Nyahls - Chapter 1 And 2

Writer’s Note: While many of the places mentioned in the following piece of fiction are real, they just aren’t. I only borrowed the names of the places but I’ve taken quite a few liberties with them. For one thing, my Philippines is exactly the same as the real thing except that everyone speaks English. My America, on the other hand, could be seen as entirely fictional since I have never been to America. Still, the general sense that America is the greatest country in the world and that it is the land of opportunity applies. Chapter 1 The middle-aged man standing at the front of the room just kept on talking and talking even when it seemed that no one was listening. At the very back of the room, two boys: Daniel Harrison and William Summers, Jr. were seated. The former was a Filipino who had lived his entire life in the Philippines. He was tall and thin, with brown skin, black eyes, and jet black hair that swooped over his face and covered his ears and half of the back of his neck. The latter was half-American, half-Filipino. He was born in America but moved with his family to the Philippines at a very young age. He was built better than the former but was shorter with light skin, blue eyes, and short white blonde hair in wild spikes. Daniel Harrison wanted to listen but he just couldn’t. The combination of his professor’s monotone voice, his apathy towards the topic being discussed, and lack of sleep the night before was making concentration nigh impossible. There were only five minutes remaining in the class but it felt like an eternity. Daniel Harrison glanced to his right and found his friend, William Summers, Jr., with his head buried in his arms, asleep. Daniel Harrison found himself envying his friend’s sheer lack of shame. He wished that he had the balls to sleep in class right in front of a teaching professor. The sound of the bell rang through the classroom and it was like sweet, sweet music to every person, the professor included, inside. “One moment, class,” said the professor in his monotone voice as he hurried to his desk and pulled out a stack of papers from his bag, “I have the results of you last test here. Please get your paper before you leave.” The professor left the stack of papers on the desk and quickly departed before his students could swarm around it. Daniel Harrison shook his sleeping friend’s shoulder and said, “Wake up, Billy. Class is over.” Billy jerked his head up violently as he was brought back to consciousness. He stared groggily at nothing in particular before saying, “I was just about to shoot Tyra Banks in the head, Harris. You picked a bad time to wake me up.” “Well, you sure were taking your sweet time to kill the bitch,” said Harris. “Test results are here, man. Get up, you lazy bastard.” The crowd around the teacher’s desk had dissipated and two test papers remained. Harris snatched them up and looked at each. “Well?” asked Billy, stretching his arms over his head and yawning.

“90,” said Harris. “I got a 90?” asked Billy, surprised. “Praise the gods!” “You got 69, dude,” said Harris as he shoved one of the test papers into Billy’s chest. “Passing,” said Billy, looking over his test paper. “I’ll take it.” “You would,” said Harris, “You didn’t even study for this test.” With final examinations fast approaching, Harris was on pace to finish his first year in college as a consistent honor student. The transition from high school to college had not been as difficult as he had anticipated and his natural intelligence helped him cruise through all of the subjects he had taken so far. Billy, on the other hand, had also passed all of his subjects but not with grades as high as Harris’. Billy’s priorities were elsewhere. **** It was a school night and one before a final exam, no less, but Billy and Harris did not spend it studying. Their attention was caught by the gigantic flat screen television mounted on Billy’s room’s wall and the video game action being displayed on it. Buttons were mashed and cusses were uttered as Billy and Harris were locked in a battle of threedimensional brawling. “Stop hitting me low, fuckwad,” said Billy, agitated. “Fuckwad?” replied Harris. “What the hell’s a fuckwad?” Harris’ character crouched and spun his leg in a sweep, cutting down Billy’s character and finishing off what remained of his health. Harris celebrated loudly and Billy tossed the controller over his shoulder. Harris added insult to injury by performing a disturbing victory dance to which Billy replied with an extension of his middle finger. The ruckus attracted the attention of Billy’s father, who entered his son’s room and said, “Having fun, eh?” Billy’s Father, William Summers, Sr., was a very tall and thin man with short whiteblonde hair and blue eyes much like his son’s. The wrinkles on the older Summers’ face were one of the few things that distinguished him from his son. Harris quickly ceased his dance and said in acknowledgement, “Hey, Mr. Summers.” “Haven’t I told you before that you can call me Killer Will?” asked Mr. Summers. “Yes, sir,” said Harris, “but I think I’ll stick to Mr. Summers.” “Yeah, dad,” said Billy, “you’re not Killer Will anymore.” “You wound this old man deeply,” said Mr. Summers. “Anyway, I just came in to tell you that there’s booze in the fridge and you boys can help yourselves.”

William Summers, Sr. was, during his prime, the lead singer and guitarist for a punk rock group known as The Scumbags. The group was very famous in the underground punk scene in the 1980’s. Back then, William Summers, Sr. was known by the nickname Killer Will. Though the band never achieved a very big mainstream following, the name “Killer Will’s” became world famous as the name of a bar/grill with branches all across the globe. “Your dad knows I don’t drink, right?” said Harris as he and Billy resumed playing their fighting game. “My dad refers to drinks, in general, as booze,” said Billy. “I’m sure there’s something in the fridge for you to drink. Maybe some milk or some horse piss.” Harris elbowed Billy in response to the remark and this caused Billy to lose control of his character for a split-second. Harris took advantage of this by launching Billy’s character into the air and unleashing a multiple hit combo for the win. “Fucking cheater,” said Billy as he tossed aside the controller and stood up. “I’m going to the kitchen. You want that horse piss now?” “Diet horse piss, please,” said Harris sarcastically. Billy left the room with a smirk and Harris grabbed the flat screen’s remote control. He started channel surfing, looking for something to grab his attention while Billy was gone. He paused briefly at a food channel where a big, meaty steak was being grilled to perfection. Harris’ stomach felt suddenly barren. He flipped to a sports channel where a rerun of an old basketball championship game was being shown. He chuckled at the extremely short shorts that every player was wearing. When Billy returned, Harris had flipped to an entertainment channel. “We’re fresh out of horse piss,” said Billy as he tossed Harris a can of soda. “This will have to do,” said Harris in mock disappointment. Billy collapsed into one of his bean bag chairs with a can of beer in his hand, looked up at the TV, and said, “Hey, that’s Gracie Keller.” A celebrity news show was on and being shown was paparazzi footage of a cute young girl with light skin, brown hair, and brown eyes walking down some street in America. The man behind the camera kept firing questions at the girl who replied with very little words. She had a big smile encased by prominent dimples on her face but it was obvious that she was annoyed at the paparazzo. “Who now?” asked Harris. “Her,” said Billy pointing up at the girl on the screen. “I can’t believe you’ve never heard of Gracie Keller. She’s everywhere.” “Really?” said Harris. “Doesn’t look any older than us.” “She’s not and she’s already richer than either of us can ever aspire to be. Fuck college, eh?” “Fuck no,” said Harris. “She’s probably an air-head.”

