The fifteen minute drive felt like multiple hours between them. She soon stopped her ramblings and was completely focused on the road. Ned looked out of the window and the scenery started to become less and less recognizable. Houses were bigger and looked richer. Then the dots started rapidly connecting together.
Is she taking me to her house?Oh no, please for the love of god no.
They went up a residential street with a whole lot of mansions. All of them varied in color, but the one that stuck out the most was the marigold manor. It was two stories with a huge circular driveway, a working water fountain and the statue of a man decorated in the center.
A little stone walkway that led to the front door with two white pillars piling up to underneath the second floor. The material of the building was mixed, some beige bricks combined with the marigold stone walls. It was a mix match of a variety of colors that caught his eye the most.
Is that her house? If it is then that’s very neat.
Conveniently she was driving towards that same house, an automated white gate blocked their way. She drove right up to the gateway and to the side, embedded in the wall, was a keypad.
She entered the passcode and the gate slid open, allowing her access to the driveway. Slowly she pulled in circled a bit until her car was the closest to the house as she could be. Put the gear in park and turned off the ignition, jangling the keys as she pulled it out.
“Come on.” She said, “Let’s go unwind.”
“Ok.” Ned said, worried about what she has in mind.
She took me to her house and now says she wants to unwind. Too many inappropriate scenarios are going on in my head, too many. Please don’t let it be that way. Hopefully her parents are here. Wait, I don’t see any more cars here. Oh no.
“Ted!” She yelled at him. “This has already been a shitty day, don’t make it any worse for me, ok?”
“A-alright.” He whimpered out.
She stomped all the way to the front door and she swiftly unlocked it. Swinging it open to reveal the inside of the manor. The entrance led to a huge living room with a chandelier dangling from the ceiling. A couch was pointed facing a huge flatscreen television screen that overhung a fireplace. Right behind the couch was a huge kitchen, connected to it was an enormous dining table. Further into the house was a spiral staircase that led to the second story. At the top of the steps was a balcony, and in the darkness Ned could make out two hallways that went in opposite directions.
“Welcome to my casa.” She announced, her voice echoing in the house. “Over there is the kitchen, if you ever need a snack. Down the hall to the left is the bathroom, we have a bidet installed. Upstairs is my room and my parents room. They aren’t home so we have the house to ourselves.”
“You have a really cool house. That kitchen is already bigger than my own room.” He commented.
“Yeah, not surprised. Whenever I bring people over to my house they always say that. My dad owns this car dealership for all of these luxurious cars. Get all of these suckers to rent and buy cars from him, even though they're paying way too much for what they’re actually worth.”
“Wow, isn’t that illegal?”
“No, there's some legal loophole that I really don’t care about, as long as the dough keeps rolling in, am I right?”
“I guess.” He shrugged it off.
“Wanna see my room?”
“Um, sure.”
“Follow me.”
She took his hand and led him upstairs to her room. Once they reached the top she turned on the hallway lights. Herding Ned towards the last room on the right, right across from her parents room that she pointed out to him.
Creaking open the door, her room looked beautiful. White puffy sheets with fluffy pillows on a queen sized bed. She had multiple stuffed animals that were lined across her pillows. There was a dresser drawer with a laptop on it surrounded by a litter of makeup products. A body mirror was propped up next to it, with curtains covering a window.
“Don’t mind the little mess on the floor. Forgot to clean up before I left.” She was pointing at some fast food bags and some water bottles near the corner of her bed.
“It’s fine really. I’ve seen messier.” He assured.
“I bet you have, after seeing your house.”
“Yeah too much. My mom is really messy.”
“Oh.” She seemed surprised. “Well have you ever seen a bigger closet than this!” She skipped over to a door, after she opened it, showing off how big her walk-in closet was. It was pretty long and had enough wide space to walk through. Inside were not clothes as Ned originally thought, it mainly contained rows of shoeboxes, holding exclusive sneakers from big name brands. There were obviously some nice attire, but not as much as you would think when you hear the word closet.
“Wow that’s a lot.” He was shocked.
“I’ve been working on my collection. Fancy dresses have never really been my thing, and I don’t even have a lot of clothes.”
“Why have so many shoes?”
“I’m a collector. You know how people collect coins, cards, or whatever. It’s the same thing, just way more expensive.”
“I mean trading cards can go for like almost millions of dollars-”
“Ok don’t nerd out on me there.”
“Sorry.”
She giggled at him. “Oh my gosh that is so cute, it’s just too adorable I can’t.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Yes, of course I'm talking about you.”
“Thanks, I guess.” He laughed and ran his fingers through his hair, nervously trying to distract himself from her comment.
“Let me guess, no one’s ever told you that.”
“Exactly. I don’t even get compliments at all. Only other one I can remember is when Michelle called me smart.”
