LJ Idol Prize Fight: "Pinky-Swear Loyalty"

[halfshellvenus]

Pinky-Swear Loyalty
Idol Prize Fight | Week 7 | ~1200 words
Steadfast

x-x-x-x-x

I'd known Marcy Jacobs since I was eleven years old. We hadn't killed each other yet but there was a first time for everything, so no promises. Maybe later tonight? Right now, it was only nine o'clock.

And we were hiding in the bushes outside an apartment building like a pair of Peeping Toms.

"This is a terrible idea," I said. "What are you hoping to gain here?"

"Ammunition," Marcy whispered.

"Oh, come on. You could always let it go…"

"Hah!" she said.

A dog barked somewhere close by. "Shhh!"

"You shhh!" she said, jabbing me with her elbow. "You're the one that's talking…"

"Talking, but not yelling," I hissed.

"Will you shut up!"

Tonight was a fairly typical Marcy-type excursion: semi-crazy and under-planned, with a non-zero chance of getting into trouble. But for Marcy, it was all justified in the name of revenge.

Specifically, revenge for Barry Bickle's pronouncement that Marcy was very much Not All That. Those were the words Marcy used, anyway—I wasn't saying they were good ones. Also, Barry Bickle was a total jerk.

The bushes were scratching my arms. "How much longer are we going to wait here? I have class in the morning."

"He can't stay out forever," Marcy said.

"But as soon as he comes home, he'll probably shut the drapes, so we won't be able to see anything anyway."

I could practically feel Marcy pouting. "Maybe. I guess we should be doing this in daylight…" she said.

We edged back out of the bushes and walked home.

The next day, we met up outside a Starbucks on the edge of campus. We were both dressed for spy work, aka trying not to look like ourselves. Unfortunately, Marcy's idea of a disguise was big sunglasses, a pink baseball cap, and a ponytail. She still looked exactly like Marcy, partly because half of what she owned was pink. Marcy was many things, but subtle was not one of them.

"At least hide your hair," I said.

"I look terrible with short hair," Marcy said. "He already insulted me once—I'm not going to run around looking ugly for him."

"Fine," I said.

"I mean, if you want to keep channeling your inner lumberjack, Linda, go right ahead."

"Shut up! At least I'm trying to look different."

Marcy shrugged. "Barry never pays attention to anyone but himself. He won't see us."

"Well if that's true, why do you care what he says about you? You hardly even dated him."

Marcy used the reflection from a store window to put on lip gloss, then practiced looking mysterious. "I care that other people listen to him…"

We split up and went to our first location separately. Courtesy of one of Marcy's roommates, we knew that Barry liked to go to the Quad on Tuesdays and Thursdays after class to hang out with some of the other business majors. Most of them were preppy-looking assholes who had wet dreams about short sales and IPOs, and called each other 'dude.'

I got there first and sat at a table in the shade, pulling out a pen and notepad and pretending to work. Marcy slipped in a few minutes later, nearly giving me a giggle fit when she sneaked her way through the landscaping to hide behind a tree like Mata Hari moving through enemy territory. A few seconds later, I got a text.

Linda loo! Your boyfriend from freshman econ is here.

Dont call me that. And he wasnt my bf, I replied, while in reality I was already trying to catch a glimpse of Steve Evans, the unrequited center of the first six months of my college universe. There, at the edge of the fountain! God, still so cute… I'd never really gotten over him, I'd just basically given up.

Mindy moo! Focus! Marcy texted.

"Hey!" I said out loud. Oh, great, way to be stealthy.

U want to do this on ur own? Cuz I have other places 2b, I texted back. I still questioned the wisdom of this plan. I mean, Marcy had way more experience with boys than I did, but I didn't think spying on Barry was the best way to deal with this particular problem. We already knew he was a jerk and that he didn't care, so what could we do to him?

I went with you and held your hand last week while you chopped your hair off, Marcy texted.

Mistake!!! I look lk a disney duck

I warned you. Oh- he's here.

I looked up. Yeah, there was Barry, coming out of the student union with a couple of his buds. I had no idea what Marcy ever saw in him. He wasn't even that cute.

One of Barry's friends leaned over and said something to him, and Barry immediately turned and looked right at Marcy.

