⌜ chapter four ⌟

Letty walks up the back patio at her best friend's house and sees their friend by the door. "Jason, hey." The brunette greets, but then stops when she sees Eric's annoying girlfriend standing in his kitchen. "Oh, Vam—"

"Desiree." Jason quickly cuts her off as he wraps his arm around her shoulders and covers her mouth. "Play nice." He whispers before dropping his hand.

"Hi, Desiree." She forces a smile.

"Jason!" Eric yells​ as he runs down the stairs.

"Hey, you're alive." Jason says, taking notice of the way that Eric's currently eyeing his arm that's still around Letty's shoulders.

Eric's noticed that the two of them have been more touchy lately. Letty pulls Jason around with her in the school hallways, holding onto his wrist or hand, and he keeps wrapping his arm around her shoulders. And when it's not Jason doing it, it's Miller. It bothers Eric, but he can't exactly say anything about it to either of them. Letty's not his girlfriend, and the last time he tried to kiss her, she wouldn't let him.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Letty questions when she sees the light blue towel that's tucked into Eric's pants.

"May I ask why you're wearing a dish towel in your trousers?" Vampira asks, and Letty stifles a laugh as Eric turns his attention to his girlfriend.

"Um... See, my- my zipper was hit by lightning. And my mom had to throw water on me to put the fire out." He smiles. "You believe me?"

"No."

He lifts the towel up, and they see a huge wet spot on the front of his pants. "Now do you believe me?" He asks her.

"As entertaining as this is..." Letty gets Eric's attention. "I need my work shirt."

"Oh, it's up in my room." Eric tells her. "Cory was wearing it this morning."

Her eyebrows furrow. "Do I even want to know?"

"No." He shakes his head, almost embarrassed.

"And why is your shirt in Eric's bedroom?" His soul sucking girlfriend asks as she looks Letty up and down.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Letty smiles as she walks between Desiree and Eric. The brunette runs her hand lightly across his chest as she passes him just to piss his girlfriend off. The blue-eyed boy starts laughing at his best friend's actions, especially when he sees the way Eric watches her until she's up the steps and out of sight.

Eric laughs awkwardly when Desiree clears her throat to get his attention. "My mom was getting a coffee stain out of it for her." He tells her.

Letty runs upstairs and quickly grabs her shirt from his bed. The stain's gone, and she sighs in relief as she looks at the white fabric. She then goes back downstairs and leans against the wall when she reaches the last step. The brunette sees Eric holding Jason back, keeping him away from Vampira.

"Are you gonna let him talk to me like that?" She asks.

"Are you gonna let her talk to me like that?" Jason questions as he pushes himself away from Eric.

Eric looks over his friend's shoulder at Desiree, and she smiles at him. He looks back at Jason and then nods. "Yes." Eric says with a smile.

"And, on that incredibly pathetic note, my shift at the store starts in fifteen minutes." Letty says as she walks over to them. "I'll bring your shirt back tomorrow." She tells Eric.

"Why do you have his shirt?" Desiree asks, her nasally voice getting on Letty's last nerve.

"Well, if this one stayed here to get washed, what do you think I went home in?" The brunette asks as she looks at her. "Let me give you a little hint, your boyfriend's shirt." She tells her.

Eric laughs awkwardly again as his girlfriend looks at him with raised brows, clearly not liking that information. "I hate you." He says as he looks back at his best friend.

"Yeah, and I hate you with her. Grow a pair and stop being a jerk to Jason." Letty says as she looks at Eric. "I really miss my friend, 'cause whoever this is..." She motions to him. "...isn't him."

"You need a ride, Scar? I'm heading that way anyway." Jason asks, and she nods.

"Yeah, actually. Thanks." She walks past Eric, and they both leave.

» » » « « «

"Hey, listen, I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday." Eric says as he walks over to Letty in the school hallway.

"Yeah, whatever. Here's your shirt." She says as she hands it to him, not looking away from her locker.

"Letty, come on." He sighs as he reaches for her hand, and she turns to face him; her fingers curl around his as she waits for him to continue.

"I'm listening. Waiting for an epic apology." She tells him, and he squeezes her hand.

Suddenly, Letty has a face full of curly, black hair. "Hello, Eric." His annoying girlfriend greets, now standing directly between them, forcing him to let go of Letty's hand.

"Well, that was rude." Letty says as she takes a step back. "And way closer to you than I ever wanted to be."

"Oh, hello, Scarlett." Desiree says as she turns to look at her. "I didn't see you."

"Vampira." She greets, obviously annoyed, and Desiree turns back to her boyfriend.

"Listen, Sugarplum." She says as Jason  and Miller walk over and stand beside Letty. "I hear they've opened a new mall right across from the old mall. And I'd love to go explore it with you."

"She needs someone to walk behind her and hold all her bags." Letty says to her two friends, not bothering to lower her voice, and Jason smirks as Miller slings his arm over her shoulders.

"Maybe we could go..." Desiree glances behind her at Letty, Miller, and Jason for a second before turning her full attention back to Eric. "Say, Thursday?"

"But I play basketball on Thursday." He tells her. "Can't we go some other day?"

"Yes." She smiles widely, looking over her shoulder at the other three once again. "But I would prefer Thursday." She says, and Jason and Letty exchange an annoyed glance.

