Terry was drinking. A lot. Andrew seemed to have an endless supply of flasks hidden on his person and he and Terry guzzled them like they were trying to outdo each other, which Cerise supposed they were.
Playing blackjack was boring so Cerise went off to find the girls but they were all otherwise occupied. Sarah was forcing Karl to dance, Steph was having a seemingly intimate conversation with Nick and Mel was full-on making out with Gordon. Good for her. Cerise decided to check in on the guys but Vani was still on the dance floor, actually proving to be the life of the party. Jay was hanging around the casino tables mooning over Karine. Not that Cerise wanted to hang out with him anyway, stupid jerk. That left Willy. He’d lost all his allocated chips on roulette and now sulked at their dinner table.
“Hey,” she said, joining him.
“Hey!” he perked up.
They sat in silence while he stared at her. It was rather awkward.
“Pretty lame, eh?” he said suddenly.
“What?”
“The whole casino thing.”
“It’s ok I guess.”
“Sooo… do you wanna like… you know… like… dance?”
Oh god. She really, really didn’t. But what could she do? He seemed so hopeful. She reluctantly agreed and they went to the dance floor. She tried to steer them towards Vani, so they could dance as a group but when a slow song came on she had no choice but to put her hands on his shoulders. He held her waist tightly and his face was so close to hers she could smell his rank breath. Trickles of sweat poured down his temples and down his neck, pooling in his collar. God, it was so gross. She felt bad for being so disgusted by him but really, eww.
“Wanna dance?” Erica asked Andrew.
“Later,” he replied absentmindedly.
Karine smirked at Erica, pleased to finally be one-upping her tonight. Karine had no actual interest in Andrew but it seemed that Erica did so Karine was determined to spoil it for her. She also flirted outrageously with Terry, just to rub it in Erica’s face, knowing Terry wouldn’t even look at that bitch.
Erica was clearly fuming and looked around for something to bitch about. “Oh eww. Hope Cherry doesn’t catch something from fat bastard, might wanna check up on that.”
They all looked across the room to the dance floor where Jay’s fat friend was sweating all over Cherry. She was bending backwards slightly, obviously trying not to be too close to him. Hilarious.
Terry jumped up and stumbled slightly. He was really drunk tonight. The only time Karine had ever seen him this bad is when he’d shown up at her house after Cherry dumped him. Usually he held his liquor well but Andrew must have given him tequila or something, which was his Achilles heel. What an asshole move on Andrew’s part.
Terry went over to Cherry and cut in on her dance. She was obviously happy to get away from fat boy. They danced for the rest of the song and then he dragged her back to the blackjack table.
Jay felt like a complete tool. Karine was totally ignoring him. He’d thought she liked him, why else would she ask him to prom? And yet she’d snubbed him entirely and was hanging all over that jackass Andrew Lester. What the fucking hell? Why had Jay even bothered coming to this stupid grad ball? What was the point of going to prom with Karine Cavalière if she wasn’t even going to interact with him?
Angered, he steeled his courage and went up to her. “Um, hey Karine,”
“Hey,” she sighed, barely hiding her contempt.
He took a deep breath. “So um… wanna like… dance… or something?”
Andrew looked at Jay like he was diseased and Erica looked at him like he was a circus side-show. Karine just sighed and dismissively suggested they dance later.
Jay could take a hint. It was obviously some big set-up. Karine had only asked him out because she wanted to torture him. She wanted all her asshole friends to laugh at him; it was all a big practical joke. Why? Why was she being so mean? What did he ever do to her that was so awful?
He should have come to prom with Cerise like he’d originally intended. They would have had a really good time. Sure, she wasn’t girlfriend material but she was cool and they would have had a blast goofing around with the guys but now she wasn’t even speaking to him. When she’d gotten all cold with him after he announced he was going to prom with Karine he’d first thought she was freaked about exams or moody because she was having issues with Terry Trebitotalassholewhoruinseverythingsky. But maybe she was pissed because he’d passed her over for Karine. Maybe she thought them going to prom was more than a friend thing.