Oh, crap! I thought.

"Seriously?" Barry said loudly. "What, are you spying on me now? I'll bet your weird friend is around here somewhere, too."

Marcy stiffened, and then looked off to the side as if she was searching for someone. I couldn't hear what she said, but her body language was trying for casual and not doing a bad job of it.

"Yeah, right!" Barry's friend said, just as Marcy flashed a huge smile and rushed over to a guy from her English Lit class.

Ooh, lucky break—the guy totally had a crush on her and he was pretty laid back, so he didn't even blink when she grabbed his arm. Smooth getaway.

Barry frowned and shook his head, but he turned away slowly and started walking again.

Then he spotted me.

"Hold up." He came striding over, his friends hustling after him. "You!" he said.

"What." I tried to look bored.

"I knew it. You and Marcy are on one of your little missions."

"Is she here?" I asked, looking around nonchalantly. "Well, it doesn't matter, I've got homework."

"Riiiiight." Barry snatched my notepad off the table. "These squiggles here—those'll rock your GPA sky high."

Busted.

Great. I couldn't wiggle out of this. How could I make it less bad than it already was? I decided to fall on my sword.

"This is all on me," I said. "Marcy couldn't care less what you and these other 'Chads' are up to, but I don't like it when people insult my friends."

Barry rolled his eyes. "Like she's so special."

I glared at him and grabbed my notepad back and stuffed it in my backpack. "She's loyal and she's never boring, and frankly, she can do a lot better than you."

"Please," Barry said. "She's cute and all, but Planet Marcy is a pretty strange place. And the weird-friend factor doesn't help."

I got up slowly and pulled my backpack over my shoulder, glancing at the pathetic assortment of polo shirts and hair product surrounding me. "At least her friends are real."

"Lame," one of Barry's friends snorted as I started to walk away. I turned and gave them all a pitying smile.

"Dude," I added and kept walking.

I probably looked like an idiot and our spy mission was a total failure, but I'd laid down some insults and possibly even planted a few festering seeds of doubt.

I think Marcy would have been proud.


--/--


(Linda and Marcy first appeared in an earlier Idol story back in 2013)

If you enjoyed this story, you can vote for it along with many other fine entries here.

Comments

[murielle]

I had such a boring college life--and I was a theatre student! But that's why. All we did was learn lines and gossip. ;-)

This was such fun. I'm glad you didn't need to bye after all.

Friends! What would life be without them.

[halfshellvenus]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

I had such a good time writing these two characters earlier, and when this prompt showed up their friendship was the first thing that came to mind-- it fits perfectly. :D

[fausts_dream]

Cute....I like the characters and the language here....I think I might have dated Linda.

[halfshellvenus]

You dated someone with a friend like Marcy? ;)

Poor Linda, always getting the rep of being the 'weird friend' when most of the weirdness is a product of Marcy's wacky ideas. But sometimes that's what friendship is all about-- and there's a lot to be said for never being boring. :)

[bsgsix]

We hadn't killed each other yet but there was a first time for everything, so no promises. Maybe later tonight? Right now, it was only nine o'clock.

I laughed so much at this, because it reminds me from my favorite line (that people say reminds them of ME) from the movie "10 Things I Hate About You." The 17-year-old daughter, Kat, comes home from school, and her father says, "Made anyone cry today?" And Kat gives him a self-assured smile and said, "No, but it's only 4:30." LOL. Very me. Very - honest.

That aside, I really liked this, and I felt the - realness of the polo shirts and fake hair and fake environment in the midst of a real friendship. That's hard to come by, so it's VERY refreshing to read. I'm so glad you didn't take a bye and that you wrote this instead! <3

[halfshellvenus]

The friendship between these two characters sometimes seems like a two-toned variant of the "Marry, f**k, or kill?" game, where it might be an hourly choice between "Hug? Or SLUG?" at times.

But sometimes that's how friendships are-- both exasperating and also very worthwhile and rewarding. It's the challenging times when that loyalty is especially important. :)

[meridian_rose]

Nice :)

[halfshellvenus]

Thank you!

[the_eternal_overthinker]

Ha! This was awesome...I loved the dialogues here and you have the characters etched out really well.. I am heading to read the first story as well because I enjoyed this very much :) Wonderful take on the prompt. Well done!

