Season 1 - Episode 7 - Act V

            Terry and Cerise were walking along the docs in St-Anne’s.  After leaving the restaurant they had driven around randomly for a while until deciding to take a walk along the waterfront.  Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue was a college town, housing John Abbott CEGEP and there were lots of teenagers around, drinking and running in and out of bars.  Terry wanted to suggest they go somewhere for a drink but figured Cerise wouldn’t be into that. 

            “I’m sorry about Karine, being like, bitchy,” he said suddenly.

            “That’s ok,” said Cerise. “I mean, sometimes she’s ok.  Sometimes not.  What’s her damage anyway?”

            “I dunno.  Sometimes she gets weird.  But she’s usually pretty cool.”

            “You been friends long?”

            “Since Sec 1.”

            “That’s cool.”

            “Yeah, she’s cool once you get to know her.”

            “If you say so,” smirked Cerise.

            Terry chuckled.

            “Did you guys ever… go out?”

            “No.  We played those games like spin the bottle and shit in like Sec 1 but uh, you know, we never really hooked up or anything.”

            “Did you ever want to hook up with her?  I mean she’s really pretty.”

            Terry wondered if he should be honest.  “Um… no.  We’re good as friends.”

            Cerise nodded and smiled slightly.  Terry wanted to hold her hand but her hands were stuffed into her coat pockets. 

            “So how ‘bout you and those dorks you hang out with?” he asked.

            “What?” she turned to him, a frown on her face.

            Vani was shooting an imaginary machine gun, killing a warehouse full of cybernetically enhanced Jaffa. 

            Willy, who had fallen asleep after gorging himself on Sweet Chili Heat Doritos was roused and asked what was going on.

            “We’re going in!” announced Jay.

            “Oh, finally.  Have you been NPCing me?”

            “I always NPC you,” snarked Karl.

            “Well I’ll do something now!  Just tell me what’s happening.”

            “You’re being attacked by a Glitter Boy.”

            “What?!”

            “They’re not dorks.  They’re just… nerds,” said Cerise with a laugh.

            Terry laughed as well.  He was so cute when he smiled.

            “No, I dunno,” she went on.  “They’re not so bad.  A little immature maybe but so are all guys.”

            “Is that right?” he smiled.

            “Until I get any evidence to the contrary, yeah.”

            “It’s just weird ‘cause they don’t seem like the type of people you’d hang with.”

            “Oh?  What kind of people should I hang out with?”

            “I dunno,” he shrugged.

            “People like you?”

            “For instance,” he grinned.

            “But those guys and I have stuff in common.”

            “Like what?”

            “Well I’m kind of a geek too.”

            He looked her up and down and Cerise started to feel a little uncomfortable. 

            “Maybe,” he said, cocking his head to the side.

            “Ok, be cool, be calm.  No reason to panic,” said Jay.

            “Yeah, no reason at all.  We’re trapped in a room with no air and there’s a Gllitter Boy outside the door.  Everything’s peachy keen.”

            “Well, as a last resort there’s always suicide,” suggested Willy.

            “The GB comes in and puts you all in anti-suicide chambers.  Except you, Willy,” Karl smirked.

            “Ha, ha, frakkin’ ha,” scowled Willy.

            Three teenaged boys with cigarettes in their mouths were throwing empty beer bottles into the lake.

            “I guess you’re not into that kinda shit are you?” asked Terry, indicating the boys.

            “What shit?  Random acts of pollution?”

            “Like getting drunk or high and shit.”

            “Uh, not really,” she admitted.

            “How come?”

            Cerise wasn’t sure what to say.  She wasn’t even sure she knew the answer.  “I dunno.  It just never appealed to me.  Seems boring.”

            “It can be fun.”

            “Well, I guess.  But it’s just not my kind of fun.”

            “What is your kinda fun?” he grinned. “Building snow forts?”

            “Hey, don’t knock it ‘till you try it,” she smiled.  “But no, I dunno.  I guess I’d just prefer to have a conversation than like, drink until I pass out.”

            “Have you ever tried drinking ‘till you pass out?”

            “No.”

            “How do you know you won’t like it if you’ve never tried it?”

            “Well, I’m assuming.  I mean, I’m just not that type.”

            “How do you know?” he challenged.

            “I think I know myself,” she said, letting her irritation begin to show.

            “Ok well… what if I am?”

            “What if you are what?”

            “What if I’m that type?”

            “Listen, if that’s what you wanna do then great, I’m not gonna stop you.  But it’s not for me.  I mean to each their own, right?  I mean, I dunno, I just don’t really wanna be like…”

            “Like what?  Like me?”

            “No.  Like Christina Penna.”

            Terry laughed.  “Yeah, good point.”

            “Whew!  Thank god!” Vani flopped back onto the couch and dramatically wiped his brow.

            “Close one,” said Jay.  “Way to avoid death, RJ.”

            RJ was the name of Vani’s character.  It stood for Rough Justice.

            “Never underestimate the power of a good roll,” smiled Karl.

            “Is it my turn now?” whined Willy.

            Karl grudgingly agreed it was and offered him the dice.

            “Aww man!  You’re just gonna ruin everything I just set up!” whined Vani. 

            Jay couldn’t help but agree.

            “Still though, it’s fun sometimes just to you know, loosen up,” said Terry.

            Cerise shrugged.  “I dunno, I think I’m already pretty loose.”

            “Oh yeah?”  Terry grinned lasciviously.  “Good to know.”

            “Well I don’t mean it like that!”

            “Aww damn, I thought I was gonna get lucky there for a second.”

            He was obviously joking but Cerise blushed anyway and turned away from him to look at the water. 

            “So such luck, eh?” he said.

            She turned back to him and frowned.  “I think your ego can take the rejection for like, you know, this one time in your life.”