“Filthy rich air-head, my friend. Still better off than us.” “What’s she do?” asked Harris. “Music? Movies?” “She’s done a couple of movies for the Sidney Channel. She’s also in that new Sidney tweener sitcom, Ask Alice” “Wow. You sure are well-informed about this girl.” “No more than the rest of the world. Except you, of course. You spend too much time reading.” “Meh,” said Harris, changing the channel, “what else is on?” The night passed without a single book or notebook being opened. **** Harris had just returned home from taking his first final exam and he was hankering for some food. He leaned into his room’s doorway, tossed his bag onto his bed, and went straight for the kitchen. He opened the fridge and surveyed his options. A sandwich seemed like the best choice as it was quick and easy to make. He grabbed all of the ingredients he needed and headed out into the dining room where his twelve-year-old sister, Mina Harrison was sitting, watching TV. “Hey, Mina,” said Harris, as he set down all of the ingredients he had gathered onto the table. “Hey,” replied Mina with her eyes fixed on the TV. Harris ignored his sister’s lack of recognition and busied himself with constructing the perfect sandwich. He piled ingredients one on top of the other and squirted condiments in between until he was satisfied with the sandwich’s bread-to-meat-to-everything-else ratio. “Whatcha watching?” asked Harris before taking a big bite out of his sandwich. “Ask Alice,” replied Mina with her gaze still fixed on the TV. Harris looked up at the TV as he chewed and saw the face of Gracie Keller on it. He quickly swallowed and said much like his friend Billy did the night before, “Hey, that’s Gracie Keller.” “Uh huh,” said Mina, absent-mindedly. Harris focused his attention on the show to see what all the hype surrounding Gracie Keller was founded upon. Harris took another bite as his sister burst into laughter at a joke told on the show. Not a giggle escaped Harris’ sandwich-filled mouth. From what Harris could gather from the episode, the show was about a girl in high school who secretly writes an advice column in the school paper under the alias ‘Alice.’ In his opinion, the show was just another generic Sidney channel sitcom. The channel had been making them for years

and they were always only mildly entertaining. Harris was all set to ignore the show when a close-up on Gracie Keller’s smiling face appeared on the screen. Harris almost dropped his sandwich as he was taken aback by the realization of how pretty she was and how he wasn’t getting annoyed at the girth of her smile. This was usually something he would point out and deride. While Harris ate, he kept his full attention on the show and even with his sandwich gone, he stayed to see the show to its end. **** It was another night-before-a-final-exam, and Harris sat in front of his laptop computer, attempting to study. He was reading the notes that had been uploaded online and he read the first line of the document again and again because each time he read it, he found that he hadn’t really been paying attention and thus had to reread it. After a few minutes of this, he decided to just give up on the whole thing. He was pretty much assured of passing anyway. This was because of his high quiz grades in that subject. Suddenly faced with nothing to do, Harris’ mind wandered. The image of Gracie Keller’s emphatic grin entered Harris’ thoughts. This prompted him to open his web browser and visit the free encyclopedia site, Gigapedia. He typed the Sidney channel actress’ name into the search bar, and hit enter. Not surprisingly, Gracie Keller had an entire Gigapedia page devoted to her. Her full name was Elizabeth Grace Keller and she was born on the tenth of March in 1992. This made her sixteen years old; a year younger than Harris. Harris scrolled down to the list of films and television shows that she had been in. She had been in four movies, two for the Sidney Channel in the past couple of years, and two as a child actress. She was currently in one TV show: Ask Alice. Harris recognized the names of the movies that Gracie Keller had been in but he hadn’t watched any of them. Not quite satisfied with the information on the Gigapedia page, Harris queried ‘Gracie Keller’ into his favorite search engine, Gagol. The first link was a site that claimed to be the number one source for everything about Gracie Keller, and this, he clicked. The site was a sickening pink and a large banner with a picture of Gracie was featured at the top. She was again smiling her enormous smile and something in the pit of Harris’ stomach churned. He ignored this and scrolled down and found several news items about the young actress. The latest entry said that Gracie was featured in some girly magazine. Thumbnail links to scans of the pages featuring her were provided below the news entry. Harris clicked one of the thumbnails and a new tab in his web browser was opened. He was brought to the image gallery part of the fan site. The page scan was of a quiz asking what qualities the reader thought were ideal in a guy. After answering the questions, you would fall into one of three categories, each with a teen celebrity who shared your opinion. One of these was Gracie Keller. Her entry went like this: Just like Gracie, you prefer the strong, silent type. Your perfect guy is one who doesn’t say a lot but will always be loyal to you. He is not the most romantic guy on Earth but you can rely on him to pull you out of sticky situations. Guys like him don’t come around too often so be sure to hold on to him real tight!

Harris considered for a moment if he was this kind of guy before stopping himself, thinking it crazy. Deciding that he was wasting his time browsing the fan site, he closed the web browser, and shut down his computer. He collapsed into his bed, stared up at the ceiling, and wondered what the hell he was thinking visiting some fan site for some crappy teen actress. The image of Gracie Keller’s smiling face crept back into Harris’ mind and this made him feel strangely warm and happy. He tried to shake the image from his brain but he just couldn’t. After a few minutes of wrestling with his own thoughts, Harris gave in and spent the night sleepless, thinking of Gracie Keller and how goddamn pretty she was. **** Harris looked over the test paper on his desk, deciding whether or not he was satisfied with the answers he had written down. He glanced around discreetly and it seemed that everyone else was still busy with the test. Usually, he would wait for someone else to pass his or her paper before passing his own, but this time, Harris wanted very urgently to get home. He wasn’t constipated or anything like that but he really wanted to leave and head home to his computer. After a minute of waiting, Harris finally stood up to pass his paper. Billy looked up at his friend, disbelief written on his face, as Harris passed him. It had only been thirty minutes since the test period began. They were allotted three hours to finish the test and Billy, who was always the first to pass his paper during tests, was only done with threefourths of it. him.

Harris slipped quickly and quietly out of the classroom and Billy was left staring after

“Mr. Summers,” said their teacher’s voice from behind Billy, “Keep your eyes on your test paper, please.” Billy quickly turned back to his test paper and proceeded to answer the remainder of the test in a flash. After five minutes, Billy quickly stood up and submitted his test paper. He rushed out the door, allowing it to slam loudly behind him, and into the corridor outside. He looked around for Harris whom he was sure would wait for him. Failing to find his friend, Billy headed for the restroom. Harris was nowhere to be found. He peeked into each stall but they were all empty. Annoyed, Billy left the bathroom and whipped out his cell phone to text Harris. “Wer d fuk r u?” read Billy’s text message. Billy stood impatiently outside the bathroom and his phone vibrated in reply in a matter of seconds. “On d way home,” read Harris’ reply. Billy ended up going home alone for the first time since he’d met Harris. He decided that Harris had had a bad case of diarrhea and was just too embarrassed to admit this to him. This thought comforted Billy as he headed home alone though he did not really believe it to be true.

**** When Harris reached his house, there was still almost two hours left in the test period he had departed from. He threw his bag onto his bed, brought out his laptop, and started it up. Harris had been distracted for the whole time he was taking the test. There was only one thing on his mind: Gracie Keller. He had thought about nothing else since the night before when he looked up the actress on the internet. He had to see her again. He visited the same site from the night before but there were no updates since he’d last been there. He went to the image gallery part of the site and browsed every single picture of Gracie there, arranged by latest upload. Harris spent an entire hour just looking at every one of the hundreds of pictures featured. A lot of them were screen captures from Ask Alice. Harris’ compulsion led him to a file sharing web site. He queried ‘Ask Alice’ in its search engine and found that many people were offering episodes of the show for free, albeit illegal, download. Harris found a package containing the entire first season of the show and this he downloaded. As he watched the progress of the download, Harris had time to slow down and reflect on the craziness of everything he’d done up to that point. He answered an entire final exam in thirty minutes when the rest of his classmates probably weren’t even half done with it. He spent an hour looking at pictures of Gracie Keller, a lot of which were screen captures of every single frame that Gracie appeared in. He was now illegally downloading the entire first season of a show whose target audience fell between the ages of ten and fifteen. All this because of some girl he had never even met, and three days ago didn’t even know existed. Harris was aware of his obsessive behavior but he continued on with it. He didn’t want to stop and so he didn’t. He told himself that this was merely a temporary fixation and that it would pass soon enough. He told himself that he may as well feed the mania while it still controlled what did and did not make him happy. The download was going excruciatingly slowly. At the rate it was going it would be done in three hours. Harris was not prepared to wait this long to watch Ask Alice and so he set the priority of the very first episode to high. This would make sure that the first episode would finish first and thus, he would be able to watch it a lot sooner than three hours. While waiting, Harris indulged in even more internet snooping into the life of Gracie Keller. He found a lot of more personal information concerning the actress’ life. In her last movie, Gracie starred opposite the hottest young male star in show business, Chris Gilligan. The two played each other’s love interests in the film and this sparked a lot of speculation as to whether or not the two developed an off-screen romance. Harris dug deeper into this bit of news because he would just be devastated if he found out that Gracie was already spoken for. In an article from a celebrity news web site, Gracie was quoted as saying, “Chris and I are just friends. I don’t think I’m ready for a serious relationship just yet.” Harris breathed a sigh of relief. The first episode of Ask Alice finished downloading and Harris excitedly opened the file. He watched the episode with great interest and every time Gracie Keller appeared, he

