The Kennedale Adventures. 4 - Strangers

It had been a really boring week at school. Everyone was having a lot of problems lately and no one was in any mood to joke around or have a good time.

It was frankly kind of maddening because all the joy seemed to have been sucked out of school life.

I was looking forward to traveling down to Kennedale for another bit of fun.

Bradley was on board with the idea but he needed me to pick up Chelsea a little bit later than usual.

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I think it was about 8:00 when I showed up at her house. It was already dark outside, and the crickets were chirping like something from a horror movie. She hopped in the car and we drove down the highway at full speed. I wasn't really interested in spending all night driving, and frankly I found that I had pretty much nothing in common with the girl. I didn't really want to talk to her any longer than I needed to. The more time I spent with her, the more I realized that she wasn't my kind of person.

We pulled up to Bradley's with a screech and we both stepped out of the car at the same time. He was wearing a black shirt and tie. There was an uncanny resemblance to Andre the Giant if he was going to a wedding.

I had assumed that we would all hang out but instead of Bradley quickly said "the key is under the door", grabbed Chelsea by the arm, and hopped in his pickup truck. Before I could even say "hello" they were driving away in a cloud of dust and ash. Were was my $30?

I walked over to the front step and reached under the rug. A silver key lay shining in the darkness. Picking it up, I put it in the lock, turned it, and tried the door. It did not budge.

It seemed to me that a secondary lock on the inside of the door was unexpectedly latched. This key could not open it.

I waited for about an hour for Bradley to come back. Surely he will eventually realize that I was not able to get into his house. Maybe he doesn't actually expect me to get in? Maybe he's still mad about what happened last time? Nevertheless, this is a ridiculous way to go about it. After all, I'm certainly not going to want to drop Chelsea off at his house next weekend if this is how it goes.

I walked over to my car in desperation and sat on the hood, sulking moodily. The engine was so hot that it almost burned my legs, but it also felt good against the cool night air. I was almost finished with my Marlboro Red when I was greeted by an interesting sight.

Two beautiful girls were suddenly standing in front of me, framed by the shine from my yellow headlights. One was thin, a bleach blonde knockout in a t-shirt and shorts. The other was her exact opposite, a goth brunette covered in dark makeup with a long patterned dress.

"What are you doing out here? Are you friends with Bradley?" they inquired casually.

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"Yeah. I dropped off his girlfriend and they left. I was going to hang at his house this weekend but I ended up getting locked out. I'm about to take off back home I guess." It was a real bummer.

"Wouldn't you rather hang out with us and have a good time?" the blonde gave me a seductive gaze which melted my heart.

"Uh. Sure. What do you guys want to do?"

They hopped in the back of my gold Civic hatchback and we drove off to a part of town I was unfamiliar with.

Their names were Helen and Aubrey, and they were 16 and 17 years old respectively. I was about to turn 17 myself, and I was very excited about the turn of events. Thinking back, I could remember Bradley talking about a girl named Helen. He mentioned that I would want to meet her. Now I had.

We arrived at Helen's apartment and went upstairs. Her parents were not home. The girls took turns showing each other different little outfits. There were a variety of posters and CDs scattered all over the place. It was a total mess. At first I found it all kind of boring, but then Helen took off her shirt.

"You don't mind if I change, do you?" she smirked while Aubrey suppressed a giggle.

They teased me like this for about an hour, asking which shirt looked best with which bra while I stuttered and stammered like a fool. Worth it.

Finally we headed down to the local mall. I had no idea what this part of town had to offer, but I was expecting something from another era. What I got wasn't that different from what I expected. Everyone here could have been from the same family. They all spoke with a southern drawl and moved with a slowness I couldn't comprehend. Almost every single man I came across had a circular indentation in his right back jean pocket where his can of dip rested. I couldn't believe there was a place like this only about 45 minutes from my house.

At the food court the girls met a couple of their friends, Andy and Ernie. Andy had long black hair which was very curly and greasy. He was extremely thin to the point of looking malnourished. Ernie had his entire head shaved except for his bangs which hung down to his belly button. He talked like a surfer from a bad movie. It seemed clear to me that these girls were interested in these guys and I was suddenly feeling like an outsider.

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Andy and Ernie wanted beer, and they offered to buy it. They knew a local convenience store that would sell it without checking ID. We casually walked to the register with a case of Michelob and were immediately carded. Crap. We spent about an hour in the parking lot looking for someone to buy beer for us, and finally we had some success.

At the time I remember thinking that people that don't buy beer for kids are complete jerks. I mean, c'mon. They see us standing outside the beer store asking to buy beer because we can't buy it, and yet they still won't buy it for us. What is their problem? It's funny how your thinking changes as you get older.

At this point it was probably close to midnight. We drove down to Ernie's apartment and walked over to the pool area. There were several strong iron black iron bars surrounding a crystal clear pool. The gate was locked but we all jumped over. The last person to jump handed the beer to the person in front of them on the other side.

We sat around drinking beer after beer and playing wrestling games with the girls in the pool for probably about 3 hours. For the most part the girls stayed by themselves, and the guys did the same. I guess we were all kind of shy at that age. I wanted to get closer to Heather but it seemed like she was really giving the eye to Andy. Besides, I was out of place here. I didn't even have any idea where I was.

The five of us drove back to Heather's apartment, feeling quite wet and cold. It was dangerous on that winding road. We were all feeling the wave of intoxication and sleepiness was creeping in ever surely. It was probably close to 4:00 in the morning.

We walked into Heather's apartment weary, wet, and wasted. We must have looked like a group of washed up bums. There were about 20 teenage girls wearing little nightgowns sprawled out all over the place. They were watching a very colorful movie, but I couldn't make out what it was.

"Score!" one of the guys shouted it out.

"Hell yeah!" said the other.

It turned out that Heather had a sister that was her same age, and she was having a slumber party. Heather's mom was home though, so she kicked the guys out. We walked over to my car, feeling dejected. I expected to go back to Ernie's place and crash there, but he told me something I didn't expect to hear.

"Bro that wasn't actually my apartment. I'm homeless."

What the crap.

"Can we just crash in your car, man?"

No other option really.

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It was about 5:30 in the morning when the hard knock on my window occurred. I was in the driver's side with the seat all the way back, Ernie was in the passenger side, while Andy was knocked out in the backseat.

"Bro light up a cigarette, it will help get the beer smell off your breath."

A light was shining in my eyes, but I quickly did what Ernie suggested before rolling down the driver's side window.

"What you boys doing out here? Don't you know you can't sleep in your car?" they demanded.

I did not know that. In fact, it sounded kind of ridiculous that I couldn't sleep in my own car and I told the officer as much. He was not pleased.

"I'll tell you what. You can get out of this car, walk towards an apartment and go inside it, or I can take you all down to jail. I'll just stand here and see what happens."

We walked over to Heather's place, turned the handle on the door, and sighed a breath of relief as it creaked opened. Despite being told we had to leave we all laid down in the entryway and quickly fell asleep. There were no repercussions.

My third trip to Kennedale was quite an adventure. I didn't hook up with any girls, although I did see a few interesting things. I was a little frustrated with Bradley for leaving me and locking his door, but I was certain we would work things out.

Overall, it wasn't such a bad time. Truth be told, it was a pretty strange one this time, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.