Flopped Out - Evan, tag open

[Evan Hughes]

It was even later in the morning than usual when Evan finally managed to drag himself out of bed, and he was a late riser to begin with. He felt tired too when he woke up, like he’d spent all night running around, all without leaving his bed. At least he hoped he hadn’t, it had been years since he last sleepwalked, and given that the last time involved the then 11 year old waking up in his Spiderman underwear in the middle of his neighbours front yard, it wasn’t a habit he wanted to get back into again. And not just because he often slept naked now, though that could prove awkward if he started up late night wandering again.

His mother had an afternoon shift the day before so she was awake when he forced himself out of bed. Which meant, he had no chance of a lazy morning and a missed first class. It wasn’t all bad though, in between her ordering him to shower and put some clothes on, then another order of changing his clothes to those that had been washed recently, she did make him toast for breakfast. She knew her son too well, knowing the chocolatey breakfast he would have if he walked out the door without eating anything.

Then around fifteen minutes after he woke up, with a mouthful of bread, Evan pressed a sloppy kiss on his mum’s cheek before hopping into his car, speeding off to school. and he made it there in good time too, he figured, there was still almost seven whole minutes before class. He was getting good at this whole being punctual thing.

He could have headed to class early, but seven minutes was still seven minutes, and he didn’t want to waste them. So instead he made his way to his favourite tree outside the school, collapsing, as spread out as possible, underneath it. And, as any sane, bored person would do, he started to hum the Batman theme song. He hadn’t been able to get it out of his head all morning, though he had no idea how it got stuck in there in the first place. Then that humming started to get louder, then changed to singing, the lyrics being whatever Evan could make up quickly enough about the adventures of Batman. So far he had stopped a speeding train, defeated Iron Man and ate a million pancakes.

[Hannah Bell]

It was a nice morning. The air was warm, but not hot. The sky was clear, and the sun hadn't yet gotten so far overhead as to feel oppressive. Hannah enjoyed mornings, usually.

This one was slightly different. She had managed to avoid Evan and his friends all week, but that hadn't meant the horrible, horrible weekend wasn't preying on her mind. She kept to her own friends, cheerleaders, and luckily if any of them had heard about the bowling incident, they hadn't spoken about it while Hannah was around. Surely Aly would know, but for now it seemed she didn't care.

But as luck would have it, Hannah happened to hear a few strains of a modified version of the Batman theme song. After hearing about the superhero's feats against too many snack foods, Hannah immediately knew who it was.

Evan.

She paused, back to the sun, contemplating whether to talk to him. She felt her back pack, making sure the bowling shoes she had accidentally run off with were still in there. She had been holding on to them, in case anyone asked for them back. But again, she hadn't seen a soul from that group of friends. She decided on a course of action, and her mind resolute, she stomped in the direction of the tune and rounded a tree to find the boy lazing about in the morning sun.

“Here,” she commanded, trying her best to keep her voice firm. She dropped the shoes onto Evan's stomach, hoping that would startle him a bit. “I forgot them when I left. You can take them back since you and your friends work there or whatever.” She tried to continue, wanting to tell Evan off for treating her the way he did, but she couldn't find the words. She wasn't used to inflicting mental anguish on others. “I think it's stupid I can't be your friend.” That was the best she had, and she knew it was weak. So she spun back around and headed towards the school before any tears decided they might want to form at the corner of her eyes. A part of her really hoped Evan would follow.

[Evan Hughes]

There was only so much that even Evan could sing about Batman before he started to run out of ideas and his mind started to wander, thinking about other subject matter. Like Star Wars. The original trilogy, not the cash cow prequels that he could only bring himself to watch the first of, on hired DVD, which he shut off the very moment Jar Jar Binks appeared. He could force himself through a lot of torture in the name of movie obsession, but he didn’t hate himself that much. Damn sell-out Lucas. And they could have been great too.

He eventually settled on Chewbacca, and was about to sing about his feats (to the Star Wars theme, only naturally) when he was startled (again, only naturally) by a pair of shoes being dropped onto his stomach. It wasn’t every day that shoes rained on you, especially bowling shoes, as he realised when he forced his eyes open to look at them on his stomach, and then up at the person responsible, the surprise very much evident in his eyes.

Hannah.