would feel giddy and strangely comfortable, like nothing else in the entire world mattered. Harris lost himself in the world of the show despite his negative opinion of it upon first seeing it. He didn’t notice any of the grammar flaws in the dialog, laughed at all of the jokes, and didn’t mind that the episode’s storyline was juvenile and cheesy. Love, or in this case, infatuation, had made him blind. Harris watched two more episodes after the first before stopping himself. He wanted to reserve the remainder of the season for when he needed a distraction or mood pick-meup. **** Billy and Harris’ first year in college was finally over. The two friends were at Harris’ house after their last day in school collecting class cards. Harris had received grades enough to make him an honor student while all of Billy’s grades were just safely above passing. “We should have a fucking end-of-school party, man,” said Billy staring blissfully at the ceiling while stretched out on Harris’ bed. “Parties suck,” replied Harris, sitting in front of his laptop, facing away from his friend. “God, you’re such a social outcast,” said Billy. “You, of all people, have reason to celebrate.” “My idea of celebration doesn’t involve crappy dance music and getting drunk off my ass.” “Well, there’s gonna be booze, of course,” said Billy, “but you know I’d never throw a party with fucking dance music.” Harris kept his eyes on his laptop and gave no reply. “We’ll invite everyone in our section,” said Billy as he pictured the gathering, “It’ll be awesome, man. You’ll see.” “I will?” replied Harris distractedly. “Fuck yeah, you will! We’ll do it at my place. There’ll be booze and all the food we can stuff our faces with. We could even play some live, ear-bleeding, punk rock for everybody.” “I’m sure they’d appreciate having the blood drained out of their heads,” said Harris sarcastically. There was a minute-long pause before Billy said, “Go get me a soda or something, would ya, Harris?” Harris turned to look at his friend for the first time since Billy started talking and said, “Seriously? You’re asking me to fetch you a drink?”

“Well,” said Billy lazily, “I’d get it myself but this is your place and it would be kinda rude, don’t ya think?” Harris shook his head as he left the room and muttered with a smile, “Lazy bastard.” “I heard that Harris!” called Billy after his friend, “And I’ll have you know that I was conceived within wedlock!” Billy got up from Harris’ bed and sat in front of his friend’s laptop. He opened a web browser, intending to look up a band on the internet. All day, he had been trying to remember the name of their lead singer but he just couldn’t remember. Up to that point, he had been challenging himself to recall the name but all he came up with were names that sounded similar but just weren’t right. Finally giving up, he typed ‘g’ into the browser’s address bar. A list of recently visited sites beginning with the letter ‘g’ appeared below the address bar and Billy looked for the address of Gigapedia. It wasn’t there. All that Billy could see were addresses upon addresses of web pages from a web site called gracie-keller.com. He clicked one of the links and was brought to an image gallery dedicated to Gracie Keller. For a moment, Billy forgot about his quest for a vocalist’s name. He could not figure out how these pages could possibly have been visited with this laptop. The thought of Harris even clicking a link to something like this was just absurd to him. “I got you a root beer,” said Harris as he re-entered his room with a can of Coke in one hand and a can of root beer in the other, “Hope that’s fine, your highness.” Billy was still in a state of confusion as he asked, “Who’s the singer of Brittlejaw?” Harris extended the root beer to Billy and said, “Gary Canunzo.” “Oh yeah,” said Billy, oblivious to the drink offered him, “Right, right.” Harris held the drink out for a few seconds before saying, “Do you want the Coke, then?” “What?” said Billy absent-mindedly, “No, no. Sorry. I’ll take the root beer.” Billy took the can and set it down beside Harris’ laptop. Harris shrugged off Billy’s weirdness and sat down on his bed. “Has your sister been using your laptop?” asked Billy. “Uh... no,” said Harris, “You and I are the only ones who use that thing.” Realization dawned on Billy, at that moment, and he spoke it. “Holy fuck. You’ve got the hots for Gracie Keller.” Harris, who was within mid-sip of his Coke, gagged, and almost blew the carbonated liquid out of his nose. After a few coughs and finally understanding Billy’s strange behavior, he said, “I forgot to erase my web history, huh?” “Yep,” said Billy looking at his friend as if he was a stranger, “So... Gracie Keller,

huh?” “Dude...” began Harris. “No need to explain, man,” interrupted Billy. “She’s a pretty girl and you are a redblooded, heterosexual male.” “Jesus, you’re making it sound like I’m some horny kid.” There was a short silence as Billy looked at Harris thoughtfully then said, “I never pegged you as the stalker-type.” “Fuck, man. It was just a crush. It’s passed. Let it go.” Billy turned his attention back to Harris’ laptop. He checked the list of recently opened files and found there episodes of Ask Alice. “What have we here?” said Billy in the tone of someone who had just made an exciting discovery, “You’ve been watching Ask Alice too!” Harris’ face had taken on the color of a ripe tomato and he said, “Fuck. I forgot to clean out my file history too.” “Hey, man, no need to deny it. You’ve got a celebrity crush. We all get ‘em. I, myself, am totally hot for that Italian chef girl on TV who always seems to be cooking with her cleavage on display.” “Glad to know I’m not alone,” replied Harris sarcastically. “You don’t have to be defensive with me, man,” said Billy as he turned to face Harris’ laptop. “I won’t judge you.” Harris considered whether or not Billy was being serious then said, “It’s so fucking weird, man.” Billy turned back to face his friend. “I mean, this is so unlike me, right?” said Harris. “True, true,” said Billy. “It’s just...” began Harris, searching for words to finish his thought, “God, she’s pretty.” Billy stretched back on his chair and said, “Hoo boy! You’ve got it bad!” Harris took a sip of his Coke then said, “Fuck you. It’ll pass.” He did not completely believe himself and deep inside, he really didn’t want to. ****

It was the first full day of summer vacation for Harris and he spent it indoors in front of his laptop. The night before, he had planned to go out and play some basketball but changed his mind as the thought of Gracie Keller once again entered his brain. He remembered the movies that Gracie had been in and decided to see if he could get some illegal copies of these off of the internet. He needed more fuel to feed his obsession since he was fast running out of episodes of Ask Alice and he didn’t want to finish off the rest too quickly. It wasn’t too hard to find the two Sidney Channel movies she’d been in. Harris put them at the top of his download queue then pondered whether or not he also wanted to get the movies that featured Gracie as a young girl. He thought better of this and instead watched one more episode of Ask Alice while waiting for the movies to finish downloading. When they eventually finished, Harris spent the next three hours watching the two movies. He had told himself that he’d only watch one and would save the other for another day but after seeing the first; he just couldn’t resist playing the other. All he wanted was to see more of Gracie, and that stupid, adorable smile of hers. In the first movie, I Dream of Diva-dom, Gracie Keller played the role of an awkward, quirky young girl with self-esteem issues who is thrust into the shoes of a teen pop superstar after the singer is injured by Gracie’s character. This was the movie that featured Chris Gilligan as Gracie’s love interest. Harris burned with jealousy at this pretty boy who was receiving the affection of his obsession even though it was only acting. The second movie he watched came out before I Dream of Diva-dom and it featured Gracie in a supporting role only. Harris actually enjoyed watching the two movies and not entirely because of Gracie Keller’s presence in them. There was an innocence in the films that was just not present in anything else that Harris immersed himself in. Harris was into comic books but not the campy superhero kind. He loved the mature adult-themed classics like Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. These books took place in dark worlds where the truths of sex and death were not hidden or candy-coated. In the Sidney movies, everything was very idealistic and cheesy. People behaved in ways that just wouldn’t make sense in real life and though conflict was present, it never went as far as, say, killing the main character. The plots were predictable but they were comforting and this came as a breath of fresh air for Harris. As the credits rolled for the second movie, Harris fell back onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. A cheesy pop song played the movie out and Harris smiled. It was always so bittersweet for him to end anything enjoyable. It could be a movie, TV series, or book but they all leave the same emptiness in him. If it was possible, Harris would probably spend the rest of his life watching or reading something he loved. The song faded, the movie ended, and Harris was left alone lying on his bed with the emptiness. Even after three hours of Gracie Keller movies, he was still not sated. He wanted to watch more but he was down to three Ask Alice episodes and the summer still had two months to it. Harris decided to download the two other movies that Gracie had been in. If for nothing else, they would provide him a temporary distraction. While waiting for the completion of his downloads, Harris re-watched I Dream of Diva-dom. He thought to himself how fucked up the things he was doing were but he also noted how happy he was.

