------------ POV ------- setting: house party

I sank down against the wall and looked over at Elisa and Bennett. I wasn't jealous but they looked fucking awkward. He kept running his hand through his hair and looking down at her feet and she was laughing nervously and squeezing her neck. It was uncomfortable for me to watch. I wanted to walk over and come out and say it that whatever he was doing was a wasted effort. But I don't really know why I was thinking that. I mean, I'm just really fucked up I guess, but when you see two people talking like they were you want to go over and tell them to move on to the next one. This isn't going to work out, guys, I'm really sorry.

Bennett's a nice guy and everything, but he's an airhead for crying out loud. He's a hypocrite. He's a poser. He's aiming to be someone and fallign short. He's not good for Elisa. He has to fucking spine.

Then Rainie came over plopping down next to me. "Hey," She said. She looked at where I was looking. "Who is that?"

"Bennett and this girl Elisa," I said. I didn't look over at Rainie. I just kept staring at Bennett and Elisa. Their names sounded so weird together. They didn't work even with their fucking names.

"I don't think I know her," She said. "Is she a junior?"

"Yeah," I said. "She's a junior." A junior. We've been in the same school system for three years and I didn't even know she existed.

"Huh," Rain said nodding. "Why are you so pissed?"

"I'm not," I said. I finally looked away from them. I looked at Rainie. She sipped the cup in her hand and looked at my like I was lying. "Why?"

"You just looked pissed," She said. "Are you mad at Bennett or something?"

"No," I said. I looked back over. "I just think they aren't that great together."

I felt Rainie watching me. She just looked at me and didn't really say anything. "So," She said. "It's Bennett- he's not great for anyone."

"Yeah," I said. "But look at how awkward he is. He was just flailing around and freaking her out. I mean, he has no spine whatsoever. I don't even know why she's even fucking talking to him." I looked down at the cup in my hand. I took a sip. I was getting all fired up for some reason.

Rainie laughed softly. "What-" She said. "Do you like this girl Elisa?"

"No," I said. "We're friends and stuff though, I just think Bennett isn't good for her."

Rainie nudged me. "Jealousy is part of the process," She said. "Do you think she's cute?"

"I guess," I looked over at Rainie. "We're just friends though."

"What color are her eyes?"

"Hazel," I said. "I'm not like going after her or anything, I'm just saying her and Bennett are fucking weird together. She could do so much better." Rainie was laughing quietly and looked over at Elisa and Bennett again.

"Go talk to them," She said. "I'll get Paul to switch hours with you so you can work Saturday afternoons and go out at night."

I looked over at her. "Is he going to be cool with you gambling his hours?"

"No," Rainie said. "But I can switch mine to whatever I want so he'll have to switch hours with you and everything. I gaurantee you'll get the afternoon shift."

I thought about it. "Ok," I said. I finished off my drink and pushed myself up off of the ground and started over.

Elisa looked over and saw me. Her cheeks turned slightly pink when we made eyecontact and she looked away. She looked back at Bennett who was talking about something in his math class. "Hey, Lise, what's up?" I walked up. She looked at me and Bennett stopped talking.

"Hi," She said softly detaching her fingers from her neck for only a second.

"That CD you burned me is amazing," I said. "How did you find those recordings? I didn't even know they existed." She looked at Bennett quickly and then back at me. She moved her arms down and crossed them.

"Oh, um," She started. "Yeah, I just found them one day or something. They're, uh, pretty cool. Not many people have them..."

Bennett shifted uncomfortablely and I looked at him. Bastard had it coming.

"Have you heard the leaked Early November stuff?"

"No," She said shaking her head.

I smiled. "I'll have to burn you a copy," I said. "It's really cool stuff. You'll love it."

She smiled a little. "Yeah, sure," She said. "And I have some acoustic tracks too that I found. Just Saves the Day stuff, I don't know if you have them but they're really good. I think they're live- recorded at some show."

Bennett cleared his throat. She looked at him. "Hey," He said. "I'm going to go smoke a cig, I'll be right back."

"See you later dude," I said. "We have to talk later, I heard your band has a few gigs. You'll have to tell me about it." I won. The kid knew it. He had to. He nodded and said goodbye to Elisa and walked away.

I looked back at her and she watched him go. Then she looked back at me. "We have English Monday, right?" I said. She nodded.

"Yeah," She said. "I'll burn you a copy and give it to you then."

"Yeah cool," I said.

"What did you think of the EP?"

I don't know why I felt so fucking incredible all of a sudden. I think I was just happy to have broken up their awkward conversation. Maybe I was just really stoned but I felt fucking fantastic.