Chapter Ten: you are the love of my lifetime

The Crackhead Chronicles

Chapter Ten: you are the love of my lifetime

A/N: This is the final chapter! Please review!

Saturday, October 18

I think I’m going to the dance tonight.

Yes, that’s right.

Michael Moscovitz, usual boy-cotter of all school dances, is going to a…dance. The Cultural Diversity Dance.

And why have I decided to go, even though I know that Mia’s going to be there with Josh?

I still love her, even if she is going to be dancing with Josh. Plus, I might be able to ask her for a dance (a slow dance, of course, because fast dances are incredibly lame). And then, I’ll be able to have my body pressed against hers and, uh, sniff her. Yes, I know that sounds really stupid but Mia smells really, really good. Like fresh shampoo and baby powder. And she has soft skin. Well, soft hands at least.

Now I’ll just obsess over Mia and her soft hands. Great.

Saturday Night

Well, the dance starts in a half-hour.

I’m wearing my penguin suit (or tuxedo, rather) and I smell like soap.

Is that appealing to girls? Penguin suits and soap? I sure hope so.

While Mia is dancing with Josh, what will I do? I mean, I can’t just march up to them and demand Josh to get his slimy hands off of Mia. Though I wish I could.

The only reason I even have this tux is because my Mom made me get it for my cousin Steve’s bar mitzvah.

Fifteen minutes later

Okay, I think I’m going to leave.

I don’t think I’ll be bringing you with me though.

Later Saturday Night, Thai Culture Table, Albert Einstein High School Cafeteria

Okay, so I was able to fit you into my inside coat pocket.

No sign of Mia and the dance started about forty-five minutes ago.

I’ve just been sitting around for nearly an hour. Okay, yeah, and I’ve been looking around, waiting for her to come.

Maybe she’s having some romantic dinner at Tavern on the Green and she’s so caught up that she forgot all about this stupid high school dance. I mean, I would too. Not necessarily if that dinner was with Josh Richter but…you know what I mean. I just wish she would come.

I’ve already been to about ten of the tables, including the Ethiopian Culture Table, Italian Culture Table, Moroccan Culture Table, and Swedish Culture Table. And now I’m drinking Thai iced tea at the Thai Culture Table. It’s good but it would taste a lot better if Mia was here.

Okay, so, a person’s presence can’t really affect the taste of Thai iced tea but I just can’t help but wonder if Mia is okay. If she’s all right…

There’s this big disco ball and really bright strobe lights scattered everywhere. I guess there aren’t very many ideas for the Cultural Diversity Dance, considering you can’t exactly decorate the cafeteria with very diverse things. There are these stars hanging from the ceiling. The names of all of the countries represented by the tables are on the walls, surrounded by big paper stars and lots of glitter and glow-in-the-dark paint.

No wonder why I never came to a school dance. Until now, anyway.

So, I’m sitting in front of the wall that says THAILAND surrounded by big yellow and green stars.

I’m the only person from the Computer Club here. Even though we boycotted not to come, I came anyway.

And now I regret having done so.

Wait, is that who I think it is—

Sunday, October 19

Last night was a beautiful, beautiful night.

Probably the best night of my life, so far.

I didn’t only get one dance from Mia…

Every slow song there was, we were on the dance floor, swaying to the music.

I sort of stopped my journal entry because I saw Mia get sort of pushed in out of the corner of my eye. And, yes, Josh Richter was behind her. But Mia wasn’t looking too happy. Not at all.

And that’s when I noticed the flashes coming from outside. And clicks.

"Princess Mia! Open the doors!" I heard reporters screaming from outside.

Mia turned to Josh furiously. I distantly heard their conversation, but Mia wasn’t speaking very loudly. No, she sounded like her voice was a harsh, angry whisper.

The first thing I caught was: "What do you mean, I don’t even know you? Of course I know you." That was Josh, by the way. But I assumed what Mia had said wasn’t something exactly entertaining to Josh’s ears.

"No, you don’t. Because if you did, you wouldn’t have ordered me a steak for dinner."

I sort of looked at them with a dazed expression. And that’s what I realized what was happening. I’m just shocked that I didn’t figure it out before. Josh never liked Mia for Mia. No, he just wanted his fifteen minutes of fame. He wanted to be known as Princess Mia’s boyfriend. He wanted his picture to be in every magazine, every newspaper.

I should’ve known from the start. And I’m sorry to say that Mia was gullible enough to fall for all of it.

Every single bit.

"So, I ordered the girl a steak," Josh said nastily. He obviously hadn’t realized what he had done, otherwise he wouldn’t have been so boastful about it. "That’s a crime? It was filet mignon, for God’s sake."

