She's A Rebel, chapter 7
Laurie was up and cheery Monday morning. Even though it was five thirty in the morning, she didn't care. She was going to see Billie Joe. But, at the same time, she felt guilty for being with him.
All night, the scene she had with Jimmy at her house, repeated over and over in her head. She told him she moved on to hurt him, like he did to her. But, she didn't know if she actually meant it. Jimmy and her had two years together. And it all went down the drain. She tried to tell herself she was happy now with Billie Joe, but she didn't know if she believed it. She only knew Billie Joe for a week and they were already a "couple."
Laurie walked to her closet and looked for something to wear. Searching through her rows of clothes, she decided on wearing a plain black shirt and jeans. Her and her "friends" promised never to wear black because it was a "death color," but Laurie didn't care what they thought of her anymore. She was her own person and wasn't going to take shit from anyone but herself.
"Laurie! What on Earth are you wearing?!" Kim asked her, practically screaming.
"A shirt."
"But it's...black," she said, looking like she had been hit by a car.
"So? It's just a shirt, Kim," Laurie said, attitude in her voice.
"But, we promised we were never going to wear black."
"Well, things change. Get over it," Laurie said, walking to science. She couldn't wait to see Billie Joe, but Jimmy was in that same class, too.
"You're right," Kim yelled to Laurie, "things have changed, including you!" Laurie ignored her and walked into the classroom.
The first person she saw was Jimmy. He looked terrible. He had dark circles under his eyes, telling the whole world he had barely any sleep. His hair wasn't it's usual geled with a spiked bang, it was all over the place. Jimmy always took good care of his hair. He also had on baggy sweatpants, accompanied by an oversized hoodie, something he wore for only sports practices.
Jimmy sensed someone else was in the room. He looked up with his bloodshot blue eyes and saw her. He stared at his one true love for what seemed like years. Their eyes locked for a moment. Laurie felt horrible. She never saw Jimmy like this. She turned her head, ending the eye connection, and looked for Billie Joe. He wasn't in there yet. Laurie guessed he was coming in late, like always.
Minutes went by and Billie Joe still wasn't in class. Laurie began to get nervous.
Maybe he left school. Maybe he's not coming back because he doesn't want to be with me.
Maybe he's sick.
Maybe he's coming in later.
Maybe Jimmy found out that me and Billie are an "item" and did something to him. He is the jealous type.
Thoughts ran in and out of Laurie's mind. She looked at Jimmy. He doesn't seem the type to hurt anyone. Jimmy noticed her looking and looked back. He smiled a bit. She couldn't help but smile. But, as quickly as she smiled, she looked down at her notebook. Laurie picked up her blue ballpoint pen and began drawing on her notebook. She didn't draw anything special, just doodles here, hearts and stars there. She was an artist when it came to drawing. But, when notebooks were involved, nothing extraordinary was drawn.
First period ended and Billie Joe still wasn't in school. Laurie began to worry. Second period was Social Studies. She would have to see Andrea.
"Laurie! Laurie! Over here! I saved you a seat!" Andrea yelled.
Laurie rolled her eyes. "Great," she said sarcastically.
"So," Andrea said, snapping her gum, "you and Jimmy. You're done?"
"Yup."
"Aww...I'm sorry."
Laurie shrugged. She knew she was only asking because she liked Jimmy. Andrea had been waiting for the past two years to be with Jimmy. She even tried at Kimberly's Christmas party. Jimmy told her everything that happened; even though Laurie was right there watching it all. She assumed he was just being a loyal boyfriend, telling her everything that happens. She confronted Andrea, and she denied. After months of "I'm so sorry" and "It'll never happen again", Laurie decided to let it go.
In the middle of Laurie copying down notes about, once again, World War One, she heard the door open. She smiled. She saw Billie Joe and his blue hair sit down at the closest seat to Laurie. He was only two seats away from her to Laurie's right. He turned to her and smiled, mouthing "Sorry" in the process. Laurie nodded, understanding what he was saying.