Harris spent the rest of the day watching the two newly downloaded movies. As sleep took Harris over, his mind was racing with nothing but thoughts of Gracie Keller. **** Harris found himself in an empty, desert wasteland. Nothing but bleak, dull-yellow sand stretched out around him in all directions. Of the distance, nothing could be seen. Harris looked down in front of him and saw a large raven standing on the ground. The black bird clawed at the sandy desert floor and looked up at Harris. It spoke with a scratchy voice, “The boss said you’d be here.” Without even wondering how in the world a raven could speak, Harris replied, “Here? Where’s here?” “Here,” said the raven vaguely, gesturing with his wing at the surroundings, “The obsession wastelands.” Harris looked around again to find that his surroundings had changed without him even noticing. The ground was still sandy but he was now in the middle of a gigantic stone arena. Rows and rows of stone encircled the round patch of clear ground that he stood in. Harris looked back down but the raven was gone. Several feet in front of Harris stood a man wearing a gold helmet and a dirty-white cloth slung over one of his shoulders and covering his lower extremities up to the middle of his thighs. For no clear reason, Harris was compelled to turn around and look up at the seats of the coliseum. There was a single person sitting on a large throne directly behind him. It was Gracie Keller. Her face was expressionless and she was wearing a robe of purple cloth. Harris faced the stranger standing opposite of him. The man removed the helmet on his head and revealed himself: Chris Gilligan. With his helmet cradled in one arm, Gilligan touched his fingers to his lips and blew a kiss above Harris’ head to the single member of the audience, Gracie Keller. Harris was furious. He charged at Gilligan, who was now wielding a short sword in one hand and a round, bronze, shield in the other. With animalistic rage, Harris threw a punch at his opponent’s chest but met only the bronze of the shield. Harris’ fist landed on the bronze and created a large dent. Harris felt no pain from this and began raining down blows on Gilligan’s shield. Each punch created a new dent in the bronze and slowly, Gilligan was being pushed back against the stone wall of the arena. As Harris cocked his right hand back to strike again, Gilligan moved his shield to the side and slashed at Harris with his sword. Harris was seeing things in slow motion and caught the blade between his two palms. With his opponent’s blade caught tightly in his hands, Harris kicked Gilligan in the stomach and into the wall. The fallen gladiator had released his sword, and his shield, though still attached to his arm, now hung uselessly beside him. Harris picked up the relinquished weapon and raised it over his head to deal the fatal blow to his opponent. Before he could do this though, soft hands grabbed at his raised arm. He wheeled around and saw the crying face of Gracie Keller.

**** Harris’ eyes jerked open and he was suddenly awake. He rubbed his forehead and it felt cold and damp. He now knew what it meant to wake up in a cold sweat. His heart was still racing at the frenetic events of his dream. He got up from his bed and went to the bathroom. He bent over the sink, washed his face, and wondered what the fuck was up with that dream he just had. He shrugged off his feelings of unease and returned to bed. It was still quite dark outside but he wasn’t feeling sleepy anymore. Staring at his ceiling, he smiled at the thought of the raven in his dream and the bird’s mention of ‘the boss.’ Before succumbing to sleep, Harris told himself he would re-read Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and look for any reference to an ‘obsession wasteland.’ **** Harris was beginning to regret his present presence at Billy’s place for his end-ofschool party. Harris had been sitting, by himself, on a couch drinking a soda, intending to wait the entire party out right there. His plans were ruined immediately when one of the girls from Harris’ section, Andrea, took a seat beside him and started chatting him up. “Hi, Dan,” she said cheerfully. “Call me Harris, would ya?” said Harris. “I think I prefer Dan,” replied Andrea. “It was a request, Andrea,” said Harris crossly, “Not a bestowal of permission.” Andrea looked at Harris blankly as she pondered his reply then said, “Yeah, whatever you say, Dan.” Annoyed at the girl’s stupidity, Harris slumped into the couch, looked away from Andrea, and said nothing. “I hear you’re on the honor list again,” said Andrea casually, oblivious to Harris’ exasperation, “You’re so smart.” Without looking at Andrea, Harris replied, “I try.” Harris did not particularly like Andrea, at least, not anymore. She was very pretty and upon first seeing her, Harris was smitten. He had made an effort to get to know her during his first term in college. Back then, all that he could see were Andrea’s pretty face and amiable personality. At the end of that term though, Harris’ feelings for Andrea died. She failed three subjects and this was just unacceptable to him. Even Billy, the laziest and most apathetic student in their section, had managed to pass all of their subjects. Free from the blinding effect of infatuation, Harris saw Andrea’s inner ugliness. She was quite intellectually challenged and also, quite dull. “You know, we haven’t talked in ages,” said Andrea.

“Really?” said Harris apathetically, “I remember talking to you at class card day.” “I mean really talking, Dan.” “Well, we’re talking now,” said Harris, “And it’s Harris, alright? Not Dan. Harris.” “Oh,” replied Andrea, finally sensing Harris’ annoyance, “Right. Sorry, um, Harris.” There was an awkward silence between the two before Andrea said, “I’m gonna go get a drink. Did you want anything?” “I’m good,” replied Harris. Andrea walked away and to his great relief, Harris was again alone on the couch. He felt a little bad about the way he talked to Andrea but he did not regret it. The alternative would have been to feign interest and sit through an entire conversation with her and that would have been just excruciating. Harris’ alone time was, once again, interrupted but this time it was by the party’s host, Billy. He jumped onto the couch beside Harris and said, “Hey, my man!” “Hey, Billy,” said Harris. “Dude, I saw Andrea here with you,” said Billy as he nudged Harris with his elbow, “Rekindling old flames?” “Fuck no,” replied Harris bluntly. “That’s good, man,” said Billy, rummaging through his pockets looking for something, “That’s good.” “Lose something?” asked Harris, noticing Billy’s behavior. “Yeah, it’s here somewhere,” said Billy with his left hand in his left pocket and his right in the other, “You’re gonna be so stoked about this, dude!” “What the fuck?” asked Harris, getting a bit anxious. “Aha!” said Billy triumphantly as he held up what appeared to be a scrunched up piece of paper. Harris grabbed the paper from Billy’s hands and examined it. It was a plane ticket. “We’re going to the greatest country in the freakin’ world, man!” said Billy excitedly. “China?” suggested Harris sarcastically. “Fuck you, man! America! It’s gonna be awesome! Just you, me, and my dad,” said Billy excitedly, “We’re gonna be staying at my Uncle Marty’s and we’ll get to hang around the original Killer Will’s in Drexla!” “What?” asked Harris in disbelief, “When? How? Why?”

