Casey Barnes Eponymous - By E.A. Rigg Page 0,4

in he went straight to the fridge for a Coke. Sugary beverages were not allowed in the Gould household. He drained half the can in one insubordinate gulp. “Got any new tunes?” She did not respond. “Let’s hear it,” he said.

Clayton Gould was fifteen and five foot five. He would never grow any taller thanks to a tumor he had at eight from Cushing Syndrome. He was freakishly smart. Once he got into a debate with a friend of Casey and Yull’s stepfather over an article in The New Yorker on Afghanistan. Said debate began with a note of patronization on the part of the friend and concluded with him slinking away, tail tucked between legs, Clayton Gould having out-referenced him at very turn. Clayton Gould lived two doors away and attended a private school in the district where students sat on cushions and people from Mensa were guest speakers.

She turned and walked back down to the basement. Once there she picked up her guitar and began playing her newest creation. The song was slower than the typical Casey Barnes fare. It was about him. She wrote it after school began and everything turned horrible. She finished playing. Clayton Gould did not say anything at first.

“Fine,” she said, “I get that it’s cheesy. It was just an experiment in, you know, emo. I’ll never play it again. I have to go to Leigh’s now.”

“As a matter of fact, I thought that was your best song yet.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “It had soul. Not that your song about, what was the one you played last week, the one about the biology teacher?”

“Mr. Raymond.”

“Right,” he continued, “The one about him being reincarnated as a tapeworm, which p.s. I don’t think is possible.”

“You can’t say that for sure.”

“Not that that song didn’t carry more than a modicum of emotional energy. But that one you just played was different.” He paused. “Was it about a boy?” She rolled her eyes. He squinted at her. “Who is he?”

“No one.” Casey never told Clayton Gould about him. She had not told Yull either.

He shook his head. “That song was too good for it not to be about something real. There’s a boy alright.” She ran her hands up and down her fret board in an (impressive) approximation of Yngwie Malmsteen. “But that’s not the point,” he continued, “because until you start playing your sonic creations in front of an audience you aren’t going to be able to get something going with this boy or, for that matter, any boy.”

“What do you mean?”

“Whoever this boy is, he isn’t going to kick start the path to high school superstardom that you’re hoping for.”

“I AM NOT. Anyway he’s, I mean…There is no boy.”

“I may not be female but I do know this: most female creatures our age are under the impression that the boyfriend’s going to get them where they want to go. And I’m here to tell you you’re the one who has to do it. He will follow.”

“Sometimes I think it would be a good thing if you added more junk food to your diet,” she said.

“You know there’s truth in my words. There always is.”

“Please.”

At that moment, Yull entered the room. Noteworthy things to know about Yull Barnes:

1. He was a senior. His real name Daniel was sheared freshman year of high school when deemed “suburban and derivative.”

2. He was a straight A student, president of the Drama and Amnesty International clubs, had gotten a short story published the year before, and was applying early decision to Brown.

3. He was one of the most popular kids at their high school Walton.

4. He was gay. When he came out freshman year he gathered a crowd of friends and told them he was gay and if any of them had a problem with it they were either stupid or latently gay themselves. Since that time he had been hassled exactly two times. The first was by a football player. Yull calmly repeated his mantra. He added that if the football player beat him up it would do nothing to change this perception of him in the minds of other. The football player then turned to another player for support, and the other player walked away. The other football player, as it turned out, had a gay older brother. The other time Yull was hassled was by a nerdy mathlete. Yull repeated his mantra. A month later the mathlete came out.

5. He was magnanimous to, and adored by, everyone. Except to,