Rosethorn (4 page)

They continually complained of working for minimum wage and that the theater would be closing any day now. Sera could never figure out how the theater made any money when it showed third-run double features for $5.00. She took her ticket from Troy and pretended not to hear him when he asked where Allison was. She supposed that she could break it to him that Allison now had a boyfriend, but she just didn’t feel like seeing that stricken look on his face. He would probably start blubbering and freak her out. He was at least 20 and had been making eyes at Allison and giving her free Twix candy bars for years now. If he wasn’t so stoned most of the time, he’d probably be a lot creepier.

Sera chose the middle of the seventh row, her and Allison’s usual spot, and scrunched all the way down as she put her feet over the back of the chair in front of her. She couldn’t wait for the movie to start so that she could lose herself in something other than her aloneness. It had been easier being a loner when Allison was a loner too.

There were only three other people in the theater when the first movie began. Sera liked this quirky love story about misfits and her feet danced to the catchy soundtrack.

She munched on her butter-drenched popcorn contentedly and looked forward to the next movie about a plane crash and zombies in the wilderness. However, her enjoyment of the movie was ruined when she kept getting distracted by a noisy crowd two rows behind her, who kept laughing and making loud comments. When the group erupted into laughter and drowned out a climactic scene, Sera turned out angrily and yelled, “Shut the hell up!” which only made them laugh some more.

“Make me, bitch." More laughter. Then they started throwing popcorn at her.

How original, Sera thought, and decided to just ignore them, until she felt them catapult something dense and sticky on the back of her head. She started patting her hair and felt moist gum stick to her fingers. Rage overtook her and before she knew it, she had launched her ice-filled soda cup at the laughing face of the biggest of them all. Caught in mid-laugh, outrage exploded on his wet face. She recognized him as somebody who went to Nova, the alternative school for those who had been thrown out of the two high schools in town.

She had made a big mistake.

“You fucking bitch!"

Sera grabbed up her bag and started running as he jumped over seats to get to her.

“Get her, Kevin!" His friends egged on.

By his purple-mottled face and grunts, Sera knew no one would be able to hold him back from getting at her. She ran down the aisle in a panic, seeing shocked and laughing faces blur as she ran past them to get to the exit. She could hear the goon close behind her, who moved surprisingly fast for someone so big. She quickly gauged the distance to the double doors and realized he would get to her before she escaped. He was so close that she could hear him breathing. She felt the floors shake as he thundered towards her.

Sera winced, expecting to be grabbed back. Instead, she heard him fall with a groan.

Still running, she turned her head to look back and saw his body splayed on the theater floor, next to someone who sat by the aisle with one big foot and a long leg next to him on the floor. By the movie’s flickering light, she instantly recognized Andrew’s thunderstruck face, eyes wide with growing fear, and paused in disbelief. But only for a moment for the goon started getting up.

“Run!” she yelled before she pushed open the doors and ran through the small lobby to the front.

Once outside, Sera pelted down the sidewalk and threw herself into a dark alley. She crouched down behind a big garbage bin in the dark, trying to catch her breath. Her chest felt constricted and she struggled not to breathe so hard or move. The smell of something rotting assailed her and she almost gagged. She listened for the sound of approaching feet or voices, but heard only cars driving by.

Slowly, her heart calmed down. Still listening, Sera relaxed a little and leaned against the wall. She decided to wait five more minutes, in case he was still looking for her. She silently counted to three
hundred then quietly edged to the front of the garbage bin, trying not to make any noise. Once she got to the mouth of the alley, she peered around the wall and scanned both sides of the street to see if anyone was around.

A couple of loud drunks were in front of the bar across the street, but otherwise, it looked safe. Sera turned down a side street, away from Main to lessen the chances of anyone seeing her. Once she got far enough away, she breathed easier and stopped looking over her shoulder every few seconds.

She put on her headphones and started playing “Stand Back” in her disc player again, the only song that fit her mood tonight. At least Stevie Nicks understood how she felt. The pounding notes filled her with energy and fueled the anger simmering inside her. She almost regretted running away from the ugly thug in the theater, fantasizing what she would have done to him and imagining him cowering with fear, his face underneath the heel of her combat boots. The image gave her so much pleasure that she started screaming when, without warning, Andrew rode up next to her in his bike.

Embarrassed, Sera took her headphones off and glared at him. “You scared the living crap outta me!"

Andrew moved his bike away so that he was in the middle of the street, his face red. “I called out your name, but you didn’t hear me."

“Sorry. I thought it was that mutant."

Andrew started shaking his head. “Did you mean to piss off the biggest dick in Nova or did you seriously think wearing your drink would shut him up?”

Sera wrinkled her nose. “I guess it wasn’t the brightest idea I’ve ever had. But they were such assholes!"

Andrew stood on the middle of the street, straddling his bike, arms crossed. “He’s been held back, like, three times. He was sent to juvy for beating up a sub." He looked at her, still amazed at her brazenness.

Sera gasped, suddenly realizing what she had narrowly avoided. “God, that was stupid! He must have been at least 300 hundred pounds." She met his eyes and they both laughed. After a few minutes, Sera stood awkwardly under the lamppost as she remembered what had saved her from being pounded on.

“Uh. Thank you. For back there,” she said haltingly, recalling that this was the second time that day she had occasion to thank him.

“Sure
,” he mumbled. “No big deal." He looked around at the dark street. “You going this way?”

“Yeah. I thought I’d better avoid Main." She fiddled with her
disc player, restless and unsure of the gangly boy in front of her.