“Michelle? Who’s that.”
“Oh, she’s my classmate who asked me to tutor her for math. She came over to my house and I taught her everything I knew. I’m pretty good and according to her I was better at teaching than he was. She was the one that was at the mall today-”
“What?”
“She was the one…at…the.” He started slowing down his speech. “Sorry, that’s why it was so awkward when you went up to her. I know she’s not that kind of pearson and I tried to get you to stop, I don’t know her friend but I know her and she would never-”
“Stop talking, just for a minute.” She commanded him. “Dammit, didn’t know I would have competition.” She turned away and was now mumbling to herself, Ned couldn’t hear a thing coming from her mouth.
He stood there, looking concerned as she kept rambling on. It was all incoherent ranting that he didn’t want to know. He reached into his pocket and whipped out his phone, checking if he got any messages from his mom. Nothing, nothing at all.
He sighed but then he realized he got a ton of notifications from Instagram. He was tagged in many posts and stories.
They recorded that fight in the mall didn’t they? Goddammit, this sucks huge balls.
The videos were of multiple angles of the argument with the caption.
Sarah and Ted are dating!?
Mainly all of them referring to the pics of us holding hands that got leaked. Honestly people weren’t even focused on the argument, just honing in on the speculation of us dating.
Scrolling through the comments gave Ned an insight of everyone’s thoughts on this. But the majority of them were very peculiar.
“Sarah’s already found another boy toy.”
“Dating Ted already?”
“The popular girl with the popular boy, who could’ve seen this coming.”
“Can’t wait for this relationship to fail within the first few weeks.”
“Poor kid, doesn’t know he’s being played with.”
Is this something she does often? Wow, so she was just doing this to fulfill some sick fantasy about dating a really popular person then? All of this effort, all of this time, all for what? I don’t understand people at all. Once I start to get on track, they just throw me off.
Ned closed his phone and put it back into his pocket. He looked up at Sarah, who was just creepily staring at him. He was startled and his eyes widened, stepping backwards.
“What were you looking at?” She asked him.
“My phone.” He answered.
“I know that, but what were you looking at on your screen?”
“Oh, it was just posts that spread rumors about us dating.”
“Spreading rumors huh?”
“Yeah.”
She started giggling as she pulled out her phone. She started going through the posts, leaving comments underneath them. She typed out that the rumors were true, only adding more fuel to the ongoing wildfire.
Ned’s phone started to blow up and vibrate, so he checked it again. The comments that Sarah left baffled him.
“Yes we’re dating, what about it?”
Putting an emoji with the tongue sticking out. She was basically confirming rumors that weren’t even real in the first place. Even worse, she was doing it right in front of his eyes.
“Sarah what the hell are you doing?” He confronted her.
“What’re you talking about?” She knowingly lied, giggling as she did.
His face was bewildered, she was being a complete bitch. All of the behaviors he’s had to endorse were all compacted into one disgusting human being. “Why would you say we were dating? We’re not at all, it’s only a rumor.”
“Maybe we can start dating.”
“No!” He asserted himself boldly, something he’s not known for doing.
“Come on! Ted, I think you’re a great guy and-”
“Stop! Stop! Stop right there. You know nothing about me whatsoever. You just picked me up from my house, dragged me along to the mall and then to your house. Oh! How could I forget that you started a huge ruckus in the middle of a crowded area with some girls. All for what? To impress me? You made yourself look like a total bitch out there.”
“Why you little-”
“I should’ve pieced it together from the start, with that whole Jessica story. Goddamn should’ve known that you were gonna be like this. Why am I so stupid.”
“You’re not stupid Ted. I think you’re a bright guy. I really do think that.”
“Compliments won’t persuade me, so just stop trying. I’m tired of people like you pushing me around. Ignorant pieces of shit like you think every person in the world is beneath them. Well guess what, you’re scum, bottom of the barrel, the scraps that no one will ever love. How does your family even deal with you anyways? You’re so unbearable. I’ve had to restrain myself from even going on this rant but holy shit you’ve pushed me to the edge.”
“Get out of my house-”
“My whole life has been people like you controlling my life, making me feel shitty. Well guess what? I’m going to turn that around. If there’s one thing I'll give you credit for, you were right about needing to stand up for yourself. I’m sick of the same cycle of bullshit that I keep getting stuck in. I’m going to change that and not be trapped in it for the rest of my life. Better now than later I guess.”
“Ted! Get the fuck out of my house now!”
“My names Ned you fucking worthless failed abortion!”
“GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!” She screeched at the top of her lungs, grabbing Ned by the shirt and shoving him out of her room and into the hall.
She kept pushing him out of the hallway, tossing him to the stairs. Miraculously he didn’t fall, catching himself on the railing. He ran down the stairs and headed to the door.
