The next day at school was tough. I almost fell asleep countless times. But nothing at all could top what happened seventh hour. My friends did mean things to me while I was asleep, but seventh hour was just odd, and I was wide awake! I was sitting in the back of the room, quietly doing a chemistry test. At five to three, I was stuck on one problem, so I began to stare out the window.
As I sat there, five people began to walk up the sidewalk leading to the school. The strange thing about these five was that they were dressed up. Well, four of them were- one as a clown, one as Santa Claus, one as Zorro, and one as a pimp- but the fifth just had on sunglasses and a backwards hat. Even with them dressed like this, there was something oddly familiar about them. As I watched them goof off, I realized what it was- I was going out with one of them and the other four were his best friends.
As soon as the bell rang, I grabbed my books and quickly made my way outside. I stepped up to them and said, "What the heck are you guys doing here?"
"I'm thinking trouble. I'm going to have to ask you gentlemen to leave," my principal, Mr. Carver said sternly.
I turned to face him and gave him an innocent smile. "Mr. Craver, they aren't causing any trouble. They are just some of my friends who I wasn't expecting to show up. It's fine."
"No, Miss Arquette, we really don't need this sort of riff-raff around here, so they should leave."
I turned back to them. "Which reminds me- why are you wearing those, um... clothes?"
"Well, we didn't want to bring much attention to ourselves, so..." The pimp, or Joey, said.
"You certainly succeeded..." I laughed. "Oh, and where are my hugs?" They all gave me a hug, except for Santa, or Lance, who also kissed me on the cheek. "I need to get my homework. So, y'all can come in with me."
They all followed me into the school and to my locker. I put my hand on the handle, then, I remembered what was 'decorating' my locker. "Oh shoot," I whispered.
"What?" asked Lance.
"Okay, um, all right. Can you guys do me a big favor?"
"Anything," Justin said, and the others nodded.
"All right. Don't laugh when I open this door."
"Why would we..." JC, or Zorro, started to say. I opened the door and they were staring at pictures of themselves. I heard Chris snicker, then the other four were full out laughing.
I stomped my foot. "You guys promised!" I whined.
"Actually, no, we actually didn't," Joey said.
"Aww... I think it's sweet," Lance said, giving me a hug.
"Give me a break! Your laughing as much as they are!" I said loudly. I started to get my books out of my locker. We were all quiet except for the occasional laugh from one of them.
"Hey Jennifer! Doesn't that guy over there with Kelly look familiar?" Sarah asked. Sarah and Jennifer were right down the hall at their lockers.
"Um, I don't think so," Jennifer answered.
"Yes he does! He looks like Justin Timberlake!"
"No, Justin's hotter than that guy is," Jennifer said, just as she walked by us.
I turned with my arms full of books and I looked at Justin. He pointed in the direction Sarah and Jennifer had left in. "They aren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed," I told them.
"No kidding," Justin whispered.
"Anyway... hey Chris! Hold these!" I said, practically throwing the books into his arms.
As I turned back to my locker, Chris said, "Okay, whatever."
"Not that you had much of a choice," Joey said, laughing at Chris.
"Joey, I am so glad you see it that way. Here you go!" I said, giving him a bunch of folders and notebooks.
"Sorry!" We heard Briley yell from down the hall. A second later, she ran around the corner. She wasn't expecting a big group there, so she didn't stop running in time. She ran right into JC. "Sorry," she said, without looking at him.
"No problem," JC said, but she had already pushed her way to me and our locker.
"Briley, are you okay?" I asked, putting my hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah, but I'm late for work and I forgot my jacket, and I still have to go get the mail..." her sentence was cut short when she saw Chris in the mirror that's in our locker. "Ohmigod! It's a clown! Oh no! I think I'm having an asthma attack!"
"Briley... you don't have asthma."
"I don't? Oh, then it must be an anxiety attack. Ohmigod! I gotta go!" She grabbed her jacket, pushed by JC again and ran down the hall.
"Is she okay?" Chris asked, sounding concerned.