            “You’d be surprised,” he smiled.

            “Surprised by what?  How brittle your ego is or by how many times you’ve been rejected?  Somehow I don’t think you’re used to being turned down.”

            “Why’s that?” he asked, still smiling.

            “Everyone knows you’re a player.”

            “You make it sound like a bad thing,” he grinned.

            Cerise tried a combination of smirking and scowling.  A smowl.  Or a scirk.

            “That might be another thing you wanna try out.”  He cocked an eyebrow and the left side of his mouth turned up.

            “Red alert!  Battle stations!”

            Vani got up and ran around the room.  “I send a red shirt to seal the breach!”

            “You’re out of red shirts!” announced Karl.

            “Then I send Willy!”

            “Fuck you!” yelled Willy, throwing a die at Vani.

            “Hey,” don’t throw the frakking dice!” ordered Karl.  “I still haven’t forgotten the twelve sider you lost in Sec 3!”

            “Oh my fucking god!  Get over it!  That was two years ago!”

            “Seriously, Karl, they’re just dice,” said Jay, shaking his head.

            “You dare disdain the dice?!”  Karl picked up a twenty-sider on the table and held it to his chest.  “My precious…”

            “Yeah well, if and when I decide to try any new things, you will definitely not be who I try them with,” said Cerise with narrowed eyes.

            Oh shit.  He’d done it again.  It was so easy to make her mad.  Terry really had to be careful what he said around her.  She was good with banter so he always forgot that she had a tendency to take his sexual jokes too seriously.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to piss you off.  I was just kidding around.  Seriously,” he said trying to smile as innocently as possible.

“Ok,” she smiled tightly.

They walked for a while, and it was sort of awkward.  Terry knew he shouldn’t press the issue but he had to know something.  “Uh so… who would you try them with?”

“What?”

“That guy you’re always hanging out with?”

“Who?”

“The guy with the ‘fro?”

“Jay?”

“You guys ever hook up?”

“Didn’t you already ask me this at Karine’s party?  Jay and I are just friends.”

“Ok, cool.  He likes you though.”

Cerise stopped and turned to face Terry.  “Really?”

Oh shit.  He never should have brought it up.  “Uh… maybe.”

“You really think so?”

“I dunno.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Nothing.  I’m prob’ly wrong.”

“Yeah, probably,” she said sadly.

“Whatever, he’s a spaz.  You’re better off without him.”

“What does that mean?”

“He’s a freak,” said Terry, annoyed they were still talking about that loser.

“He’s my friend.  And if he’s a freak, then I am too.”

Terry sighed in annoyance.  “Yeah, maybe you are.”

“And what does that mean?”

“Nothing, forget it.”

“No, you obviously mean something.  Tell me.”

“I just think you can do better!”

She shook her head and rolled her eyes.  “You think I can do you.”

“Well what’s wrong with me?”  He knew he was raising his voice and sounding like an asshole but he couldn’t help it.  She was just so frustrating.

“Nothing.  But it’s not like there’s anything particularly right with you either.”

“And what the hell does that mean?  You think you’re too good for me or some shit?”

“I didn’t say that!  You’re putting words in my mouth.”

“Hey, believe me, words are the last thing I wanna put in your mouth.”

“Eww!  What does that mean?”

“Nothing,” he sighed.

“God, screw you!”  She stepped back, obviously in full on bitch-out mode.  “You’re such a fucking hypocrite, all beating up Vani ‘cause he said nasty shit about Karine but you are constantly making disgusting sexual innuendos.”

“Hey, I didn’t beat him up…”

“You say my friends are losers, and yet all your friends call me Cherry, like right to my face!  God!  Why do I even bother with you?”

“I’m sorry, I…”

“No!  Don’t say anything!  I don’t wanna hear it!  ‘Cause this fucking thing between us, whatever it is, it is so over.”

“That’s it, we’re screwed.  There’s no way out of this situation,” Jay said despondently.  “Way to frakk everything up, Willy.”

“Suck it,” responded Willy, masturbating a phantom erection.

“I say we sacrifice Willy and regroup,” said Vani.

“I will stick my dick right in your mouth if you don’t shut the fuck up,” growled Willy.

“Keep your fantasies to yourself,” said Karl.  “Jay, just roll.”

Cerise was walking away at about the speed of light.  Terry ran after her and tried to take her arm but she shook him off.

“Wait!” he pleaded.

“Why should I?”

“God!  Chill!  You always freak out!”

“You know what?” she spun around to face him.  “You can’t say that.  You can’t say I always anything.  You don’t know me well enough to make a judgement like that.”

“I know you’re overreacting,” he sighed.

“And I know you’re a total asshole.  And Jay knows it too.  And so do the rest of my friends.  Because they are my friends and they don’t insult me every chance they get.”

“How did I insult you?  Fuck!  I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to piss you off.  Come on, you said yourself you sometimes blow things out of proportion.  Can we just start over?”

“This,” her hands waved back and forth between them.  “This was supposed to be us starting over.  But I don’t want to anymore.  ‘Cause maybe I’m not blowing things out of proportion.  Maybe I’m seeing things the way they really are.  So just leave me alone ok?  From now on, just leave me the hell alone, you fucking perv!”

Jay held the die in his hand and cradled it.  He shook his fist and then dropped the die onto the table.  It landed on twenty.  Jay leapt into the air and hollowered.  Vani, Karl and Willy also cheered.

“We’re saved!” 

Cerise walked away from Terry to get to the main road.  She had such nice legs, so long and thin but not like skinny thin, like nice thin… shit, she was right, he really was a perv.  She was totally freaking out and he was only thinking about doing her.  He needed to get himself under control and help her calm down.

“What are you gonna do?  Walk home?” he asked much more snarkily than he’d intended.

“I’ll take the bus.”

