Pink is my new favorite color|| Cynthia Zdunowski

12

I found her sitting up against the back door, head down with her knees pulled up to her chest. I didn't really know what to do, I don't think anything could have made that better, so I just sat next to her and put my head on her shoulder. "Gil's right. Why can't I just act like a normal girl?" That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I sat up and looked at her, "Gil is not right. Gil has never been right about anything in his entire life." She won't look at me, instead, she just stares at the carpet in front of her so I continue, "Do you remember when we were 8 and some guy tripped me, making me fall in the mud and ruining my favorite dress?" Cynthia finally looked at me and laughed, "Yeah and I kicked his ass." "You tried, I wouldn't say you succeeded." "He was two years older than us I had no chance! Why'd you bring that up?" " Because I thought I'd make you laugh. And you at least tried to avenge me. And you'd do it over and over for the next 5 years. So screw Gil and what he said, you're Cynthia, and you're pretty perfect just the way you are."

"Hey," I heard a voice and looked up to see Jane, Nancy, and Olivia. Cynthia and I jumped up and Cynthia asked if Jane went through with exposing Buddy. "I couldn't." Jane replied "Why not? He just has to go down." Cynthia asked. Jane replied "Well, that's just it. It wouldn't be him who goes down. It'd be Susan. He cheats on a test, he's cool. He smokes reefer, he's cool. He goes all the way with Susan, he's cool." "And she's a slսt." I realized. "Just like people said about us," Olivia said, making eye contact with me and Jane. "I don't understand girls!" Cynthia suddenly burst out making us all look at her. "What? If Buddy did to me what he did to you, he'd be home crying to his mommy right now with a fat lip." "Cynthia-" I started before getting cut off by Olivia saying, "I should probably get home before my mom finds out I snuck out." "But it's barely 11." Nancy protests. I go to stand by Nancy to tell her we could go hang out somewhere but Cynthia grabs my hand and pulls me in the opposite direction, "Yeah, let's make like a tree and leave. I don't want to see Gil's rat face either."

Everyone stopped in their tracks when Nancy let out a dramatic groan, "You know, I was excited about coming to this party tonight because I thought we would all have fun, but instead, all any of you have done all night is obsess over stupid boys." "Don't look at me," Cynthia said. I let go of her hand and went to stand by Nancy saying, "You are not better than any of us Cyn, You spent the whole night obsessed with impressing the T-Birds... boys." "Yeah, because none of you laugh at any of my jokes, and I'm hilarious. But I guess I'm too girl to be one of the boys and too boy to be one of the girls. I give up. I'm out of here." She started to storm off when I grabbed her hand making her turn back around, "Hey, you do not need the T-birds, and you do not need the approval of anyone else. And I promise I will start laughing at all your jokes, even the unfunny ones if it means you'll stay here with me." She looked at me for a second before sighing and turning back to the group.

"Are you kidding? I've kissed every boy at this party." Nancy said catching all our attention, followed by a chorus of "Huh? What?" From Jane, Olivia, and Cynthia. "Back in junior high, we had these parties all the time. Edith Ellen and I went to dozens. That's where I met Ella and all those Soc guys were there. Kissing is fine. It's a lark. But the best part was creating a brutal rating system with your friends afterward." "Ah, yes, I remember it fondly," I said going over to sit with Nancy. "So... you kissed Buddy?" Jane asked "Like 15 times. Solid B minus. Just being honest. Now everyone takes boys so seriously. Just imagine how fun this party would be if we could go backwards, and do it all without boys." We sat in silence, thinking about what Nancy had said. I thought about sitting on Cynthia's porch talking about anything and everything, about petting Dot's bunnies and rating all the candy her dad came out with last month, about designing dresses with Nancy and discussing books with Olivia-

"Yeah. Sounds nice" Olivia said, bringing me back down to earth. Cynthia, standing by the glass door to the living room and getting our attention, said "Hey. Come look at this." We all stood by her and watched Neil and two of his friends pouring some sort of alcohol into Dot's punch bowl. "This is really low, even for those bottom feeders." Said Nancy. "Boys will be boys," Olivia added sarcastically. "Maybe we can't prove that Buddy's not a good guy, but we can do something about these jerks right now," Jane said, and soon enough our plan was created: