Mila’s house was fucking huge.
As Kylie opened one of the fancy double doors to greet Christy, Christy now knew why so many people, even people that weren’t in Mila’s huge-ass circle of friends, were begging for invites to the pool party. Mila had said her dad was a CEO, but she should’ve clarified that his company was likely as big as Apple or Google. Better yet, he might’ve been the actual CEO of one of those companies.
As soon as she entered the house, she felt as though a couple steps of her flip flops already ruined the waxy, dark marble floor. She took them off before realizing what she was doing.
“Where’s that rich bitch?” Christy said with a grin.
“The pool. There’s burgers and kebabs.”
“And lemme guess, she has a chef?”
All that Kylie gave was a grin, and Christy scoffed. Why did Mila invite people like Christy anyway? The fact that Christy didn’t even have a home yet made her qualified to stay at least ten yards away from Mila. But she had Andrew to thank, since he was the only one in the group to hang out with Mila the most, and from what Christy heard, his house was just as big as this one.
“Who else is here?” she asked.
“Gary, Dave, and Ian.”
Christy followed her down the hall into the family room and kitchen, both of which probably making up one of Christy’s old houses in terms of space.
They went toward the back to find the pool with the smell of barbecue and the sounds of Dave and Gary jumping and splashing into the water. Ian was in conversation with Mila while there was, in fact, a chef working at the grill.
Feeling awkward to venture any farther on this type of property, Christy continued following Kylie to where Mila and Ian sat by the table of food.
Mila stood up and hugged both girls. “Hey!” After she pulled away, she adjusted her see-through designer dress, then gestured to some of the food on the table. “Food’s ready.” She was an unusual kind of rich white girl, hugging and feeding her middle-to-low-class acquaintances.
Kylie took a piece of fruit and talked to Mila about a Hollywood actress in the news, and Ian turned to Christy and said, “Hey. It’s good to see you outside of school.”
“Oh, yeah.” She smiled at him, though she figured she could lay off the flirting since she more than once turned him down, what with dating James and then breaking up not too long ago. “Guess you do have a life outside of school.”
“I heard you just broke up with James.”
“Yup, that happened.” She pushed her hands into the back pockets of her high-waisted shorts and gazed at the food table. “Single now.”
“Me too,” he said as he stood up from his chair.
Shit, she didn’t mean to go in that direction. “But now I’m into someone else, a little.” She stepped back.
“Who?”
“Woo!” Carter yelled from the house as he carried bottles of alcohol in his arms.
Mila crossed her arms. “I thought you were gonna bring just a couple.”
“Shut up, it’s a party.” He rolled his eyes as he set a few bottles on the food table.
“Nice,” Christy said as she approached him. “I should hang out with you more.”
He set down the last bottles and winked at her. “You are already.”
“Gimme some shots then.” She winked back.
Dave and Gary had just emerged from the pool and ate and drank everything they saw. “Guys, guys,” Carter said. “Leave some for the rest of us, alright? This is the max amount of booze I can get without my foster parents finding out.”
Few people touched the alcohol at first, but when Carter started getting carried away and passed around glasses like they were Costco sample cups, more and more people joined in, even Mila. Kylie only had a few shots and acted like she was completely wasted, which Christy and Carter agreed was the official newbie move.
Before Christy knew it, there appeared a couple dozen of people she sort of recognized from the hallways of her school that were definitely as high-maintenance and inherently beautiful as Mila. Andrew and Colette eventually made it, with Andrew proposing that they hit the pool, but Colette looked at anything but him and took a shot of vodka before doing anything else. It almost felt like the ideal frat party Christy dreamed of going to.
She found Carter in one of the chairs next to Andrew and Colette making out like they were about to have monkey sex in one of the bedrooms later. Feeling disturbed, Christy held a hand out to Carter and gestured him to follow her. He seemed to think about it before sighing and standing up to obey.
After she got him to a spot away from the crowds of people, she said, “So you’re the sad drunk, huh?”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
She smiled. “Do you really want me to?” She got an idea and she had no second thoughts about it.
He shrugged.
Her finger traced down his arm to his wrist. “I feel like you’re the only person that really gets me.”
His bloodshot eyes widening, he said, “You’re like that to me too.”
