3

  Susie

  I’m sure in Cody’s interpretation of events he’s been painting Christian as a more sympathetic character. He came to me for this project and the only reason I agreed was to show the truth of how messed up this guy was. When Cody gets to the part that I had the biggest problem with, he’ll try to softball it, try to say that it wasn’t that bad.

  It was that bad.

  That’s why the only reason I’m agreeing to help him make this little chronicle is that I get to voice my opinion, and my disdain for Christian, the so-called Hero of the Somewhere Else. I’ll let Cody lay out what Christian did when the time comes, but once you see what it was that he did, I know you will agree with me. He was a monster, what he did to that girl- damn it, there I go, getting ahead of myself. Cody stressed that if we tell this story we must lay everything out. He wants to defend Christian, something Christian doesn’t deserve. It’s pity, that’s why Cody was always so protective of him, just pity.

  So, anyway, we were going to the party. I knew Cody from pre-calc and at the time I happened to have just broken up with one of the football team’s left tackles, Steven if I’m remembering the name right, he became an insurance salesmen, I think. It doesn’t matter, we’re here to talk about Christian. He was a nice guy. I’ll give Cody that much. I don’t mean nice guy as in that ironic disdainful term “Nice Guy” I mean nice guy as in he wasn’t an asshole. But not being an asshole is a basic part of being of a functioning member of society. And even then, Christian was still barely that. He was awkward, he was fucked up from the beginning, I’m not surprised he was reduced to doing what he did. But we’re not talking about that yet. Cody was practically holding Christian’s hand through his first high school party, he talked him up, said he was a genius, even tried introducing him to a few girls, said that this guy was a genius, would probably be rich someday. Looking back the worst part of that line was that he was right. Technically we all became rich, but there I go getting way ahead of myself, getting ahead of the story. Cody wants us to start from the beginning, start when things were simple, so simple.

  “Susie, this is the guy,” Cody said, introducing me to him. Christian was so nervous. He was nervous around every girl save for one.

  “Nice to meet you,” Christian said, holding his hand out. Really? A handshake, what is that even? What is with these weird guys who think a first interaction with a girl should be a handshake? I took his hand, saw him blush a bit, I’m sure it wasn’t because of me specifically, it was just any girl taking his hand that made him do it.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “This guy is a genius,” Cody said, “Got me a ninety-four, and he’s been tutoring me, fuck a football scholarship, that’s not happening, I’m going to get my grades so high any school will take me,” Cody said. He had some kind of a bond with this oddball, I don’t blame him. In our time together in the other world I saw that Christian had a certain charm, in Somewhere Else he actually looked to know how to talk to people, granted they were people adjusted to a eleventh century way of thinking, but he found a talent for it. God damn, he really did belong there.

  “So nice to meet you,” I said, half-faking a smile, Cody was my friend and later on he would be more than a friend, and this was my friend’s friend, so I thought it only proper to be nice to him. “I have Mrs. Pate’s English class in second period,” I said, “I’m doing okay in it, still holding my A, but Cody told me you’ve read the entire textbook,” I said.

  “Oh yeah, I read the whole book in Jr. High, they had it in the Jn. Fries library, I read it at least four times,” Christian said.

  “Oh? You went to Jn. Fries? Why are you in Central? I thought the districts were different,” I asked.

  “My house is on the line between districts, for Jr. High I had to go to Jn. Fries, and for highschool I landed in Central,” he said. Christian’s family always had trouble with money as I would learn. Lucky for him, or rather tragic for him, he ended up in our school. He ended up in class with Cody, and he ended up here at this party, on this night of all nights. Sometimes I wonder what would have become of him if all those variables didn’t line up in the way that they did. Would he be another insurance salesman? Would he have been able to find a wife? Would there been any chance he could have carved out some noble happiness in this world? Then the cynic in me says there was no way. I see why he did it, he saw no other way, and in all honesty, he probably didn’t have any other way.

  “Hey, have you seen you Brad?” Cody said, asking about the second string full-back, as second-string quarter back, on a day when a streak of mono spread throughout the football team, Cody as fill in Quarterback and Brad as second string fullback, took the home team to victory against Robinson, they thought themselves brothers in battle, and little did they know, but they would become brothers in battle in the most deepest of ways very soon. They had a camaraderie with each other.

  “I think he’s by the keg,” I said.

  “There he is,” Cody smiled and patted Christian’s shoulder, “Better hurry, want to get some before he floats it,” he said, leading Christian to the centerpiece of the party. I followed, seeing Brad was being held upside down by two of the linebackers as he took as much alcohol as he could before waiving his arm in defeat and being let down.