Free All I Can't Resist by Kels Barnholdt Page A

expecting when I walked in. Maybe a huge scene with cops standing by the door, checking IDs, and waiting to tote us off to jail. But if anyone notices anything strange about us, they don’t let on. In fact, no one really acknowledges us at all. Well, that’s not true. No one really acknowledges me. People definitely acknowledge Veronica. And when I say people I mean guys, of course. But she’s used to this by now, and just flips her hair over her shoulder, playing her part.
    She grabs two seats by the bar and I sit down next to her, allowing myself to finally breath, thanking God we even made it inside the front door.
    “Can we have two strawberry margaritas?” Veronica calls casually to the guy working behind the bar. He nods, barely looking at us, and then starts making our drinks.
    “See,” Veronica says turning to me, “piece of cake. This isn’t even really a bar, anyway. It’s a sports bar.”
    This is typical Veronica. She is always taking credit for the rare times that her horrible ideas work out, claiming that she knew there was nothing to worry about. Of course when things go wrong, which is most of the time, she’s just as quick to jump on the other side of things. Saying things like, “I knew this was a bad idea from the start,” or
    “I don’t know why you let me do this. You know I do things without thinking them through!”
    The bartender sets our drinks down in front of us and I force myself to take a sip, trying to pretend like I do this type of thing every day. La la la, act natural.
    I allow myself to glance around the room and survey the scene a little bit.
    It’s a Wednesday, so the place is pretty empty. There’s an older couple in the corner, some college kids playing darts in the back, and some random floaters sitting at the bar. I allow my eyes to drift toward the door where a group of guys are sitting. They look older than us, probably home from college. They had noticeably checked out Veronica when we walked in, so I had noticeably tried to pretend they didn’t exist. Then, just as I’m about to turn my attention back to my best friend, I spot a group of guys on the other side of the bar.
    I had almost missed them at first because they’re sitting on the other side of this divider that’s centered in the middle of the bar for some reason. I squint and allow myself a closer look. They look young, like our age young, but I’ve definitely never seen them around school before. I’m just about to turn my attention away from them when I realize I recognize one of them. I definitely know him from somewhere; I just can’t quite put my finger on where. Hmm…no, not school. And I don’t have a job, so not work. Ha-ha! I’m just about to let it go when it clicks in my mind. Shit, shit, shit.
    I grab Veronica’s arm hard and she lets out a high-pitched screech. “Ow!”
    “We need to go now!” I tell her, reaching in my purse for some bills to leave on the bar.
    “Why?” Veronica asks, rubbing her wrist like I’ve just broken it in two places.
    That’s the other thing about Veronica; she’s extremely over-dramatic.
    “I know that kid over there!” I whisper desperately.
    “Where?” Veronica asks loudly, looking around in an obnoxious way.
    “Shh! Don’t look!” I scold her.
    She shrugs. “How can I look when I don’t even know what I’m looking for?”
    “I know that kid over there,” I say through clenched teeth.
    Veronica glances over my shoulder to the other side of the divider and lets out a little joyful squeal, “Ohh, which one? They’re sexy!”
    She would be thinking about hot boys at a time like this. I need to get out of here, and fast.
    “The one in the hat,” I tell her, “he’s friends with Kate.”
    Kate’s my older sister. She’s a freshman at Columbia this year, in addition to being everything that I’m not. And when I say everything I’m not, I mean beautiful, funny, strong, and a total genius. No really, she even graduated a year early.