Read Online The Cake is a Lie by mcdavis3 - Free Book Online Page B

quietly, or walk that softly
when went outside. It was understood that once Duncan’s dad went to
sleep, he slept like a rock, because of the drinking.
    The winter air was freezing, we
shivered as we walk to the back of the yard, by the big back fence.
I lit a match and put it to one end. Once the newspaper caught on
fire the whole thing kind of burst into a big flame. In a frenzy, I
put my lips to the one end and sucked as quickly as
possible.
    Freeze.
    I felt a feeling in my throat I’d never
felt before. I felt a suffocating pressure, like a quarter was
being jammed down my esophagus. Then it itched, it itched so bad I
wanted to claw my tongue out. I threw the joint to the ground and
managed to stomp on it three or four times before beginning to
cough uncontrollably. Duncan started cracking up laughing. Then he
got scared my coughing and his laughing was going to wake up his
dad so he prodded me back inside. The whole way I was still
coughing and he was still laughing. This is the worst feeling ever,
I thought, this is the worst idea ever. It was one of those awful
experiences that makes you not want to ever do something
again.
    Duncan wanted to know if I was high, I
told him I didn’t know, I didn’t think so. While I was downing
glasses of water on the couch the discomfort and fear started to
lift.
    He didn’t think so either.
    Duncan imitated the face I made when I
inhaled, eyes closed as tight as possible with a big frown like a
dying person. I laughed really hard.
    Duncan continued to imitate me, “Hey
Duncan, wanna try some of this joint? ‘Sure Marco I’d like to
try,’” he reached the invisible joint out tauntingly before
throwing it to the ground and stomping it out. I was laughing
ferociously. Duncan thought it was odd I was so giggly. He
pretended to be really upset that I was laughing so much, he
theatrically kept demanding that I stop this instant, which made me
laugh more.
    “ Stop laughing Marco, just
stop it right now.” He finally concluded I was either high or just
really goofy. I agreed. High or not, I laughed as hard as I’ve ever
laughed that night.
     
13. Nora (Winter, 2001)
    Brandon’s crew’s favorite spot to hang
out was at Brian’s house. His family owned a three story mansion
right by Einstein. They had the most comfy sofa sectional I’d ever
sprawled out on. We’d all just dive onto it and collapse after
school. He had a freezer full of all the otterpops and Costco
microwave snacks you could eat. He even had a
trampoline.
    After school our clique arrived at
Brian’s to find three girls sitting on his trampoline. We pretended
not to notice them and headed inside but one yelled to us, “Your
mom said we could use your trampoline, Brian.”
    Brandon told me that was Abbie Till,
Brian’s next door neighbor. He told me Abbie was our age and went
to a private school. I was intrigued. Private school girls had a
way of just looking straight through you, it was
irresistible.
    “ Hey boys.” A flirtatious
raspy voice called out to us as we were halfway through the screen
door. This caused all three girls to break out in laughter and
forced me to do an immediate double take. Very few girls had the
confidence to say something so forward, this was rare. Not to be
out flirted by a girl, slowly our group migrated over to the edge
of the trampoline.
    Abbie was tall and blond, borderline
cute. Her mouth was a metal concoction of braces and rubber bands.
Her friend Nora was beautiful, the perfect amount of beautiful,
meaning I actually believed I could possibly woo her. Her face was
like a cherubic angel, rounded cutely in all the right
places.
    Who gives a crap about faces, I
thought, her boobies are as swollen as a grown women. I puffed up
and beamed with pride every time I thought about my brand new
appreciation of boobs, I’d dreaded for so long it would never
happen to me.
    Abbie’s other friend was Oakley, she
was the skando who’d enticingly called to us. She was skinny