“Who knows when it’ll come?”

“The 211 passes every hour.  I can wait.”

“Cerise, come on.”

“Leave me alone!”

“Cerise, its freezing.  I’m not gonna leave you here.  Just let me drive you home.  Ok?  Just let me drive you.  And then I’ll never speak to you again.  I promise.  I’ll leave you alone for the rest of your life.  I swear,” he lied.  “Please.  I just, I can’t just leave you here.”

She turned and glared at him.

They drove in silence.  Cerise kept her head turned the entire time, looking out the window.  He drove slowly and tried to say something everytime he stopped at a red light but he couldn’t think of anything that would make her forgive him.  He wasn’t even entirely sure what he’d done wrong.  When he got to her house she quickly unbuckled her seat belt and opened the door.  He put his hand on her arm.

“Cerise, wait.  Please, listen, I…”

“Goodbye,” she said icily, yanking her arm free.  She slammed the door in his face.

Shit.

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Act IV

Terry did still want to hang out on Saturday.  He friended her on facebook and sent her a private message confirming their plans.  She spent part of Saturday morning going through his facebook photos and then the rest of it agonizing over what to wear.  It was a cold November day so her options were limited.  She settled on the usual jeans and hoodie nd her late-fall-early-winter coat, which was brown with a purple and green plaid design.  She opted not to wear a hat but stuck one in her coat pocket just in case and put her mitts in the other pocket. 

She stood by the window, waiting for Terry to arrive and when he did she hastily ran to the door and announced that she was going out.

Angela emerged from the kitchen.  “Where are you going?”

“Just out.”

“To Jay’s?”

“No, just out.”

Julie and Simone were now watching this exchange with interest.

“Would you care to be a little more descriptive?” asked Angela.

“Mom!  I have to go!”  Cerise’s hand was on the doorknob.

“Who are you going to be with?”

“I dunno!  People!”

“What people?”

“The people I hung out with on Halloween.”

“I thought you were with Jay on Halloween.”

“Well I was but I also hung with other people, who also exist.  From school.”

“There’s a car out there,” announced Julie, peering out the window.

“You’re driving somewhere?  In a car?”

“We’ll we’re not gonna go by horse drawn carriage,” sighed Cerise.

“Who is this person?” asked Angela.

“A friend from school!”

“A friend of Jay’s?”

“A friend of mine!”

Cerise opened the door and stepped outside. 

“Wait!  When will you be back?”

“I dunno.  Mom…”

“Be back by eleven,” said Angela resolutely.

“What?” Cerise shrieked.  “Since when do I have a curfew?”

“Since you started going out with anonymous drivers,” said Simone with a smirk.

Cerise glared at Simone.  “Who’s like, uh, waiting.”

“If you’re not even going to tell me where you’re going or who you’ll be with the least you can do is be back at a reasonable hour.  I don’t want you staying out all night again,” said Angela.

“Oh yeah, one time.  One time I like, accidentally fall asleep at a party that like, barely even occurred.  Meanwhile Julie does whatever the hell she wants…”

“Like even!” said Julie.

“Cerise,” Angela pinched her nose.

“Ok, fine, whatever!  Bye!”

Cerise closed the door behind her and ran off to Terry’s car.  She got in the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt while apologizing for keeping him waiting.  

“It’s cool.”

“So where are we going?”

“Where do you wanna go?”

“Oh, I dunno.  Wherever I guess.”

“Well it’s your choice.  Whatever you wanna do.”

“Oh yeah?” Cerise smiled and looked at Terry’s face as he watched the road.

“Yeah, I mean, you know.  Whatever you want.  I mean last time we did what I wanted and that you know…”

“Sucked.”

Terry chuckled and agreed.  Cerise looked out the window and saw a series of white flakes fly by.

“Oh my god!” she exclaimed.

“What?”

“It’s snowing!”

“Oh yeah.”

“I love snow.  I like winter better than summer.”

“Really?  Me too!” he exclaimed.

“Summer’s so hot and gross.  You get all sticky and sweaty.  Winter’s fun.  You can go skating and sledding and have snowball fights and stuff.”

“Yeah,” Terry chuckled.

“Oh my god!”

“What?”

“A park!  Let’s go play in that park!”

Terry laughed as Cerise pulled on his coat sleeve.

Karl descended into Jay’s basement and tossed his bag of dice onto the coffee table.  “Where’s Cerise?” he asked.

“She’s out with Terry Trebifratboystereotypey tonight,” grumbled Jay.

“What, again?”

“I thought she didn’t like him anymore,” said Willy in disappointment.

“Who cares?” asked Vani.  “Come on, let’s do the roll-off.”

Karl emptied his dice bag and Vani, Jay and Willy each took a twenty sider.  Vani won the roll-off and immediately started up where he’d left off yesterday.  Willy leaned back on the couch and opened the bag of M&Ms he’d brought. 

            Terry hadn’t had a destination in mind when he’d left Cerise’s house.  He’d simply driven around Beaconsfield until they’d ended up in Kirkland.  He parked along the curb next to the park they’d found and Cerise jumped out of the car and ran to the jungle gym.  It was so cute the way she grabbed the monkey bars and then curled up her legs to leave herself dangling in the air. 

            “Do you do this all the time?” Terry asked in amusement as he sidled up next to her.

            He was several inches taller than the monkey bars and crouched under them, positioning himself facing Cerise.  He took hold of the bars and folded up his legs, then began doing pull-ups.

            Cerise laughed.  “Do what?”  She tried to do a pull-up too but gave up after about a second and planted her feet back on the ground.

            “Play on jungle gyms?” Terry asked as he continued to show off his upper body strength.

            “No,” Cerise pouted.  “Who would play with me?”

            “I’d play with you,” Terry grinned. 