He scanned the crowd for her and saw her dancing with Mr. Wonderful. She was obviously totally far gone on that asshole. So ok, she clearly didn’t like, like Jay so maybe she was just pissed because she hated Karine so much so him going with Karine irritated her. Whatever. Girls were impossible to understand.
Shauna put her docs back on lazily, not bothering to tie them. She flopped around through Beaconsfield
“Can I see some ID?” he asked, clearly amused by the sight of a purple prom reject.
Shauna stared at the guy without responding. If she were Cerise she’d be clever enough to come up with something that would let her get away with the beer, but she was Shauna and therefore retarded.
“You expect me to believe you’re eighteen when you’re wearing a prom dress?” the cashier smirked.
“I was held back a year. I’m really stupid,” she shrugged.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Well I’m obviously retarded ‘cause what kind of normal person would wear this dress?”
“Good point,” he laughed.
He rung up the purchases and Shauna pulled some cash out of her little pink purse. The vendor placed her beer and chips in a plastic bag and handed them to her with a flourish of his wrist and an amused grin on his face. Shauna walked outside and went back to the playground. She cracked open her first beer and spilled it on herself. Typical. Her mother would smell the beer on her dress and she’d get in trouble. Oh well, such is life.
“Terry, this is boring,” said Cerise.
“Huh?”
“I’m not into gambling. I’m bored.”
“Well, you wanna dance?”
“Yeah!”
“Ok, just let me play a little while longer, and then we’ll dance,” he slurred.
Cerise sighed and agreed. Her feet were starting to hurt. Her heels were only two and a half inches high but hell, that was higher than her usual sneakers. If they weren’t going to dance then she wanted to sit down. Besides, hanging around here sucked. Karine and Erica were obviously caught up in some competition to see who could flirt most disgustingly with Andrew and Terry. At least Terry wasn’t biting, though Andrew was drooling over Karine like he was a lion and she was a gazelle. Why did Terry even hang out with these people?
“I’m gonna go to our table, ok? To rest my feet.”
Terry nodded and smiled at her. She left the casino room. Oh god. Jay was sitting alone at the dinner tables. They’d hung out as usual at school since he dumped her and she’d been polite but not friendly and had stopped going to his house to game. She hadn’t seen him since classes ended. It was sort of lonely.
He wasn’t really a bad person, just profoundly ignorant. He probably had no idea how much he’d hurt her. And seeing him now, so crushed by Karine’s rejection left Cerise feeling less schadenfreude than she would have imagined. She felt bad for him, sitting all alone with his head in his hand, obviously depressed. It served him right but still, sucked for him.
“Hey,” she said, sitting next to him.
He smiled at her. “Hey.”
“I like your haircut.”
“Thanks.”
“I kinda miss the mop though,” she patted his head and he swatted her hand away, laughing. “Not having much fun, eh?” she remarked.
“Look at her. She’s all over Andrew Lester. How gross is that?”
“I know. It’s messed.”
“I hate Andrew Lester!”
“I know, we all do,” she nodded.
“I’m such an idiot. You know, I thought she might actually like me. I’m so retarded.”
“Yeah, you are,” she smirked.
He looked at her, seemingly annoyed but then he laughed. “Screw you!”
“Do you wanna dance or something?”
“No,” he sulked exaggeratedly, pouting like a petulant child.
She laughed and grabbed his hands, moving them around and lowering her voice. “Of course I wanna dance, I love to dance! Why I’m just a dancing machine! I auditioned four times for So You Think You Can Dance Canada
Jay laughed heartily and allowed Cerise to keep miming his hands, matching his facial expressions to her words.
Oh hell no! Terry fumed as he watched Cerise hang out with that stupid Jason Harris hair guy who maybe got a haircut but was still stupid. She was all playing with his hands and touching his head and they were practically dry humping right in front of everyone! What the hell was Cerise’s deal with that piece of shit dork?! Why did she hang out with him? He was such a fucking spastic loser! No fucking way was that stupid hair guy gonna move in on Terry’s fucking girlfriend!
He abandoned his casino chips and stomped over to the table where Cerise was still manipulating that stupid hair guy’s hands.
