27: The Cool Party

                                    

                                          
"This, the transcontinental railroad spelled the end of the Pony Express. Mail service was faster, more reliable." Mr. Feeny took the note that Cory tried to pass to Shawn.
"Letters no longer had to be passed from hand to hand." Mr. Feeny took the other notes from kids. "These just in." Mr. Feeny opened one.
"Miss Wilder wants to know what Miss Harrington thinks she should wear to her party." He said. "Miss Harrington wants to know what makes Miss Wilder think she's even invited."
"I'm not invited?" Wilder asked.
"We'll just see, okay?" Melissa replied.
"Mr. Matthews wants to know is this going to be a... make-up party." Mr. Feeny read. "Sure, Cory." Melissa said. "You can borrow my lip gloss."
"Out! Not up. A makeout party." Cory corrected. "Ah, so it is. Mr. Matthews wants to know if this is going to be a make-out party." Shawn chuckled.
"Not for him." He said. The bell rang, and we left. As we walked to our lockers, Cory spoke. "I blew it, guys. There's no way Melissa's going to invite me to her party now."
"So Feeny cuts you off at the knees. People will forget. You'll get invited to the next party." Shawn said as he sat on the bench. "You think?" "Yeah, this is high school. Too much going on to remember anything." Harley Kiner and his two goons showed up.
"Don't think I forgot about you, Baboon. Think I forgot about last Tuesday you sat in my chair in the cafeteria?" "I-I'm sorry, Harley. I didn't know it was your chair." Cory replied.
"Hey, everybody knows that's Harley's chair. Everybody knows it's always been, and it's always gonna be Harley's chair every year that he's a senior. Ain't that right, Frankie?" Joey asked.
"What are you saying, I like my sister?" Frankie replied. "No! No! I'm not saying that. I'm just saying you have a very... close family." Frankie walked away. "Hey, where are you doing?" "I wanna call home." Frankie replied.
"Is he gonna be okay?" I asked. "He's got a few issues." Harley said. "I, on the other hand, have one issue, and that's you, Baboon. I don't like you."
Harley grabbed Cory's face. "I look at your face, and I wanna hit it. Is that so wrong?" Harley asked. "No, I get it. I've had my moments in thought." I replied.
Two nerds came down the hall talking about chess. "Pardon me. It's my eleven o'clock." Harley said before walking away. "You know, I almost wish he did kill me this time." Cory said. "How come?" Shawn asked.
"That way, I wouldn't be humiliated when I'm not invited to the party." "You're sounding just a little bit whiny." Shawn said. "Shawn, Adriana-Camila, this is the first party of our high school lives. I mean, it'll divide our class into two groups– those who were invited, the cool guys and those who weren't, the geeks."
"You're losing it, Cor." I said, walking to my locker. "I'm losing my whole future! I mean, no one will talk to me ever again. I might as well grow a hump, find a tower, and ring the bell." Cory said as I opened my locker and grabbed my books.
"Don't worry, man." Shawn said. "There's always room on our couch for you." "I thought your uncle Frank was on the couch. No. Not anymore. He won the lottery and stopped talking to us." "Really, what did he win?" "Six bucks." Shawn answered.
"Don't look now, but the Pony Express just pulled into town." Shawn said. "Oh, no! She's handing out the invitations." We watched as she made her way to Cory. By surprise, she handed him an invite.
"Guys, there's been a miracle!" Cory said. "Yeah, whatever, come on, we're gonna be late for class." Shawn said as we made our way to the room.
"Class? We don't need no stinking class! Our futures are set! We are high school Gods! And Goddess." He said. "Thank you." I replied.
"Come. Let us repair to the gym and rejoice in our invitation." "Cory, if you hadn't noticed. Shawn and I didn’t get one." I said.
"What?" "We didn't get an invite. Who cares?" "There's gotta be a mistake. You're the coolest kids in class you gotta be invited." "Well, looks like we're not." Shawn said.
"I'm gonna find out what happened." "Let it go, okay? Just let it go." "Want me to ask her?" "Yeah, would you?" Cory walked over to Melissa.
"Don't worry, Shawn. One day we'll throw our own party. Whether it's just the three of us or the whole high school." I said as we sat on the bench. "Thanks, Adriana-Camila." "Anytime."
"So what's the story?" Shawn asked as Cory walked back over. "Alright, look. From what I gather in the last three seconds, everything in the world has changed." "What do you mean?" "I'm not sure." Cory said.
"I mean, you two are much cooler than I am. At least I thought you were." "Trust me, we are." Shawn said. "Then how come I got invited and you two didn't?" "So we really didn't get invited." I said.
"Unless it's a big surprise party for you." "I guess it's just one of those high school mysteries, like how janitor Bud lost his eye." Shawn said. "Well, what are we gonna do?" Cory asked.
"You're gonna go to the party." I said. "I'm not going to a party that you're not invited to." "Oh, don't sweat it, Cory. We'll go grab some burgers at Chubbies." Wait a minute. We? "No, you won't." "And why won't we?" There Shawn goes again with that word.
"Because I'm cool now, which means I run with a very influential crowd, which means all I do is pick up this telephone, pull a few strings, and get you two invited to the party." Cory pushed some numbers in. "Who are you gonna call?" I asked. "Normally, I'd call one of you." He said.
♥
Shawn and I were sitting in a booth with a bunch of other kids talking. I wonder how Cory's party is going right now?
"Hey! Hey! Everybody!" It was Mr. Turner. I still find it weird to see teachers outside of school. "Hand in your homework right now!" What? "Shawn! Adriana-Camila! Your friend's here." He said. "Just kidding about the homework. Goodnight, everybody."
Shawn and I climbed out of the booth. "Don't worry about me, guys. I was just leaving." Cory said. "Why? I got an order of chili cheese fries. Extra gravy." Shawn replied. "No, you're too busy with those other guys." "What other guys?" I asked.
"The other thousand guys at your table." Cory replied. "So they'll make room." I said. "Adriana-Camila, they're gonna see you talking to me." "You've been acting really weird ever since you got invited to that party. Do you not want to hang out with us anymore?" I asked.
"I'm a geek!" He exclaimed. Everyone turned and looked at him. "Oh, like you didn't know." "Cory, what are you talking about?" Shawn asked, pulling Cory to an open table.
"I'm the worst kind of geek. I'm a geek who didn't know he was a geek." "Cory?" "Yeah?" "Do we hang out with geeks?" "No, that's why I'm leaving." "Come on. You're our best friend." I said, grabbing his arm. "You just have to loosen up." Cory sat back down.
"You don't think I'm a geek?" "Of course not." "You think I'm cool?" "I think you're... decent." I replied. "Then what am I?" Cory asked. "You're Cory. I'm Adriana-Camila. He's Shawn, like it's always been. What else do you need to know?" I said.
"I need to know how to be cool, like you." "We're not cool." "Yes, you are! Adriana-Camila, look around you. I mean, this is the cool party. You two are the center of the cool party." Cory said.
"This is the cool party?" Shawn asked. "Yes!" "Let's bail." "What?" "This place is a zoo. Let's bail." Shawn repeated. "Oh, I got it. You're teaching me how to be cool." Cory said as we got up from the table.
"Huh?" "You're trying to show me that it doesn't matter where you go, because if you're truly cool wherever you go is a cool place to be, right?" "Cory?" "Yeah?" "Shut up." Shawn said as we left Chubbies.