Cerise smiled and ran to the swings.  Terry followed and they each sat in a swing and propelled themselves forward.  They were both too tall for the swings and had to raise their legs up to prevent themselves from hitting the sand.

“Oh my god, I’m so old.  I’m totally getting nauseous,” whined Cerise.  She jumped off the swing and landed with a thump in the sand.  “I don’t remember that being so painful,” she laughed.

“Want me to kiss it better?” Terry smiled as he sat next to her in the sand.

“I think I’ll be ok,” she grinned and got up, running to the slides.

“She’s getting away, what do you do?”

Vani held up his hand in the shape of a gun and aimed it at the wall. 

“This is boring,” whined Willy, as he lay on the couch like a beached whale.

“Shut the frakk up, Willy!” Karl ordered.  “Vani, what do you do?”

“Pow!” yelled Vani, jerking his arms up as though he’d just shot his gun.

Terry caught Cerise as she slid down a yellow, plastic slide.  It wasn’t much of a slide and she sort of had to force herself down.  He picked her up, wrapped her up in his arms and looked down at her smiling face.  “You’re crazy,” he said with affection, putting her down.

She giggled and looked up at the sky, closing her eyes and letting the snowflakes dissolve on her face.  “I can’t wait ‘till there’s actual snow.  I love snowstorms.”

“I love snow days,” said Terry.

            She was so pretty.  She opened her eyes and looked at Terry and he smiled down at her.  Her cheeks were already flushed from the cold but he could have sworn she blushed even more.

            “So um, you hungry?” she asked shyly.

            “I sure am,” he grinned.

            “Ok, take your time, you don’t wanna rush this,” said Jay.

            Vani nodded.  “I know, I know.  Ok, I send out Marzipan and Saltimbanco to do recon.”

            Willy let out a noise that they interpreted as exasperation, though knowing Willy it also could have been gas.  “Enough with the endless recon!” he bellowed.

            “Shut up, Willy!” Vani shoved him.  “When your opinion matters we’ll let you know.”

            Willy rolled off the couch like a harpooned seal and flailed at Vani, who, not being completely retarded managed to deflect his attack.

            “Willy, stop being so useless!” said Jay.  “Go get some Doritos or something.”

            “You have Doritos?”

            “No!  Go to the store and buy some!  We’re like five minutes from the dep!”

            “Yeah right,” snickered Karl.  “The way he walks it’ll be more like five hours.”

            “Even better.”  Jay rolled his eyes.

            “Gimme money,” said Willy, putting out his palm.

            “Buy them yourself, frakktard!”

            Willy hovered over Jay and turned his back to him.  Jay knew what was coming and tried to escape but Willy was too quick and the fart was loud, long and smelly.  Jay screamed in horror and ran around the room calling for a gasmask.  Willy laughed as Vani and Karl pulled their shirts up over their faces and continued the game.

            They drove along a series of residential streets and then stopped at a light when they reached

St-Charles Boulevard

. 

            “There’s lots of restaurants around here,” said Cerise, peering out the window.

            “Yeah,” agreed Terry.  “You have a favourite place?”

            Cerise hesitated.  “We could just go to Harvey’s if you want.  Or I mean, there’s St-Hubert.  I mean it’s totally cheesy but whatever…”

            Terry turned to Cerise and grinned.  “I love St-Hubert.” 

He pronounced it in English, while Cerise had said it in French.  She wondered if that had come across as pretentious.

            “Really?” Cerise smiled.  “Me too!”

            “I know it’s totally lame, but fuck, they have the best sauce.”

            “I know!” Cerise laughed.

            The restaurant was full of families and screaming kids but Cerise didn’t mind and Terry didn’t seem to care either.  They were greeted in English and seated at a booth in the middle of the restaurant.  The family behind them had two kids, a boy and a girl and they were both eating chicken fingers.  Cerise wondered if it would be completely moronic of her to order the same thing.

            The waiter assigned to their table was obviously French so Cerise followed suit.  “Les quatres filets, avec frites et sauce aigre-douce.  Pis un coke.”

“Pepsi ça va ?” asked the waiter.

            Cerise nodded.

“Salade de chou crèmeuse ou traditionel?”

“Traditionel.”

            Terry ordered in English and pretty much asked for everything on the menu.  He got the demi-poulet with a baked potato and ceasar salad on the side.  He got a coke too and creamy coleslaw but also ordered a plate of onion rings to start. 

            “Wow, you sure are hungry,” Cerise laughed when the waiter had gone.

            “Well I play hockey.  Gotta keep my calorie count up,” he said, patting his belly, or rather the rock hard abs she imagined hid under his shirt.

            “Hockey, eh?  That’s cool.”  Cerise knew absolutely nothing about the sport.  She’d watched Canada defeat the US in the Olympics and had flipped by the occasional Habs game on TV but she couldn’t even say how many players there were on a team.

            “Yeah, it’s ok,” said Terry.  “I used to like it more but I guess the older you get the more seriously you’re expected to take it.  The coach acts like it’s the most important thing ever.  He wants us all to be gunning for the NHL but it’s like dude, I have a life.  I don’t wanna practice 24/7.  Sometimes it’s a bit intense.”

            Cerise nodded dumbly.

            Terry went on.  “My dad takes it pretty seriously too, which is like, why?  He never played, why does he care if I play?  And I mean, he doesn’t even come to my games anymore so why does he still constantly grill me on how we’re placing and shit?  It makes no sense.  God, he’s such a fucking asshole.”  He shrugged sheepishly.  “Sorry, whatever.”

            Cerise smiled.  “You’re not on a team at school, right?”

            “No, it’s a local team.  We’re called the Lakeshore Panthers.  It’s midget AA.”

            “I dunno, there are words coming out of your mouth but I don’t know what they mean,” shrugged Cerise apologetically.

