L8r, G8r (32 page)

mad maddie:

prepare thyself: my UCSC accep. has been mailed!

zoegirl:

omg! way to go!!!!

mad maddie:

gonna tell ian tonite. might as well get it out in the open.

zoegirl:

he'll be thrilled for you, mads. are you going to tell angela too?

mad maddie:

um, i'm thinking no, not at the prom. but i'll def tell her tomorrow

mad maddie:

hold on, incoming call

mad maddie:

crap!

zoegirl:

?

mad maddie:

we can't go to macee's pre-prom—just heard from vincent that jana & logan are gonna be there.

zoegirl:

together?

mad maddie:

uh, yeah! will doug care if we go to jocelyn's instead?

zoegirl:

ugh. jocelyn lives sooooo far out. will our limo take us that far?

mad maddie:

if we pay them, they will. aargh, guess i better call
angela. she's not gonna be happy, but better for her to find out now than l8r!

SnowAngel:

zoe, why aren't you here?! we're supposed to be getting ready for PROM!!!

zoegirl:

i thought we were meeting at 3

SnowAngel:

change of plans—i need you now. (like Lady Antebellum! ha!)

SnowAngel:

but seriously. if i'm gonna have to face jana and logan, i need to be smokin' hot.

zoegirl:

you're already smokin' hot

SnowAngel:

AND i need a drink. i really really need a drink to calm my nerves. should i raid aunt sadie's liquor cabinet?

zoegirl:

NO! not a good plan!

SnowAngel:

no time for arguing. just get your booty over here!!!

404-555-1787:

hahaha! aren't i clever? i'm txting you from Mr. Limo Driver's blackberry cuz he is soooo nice. thank u, Mr. Limo Driver!

mad maddie:

angela, i'm sitting right next to you. i can see that you're txting.

404-555-1787:

hiiiiii!

mad maddie:

oh good god. we took your phone for a reason! you kept threatening to call logan!!!

404-555-1787:

well, i'm over that idea, and stop whispering to zoe, and no i have NOT had too much peppermint schnapps. i'm offended you'd even

404-555-1787:

whoops, sorry! is ian's foot ok?

mad maddie:

foot's fine. will you stop with the damn txting? yr pissing off the limo driver.

404-555-1787:

no i'm not. he thinks i'm cute. because i *am* cute!

404-555-1787:

yr pissing ME off by not giving me logan's number. just hand me yr phone and i'll look it up myself.

404-555-1787:

isn't it weird how few telephone numbers we memorize anymore? i know yours, and zoe's … and my parents' cell numbers AND land line …

404-555-1787:

hey. mads.

mad maddie:

404-555-1787:

ian's looking verrrrrry yummy. and what's this BIG THING you need to tell him? i heard you say you've got some BIG THING to tell him. it better not be that yr pregnant with his child!

mad maddie:

good grief

404-555-1787:

i wonder what logan's wearing, tux or suit. prolly something stupid to match stupid jana. i'm NERVOUS to see them, maddie. why am i nervous?

mad maddie:

you have no reason to be. can we quit txting & talk like normal ppl, plz? plus it's weird to keep seeing this unknown number show up on my screen.

404-555-1787:

not unknown. it's …

404-555-1787:

hold on …

404-555-1787:

it's peter hoyt! i'm peter hoyt, hahahaha! You can enter me as a contact now and call me Mr. Hoyt instead of Mr. Limo Driver!!!

404-555-1787:

HEY! yr whispering again! you said something about jana, i heard you!

404-555-1787:

she's WHAT?

404-555-1787:

tell zoe to stop trying to grab peter's phone. stop it, zoe, you are being very disrespectful of peter hoyt's possessions.

404-555-1787:

oh look! u think u got me, but i can still type with oboe hand!

mad maddie:

oboe hand? that so?

mad maddie:

yr done, babe. cutting you off. say yr good-byes!

mad maddie:

zo, where r you? did you & doug have a fight?

zoegirl:

this is the worst prom ever!

mad maddie:

come back—I'LL dance with you!

zoegirl:

thanks but no thanks. i'll just stay here in the parking lot where i can't be too “needy.”

mad maddie:

don't be that way. just come back and we'll

mad maddie:

ah shit, g2g. angela trouble!

SnowAngel:

oh. my. god.

mad maddie:

you can say that again

SnowAngel:

i am MORTIFIED. was i as drunk last nite as i think i was?

mad maddie:

drunker. i'm surprised yr even conscious. how ya feeling?

SnowAngel:

like crap

SnowAngel:

my mouth is soooo dry, and i've got a killer headache. and i smell like barf. did i barf, mads?

mad maddie:

yes, all over logan. this was after your whole “no touching allowed” speech. do you remember?

SnowAngel:

i threw up on logan? *cringe*

SnowAngel:

i remember him coming up to me all hang-dog, and i very clearly remember jana storming up after him. she looked SPOOKY, didn't she? all glittery-hard, but with her words coming out slurry and wrong.

mad maddie:

cuz she'd had even more to drink than you, that's why. altho she's also had way more practice.

SnowAngel:

did something happen b/w me and her? i have this vague itchy thought that it did.

mad maddie:

you don't remember?

