Category: y2katalogue: The Tapes

Jennifer walks down her block by herself. She flips open her phone to see if she has gotten any instant messages on her phone. She rolls her eyes when there’s none.

She turns towards a house and walks up the steps. She opens the front door with her key and enters the house.

Jennifer tosses her bookbag on the floor next to the front door. She walks towards the kitchen to where her mom, Lydia, and her aunt, Gabby, sit at the kitchen table, talking. Both women turn around and look at the teenager.

Lydia: Hey, sweetie–

Jennifer walks past her mother to go towards the fridge. She opens it and looks inside.

Jennifer: Where are my Berry Blasters?

Lydia: They aren’t just yours, honey; they are for everyone–

Jennifer: But I specifically picked out that flavor because it was my favorite.

Lydia: Like I said, they are for everyone, so your sister–

Jennifer groans and closes the fridge hard. She walks away from the two women and doesn’t leave the kitchen until one of them says something.

Lydia: Young lady, that is not your fridge to be slamming all crazy.

Gabby: *to Lydia* Lyd…

Jennifer turns around to face her mom and her aunt.

Jennifer: Oh, well I’m sorry; I forgot that we’re nomads and move wherever we possibly can because we don’t have a real home.

Lydia: *stern* Jennifer Ann Castro.

Jennifer doesn’t say anything else, but she does roll her eyes when her mother isn’t looking. Her mother changes the subject.

Lydia: Your band practice can only run until 5 today.

Jennifer: *whines* Mom, it’s already 4 o’clock! We can’t practice for just an hour!

Lydia: Well today you’re gonna have to. Aunt Gabby is having company over and she does not need her guests listening to you guys scream in the garage.

Jennifer: Whatever.

Jennifer finally leaves the kitchen and heads towards the garage. Once she gets there she sees that Milo is setting up his guitar ahead of practice. Jennifer walks in and begins to set up things as well without saying anything to Milo. Milo looks up at Jennifer and finally says something.

Milo: So you’re mad at me for being mad at you trying to get Nicki to talk to Danny?

Jennifer doesn’t answer right away. Milo scoffs.

Milo: So much for caring about my friends…

Jennifer: You’re being a dick, dude.

Milo: *sarcastic* Wow! She speaks!

Jennifer turns around and looks at Milo.

Jennifer: You wanna know what my problem with you is? You treat me like I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I asked for a best friend, not a babysitter.

Milo: How can I ever support you being friends with a guy that literally didn’t care one ounce that he took your virginity away.

Jennifer: Who cares? It happened and it’s done-

Milo: *loud* No, it’s not!

Jennifer looks at Milo. Milo takes a deep breath before continuing.

Milo: Just because you’re done with what happened, maybe I’m not. Maybe I still get so angry hearing you talk about that asshole the way you did the night you lost your virginity and felt horrible afterward. I get angry because I remember when you told me loud and clear last summer that you didn’t even know if he had a condom on. Like, that ass wipe doesn’t need to be friends with you and he surely shouldn’t be trying to talk to Nicki. Like doesn’t that break the girl code?

Jennifer: What do you even know about girl code?

Milo: Not much, but with two of my best friends being girls, I for sure know that my two friends shouldn’t be giving each other your leftovers for you guys to try out.

Jennifer: *defensive* Danny isn’t my leftovers–

Milo: Well he’s not, nor was he ever, your main course.

Jennifer genuinely looks hurt by Milo’s words. Instead of showing her feelings, she immediately gets angry.

Jennifer: Screw you, Milo! At least I have people interested in me! Unlike you.

Milo: I would rather be alone than some idiot making idiot decisions just because they think they’re in love or some shit.

Before the two can continue to bicker, Nicki enters the garage and looks at her two friends. They both look at her, going silent as she enters.

Nicki: We do have practice, right?

Jennifer: Yep, and mom told me that practice can’t run longer than 5 today.