“What? A vacation in the US. When? In two days. How? On a plane, ya dumb fuck! And why? To get you to hook up with Gracie Keller, of course!” Harris was speechless. A flood of questions entered his mind but he couldn’t think which one to ask first. “But my parents…” began Harris. “All good, man. My old man talked to them and they’re totally okay with it. You’re such a good kid, I think they’d let you get away with just about anything.” “How long would we…” Harris started asking before changing his question to, “Did you tell your dad about Gracie Keller?” “To answer your unfinished question, until the end of the summer,” said Billy, “And I didn’t tell my dad. As far as he knows, all we want is to cut loose in Drexla.” Harris slumped deeper into the couch and stared up into the ceiling. “Seriously?” said Harris. “You set all this up so I could meet Gracie Keller?” “Yep. You’re my buddy. Is that so hard to believe?” “Dude, don’t get me wrong,” said Harris trying to pick the right words to say, “This is awesome of you and all, but this thing I feel, it’s just a temporary obsession. I mean, this must have cost you guys a bundle.” “Say no more, my friend,” said Billy. “Look, you’re the best dude I know and you deserve to have your dreams come true. And maybe I’m a bit of a romantic, but I want to see this thing happen. It’s something straight out of a cheesy romance movie: smart but anti-social boy from a third-world country falls in love with girl on an internationally acclaimed American TV show. Boy gets on a plane to America to find girl. Boy and girl meet, fall madly in love with each other, and live happily ever after.” Harris was, again, left speechless. He had nothing but the deepest gratitude for what his friend had done for him. All he could think to do was smile and place his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Besides,” said Billy, “Don’t tell me you don’t want to meet her.” “Dude,” said Harris with a sigh, “I want that more than anything else in this world.”

Chapter 2 Upon waking, a blurred world of white was all that Harris could see. He rubbed his eyes and everything went into focus. He was sitting in the large cabin of the plane that was taking him, Billy, and Billy’s father, to America. Billy was sitting beside Harris, sound asleep. Billy’s dad, also asleep, sat next to his son. Harris looked out the oval window to his left, at the surreal scene of blue skies littered with thin wisps of cottony clouds. Harris had only been on a plane once before in his life and that was a mere one-hour flight within the Philippines. The view was exhilarating. It was early morning; the last morning of their trip. They would land in Drexla later that day and Harris had been brimming with anticipation since the moment Billy had told him about the trip. He wasn’t exactly sure why he was excited though. He didn’t really believe that he would actually be able to meet Gracie Keller. How would it even happen? It was the possibility of it, he told himself. If there was even the slightest chance that he could meet Gracie – and there was – he would be excited. Besides, Billy was crazy and determined enough that anything was possible. Billy would sleep until the last moment before they had to disembark from the plane but Harris would be kept awake for the rest of the day by thoughts of Gracie Keller and the notion that a next-to-nothing chance was still a chance. **** Harris tossed his bags on the floor of the room that he would be sharing with his friend Billy for the next two months. Billy did the same and then rushed to the restroom which was directly adjacent to the room they were in. Harris collapsed onto one of the large beds in the room. It had been a long trip and when they arrived, it was already evening. On the plane, Harris had made an effort to adjust his body’s sleep patterns to avoid the effects of jetlag and it seems that he was successful, as a wave of drowsiness swept over him. “So what exactly is the plan with…” shouted Harris so that Billy could hear in the restroom. He didn’t complete the sentence for fear of Mr. Summers or Billy’s uncle Marty overhearing. “The plan?” shouted Billy. “Oh, you’re talking about Gracie Keller.” “Dude, let’s not talk about this out loud,” said Harris uneasily. The sound of the toilet flushing reached Harris’ ears then Billy emerged from the restroom, looking relieved. “You’re not gonna want to go in there for a while,” said Billy with a smile. He collapsed on the bed next to Harris’ and said, “We should have a code word for our little mission, Harris.” “Like what? Operation: Nigh Impossible?” suggested Harris sarcastically.

“You’re so pessimistic,” said Billy cheerfully, “What about ‘The Grilled Cheese Caper’?” “The Grilled Cheese Caper?” repeated Harris doubtfully. “Or ‘The Tiger Prawns Odyssey’!” suggested Billy excitedly, “No, wait! I’ve got it! ‘Operation: T-Bone Steak’!” “You’re pretty hungry, huh?” asked Harris. “What gave it away?” replied Billy sarcastically. As if able to somehow read his nephew’s mind, Billy’s uncle Marty entered the room carrying a tray bearing two gigantic hamburgers. Uncle Marty was a short, slightly chubby man with the same white-blonde hair as that of his brother and nephew but he wore it slightly longer. god!”

“Holy fuck, Uncle Marty!” exclaimed Billy as he sprang up from his bed, “You’re a

“I’m no god, boy. Just a mighty fine host, if I do say so myself,” said Uncle Marty with a chuckle. “Thanks a lot, Uncle Marty,” said Harris as he grabbed one of the burgers. He had not been particularly hungry a few seconds before but the sight of the burgers suddenly made it as if he hadn’t eaten in days. “Don’t mention it, kid,” said Uncle Marty, “There’re drinks in the kitchen. Just go ahead and grab what you like.” As Uncle Marty left the room, the two boys devoured their food hungrily in silence. **** It was mid-afternoon and the original Killer Will’s Bar/Grill was quite empty. Harris sat on a stool facing the bar with a can of soda on the counter in front of him. Beside him, Billy sat facing away from the bar, his elbows resting on the counter with a beer in his hand. He took a generous swig, wiped the spillage off his face, and grinned at Harris. “Can you believe it, man?” said Billy wistfully. “I know,” replied Harris, “we’re drinking at the Killer Will’s.” Billy took another big swig of his beer then said, “Well, I’m drinking but I don’t know what you’re doing.” Harris just smiled and took a sip of his soda. Mr. Summers and Uncle Marty appeared behind the counter after having had some words at the back room of the bar. “Isn’t it a little early to be getting drunk off your arse, boy?” said Uncle Marty to Billy with a grin.

“It’s never too early, Unc,” replied Billy. “Ah, to be young and have a healthy liver,” said Mr. Summers longingly. Uncle Marty filled a fresh mug from the beer tap and handed it to Billy who had just gulped down the remaining amber liquid from his mug. Billy took the newly-filled mug, raised it in thanks, and proceeded to gulp it down. “So listen boys,” said Mr. Summers, “Uncle Marty just got a call booking this place for some birthday party tomorrow.” Uncle Marty was left to run Killer Will’s when Mr. Summers left America several years ago. “Yeah,” said Billy impatiently, “So?” “So it’s for some teen-aged celebrity and your dad and I thought the two of you might like to go,” said Uncle Marty. Billy and Harris exchanged knowing glances then Harris said, “Which celebrity are we talking about?” “Melissa Ramirez,” said Uncle Marty. “Ever heard of her?” “Nope. Never,” said Harris, disappointed. “Hell, we’ll go anyway,” said Billy. “We will?” asked Harris, shooting a scrutinizing look at his friend. “Why not?” justified Billy, “What else have we got to do?” Harris shrugged then said, “Meh. Alright.” **** When Billy and Harris returned to Killer Will’s the next day, Melissa Ramirez’ party was already underway. A large man was stationed outside the entrance to let invited guests through and party-crashers out. Billy walked up to the door, ignoring the bouncer completely. At the threshold, Billy was stopped by a massive forearm. “Hold it, blondie,” said the bouncer with his forearm inches from Billy’s face, “Names.” Billy looked up at the large man, annoyed, and said, “William Summers, Jr. and Daniel Harrison.” The bouncer looked over the list of names in his hand then said, “Go right ahead Mr. Summers, Mr. Harrison.” He opened the door and gestured them inside. “Dick,” said Billy once the pair was inside and out of the bouncer’s earshot.

“He’s just doing his job,” said Harris as he surveyed the scene of the party. The bar was full of kids who appeared to be around the same age as Billy and Harris. Harris couldn’t help but notice how everyone was dressed. The boys were all in suits and slacks in a vast array of colors. Some of them wore ties and others wore vests. The girls were all in dresses and high-heeled shoes. They all wore make-up and expensive looking jewelry and some carried handbags. Billy was dressed much like the other boys in the party but Harris was noticeably underdressed. He wore his favorite leather jacket, which was quite old, a t-shirt, a pair of faded gray jeans, and sneakers. “Dude,” said Harris to Billy, “I’m fucking underdressed.” “Yes, you are, my friend,” said Billy as he fixed the collar of his shirt, “but you don’t really give a shit, do you?” “No,” replied Harris honestly. Billy and Harris sat at the bar on the exact same stools they had sat the day before. Billy scanned the crowd and said, “Dude, look at all these girls.” Harris glanced around half-heartedly and saw naught but what he deemed privileged, airheaded, party girls. fine!”