Ever so subtly, something had changed since this morning. She felt obligated to be civil to him. She hated being obligated. It did not sit well with the anger and frustration she wanted to nurture tonight.

“I was going this way, too.”

She started walking down the sidewalk and he slowly rode his bike parallel to her, but did not come any closer. She kept glancing at him surreptitiously as he wove back and forth to keep pace with her.

“What were you listening to?”

“Stand Back.”

“What’s that?”

Sera sighed. No one her age knew Stevie Nicks and it was always such a pain to have to explain who she was.

“It’s by Stevie Nicks.”

“Oh.”

“Do you even know who she is?” she asked contemptuously.

Andrew was silent for a moment. “Isn’t she in a band...Fleetwood Mac?”

Sera stopped abruptly, astonished.

“Yeah,” she said, looking perplexed at him.

She kept walking and he rode alongside her quietly. Stopping again, she turned to him.

"What do you want?"

Expecting him to be startled by her directness, she was surprised when he looked back at her calmly.

"I wanted to finish the movie, but..
,” he replied. "Do you want me to leave you alone?"

She shrugged. "It's a free country." She walked a little, then stopped again.

“Do you wanna listen?" She held up her headphones, then brought them down again. “You don’t have to, if you don’t want to.”

He rode over and stopped beside her, standing still as he straddled the bike. She hesitated before leaning over and putting the headphones on him. He stood quietly, letting her adjust the earphones.

“Let me start it over, so you can listen to the best part." She pressed the back button, then pressed play.

She gazed at him as he listened, head bobbing a little. He wasn’t wearing a baseball cap like he usually did, so she saw that his hair, which fell in his eyes, was a very light blond. His face was long and pale, with a narrow nose and wide lips. His features and limbs seemed too big for him, as if he was all hands and feet and arms that looked restless even when he was standing still.

But as he returned her look, levelly, not taking his eyes off her as he listened to the music, Sera discovered with a shock that his were the bluest eyes she had ever seen.

With a start, she realized that the song had ended and she had continued staring at him. She started walking forward.

“Ow!" She had forgotten to take off the headphones in her haste and had pulled them half off of Andrew’s head.

“Oops, sorry." She ran back and took them off, determined not to look at him again, then started walking rapidly down the sidewalk.

He caught up to her. “It had a really good beat. But I was a little confused with the lyrics. She sounds angry and says stand back, but then she says take me home. Does she want him to go away or does she want him to take her home?  I don’t get it.”

Sera rolled her eyes, anger rapidly brought to a boil. She would defend Stevie to the death.

“Stevie Nicks is the greatest singer-songwriter that ever lived. She’s a poet and every one of her songs is full of passion and beauty and profound truths about life. And for you to make fun of her just shows your, your, your...lack of.…”  Sera sputtered, unable to finish, blazing with indignation.

“I wasn’t making fun of her!" Andrew’s voice was rising too, his face reddening. “I was just asking what it all meant. Jesus!”

“You wanna know what it means?” she asked as if to challenge him.

“Yeah, isn’t that what I just said?”

She looked at him, still fuming. “Well, she is angry. She’s angry at the world because she’s misunderstood. He has to try to figure her out because, because she’s not obvious about her feelings. And...she’s angry at him for whatever reason, but she’s willing to, to compromise. And although she seems like she wants him to stand back, she really wants him to...not stop...trying." Sera’s voice faltered a little as he gazed at her. 

They stood motionless for a few minutes, saying nothing, then Sera resumed walking. He followed her.

“She was inspired to write ‘Stand Back’ when she heard ‘Little Red Corvette’ on the radio. Prince came over one day and banged out the chords to this song on her piano, then went away again." She strode face forward, not even turning her head to look at him.

“Wait a sec." She halted, still looking straight ahead.

He came close to her. “Don’t move." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him reach to the back of her head and grasp something in her hair. Sera groaned. She had forgotten about the gum. Had she been walking and ranting about Stevie with gum in her hair?  He tugged at her hair, trying to pull the gum loose.

“Ouch!”

“Sorry. I think it’s stuck.”

“Great,” Sera sighed. “I guess I have to cut my hair when I get home." She felt around for the sticky mess, confirming that it was immoveable.

“Put some goo remover on it.”

“Goo remover?"

“You know, that stuff you use to take off stickers and sticky stuff. It’ll take that gum outta your hair. Trust me." Sera looked at him then. He had a very solemn look on his face.

“Why, have you gotten gum stuck in your hair before?”

His face colored. “Yeah.”

Sera couldn’t help but laugh and shook her head. She started walking again and he got off his bike and walked it beside her on the street.

“So,” he said after they had been walking for awhile in silence. “Are you into older guys or something?" He held up a hand when she rolled her eyes. “Seriously. Mr. Leach is, like, ancient.”

“He’s only 18 years older than me
,” she retorted. “Why do you care?”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “I dunno. Just wondering.”

“Is it true you went out with Jennifer Hubersank?" “Uber-skank” as Jennifer was known, was infamous for being unable to say no and collected charms from every one of her “boyfriends." She currently wore at least 15 charms on her wrist, which Sera could hear jingling even in the crowded and noisy locker room.

Andrew sighed, exasperated. “I took her to Homecoming and she told everybody that we were boyfriend and girlfriend. I didn’t even know we were going out until my friends told me.”

“Did you take her out on dates?”

“No! Just last year to Homecoming.”

“Why’d you ask her?”

“Because, all my friends were going and my friend was going with one of her friends and I didn’t know who else to ask." Andrew’s face was reddening again. “She’s not a bad person. She’s actually pretty nice.”