"She’s a vegetarian, you sociopath," Lilly said in the meanest voice I have ever heard her use. Even meaner than when I ripped her poster of the Backstreet Boys when she was ten.

"Oops, my bad," Josh said, even after this sudden bit of news. And that’s when I honestly felt like…punching him or something. He doesn’t know Mia. He never will.

Then she turned her back on him when he said six truly chilling words. "Jesus! It was just a kiss!"

Josh had kissed Mia. Even if it only been to land his picture in a few teen magazines, it still made me feel like punching him so, so hard.

"It wasn’t just a kiss," Mia said angrily. "Maybe that’s how you wanted it to look, like it was just a kiss. But you and I both know what it really was: A media event. And one that you’ve been planning ever since you saw me in the Post. Well, thank you, Josh, but I can get my own publicity. I don’t need you."

Then, she took some book from Lars and stalked into the girls’ bathroom.

Right after that, Lars walked over to Josh and did some sort of weird move. I don’t know what it was but it definitely looked like it hurt. A lot.

I sort of popped out from behind the Thai Culture Table when I saw Mia and Lilly and Tina appear. I walked over to Mia, feeling oddly confident.

"Um, hey Mia," I said, smiling slightly. "I don’t really have anyone else to hang out with, because Principal Gupta ruled that the Internet isn’t a culture and therefore can’t have it’s own table. So the Computer Club boycotted the Cultural Diversity Dance on principle."

I sat down next to her and asked if she was all right. We spent some time cracking jokes about how all the cheerleaders obviously don’t celebrate cultural diversity, because they were all wearing basically the same black dress.

Then someone started talking about Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and whether or not there’s caffeine in replicator coffee. I insisted that the matter used to make the things that come out of the replicator is refuse, which means when you order an ice cream sundae or something, it might be made out of urine, but with the germs and impurites extracted. I think we were all pretty disgusted after that conversation.

Then Mr. G came over and asked Mia if she was okay. Then he congratulated her for bringing up her F to a D. But then she credited her improved math performance to me. I turned red and insisted that I had nothing to do with it.

Then a fast song came on and all of Mia’s friends came back. After a brief talk about Tina’s promotion for Lilly Tells It Like It Is, another slow song came on. We were left alone again, amid these mounds of rice, when I decided to be brave for once. And I’m glad I was.

"Do you want to dance?" I asked, my head tilted. She said sure almost immediately, to my delight.

I’ve slow-danced before (granted, it was with my mom at my bar mitzvah) but I’ve never really gotten it. You just sort of sway, moving your feet in tune with the music.

I can’t even begin to explain how…amazing it is to dance with the girl you love. She smelled so nice and she had her head on my shoulder, gently breathing on my neck. And yet, I didn’t feel very nervous like I do with a mere glance at her. Dancing with Mia seemed so natural.

It was so silent on the dance floor. So, I started rambling the minute the song was over.

"Do you want some Thai iced tea from the Thai Culture table or maybe some edamame from the Japanese Anime Club table?" I said, smiling at Mia.

That was pretty much how the rest of the dance went: We sat around and talked during the fast songs and danced during the slow ones.

We all took Mia’s limo to the Moscovitz apartment (or, rather, my apartment…or, actually, my family’s apartment). Mom and Dad looked pretty surprised to see all twelve of us—including Mia’s and Tina’s bodyguards—at the door. They seemed especially surprised to see me. They hadn’t realized I had left my room.

My parents let us take over the living room and we played End of the World until my dad came out and said everyone had to go home, because he had an early appointment with his tai chi instructor.

Right before they all left, Lars and I talked.

"So, I guess you enjoyed this night?" Lars said suggestively, smiling. I just smiled back.

"I can’t believe we actually danced!" I said, not really getting why I was talking about Mia to her bodyguard.

But Lars is actually pretty cool.

"I can’t help but think that the Princess likes you." I turned red but then he said he had better go with the others. We exchanged high fives before he left.

Right after he left, I walked up to Mia and said, "Hey, Mia…I want to show you something…"

Then, I led her to my room and we had wild, passionate sex.

Okay, not really. And I don’t want to think about that for awhile. I mean, we’re not even a couple.

Not yet, anyway.

I showed her my guitar and told her not to tell anyone that I taught myself to play the guitar, not even Lilly. No, especially not Lilly. And I told her how I write all of my own songs. I don’t know what came over me but I played her one of my many songs about her, "Tall Drink of Water." It’s about this tall, pretty girl (Mia) who doesn’t know this boy (me) is in love with her.

And, in a way, I think I’ve always loved her.