“Look at this one,” said Billy gesturing with his head at a girl, “God damn, she is

“Would you look at that one, Billy,” said Harris in mock awe as he grabbed his friend’s shoulder and gestured at something, “By God, she is scrumptious!” Harris was pointing to the buffet with his mouth agape, making gurgling noises, ala Homer Simpson. “Har har,” said Billy, “You go eat. I’m gonna go mingle with the ladies.” Harris saluted his friend as Billy left to join a group of girls at their table. Harris looked on as Billy invited himself into their congregation and was surprised when the girls welcomed him. Harris went to the buffet table and loaded a plate with as much food as it could hold then returned to his place at the bar. **** Gracie Keller stared at the boy sitting alone at the bar. He was facing away from her but he would glance around from time to time. Gracie knew everyone at the party; Melissa’s friends were her friends, but this boy was a stranger to her. She was intrigued by the stranger, with his black-as-night hair, and perpetual scowl. An elbow to her side broke Gracie out of her reverie. “Do you know this guy?” asked the owner of the elbow.

Melissa Ramirez sat next to Gracie. She had long dark hair and a cute face that seemed too small for her head. She was pointing discreetly at a boy with white blonde hair. It took a moment for Gracie to fully grasp her friend’s question. “No, Mel,” she said. “Never seen him before in my life.” Melissa crossed her arms in displeasure and said, “I specifically said no party crashers!” “You should go tell the bouncer,” suggested Gracie absent-mindedly. Melissa leered at the white blonde playboy as he began talking to another one of her friends. She then stood up and declared, “This boy is gone!” Melissa stomped off towards the front door and Gracie was left alone at their table. She looked at the blonde stranger and wondered what had gotten Melissa so peeved. She decided she didn’t care whether or not this boy would get bounced but then she remembered the other stranger; the dark-haired one. He was still sitting at the bar but this time, he was facing towards the crowd and Gracie got a good look at him. Even sitting, he looked very tall. He was quite thin with brown skin, and his dark hair swooped over his forehead. He was not dressed like any other boy at the party. Gracie concluded that he was another party crasher and felt guilty that he’d suggested to Melissa to call the bouncer. She decided that she would go up to the dark-haired stranger and warn him about this. She approached the bar cautiously from the side; out of the stranger’s line of sight. She was intrigued by this boy but his demeanor also made her feel faintly afraid. She took a seat beside him and considered her first words to him. **** Harris had finished eating and was now sitting with his back towards the bar, facing the crowd. He was growing bored and impatient. He scanned the many faces, looking for the one belonging to Billy. He found Billy sitting at a booth with three girls, laughing raucously with them. Harris knew that Billy wouldn’t be leaving soon. “Uhm, excuse me,” said a familiar female voice from beside Harris. Harris turned to his left and found, sitting beside him, Gracie Keller. She was even more beautiful in person than Harris expected. Her brown hair was in curls and she was smiling weakly. She was wearing a dark blue dress that showed off her maturing figure. She looked older than she did in her movies or on Ask Alice. Harris’ expression remained unchanged but his heart started pumping like mad. He could not think of anything to say in reply. He just sat there staring at her. Gracie felt exceedingly uncomfortable under the scowling stare that Harris was giving her. She could not bring herself to look him straight in the face. She kept her eyes on the crowd, as if uninterested, and said, “I just thought I’d warn you. My friend is going to tell

the bouncer about some party crasher and, you know, he might bounce you too.” Harris considered the statement for a few seconds, weighing his next words carefully in his mind. “I appreciate the concern,” he said with a slight quiver in his voice that he just could not suppress, “but I’m on the guest list.” “Oh,” said Gracie, a little embarrassed at her assumption. “I’m sorry. It’s just… I’ve never seen you before, you know, and I thought I knew all of Mel’s friends.” Gracie flushed noticeably and Harris’ anxiety died down at the sight of her adorably timid expression. “You still do,” said Harris trying to sound reassuring. “I’m here with that blonde dude over there. See, his dad owns this place and he put us on the guest list.” Harris was pointing towards the booth where Billy was sitting. “Oh my God,” exclaimed Gracie. “That’s the party crasher.” Harris chuckled. “Don’t worry about Billy. He is on the guest list, after all. As long as he doesn’t start a fight, or something, I don’t think he’s going to get bounced.” The redness drained away from Gracie’s cheeks and a small semblance of her huge smile appeared on her face. She still could not bring herself to look at Harris though. “I’m Harris, by the way,” said Harris extending his hand towards Gracie nervously. Gracie looked up at Harris’ face and found a slight smile on it. She grinned, involuntarily, and shook his hand. Harris flushed as his hand touched Gracie’s. “Gracie,” she said. I know, thought Harris. He could not bring himself to tell her that he was an obsessive fan boy. What would she think? What if she found it creepy? He didn’t want to lie to her but he wanted even more for her to stay right there next to him. With all good sense and rationality thrown out the window, Harris continued the ruse. “So,” he said, trying to sound casual, “this is some celebrity party, right? Are you famous too?” “Yeah, kinda,” replied Gracie, a little embarrassed. “Cool. Are you on a TV show?” Alice.”

“Uh huh. You’ve probably never seen it, though. It’s on the Sidney Channel. Ask

Harris paused for a moment trying to look like he wasn’t quite sure what show she was talking about. “Oh yeah, I think I have seen you. My sister watches that show.” Gracie grinned, strangely pleased at Harris’ recognition of her. Just then, Melissa passed by the bar, pulling the large bouncer by the arm. She was

visibly angry. “Uh oh,” said Gracie. “Here comes the bouncer.” Harris rubbed his palms together in a visual display of anticipation and said, “This should be fun.” Melissa and the bouncer were now standing in front of the booth Billy was in and Melissa was shouting, at first at Billy, then at the bouncer, then back at Billy again. “I think I’d better go over there and calm her down,” said Gracie as she stood from the bar stool. “Oh,” said Harris as he stood as well, “Yeah. Right. I’ll uh…” “Nice meeting you,” said Gracie with a meek, toothless smile before going towards the fracas. Harris wanted to stop her but she was gone before he could say anything. Harris sat back down and slumped backwards onto the counter. Meeting Gracie Keller was a one-in-amillion thing and this was the one in the million. Nine-hundred ninety nine thousand, ninehundred ninety nine opportunities from now on would come up empty. The shouting became even louder as more people joined in on the argument. Billy was now standing, arms raised in front of his chest in a gesture of surrender and protection. Melissa and a boy with dirty blonde hair were both shouting at Billy. Gracie appeared beside Melissa and tried to pull her away. Melissa finished shouting one last sentence before allowing Gracie to pull her aside. Billy was now facing a single verbal assailant and Harris grew worried that Billy might hit him. Harris stood up and moved quickly towards the confrontation to make sure his friend didn’t do anything stupid. “I’m on the fucking guest list, douchebag!” growled Billy with his face inches away from the dirty blonde stranger. “He’s right, Mr. Gilligan,” said the bouncer timidly to the stranger. Harris recognized the stranger as Chris Gilligan and instantly felt like punching him. He suppressed the urge, grabbed Billy by the arm, and said to him, “Hey, c’mon, Billy. Let’s get out of here.” Billy was not moving and Harris could not budge him. Harris put himself in between Billy and Gilligan with his back to the latter. He whispered to Billy, “This fucker ain’t worth it, dude. Let’s just go.” “Hey, I’m not done with this guy!” said Chris Gilligan. He put his hand on Harris’ shoulder and attempted to move him out of the way. Harris turned to face Gilligan, grabbed him by the wrist, and glared at him with the deepest of loathing. “Don’t fucking touch me,” pronounced Harris; each word filled with venom. “We’re leaving, alright?” The commotion had attracted the attention of everyone at the party and they murmured excitedly as it went on but when Harris uttered his first vicious word, they all

