Free Permanent Adhesives by Melissa T. Liban Page B

returned to my room with two cans of pop, Elias was lying facedown on my bed with his mouth slightly parted and lightly snoring. I was going to wake him, but then seeing he did not sleep the night before, I left him lying there.
    I sat on my bed and drank my pop, while Elias slept. After a bit my phone rang. It was Kate. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to talk to her or not. I figured she was kind of right about what she said. They say the truth hurts doesn’t it, or something like that.
    “Yeah,” I said, answering my phone, getting up off my bed, and wandering into the kitchen.
    “Have you seen how many hits your video has? You’re like famous.”
    “Great, just what I want to be famous for.” I plopped into one of the kitchen chairs that had cracked, brown, vinyl seat cushions on them.
    “Mol, look, I’m sorry if I…”
    “Forget about it.”
    “But really, you know I can be a jerk. I’m the only one who knows about, you know, your stuff. Well, maybe Roberto, so that’s how I can say that. Nobody else views you that way. Wait, no, I don’t either, and you can barely understand what Elias is saying in the video anyways.”
    “I know, I said forget it. Uh, hey, guess who I hung out with tonight?”
    “Who?”
    “Elias.”
    “What!” Kate shouted. “That crack head. He’s a douchebag. Why would you do that?”
    I sighed. “It’s a long story. He’s not all that douchebaggish.”
    “Molly,” she said. “He’s like totally unhinged. After you left, he barfed on my lawn, and started crying. The dude’s crazy.”
    Hmmm, I thought. Elias skipped over the whole him crying part. “I know. He’s crazy and an ass, but—”
    “You still like him,” Kate said, cutting me off. “I sure hope you know what you’re doing. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
    “I’m not crossing over into the liking, like as in liking him territory. He’s just making it up to me by helping me with my comic.”
    “Helping you how? Does he draw?”
    “No, he’s gonna redo my blog and make some tee-shirts I can sell and stuff.”
    “Oh,” Kate said, sounding surprised. “That’s kinda nice.”
    “Yeah, and he has all these other ideas.”
    “Okay Molly, if you say so. Don’t let him buy back your likeyness with all this stuff, but hey, that was so superb watching you kick his ass. We all got the warning, don’t make Molly Pearson mad.”
    I sighed. “That is so embarrassing.”
    “Why are you embarrassed by everything? You rock.”
    It was my turn to say okay, if you say so. I didn’t want to be known as the angry girl. After a bit I let Kate go, and went and sat back on my bed. I propped myself in the corner and without realizing it, I fell asleep because before I knew it, somebody was slapping me in the face. I groggily opened my eyes. It was Janie.
    “Why do you have a boy sleeping in here?” she asked. She was wearing a red polo and khakis; her required wear for work.
    “We just fell asleep while going over some stuff. Gimmie a break.”
    “If that’s what you say,” Janie said, sitting down on her bed and pulling off her shoes, then throwing them into the abyss of our room. “Who is that anyways?”
    “You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
    Janie raised an eyebrow.
    “Elias Bickler.”
    “Is that name supposed to mean something to me?”
    “From across the street.”
    Janie bit her lip thinking about it before it dawned on her. “Oh my God, eww, what’s he doing here?”
    “Shhh.”
    “Don’t shhh me, he’s sleeping.”
    “He’s actually in my English class now and helping me out with some comic stuff.”
    “It’s still gross.”
    “How and are you like ten or something?”
    “No, it’s just eww, look at his mom and where they live.”
    “Uh, look around and have you met our parents?”
    “Still.”
    “Whatever, you have issues.”
    Janie flipped me off and went in the kitchen to eat something. After a bit I decided to wake up Elias because I wasn’t sure if he had