The Social Studies teacher, Ms. Morris, noticed the addition to the class. She stopped writing down the notes on the board and looked at her chart. "Mr...Armstrong," she began. Billie Joe looked at the teacher. "You are late, why?"
"I..uhh..overslept," he said nervously.
"Did you sign in?"
"Yup." The teacher gave Billie Joe one more glare and turned back to the board. Laurie and Billie Joe gave each other a look and smiled.
"That kid is weird," she heard Andrea say to her.
"My god, Andrea, shut up. You don't even know the kid."
"Why do you care? You've never cared before when I make fun of losers," she hissed.
"He's not a loser," Laurie said, raising her voice. She was beginning to cause a small scene in the back of the room. Billie Joe noticed and tried his best to hear what was going on.
"How would you know?"
"'Cause I've talked to him many times. He's a cool kid."
"You actually talk to those freaks?"
Laurie slammed her fist down on the small tan desk, "He's not a freak. He's not a loser. He's himself. He's ten times cooler than you are to him. He's more real than you'll ever be. Okay? Do you get it?"
"Miss Keller, is there something you'd like to share with the class?"
"Uhh...no, Ms. Morris, sorry."
"That's what I thought," she said, a cocky tone in her voice.
Second period quickly ended and Laurie walked up to Billie Joe. They said their hellos and Billie Joe asked her what had happened not too long ago. She explained what Andrea had said and how she defended Billie Joe.
"Aww, Laurie, you didn't have to," he said, flattered someone would stick up for him.
"I know I didn't have to; I wanted to." He smiled.
Billie Joe held his arm out straight. "I need an arm rest ma'dear."
Laurie giggled, "As you wish your majesty," she said. Laurie placed herself next to Billie Joe as he rested his arm on her shoulder. He felt her head on his shoulder.
"I see you need a head rest," he said smiling.
"Yup. You need an arm rest and I need a head rest," Laurie said laughing.
As they were walking down the halls, they got a few stares, but Laurie didn't care. She was finally happy. She finally met someone that liked her for her. Not because of her popularity, not because of her looks, but because of her personality. Laurie, for the first time, felt wanted.
Third and fourth period went as fast as second. Lunch was fifth and Laurie was excited to see Billie Joe again. She had two whole periods without him and she missed him. They told each other they would meet each other at lunch, but she first had to put her books away in her locker.
The hallway was quiet. Everyone was most likely at lunch in her hallway. It was always like that. Laurie quiety hummed to herself; she was the happiest she ever was. As she was putting her books away, she heard something.
"Fuck. No, no, no," she heard the voice say. Laurie followed the voice and heard whoever it was still mumbling to themselves. Finally she came to the men's room. The voice was still talking. It sounded oddly familiar to her. She couldn't quite put her finger on who it was.
"Shit." That was all she needed to hear. She knew who that voice was.
Laurie opened the door, not caring she shouldn't really be in there. "I knew it was- Holy shit, Jimmy. What did you do?!"
Laurie ran to Jimmy an sat down next to him on the blue and white floor. The arms of his baggy sweatshirt were pulled up and Laurie could see fresh crimson red lines drawn arcoss his wrists. She felt the salty tears come out of her eyes. She went to touch his arm, but Jimmy flinched. He was in pain; it was obvious.
"Why Jimmy?" Was all she could ask.
He shrugged, "I love you Laurie. I always do. You were my first real love, and still are. And when you said you didn't love me anymore, it killed me, it really did."
"Do you do this to yourself?!" She said, pointing to his arms. The tears couldn't contain themselves in her eyes. They just kept pouring down.
"I didn't know what else to do. I needed to take the pain from my heart, Laurie. And then, I saw you with that Billie guy walking down the hall. That's who your with now, huh? Our two years meant nothing? You just move on after that?"
"Our two years, Jimmy, meant everything to me. You dumped me, so I knew I would get over it sooner or later. So I decided to move on sooner rather than later."
Jimmy looked at Laurie with his bloodshot eyes, "Did you love me?"
