Punk Like Me
a party going on, and I was there to party, dammit!
    It was funny, though, I thought as I made my way across the sand to the Þ re, where Nicky and our friends were—I could even just make out Kerry coming across the sand to the Þ re; she must have just gotten there—I had been absolutely, positively sure that Samantha had been going to kiss me.
    I shoved that crazy idea Þ rmly out of my head and chalked it up to the effects of too many clear liquors mixed with purple Hi-C. I put a big smile on my face as I rejoined the party.
    “Heya, Hopey,” Kerry called, meaning me. We’d taken to calling each other the names of our two favorite characters from the comic book Love and Rockets— Hopey and Maggie. Nobody knew for sure whether they were or weren’t—lovers, that is—but everyone knew they were close, just like me and Kerry, and somehow we thought it was appropriate. Don’t ask me why. I didn’t ever really bother to analyze it at the time.
    “Wassup, Maggie?” I danced my way a bit closer to her, and she grabbed my hand.
    “Hey, don’t look now, girl, but I think you’ve got a fan club—no, don’t look now.” She grabbed my other hand as I turned toward the area she’d pointed out and steered me away from the Þ re. “Just keep dancing.”
    I kept bopping about to “Ballroom Blitz” and tried to casually glance over to where Kerry had indicated. Sure enough, across the Þ re,
    • 22 •
     
    PUNK LIKE ME
    two guys who were new to our group were standing around, each with a plastic cup in his hand, trying to seem casual. Then the taller of the two, a six-foot blond, caught me watching him watch me.
    His face registered surprise, then he turned to his companion and gestured with him to make like they were in the process of discussing the sand, or the Þ re, or something really close by to where Kerry and I were, but not us.
    Yeah. Right.
    Well, whatever. They seemed like nice-enough guys, average everyday sorts, with plain white Tshirts over jeans and bare feet in the sand. I had no idea who they knew in our bunch, and I thought I was pretty much familiar with everyone.
    “You know ’em, Kerry?” I asked her, pointing with my now-warm Coke. I’d had enough of Thing That Came and Stayed at the Halloween party and after my adventure earlier. Now I was keeping an occasional eye on Nicky to make sure Son of Thing didn’t turn out to be why-Ispent-my-summer-in-the-house-when-my-mom-and-dad-yelled-at-me-and-grounded-me-forever-because-my-younger-brother-got-drunk-and-I-didn’t-bodily-restrain-him thing .
    “Nah,” she said, glancing over her shoulder to give them a fuller look-see. “Where’s Nicky?”
    I scanned around and felt panic squeeze my heart when I couldn’t see him on our side of the ß ames. I craned my neck a bit and Þ nally, about twenty feet beyond the Þ re, I saw someone bending over a dark form by the bushes where the sand met the boardwalk. When the Þ gure straightened up, I could see the light glance off something around their neck. I knew it was the lion-head medallion Nicky always wore. “Over there!” I pointed for Kerry and reached for her hand. Together, we walked over to Nicky.
    “Nicky, what happened?” I called out as we approached.
    “Hey, Nee. Rob here said his stomach was bothering him and he felt sick and all, and I didn’t want to leave him alone if he was sick, so I, um, well, here I am…” and Nicky looked at me with troubled eyes.
    A side note here: Nicky is deÞ nitely one of the good guys. He’s going to make someone a great catch someday, and I hope they take good care of him. Or else. Okay, to continue…
    Rob was moaning and groaning on the ground, clutching his stomach. “Ah, Nicky, did you stop to ask him why he’s wearing a garbage bag as a shirt?” I indicated the shiny brown plastic that covered
    • 23 •

JD GLASS
    Rob from shoulders to hips.
    Nicky looked at me like I was losing it. “No, I just thought he was being, you know, silly

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