Freak
Chapter 2
By: Makena
"This is degrading," Jeremy said, hopping out of her mother's mini van before it could speed away. "An 18 year old still bumming rides to the mall from her mother because she's still without a license."
She sighed and walked inside quickly before she had a chance to get too cold or the old man sitting on the bench in front had a chance to get a good look at her.
Inside was warmer, thankfully, than it was outside and Jeremy was glad to find an Auntie Ann's pretzel booth near the front entrance.
"I have to remember to save a couple bucks for a pretzel on the way out," she told herself walking past it.
Jeremy had to walk all the way to the opposite side of the mall where she then had to ride the escalator up to the second floor. She chose to ride up near the food court and walked past a swarm of young girls who were chattering excitedly about something and rushing off towards the elevator that was across from a Claire's store.
'Probably some weird sale,' Jeremy thought, looking around for the source of excitement.
She shrugged to herself and walked past the crowed, her eye catching on a young man with pink and black hair and tattoo's on his arms. Jeremy smiled briefly at him and continued to walk towards FYE (the music store) before she realized who the man was and had to double back.
"I used to like them," she said with a short laugh. "Go figure I see them NOW and not when I liked them."
Not thinking that Benji had heard her, Jeremy shrugged and continued to walk off down the mall in search of FYE. But Benji HAD heard her and wanted to find out who this blue-haired girl was before she got too far - although he was sure he could pick her out in the crowd later, with her blue hair and all.
"I'll see you later," he told Joel and pushed his way out of the circle the teenie's had created around him.
Benji dodged a couple of on-coming teenies and had to jog to catch up to the girl. "Hey!" he called. "Wait! Girl with the blue hair... wait up!"
Jeremy stopped and turned around, astonished that Benji had followed her from Claire's to outside the large Abercrombie and Fitch store.
"I heard what you said back there," Benji told her, stopping to catch his breath.
"Oh... well, sorry." Jeremy continued to walk off, not wanting to stand in front of the Abercrombie and Fitch for much longer - not because it was A&F, but because it gave off a distinct smell and she couldn't stand the music they played.
"Hey! Wait!" Benji hollered, running to catch up with her again.
Jeremy didn't stop this time - she let Benji just walk along beside her.
"How come you USED to like us?"
"Because I like your music."
"Like or liked?"
"Like," Jeremy repeated. "And I USED to like you - but in case you didn't notice, your little fan base of 12 year old prepubescent children makes me wanna throw up."
"Yeah," Benji admitted. "I like the fame, but I wish we weren't that famous."
"Billy and Paul aren't that famous," Jeremy pointed out.
"Okay... hey! You knew who they were."
"Yeah... so?"
Benji laughed. "You really did like us? I mean, all these girls are interested in are Joel and myself..."
"Don't try to show off too much," Jeremy laughed.
"... and they probably couldn't tell you a song from our first album off the top of their heads..."
"Change and Screamer were two of my favorites."
Benji smiled and stopped walking, which made Jeremy stop walking. "See? You - fan. Them? Dumb girls I wish would grow up and kinda hope somebody would kill. Or slap."
Jeremy laughed.
"Yeah, well... I can only eat so many teenies for breakfast." She paused as Benji laughed. "Anyway, nice to meet you Ben-jamin. I'll hear you on the radio, I'm sure." She didn't give Benji a chance to say anything as she walked away to FYE.
Jeremy recapped the conversation she couldn't really believed had happened in her mind and wandered around the CD isles until she found the Punk/Ska section and began to flip through the CD's.
'Have, have, have, had - ' she picked up an Alkaline Trio CD and continued to go through them, stopping to pick up every CD she said "had" to because they were some of her more prized CD's that had gotten stolen at the beach once.
'Had... have, have, Kris has it...'
She paused and picked up a mix CD her friend Kris had. She thought about buying it, but then thought about burning it, and finally decided to buy it because Kris had moved about a month ago and she wouldn't see her for a while. She skimmed through the song titles and shrugged.
"This is a good one," some one said, shoving a CD in the line of her vision.
"Gah!" Jeremy screamed, almost dropping her small stack of CD's. She looked up at Benji, who was trying to keep a straight face. "What the hell...?" she cursed. "Are you stalking me?"
"Yes," Benji replied proudly.
"Oh, okay... why?"
Benji shrugged and placed the CD - Social Distortion - onto Jeremy's pile.
"Okay, stalk me," Jeremy said. "But I bet you don't even know my name... unless you're one of those creepy hard-core stalkers that have nothing to do but look people's profile up on the internet."
"I can guess," Benji said, following Jeremy around. "Susan? Betty? Becky? Elizabeth? Ann? Mandy? Amanda? Jessica? Sharon? Bob?"
Jeremy laughed. "Jeremy, but you were close with the Bob thing."
"Jeremy? You're name is Jeremy?"
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up."
"But you're a girl," Benji said.
"Thank you," Jeremy said sarcastically, walking up to the counter to pay for her CD's. "I wasn't aware of that."
"Sorry," Benji said. "I didn't mean it like that..."
"Of course you didn't," Jeremy said. "Are you coming or are you though stalking me for the day?"
