Baby Blue Backpack

Dialog only contest entry. Must begin with, "Hey Karen! Nice backpack."

"Hey, Karen! Nice backpack."

“Sarcasm ain’t your strong suit”

“Aw come on.  Just last week, you said I was too stupid for sarcasm.”

“There’s no contradiction.”

“Oh, I guess not."

"Good guess."

"So what’s with the new pack?”

“Father gave it to me.”

“That’s nice.”

“No it ain’t.  He’s making me wear it.”

“Huh?”

“Saturday night, he caught me and Marc William’s in the back of his mom’s minivan behind Starlight’s.”

“Where he works?”

“Where both you and Marc work.”

“I guess he was working overtime.”

“Shut up!”

“So he busted you and gave you a new backpack.  Because?”

“He’s letting me wear it on my back as a compromise.”

“Huh?”

“He wanted me to wear it over my front for three whole months.”

“He doesn’t know how to wear a backpack.  They had them back in his school days.”

“I’m sure he was too un-cool to wear one.”

“So why?”

“He calls it my ‘third trimester.’  I have to carry at least eight pounds all day, every day for the next three months.  Even to bed.”

“So you and Marc were …”

“In our underwear!”

“Yeah! Right!  Good job getting those back on in time.”

“Shut up! Jeez! No big deal, my bikini shows more!”

“OK, ok.”

“Needless to say Marc and I can’t see each other anymore.”

“Well, that’s good.  You know he got Gina Berendo pregnant.”

“That’s what Dad said.”

“It’s no secret.”

“Yeah, but my father is not one of those cool, in the know, kind of parents.”

“Come on, even he must have caught wind of a cheerleader’s pregnancy.”

“Perhaps, but he wouldn’t know her name.  He’d think of it as, ‘That cheerleader pregnancy thing.’”

“He could google it.”

“Or, or someone could have, you could have … You called my Dad!”

“No I didn’t”

“You were at work; you saw me and Marc and you called my Dad!”

“I didn’t want to see you ruined like Gina Berendo.  Marc just gave her five hundred bucks for an abortion and dumped her.”

“But I love Marc, and he loves me.”

“No he doesn’t.  You don’t hear the way he talks about you, about all the girls.”

“He tells you?”

“He tells all the guys.”

“Yeah! Right!”

“Right!”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’ve had a crush on me for years.”

“Doesn’t make me a liar.”

“It compromises your position.”

“Is that so wrong?  Is it wrong that I care for you? Look after you?”

“Look, Neil, I’ve tolerated your puppy dog admiration long enough.  I thought we’ve become friends.  I’ve had it.  You tattletaled on me, and I have to carry around this damn backpack for three months.”

“But …”

“No Neil.  The word is ‘Bye.’  Pronounce it correctly.  It is the last word I’m going to say to you.  Go away.  Go have a crush on some other girl.  Dog her around.  Destroy her relationships.  Wreck her life.  Leave me alone.  Bye!”

“But …”

“…Bye!”

Author's Note

500 word count limit dialog only, no speech tags allowed.