Remember

Chapter 12

"The Titan's are here ya'll, and we ain't going nowhere!" yells Petey, spinning around the game ball. 

"Why you gotta be loud all the time, brother? Virginia can hear you, baby" Blue tells him. 

I roll my eyes and keep walking with them, down the sidewalk. "I don't think they heard you fumble, man."

"Okay, who won the game?" Petey says, turning to look at me. Gerry, Alan, me, and Julius are walking behind Blue, Petey, Rev, Louis, and Sunshine. 

Alan sighs. 

"Hey, look, don't worry about it." I say, putting my arm around him. 

"Hey, they just like to show off." says Gerry, doing the same. 

"Wait wait wait." says Julius.  "What do you mean, they?" 

"They, them, over there." says Gerry, pointing to the group ahead of us. 

Julius shakes his head. "No, you talkin' about Petey and-"

A car horn interrupts him. 

"Gerry!" Emma calls. 

"Hey Caroline!" Ray yells. 

I sigh and walk over. "Yeah?"

"We're going over the hill, and I thought maybe you'd like to come with me." Ray says, offering me the shotgun seat. 

"Well, I'm hanging out here tonight." I say, gesturing to the other guys. 

"Come with us." Insists Emma. "Look. Standin' up for what you believe in is all good and all, but I think you've got your priorities real mixed up." 

"Are you coming or not man?" asks Ray angrily. 

"Come on Carrie." says Gerry, taking my arm and slowly walking me back to the sidewalk. 

"Alan?" offers Ray. 

Alan glances at me, then at the car, then back at me. "Nah man, I'm staying here tonight."

They drive away, and Emma watches us until the car turns around the corner. 

"Hey, thanks guys." Julius says. 

"Did Ray just ask you out?" Gerry asks me. 

"Did you just reject him?" asks Alan. 

"Yes." I say, replying to both questions. 

"Why?" they ask. 

"He's rude." I reply. "He's mean to Julius and everybody. My friends." 

Gerry nods in understanding. 

A few girls walk by, and giggle in Alan's direction. 

I quietly walk behind them for a few feet, giggling mockingly, making Gerry, Julius, and Alan, laugh. 

Ahead of us, Sunshine, Petey, and Blue walk out of a diner. 

"Yo, what'd I tell you man?" Petey yells at sunshine. 

"I didn't know man." says Sunshine. 

"I told you! What you mean you didn't know?" Petey yells. "What, you think I was playing with you?"

"Man, he didn't know!" Blue says. 

"Blue, he don't want to know!" says Petey. 

"Hey, what happened?" I ask gently. 

"Now, you pull some crap like that, you'd better be able to back it up." continues Petey, ignoring my question. 

"What happened?" asks Gerry. 

"Yo, let's go man." says Blue. Cool out. Cool out."

"Let's go Rev." says Petey. 

Rev hesitantly joins them, and Julius follows, asking what happened. 

We turn and walk the other way. Louis and Sunshine sigh and walk with us. 

"Hey, what happened?" Alan asks Sunshine. 

"Look, I didn't know the bars were that racist here." says Sunshine regretfully. 

"Let's go to Silver Skillet." offers Louis. ""I'm starving."

~

We walk into the restaurant, and sit at a booth. 

We order, and Elizabeth walks over. 

"Hey look." she says to her friend. "It's Alan and the guys"

I sigh and out my head in my hands. I don't want to put up with her right now. 

"Hey!" says Alan, getting up. "Look, it's the barbie dolls!" he says, pointing at Elizabeth and her group. 

"Why thank you!" she says. "Barbie is gorgeous." she winks at Alan. 

"Actually, Barbie is plastic. And they all look the same." says Louis loudly, not turning to talk to Elizabeth. 

She crosses her arms with a "humph" sound and sits back down in the booth. 

"Thanks guys." I say, twirling my straw around in my drink. 

"Hey, no one picks on the world's best little sister." says Gerry. "Except for me."

I give a small smile. "Okay."