Milo takes out his flip phone to see what time it was.

Milo: It’s already 4:15; we literally only have 45 minutes to rehearse something we have no idea about–

Jennifer: Yeah well shit happens, Milo; we can’t all walk and live on this earth and make decisions to your liking…

Milo: It’s not for my liking, it’s for our own good; who knows when you’ll be in detention for talking back to a teacher again…

Jennifer: *annoyed* You know, I’m getting really pissed off at you-

Milo: Oh really?

Jennifer: Yeah!

The two friends continue to bicker and argue while Nicki stands there, trying to decipher the two. She holds her head with her hands before breaking up the argument.

Nicki: Please would you two just shut up already?!

Milo and Jennifer stop arguing and look at Nicki. They don’t look back at each other.

Nicki: I’m sick and tired of having to be the one to break this petty arguing between you two. While you guys are arguing over something stupid, we still don’t have a drummer for our band.

Milo: I told you guys I was going to play the drums.

Nicki: And who’s going to play lead guitar?

Both friends look at Jennifer, who isn’t paying attention to the conversation. She looks up when she doesn’t hear anyone talking.

Jennifer: Don’t look at me; I just sing.

Nicki sighs and sits on the sofa.

Nicki: We have this gig coming up in a couple of weeks and we don’t have a drummer.

Milo: We’ll find one, just give us some time–

Jennifer: You know Danny’s a musician, right?

Milo rolls his eyes and looks at Jennifer.

Milo: He’s not joining our band.

Jennifer: Why not? He’s pretty good–

Milo: *annoyed* I don’t care, he’s not joining my band!

Jennifer: It’s our band, Milo.

Milo: But the band was my idea, and I say that dickhead is not joining the band.

Jennifer: Oh please, you already know he’s the better musician. *to Nicki* He’s played with the upper-class band.

Milo: *laughs* Yeah, okay; says the girl that isn’t even Waverly as a dancer because she couldn’t get in.

The garage goes silent. Jennifer shakes her head; she is hurt by Milo’s response. She walks out of the garage and slams the door behind her.

Nicki: That wasn’t cool, Milo.

Nicki walks out of the garage to check on Jennifer. Milo stands in the middle of the garage in silence.

A girl, Jennifer, sits on the floor of her high-school gym with her wired headphones on. She clicks the “next” button on her iPod nano until she is satisfied with what plays. Shortly after, someone tugs at one of her headphones. She looks up and sees a boy, Milo, standing over her. She smiles and gives him a pound as he sits down next to her.

Jennifer: I thought you were actually gonna play basketball today.

Milo: Yeah, but not with those guys hogging up the court…

Jennifer: You mean the same boys that always play during our gym period?

Both Jennifer and Milo look at the basketball court to see that the popular guys are playing a game. Jennifer looks back at Milo.

Jennifer: You know the coach is gonna fail you if you don’t play at least once this marking period.

Milo: You shouldn’t be talking, Pep.

Jennifer rolls her eyes at the nickname Milo calls her: Pep. She got that nickname when they were friends back when they were kids during a school production where she played a character named “Pepper.” Milo has shortened it to “Pep” as the years went on.

Jennifer: Coach Anderson doesn’t care about what the girls do in this class.

Milo: That’s not what happen last marking period though…

Jennifer hits Milo on the arm as he teases her. Shortly after, a blonde hair girl walks over to Milo and Jennifer. She sits next to them and hoffs.

Jennifer: Why so moody, Nicki?

Nicki looks at Jennifer and gives her a look. Jennifer widens her eyes, trying to figure out why Nicki was acting the way she was. Nicki rolls her eyes and sighs.

Nicki: I tried to talk to Daniel again today in Math class; it didn’t work out as I planned.

Jennifer: You didn’t act cute trying to answer his questions?

Nicki: *annoyed* How was I suppose to if all of his questions were literally the dumbest questions ever?