He hadn’t seen her since the weekend, he figured that meant she was ignoring him, not a difficult task given that half the school could hear him coming at any given time. And if she was ignoring him, there obviously had to be a reason for her to, and he had guessed that she was annoyed at him. Judging by the way she was looking at him now, he was right. He didn’t blame her, he felt pretty guilty about the whole thing, and he knew he could have handled the situation a lot better, but just how he hadn’t worked out yet. That job was for someone smarter than him.

Evan was smart enough to realise that her ignoring him was probably a good thing for the sake of his and Brittany’s relationship. Things hadn’t been looking good over the weekend, and he had been really worried that she was about to break up with him. Thank god he’d been able to convince her not to, and things were really good between them now, he felt. Something he didn’t want to risk again. She was his first serious girlfriend, and he wanted to keep her that way for as long as he could. He didn’t go around just telling any girl that he loved her.

Pulling the shoes off his belly, he sat up as he listened to Hannah’s reasoning to why she was giving them to him. And with what she said just as she turned around and stalked off amped up the guilt factor to eleven, Spinal Tap style. That was never good.

Glancing around, checking to see if anyone he knew was nearby though he didn’t spot anyone, he hesitated about what to do next. It was pretty obvious he’d upset her. He really hoped she didn’t cry, he didn’t want to make a girl cry. And he couldn’t just leave her to be all upset. Surely Brit would understand that? His girl was cool after all, she had to get it.

So, hoping he wasn’t about to do something stupid, Evan grabbed the shoes and rushed after her. “Hey, hey, Hannah! Wait up!” He grinned a little nervously when she stopped to do just that. “Um...uh...yeah...” he stammered a little, juggling the shoes before making do with holding them in one hand.

“Um, yeah, I think it’s stupid too.” he agreed, looking at her apologetically. “But, Brit’s my girlfriend, and if that’s what she wants, well, I don’t want to upset her now.” He considered this then, thinking about how Hannah was treating him. Brit was mad cause she said Hannah liked him, as in, ‘liked’ him. And he eventually saw that too, well, he thought he had. But she didn’t seem like she liked him now, except with wanting to be friends. So maybe they were wrong? She was a cheerleader, she was meant to like jocks anyway, and cool guys, and he wasn’t either. One girl besides his girlfriend kisses him and suddenly he thinks he’s hot stuff? Maybe he was being really stupid.

“It’s cause she thinks that you have, you know, a thing for me.” he made himself laugh, watching carefully for a reaction, to see if maybe he could tell whether that was true or not. “But you don’t, right? I mean, um, you couldn’t.” This was accompanied by another laugh, more genuine this time, seeing nothing in Hannah’s reaction to make him nervous. “But, seeing how you don’t...well, if Brit knew that, maybe she wouldn’t mind then. And you and her could be friends, I reckon you’ll get along. You have to, right, if you both get on with me. And that way we could all be friends and everything would be okay. Yeah, I’m babbling.” he chuckled. “Way to go on stealing the bowling shoes though, very rebel without a cause and all. But these can’t be the right size, I mean, they’re like clown shoes. You don’t have clown feet, do you?” he teased lightly, if just a little nervous about Brittany getting the wrong idea if she spotted them. But he already promised, he would never cheat. She had to believe him.

[Hannah Bell]

The call of Evan's voice behind her made Hannah smile ever so slightly, but she hid it quickly before looking back. He was a sweet boy, there was no denying that. She slowed her pace so that Evan could catch up to her as he babbled on.

She listened to what he said, trying her best not to show any sign of emotion, as hard as that may be. Of course she liked the boy! Why else would she have waded into that group of hipster wannabes with their “cool” music and holier-than-thou attitudes? All she wanted to do was hang out with Evan when his at-the-time-sorta-not-girlfriend wasn't going to be around. But Brit had to go and show up and just make a total mess of Hannah's plans. Not to mention that her foe was the first to really start it, throwing her elbows around like some kind of ape.

But it still hurt a little to hear Evan say that there was no way she could like him. Hopefully she didn't look too disappointed when he told her so, but the boy continued on so he must not have noticed.

“I do not have big feet, Evan Hughes!” Hannah playfully smacked the boy on the shoulder, a small smile once again creeping onto her face. It was hard not to smile when he was around, and it was also hard not to playfully flirt. “I'd show you if I wasn't wearing a skirt!” But Evan's words kept coming back into her head, and the smile began to fade.

