Retro Geeks. Karen Mueller Bryson
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Belinda, who was like an auntie to the girls, rushed over to them. “Son of a monkey!” she exclaimed when she saw the pair. “What happened to you girls?”
“We had a run-in with some milk shakes,” Molly replied.
Belinda’s eyes narrowed.
“We're fine,” Molly continued.
Belinda handed each of them a Katrina and the Waves beach towel. “Let's get you out of those outfits. I'll show you what I got in today.”
She held up a super-sized, “Frankie Say Relax Don't Do It” t-shirt.
“Cool,” Molly said and smiled.
Belinda passed the shirt to Molly then held up a similar t-shirt that said, "Frankie Say War! Hide Yourself!"
“Totally awesome,” Ally said and Belinda handed her the second shirt.
Belinda started to plow through another pile of clothes. “We used to wear those t-shirts with leggings,” she said and handed them each a pair of black leggings.
Then she selected a CD from a huge bin of 80s classics and passed it to Molly. “Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It's on the house.”
Molly began to read from the CD cover. “Welcome to the Pleasuredome.”
“Some of their music was banned back in the old days, for supposedly being obscene, even though they were topping the charts,” Belinda explained.
Molly and Ally gave each other a sly glance.
“Don’t get any ideas,” Belinda continued. “Their lyrics are tame by today’s standards.”
“Thanks,” Molly said.
Belinda grinned. “Anything for my two best customers.”
“Aren't we your only customers?” Molly countered.
“It's the quality not the quantity that counts.”
CHAPTER TWO: DANCING WITH MYSELF
When Ally got to the school bus stop on Monday morning, she saw Molly was wearing her new Frankie Goes to Hollywood concert attire, just like she was. “Nice outfit,” she remarked.
“I know, right,” Molly replied and gave her a wide-tooth grin.
Waiting for the school bus had become the bane of their existence. Not only were they the only seniors at their high school still riding the bus, they believed they were most likely the only seniors on the entire planet without their own wheels.
Molly removed a piece of Juicy Fruit from her pocket, broke it in two and handed half to Ally. As the girls began to chew their gum, a beater filled with nerdy teen boys rolled up and the back window lowered to reveal Ally’s little brother.
“I'd offer you a ride but the car's full,” Ollie said and snickered.
“That heap doesn't even look like it will make it down the block,” Ally said in an effort to hide her jealousy.
Ollie was too good for her though. He could see right through her snarky façade. “Tease me if you must,” he said. “But I'm not the senior waiting for the school bus.”
Ollie rolled his window back up as the junker pulled away.
Molly shook her head in disbelief. “How did your brother score a ride to school? He's only a freshman.”
“I think we're the only ones who haven't scored a ride to school,” Ally complained.
Molly and Ally peered down the road. There was not another person in sight for miles.
“This sucks,” Molly said.
“Truly,” Ally replied.
Then Molly and Ally simultaneously blew bubbles, which popped in their faces. When Ally glanced at Molly, she noticed Molly had gum stuck to the tip of her nose, which of course, Ally mentioned. Molly told Ally she had gum stuck in her hair. As usual, the day was off to an incredibly lousy start for the duo. As the two of them picked gum residue from their faces and hair, the school bus raced past them leaving the girls in a cloud of dust. The incident was another confirmation of the girls’ belief that they truly were invisible to the rest of humanity.
“Now what?” Ally said to Molly.
“You know the drill,” she replied.
Twenty minutes later, Molly and Ally found themselves in the back seat of Molly’s mom’s Volvo, which was parked in front of the high school. As Ally was about to exit, Molly grabbed her elbow. “If anyone sees us getting out of the Mom-mobile, it will be complete social suicide,” she warned. Getting a ride from the ‘rents was so junior high school.
“We can't stay here forever,” Ally responded. “I don't want to be late for homeroom.”
Molly peered out the passenger window then ducked to avoid being spotted. “I just know someone will see us getting out of my mom's car. I can feel it.”
“How can anything possibly make us less popular than we already are?” Ally said. She had a point.
Molly took a deep breath then opened the car door. As the girls tried to sneak from the Mom-mobile, Ollie and two of his dweeby friends caught them in the act.
“I was wondering how the uber-geeks were going to get to school,” Ollie said as his dweeby friends chuckled and snorted.
Ally glared at her brother. “At least I didn't have to resort to getting a ride with the geek-squad.”
Molly laughed at her BFF’s lame attempt at humor but the joke was good enough to make Ollie squirm a bit.
“You'd better hurry inside before Elisa, and her posse, sees you,” Ollie said. “You'll be dead women walking.”
CHAPTER THREE: EVERBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD
Elisa Coster was the school’s Queen of Mean. Every girl wanted to be her and every guy wanted to date her. She always strode down the hallway like she owned the school, surrounded by an entourage of top-tier teens. Elisa’s bestie, Megan Monroe, was always by her side.
As Elisa and her posse made their way to homeroom, an androgynous troll-like girl, Kimmie Kendall, trotted up to Elisa holding a stack of flyers. Kimmie gave Elisa a huge grin.
“I've been handing out flyers all morning,” Kimmie said. “Just like you asked.”
Elisa took a deep breath, glanced at her watch then addressed Kimmie. “And your point is?”
Kimmie pushed on. “You said I could sit with you at lunch one day if I handed out Caribbean Pirates prom theme flyers to every student in the school.”
“Oh, yeah, right.” Elisa gave Megan a sly hell-will-freeze-over-before-she'll-sit-with-us smile.
“Only 258 flyers to go!” Kimmie stated enthusiastically.
“You go, girlfriend,” Elisa said with mock enthusiasm then rolled her eyes for Megan's benefit.
“Maybe I'll be able to sit at your table this week.”
“Maybe.”
Megan whispered to Elisa, “And maybe she'll wake up and be something other than hideous.”
Elisa did her best to hold back laughter but Kimmie was oblivious. Her desire to fit in overshadowed every bit of common sense she possessed.
Kimmie embraced her flyers. “I'd better get back to work,” she chirped then darted away.
“What a loser,” Megan said when Kimmie was out of earshot.
“I know, right,” said Elisa. “But at least we're getting the flyers passed out. We'll ignore her again next week.”
Just