Jennifer: Nic, sometimes a guy just asks questions because they want to see how a girl reacts to them. They want someone cute and gentle and he probably wanted you to laugh at all of his jokes–

Milo shakes his head and interrupts the conversation between the girls.

Milo: *confused* Wait, who are you guys talking about?

The girls stay silent for a moment until Nicki finally says something.

Nicki: Nothing, it’s stupid.

Jennifer: *to Nicki* It’s not stupid! *to Milo* Nicki has a crush on a boy.

Milo: *curious* Ms. Little? Crushing on a boy that isn’t Leonhard Euler?

Jennifer: *confused* Who?

Milo: The guy that literally is all over Nicki’s bedroom walls?

Jennifer: That’s him?

Nicki tries to get the attention off from her.

Nicki: It doesn’t matter, he’s never going to talk to me anyway.

Milo: Leonahard Euler? Isn’t the guys dead?

Jennifer: *annoyed* The guys she’s crushing on! Keep up, dude!

Milo shifts in his spot on the floor, trying to understand what his friends were talking about.

Milo: Who is this mysetryboy that is swooning Nicki’s heart?

Nicki: Nothing…

Jennifer: Nic, it’s fine.

Nothing is said between the three friends until Jennifer finally speaks up.

Jennifer: Danny Campbell.

Milo looks at Jennifer and laughs.

Milo: Sorry, I thought you said Danny Campbell.

Jennifer: I did say Danny’s name.

Milo looks at Jennifer; annoyed.

Milo: You mean the guy that literally took your virginity at the beginning of freshman year?

Jennifer sighs and Nicki looks away from Milo and Jennifer.

Jennifer: *defensive* Of course, this is the reason why we didn’t say anything to you–

Milo: What do you mean?! He literally fucked you out of a bet and now you’re just okay with Nicki trying to talk to him?

Jennifer: For fuck’s sake, Danny and I are friends, like let it go–

Milo: Like you had to take a pregnancy test because you thought he didn’t use a–

Jennifer: *mad* I know what happened, I was there.

Milo: Yeah, well maybe you have to remind yourself that Danny is a piece of shit that you let back into your life because he was “sorry.”

Jennifer: Oh please, stop making it a bigger deal than what it really is–

Milo gets up from his seat and walks away from the two girls. Jennifer and Nicki look at each other. Nicki looks unsure and nervous about the situation.

Nicki: Maybe this was a bad idea, Pep. I mean, it happened just last year and–

Jennifer: Danny and I are literally friends. Like what happened happened, but he’s cool people. If you like him, then you like him. It’s not wrong to like a boy I liked once.

Nicki: But Milo–

Jennifer: Forget Milo! He needs to stop getting into our business anyway if he doesn’t like what he hears. I’ll talk to him after school today or something.

Nicki: I just don’t want to be the reason he removes you from his Top 8 on MySpace.

Jennifer: The most he’ll do is put an away message on AIM that he wants us to read but “isn’t about us”.

The school bell rings and the girls get up from the floor to walk out of the gym. Milo watches the two girls walk towards the girl’s locker room, and then proceeds to enter the boy’s locker room.

…

Milo enters a classroom with a bunch of other students before the late bell officially rings. He sits in his seat towards the back of the class. He takes out a notebook from his bag and places it on his desk. It’s not long that the notebook gets pushed off the desk, in which Milo looks up to see someone walking down the aisle of his desk. Craig Bernstein, boyfriend of the most popular girl in school, Diana Lopez. Craig laughs as he walks towards the front of the classroom. Milo rolls his eyes and picks the notebook off from the floor. He looks around the class and notices the different cliques that sit with each other. His friends aren’t in his Biology class, which makes Milo dread the class even more. Turning back to sit in his chair, he bumps into another student.

Milo: Oh! Sorry–

He glances at the girl as she quietly walks to her seat at the front of the classroom. Milo huffs and sits back in his chair, hoping the day will be over soon.