"There, I told Jem you'd come," Bingo said triumphantly.
Vivian wondered why Jem had thought she wouldn't. "Let me grab my bag," she said.
Bingo's parents were home, which explained why the entire Amoeba hadn't descended. "I told them it was their duty to go out so I could throw wild parties, but they wouldn't listen," Bingo said as she led the way upstairs to a small room that had been turned into a den for her use.
"Bingo's lair," said Jem, snapping his skinny fingers.
"Mom said she understood my need for privacy, but she was damned if I was going to entertain boys in my bedroom," Bingo explained as she flopped onto an overstuffed couch. "Put that one in," she ordered, jabbing a video at Jem, who almost dropped the popcorn but obeyed slavishly. "As if I couldn't do the same things she worried about in here," she said to Vivian, and winked.
Vivian began to think she needn't worry about keeping up her end of the conversation, but what did Jem feel about her coming along? It soon became clear, however, that Bingo and Jem were merely buddies.
The movie was wonderful - a real grade-B, drive-in clunker - and Bingo and Jem immediately began a sarcastic commentary on what was happening. "Hey, man, I'm having a bad hair day," Jem said in a falsetto as a zombie with clumps of hair missing shambled across the screen.
"I may be the president of the Hair Club for Zombies," Bingo added, parodying a well-known TV commercial.
"But I'm also a client," Jem and Vivian chimed in together.
The three of them fell about laughing.
"Your life is a bad hair day," Bingo said to Jem, and they screamed with laughter again. Vivian had to wipe tears from her eyes.
"You're all right, girl," Bingo said, and a flood of warmth surged through Vivian.
Halfway through the movie the phone rang. Bingo paused the tape and grabbed the receiver. "Yeah? Oh, hi, Kelly."
Vivian stiffened.
"Oh, hangin' out movie bingeing," Bingo said. "Yeah? No. Did they? Yeah, I heard. Phoned his house. Yeah, again. His dad's a real prick."
It was obvious the subject was Aiden. Vivian picked up one of the cassettes and tried to look as if she wasn't listening, but Bingo's next words made her glance over anyway.
"Well, why don't you ask her, Kelly? She's sitting right next to me." Her tone was mockingly sweet. "Bye-ee," Bingo sang in response to whatever Kelly said at the other end of the line, and she hung up.
"That girl can be such a bitch," Bingo said.
"What did she say? " Jem asked. Vivian never would have. She waited for Bingo's answer warily.
Bingo flung a hand up as if dismissing Kelly's words. "She was like, 'I guess Vivian won't be going out this weekend,' only she sounded happy about it, you know? She thinks you don't have any friends or something."
"She's jealous," Jem said, reaching for the remote.
"Oh, duh!" Bingo responded, then to Vivian, "She was like that to me before you came along, you know. I've been friends with Aiden forever, only when Ms. Me-First decided to claim him, suddenly I was the enemy, and I wasn't even competing."
"Let's watch the movie," Jem said.
"Aiden's too sweet," Bingo continued, ignoring Jem. "He was falling right into a thing with her, just 'cus it was easier than saying no and hurting her feelings."
"She's not that bad," Jem said, starting the movie again.
"Guys," Bingo said. "They think with this." She grabbed her crotch.
Jem laughed. "You're crude."
Bingo blew a raspberry at him. "Yeah, you love it."
On the screen a scientist put the severed head of a zombie in a pan and poured in a nutrient to sustain it. The zombie's lips wriggled and its eyes rolled.
"Mmmmmm! Zombie Helper," Jem said. "Pop it in the oven and bake."