SnowAngel:

der, that's why i'm asking

mad maddie:

well, logan wants you back—do you remember that? he kept trying to apologize, and you kept
pushing him away and telling him he wasn't allowed to touch you anymore. and jana snorted and said, “that's for sure,” meaning the “no touching” rule was what drove logan away in the 1st place.

mad maddie:

and then she laughed, and that's when you threw up.

SnowAngel:

on logan?

mad maddie:

on logan.

SnowAngel:

christ

mad maddie:

no, not on christ. wld have been nice if you'd thrown up on jana, tho

SnowAngel:

*conks head on desk and wants to die*

SnowAngel:

why did SHE have to be there to c me do that? why???

mad maddie:

she wasn't especially supportive, i'll give you that. i believe her exact words, after she jerked back to avoid the splatter, were, “what a fucking loser.”

SnowAngel:

oh, how original

mad maddie:

yep, that's jana

SnowAngel:

it's still humiliating. it's BEYOND humiliating.

SnowAngel:

did you say anything back, when she said that?

mad maddie:

i was too busy cleaning you up

SnowAngel:

so you didn't stand up for me?

mad maddie:

i didn't UNstand up for u

mad maddie:

but what good would yelling at jana have done?

SnowAngel:

fine, whatever

mad maddie:

r you mad???

SnowAngel:

no, i'm not mad

SnowAngel:

i'm just depressed. and bitter. and pretty much disillusioned with life in general.

mad maddie:

cuz i didn't stoop to jana's level?

SnowAngel:

yes, cuz it makes me lose faith.

mad maddie:

in what? in ME?

SnowAngel:

in all of us

mad maddie:

angela, it was PROM. i needed to get you out of there before a chaperone noticed!

SnowAngel:

i'm not trying to argue, i'm just stating the hard cold facts. i spent my senior prom puking my guts out while jana stood there and sneered. once again she had the final laugh.

mad maddie:

sheesh, angela

SnowAngel:

*shrugs*

SnowAngel:

it's how i feel

mad maddie:

then i'll do something to get back at her. again. whatever you want me to do, i'll do it.

SnowAngel:

don't bother. if anyone was gonna do something, it would need to be zoe. but she won't … so there it is.

mad maddie:

why would it need to be zoe?

SnowAngel:

don't give me that. cuz i already have and you already have, but she hasn't. and that's why the power of 3 is no more.

mad maddie:

so tell her

SnowAngel:

what's the point? she'd go all doe-eyed and whimper-y, but she still wouldn't DO anything.

mad maddie:

yr being pretty melodramatic, even for you. you sure yr not just looking for a reason to be hopeless?

SnowAngel:

why wasn't she there when jana was calling me a fucking loser, huh? cuz she was with doug, that's why. doug's more important to her than we are!

mad maddie:

that's crap, angela. anywayz, she and doug had a fight.

SnowAngel:

they did?

mad maddie:

she was hiding in the parking lot for the whole last half of the nite. THAT'S why she wasn't there to see you puke your guts out.

SnowAngel:

what was the fight about?

mad maddie:

i dunno, he said something that made her feel bad. something about how she's too codependent.

SnowAngel:

well … it's true. she IS codependent. she cares *way* too much about what he

SnowAngel:

omg—another horrible memory is intruding. no, no, no!

mad maddie:

sweetie?

SnowAngel:

it has to do with you NOT being codependent, and something you said to ian in the limo. not on the way to the prom, but after, when we were going home.

mad maddie:

oh. that.

SnowAngel:

is it true??? did you really send in your acceptance to santa cruz???

mad maddie:

maybe this isn't the best time to be talking about this

SnowAngel:

noooooo! *puts hands over ears*

mad maddie:

see? i didn't wanna tell you, cuz i knew you'd take it badly.

SnowAngel:

but you told ian?

mad maddie:

well, yeah, but just cuz i couldn't NOT tell him, once i'd actually done it and sealed the envelope and put it in the mailbox. it would be too big a thing b/w us.

mad maddie:

and for the record, i thought you were too out of it to hear

SnowAngel:

why DID you do it and seal the envelope and put it in the mailbox? why?!!

mad maddie:

angela … you know it was the right thing for me to do. and so does ian, who was great about it, btw.

SnowAngel:

of course he was. he's perfect. but i'm not perfect—i just want my world back!

mad maddie:

it would be nice if you could be happy for me, you know.

SnowAngel:

i'm sorry, but i can't

mad maddie:

yr being impossible. you come down on zoe for being codependent, and you come down on me for NOT being codependent. does that seem fair to you?

SnowAngel:

logan cheated on me with jana, i made a fool of myself at prom, and in three months my 2 best friends r leaving me forever. does THAT seem fair to YOU?

mad maddie:

ok, like i said, maybe we should talk about this l8r.

SnowAngel:

whatever

SnowAngel:

oh look, zoe just posted a pic on instagram.

SnowAngel:

what IS it? oh. it's a high heel. her high heel from last night, but just one of them, all by itself looking lonely.

SnowAngel:

SHE understands sadness, so maybe i should stop being “impossible” with you and be “impossible” with her instead

mad maddie:

maybe you shld

SnowAngel:

fine, i will. misery loves company!!!