"Yes! Of course I did, Jimmy!"
"Well, if you really loved me, you wouldn't have moved on so fast.." Jimmy's voice began trailing off.
"I loved you with all my heart. But when you broke it off, it made me think if it was either real love, or that middle school love where you just say it because the other person said it to you," Laurie said. Her eyes drifted around, looking at the graffiti-stained walls. The walls were full of every high school boy's feelings for a girl. It was almost exactly like the walls in the lady's room.
"So, our love was 'middle school love.' Is that what you're saying?"
Laurie sighed, "I don't know, Jimmy." She put her head in her hands, not sure what she should be feeling at the moment. "I don't know," she repeated again.
"Well," Jimmy began, "you better get going. You're boyfriend is probally wondering where you are."
"Don't be like this Jimmy! I should be the one depressed, not you! I'm not the one who broke up with the goddamn love of my life."
"I'm the love of your life?"
"Were. Now, I don't know what to think of you. I was hoping maybe we'll be friends, but who knows."
Laurie got up and walked to the door. She turned around and looked at Jimmy, "But, Jimmy, please don't hurt yourself. You'll regret it later. Please don't do it anymore."
He nodded, "Okay."
"Promise?"
"I do." Laurie smiled and walked out. Even though she wasn't with Jimmy anymore, she still did care about him. She didn't want him hurting himself over a high school relationship.
She was pissed, though, at him. He made it seem like it was her fault they broke up. She knew it wasn't. Jimmy was just a jealous person. He got too jealous and broke up with his girlfriend. Now, he regrets it and wishes he could have her back.
Laurie pushed the cafeteria doors open and looked around for blue hair. She smiled when she saw the blue hair. She noticed another hair color next to the blue. It was brown with chunky purple streaks in it. Laurie walked closer to him and realized it was Eggplant. He was like, the punk leader in the school. Laurie didn't know his real name, just his nickname. He got the name "Eggplant" from the large purple highlights in his head. Everyone associated purple with eggplants. It was odd, but the nickname "Eggplant" stuck with him forever.
"Laurie!" Billie Joe exclaimed when he saw her. He walked over and hugged her. Laurie embraced in the hug as well. She noticed Eggplant's smirk as he watched them hug.
"Hey," Eggplant said to Laurie.
"Hey," was all she could say. Eggplant was your typical punk, with an unusual name. He was dressed in a black Ramones shirt on his torso, tight black pants covering his lanky legs. A chain hung from the studded belt on his hips. Dark circles of black eyeliner clung to his eyelids. Laurie could tell why he was the punk's "leader" as I guess you would call it.
"So Billie Boy," Eggplant began, "this your girlfriend?"
Billie Joe wrapped his arms around Laurie's waist. He looked at Eggplant and smiled, "Yup, she is."
Eggplant nodded, "Cool. Well, I gotta get going. Don't forget my offer Billie Boy. See ya, Laurie."
"Okay, Eggplant, see ya," Billie Joe said.
"Bye," Laurie added in.
She turned and locked her hazel eyes with Billie Joe's green ones, "What offer?"
"Oh, nothing important. Eggplant has some band and heard I was in one. He said I could be their guitarist if I wanted, but I told them I was with a band already."
"Oh."
"What took so long?" He asked.
"My locker was stuck," she lied. She decided not to tell Billie Joe about Jimmy. She didn't want to start any drama, or depression.
"Ahh. So, any ideas for this weekend?"
"Well," Laurie began, "we could either go out, or you could stay the weekend."
"How about both?" Billie Joe asked, hope in his voice.
"We could..."
"Okay, I pick both," he said, sounding proud of himself.
"Alright, both it is."
"I love you," Billie Joe said.
"What?" Laurie asked, taken back a bit by him comment.
"I said 'I love you'," he repeated
"Oh, I love you too," she said monotone. Laurie didn't know what else to say. Was it really love, or was she just going along with it? She had so many confused thoughts in her head, she didn't know how to sort them all out.
