FicWad

"You coming out yet, or what?" I said to the changing room's door.

"One more second!" Tracey exclaimed, and literally one second later the door was opened, revealing Tracey's newest outfit she'd put together. "What do you think?"

I looked her over. The outfit, in one word, was skimpy. It was a short pink ruffly skirt, with a white button up shirt tied up to reveal her stomach. "You look like Britney Spears," I told her, referring to the 'Baby One More Time' video.

"Who?" Tracey asked, clueless.

I wasn't even sure if Britney was famous yet, or even in music yet, so I said, "My... cousin," and tried to figure out what year she'd even come out with her first single.

"Oh," Tracey said, "Good thing or bad thing?"

Making a face, I said, "Um... bad. It's kind of... slutty."

Tracey frowned, "Seriously?"

"Yeah," I said, hesitating.

"Well, when are you going to pick something out?" she asked me.

"I already did," I replied, showing her the clothes I had in my arm, "I don't try things on."

Sighing, she said, "Who are you, Amanda?"

Shrugging, I said, "What do you mean?"

Tracey looked down, "You are so different... since like, two days ago. You have completely changed and you act like you haven't." We were silent. "Ever since you've started talking to Gerard Way, you've turned into a bit of a freak."

I gave a sarcastic laugh, "I'm not the one dressing up for horny teenage boys."

She swallowed, giving a half smile, "I mean, I guess you're right about the horny teenage boys... but that's totally off topic. We were talking about your big personality change."

Nodding, I said sarcastically, "Right. Such a huge change. I'm just being myself. So what if I'm not the same as you and all of the 'popular kids'... What is normal, anyway?"

"Normal is the complete opposite of how you are acting right now. Let's try on outfits together like we used to!"

Thinking about how I missed trying on outfits with Rochelle (I'd stopped when I'd packed on a few extra pounds... suddenly trying on outfits that made you look fat wasn't so fun anymore) I gave in. "Fine." As Tracey started to jump up and down, I told her, "But I'm not going to like it."

Putting her palms toward me, she said, "Alright, alright. Yeesh. Now let's make you look hot for Gerard!"

I looked at her longer than what would be considered socially acceptable, and she said, "What?"

"Why don't you make fun of him, like everyone else? Why are you so nice?"

She gave me a close-mouthed smile and said, "Because he's your boyfriend, and friends don't make fun of their best friend's boyfriend."

"Oh."

"And, between you and me... I've always kind of wanted to be friends with him. He seems cool. He has this vibe to him."

Letting out a snort, I said, "Right."

"Well, okay, so that was back in, like, sixth grade," she confessed, "But that's beside the point. I just--- I'm happy that you're happy, for once. And away from that jerk, whats-his-name."

"Oh."

We stood there for another moment. "Are we going to try on outfits or what?" she said, not rudely, more of an excited way. This girl was always excited.

I began to open the changing room behind me, when she said, "Now you can't share dressing rooms with me, either?"

"Okay, okay, chill," I told her, following her into a small cubicle with a large mirror on the wall. Clothes were piled up in one corner, hangers in the other. The mess would take a good ten minutes to pick up.

I closed the door, placed my clothes on an unoccupied chair, and slowly began to pull off my too-small skinny jeans.

"Holey shit, you still fit in those?" Tracey asked me, laughing. "I remember we were obsessed with wearing those jeans in seventh grade."

I faked a laugh and said, "Yeah," as if I knew what she was talking about. As she changed, I changed, and when we were finished we looked at ourselves in the mirror.

I was wearing some dark skinny jeans and a bright green tee. She was wearing yet another mini skirt with a belly shirt.

"We're living in the eighties now? She asked, teasing me. I shrugged.

Suddenly, I got an idea, "Hey, how about we pick out outfits for eachother?" I said, "And we have to put the clothes on." I really wanted to get her to... tone it down a bit.

Thinking for a moment, Tracey put her index finger on the corner of her mouth, "Sure!" She said.

We got changed back into our original clothing, and on our way out, I asked, "Are we going to pick up your clothes, or...?"

She looked back, sighed, and said, "Um, no."

Laughing, we both ditched our mess and headed back to find eachother a killer ensamble for tonight.


*

It was now 7:20, over two and a half hours since my parents (Amanda's, I mean) left to go on vacation to Missouri. Turns out this whole party was planned out by Jake and the real Amanda way back in the summer, when their parents first got the news that their father and step-mom would be going on a trip to visit some old friends and work on "buisiness matters". I was beginning to become excited, my second thoughts about the whole thing vanishing.

Making last minute adjustments to my makeup, (I had decided to go easy on the eyeliner, just smudging some on my eye lid and lining my top lash) I looked back to study myself in the mirror; I had purchased the skinny jeans from earlier, a black studded belt, and was wearing the lime green tee underneath a white button-up shirt. Smiling, I turned to look at Tracey. She smiled back at me as I checked to make sure everything was in place. She was wearing some red heels she just had to buy (they were $130), a pair of black shorts, that were classier than anything she'd picked out, and a white and pink tank (that was a little low cut, but again, much classier than anything she'd picked out).