“No, you big silly, I don't have a thing for you.” Hannah's voice was slightly quieter than normal. She didn't like to lie to the boy, but there was no way after what he said that she could admit to liking him. “But I don't think that's gonna matter to your girlfriend. We get along pretty well, and we flirt, and not to sound conceited but I know I'm pretty. She ain't gonna like us being friends no matter what. And your other friends weren't so nice to me either.” Hannah took a deep breath, afraid of what she was going to say next. “Maybe it isn't a good idea if we were friends. We'll never be able to hang out except in big groups, and those people don't like me too much, just 'cause I'm a cheerleader. I dunno.” Hannah looked down, the feeling of tears welling of suddenly coming over her. She hated stuff like this, and hated that being someone's friend and liking them had to be so complicated.

[Evan Hughes]

“I’m not saying you have big feet.” Evan quickly emphasised, holding a hand over his ‘injured’ arm, playfully jerking away. “Just that, you know, you like to wear big shoes. To cover your big feet.” He laughed at this, making sure to keep enough distance so that he wasn’t attacked again, not that she hurt him or anything the first time. And for a moment, he completely forgot about all the drama with him, her, Brit, the bowling alley and his now almost non-existent black eyes. This was what he was more comfortable with, mucking around, being silly. This was better than serious stuff. He liked avoiding serious stuff. “Just don’t kick me alright, I’m not sure I can recover for that.” He snorted at this, pulling back further.

With Hannah pointing out that they flirted, he had to admit, maybe the girls were onto something, her and Brit. He really wouldn’t be surprised that they saw something he didn’t, after all, everyone knew that in general, girls were smarter than guys. Especially Evan. Sure, he rocked with the movie knowledge, and if you wanted help with doing something stupid, or pulling a prank, he was your man. But he knew that sometimes he could be oblivious to things. Such as the flirting. He didn’t even realise that he’d been flirting, he just thought he was being friendly. What was the difference, he wondered. Maybe he should pay more attention next time. There really should be a class for this sort of thing. So he could see why Brit wasn’t thrilled about the whole thing. After all, when he realised Eddie liked Brit (something he was certain of now), his feelings about the guy changed pretty quickly.

“That’s alright. I mean, I know I’m ruggedly handsome. We’re just being sensible, you know, picking up on that.” Hannah was right, she was real pretty. Not that he was supposed to notice that, having a hot girlfriend already and all. Nope, not noticing that, not thinking that she’s pretty. “Yeah, when you put it that way, I can kinda get where Brit’s coming from. There was this guy who I thought liked her, cause he seemed all...I dunno, and I wasn’t happy about him hanging around her, even though I knew she wasn’t gonna ever do anything.”

He sighed then, nodding in agreement at what she had to say about them not being friends. She had to be onto something, again, being smarter than him. “Yeah, sorry about them, not being nice and all. Maybe you’re right. It’s stupid though, huh? Can I think that it’s stupid. I mean, cause you’re pretty cool for a cheerleader, and I like you, and all.” It was much easier when he was younger, he decided, making friends and all.

“Yeah, the whole cheerleader thing is a sore point with my friends and me. I mean, nothing to do with you, and all. It’s Aly. She and Jasper framed me, Brit, Patch and Mal for the prank with the principal’s car. Now Patch can’t play in the soccer team, so it’s not looking good for him to do it at college, scholarship and all. And we all have to clean the locker rooms for a month. It really sucks. So, cheerleaders, bad.” he tried to joke, doing a thumbs down. “I suppose everyone can’t be as cool as me. It just really sucks, at the moment. I feel really bad for Patch. Trying to work out how to prove it was Aly and not us, so he can get back on the team. But it’s really hard.” He had no idea why he was telling her all this, and as a cheerleader, she could just go back and tell Aly all he said. But he didn’t think she would. She was cool, not like Aly. And they were friends, even if they couldn’t call themselves that.

Hannah looked down then, and Evan wondered why, glancing down to see if there was something cool to look at on the ground. There wasn’t, and so he looked back at her, confused, until he figured it out, or at least, thought he did. Oh no, she wasn’t going to cry, was she? Making a girl cry was a really, really bad thing. “Um, Hannah, are you okay?”