"Uh, look, Jason..." Eric says as he looks at them, and Desiree moves out of his way so that he can talk to them. "I..."

"Well, I guess you'd better start looking for that permanent replacement you were telling me about earlier." Letty tells Jason, and he nods.

"Come on, let's get outta here." Miller says, getting increasingly irritated with how Eric's treating his friends, especially Letty.

"I'll see you on Thursday." Eric says, and they all look back at him, surprised.

"Excuse me?" Vampira questions, and he turns back to her.

"No, excuse me. But, see, we've been dating all month long, and I've been your willing slave, and you've gotten everything you've wanted out of this relationship. What was I ever going to get?" He asks her, and she then grabs his face and kisses him. "Oh."

"Goodbye forever." She says and then walks away from them.

"Thank God." Letty says as the southern girl disappears around a corner.

"You're an idiot." Jason takes a step toward Eric while he's laughing.

"Yes, I am." He agrees, and they all then walk away from where they'd been talking to the crazy girl who was constantly getting on their nerves.

» » » « « «

Letty walks into the Matthews' kitchen, and they all look at her. "Sorry to barge in. I only have fifteen minutes between my shift at the store and my shift at the poetry place, and I needed somewhere to change. Your house is a lot closer than my trailer." She tells them.

"Go ahead, sweetie." Mrs. Matthews says, and she starts for the stairs.

"Hold on a second." The other man in the room says, and Letty looks at him.

"Oh, hey. You're Shawn's teacher — the one with the pathetically misguided idea that I'm some sort of role model." The teenager says, and he nods.

"You wanna tell these two about the real world and having a job?" He asks, and she looks over at her brother and his best friend.

"Why? What'd Abbott and Costello do now?"

"They went on strike." Mr. Matthews tells her. "Walked out of school because they didn't want to take a test."

Letty sighs. "Shawn..."

"We were standing up for what we think is right. You spout stuff about that all the time." He says, and she takes off her apron for the store.

"I talk about being tired from work too." She tosses him the apron. "You wanna experience that  for yourself? You can cover my shift tomorrow, see what the real world's like. Then you can take over for me at the poetry place. And I'll take your test." She tells him. "Guess which one of us is gonna finish first."

He looks at the apron in his hand. "You used to have a different job every few weeks. I remember you constantly working when we were kids." He says.

"Yeah, Shawn, that's because I was never a kid. But unlike me, you two get to be." She tells him, and he looks back up at her. "Is this really what you want? You want to be fifteen, working two jobs, going to school, and barely getting any sleep?" She asks.

Shawn glances over at Cory, both of them looking ashamed and embarrassed. "No." He says as he hands her the apron.

"No." She shakes her head. "Go talk to Feeny. Fix this." She tells them, and the two boys get up from the table.

Letty goes upstairs and quickly changes into her work shirt for the poetry​ place that she works at. She then makes her way back downstairs, and the teacher asks to talk to her again. "I still don't have the time." She tells him.

"I'll give you a ride to work. Now you have a few minutes." He says, and she sighs as she looks at him. "How long have you been working?" He asks, and she shrugs.

"I don't know. About eight years, I guess." She tells him.

"Since you were seven?"

She shrugs. "Someone has to pay the bills." The brunette says, and he nods.

"Yeah, your parents." He says.

"My dad works, he just doesn't make enough money." She tells him.

"And your mom?"

"I have no ​idea what she's doing. She went grocery shopping when I was five and never came back." She says.

"I'm sorry." He says.

"Don't​ be." She smiles. "I'm expecting a house full of good food real soon."

"This isn't healthy, you know." He says as he looks at her. "The way that you're working and barely sleeping. You're hurting yourself, and Shawn sees it."

"He'll be better than me. Shawn is better than me." She tells him. "I'm not a role model. I'm an example of what not to be." She turns around then and walks out of the Matthews' house.

» » » « « «

Letty walks over to Eric and Jason in the school hallway and she hears this really annoying beeping sound. "What is that?" She asks the two boys.

"My pacemaker." Jason lies, and she and Eric look at him. "In fact, I'm having a heart attack right now." He starts hitting his chest.

"It's the pager." Eric says when he finds a pink pager on Jason's jeans.

"Vampira's pager?" Letty questions.

"You didn't answer my page, my little raisinette." Desiree says as she walks over to them, reaching up to touch the back of Jason's short, brown hair.

"Speak of the devil, and she will appear." She mumbles.

"I'm sorry, it was all their fault." Jason points at Letty and Eric, and they both smile at her.

"Just be sure to pick me up in time for my pedicure." Desiree tells him. "Say, yes puddin'."

"Yes." Jason says with a smile.

Eric leans closer to him when she doesn't walk away. "I believe the woman wants puddin'." He says, and Letty bites her lip so that she won't laugh.

"Puddin'." Jason adds, and Eric and Letty both laugh as Desiree finally walks away from them.

"Seriously?" His best friend questions as she looks up at him.

"What?" He questions as he looks back at his friends. "I'm only in it for​ the breakup kiss." He tells them, and she rolls her dark eyes as he walks away from them.

Letty looks up at Eric then. "Are all guys this dumb?" She asks, and he nods as his gaze meets hers.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"So, one good kiss and you're puddy?"

"Or puddin'." Eric smirks, and she starts laughing.