"Laurie, you okay?"
"Yeah," she sighed. "I'm fine."
All night, the scene she had with Jimmy at her house, repeated over and over in her head. She told him she moved on to hurt him, like he did to her. But, she didn't know if she actually meant it. Jimmy and her had two years together. And it all went down the drain. She tried to tell herself she was happy now with Billie Joe, but she didn't know if she believed it. She only knew Billie Joe for a week and they were already a "couple."
Laurie walked to her closet and looked for something to wear. Searching through her rows of clothes, she decided on wearing a plain black shirt and jeans. Her and her "friends" promised never to wear black because it was a "death color," but Laurie didn't care what they thought of her anymore. She was her own person and wasn't going to take shit from anyone but herself.
"Laurie! What on Earth are you wearing?!" Kim asked her, practically screaming.
"A shirt."
"But it's...black," she said, looking like she had been hit by a car.
"So? It's just a shirt, Kim," Laurie said, attitude in her voice.
"But, we promised we were never going to wear black."
"Well, things change. Get over it," Laurie said, walking to science. She couldn't wait to see Billie Joe, but Jimmy was in that same class, too.
"You're right," Kim yelled to Laurie, "things have changed, including you!" Laurie ignored her and walked into the classroom.
The first person she saw was Jimmy. He looked terrible. He had dark circles under his eyes, telling the whole world he had barely any sleep. His hair wasn't it's usual geled with a spiked bang, it was all over the place. Jimmy always took good care of his hair. He also had on baggy sweatpants, accompanied by an oversized hoodie, something he wore for only sports practices.
Jimmy sensed someone else was in the room. He looked up with his bloodshot blue eyes and saw her. He stared at his one true love for what seemed like years. Their eyes locked for a moment. Laurie felt horrible. She never saw Jimmy like this. She turned her head, ending the eye connection, and looked for Billie Joe. He wasn't in there yet. Laurie guessed he was coming in late, like always.
Minutes went by and Billie Joe still wasn't in class. Laurie began to get nervous.
Maybe he left school. Maybe he's not coming back because he doesn't want to be with me.
Maybe he's sick.
Maybe he's coming in later.
Maybe Jimmy found out that me and Billie are an "item" and did something to him. He is the jealous type.
Thoughts ran in and out of Laurie's mind. She looked at Jimmy. He doesn't seem the type to hurt anyone. Jimmy noticed her looking and looked back. He smiled a bit. She couldn't help but smile. But, as quickly as she smiled, she looked down at her notebook. Laurie picked up her blue ballpoint pen and began drawing on her notebook. She didn't draw anything special, just doodles here, hearts and stars there. She was an artist when it came to drawing. But, when notebooks were involved, nothing extraordinary was drawn.
First period ended and Billie Joe still wasn't in school. Laurie began to worry. Second period was Social Studies. She would have to see Andrea.
"Laurie! Laurie! Over here! I saved you a seat!" Andrea yelled.
Laurie rolled her eyes. "Great," she said sarcastically.
"So," Andrea said, snapping her gum, "you and Jimmy. You're done?"
"Yup."
"Aww...I'm sorry."
Laurie shrugged. She knew she was only asking because she liked Jimmy. Andrea had been waiting for the past two years to be with Jimmy. She even tried at Kimberly's Christmas party. Jimmy told her everything that happened; even though Laurie was right there watching it all. She assumed he was just being a loyal boyfriend, telling her everything that happens. She confronted Andrea, and she denied. After months of "I'm so sorry" and "It'll never happen again", Laurie decided to let it go.
In the middle of Laurie copying down notes about, once again, World War One, she heard the door open. She smiled. She saw Billie Joe and his blue hair sit down at the closest seat to Laurie. He was only two seats away from her to Laurie's right. He turned to her and smiled, mouthing "Sorry" in the process. Laurie nodded, understanding what he was saying.