[Hannah Bell]

Evan was good at making Hannah smile. She liked that he wasn't serious most of the time, and that even when he was being serious there was still usually something light-hearted about the way he talked. It really was a shame that they couldn't be friends, or possibly more.

There were a few times when Hannah thought about interrupting Evan, but she knew it would do no good to trash Brit in front of him. Sure, maybe there was the off chance that some guy actually liked Brit (Hannah still wasn't convinced that Evan actually did), and if that was the case, did Evan insist on them not being friends? It didn't sound like he did.

All of this just built up inside Hannah until it started to show in the usual way: tears. Hannah knew she was a bit of a crybaby, and she hated it. Why other people could go along their day and not get affected by problems the way she did, she couldn't understand. When bad things happened, she cried. And it was starting to happen again.

“Yeah, yeah. I'm okay,” she mumbled quickly, trying hard not to sniffle. She quickly tried to wipe the tears away, then brought her head back up to show Evan a big smile. Still, there was evidence of crying and it wasn't stopping. She decided to try to change the subject.

“I'm sorry about your friends. I haven't heard Aly say anything, and even if I did I couldn't betray her like that.” Hannah thought of the repercussions of getting on Aly's bad side, and almost every scenario ended poorly. “Sorry.”

Sniffle.

No! She was trying to stop crying! She didn't want to make Evan feel bad, and she didn't want to cry in front of him and make him think she was some weirdo.

“Well, I better go. I don't wanna get you in trouble...”

[Evan Hughes]

Oh no. She really was going to cry. Evan stared at Hannah, completely aghast, relieved that she was currently looking at the ground and not at him in return, giving him time to try to look normal. Like so many guys his age, he was clueless when it came to handling crying girls. Luckily it wasn’t a situation he had to deal with much before. Sure, he’d seen his mum cry before, like when someone in the family died, but that was a family thing, so it seemed easier to handle, he just hugged her and that usually was enough. Brit had only got upset in front of him a few times, and on half of those occasions, it was because of him, so that was different entirely.

But if Hannah cried now, he would be at a complete loss at what to do. Sure, she was upset because of him, but apologising any more than he had wouldn’t do anything. And he couldn’t hug her now, not when he had a girlfriend he very much wanted to keep whom he knew wouldn’t approve of such a move, no matter how innocent it was on his end. So that left him in a bad, scary position.

Then she looked at up at him once more and smiled, but the relief Evan felt at this was very short lived when he noticed that the blonde was still all watery-eyed. Like he got whenever he watched The Lion King. Or, the way he used to get when he was like five, when he watched The Lion King, as he would tell everyone else. So what, he was sensitive, nothing wrong with that.

He picked up on her deliberate topic change, only because he so often employed that tactic himself, especially when things were getting serious, or worrying, or to close to things he wanted to avoid, like when his mum brought up him doing chores. But he played along with it, trying to help Hannah not to cry, when she was obviously trying not to. “Nah, it’s alright, just telling you so I can whinge to someone new, is all.” he laughed, giving her his own awkward grin. “Wouldn’t want ya going up against Aly anyway. Her wrath is scary. Stay far, far away. She’s only mean to me though cause she’s jealous of my awesomeness, I know. And she gets sick of seeing me at her house all the time. Cause of the jealousy, and all.”

It didn’t work though, and Evan spotted her getting all teary again, as he desperately tried to think of a new plan of attack. Then she gave him an outing, which he should have immediately grabbed and ran with it, but he wasn’t a bad guy. At least he didn’t think he was. He couldn’t leave it at that.

“Yeah, guess you’re right.” he agreed, once more looking at her with more than a little guilt written on his face. Really, what was with all the female attention all of a sudden? He didn’t think he was doing anything differently from before he got lucky with Brit. Maybe a new aftershave, but, he didn’t think that would be it. Though he made a mental note to change it, just in case. “Um, really sorry about this Hannah. You’re a really cool chick, you know, would have liked being friends.” He dug into his pockets, taking a few seconds before pulling out a handkerchief he was kind of surprised he had. “It’s clean. Maybe I’ll see you around.” He gave her another quick grin then before turning and jogging off, not liking the bad feeling he was left with.

Wrapped for Evan