Gasping with her heart beating faster, she gripped his arms. “I got another thing to say.”
“Hit me with it.”
“I really wanna kiss you like Andrew kisses Colette.” The words came out before she realized it, but instead of trying to explain her way out of it, she let out a loud burp. “Fuck, sorry.” She held a palm against her mouth.
He only smiled at her with his shiny blue eyes, and his blonde hair partly sparkled with pool water.
Remembering what she had said, she tried to think fast. “Look, I haven’t been drunk in a while. I always say weird shit--”
But his mouth met with hers, and she said no more. Seconds later, her tongue found its way into his mouth, and vice versa. All she knew was that she wanted more of this.
Seeming to know her thoughts exactly, he pushed her against the wall of the house and ate her up, and fuck was he hungry.
“Hot!” a guy yelled as he went into the house.
The pair broke the kiss and Christy looked away from him. Was this right? It did feel right. When she looked back at him, he was taking in fast breaths and still staring at her. He didn’t seem to plan on saying anything, so she cleared her throat. “I, um, have no idea what this means…”
“Me neither. I just know that you’re really hot and...the awesomest person I ever met.”
She leaned toward him with her hands snaking up his arms under the short sleeves. She knew that if she were in her right mind she’d think herself batshit crazy, but she didn’t care in this moment. “I really wanna fuck you but I feel like that’s too fast.”
“Baby, we have all the time in the world,” he drawled.
“You should bring back your Texan accent. It’s hot.”
“I can do whatever you want,” he said in a much more Southern accent.
What did she want him to do? Well, with her asshole of a brother out of the question, she was still one person short to help her with her plan of sabotage. “Did you know...that I got thrown in juvie?”
“Holy shit! That sucks!”
“Yeah, and it was all because of Paige.”
He stared at her. “Does that bitch ever take a break?”
“Which is why I’m getting back at her. I started with the photos, then the rumor, then...uh...I forgot. I’ve done so much other shit. And I need you,” she said, poking his chest with her finger, “to back me up on this.”
“Oh, hell yeah!”
She gave him her biggest smile ever. Paige’s humiliation was the kind of thing he would legitimately get off on, and what more could she ask for?
“You know what we should do?” he asked. When she shook her head, he said, “We should tell the cops that she has weed, but not give her weed. So like, half-frame her. She would flip...out.”
Christy cracked up so hard she could feel tears coming. “That’s actually pretty good.”
He pulled out his phone and started dialing.
“I think the fact that you have a cop’s number is even funnier,” she laughed.
He held up an index finger with the phone against his ear. “Hey, I’m calling ‘cause a bitch named Paige Connelly has weed.”
She laughed quietly as he said with a straight face, “Uh, I dunno. But I have her address.” And he looked through his contacts to find it. He read it to the cop while managing to sound more sober than he actually was. After he hung up, Christy made wheezing sounds as she wiped the tears away with her hands.
“Fucking genius, right?” Carter asked.
“It’s fucking hot,” she breathed, and she grabbed his face for another breathless make-out session.
But then he broke it right before their tongues could touch. Pouting, she looked at where he was looking, and she seethed.
“James,” Carter growled.
With James’s back facing them, he slowly turned with a half-smile and a slow, “Hey, guys.”
“You don’t know what you just lost,” Carter said.
James took a step backward. “Yep, I saw you two together and was just minding my own business. So, I’ll just go…”
“You dumped me for some backstabbing nerd?” Christy asked. “Are you kidding me?”
“Uh, we’re not a thing. We just study together.”
“Yeah, and I bet all she wants is your tiny dick!” she yelled. “I didn’t even get to see it and she gets to?”
“Uh, I...look,” James stammered, “I don’t wanna start anything, so can I just go…?”
“I think you’re secretly crushing on Paige and Selah,” Christy slurred slightly. “Dumping me for them? You kneel to those bitches, don’t you?”
“You just don’t get it.”
“Did you know we told the cops that she has weed?” Carter laughed. “She’ll go apeshit, I swear. And she doesn’t even smoke it.”
James gaped. “You what?”