The Social Studies teacher, Ms. Morris, noticed the addition to the class. She stopped writing down the notes on the board and looked at her chart. "Mr...Armstrong," she began. Billie Joe looked at the teacher. "You are late, why?"
"I..uhh..overslept," he said nervously.
"Did you sign in?"
"Yup." The teacher gave Billie Joe one more glare and turned back to the board. Laurie and Billie Joe gave each other a look and smiled.
"That kid is weird," she heard Andrea say to her.
"My god, Andrea, shut up. You don't even know the kid."
"Why do you care? You've never cared before when I make fun of losers," she hissed.
"He's not a loser," Laurie said, raising her voice. She was beginning to cause a small scene in the back of the room. Billie Joe noticed and tried his best to hear what was going on.
"How would you know?"
"'Cause I've talked to him many times. He's a cool kid."
"You actually talk to those freaks?"
Laurie slammed her fist down on the small tan desk, "He's not a freak. He's not a loser. He's himself. He's ten times cooler than you are to him. He's more real than you'll ever be. Okay? Do you get it?"
"Miss Keller, is there something you'd like to share with the class?"
"Uhh...no, Ms. Morris, sorry."
"That's what I thought," she said, a cocky tone in her voice.
Second period quickly ended and Laurie walked up to Billie Joe. They said their hellos and Billie Joe asked her what had happened not too long ago. She explained what Andrea had said and how she defended Billie Joe.
"Aww, Laurie, you didn't have to," he said, flattered someone would stick up for him.
"I know I didn't have to; I wanted to." He smiled.
Billie Joe held his arm out straight. "I need an arm rest ma'dear."
Laurie giggled, "As you wish your majesty," she said. Laurie placed herself next to Billie Joe as he rested his arm on her shoulder. He felt her head on his shoulder.
"I see you need a head rest," he said smiling.
"Yup. You need an arm rest and I need a head rest," Laurie said laughing.
As they were walking down the halls, they got a few stares, but Laurie didn't care. She was finally happy. She finally met someone that liked her for her. Not because of her popularity, not because of her looks, but because of her personality. Laurie, for the first time, felt wanted.
Third and fourth period went as fast as second. Lunch was fifth and Laurie was excited to see Billie Joe again. She had two whole periods without him and she missed him. They told each other they would meet each other at lunch, but she first had to put her books away in her locker.
The hallway was quiet. Everyone was most likely at lunch in her hallway. It was always like that. Laurie quiety hummed to herself; she was the happiest she ever was. As she was putting her books away, she heard something.
"Fuck. No, no, no," she heard the voice say. Laurie followed the voice and heard whoever it was still mumbling to themselves. Finally she came to the men's room. The voice was still talking. It sounded oddly familiar to her. She couldn't quite put her finger on who it was.
"Shit." That was all she needed to hear. She knew who that voice was.
Laurie opened the door, not caring she shouldn't really be in there. "I knew it was- Holy shit, Jimmy. What did you do?!"
Laurie ran to Jimmy an sat down next to him on the blue and white floor. The arms of his baggy sweatshirt were pulled up and Laurie could see fresh crimson red lines drawn arcoss his wrists. She felt the salty tears come out of her eyes. She went to touch his arm, but Jimmy flinched. He was in pain; it was obvious.
"Why Jimmy?" Was all she could ask.
He shrugged, "I love you Laurie. I always do. You were my first real love, and still are. And when you said you didn't love me anymore, it killed me, it really did."
"Do you do this to yourself?!" She said, pointing to his arms. The tears couldn't contain themselves in her eyes. They just kept pouring down.
"I didn't know what else to do. I needed to take the pain from my heart, Laurie. And then, I saw you with that Billie guy walking down the hall. That's who your with now, huh? Our two years meant nothing? You just move on after that?"
"Our two years, Jimmy, meant everything to me. You dumped me, so I knew I would get over it sooner or later. So I decided to move on sooner rather than later."
Jimmy looked at Laurie with his bloodshot eyes, "Did you love me?"
"Yes! Of course I did, Jimmy!"