went silent. It was as if Harris’ hatred seeped into each of them and sapped them of their ability to speak. Even Billy was affected. Harris was able to pull him out of the crowd on the way out. Harris glanced back to where Melissa and Gracie were sitting. They had seen everything and Gracie was looking at Harris with an expression of fear and disappointment. Harris was crushed. **** It was almost midnight when Billy and Harris returned to Uncle Marty’s place. Billy spent the entire trip back complaining about the unfortunate events that ended their presence at Melissa Ramirez’ birthday party. Harris kept silent. “They didn’t even have beer there,” ranted Billy as he retrieved a can of beer from the refrigerator. Harris was already in their room, sitting on his bed, removing his shoes, and still keeping silent. Billy entered the room and sat down on his bed. “Are you mad at me?” asked Billy. “You haven’t said anything since the party.” “No, man,” lied Harris. “Well, yes, actually.” “What I do?” asked Billy defensively. “Didn’t you see her there?” asked Harris, annoyed. “Who?” “Gracie Keller! She was there!” Billy looked surprised. “No way. And there I was thinking I’d talked to every girl at that party.” “I was talking to her, Billy,” said Harris, his voice rising in volume. “Hell yeah!” replied Billy, oblivious to Harris’ anger. “You got her number, right?” Harris’ anger turned into depression. “No. She left to save you from that crazy bitch, Melissa, before I could.” “Oh,” said Billy, realizing how he had messed things up for his friend, “Shit, dude. I’m sorry…” “Meh, don’t worry about it,” said Harris as he lied down on his bed. “She probably wouldn’t have given it to me, anyway. I mean, I’d just met her.” “Don’t lose heart, brother,” said Billy reassuringly. “This vacation is far from over and I promise you, we’ll see her again.” Harris appreciated Billy’s promise but he did not quite believe it.

**** Gracie Keller was sitting on the backseat of a car beside her best friend, Melissa Ramirez. Melissa was in tears and ranting in between sobs. Gracie put her arm around her friend but said nothing. She just allowed Melissa to let all of her frustrations out. Her birthday party had just been ruined by a couple of uninvited guests. Gracie could not muster much sympathy for her friend, though. The only thing she could think about was the angry, dark-haired boy named Harris. “The nerve of that guy,” said Melissa, sobbing. “Easy, Mel,” said Gracie. “It’s all over.” Melissa would not take it easy. “And the other guy too!” ranted Melissa, appalled. “Putting his hands on Chris like that.” Gracie looked at her friend, her attention caught by the mention of the dark-haired boy Harris. “Did you see his wrist, Gracie?” asked Melissa with disgust. “Chris’ wrist was bruised!” Gracie was shocked. “Harris… did that?” Melissa looked at Gracie, surprised. “Harris? You know that guy?” Gracie flushed. She had not wanted to say her last statement out loud. “Not really, I…” Gracie explained, trying to be delicate with her friend, “I just met him when you left to fetch the bouncer.” Melissa did not know what to think. The two friends spent the rest of the ride home in silence. **** Billy devoured his bowl of noodles hungrily as Harris looked on with a mixture of disgust and amazement. The two friends were eating in a Chinese restaurant with Mr. Summers and Uncle Marty. “Don’t I feed you enough, Billy?” asked Mr. Summers sarcastically. Uncle Marty laughed heartily. “The boy eats even more than I do.” “He forgot to eat last night,” said Harris. “Too busy chatting up all them rich girls.” Billy shot Harris a threatening look then resumed eating. “Is that right, boy?” asked Uncle Marty. “Got any phone numbers?”

Billy stopped eating. “No, none of them were my type,” he said trying to sound indifferent. “No way,” said Harris, surprised. “You must’ve talked to like thirty girls! Not one number?” “Like I said, man…” began Billy, defensively. “That’s a lot of strikeouts, son,” interrupted Mr. Summers, visibly pleased. “You do the Summers name a great dishonor.” “It’s not like that!” said Billy, slamming his hands on the table. “They all asked for my number, is all.” “All right, all right, calm down, son,” said Mr. Summers with a chuckle. Billy returned to his bowl of noodles, still fuming a little. “Any of them call yet?” teased Harris, unable to stop himself. “Bite me, Harris,” said Billy. “It’s the day after, man. Give it some time.” Harris stifled a laugh but said nothing more. When the group finished eating, they paid their bill and left the restaurant. Their next stop would be a record store that Mr. Summers had been raving non-stop about since they arrived in Drexla. He gushed that the store carried every single album that his band, The Scumbags, had ever released and a lot of these were already extremely hard to find. “It’s right around here,” said Mr. Summers, excitedly. “Called Mohawk Records. Been around for a while.” “Aye,” agreed Uncle Marty. “Will and I used to go up there all the time and spend all of our allowances on punk records.” “Those were the days, eh Marty?” mused Mr. Summers wistfully, “Now it’s all digital downloads and mp3s and all that crap.” “You guys are such fossils,” said Billy. The group came up on a run-down old building. On the window, “Mohawk Records” was written in large red letters. Mr. Summers opened the door and chimes sounded his entry. The place was smaller than it looked from outside. There were three shelves of records and CDs and there was very little room in between each. On the walls and on the front of the counter were posters of album covers. Harris recognized a few of them as albums he already owned. “Marty!” called the man behind the counter happily. “Hey, Phil,” responded Uncle Marty as he walked up to the counter. “You know my brother, Will, right?”

Phil was left speechless when he recognized who Uncle Marty was referring to. Mr. Summers extended his hand to Phil and said politely, “Good to meet you, Phil. I hope you haven’t taken down the Scumbags records yet.” “N-no, no sir, Mr. Killer Will, sir,” stammered Phil as he shook Mr. Summers’ hand vigorously. Harris and Billy busied themselves looking through the more recent releases the store had to offer. Back home, the album selections at CD stores were always sparse. They only sold albums by mainstream artists and a lot of what Billy and Harris listened to were very underground. “Holy fuck, dude!” exclaimed Billy as he held a CD up to Harris’ face. “They’ve got the new Smuggled Switchblade! I’ve been looking for this forever.” Billy put the CD on a stack of others he’d extracted then browsed through the rest of the selection hungrily. Harris also found a lot of CDs that he had been wanting for a long time but just couldn’t find back home. He’d read reviews and listened to tracks on the internet, but when he went off to find them, he’d always come up empty. He checked his wallet to see how many albums he could afford to buy. “Don’t worry about it, Harris,” said Mr. Summers as he put his hand on Harris’ shoulder. “I’ll take care of it. I’m loaded.” Harris smiled and began extracting albums into his very own to-buy pile. **** Billy paced around the room, trying to think of arguments to tell Harris who was sitting calmly on the side of his bed, watching Billy as he paced. “I don’t like baseball, Billy,” said Harris. “You know that.” “Yeah, man, but you’ll be all alone here and we’ll be gone all day,” argued Billy. “I have tons of experience with prolonged periods of isolation. I’ll survive,” Harris assured him. Billy didn’t look quite convinced yet but said, “Suit yourself. I’ll bring you a foam finger or something.” “I want a ball park hotdog,” joked Harris, “You can keep it in your pocket ‘til you get back.” “You’ll get a finger and like it,” said Billy in mock finality. When it came time for Billy, Mr. Summers, and Uncle Marty to leave for the baseball game, Harris stood at the door saluting them as they entered the car. “Take care, Harris,” called Mr. Summers before entering through the driver’s seat.

