“Shit,” declared Maxine, looking down at her note pad and turning away from Chase, back towards her friends. They hurriedly recited different types of food to her, and Chase realized she was taking orders for what they wanted to eat. When Maxine was done with the others, she gave Torey a look, then reluctantly took his order as well.
Finally, she turned to Chase, as if at gunpoint. “What can I get you, MA'AM?” she growled.
Chase didn't know the whole menu, but hearing what the others ordered gave her some ideas. “Just burg...burg-or. With fries. And coke. Thank you.”
Maxine glowered at the pad as she scribbled this down. “No, thank YOU,” she replied. “Your food will be ready shortly. Enjoy the movie.” She tucked the pad back into her pocket and skated away with a scowl.
As an advertisement for the concession stand started rolling, they got in Torey's car and closed the doors. “Sorry about her,” he said, tuning the car radio. Once he found the right station, the sounds of the ads began to play from his speakers. “And about all of them, really.”
Chase shook her head. “No. Know their feel.” She debated for a second about whether she should tell him, then said, “My friends say same thing of you guys. Not want me come.”
“They thought we just wanted you to come so we could laugh at you, and that we think we're better than you?”
The cheerleader nodded. He seemed surprised, but then he slowly cracked a smile. “Well, Maxine and the others pretty much just proved your friends right, didn't they? Except for the part about why I brought you. That wasn't why.”
“I know.”
“I didn't realize cheerleaders even worried about stuff like that. I thought they just called us freaks and Satan worshipers.”
“Oh, them do that too,” Chase confirmed. He laughed. Chase added, “It not their fault. But it not your friends' fault too. Them all just not know.”
The first movie began, with the sound of a screaming woman piercing over the top of the opening credits. “Not know what?” asked Torey.
Chase struggled. 'Know' was the wrong word. “They don't, um, see? Don't see truth of foe. It...it a...”
“Misunderstanding?”
She gave him a fast, grateful nod. “Yes! That. One big that.” At least HE seemed capable of understanding HER. It was a start.
I Tutored a Biker Mutant got off to a fast start, opening with an intense bike chase on a post-apocalyptic freeway, before segueing into some relatively grounded teen drama.
“Honestly, Rex! Your mother hired me because she wanted me to make sure you graduated!” scolded a stern looking woman with her hair in a bun, shaking a report card at a leather-wearing teenager with a grotesque melted face. “How do you expect me to explain this to her?”
The boy was reclining indifferently on his bed, hands behind his misshapen head. “Look lady, that's your problem,” he replied. “You're the one with all the answers, ain't ya?”
The woman's bottom lip quivered as her grip involuntarily tightened, slightly crinkling the paper in her hand. She got herself under control before she did too much damage. “The correct word...” she uttered furiously, throwing the report card on his bed, “is 'AREN'T.' For heaven's sake, do you want to be a gasoline scavenger all your life? Don't you want to make something of yourself?”
Something in this plea set him off. He stood up and turned forcefully to the window, looking out at the endless desert. “Make something of myself? Make something of myself?” he angsted. “The Soviets already made something of me, when they dropped those bombs.” A single tear rolled down his cheek. “They made a biker mutant outta me! And your damn books won't change that!” He fled the room, sobbing.
A knock on the window caused Torey to look up. There was Maxine, balancing a tray of food on one hand.
He rolled down the window. “Hey,” he said.
“Hi,” she answered stonily. This exchange reminded Chase of watching someone test a frozen lake to see if it was safe to walk on. “Three slices of pizza, pepperoni and Canadian bacon? With iced tea?”
Torey claimed it, so she attached a tray to his door and set the food on it. After that, she skated around to Chase's side. The mountain girl didn't know how to roll down her window, so Torey did it for her from his side. “Then the burger, fries and coke MUST be yours,” drawled Maxine, not even trying to hide her annoyance.
Without another word, Maxine set Chase up with a tray as well, rather more forcefully. She plopped the food on it, then gave Chase a look which, were it able to kill, would have left nothing of the blonde but ashes and the soles of her shoes. She turned and skated away.
The two of them sat in awkward silence for a moment. “Wow,” remarked Torey. “I think you should probably check that for spit.”
Chase laughed. Encouraged, Torey grinned and gave the burger a hungry look. “I could give it a taste test, if you want.”
She gave him a smirk, then picked the burger up. “Yeah? How you know how Max spit taste, hmm?” she teased, before taking a coy bite.
Torey was not expecting this. “Whoa whoa whoa.” He held up his hands to defend himself. “It's not like that. I don't see her that way at all.”
Chase had no idea what he was talking about. She was expecting a response along the lines of 'Ew, gross, like I would ever drink somebody's spit! Not even on a dare!' But he appeared to think she was talking about something else. “No? Not see Max?” she wondered, totally lost.
“Scout's honor,” he said. “We're close, but that's just because we've just known each other since we were kids. We've never even been on a date, let alone...” Trailing off, he picked up a slice of pizza and closed the book on the matter with: “We're missing the movie.”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
With another bite of her burger, Chase turned her eyes back to I Tutored a Biker Mutant. Some conflicted thoughts were born from her chewing.
However the conversation got here, she felt an odd sense of contentment. She was happy to hear that he and Maxine hadn't dated, and she wasn't sure why.
…
After the first movie, there was an intermission. Chase got out of the car and stretched. A stand which glowed with the word 'Concessions' shone over the darkened lot, catching her eye.
“What that?” she asked, pointing at it.
Torey ducked his head to look out the passenger side window. “Oh, that's the concession stand. That's where they make the food.”
