Free Break Every Rule by J. Minter

a ripple of excitement through the club. David had never been to this one before, but Arno had said it was called Ginger and that it was crucial for them to hit this spot because he had made a personal promise to the owner or something. Everyone was shouting hello to Arno and congratulating him, and it seemed like a lot of the girls were trying to touch him. A chant of “HPSB” came up from the dance floor, and the people on the mezzanineall stopped what they were doing and looked down on Arno and his guys.
    They were It, and they were cruising with It Girls. But David could hardly think straight, the music was so loud. He sort of wished they could turn it down a little bit.
    And David probably would have benefited from some straight thinking right then, because he was confused about many things. For instance, it was weird that everybody already knew about this Hottest Private School Boy thing. David lived a life pretty circumscribed by basketball and didn’t have much time for extracurricular reading, but still, the issue had come out that
morning.
How did all these people already know that Arno was HPSB? He was also confused about why a drink in this kind of place cost precisely twice what it cost anywhere else. (Not that that was such a big concern; nobody had asked them to pay at the door, and it was looking like no one was going to ask them to pay for anything else, either.)
    David was also confused about what had just happened at Jonathan’s apartment. What had Flan wanted to tell him? And why had Jonathan been so short with him?
    The hostess led them to the VIP area and sat them in a booth. She was pretty, in the same way the It Girlswere pretty. She had long, straight blond hair with shiny skin two shades darker than her hair. It was beginning to seem a little bit strange to David that all the girls in his life now seemed so plastic and identical. He wasn’t even sure how anyone kept the It Girls’ names straight. He had already confused them twice that night. Plus, David couldn’t help comparing every girl to the one he’d met at the MoMA, the one who could have been Modigliani’s muse. She was so …
different.
He couldn’t help looking to see if she was at the club, even though he knew he was supposed to be into the blonde who was sitting next to him.
    â€œThis is
so
embarrassing… but would you sign my issue?” the hostess asked Arno, handing the magazine to him. He gave her a little nod of acknowledgment, and scrawled his name on the cover. She hugged it to herself like a teddy bear. “Thanks so much. Danny said everything’s on the house tonight, so drink up!”
    The girls all made little noises of approval, and Arno looked out at the scene like it was pretty everyday to him. Which was actually true.
    When the hostess was gone, Mimi leaned into Arno and nibbled his ear. She said, “You know I
love
Ginger.”
    â€œIt’s hot,” said Lizzie.
    â€œOkay, I’m going to pee,” Mimi said. She looked at Arno and added: “Who’s coming?”
    â€œI’ll go,” said Sadie.
    â€œI’ll stay,” said Lizzie. Mimi shot her a look. When the other girls were gone, Lizzie leaned in and nibbled Arno’s other ear.
    David stood up to look around for the Modigliani again. He got good range because he was so tall, but still, all he could see were girls with heavily made-up faces and newsboy caps. When he sat back down, he noticed that Arno and Lizzie were making out. Wasn’t Arno just with the other one? David really
was
going crazy. A cocktail waitress brought them a bottle of Grey Goose and mixers. She asked Arno to sign her HPSB issue as well. Then Rob came and joined them; David hadn’t even noticed that he was gone.
    â€œYeah, wild tonight!” Rob said loudly and to no one in particular as he slid into the booth. Lizzie moved away from Arno quickly, but Rob didn’t seem to notice what had been