            Terry laughed.  “It doesn’t matter.”

            “Are there lots of fights?”  Cerise knew enough about the game to realize it could be violent and dangerous.

            “Sometimes,” grinned Terry.

            “Ever get seriously hurt?”

            “Nah.  Just scrapes and bruises.  Got some black eyes, some teeth knocked out when I was a kid, just baby teeth thank god.  And broke my nose a few times but that’s no big.  I broke my arm once too as a kid but not from hockey.  From snowboarding.”

            “Oh, you snowboard too?”

            “Yep.  How ‘bout you?  Play any sports?”

            “Yeah right!” Cerise laughed.  “I’m totally not sportif at all.”

            “Ahh again with the French.  Your accent’s really good.”

            “I went to French primary school.  And my dad’s paternal family is Québecois.”

            “That’s cool,” smiled Terry.

            “Yeah, my grandmother is like, so bitter we turned out so Anglo. She’s always trying to make us eat like, maple syrup and tourtière and shit.”

            Terry laughed as the waiter brought their drinks, coleslaw and onion rings.  Terry popped one in his mouth and pushed the basket towards Cerise. 

            “Help yourself, eh?”

            Cerise thanked him and ate one.  “So I hear you have a big family.”

            “Oh yeah, where’d you hear that?”

            “Christina Penna.”

            Terry’s hand, armed with an onion ring paused in front of his face and he peered at Cerise.  “Oh yeah?”

            “Yeah, at Clydes on Halloween.  Remember, you were busy playing pool and she and I had a heart to heart.”

            Terry frowned in concern.  “Uh… ok.  What’d she say?”

            Cerise couldn’t help smirking.  “She was a little bitter but basically nice.  She gave you glowing reviews.”

            Terry blushed a little bit and looked down.  He took a sip of his pepsi.

            “She still likes you,” Cerise pointed out.

            “Yeah, it happens,” he shrugged and rolled his eyes.  “Did um, did she say anything bad?

            “Not really.  I mean she was pretty drunk; half the shit she said didn’t even make sense.  She did say you were like a player and stuff but I already knew that.”

            Terry frowned and then smiled awkwardly, leaning back in his seat.  “Yeah well…”

            “And she said you have like, a million siblings,” said Cerise, generously giving him an opportunity to change the subject.

            “Yup,” Terry nodded.  “I’ve got two younger brothers, Evan and Joey.  My dad remarried and so now I have a half-sister, Brittany, she’s two.  And my mom remarried too and I’ve got a step-brother and sister.”

            Their food arrived and Terry eagerly dug into his massive plate.  A paper airplane suddenly landed on their table and Cerise looked behind her to see the two kids from the neighbouring table grinning down at her.  Terry picked up the paper airplane and threw it back at them with a smile.  They laughed and threw it back but it veered off into the alleyway and was crushed by a passing waitress.  Terry lifted his plate and grabbed his paper placemat, folding it into an airplane.  He threw it at the kids and they ducked back down into their seats as their mother orderered them to calm down and stop bothering people.

            “I guess it’s a good thing you like kids since you have so many younger siblings,” said Cerise.

            “Well kids are people too,” shrugged Terry.  “I mean some are cute and some are shitheads, just like everyone else.  My step-sister is kind of a pain but my baby sister is awesome.”

            Cerise smiled as Terry kept eating.  “You babysit her a lot?”

            “Yeah, sometimes,” nodded Terry.  “And it’s more fun now that she’s finally toilet trained,” he laughed.  “What about you?  Any step-siblings on the horizon?”

“My parents’ split was pretty recent.  As far as I know they aren’t dating other people yet.”

            “Give it time,” Terry drawled.  “Do you live with your mom or dad?”

            “My mom.  My dad’s in Quebec City now.”

            “Does it suck?”

            “What, Quebec City?”

            “I mean him being gone.”

            “Well, not really actually.  We get along better now that he’s not around.  Not that we used to like, not get along but I dunno, he was never really that much of a presence anyway.  I’m supposed to go visit him in the summer, but I don’t really wanna go.”

            “Don’t like him much?” asked Terry sympathetically.

            “I dunno,” Cerise shrugged.  “It could be weird.  But mostly just boring.  I mean what is there to do in Quebec?”

            Terry laughed.  “Yeah seriously.  Well, I hope you don’t go.”

            “Oh yeah?  How come?”

            “’Cause then we couldn’t hang out.”  Terry grinned and stole a fry from Cerise’s plate. 

            Cerise giggled and dug her fork into his baked potato. 

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Act III

It was Friday morning and Cerise stood outside the front office while Sarah was inside presenting the petition to Principle Lewis.  If the petition worked then this would officially be the best day ever.  And if she did well at her audition this afternoon it would be the bestest best day ever.  And if she got a good role it would be even better.  What could possibly make this day more exciting or significant?

Cerise got her answer when Terry sidled up to her and casually leaned on the wall she stood next to.

“Hey,” he said, half smiling, his long lashes slowly sweeping up and down as he blinked lazily.

“Hi,” she smiled shyly. 

“You look nice,” he remarked.

Cerise looked down at her outfit.  It was pretty standard.  Jeans and a hoodie over one of her military style shirts. 

“Uh, thanks,” she said, looking up at him.

“You guys giving in that petition?”

“Yeah!  Sarah’s in there now!”

“Cool.”

“I know!  I’m so excited.  I hope this works.”

“Well even if it doesn’t, it was still cool what you did in gym.  It was pretty intense.  Not a lot of people would have the guts to do that.”

Cerise smiled and thanked Terry.  She could feel butterflies in her stomach and wished she wasn’t such a sap as to be so sucked in by his velvety voice.  She wanted to remember what a jerk he’d been on Halloween but the way he was looking at her right now made her melt.  And he seemed pretty genuine with his compliments.  He really did think she was cool.  And he was undeniably cool.  And to have such a cool guy think she was cool made her cool so she certainly wasn’t going to discourage him from thinking it.