This appealed to Chase. “Oh! I think to go get snack for next film!”
“Hey, knock yourself out. I'm stuffed.”
So Chase walked over to the concession stand alone. When she looked around, the lot seemed very quiet. She could see people moving in their cars, and one or two got out to head for the bathrooms, but she was surprised no one else was taking advantage of the break to go get food. She tossed a sidelong glance into one car she passed, and saw two teens consumed with the art of making out. In the next, she saw the same thing. As she walked, this became a recurring sight, and she realized most of these people probably didn't even know there WAS a break.
Arriving at the concession stand, she was surprised to see Maxine standing behind the counter. The gloomy girl was leaning her elbow on it while she leafed through a magazine.
For a second, Chase considered turning around and leaving for the sake of drama avoidance, but she knew there was no reason for them not to get along, and resolved to be friendly, hoping Maxine would follow her lead. This desire manifested as a chipper “Hi!”
Maxine jumped and dropped the magazine. “Jesus! You scared me!” she accused. “What do you want?”
The concession stand was not large, but Chase was impressed at how much stuff was packed into such a small space. There was an oven, a deep fryer, a grill, a heated glass case that displayed freshly made pizza, pretzels and other goodies, a regular glass case that contained a variety of candy (including some which Chase eagerly identified as containing nougat), a freezer, a soda dispenser and, naturally, a big popcorn machine with a metal scoop sticking out of a mountain of fresh, buttery popcorn. “Want food!” she hungrily answered.
“Yeah? You do, huh?” smirked Maxine. “I'd just love to help you, Chase, but the cook is on break.”
Chase wasn't swayed. “That fine, not want big food. Just give...” She looked around and quickly decided, “poppy corn?”
Maxine laughed. “Just popcorn? That's all you want? Welllll, I guess I can do that for you...”
She reached under the counter and placed a sign on it that read “Back in 10 Minutes.” “Or at least I would, if I weren't going on break too! Sorry, kiddo!”
She gave a cruel laugh as she hung her little hat on a rack and skated out of the stand, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and rapping them against her palm.
Chase was dismayed. Her eyes turned back to the concession stand and all the food within. With no one around, it would have been easy to just take whatever she wanted, but her moral code wouldn't allow it. Making a statement to no one but herself, she forcibly turned away towards the lot and its many cars.
She'd just have to go find something else.
.......
Chad and Shannon made out. Lips pressed together, tongues locked in passionate combat, their hands roamed hungrily over each other's teenage bodies. Vinyl car seats squeaked. The windshield tried to fog up, but could not, with a persistent chilly night breeze repeatedly spoiling the mood.
This breeze licked at the two lovebirds again, sending a chill down Shannon's spine.
“Brr, it's cold,” she said, separating from him. She looked around at her date's convertible and insisted, “Can we please put the top up now?”
Chad pulled her closer. He chuckled. “Don't worry, babe. I'll keep you warm.”
Trailers for upcoming attractions began to play on the huge screen as she giggled and wrapped her arms around his beefy neck. “Oh, CHAD,” she rapturously exulted.
They tried to get another makeout going, but a couple seconds in, Chad pulled away. He glanced around at the lot, his brow furrowing.
“Chad?” asked Shannon, reading his worry and feeling it spread to her. “What's wrong?”
“I heard something,” he said in a low voice.
She felt goosebumps rise on her bare arms, but then she smiled and gave him a playful shove. “Shut up, you jerk! Quit trying to scare me!”
“I'm not,” he insisted. He listened to the night for another moment before turning back to reassure his date. “It was probably some guy getting into his car or something.”
It worked for her. Chad leaned into her once again, but as he did, Shannon saw something over his shoulder.
A girl popped up from under the car, a wild look in her eye. Clenched in her hand, glinting in the light from the theater screen, was a stainless steel popcorn scoop.
“Chad, look out!” Shannon screamed.
Chase didn't even give him the chance to turn around. Dropping her arm with immense force, she stabbed the scoop into the boy's back. He slumped forward onto his date as the life left his eyes. Shannon screamed, and one of the film trailers screamed at the same time, drowning her out.
Twisting the scoop hard, Chase extracted it and slammed it into Chad's body again, then a third time. With a powerful wrench, she shoveled something out.
Shannon screamed again. Sitting in the scoop among bone fragments and sinewy tissues was Chad's bleeding, glistening heart.
Chase took a flattened popcorn bag out of her back pocket, opened it up, and dropped the heart inside with a wet, heavy plop. Shannon jumped out of the convertible and ran for her life, but with little more than a vault over the vehicle, Chase overtook her, tackling her to the cement.
Shannon kicked and fought as Chase dragged her back to the car and threw her on the hood. Chase flipped the girl onto her stomach, and positioned her so her neck was resting on the top edge of the windshield.
“Wh-what are you doing?” Shannon cried. “What are—”
Holding her prey in place with one hand, Chase reached under the steering wheel, past Chad's unmoving legs, and flicked a switch. With a menacing mechanical hum, Shannon heard the convertible top spring to life.
“No!” she screamed, struggling to get away. “No!”
Chase held her firmly in place while the top slowly rose over the vehicle, casting a shadow on the car seats below. With its looming arc shape, it resembled nothing if not a tsunami bearing down on a defenseless coastal city. Shannon could not take her horrified eyes off it.
A final shriek for help was cut short as the convertible's jaws closed around her head, pinching down on her neck like a vice. The top could not close completely with her in the way, and continued to motor determinedly against the obstruction it found. The girl continued to choke and struggle until a heavy SNAP was heard, and her body went still.