"She'll be fine. Ever since she was little, she's hated clowns, so when she saw you, she freaked," I explained, putting notebooks and folders into my backpack. I zipped it up, threw it over my shoulder, and stood up. I took my books from Chris.
"Hey, do you want me to carry those?" asked Lance.
"No, it's okay. I got them," I told him, shifting uncomfortably.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Well, if you insist," I said, giving him all my books. We had taken about two steps when the English teacher stepped out of her room.
"Zorro!" She yelled.
"Excuse me?" JC asked, turning to look at her.
She ran over and grabbed his arm. "Antonio Banderas! Your my hero!"
"Ma'am, I'm not Antonio Banderas. My name is Joshua Scott Cha..."
"Oh Antonio! Will you marry me?"
"Mrs. G? He's telling the truth."
"You are?" She asked, dropping his arm.
"Yeah, I am. My friends call me JC. I'm 22, and I can't act to save my life," JC told her.
"Does that convince you Mrs. Gremminger?" I asked.
"Yes it does... sorry young man... Kelly, let's not mention this again, okay?"
"You got it Grem." Mrs. Gremminger walked back to her room. As we all walked down the hall, I explained. "She's cool, but she has this thing for Antonio Banderas that no one really understands. Most of the student body is convinced she has a few loose screws, but we all love her."
"That's how it always is, huh? A few loose screws, everyone loves them... heck, just look at Chris!" JC said, laughing.
"Okay, let's not laugh at the clown, there's no reason to laugh at the clown..." Chris said, attempting to defend himself.
"Sure Chris. Clowns aren't supposed to be funny or anything..." Justin said.
"Okay Justin, I think you should be quiet."
"Why Chris? Why? Huh, why?"
"Because... I'm older, wiser, and I could whip you into shape like that!" Chris said, snapping his fingers.
"If you guys fight, let's wait until we get outside at least... while we're here, I'm responsible for you guys," I said, laughing.
"It's a good thing we don't want Kelly to get in trouble, because I could take you..." Justin told Chris.
"You wanna find out?" Chris asked.
"Yeah! Me and you... our bus... PlayStation... Mortal Combat... be there!" Justin said, challenging him.
"Fine, I'll be there!" Chris said, accepting the challenge.
"Hey guys..." I said quietly.
"You better be!" Justin said.
"I will be! You better be!" Chris said louder, and standing up straighter.
"Hey guys!" I yelled. Both of them stopped arguing and turned to me. "Can we please go?" I was standing by my open car door, already having dumped my stuff in the trunk.
JC and Joey were already in their rental car, Lance was in the passenger seat of my car. Justin and Chris turned their backs to each other and Chris got in my car, Justin in theirs. As we pulled out onto the road, JC following, I said, "Can I ask you guys a question?"
"Go for it," Lance said.
"Did you guys by any chance bring real clothes with you?" I asked.
"No... why would we do that?" Lance asked, completely serious.
"I really hope your kidding!" I made a right on Mulberry street.
"Um...no," Lance said.
I glanced at Lance. He was smiling. "First, sorry Chris, and thank you... second, Lance that was just mean! You don't do that to a person!"
"Sorry, but I had to. You should have seen your face when you saw us dressed like this!" Lance said, laughing.
After a few more turns, we were at my house. All five of them retrieved a backpack from the trunk of their car, well, except for Justin. He was already dressed normal. He had on Nike's, light blue warm-up pants, one blue shirt under a white one, with a North Carolina jacket over those. The only problem was that his pants were really baggy, and my dad couldn't stand that. That's who they were about to meet.
I opened the back door and my dad was at the kitchen table. "Hey dad, I have five friends for you to meet." I motioned them in. "You know that concert that me, mom, and Briley went to last night?"
"Oh yeah! 'N Sync!" He stood and started dancing. "Hey dude! We're outta sync and we lip sync!"
"Well, dad, I'd like you to meet Justin, Joey, Chris, JC, and Lance," He shook each of their hands, then continued to dance. "Otherwise known as 'N Sync."