His expression just pissed her off even more. “You know what?” she yelled. “Go ahead and brag about how you went out with her since you’re so good at that! And then go out with her bestie ‘cause you’re a fucking coward, and a liar! I bet she doesn’t even know what you did!”
He seemed to try to keep himself composed. “You’re with Carter now. I dunno why you’re still bitching about this. And you know what. Christy? We’re definitely not friends anymore.”
She stared at him without a retort of her own. It took her a moment to realize that, on one hand, she lost respect for the asshole after he confessed his self-image-obsessed cowardice to her. On the other, they did have a pretty decent relationship that could’ve gone well, if it weren’t for Paige and Selah.
Her stomach didn’t feel too well and she got a headache that increased with each passing second. Needing to let it out now, she bent over and yakked on James’s shoes. Carter just cracked up and said something about James deserving it.
As she watched James yell out in disgust and storm into the house, she spit out the last of her vomit and grinned. The closure finally over with, she had one less spineless bitch to worry about. But now it was starting to get a little boring.
Spineless Bitch Number One really needed to step up her game.
[A/N: This is MUNA, a band of queer girls that released their first album earlier this year! I recommend you give the album a listen if you dig indie pop. :)771Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT1ber0edKL
771Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdHywvBzhmr
Plus, just wanna say that the song I posted here seems a little happier than the next section initially lets on, but by the end I think it'll make more sense. I think reading the lyrics will help you better understand why I chose this song for the upcoming scene. The theme I'm going for is a friendship that supports you through the struggles in your life.]
771Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrlmys2jiE5
Paige Connelly sat in one of the chairs outside of Brandon’s office, listening to earbuds plugged to her iPod nano. As Christy slowed her walking, she knew better than to overlook this. Brandon didn’t call up just any kid after school hours; it was always a tiny, helpless girl, the type that she used to be.
She stopped by the receptionist’s desk down the hall as she sneaked a few glances at Paige’s direction. Miss Rodman looked up from her paperwork and smiled. “Good afternoon, Christina. Did you get in trouble again?”
Christy scoffed. “That’s what everyone at this school cares about,” she said, trying to hide the hurt she felt every time people mentioned Mr. Keane. In her defense, the guy was selling weed to a lot of kids, not just her. She took some random brochure from the desk and opened it without reading the words.
“You need to make good choices. Like the summer program you’re looking at!”
Christy looked at the front and frowned. It was some youth leadership camp in Colorado. “Um, yeah. I wanna check it out,” she lied as she flipped through it.
As Miss Rodman babbled about her neighbor’s kid going to the same camp last summer, Brandon opened his door and called Paige in. Christy froze, hoping he wouldn’t make even the smallest head-turn to catch her there. Paige, turning red, hastily put her earbuds and iPod nano away and followed him into the office. After the door closed, Christy exhaled a breath. She hoped the “meeting” wouldn’t last too long, and if he was going to leave the office, she could not let him see her.
“Christina? Did you hear what I said?”
She turned back to see Miss Rodman’s raised eyebrow. “Uh, yes. The summer camp thing, right?”
Miss Rodman gave her a look before saying, “And you can also try ziplining there. It’s really fun from what I’ve heard.”
“Why don’t you go since you like it so much?”
“This program is for kids only. And you should take this seriously.” She folded her arms on her chest.
Christy sighed and looked at the pricing. “I can’t even afford it. Maybe...the next summer. I don’t know.”
Miss Rodman took the brochure from Christy’s hands and leaned forward with her elbows on the desk. “Why are you really here?”
Christy stared at her thoughtfully. The receptionist didn’t need to know what Brandon did to girls like her yet, not until Christy was able to expose him in some way. Miss Rodman would just think she’s bullshitting, and it wasn’t like anyone else took her seriously at this point. But that was something very low on her list of priorities.
At the top was stopping Brandon from violating other innocent girls.
Sighing, she said, “I really need to talk to the girl in there. But I don’t want Bran--I mean, Mr. Moore, seeing me. I just feel like crap when I’m around him.” And that was the truth, except it was more like a miserable-angry-hateful-type of crap.
“Oh, you mean after you talked to him about the ‘dealings’ you had with Mr. Keane?”
Christy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, whatever.”
“I’ve seen you in this office way too many times. You always get in trouble and get away with most of it.”