“If you wanna invite someone over, my bed’s king size!” joked Uncle Marty with a wink and a jovial laugh. The trio sped off and Harris was left in Uncle Marty’s sizeable house alone. He headed back into his and Billy’s room and retrieved his laptop. He brought the computer, along with its power cable and mouse, out into the living room where Uncle Marty’s large comfortable sofa and gigantic television were. He untangled the wires, plugged everything where it belonged and started up his computer. He reached for the TV remote and switched the big screen on. Harris had also brought out with him all of the new albums he’d bought from Mohawk Records. He took one, inserted it into his laptop’s disc drive and started ripping it. While doing this, he also flipped from channel to channel. American television was intriguing to him and he even stayed on some channels just to watch the commercials. They were entertainment enough by themselves. Harris stopped at a celebrity news show. He was suddenly hopeful that he might see Gracie’s pretty face. The show was talking about some big Hollywood break-up and this didn’t interest Harris. He turned his attention back to his laptop, where he opened up an internet browser, taking advantage of Uncle Marty’s wireless internet access. His mind was on one thing and one thing only: Gracie Keller. He revisited gracie-keller.com looking for some new pictures and news items. He had been visiting the site regularly and was even already a member of its forum. After finding no updates, he went to the forum and logged in under the handle, Hephaestus. The forum was split into different sections: general Gracie discussion, Gracie’s movies, Gracie’s TV shows, and Gracie’s music. Harris had never paid much attention to the music section of the forum and now wondered if Gracie had ever recorded any music. He clicked the link and found very few discussions. One discussion bore the title, “Gracie’s upcoming album. Can’t wait!” Harris was intrigued, having never heard anything about an album before. From the discussion, he learned that Gracie had received a record deal after her brilliant singing in I Dream of Diva-dom. The album would come out in a mere three days. Harris became excited. He had pretty much exhausted all of Gracie’s movies and TV shows already. This would provide him more fuel for his obsession. Harris’ attention was diverted from his laptop by the image of Gracie Keller’s face on the television screen. The news show was talking about Gracie, and Harris reached for the remote to turn up the volume. An interview with the teen star was being shown where she talked about the hardships of being a teen celebrity. “It’s fun, of course,” said Gracie, on-screen, “but the fame kinda changes people.” “They act different around you,” explained Gracie. “My classmates from back in elementary who’d bullied me, they’d up and call me and be all buddy-buddy, all of a sudden. It’s so fake and I just hate it.” Harris felt a twang of guilt. He had been a fake to Gracie too. He pretended not to know her, when in truth, he was an obsessed, lovesick, fan boy. Harris wanted to make it right but he told himself that it didn’t really matter since he would probably never see her again. A wave of depression washed over him as the interview on TV ended and he slumped backwards into the sofa.

Harris switched the TV off and played one of the new CDs he’d acquired. He knew the band and he knew that their music was anything but cheery. A bit of raw, guttural screaming was what he decided he needed at that moment. **** Gracie was sitting inside one of the many trendy clothes shops that occupied the areas between the streets of Drexla. Melissa was in one of the store’s fitting rooms with two – the maximum as stated by the sign beside the fitting rooms – items she intended to try on before deciding whether or not to buy. Gracie was in no mood for shopping but she had already previously agreed to accompany Melissa before her mood became somber and not shopping-friendly. She glanced at the time on her cell phone, noting to herself that Melissa had been in the fitting room for far too long. She then gazed longingly out through the large pane of glass that served to display the store’s wares to passersby. The image of the dark-haired boy in the worn leather jacket entered Gracie’s mind. She remembered the boy’s cold, scowling stare, his piercing, dark eyes, and the look of pure loathing on his face as he grabbed and injured her friend, Chris. She told herself that these recollections should be disturbing – which they were not – instead of captivating – which they were. “Hello?” called a voice that seemed to Gracie to be emanating from far away. “Gracie? Did you hear me?” Gracie snapped out of her reverie, turning quickly towards the source of the voice. “What?” she asked, distractedly. “Oh, sorry, Mel, I wasn’t paying attention.” Melissa paused to study her friends expression, sighed, then said, “I said let’s go. I paid for my clothes already.” Gracie stood up, immediately. “Right. Let’s go.” Melissa took another moment to look over Gracie, trying to figure out why she was acting so strangely. “Let’s get some coffee.” Gracie nodded silently and the two left the store. Melissa emerged with three bags of items, each from a different store. Gracie held none. Upon noticing this fact, Gracie held out her hand to Melissa and said, “Want me to carry some of those?” Melissa handed one of the bags to Gracie and said, “You didn’t buy anything.” “Oh, I guess I just didn’t see anything I liked,” lied Gracie as she took the bag offered by her friend. “You weren’t even really looking,” pointed out Melissa. Gracie said nothing, unsure of what to say.

“What’s up with you today?” asked Melissa finally. Gracie said nothing again, ashamed of the answer. “It’s that angry guy from my party, isn’t it?” asked Melissa though she knew the answer to the question already. Gracie said nothing. “I didn’t know you had a thing for bad boys,” said Melissa smugly. Gracie looked up at her in protest. “He’s not bad,” she said quietly. “Not bad? There’s a black ring on Chris’ wrist because of him!” “I’m sure he didn’t mean it,” argued Gracie, looking down at the patch of sidewalk in front of her as she spoke. “You can’t look at someone with that much hate and not mean it,” said Melissa, sagely. Gracie turned to her friend and opened her mouth to protest but no words came out as the wisdom in Melissa’s statement registered in her mind. The two girls reached the coffee shop and sat down, inside, on two sofas facing each other with an oval table in between. Gracie sat leaning forward, her forearms parallel to her thighs, resting on them, and her head tilted slightly down and to her left. Melissa leaned back on the sofa with her right elbow resting on the chair’s arm and her right index finger placed on her temple. She stared at Gracie, processing her thoughts. “Why don’t you just call him?” suggested Melissa. Gracie looked up in surprise. “Call him? Just like that? I-I don’t even have his number,” she said in a tone of panic. Melissa did not move from her current position. “So we’ll ask the people from my party,” she said calmly. “His friend talked to a lot of the girls there. We can at least get his number. You know, the flirty annoying one.” Gracie’s lips curled into an involuntary smile. “Well, let’s get that coffee, now,” said Melissa as she stood from her chair, sparing Gracie the obligation of thanking her. “We can’t just sit here and not buy anything.” Gracie stood and followed her friend to the counter with renewed energy. **** A loud cheer erupted from the crowd around Billy, Mr. Summers, and Uncle Marty. A group of large men seated in front of them, each man wearing team merchandise and team

colors, sprang up and celebrated with high fives, chest bumps, and simultaneous swigs from their beer cups. Billy looked on, mortified. He wished that Harris was there to hear all of the clever, cruel things he’d just thought of to describe the spectacle. Billy’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket and he reached in to retrieve it. An unknown number was calling him. “Hello?” he called with his phone to his ear. The crowd was too noisy for Billy to hear anything. He shouted, “Wait!” into the phone as he stood and worked his way through the crowd towards an exit, grumbling at the inconvenience. He made it to an empty hallway where the crowd noise was substantially attenuated. “Hello? Who’s this?” he asked through the phone. “This is Melissa Ramirez…” said the voice on the other side of the call. “Oh shit,” interrupted Billy, “Look, I don’t want any more trouble.” “Calm down, stupid. Just listen,” said Melissa. “I feel bad about how things ended at my party, all right?” Billy was quite unconvinced. “So, we were thinking; my friend Gracie and I,” continued Melissa, “that we’d like to make it up to you guys; you and your friend from the party.” Billy’s interest was snagged by the passing mention of the name Gracie. “You and Gracie Keller?” he asked. “That’s right,” confirmed Melissa. “Well, what do you say?” “It’s fine by me and I’m sure Harris would say the same,” said Billy. “What exactly does this making-it-up-to-us entail?” “Free food. I trust that’s acceptable?” “Most definitely.” “Fine. I’ll text you the details later.” “Cool. Bye now,” said Billy as he hung up. Billy stood in the hallway with his phone in his hand, soaking up the conversation he had just had. He was thrilled that he would be able to make up for ruining Harris’ chances with Gracie at the party. She totally wants me, Billy thought to himself, referring to Melissa Ramirez, as he walked back to his seat.