Cinema vs. Hotel ch. 19

............................It was the last day of school, and Georg was packing the last books he would take home. He let his backpack rest on one of his knees and he holded it with one hand, while with the other he tossed all books inside it. His best friend Aaron was besides him, along with their best  friend Ami. Ami was a Japanese girl with sleek, jet-black hair and a very small frame, while Aaron had red-dyed hair and honey eyes. The three kids were huge fans of Heavy Metal.
"It would be cool to check out the Amusement Park this summer. I heard they have this huge, rad ride in honor of Aerosmith." Ami exclaimed as she put on her leather jacket. Georg was about to agree when a flash of blond hair kept him from doing so. He was so surprised that he accidentally let his bookbag slip and fall heavily on somebody's foot. The person screamed with an overeacting, exagerated shriek.

It was Nicole, the most popular girl on his generation. She wore a pink mini skirt and a white blouse, along with her aqua backpack. She death-glared them and exclaimed, looking down,
“My shoes!!! You ruined it!! Thanks a lot, Jumbo. You really did my day." she snapped, and then walked away, giggling stupidly with her friends.
"The little bitch..." Ami whispered under her breath as Aaron snorted. But Georg's 14 year old heart was set on her. He couldn't stop looking at her. She went to the bunch of people she called 'friends' and went away, giggling, along with her perfect friends, her perfect boyfriend. Everything in her perfect life.
"What do other people see on her, anyway? " Ami asked out loud as they were walking to the end of the hallway. Georg gave them a subtle hint,"
"She's very pretty."
Ami and Aaron gave him a look that stated how crazy he was. Ami started to laugh and Aaron seemed nervous and shocked.
"Pretty? PRETTY?! She called you 'Jumbo'!!" Aaron exclaimed. Georg knew it was true, but he couldn't help it, she was perfect (perfect, yeah right!!! Nicole was fat and stupid compared to Helena, Georg thought)

A Jeep beeping next to the kids made them stop and turn around. James, Goerg's brother, was driving it along with his girlfriend, a tall red-haired with blue eyes and few freckles. Out of the corner of his eye, Georg saw Ami blushing and combing her hair with her fingers as James came to a stop.
"You think you can give us a ride?" Georg asked
"Yeah, but you go on the back part." James said, pointing to the back. James smiled as the kids got in, exclaiming things like "Yeah!", "Cool!", "Let's throw water balloons! I have plenty on my backpack!"
But as the Jeep continued marching, Georg noticed that James was very serious, talking with his girlfriend, who replied tearfully. Georg even noticed that James was smoking, something he rarely or never did, because James was the football captain, something he was very proud of, something that required all the health possible, which meant CERO cigarettes.
"Ok, squirts. Get down." James said when they arrived to Georg's house. The three kids took their backpacks as if they were sacred, making James and Mrs. Listing think that the kids had suffered some mental illness. What they didn't knew, was what they'd do later with those books.

Putting them in the "right" order wasn't hard. The problem came when it was time to burn them.
"Spray the vodka or something." Aaron directed as they took out their hidden treasures for that noon's fun, like a bottle of vodka, matches, little wood chips, (somebody brought firecrackers), a radio and all of their best music. They let the vodka run freely through the books that had caused boredom, bad grades, blood, sweat and tears (and one or another paper cut.)
"Getting ready!"
"I'm loving this!!"
"Good-bye, math! We won't miss you!"
And suddenly,...the flame of fire comming from the matches lit, burning...
A corner of one math book.
"Man, this sucks!!" Ami whinned,crossing her arms. Georg had an idea. He picked up the vodka bottle and sneaked to James's Jeep, opened the gasoline tank and started to suck it out with a piece of hose and sucking the gasoline to later drop it on the vodka bottle. He kept the operation while Ami and Aaron hid behind the fence and watched him. Georg often had to stop sucking gasoline to check that neither Mrs. Listing nor James could see him doing that. The gasoline tasted like heck, and being crouched too long made his back hurt.
"It's enough! Georg, get in! It's enough!" Ami called, gesturing him to run towards them. Georg held his hand up to show that he wasn't done yet, when he heard Beatrice, James's girlfriend, exclaim,
"James!!! Baby!!! Your brother is swallowing gasoline!!"
"HEY!! What are you doing to my Jeep?! I told you that if you touched it again you'd DIE!!" James yelled as he ran towards Georg. Georg was smaller and quicker, though, and soon he was back with his friends, throwing the vodka bottle with all his might to the fire, creating the biggest flame ever. It even made James hesitate and take some steps backwards, his green eyes wide-open.................

Georg smiled, remembering all the episode. The flames had been so big that they had burned the neighbor's willow tree. Mr. Listing had been furious, but it wasn't an anger that could be compared to James's. Touching that Jeep without his authorization was a deep sin, the biggest sacrilege ever. Georg was grounded the first two weeks of vacations, along with Aaron and Ami. Luckily, James was an easy forgiver, so as soon as the kids' punishments were off, he offered to take them to the amusement park.
Georg's smile quickly turned into a frown. He had always wondered why had James suicided, and what was his big shit of a life to kill himself with aspirins and venom, which he guessed it was just some detergent or something.
Georg would have wondered all afternoon if he hadn't seen a famelic figure tapping against the window.