“So I was thinking,” he went on.  “We should do something this weekend.”

“Oh?” asked Cerise, trying to suppress the excited lurch in her gut.

“We should just like, hang out you know?  Like just us two.”

“Just us?” Cerise couldn’t help but smirk. “Like without your friends?”

“Yeah.  I mean I’m sorry about Halloween.  It sucked, I know.  But I mean, we could try again, just us two.”

That was officially an apology so she was officially not a sap for giving in to him.  “Well ok I guess. I mean, you know.  Yeah.  Ok.”

Terry smiled and then placed his hand on her hip.  He leaned in towards her and kissed her with his soft lips.  She closed her eyes, touched her hands to his chest and kissed him in return.  His body pressed into hers and his tongue parted her lips, gently pushing into her mouth and flicking against her own tongue.  He tasted minty.  As she raised her hands up to his shoulders, her shirt rode up and his hands stroked the skin at her waist.  God, it was incredible!  Cerise was tingly all over and she felt a pleasant wetness develop between her legs.

“Um, hey you guys,” said Sarah’s voice suddenly.

Cerise pulled away from Terry but he stayed close to her.  They turned to look at Sarah and Terry put his arm around Cerise’s waist, as though he was totally her boyfriend.  Sarah had a gigantic grin on her face.

“So how’d it go?” asked Cerise.

“Oh my god, Cerise!  Oh my god!”

“Well?!”

“It worked!  It totally worked!”

“I knew it!  Oh my god!”

“Awesome!” exclaimed Terry and Cerise could feel him squeezing her hip either in excitement or perhaps in congratulations.

“He didn’t even care!  I barely even had to show him the petition!  I mean, all I had to do was ask pretty much.”

“God, you are like, so loved,” laughed Cerise.

“Oh please,” Sarah shrugged bashfully.

“It’s true!” insisted Cerise. “I mean, if I had asked…”

“If I had asked,” Terry drawled.

Both Sarah and Cerise giggled appreciatively.  

“So we don’t have to square dance,” announced Sarah.  “And none of us fail gym either!”

“Well, that’s one class I won’t fail,” Terry deadpanned and the girls giggled again.

Cerise and Sarah spent the first few minutes of French class discussing how awesome life was.  Not only did they get out of square dancing, but Terry had totally just kissed Cerise in the middle of the hallway for everyone to see and he had asked her to hang out this weekend and even though she didn’t know what they would be doing, it would probably be awesome since it would just be the two of them, which was like an actual date, which meant Cerise was just one step away from officially being his girlfriend.

“So it’s upon us, the war against the machines,” said Karl, eavesdropping as ever.

“I’m not sure the lack of square dancing qualifies as the first step towards the war against Skynet,” mused Sarah.

Karl smiled, probably appreciating the fact that Sarah had recognized his Terminator reference.  “Well I’ll admit it, Sarah.  Being a joiner came through for us.  I guess you’re not that useless after all.”

“You’re such an ass,” she sneered.

Cerise went to her desk, the better to let those two argue in peace.  When Madame Rotten started the class it was Sarah who was the first to put her hand up and say she was thirsty. 

            Karine was pouting at herself in her locker mirror.  Terry slunk up to her and grabbed her from behind, lifting her up excitedly.  She squeeled in amusement and ordered him to put her down.  He did so while laughing.

            “What are you so happy about?” she laughed.

            “The petition worked!”

            “Really?  That’s awesome!”

            “Yeah!  It’s so cool!  Cerise really came through.”

            “Yeah, I guess she’s not that pathetic,” she smirked.

            Terry rolled his eyes and told Karine to get over herself.

            “Anyway, I’m so excited!” she beamed.

            “I know!  It’s so awesome that we don’t have to square dance…”

            “No, about the play,” she interrupted.

            “What play?”

            “Hello!  The school play.  A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  The auditions are today.”

            “Oh, ok,” he shrugged indifferently.

            “Terry!  This is important to me.”

            “Clearly,” he grinned in amusement.

            “I wonder if girls can be Puck,” she mused.

            “Yeah, I wonder about that too.  It keeps me up at night.”

            “Shut up, loser!  Puck is like, the best role in the play but of course it’s a guy’s role.  That’s so typical.  Everything is better for guys.”

            “I dunno ‘bout that,” he shrugged.

            “Yeah, ‘cause you’re a guy.”

            “You noticed, eh?” he grinned.

            “You have no idea what it’s like to be a girl, Terry.”

            “So enlighten me.”

            “Enlighten?  Big word, Terry, don’t hurt yourself.”

            “Fuck you,” he smirked, trying not to show that the comment had sort of hurt his feelings.

            Karine sighed and tried to suppress a smile.  “Stop smirking at me with your stupid little smirky face.”

            Terry laughed.  “You’re really nervous about this play thing aren’t you?”

            “Shut up, like even.  It’s just important to me, ok?”

            “Yeah, but why?” he grinned.

            “Because!  God, why do you always have to do this?”

            “Do what?”

            “Shit on everything!  Why can’t I just like, do stuff without you being all like, annoying?”

            “God chill, whatever, like I care.”

            “Yeah exactly, you don’t even care.  You’re just a big downer and like, you don’t even give a shit even though it’s important to me.”

            Terry stared at Karine, stunned.  Where the hell was this coming from?

            She shook her head at him.  “God, Terry.  Don’t you care about anything?”

            He could have given her any number of examples of things he cared about, including her but instead he attempted to lighten the mood by smiling. “Guess not,” he shrugged.

            “You are so full of it,” she said, her eyes narrowed.  “I know what you care about.”