“Why I just love this grad. It’s so much fun! I just want to kick up my heels and dance the night away! Cerise, will you dance with me?” Cerise put down stupid hair guy’s hands and acted surprise. “Why Jay! This is so unexpected! Why yes, I’d love to dance with you!”
Stupid hair guy laughed as Cerise stood up and tried to drag him up from his seat.
“What’s going on?” Terry asked angrily, looming over Cerise and Jay.
“What do you mean?” said Cerise in irritation.
“What are you guys doing?”
“We’re gonna dance.”
“Take a hike, Harris,” Terry sneered and Jay skulked off like he’d been reprimanded by a teacher.
“What the hell was that?” demanded Cerise.
“I wanna dance with you! You’re my date aren’t you? You’re my girlfriend, aren’t you?”
She wanted to slap him. His tone was completely unacceptable. Why the hell was he so angry anyway? “Yes, I’m your girlfriend. But that doesn’t give you the right to be mean to my friends.”
He ignored her rebuke and took her head in his hands, kissing her forcefully. He absolutely reeked of alcohol, not that she’d needed to smell it to know he was drunk.
“Get the hell off of me!” she hissed, pushing him away. “Christ, Terry, people are watching!”
Most of the grads were occupied with their own dates but a few kids were looking their way, watching the scene with a mix of shock and amusement.
“So? Don’t you want them to know you’re with me?” asked Terry, his tone softer but still angry.
“What are you talking about?”
“Listen, are you my girlfriend or not?”
“Yes, yes I’m your girlfriend,” she said, trying to be patient.
“Then act like it.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means you can’t flirt with that stupid hair guy like you like him more than me!”
Cerise was silenced for a moment but then thought of a retort. “Oh yeah, then it also means you can’t flirt with Karine!”
“I wasn’t flirting with Karine!” he said like it was the most ridiculous concept in the world. “And you know what else, Cerise? If you’re gonna be my girlfriend then you can’t keep breaking up with me all the time and then expect me to take you back like nothing happened.”
She wanted to cry. He was right. But he was also being a jerk. “I only broke up with you once! The other times we weren’t even going out. And I apologized for what I did! You said you forgave me!”
“Yeah, I do ok but like fuck, Cerise! It’s scary being with you! You always spaz out on me! And it’s freaking me out!” His voice was a mix of sadness and lingering anger.
He had a point but Cerise couldn’t let him get away with this public display of assholation. “Now who’s spazzing out? You’re freaking me out, Terry!”
He blinked, trying to process her words, then grabbed her elbow. “You’re my girlfriend,” he slurred. “You’re mine!”
She pulled away from him. “Let go! God, you are such an angry drunk!”
“And you’re a judgemental sober. So why don’t you just go storm off again? It’s what you always do anyway.”
He turned on his heel and walked off. Cerise stood there for a second, stunned. Terry had never, ever been this cruel to her before, or this possessive or jealous or gross and scary. This was the Terry Trebichavsky the guys had warned her about. She looked around and realized even more people were staring at her. She tried to stay composed as she walked away. At first she wandered aimlessly but then resolved to simply leave. Screw prom. Prom sucked.
Terry went to the punch bowl and poured himself a glass. He guzzled it and slammed it down on the table. Karine put her hand on his arm and he spun around to face her. He seemed disappointed when he saw her face.
“You ok?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said, obviously lying.
“You wanna dance or something?” She could still try to make this work. Karine had witnessed his fight with Cerise; maybe now they were broken up for good.
“No.”
“You sure? We could go somewhere and talk.”
“Do you see her?” he asked, looking around.
“Who?” Like she didn’t know.
“Cerise! Where is she?”
“She just left.”
“She always leaves!” He whined. “I don’t get her! I don’t know what to do.”
“Why do you have to do anything?”
“Shit, I think I really fucked things up. I acted like a complete ass!”
“I think your biggest mistake was ever hooking-up with her in the first place,” she snarked, tired of his constant Cherry gazing.
“Fuck, Karine!” he snapped, yelling way too loudly. “You’re like a broken record! What is with you? Why can’t you just be a friend?”
Karine stood there, stunned and embarrassed by his outburst. Well hell, this was seriously the worst prom ever!
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