first few times, but
now he had it down to a science, jumping out in the middle of the groups for
maximum scares. Sometimes he waited for the end of the line before he popped
out because the screams of those in the back never failed to startle those
further forward.

His only regret
was that he couldn't experience the party, which the church group did a great
job setting up. There was no charge for a trip through the haunted dungeon,
which alone made it an excellent Halloween event, especially with Kareem and
some of the others putting on a short skit for each group before they entered. Kareem
was dressed as a vampire, and if Wyatt knew him (which he did), he hammed it up
to epic proportions. Wyatt would have to take a quick break at some point tonight
or tomorrow to go check it out.

In addition to
that, they had grilled hot dogs, individual-sized bags of chips, and cans of
soda for sale. And from the sound of it, tomorrow, actual Halloween night,
they'd get the services of The Chunky Cookie food truck, a local one specializing
in giant homemade-style cookies and other desserts. No doubt that alone would
bring more people to the event. Besides food, they roped off an area and were
playing family-friendly pop songs and, of course, classic and contemporary
Halloween tunes for people to dance to. Some of the adults from the church even
set up a few trick-or-treat booths for anyone dressed in a costume to get some
candy.

They started this
evening at 6, and would open tomorrow at 4. Both nights would go until 10, so
there was plenty of opportunity for everyone to have a great time. The teen
group had done an excellent job of advertising all over North Orange County and
on local-flavored Internet sites. So far, it had all paid off, as there was
never much of a lull in the groups going through the maze. Which, of course,
meant plenty of chances for Wyatt to deliver scares. He couldn't wait to see
how crowded and crazy it got tomorrow.

Each group of
eight to ten patrons had two tour guides, one in the front and one in the back.
Their job was basically to make sure no one messed anything up or loitered
inside. The ones in front were dressed as witches, while those bringing up the
rear were zombies. Allyssa and Mandy chose to be zombies — smoking-hot ones, in
his opinion — while Luci dressed as a witch, and, he had to admit, she looked
wicked hot in her costume.

Both Allyssa and
Mandy wore stark white make-up with tints of green in it for that dead flesh appearance.
They had on old t-shirts and jeans that had been stained with fake blood. Luci
created her witch costume with a long, flowing black dress, a cape, and an
iconic black pointed hat. She also clutched a tattered broomstick. Some of the
other witches put on green face paint, but Luci was in the camp that chose to
go without. Either way worked, in his opinion.

Mandy and Luci
were always in the same group. As they approached each time, Luci gave him a
discrete thumbs-up and smile, but wouldn't give away his position. After he
popped out and scared the group, Mandy never failed to high-five him, usually
while laughing near hysterically. When Allyssa went by, she chose to give him a
wink and a wave, and sometimes a laugh when he made a slow, classic movie
monster grab for her. All in all, other than the comic-con, he couldn't
remember the last time he had this much fun.

A few minutes
before 10 o'clock, the lights turned on in the clubhouse, and Kareem's voice
rang out. "We're done for the night. Everyone come out front."

Wyatt left his mask
and gloves there and headed out. He wasn't sure how many others were inside
with him, but he knew there were a few. Some lowered both rubber and paper
mache bats and spiders or pulled creepy-crawlies across the ground, and there
were two or three in the kitchen area, which had been transformed into a human
slaughterhouse. Kareem had both conceived of and designed that gory skit, and
no doubt it was where the loudest screams in the building came from while he
waited for his next victims.

As he wound his way
through to the front and out the door, the pow-wow had already started, and was,
in fact, wrapping up. He found himself standing next to Mandy. All he heard of
the talk was Clay saying to get to it so they could call it a night. Mandy
grabbed his arm, sending warm shocks though him like anytime she touched him,
and led him around the side of the clubhouse. "We need to pick up trash
and put away loose stuff from the show. You can be my buddy."

"Okay,"
he said, doing his best to sound casual.

"You looked
like you were having a blast," she said.

"Yeah. Who
knew scaring people could be so fun?"

"You were
good at it. You earned every one of those high-fives."

"And if all
zombies look like you, I say bring on the zombie apocalypse."

She giggled and
embraced him. Their eyes met, and they positioned their heads for a kiss, but
before their lips met, she paused. "Wait. I don't want to get you in
trouble with your girlfriend."

Her voice came out
so husky that he almost said, "What girlfriend?" and kissed her hard.
Instead, he said, "Probably a good idea." She flinched, and he could
have kicked himself. It was the right thing to say, but at the same time, the
absolute worst answer.

She slipped out of
his arms just in time as Allyssa, Kareem, and Luci rounded the corner.
"All clear over here?" Kareem asked.

"Yup,"
Mandy said, and Wyatt gave a quick glance around to make sure she was right.
She was.

"Good,
because there are hot dogs on the grill, and I'm ready to hear how life inside
the dungeon was."

As they headed back
to the party, Allyssa shoved herself in between him and Mandy and gripped his
arm a little tighter than necessary. Well, considering he'd almost kissed
Mandy, maybe it was necessary, but she didn't know that. Instead of being
annoyed, he kissed her hairline right above her forehead so he wouldn't get
zombie paint on his lips. "Have fun tonight?"

"Uh-huh,"
she said, and began telling him all about it.