            “Oh yeah?”

            “Yeah, loser.”   She slammed her locker closed.  “I hear you were making out with Cherry the Raspberry this morning.”

            Terry grinned and cocked an eyebrow.  Karine made a funny face and shoved him playfully before turning and walking off. 

            Cerise was busy gathering her English books when something cold and wet hit her back.  She was so shocked that she dropped all her books and yelped.  She heard Jay laughing like a hyena and turned to see him standing there holding one of those old water guns shaped like a pistol.  What a freaking jerk! 

            “The hell?” she demanded angrily.

            “The line must be drawn here!  This far, no further!” he exclaimed.

            Willy, Karl and Vani also had water pistols and they were all covered in water stains, with Willy being the one who had clearly taken the most hits.  Unless the wetness was sweat, which wouldn’t be surprising.

            Cerise tried to hide behind her locker door but the boys all targeted her and she yelled out in protest.  “Don’t!  You guys!  My clothes are gonna get all wet!”

            “So take ‘em off,” suggested Jay with a grin.

            “Jay!” Cerise blushed while the boys laughed.

            Jay aimed in her direction but she lunged at him and grabbed the pistol.  He let go without putting up a fight and dropped to his knees.

            “Nooo!” he yelled. “There are four lights!”

            Cerise sprayed him in the face and then picked up her books from the floor.  Jay wiped his face off with his shirt and Cerise couldn’t help noticing his abdominal muscles as he lifted up his shirt.  He was thin but surprisingly muscular.  Cerise ran to English class with the water gun.  When she got to class, the gun was yanked from behind her and she turned to see that Jay had retrieved it.  She ran towards Sarah.

            “Oh my god!” Sarah shrieked.

            The boys stood at the front of the class, aiming their pistols at the other students. 

            “This is a holdup!” announced Willy.

            “What are you gonna steal?  Our books?” joked a boy and everyone laughed.

            “I will steal your self-respect,” said Vani and shot Jojo.

            Jonah squealed, which led to more laughter and Vani sarcastically apologized.  Jojo stood up from his desk and grabbed at Vani’s gun but Vani managed to get away so Jojo took Willy’s pistol and aimed it at Vani, only to get sprayed from behind by both Jay and Karl.  Then Karl turned towards Sarah.

            “Don’t you fucking dare,” she said, real anger in her voice.

            Karl, being a comple idiot, shot her jeans-clad leg. 

            “You’re such a jerk!” she yelled.

            “What?  It’s just a flesh wound!  Walk it off,” Karl chuckled.

            “What is the point of this?” Sarah demanded.

            “We’re just having fun,” said Karl.  “It’s part of Project SOIF.”

            “How so?” asked Cerise.

            “We’re like, taking over the school.”

            “With water guns?” said Sarah in annoyance.

            “Seriously you guys, this is a little fourth grade isn’t it?”  Cerise sighed.

            “Yeah, you think?” said Karine, having just recently joined the class.

            “We’re taking down the man!” said Willy, pumping his fist in the air.

            “Oh yeah, so risqué.  Cerise and I do something actual like walk out of gym and start a petition and you guys have a water fight?  Yeah, really bucking the system there.  You guys are pathetic,” said Sarah with venom.

            “Whatever, we’re just goofing off,” said Jay defensively.

            “You’re such losers.  Let me know when you come up with something a little more interesting that shooting each other with water guns.”  Sarah took her seat and Cerise followed suit.  Everyone stared at the boys.

            “Gimme my gun back,” said Willy, reaching towards Jojo.

            Jojo held fast and turned away from Willy.

            “Sarah’s got a point,” said Karl.  “This is lame.  We should do something actual.”

            “Such as?” asked Jay.

            It was at this moment that Mr. Weir walked in.  Karl, Vani and Jay all managed to hide their guns and they sped off to their desks.  Jojo also hastily stuck his gun in his pocket and took his seat.  Karl motioned towards Vani and Vani leaned over Karine’s desk, which sat between his and Jojo’s.

            “Shoot Mr. Weird!”

            Jojo looked at Vani through his peripheral vision, trying to ignore him.

            “Come on, you fucking chicken!  Shoot him!  Shoot Weird!”

            “Shut up!” Jojo hissed back.

            “It’ll be hilarious!  Come on, don’t be such a loser.”

            Mr. Weir was writing on the board and Karine was leaning back in her chair, allowing Vani to practically hump her desk as he tried to whisper at Jojo.

            “Leave me alone!” whispered Jojo.

            “You fucking scaredy-cat!  Come on, it’ll be so cool if you do it!”

            Jojo turned to look at Vani and Karine smirked at him.  “It would be pretty cool,” she grinned.

            “See?  Karine Cavalière will totally suck your dick if you do it.”

            Karine shot out her fist and smacked Vani in the chest, slamming him down to his chair.  The class snickered, and Mr. Weir turned around but then went back to the board a second later.  Jojo turned to look at the class and Jay, Willy and Karl were all looking at him with big smiles and giving him thumbs up.  Slowly he pulled the water gun out of his pocket and pointed it at Mr. Weir.  Vani smiled excitedly as Jojo pulled the trigger and shot Mr. Weir’s back.

            Mr. Weir whirled around and Jojo put the gun back in his pocket.

            “Who did that?” Mr. Weir bellowed.

            It was obviously a rhetorical question because Mr. Weir marched right up to Jonah’s desk and demanded to have the gun.  Jojo gave it up immediately and Mr. Weir snatched it away.  His proceeded to rant about school rules and respect and obedience and a bunch of stuff like that and concluded his speech by announcing that Jonah was out of his class for good.  Before anyone knew what had happened, Jojo was sent off to the Principle’s office.