"Well, if you really loved me, you wouldn't have moved on so fast.." Jimmy's voice began trailing off.
"I loved you with all my heart. But when you broke it off, it made me think if it was either real love, or that middle school love where you just say it because the other person said it to you," Laurie said. Her eyes drifted around, looking at the graffiti-stained walls. The walls were full of every high school boy's feelings for a girl. It was almost exactly like the walls in the lady's room.
"So, our love was 'middle school love.' Is that what you're saying?"
Laurie sighed, "I don't know, Jimmy." She put her head in her hands, not sure what she should be feeling at the moment. "I don't know," she repeated again.
"Well," Jimmy began, "you better get going. You're boyfriend is probally wondering where you are."
"Don't be like this Jimmy! I should be the one depressed, not you! I'm not the one who broke up with the goddamn love of my life."
"I'm the love of your life?"
"Were. Now, I don't know what to think of you. I was hoping maybe we'll be friends, but who knows."
Laurie got up and walked to the door. She turned around and looked at Jimmy, "But, Jimmy, please don't hurt yourself. You'll regret it later. Please don't do it anymore."
He nodded, "Okay."
"Promise?"
"I do." Laurie smiled and walked out. Even though she wasn't with Jimmy anymore, she still did care about him. She didn't want him hurting himself over a high school relationship.
She was pissed, though, at him. He made it seem like it was her fault they broke up. She knew it wasn't. Jimmy was just a jealous person. He got too jealous and broke up with his girlfriend. Now, he regrets it and wishes he could have her back.
Laurie pushed the cafeteria doors open and looked around for blue hair. She smiled when she saw the blue hair. She noticed another hair color next to the blue. It was brown with chunky purple streaks in it. Laurie walked closer to him and realized it was Eggplant. He was like, the punk leader in the school. Laurie didn't know his real name, just his nickname. He got the name "Eggplant" from the large purple highlights in his head. Everyone associated purple with eggplants. It was odd, but the nickname "Eggplant" stuck with him forever.
"Laurie!" Billie Joe exclaimed when he saw her. He walked over and hugged her. Laurie embraced in the hug as well. She noticed Eggplant's smirk as he watched them hug.
"Hey," Eggplant said to Laurie.
"Hey," was all she could say. Eggplant was your typical punk, with an unusual name. He was dressed in a black Ramones shirt on his torso, tight black pants covering his lanky legs. A chain hung from the studded belt on his hips. Dark circles of black eyeliner clung to his eyelids. Laurie could tell why he was the punk's "leader" as I guess you would call it.
"So Billie Boy," Eggplant began, "this your girlfriend?"
Billie Joe wrapped his arms around Laurie's waist. He looked at Eggplant and smiled, "Yup, she is."
Eggplant nodded, "Cool. Well, I gotta get going. Don't forget my offer Billie Boy. See ya, Laurie."
"Okay, Eggplant, see ya," Billie Joe said.
"Bye," Laurie added in.
She turned and locked her hazel eyes with Billie Joe's green ones, "What offer?"
"Oh, nothing important. Eggplant has some band and heard I was in one. He said I could be their guitarist if I wanted, but I told them I was with a band already."
"Oh."
"What took so long?" He asked.
"My locker was stuck," she lied. She decided not to tell Billie Joe about Jimmy. She didn't want to start any drama, or depression.
"Ahh. So, any ideas for this weekend?"
"Well," Laurie began, "we could either go out, or you could stay the weekend."
"How about both?" Billie Joe asked, hope in his voice.
"We could..."
"Okay, I pick both," he said, sounding proud of himself.
"Alright, both it is."
"I love you," Billie Joe said.
"What?" Laurie asked, taken back a bit by him comment.
"I said 'I love you'," he repeated
"Oh, I love you too," she said monotone. Laurie didn't know what else to say. Was it really love, or was she just going along with it? She had so many confused thoughts in her head, she didn't know how to sort them all out.
"Laurie, you okay?"
"Yeah," she sighed. "I'm fine."
