It was a bright and sunny day in Southern California, but seventeen-year-old Craven Fisher couldn’t have cared less. The warm sun offered him no comfort; the heat only made him that much more aware of the risk of skin cancer. His brother always made fun of him for practically bathing in sunscreen every morning. Not that he cared.
But UV rays were the least of his worries at the moment; no, at the moment the cause of his turmoil was blonde, 5”8, and dressed in a heavenly yellow sundress. Her golden curls hung about her face like a halo, and her radiant smile seemed to light the school hallway.
Craven quickly made sure all the six-inch spikes on his head were standing upright and slowly approached her.
Michelle Parker was the girl of his dreams, and he was going to tell her so if it killed him.
He began to lose his nerve when he noticed her friend look over at him and nudge her. Michelle looked up and seemed stunned at his presence before she smiled kindly at him. Then she turned back to her friend.
Craven was beginning to think he should have just turned and ran. But it was too late now, she realized that he was standing beside her and looked up.
“I’m sorry…is this your locker?” She asked, moving back a bit from the set of lockers she was in front of.
“Um…no…” Craven blushed, “Actually Michelle I…”
Her friend giggled, and Craven tried to keep himself from turning red.
“Yes?” Michelle urged.
“Michelle,” Craven forced himself to just blurt it out. “Michelle I’ve had a crush on you since fifth grade.”
Michelle stared at him for a very long time; it almost seemed like an eternity.
“Oh, um…” He saw her eyes sweep over his attire disapprovingly. In California, there was nothing more socially unacceptable than a punk. There were surfers, and musicians and jocks, but hardly even a handful of punks. Craven still thought he was the only one in the school. He had dyed his hair a dark blue-black colour and grown it long so he could fix it into long spikes. He never ever told anyone how he got his spikes to stay up though, mainly because people were grossed out when he told them that Elmer’s school glue or egg whites and sugar worked like a charm.
His clothes were always black. Presently, he was clad in baggy black jeans and a black System of a Down concert T-shirt, topped off with chains and spike bracelets.
“That’s really sweet of you um…”
”Craven,” He prompted her.
“Oh right…” She didn’t seem to know how to respond. “Craven, I’m really sorry, and no offence but…”
“Don’t bother,” Craven groaned, “If you’re going to warn me not to take offence, then I probably will. See ya around.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets and sauntered off. Behind him he heard Michelle and her nameless friend burst out into giggles, as did a few other students who just happened to be eavesdropping at the time. He didn’t know why he bothered. Craven did his best to retain his dignity and not run away until he was at least out of sight from his classmates.
His flung his old backpack over his shoulder and headed home. He’d been shot down, again. It was the second, and most definitely the last time he would ever try to talk to a girl again.
“Look at that weirdo,”
Merle could hear the cruel voices all around her as she tried to make her way to her locker unnoticed.
“Nice hair,” Another girl laughed as Merle passed.
Merle gripped the strap of her backpack more tightly and walked a bit faster. She brushed her dark, chocolate brown hair back a bit and fixated her large, brown eyes on her destination.
“Hey Merle, I like your skirt,” Mandy, Merle’s archenemy cooed from her leaning position against her locker. “Wal-Mart have a sale?”
Merle stopped and smiled, “Yeah, actually…Hey! Look,” She glanced down at her feet. “We’re wearing the same shoes! Did you get yours at Wal-Mart too?”
Mandy looked down at her feet, revolted at the mere thought that it could be true. To her absolute horror, it was. Merle walked away again with a smirk on her face.
At sixteen years old, Merle Lotus was very petite. She had straight, very dark brown hair that went just past her shoulders, and large, almond shaped brown eyes. Her face was heart-shaped and smooth, and she had a pale complexion. She was always dressed strangely, and nearly always in black. She liked to blend in, and black seemed to be an unnoticeable colour. At the moment, she was wearing a plaid schoolgirl skirt, complete with a huge safety pin, and a tight black T-shirt, which declared ‘bite me’, underneath a black jean jacket. She was wearing fishnet stockings and huge platform boots. Around her neck was a chain, which carried her house keys. There were a lot of people like her in her school, so she didn’t exactly stand out unless Mandy made a point of doing so.
Mandy’s grudge against Merle started all the way back in eighth grade, when Merle made the mistake of attempting to talk to her on her first day there. Mandy had simply sneered at her and ignored her between the periods when she tormented her.