Benji suddenly noticed that she was standing by the door and followed her through the mall. "So you're here by yourself?" he asked her after a while.
"Yep."
"Don't you have any friends?" he asked before thinking otherwise.
"Not really," Jeremy said, thankfully not getting upset by the question.
"Why?"
"My best friend moved a month ago and everyone else at my school thinks I'm a poser because I wasn't "punk" when I was a freshman but I started to become "punk" my sophomore year."
"Are you a poser?"
"Probably," Jeremy said without hesitating. "And Avril is my hero..."
Benji laughed at her sarcasm and followed her into a Hot Topic.
"I know what I want here," Jeremy said. "But what did YOU need?"
Benji looked around and shrugged. "I think I came to the mall for some pants, but I don't see anything..."
"Punk?"
Benji shrugged. "... anything that I like, but punk works I guess."
Jeremy laughed. "Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean it like that..."
She smirked and began to look at t-shirts and whatever she wanted.
"Ohh!" Benji and Jeremy suddenly said in unison. "Green!"
The rushed over to where the hair dye was set up and each grabbed for a bottle of the same green.
"Oops," Jeremy said, letting Benji take the bottle. "I'll just take this one." She picked up a different bottle of green.
"You wanna dye your hair green, too?" Benji asked her.
Jeremy laughed. "Yeah, so?"
Benji laughed and shook his head. "Nothing, it's just... there's something about you. I don't know what it is, but you're... I don't know..."
"Different from the teenies that worship you from their living rooms and actually "feel your presence" every time you appear on TV?"
Benji laughed. "Different from that, yeah," he said. "But there's something else."
"Alright, you've got me!" Jeremy yelled holding her hands out to be cuffed. "You know all about my secret bow tie collection!"
"Bow tie collection?"
Jeremy shrugged and followed Benji to the counter to pay for her green hair dye. "First thing that popped into my mind."
"You're weird," Benji stated.
"Hey, maybe that's what it was that you couldn't figure out. I'm weird!"
"Trust me, it hit me when you walked by me with blue hair and didn't try to talk to me."
"What, you don't approach fans at all?"
Benji shrugged as they walked out of the store and slowly walked along the mall. "Not really any more," he said. "I mean, before you - hardly ever. They always turn out to be those little girls I can't even stand because I bet you they don't even know one of our songs, and that's what we're trying to promote. Besides, I could never really tell who was a fan and who wasn't before the Young and the Hopeless. I'm telling you - that's the album that ruined my life."
Jeremy laughed shortly. "If I was famous," she said. "I would walk around after the concert and just randomly ask people if they wanted my autograph, and I'd have contests with the other band mates like, 'I bet I can get more guy phone numbers than you can girl phone numbers' and actually get phone numbers and whatever."
"Sounds fun," Benji said with a small laugh. "Can you play anything?"
"I play a mean air guitar," Jeremy laughed, demonstrating what she could do for Benji.
"I see you've brought your guitar with you," Benji joked. "Although I believe you left your talent at home."
"Bite me," Jeremy laughed, playfully pushing Benji before taking off at a run down the mall corridors.
----
It was almost noon and Jeremy was getting hungry - she hadn't eaten anything all day because eating too early in the morning (such as breakfast) gave her stomach aches.
"I can't wait to get food," she said suddenly to Benji. "Let's go eat."
Benji shrugged. "Okay."
Jeremy smiled as they walked to the food court - which was on the top level - and wondered what they should eat. "I think we should go stand on the counters at McDonald's and tall them murders," Jeremy said, pointing to the McDonald's on one end of the food court.
"You're a vegetarian?" Benji questioned.
"Eh... sort of. I still eat chicken and turkey, but nothing else."
"Cool."
"That's right... you don't eat meat either." She smirked. "Awesome."
She paused as a young boy caught her attention and she quickly dashed behind Benji.
"What...?" he asked, trying to turn around to see where Jeremy had gone to.
"Don't move!" Jeremy commanded in a harsh whisper.
"Jeremy? What the fuck?"
"Shhh!!" Jeremy whispered. "See that guy over there... the one with the System of a Down hoodie and black pants?"
"Blond hair - needs a hair cut? Yeah."
"That's Bruce," Jeremy explained. "I've had a crush on him forever."
"And you hide behind me... why?"
Jeremy sighed and watched Bruce for a moment. "He calls me stuff some times," she explained. "Plus... he's a junior - older girls are not supposed to have crushes on younger guys."
Benji rolled his eyes and began to walk towards the pizza place. "You're an 18 year old who tries to hide from some one they like... behind me yet? That's a little weird."
"Well... agh, I feel so dumb," Jeremy said. "But... wait, how did you know I'm 18? You ARE a creepy, hard-core stalker, aren't you?"
Benji laughed. "Lucky guess," he said. "So - why do you have a crush on him?"
Jeremy shrugged and waited in line with Benji. "I donno. He's cute and stuff. And... I donno."
She paid for her pizza and her and Benji found a two person table to sit at next to one of the over grown plants they keep in random places around the mall.