“Leave now!” She kept screaming at him at the top of the balcony. “I never want to see you again!”
“I was never planning to.” He opened and slammed the door completely shut. Making sure he smashed it as hard as he could.
He was now just standing outside of the house, a light breeze passed by when a sudden thought struck him.
How am I gonna get home?
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Chris woke up from his nap to his phone ringer going off. He was getting a call from Ned. He scrambled over to his phone, buried in his messy sheets and answered it.
“Hello.” He said as he rubbed his eyes.
“Chris, you’re not gonna believe what happened today.” Ned said.
“Did you make any progress with the-the-” He yawned. “The girl points thing?”
“No, this is something completely different.”
“Oh ok. Hit it with me.”
“So this girl Sarah came up to my house and she dragged me along to the mall. It was like this little date thing, I don’t know but-” Ned kept explaining in great detail the fight with Michelle and Rachel, and the complete smackdown he delivered on Sarah. Now he’s walking home all the way back to his house. The sun was hanging high in the sky. Even with all of the events that have transpired it’s only been a couple of hours, it’s only mid day.
“Holy shit man that’s a lot.” Chris was shocked.
“I know. It’s hard to believe this was only a few hours. What a shitty fucking week.”
“Tell me about it. I’ve been stuck in my room with nothing to do but just scroll on my phone endlessly. Have you seen the comments on the fight between you and Micheal?”
“No, I don’t have the time or even care enough about what people think. I already get a bunch of praise from everyone at school.”
“Really?”
“I’ve never seen anything like it. I don't know how I feel about it. It feels…cultish.”
“All of the comments I’ve been reading were saying how brave you and I were. Everyone was impressed with my performance.”
“I am too man. That was some real good shit you did back there. You did go too far but you stood up for me. I appreciate that very much, I’ll never forget it.”
“Anytime, I’m not letting any asshole unleash a beating like that on my friend. I’ll always stand up for you no matter what.”
“Thanks. You know I’ll do the same.”
“Of course.”
“We’re gonna be friends forever.”
“Yes, we will.”
In the background of Ned’s side of the call, a sound of a car pulling up beside him was blaring through the speaker.
“What the hell?” Ned said panicky. “Hey! Hey!”
“Ned?” Chris worryingly said.
“Ah! What are you-” Sounds of tussling and him grunting were all that Chris could hear.
“Ned!” He cried out.
“Get the fuck off me-” Those were the last words uttered by Ned as his line cut out and the call ended.
“Ned! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” He started to panic, he was startled to the core. “Goddammit!” He called his number again but he was sent to voicemail. He called again and again and again.
But no matter how many times he called, Ned didn’t pick up.
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Michelle walks back into her house after a few hours at the mall. She was greeted with the empty and descolent house. Her dad is away from work, leaving the house basically abandoned.
She sets her keys on the counter and lays down on the couch. Sighing as she whipped out her phone. She’s been trying her best to avoid her phone the entire day. The video of the fight they had was all over her Instagram. On meme pages for the school she attends and other people who she has never met in her life.
She didn’t even want to look at all of the comments, she just didn’t care at all. All she had to worry about was getting ready for work tomorrow. It was a long shift at the McDonalds she worked at part time.
Taking a job while still being in high school was tough to maintain but she wanted to take the challenge to help out her dad. They weren’t very rich, most of her dad’s money went away after divorce court had railed him. Thankfully he gained full custody of her, because the mother didn’t want any part of her life.
One day she decided to help out with the bills and get a job. Her dad protested but she insisted, even if she had to walk all the way to work and back. She’s been working there for a few months now.
Her phone kept vibrating from all of the comments that were being spammed under posts she was tagged in. She had this sudden urge to look at some of them, but she didn’t want to be sucked down the rabbit hole of the toxic community the school pages had.
But curiosity got the better of her and she decided to just look at one comment, only one. It took time to load until she was able to read it. It popped up on her screen after a minute.
“Why is that chick fighting over him? Does she like him? This whole fight seems like a fight over this boy.”
It completely baffled her, how someone can make so many assumptions and jump to insane conclusions based off of one video. Immediately assigning traits to someone they never met, only off of one post.
“I’m glad I’ll never talk to these people ever again.” She said to herself. “Once high school is done I’ll never deal with this toxic culture.”
She turned off her phone and threw it down on the cushion of the couch. But the comment loomed in her mind more than she liked it to.
Are they both really dating? It seemed like he was desperately trying to end the argument, he really is just nice. I doubt he would willingly go out with someone like Sarah, would he? Hopefully not, I don’t see him as that kind of person. Either way, I'm not going to talk to him for a while. It'd be too awkward if I did. Can’t wait for dad to come back, maybe he brought home food again.202Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ06UqJDD2e3