“As if you know what I go through,” Christy muttered.
“Well, I’m just saying, Christina. You should learn from your mistakes and move on. You’re worth a lot more than you think.”
Christy had to refrain really hard from rolling her eyes at this woman again. She didn’t know her life, so how would she even know whether the trouble she got into was her fault in the first place? Adults just never understood.
The doorknob of Brandon’s door turned, and Christy scrambled to the floor under the desk. Miss Rodman adjusted her paperwork and failed so hard at acting normal as she put on a fake smile.
“You’re gonna stay here till four right?” Brandon murmured. “If Hailey calls, tell her I’m gonna stay over at her place tonight.”
Christy felt slightly nauseous. She knew that was code for, “I’ll be touching her daughter in the middle of the night.”
As Miss Rodman nodded and went back over her paperwork, Christy heard his footsteps go to various places in the hall. After a moment of silence, Christy nudged Miss Rodman’s leg, and the latter nodded.
Christy stood up and looked around, and the whole administration office area was empty. She ran out of there and found Paige slowly walking down the hallway toward the back of the school.
“Wait!” Christy called as she ran after her.
Paige turned around with her hair a bit messier than before. Crap, he already started.
“What did he do to you in there?” Christy said out of breath.
“He...I…. Paige stuttered.
“He doesn’t act like who he says he is, right? He says he’s better than your old dad, but everything he does to you is how he should treat your mom...in bed.”
Paige’s eyebrows wrinkled. “Yeah...he does that. How did you know?”
“He screwed me over the exact same way. I actually thought he felt that way about me, but he was messing with my head the whole time. He’s a fucking pedophile and the vice principal.”
“Oh, God.” Suddenly tears dripped down Paige’s cheeks. “I thought it was just me. He says it’s okay for him to do that.”
Christy shook her head. “That’s just some of the bullshit he says. Everything he does to you isn’t normal. And even now he’s still screwing with me. You know when I got caught for buying drugs from Mr. Keane?”
Paige nodded.
“And how I was blowing him to pay for all of it? Back then I thought I had to do that, ‘cause that’s what I did for Brandon all the fucking time. For some reason I had it in my head that, if it was the vice principal, then it could be any teacher with a dick. They don’t tell on you ‘cause they want you to keep doing it. But when I got in trouble twice, Brandon said he would let me off the hook if I don’t report him for fucking me up. I literally can’t do anything thanks to that creepy pervert! He uses you and then ruins the rest of your life!”
Paige had started sobbing at some point, with her shoulder pressed against the wall. She buried her face in her hands. “It’s just that, he makes my mom so happy. All of her exes were so mean to her, and he’s the first one to be so nice to her and Jerry and me. Well, not me.”
“You can’t think of him like that.” Christy touched her shoulder. “Do you know it’s illegal what he’s doing to you?”
Paige shook her head. “I just know that he doesn’t yell at me like my mom’s exes did.”
“No, Paige. What he’s doing is a lot worse than that.”
Sniffling, she pulled Christy into a hug. “Thanks so much for telling me. And I’m sorry for what he did to you. I had no idea.”
Christy instinctively returned the hug. “Yeah. That’s why I wanna get back at him. He needs to be exposed.”
Paige pulled away and wiped away her tears with her sleeve. “What are you gonna do?”
“I don’t really know yet,” Christy admitted. “I just want the cops to catch him, but I don’t know how.”
“What if he never gets caught? What if he hurts my mom and then dumps her? What if he hurts you even more?” she asked, with Christy unable to answer any of those questions. “Why is he even doing this to us?”
“I always wanna ask that to all the perverts and pedophiles in the world.” Christy shook her head.
“Can you help me at least? Please? You get this, I don’t.”
As Christy watched more tears flow down Paige’s reddened cheeks, she felt this innate need to help her at whatever cost. The world was a messed up place, and girls like Paige had no clue about its darkest people. Him screwing up Christy was one thing, but him screwing up many other girls when she was well aware of it?
“Yeah, I’ll help. We can work together to expose this motherfucker.”
Paige smiled and hugged her again. This girl was a big hugger, which Christy didn’t mind.
Still smiling, Paige declared, “Let’s expose this motherfucker.”
