“I swear to God, yo, I’m GONNA BREAK THIS SHIT!!! NO MORE GIRLS, ALEX!!!”

“No, Theo!” I dashed madly towards her and took hold of her wrists
before she could dash the set of DVDs against the concrete. “Don’t do it---!!! Money--- You spent money---!!!”

“I don’t care! I’ll just get it off of Bittorent!”

Earlier, Theo seemed to be getting along fairly well with Amy, even with awkward introductions considered. My Internet friend apologized for having interrupted us and kindly set off to leave us be for the day, only reminding us that she’d be online that night and still be in the city for a week staying at her aunt’s if either of us wanted to hang out with her.

But just as we left Time Warner, Theo began to walk off again in that brisk, unforgiving, resentful pace, forcing me to keep up with her best as I could as she began to retreat into Central Park. When I finally caught up to her, she simply told me that she “didn’t want to talk…” just “wanted to think for a second…”

Thanks to her aimlessness, we ended up marching in the wrong direction and soon found ourselves walking along the Central Park Drive as opposed to a more scenic route. For all of the way, we were treated to the unremarkable sight of the trees blocking out the sun from above us, vine-ridden cobblestone walls, ominous dark doors, dark underpasses, and cars speeding by on the road next to us. The compound smell of forest wood mixed in with the odors of asphalt and exhaust didn’t help either. And as if that weren’t enough, we soon realized that we were completely alone on the walkways. It was ugly: I couldn’t help but feel like we were a couple of Legend of Zelda newbies, stuck in some unholy forest dungeon without out a strategy guide, except we were really there instead of sitting like idiots with our eyes stuck to the TV screen.

All of a sudden, Theo stopped walking. Silently, she only reached into her plastic bag, dropping it to the ground as she held onto the boxed set of “Dizzy Daze”. And as she turned to face the road, beside us, I took immediate action.

So there we were, with her yelling about how our special day was ruined, how she thought her DVDs were cursed, how she would go nuts if she were to see another girl pop up, and how she wanted the pieces of plastic crushed into dust. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe her; by that time, I’d already understood that there was something weird going on; but I knew another way! If Theo were to only let me---

“Theo, no! Calm down, I’ve got a solution to this!”

“What?!” It was funny that she still struggled with me after asking that, refusing to let go of the box as if she didn’t even really care what I said.

“We can go back to Chinatown!”

“But it said no refunds!”

“I know a bunch of stupid kids who would buy that shit! Trust me!”

As she looked down towards the cracked floor beneath us, her bangs falling on her face and obscuring her eyes from my view, I had a hard time guessing how she took what I’d just said. But, though she still held on tight to the boxed set, she didn’t seem to be struggling at all anymore.

Not a moment later, a couple of cars loudly sped us by, causing me to sigh in relief.

Theo giggled. “My God, this kid…”

With that, she let go off the box, leaving it in my hands, as she put her head against my chest and her arms around me. “Ohh, your solution better work, Alex my love… because, if it doesn’t, I’ll beat you over the head with this box until you’re the one who’s in a ‘Dizzy Daze’…”