He stopped, then leaned over to me. "Your kidding, right?" I shook my head. He looked up and smiled. "Sorry guys... I do whatever I can to annoy her."
"No problem," JC said. "By the way, can I use your bathroom? I've got to get out of this stupid thing!"
"Yeah. It's up the stairs, first door that you get to," I answered.
"Kelly, can I speak with you for a second?" My dad asked, leading me outside. "Which one is it you like?"
"Lance."
"And he would be?"
"Santa Claus."
"Okay. His pants better fit." My dad then walked back inside. JC was back, but Lance was gone. "So, where are you all gonna go?"
"I have no idea. Probably go annoy Briley at work, catch a movie, bowling, skating, heck if I know," I answered.
Lance came downstairs then, and Joey went up. "So, your Lance." My dad said.
"Yes sir," Lance replied.
My dad looked him up and down. "How old are you?"
"19."
"Oh. So, Lance, those are nice jeans you have on. How do they fit?"
"Really good sir."
"So, they aren't too loose on you? You don't need a belt, do you?"
"No, sir," Lance threw me a confused look. Joey came downstairs and Chris literally ran up the stairs.
My dad turned to Justin. "Now, on the other hand, your pants are way too loose."
"I'm sorry, but Mr. Arquette, that's the way I'm most comfortable," Justin said politely.
"They are still too baggy. I need to make sure your pants stay on the entire time you are with my daughter."
"Dad!" I whispered.
"I have a nice staple gun that works really well. It should secure your pants quite nicely around your waist."
"I assure you Mr. Arquette, there's no..." but my dad interrupted him.
"Oh, I forgot. My staple gun broke. I do have a brand new nail gun though..."
"Dad! Let it go! His pants are fine! Lance's fit and he's the only one you needed to question," I said hopefully.
"Okay, the pants issue I can let go. Now, who will be driving?"
JC said, "Probably me. We'll probably take the rental car so we can all ride together."
My dad turned to him. "And you are?"
"JC."
"Well, JC. Kelly is my one and only daughter. I do have a son, but it's not the same as my little girl." Chris finally came downstairs. "My wife and I cannot have anymore children. Therefore, I'd have to go out and have an affair so I could get another daughter. Now JC, you don't want to make me sin, do you?" JC shook his head no. "Therefore, you hurt her, I sin, I hurt you. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir, I clearly understand," JC told him.
"Dad, can we please go now?" I asked.
"Yeah, get out of here... and be careful!" He said as we ran out the door.
We hurried and jumped in the car. Once there, I ended up sitting between Lance and Joey, while JC drove, and Justin and Chris squeezed into the front. I gave JC directions to the highway, and once there, Justin said, "Hey Kelly! What's the best radio station?"
"107.7," I answered.
"Okay," Justin said, as he found the station. We all sang along with the song '3 AM' by Matchbox 20, when I yelled.
"My brother!"
"What?" Five voices chorused.
"My brother wasn't at my house."
"Yeah, so?" Joey asked.
"I mean, my brother is four. Where else would he be?"
"You have a four year old brother?" Justin asked.
"Yeah. He's really mean, but he's so cute. When he looks at you with those big brown eyes, you can't help but to give in to everything he wants!"
Justin smiled. "That sounds like Jon. I love him to death! Want to see a picture?"
"Yeah," I answered.
Justin dug into his back pocket, pulled out a wallet, and went through the pictures until he found out. He reached behind himself and handed it to me. "He is so cute! Justin, he is a heart stealer!"
"Yeah, I use him to pick up girls sometimes..." Justin smiled. "They just can't resist him... or me for that matter..." We all laughed.
"Conceited much?" I asked. Then, I told JC how to get on the next highway. Two songs later, 'Tearin' Up My Heart' came on.
"AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!" Joey yelled. "Turn it off!"
"No," JC said. "We need to listen to ourselves sometimes. It's good for us."
"Um, JC? You need to get into that turning lane," I said, pointing. He pulled into the parking lot then and we all got out of the car and went inside.