Merle finally arrived at her locker and spun the lock. She had to try several times before she managed to get it open. Someone had been flinging pop around earlier and now her lock and locker were covered in the sticky leftovers, making it nearly impossibly to even turn the dial.
Eventually, she did manage to get her locker open and fish out the books she needed for her homework. The halls were still busy with students finding their friends or struggling to get outside so they could go home, or to the mall, or wherever else they planned to be.
Merle got to go to her grandmother’s after school. Of course, it wasn’t really that bad. Her grandmother waited on her hand and foot and made the greatest cherry cheesecake on the planet.
“Merle! Hey Merle!”
Merle looked up when she heard someone calling her name. She saw Ashlee Miller coming her way. “Quick! Do you have a smoke?”
“I don’t smoke,” Merle answered, rolling her eyes. Ashlee was quite aware of this fact.
“Oh yeah, well then do you at least have some gum?”
Merle nodded and fished half a package of gum out of her bag.
“Thanks! I owe ya one!” Ashlee cried before running off again.
“Hey…” Merle said quietly as she ran off, “What about my gum?”
“You shouldn’t let her treat you like that,” Sid, the girl with the locker next to hers told her.
Merle just shrugged, “Yeah well…” She grabbed her bag and slammed her knee against her locker, keeping it closed as she forced the lock on. She could see a Sid out of the corner of her eye, shaking her head sadly. Merle knew why she did, Sid was an independent spirit, and she didn’t like being controlled. If it had been her gum, she would have chased Ashlee halfway to Maine to get back.
Merle would have said something more to Sid, but she had already been pulled away by one of her friends. So Merle just put her backpack on and walked quickly for the nearest exit, keeping her head low as always. Was it just her, or were all those people looking at her? She pulled out her CD player and put in her favourite CD by The Salads. As Get Loose blared through the headphones, she allowed herself to ignore all the fantasized looks she had convinced herself she was getting from the other kids.
Now it was off to Grandmother’s house she went.
She would have to start practicing saying: ‘No Grandma, I don’t want any more cheesecake’.
“Gray, what the hell is going on with your guy?” Chad Fisher hissed over the phone at his friend. “We were supposed to get the stuff last week!”
“Relax man, he’s been my guy for a long time now. There’s probably just a delay getting across the border.”
“The border! Gray have you been dealing in Mexico again? I told you, those guys are…”
”No, no, no!” Gray assured him. “Canada, honest. This guy can be trusted.”
“I don’t know…”
“Listen, I’ll give him a call tonight and see what’s going on.” Gray reassured him, “I’m sure it’s nothing. It’s just that with the war and everything customs is being a real ass.”
Chad wasn’t quite so sure. He’s wasn’t comfortable with dealing outside the country, or with letting Gray handle the negotiations. He wasn’t one to be reasonable in stressful times. “Are you sure you can handle something like this, Gray?”
“Hell yeah,” he blew it off, as if it were a homework assignment.
“Well…” He stopped when the door opened. “Hold on a minute…” He cupped his hand over the receiver and glanced at the doorway. He relaxed a bit when he saw his younger brother, Craven, come in.
“What the hell happened to you?” Chad asked, noting his brother’s darkened mood and red face.
“Nothing,”
“Then why is your face all red?”
“Sunburn,” Craven grumbled.
Chad snorted, “You ask that chick out?”
“Who told you I was doing something like that?” Craven asked, astonished that his brother could know anything about it.
“You did,”
“When?”
“Just know,” Chad laughed, “You’re way too easy to read. I guess she blew ya off then?”
“Yeah…” Craven sighed and dropped down into the chair. “I hate this place. You think mom and dad will ever move back to New York, where people were normal?”
Chad only shrugged and spoke into the phone again. “I’ll call you back later, Gray, don’t forget to call that guy.”
“I won’t,” Gray answered exasperatedly before he hung up.
“Redman again?” Craven asked.
Chad nodded absently,
“Hn, that guy’s got some issues.”
“Don’t we all…” Chad muttered as he left the room and started to rummage through the fridge.
Craven watched him curiously. Chad was abnormally uptight lately, he wondered why. And he spent all his time talking, or rather yelling, at Gray Redman. Craven shook his head slowly and sunk deeper into the overstuffed armchair. As far as he was concerned, his brother had lost his mind.
