Under these Stars

Chapter 2: Tweedledee and Tweedledum

Five years later

"Dela?"

"Yeah?" I snap my head back and look at my best friend Francesca.

"Were you even paying attention to me?" Her carefully glammed up face glares at me briefly before shrugging. She's not the type to get mad over something so trivial.

"Yeah. You were just talking about how Barney the purple dinosaur flew across the school...oh wait," I trail off and grin sheepishly. Okay, perhaps I only heard the last part of what she was saying.

"I did say that, but only to see if you were listening." She throws up her arms suddenly and looks up to the sky, mouthing, "How am I friends with this girl?"

"Hey, I'm less than five feet from you," I point at our distance, slightly offended.

"Well, if you were too busy making oogly eyes at Mr. Bad Boy over there, you'd know that my parents are leaving me alone with the house this weekend," she winks mischievously at the prospects of being free from parental supervision. She's without a doubt planning a huge party for Friday night. Her parties are always crazy and fun, at least that's what everyone says. I wouldn't know since I always make up an excuse to not go. So far, that's working. I actually have a valid excuse this time: I will be too tired from my soccer game. Soccer games are always Friday nights.

"Nope," she puts a hand up to my face as I open my mouth. "Don't even bother denying you were staring at him."

"Franny, I'm not making 'oogly eyes' at him," I protest as I swipe her hand away. "I was just looking at him briefly. Is it a crime to glance at him?"

"When you're looking at our school's bad boy, yes it is." She nods fiercely, her long, dark brown curls bobbing with her head.

I try my best to pay attention to what she is saying but this time I'm very distracted by her eye makeup. She really worked on that eyeliner wing. Her eye makeup is popping. "Your wing is on fleek." I compliment her, which briefly distracts her.

"Thanks. I just bought this new eyeliner. It's nice, right?" She glances at herself in her iphone reflective screen. Putting her phone back into her purse, she continues, "You shouldn't even look at Mason even if he's eye candy. Well, at least so openly and in public. You'll only draw unwanted attention." I'm glad she didn''t ask questions or even tease me about staring at him.

"I could care less about others. These are my eyes; I can look at whatever or whoever I want." I roll my eyes in emphasis. "And since when have you started calling him 'Mr. Bad Boy'? That sounds stupid."

"Since he took my breath away. Oh, you know how I love me some bad boys," She shivers and pretends to act like a lovestruck teenager. It looks pretty convincing to me, almost creepy. I worry for this girl sometimes.

"Girls dig that bad boy look he has going there. They all want to change him for the better and all that jazz, you know? I mean, they want that dangerous vibe. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the rumors were true," she whispers conspiratorially. "You think he could actually be in a gang? That he has tattoos all over his body? That he singlehandedly took down a group of thugs? That he killed people already? That he's the mysterious gang leader of the Wolverines?"

"Those could be just rumors. That's like the first time I've even heard of them. Wolverines? Really?" I snort. "He's a high schooler, not a gangbanger. It's just gossip and rumors. Y'all have nothing better to do than make fanciful stories about him."

"You're his neighbor, or bedroom buddy. You must have at least seen if he has a tattoo or checked out those delicious six packs I've been hearing about? Or a secret or two?" She leans in in hopes of hearing something. Franny loves hearing about gossip, but she isn't one to spread them. I think she has information on almost everyone because of how well connected she is.