"Just a little longer until people start arriving," Tracey said as we left my bedroom to watch the band set up--- Jake's friends moved out all of the furniture from the living room to the front lawn to make room for their band to play. As we walked down the stairs, they were doing mic checks and making sure the guitars were tuned. Somebody knocked on the front door. I peeked out the window and saw that it was Gerard.

Instantly, a smile spread across my face. "Ooh, it's your man," Tracey said. We giggled. I kind of liked being around her.

Opening the door, I said, "Hi!" and smiled brightly. I couldn't help myself; he looked so great. He was dressed in jeans and a black Smashing Pumpkins tee, with black adidas, and his hair was messy in that cute sort of way. "Come on in."

"You look really nice," Gerard said, smiling.

"So don't you," I replied, then leant in to give him a quick peck on the lips.

"You pumped for tonight?" Tracey asked us, smiling, knowing how happy I was to have Gerard here.

"Oh yeah!" he said excitedly.

Tracey began skipping down the hallway, making her way into the kitchen, and sang, "We're gonna get waaaaaaaasted."

Gerard grasped my hand and we followed my friend. In the kitchen, what must have been about twenty coolers were lined along the walls, filled with ice and beer. Looked like this really was going to be the party of the year. I took a seat at the table, thinking about how trashed this house would be after tonight and worrying that the party would get busted by cops or something. Casey Stone would never do anything like this... but I've changed, I'm no longer the Casey Stone I was. I've begun turning into Amanda.

"Yo, Amandaaa," Jake said, knocking me out of my thoughts. He was waving a hand in my face.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Help unload the stuff from the car, will you?" He said in a commanding voice.

Sighing, I said, "Sir, yessir!" and left the kitchen, Tracey giggling.

Jake led me to the garage, where a white car was parked, the trunk wide open. There were a few boxes--- some were band shirts for Jake's band, some were individually wrapped fortune cookies that one of his friends had snagged from China House, where he worked. I looked into the front yard, where cars were beginning to park. There was no turning back.

I walked through the kitchen and set the boxes on the table, sighing. Jake and his buddies were in the other room, chatting it up with some friends that were talking about how stoked they were.

"So what did you tell your mom?" Tracey asked Gerard.

"For what?" was his reply.

"To let you come over here, like, obviously she's not going to let you come home completely wasted."

"She doesn't know I'm here," he told her. I leaned on the counter, listening to my friend bond with the guy that I liked so much. "I just left a note saying that I was sleeping over a friends house... I'll go home tomorrow morning."

"Ohh. Nice," She said.

Jake came in the doorway, "Amanda, remember to call mom at eight, alright? You remember the plans."

"Uh...?"

He gave me a fake smile and nodded, "Good," he said, quickly leaving the room.

The house was filling up quickly and Tracey and Gerard were now making conversation over a couple cans of Budweiser. Deciding to have my first sip of beer, I pulled a can from the cooler next to me and popped it open. I put the aluminum to my lips and let the beer rush down my throat.

As I made a disgusted face, Gerard laughed, "The taste takes a little getting used to, but you will love it."

I managed to pull my mouth into a smile and take another sip.

Grinning as he finished his last gulp of alchohol, Gerard reached for another can.

"Wow, slow down, buddy, party hasn't even started yet," Tracey said, laughing slightly. Gerard giggled along, I could tell it wasn't a genuine laugh.

"Let's go see who's here," Tracey said, suddenly at my side. Gerard came over to me and the three of us wandered through the downstairs of my house.

"Hey girl!" Someone said behind me. I turned to see Tracey hugging someone... it was the girl from a few days earlier, Harvey Stone's girlfriend. I couldn't remember her name.

"Hi," She said to me, "Getting some tonight?" She winked her big brown eye at me, I smiled politely and Gerard let out an awkward laugh.

I scanned the crowd and landed upon a farmiliar face. "It's Ray!" I shouted excitedly.

"Who?" Gerard asked me.

"Oh come on, it's Ray!"

He continued to give me a confused look, so I said, "Oh, you don't know Ray yet?"

He shook his head slowly, the expression not escaping his face. "I'm going to go get another beer," he told me. I nodded and weaved through the crowd, approaching Ray.

"Hi," I said, wearing a shy grin. It was Ray Toro! The Ray Toro! (Minus the afro.)

He turned to look at me and, not knowing who I was, said, "Hello."

"I'm Casey," I told him.

The corners of his lips moved up, and he said, "Nice to meet you, I'm Ray."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to look at Jake. "Is she bother you?" He asked, looking at Ray, who shook his head. Before leaving, Jake gave me a mean look.

"I... got to go," I said, then quickly left a confused Ray. I could always talk to him later, maybe introduce him to Gerard. But, wait... maybe that would mess up the future? Maybe I should just let whatever happens happen.

As I made my way back into the kitchen, I walked through a cloud of pot smoke and coughed. I knew that I didn't belong here, and I felt out of place.

"Haha," Gerard came toward me, tipsy.

"You should slow down," I told him, worried. I knew this would worsen as he got older--- even as the night progresses--- and I wanted to make it stop.

"Nah." He said, then gave me a big kiss on the cheek and turned to talk to some guy in a jean jacket. I sighed.

The time was now 7: 46. Let the fun begin...