[halfshellvenus]

Yay! So glad you enjoyed this, and the corners these two back themselves into. :D

[bleodswean]

Ah! The steadfast friend! Linda really IS the steadfast friend - I love how you reveal that aspect of the character! This was such a fun read, K!

[halfshellvenus]

So glad you liked it! The friendship between these two characters seemed like such a great choice for the prompt, and you can tell this is not the first time Linda has paid the price for Marcy's weird schemes. But what are friends for? :D

[static_abyss]

Your characters are so much fun. I loved reading about Marcy and Linda's adventures in spying.

[halfshellvenus]

Yay! That's exactly the kind of reaction I was hoping these two would bring out. They're a lot of fun to write-- so much push/pull and bickering and comaraderie, potentially more work than most of our friendships but also more vivid. And prone to getting in trouble. ;)

[alycewilson]

I enjoyed this so much that I actually went back and was the earlier entry. Highly entertaining. Have you ever watched "Scream Queens"? If not, you would love it.

[halfshellvenus]

I'm so glad you liked both entries. I get a kick out of these two characters. :D

I haven't seen Scream Queens. Do you mean the recent one (2015-ish) or the one farther back? I'll definitely check it out. :)

[tsuki_no_bara]

this is really cute and really fun, and linda sounds like a good friend. long-suffering, tho.

[halfshellvenus]

Thank you!

I think Marcy is also a good friend (the first story is all about something she's trying to do for Linda), but the intent vs. the actual outcome... Oy. :O

Thanks so much for reading. :D

[wolfden]

Nice. Real friends are the best kind. I like Marcy and Linda.

[halfshellvenus]

Real friends are so very different from people you just 'hang' with, and they can be very rare. Very much something to value, even when they get you into awkward situations from time to time-- or help save your reputation from them. :)

[wolfden]

The entry I didn’t write was about the people who I thought were “real” and really hurt me this last year. I mean I wrote it but I’m too close to it still and couldn’t get past the anger I still have so it was not great.

[rayaso]

This started with a bang ("We hadn't killed each other yet . . .") and the fun never stopped! This was hysterical, and dialog/narration was fantastic. You made Linda and Marcy stand out as such concrete, believable characters. You have a real talent, especially in creating amazing stories out of the prompts. Your dialog here was so appropriate, complete with "dude" and "lame." I loved this!

[halfshellvenus]

:D Some friends will always be a little bit more killable than others, though it's not like they're doing it on purpose.

The dialogue was a lot of fun-- these two friends are very clear in my head, and even Barry and his 'bros' have a distinct man-posse presence that's fun to channel. What Marcy was thinking in ever looking twice at Barry, I cannot say... :)

[onecheapdate]

Ok, right off the bat, "we hadn't killed each other yet but there was a first time for everything, so no promises," was fantasticly snarky. Loved it and immediately drew me into the piece and set the tone. The dialogue was really well done - it gave each character a unique voice and it felt so realistic. This was a fun read, good job!

[halfshellvenus]

Yay- so glad it grabbed you and entertained you! The friendship between these two characters - loyal, sometimes aggravating, but never boring - was just irresistible for this prompt.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

[dmousey]

This was a cool read! Barry's a snot! ✌😊🐁🐭

[halfshellvenus]

Thank you! Yes, I'd say he deserves a punch in the arm-- even if it's just in the form of holding up a mirror to the quality of life he's leading. :D

[bellatrixe]

Absolutely loved this! As always the first line had me hooked (and made me laugh too :'D). Great read!

[halfshellvenus]

Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. :D

Marcy brings more drama to the relationship than I usually want in life, but for the right friend, it would be worth it in the end.

So long as you didn't wind up serving time for a homicide charge or anything. ;)

[flipflop_diva]

Awww, this was super fun. I was hoping Linda and Marcy would get some true revenge, but alas, there is always next time!

[halfshellvenus]

Thank you!

Actually, I think the outcome turned out pretty good, considering. Marcy's schemes have a tendency not to pan out, so the fact that Linda got some digs in at Barry-- and in public-- means the end result was on plan, even though the path to getting there failed. :D