"Okay, let's play truth or dare," Jeremy said after chewing on her pizza for a minute. "But we'll skip the dare part."
"So, it's basically you asking me personal questions," Benji asked.
"And vice versa, yeah," she replied. "Come on... it'll be fun."
Benji sighed and rolled his eyes, but agreed to play.
"Okay," Jeremy said. "I'll start - what's you biggest turn on?"
Benji choked on his crust. "That's a little personal."
Jeremy shrugged and stared at him, waiting for an answer.
"Piercings, I guess," Benji said, a little unsure of what he had just said. "And tattoo's - on GIRLS, thank you."
Jeremy laughed. "Okay, you ask ME a question."
"What's YOUR biggest turn on?" Benji asked.
"That's easy," Jeremy replied. "A guy who knows how to play guitar - or bass. Or drums."
Benji laughed. "Does your little Bruce know how to play?"
"That's two questions," Jeremy informed. "What is your personal goal for the next year?"
"Fight off a the teenies," he answered. "Scare 'em off, anyway."
Jeremy laughed.
"What do you want to do after you graduate?" Benji continued.
"Undecided," she replied. "For the moment. But I get to move up into the attic when I graduate, so maybe I'll stay there until I figure out what the hell I wanna do.
"Okay, then what do you "dream" about doing that you think isn't going to happen no matter what you do, but you'd still like to do it."
"That's two questions," Jeremy reminded him.
"No, it's the same question rephrased."
Jeremy sighed. "Okay. I'd really like to start up my band - or be a roadie..."
"A roadie?" Benji coughed.
"Yeah," Jeremy blushed. "So what? I think being a roadie would be fun! You'd get to tour with a band, tune their instruments up before they go on stage, hang out with them when I'm not taking orders or some shit like that."
Benji laughed. "Sounds fun."
Benji and Jeremy finished their lunch and began to wander around the mall together again, hoping to find something to do.
"When do you have to leave?" Benji asked Jeremy finally.
"If I don't call my parents, five," she replied. "Otherwise, when ever I want."
"You're still bumming rides from your parents?" he asked skeptically.
"Yeah, yeah - 18 and no license. Shut up."
"Why don't you have your license?" Benji asked.
"I just never bothered to sit through driver's ed. Besides, it was only two extra years to wait with out a license just to have to take the test as opposed to sitting through two classes and THEN taking a test."
"But you're 18 now. Why don't you just take your test?"
Jeremy shrugged. "I don't... know... shit." She dove behind Benji again and tried to stay hidden.
"What the hell?" Benji asked, not bothering to turn around. "He's..."
"Right there," Jeremy said, pointing to Bruce, who was standing in front of a shoe store. "Just... don't move."
"Seriously, you don't think he'd notice you trying to hide behind me?" Benji asked. "I'm big, but I'm not THAT big."
"You're taller than I am," Jeremy pointed out.
Despite Benji's abnormal lack of height, he was still a couple inches taller than Jeremy.
"Jeremy?"
"Fuck. Thanks a lot, Benji."
Bruce walked towards Benji and Jeremy, grinning at Jeremy. "Hiding from me?" he asked her, ignoring Benji.
"No," Jeremy lied.
"I could see your bag, dumb ass," Bruce said.
"She was helping me get something off my t-shirt," Benji jumped in. "I got something on me and she was helping me out."
Bruce looked over at Benji and frowned slightly. "Who's that?" he asked Jeremy, jerking his thumb towards Benji as if he wasn't there at all.
"That's..."
"I'm her boyfriend," Benji jumped in. "Benji. And you are...?"
"Bruce," he said. "Friend."
Jeremy looked in disbelief at Benji for a moment, but decided it would be more believable if she played along and straightened her face out.
"Or not," she said to Bruce's last comment. "Did you need something, cause I think my BOYFRIEND and I would like to leave now."
"I doubt he's your boyfriend," Bruce said. "He's too old for you. Besides, you've never mentioned him before."
"He is to my boyfriend," Jeremy protested. "He's only 23, and I don't like you so it wasn't important enough to bring up."
"Ouch," Benji said. "That kinda hurt."
Jeremy struggled to keep a laugh in and grabbed Benji's hand. "Come on, dear," she said. "Let's go."
Benji nodded and walked with Jeremy. They were finally out of sight of Bruce and began to laugh.
"That was kinda funny," Jeremy said. "Did you see the look on his face?"
Benji laughed. Jeremy looked down at their hands, which were still locked, and then back up at Benji. "You can let go now," she said.
"What? Oh! Right... sorry..."
Embarrassed, Benji dropped Jeremy's hand. Jeremy smiled briefly. "Don't you have a girlfriend?" she asked him suddenly, her smile fading.
Benji shook his head. "We broke up," he said. "It was something about... never mind. It's a long story."
"Okay."
They walked in silence again. "Don't you have a boyfriend?" Benji asked her.
"Nope," Jeremy replied, shaking her head. "Like I said before - nobody at my school likes me." She paused and shrugged. "But that's okay - maybe in college."
She sighed, trying to get her mind off Bruce as Benji and her wandered aimlessly around the mall again.