            “You can all wipe those grins off your faces!” said Mr. Weir as he turned to the class.  “You’re worse than he is.  Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on here, Mr. Ameeriar.  Mr. Weber, Mr. Harris, Mr. Watts.”  He said their names like they were curse words. 

            Vani knew that his insult towards Karine would not go unpunished.  As he tried to slink out of school at the end of the day he was accosted by Karine and her boyfriend, Steven Reid, who grabbed him by the neck and pushed him up against a wall.  Karl, Willy and Jay all kept a respectable distance while they watched the situation unfold. 

            “Why don’t you repeat what you said in English?” Karine said sweetly, looking down at Vani.

            “I’m sorry,” said Vani, choking out his words as Steven tightened his grip on his neck.

            It seemed everyone was there to witness his humiliation.  Terry Trebichavsky and Andrew Lester stood by with Christina Penna and Erica Mackey.  Sarah and Cerise were there too, along with the other Green Girls. 

            “Repeat what you said!” demanded Karine.

            “I’m sorry!  I didn’t mean it,” insisted Vani.

            Karine punched Vani in the gut and he coughed.  Steven loosened his grip slightly, allowing him to catch his breath, then pinned him up against the wall again.

            “She told you to repeat what you fucking said in English,” yelled Steven.

            “I said… I said…”

            “Say it!” both Karine and Steven screamed.

            “I said she’d suck Jonah Cupryk’s dick.”

            He closed his eyes as Steven’s fist made contact with his face.  The pain reverberated through his whole body and he was barely aware of instinctively throwing his arms up over his face.  He was thrown to the ground and two sets of feet repeatedly kicked him.  He apologized over and over again as they kept kicking.

            “Oh my god, they’re totally gonna kill him!” Cerise’s shocked voice rang out over the cheers of the crowd.

            Vani looked up to see Terry putting one of his hands on Steven’s shoulders and one on Karine’s.  “Ok, I think he gets it.”

            “Little shit!” Karine spat at Vani’s trembling body.  “These are the losers you’re hanging out with now?” she asked Terry.

            “I’m not hanging out with this fuck!” Terry insisted.

            Karine sneered at Cerise. 

            “Hey, I agree what he said was messed up,” Cerise said, putting up her hands defensively.  “But I think he’s learned his lesson.  Right, Vani?”

            “Right,” Vani spurted in a gasp. 

            “God, if I fuck up my audition it’s totally his fault!” said Karine, still annoyed.

            “Well then let’s go!  We still have time to get centered,” said Sarah, grabbing Karine and dragging her away. 

            Karine left willingly and Cerise and Andrew went with them. 

            Steven gave Vani one last kick and then Terry led him away.  Vani stayed on the ground and looked up at the boys.  Karl raised his foot as though he was about to step on Vani but then retreated at the last moment.

            “You’re fucking hilarious,” said Vani as Jay helped him up.

            “That was a pretty serious beating,” said Willy in awe.

            “It wasn’t so bad,” said Vani, breathing heavily.

            “Was it worth it?” asked Karl.

            “Well, Jojo’s permanently banned from English, and I totally told Karine to suck his cock.  Not a bad day all things considered.”

            The boys laughed.

            “You’re a fucking king, Vani,” said Willy.

            “You get first roll today,” said Karl with a smile.

                       

            “I swear to god, I’m all like, fucked up now,” whined Karine.

            They were gathered in the auditorium waiting for Mr. Weir.  Everyone had heard about the fight and they all sat around Karine as Andrew rubbed her shoulders supportively, as though she had been the one to get beat up.  What Vani had said was out of line but still, the beating was a little extreme.

            “You’re gonna be awesome,” Sarah insisted.

            “Yeah, you’ll kill it,” said Andrew.

            “You hang out with some fucked up losers, Cherry!” Karine snarled.

            “Hey, I’m sorry about what he said.  I admit he’s totally wackotic, I mean like immature, you know.  They were really being losers today,” said Cerise, hoping this wouldn’t heighten Karine’s hate towards her.

            “The whole water gun thing,” sighed Sarah.  “So lame.”

            “Did that Cupryk kid really shoot Mr. Weird?” asked Andrew.

            “Oh my god, totally!” laughed Karine.  “It was actually kind of awesome.”

            “He only did it ‘cause Vani told him to,” Cerise pointed out.

            “Yeah, I guess,” admitted Karine.

            They didn’t have the chance to discuss it further because Mr. Weir appeared and he was clearly still upset about what had happened in English.  He gruffly told them to shut up and take their seats.  He told Karine to go first and she nervously took the stage.  She needn’t have worried about her performance though.  Maybe getting excited about Vani had stirred something up in her or maybe she was always good but she was very moving as she delivered one of Titania’s monologues.

            “Out of this wood do not desire to go:  Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.  I am a spirit of no common rate;  The summer still doth tend upon my state;  And I do love thee: therefore, go with me;  I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee,  And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,  And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep;  And I will purge thy mortal grossness so  That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.”

            Cerise felt rather discouraged as she watched the auditions.  Sarah was great, as expected.  Marla Fitzpatrick was pretty good too.  Cerise couldn’t help wondering if she had any business being here.  What had made her think she could be part of this play?  What had made her think she could be part of this school?  Did Karine completely hate her because she was friends with Vani?  Did she completely hate her anyway?  Did Terry still want to hang out with her on the weekend?  Before she knew it, it was her turn to audition.  She’d chosen one of Helena’s speeches.

“O, I am out of breath in this fond chase! The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.  Happy is Hermia, wheresoe’er she lies;  For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.  How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears:  If so, my eyes are oftener wash’d than hers.  No, no, I am as ugly as a bear;  For beasts that meet me run away for fear:  Therefore no marvel though Demetrius  Do, as a monster fly my presence thus.  What wicked and dissembling glass of mine  Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne?”