“He wants to go home then I guess we’ll go home. Maybe we can go to the party next year,” Gary said calmly. He gripped the steering wheel and swerved to the side before speeding up to avoid a city bus that had stopped to pick some people up. It moved over; the bus driver changed lanes without looking. 

            “Next year? That’s what you said last year.”

            “Well, I mean it. We can go to the party next year, can’t we? Harry, do I ever go back on my word? If I say we are going to do something, then we are going to do it,” Gary asked. Harry shook his head yes.

            “What’s that supposed to mean?”

            “It means the only reason why I came out tonight was to go to this party. Now, you say we’re going home because the babies can’t hang!” Harry said, turning around and looking at Louie, Billie, who had fallen asleep and me. Billie was snoring lightly. Dennis and Benny were awake and looking through a comic book. 

            “I can hang, just not on a school night. Same as you,” Louie replied back.

            “Can you believe this guy? He’s the skip king at his school and he wants to talk to me about right from wrong!” Harry replied. He pulled something out from his pocket and lit it, “Anyone want a puff?” From the smell, I knew something was different about the cigarette.

            Gary turned down a street I wasn’t familiar with. We couldn’t really see anything. Harry passed it over to Louie, who took a puff and passed it over to

Benny. Benny held onto it, took a few puffs and then handed it back to Gary, who held it for a long time. Billie became upset that no one offered her a hit but the guys felt we were too young.

            Gary adjusted his rearview mirror so he could look closer at Billie and me. He looked over at Billie and me, “Girls, when you think of me, just think of my hero, Gary Danielson. I’m even going to transfer to Divine Child next year like he did. Who knows, maybe I’ll even play football. Course, they haven’t won a state championship in almost ten years but who knows what next year will bring?” he