Free Poseur #4: All That Glitters Is Not Gucci by Rachel Maude Page A

yellow VW bus.
    Theo launched the green and gold crocheted orb high into the air, and Brendan Hearne caught it on the back of his neck. With
     a fliplike motion of his tangled blond curls, he shot it back into the air, where it proceeded to hit Evan Beverwil square
     in the head and plop to the ground.
    Evan jumped, surprised, causing Brendan, Joaquin, and Theo to dissolve into peals of laughter. Theo was famous for his deep
     intense laugh, which sounded like Old Man River guffawing into a megaphone. Joaquin giggled like a girl.
    “Dude, you are the most out of it right now,” Brendan told Evan, between cackles.
    “Yeah, what’d you do, wake-and-bake before school or something?” Theo inquired.
    “No,” began Evan. “Or, uh, yeah.”

    That, of course, cracked them up even more.
    “You know you’re faded when you’re so faded you don’t remember getting faded,” Brendan sagely announced.
    “Speaking of getting faded,” Theo began, pointing at the place on his wrist where someone who cared about time might wear
     a watch. “Ticktock.”
    “Okay, let’s bounce,” Joaquin declared. Theo popped the back door of the VW open and slid across the sky blue torn vinyl seat.
    “Your turn to ride shotty,” Brendan told Evan, climbing into the backseat beside Theo.
    “Naw, it’s all you,” Evan mumbled. “I’m gonna chill on campus today.”
    “Dude, what?” Brendan wrinkled his brow. “You stayed on campus yesterday.”
    “Yeah, what, you don’t smoke anymore?” Theo inquired.
    “Or what, you don’t eat anymore?” Joaquin pressed.
    “Yeah, dude, are you, like, anorexic?” offered Theo.
    “Yeah, he’s, like, manorexic,” Joaquin agreed.
    Evan pushed some air between his lips, waving them off. “Whatever you say, dudes.”
    “Evan, calm down, man, it’s okay,” Theo assured him. “We still love you. Even though you’re manorexic.”
    “See you in fifth period, dickheads,” Evan laughed, shaking his head so his sandy golden locks swayed in the noondaysun. Then he made a break for it.
    Evan still had five minutes till he was supposed to meet Janie in the projection room, so he dipped into the men’s room to
     look in the mirror. He liked what he saw. His hair was doing that thing where it sort of crashed into a wave over his left
     eye and looked all shiny, too. He’d washed it with this stuff he stole out of Charlotte’s bathroom. It came in tiny green
     bottles, and it smelled really good. Like, too good maybe. Damn, did he smell like a chick? It was the first time Evan had
     ever used conditioner and it made his mane all—well—glossy, which is what it had said on the bottle. “Glossing conditioner.”
     Yeah, he’d read the bottle. Even the directions.
    He wanted to do this right.
    While he was sudsing the fragrant green goop into his ocean-stiff hair, Evan had thought about the thing he was thinking about
     right now. Which just so happened to be the thing he was thinking about while he attempted to do his Chem homework the night
     before. And while he skateboarded with Theo after dinner. And, well, every other minute of every day since the Pink Party,
     and a lot of minutes of a lot of days before the Pink Party too. Her, man. Janie Farrish. He hadn’t liked a girl this much
     since, well… ever.
    Evan smiled at his reflection in the mirror. Aside from the shiny hair part, he looked like he didn’t give a shit,which was exactly how he wanted to look. Just some old green flip-flops, some brown and beige board shorts, and a threadbare
     white Stüssy shirt. The retro one, with the big sloppy logo. He was ready. Evan exited the bathroom and started for the projection
     room, unconsciously quickening his flip-flopped step.
    “Hi, Evan!” chirped whatsherface and her one friend with the hair as he whizzed by.
    “Sup,” he replied, with a quick, upward jerk of his chin. He was on a mission. Nothing would derail him.
    Evan got to the projection room before Janie, and saw the pile