Taylor and I have always disliked Janie Parker. She's an only child. I live across the street and two doors down from the Hansons, and Janie lives next door to them, between my house and theirs. An only child, I think, 16 years old now, and one of those girls that, when she was 5, her mother dressed her up like a doll, ribbons in her hair and all, and probably had never even heard of Target or Walgreens. She wears ONLY designer. We always wondered why, if she was so rich, did she live in our mediocre-nice, but mediocre- neighborhood. Oh, well. We couldn't change that, could we? Still, there were other alternatives. We've been scheming, trying to find a way to prove to her that she was no better than the rest of us, no matter what she thinks. Needless to say, we weren't what one might call thrilled when we stepped outside and saw the little spoiled brat outside. Taylor and I have a game, we try to guess the price of the "outfit of the day." I priced today's outfit at $40 for the Tommy shirt that I had seen at Ross for $12, and about $80 for the jeans.
"Well, name that price," I said to Taylor.
"Well, Bob, I'd have to say, hmm...$120?"
"I agree."
"How can we make her day peachy today?" asked Taylor. I noticed the famous evil grin on his face.
We both looked around, thinking. I looked at the grass on the lawn. It was wet-it had rained yesterday. I think Taylor noticed at the same time that I did that before it had rained yesterday, Mrs. Parker had been gardening in her front lawn. She had left soil everywhere, probably planning to rebury it when it stopped raining. It was mud now, and Janie was standing right near it. Tay and I looked at each other, we HAD been noticing the same thing. I put my pinky up to my mouth, like Dr. Evil in Austin Powers. Tay started laughing.
"Come on, Sari, it's dirty work, but somebody's gotta do it," he began singing-I love that song. I joined in-Taylor and I seriously have a song for everything.
"HEY JANIE," I yelled. "WANNA COME BLADING WITH US? WE'RE GOING TO THE POND AND THEN MAYBE CATCHING SOME WORMS AND FEEDING THE DUCKS, IT'LL BE GREAT FUN, COME ON!!!" By the time I was done with my sentence, I had already bladed in front of her but it just seemed right to continue shouting in her face.
Taylor was trying desperately to hold in his laughter. Janie looked at me like I was a poisonous snake.
"No, thanks, Sari, I'm just waiting for my mom to come home so we can go have mommy-daughter day at the spa."
I couldn't believe she was serious. Neither could Taylor. I don't know how we managed, but we kept straight faces.
"That's too bad, Janie, but guess what?"
"What, Sari?"
"No need to get testy, JANET, but check this out, Taylor taught me a new trick on rollerblades, watch!"
I skated over to the beautiful, clumpy, large pile of mud. "Check it out, Janie," I shouted.
I stepped into the mud and began to spin and kick, flinging mud everywhere, especially Janie's jeans. Taylor was hysterical, but Janie looked like...well, put it this way, if looks could kill, Janie was carrying a rifle AND a grenade in her back pocket. I smiled.
"What do you think, Janie?"
"THESE ARE $90 JEANS!!!" she screeched. I have never met a person with a voice that shrill. Oops, Tay and I had been off $10 on the price.
"I'm so sorry Janie! I didn't think you'd get hit by mud, I didn't even see the pile of it right under my feet! Oh, well, don't stress about it, you can wash them, and you know more than anyone that stress is bad for the skin, and, of course, we wouldn't want to overwork our masseuse, right?"
"You little brat! If I cared enough, I'd slap you so hard that you'd be sitting wh-"
"Where would she be sitting?" Wow, it was about time Taylor said something.
"Taylor, you're a good kid, why do you waste your time with scum like this?" She gestured towards me.
"Answer the question Janie." Taylor had fire behind his eyes. He was mad-no one talks bad about me to Taylor and gets away with it. I didn't want him doing something we'd all regret, so I thought fast.
"She thinks I'd be sitting where the sun don't shine, but I think the tables are about to be turned. Taylor, would you please escort our friend Janie to where I'm standing?" "Gladly." Taylor looked at me, asking with his eyes what I was going to do. I didn't answer, I just gave him a knowing wink. He noticed that I was standing by the mud still, but he didn't know exactly what I was going to do with it. He brought Janie over to where I was. I promise you I'm not a violent person, but Janie just brings the worst out of me. I began blading in circles around her, just blading. She looked nervous.
"W-what are you doing?"
"I'm kindly placing you 'where the sun don't shine.'"
She looked confused. I kicked the back of her knee lightly, and she fell over into the mud. She glared at me with the most deadly glance. I almost felt bad.
"Don't mess with me, Janie. I promise you'll be sorry. Come on, Tay."
Taylor looked at me with absolutely no expression on his face. It scared me, I couldn't tell what he was thinking.
"Bye, Janie," said Taylor. He trailed along with me, not saying a word.
Finally I couldn't take it anymore.
"Taylor, what is it?"
No answer. He just began going faster and faster, I had to rush to keep up with him.
"Taylor! Taylor, wait up! Taylor!"
He kept going until he had reached the destination-it was our special spot. The neighborhood playground has a running track, too. A bit far down the track, there is a hill, that you could sit behind it, and look over the canal, and no one sees you. We had watched many a sunset over there, it was so beautiful. We spent hours having contests to see who could get the most rocks to skim over the water in the summer, and ice skated in the winter, even if the ice was thin. I always felt safe with Taylor there, like it was a fairy tale in the real world of problems. We always met there when we had to get away from it all. It was a place for dreaming, but come to think of it, we hadn't been there in a while-together at least. Taylor was always out of town with the band, this was a rare occasion that he was home. It had been so long since we had shared dreams together. I had really missed him.
"Taylor, what's wrong?"
"You know I'll stand up for you, no matter what happens, because you're my best friend. But you can't keep doing things like that to Janie or anyone else. Sari, I hate to say it this way, but grow up. You're not a little kid anymore, you can't keep doing that to people. I don't even want to know what you did to her while I was away, but come on, Sar. That one went a little too far and you know it. One day, it's going to catch up with you, you're gonna play a prank on the wrong person, and I might not be there to stand up for you."
Every word he said made sense, and the way our friendship is, we tell each other everything straight, so I wasn't angry about that, but something about it just pushed me over the edge. Taylor and I, in our 15 years of being, had never gotten into a fight. I knew he was only saying this for my own good, but, for some reason, I couldn't quite take it.
"Do you mean that you'll be out of town, so you won't be here to stand up for me, or that you just don't want to, because if you don't want to, then I'm not asking you to!"
"How could you even say that Sari? Why are you doing this? I'm telling you the way I feel, I'm looking out for you because you're like my sister! What is your problem? I don't want you to get hurt, Sari, I care for you."
"Could've fooled me. And why here, dreamland, OUR dreamland, of all places, did you decide to tell me this? This IS a place to get away from everything, not to remind me that I need to start taking responsibility for my actions!"
I was crying. I never cry, why was I crying? How could this have hurt me so much, just because we were in a certain location, having our first fight ever?
"I know, Sari, he said, softening, soothingly. "I decided here would be best because I have to tell you a few things that are important to me, too. A few things happened while we were away, that I think you should know about, that could change...everything."