UNLoved: a bay falls high novel, page 4
The front door was unlocked and Barr walked right to the grand staircase.
“I can make it up the steps,” I said.
“Maybe. Maybe not. Why chance it?”
“Why help me?” I asked.
“Why not?”
“Because you’re an asshole,” I said. “But now suddenly you’re not?”
“Oh, I still am, love. This is a cheap excuse to get me into your room. And you’re drunk.”
“So you think that means I’m suddenly easy?” I asked.
“You can be easy and I’ll be hard,” Barr said.
“Gross,” I whispered.
“Yet you’re the one blushing over it,” he said.
I shut my eyes.
Which was a bad idea.
The movement and bouncing from the steps instantly made me feel sick. I opened my eyes but felt like my face was now green. My stomach was talking back, mad for everything I had to drink.
Last thing I needed was to get sick in front of Barr.
That would be a total disaster.
As Barr kept walking I realized something beneficial about being poor. If you were sick or drunk or had a twisted ankle, getting to your bedroom didn’t take a fucking year to get there.
I laughed again.
“What’s funny again, love?” Barr asked.
“Nothing. Just stupid thoughts.”
“Like what?”
“Me being poor. That’s what.”
Barr stopped walking. “You’re not poor anymore, Tinsley.”
Oh. Serious voice.
“Yes I am. This is all fake.”
“So what? Let it be fake. But you’re not poor. Don’t ever say that again.”
“Are you going to whisk me away, Barr? Give me all your money so I could live happily ever after?”
Barr curled his lip. “I better get you to bed, love.”
We were silent the rest of the walk to my bedroom.
And even there, Barr had no care in the world as he opened the door and walked in like he owned it.
Now, it was my bedroom.
My eyes looked to the clothes on the floor.
My panties.
And of course there was a bra hanging off the side of the messy bed.
Barr didn’t say a thing though.
He walked me right to the bed and lowered me down.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Are you going to get sick?”
“From being so close to you? Maybe.”
“Yeah? How close is too close?”
“You tell me.”
Ohgod, I’m flirting… drunk and flirting…
Barr put his lips to mine. But he didn’t kiss me.
“How’s this?” he asked, his lips dancing against mine.
I tasted him.
I hated it. But I loved it.
“Maybe,” I whispered.
“Then… maybe this…”
Barr kissed me.
Like full on kissed me.
Lips, tongue, a real kiss.
My hands grabbed at his arms, not sure if I wanted to push him away or invite him into my bed.
The make out session was short lived when he pulled back.
The sound of our kissing echoed around the bedroom.
He had his right hand on the nightstand and his left hand on the bed over me.
We just stared for a few seconds before Barr lowered me back down.
This is it… I could end this stupid bet thing right now.
“What’s the game about?” I asked.
Barr was just a few inches from me. “What?”
“Pres. Kip. They went to talk to Brando and Maverick.”
Barr grinned. “Right. The game.”
Barr stood up and folded his arms.
“Well?”
“Just bullshit stuff, love,” he said.
“Like what?”
“A football game,” Barr said. “BFH against HCH.”
“HCH? That’s that other school?”
“Yeah.”
“Where Weslee Jackson goes to?”
“Yeah.”
“You guys beat up that one guy… well, he was already beat up…”
“Yeah,” Barr said for a third time.
He was getting annoyed.
“Why’s it such a big deal? The football game, I mean.”
“It just is,” Barr said. “They can fight each other. Or they can play each other. It’s for bragging rights. It’s not during the season.”
“Bragging rights…”
“Yeah. They play without equipment. So the hits are hard. There’s no refs either. So you play dirty and hope for the best. It’ll probably end up in a big fight. That’s what happens. Tension boils over… and like I told you, love, someone loses. Always.”
“Why did Brando have to talk to you?” I asked.
“Because we fucking said so,” Barr said.
I opened my mouth but Barr turned and made the move I expected.
He hooked his finger under my bra on the bed and lifted it.
“First time you’ve seen one?” I asked.
Barr laughed. “You really want to talk about first times, love?”
I swallowed hard. “Goodnight, Barr.”
He dropped my bra to the bed.
He took out a cigarette and lit it.
Just to be an asshole.
“Night, love,” he said.
He walked out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.
Leaving me with the smell of his cigarette smoke.
Leaving my heart racing.
I shut my eyes and just wanted to sleep everything away.
Not the drinks.
Not the pain in my ankle.
Not the night.
But everything.
Part of me said to just tell the truth. Because whatever the Rulz knew about me, it was wrong. Yet, if I did that, then what would happen? Would they just suddenly leave me alone forever and pretend like I didn’t exist?
The answer was simple… no.
This entire thing wasn’t going to end calmly at all.
four
In some crazy twist of fate, my hangover didn’t linger more than one day and my ankle wasn’t broken, sprained, or even hurt. It was like the night at the beach didn’t even exist. And just by brushing my teeth and taking a shower, I washed Barr away. I washed Pres away. I washed Kip away.
And that was that.
I hung out at Gi’s house with Iris there too.
We went to the beach, walked to get insanely expensive frozen yogurt, then went back to Gi’s house and did nothing but talk shit on everyone we didn’t like. My list was a little shorter than theirs, but it was a crash course into how intense and fake BFH really was.
Maybe there weren’t many secrets floating around, but it was clear everyone hated each other. And the crazy part was that it seemed to start with the parents. Old fights and bullshit that bled into the kids that bled right into the hallways of Bay Falls High.
Another thing about being poor… we didn’t have time or care to worry about gossip and drama. If there was a problem, we took care of it. And if that meant meeting at a park to settle things, we did it. Or if it meant meeting right in the middle of the street and throwing punches, so be it.
But these people… these rich fuckers… they held grudges for years with the hopes of turning it into some kind of money power play much later on in life. Or just use their own children to keep the fight going.
That was really messed up.
It was actually a little bit of a relief to not see the Rulz for once.
To almost forget about them.
Almost.
Because as I drove back to Claire’s, my eyes kept looking to the mirrors, expecting to see them following me.
But that didn’t happen either.
It was a normal day.
The kind of day that made me bite my lip and wonder if I could indeed live and survive in the world of BFH. All I had to do was talk to Claire. Like a real conversation. Find out what was going on with Mom since I hadn’t heard from her after Barr threatened to shut the rehab center down. I could see what Claire’s intentions were, find out why she made comments about wanting to raise me when I was a kid, and maybe make a plea to stay.
As Claire’s black gates and massive driveway appeared from the horizon, I saw something familiar.
It was a car coming in my direction.
The same car I saw that one day when Claire was at the end of the driveway. When she gave me her famous speech about adapting to my environment.
The same car.
The same guy behind the wheel.
And he did the same thing.
Slowing down as he passed me by, looking right at me.
He was maybe a middle aged man with black sunglasses, black hair, and messy scruff on his face. And when I started to stare back, slowing down, he took off.
The car went around a bend and was gone.
For some reason it made my heart sink as though something was wrong.
A little bit of panic set in and I drove fast up the driveway to go check on Claire. Not that I could imagine anything bad ever happening to her. She was filthy rich. There was always someone at the house. And she worked in real estate. Worst thing that could happen to her was, what, not make a deal?
Even still, I hurried through the house into the kitchen.
“Claire?” I called out.
“Right here!” she yelled back.
I found her in the piano room holding a martini glass.
“Claire? Are you okay?”
“Perfect,” she said. “I was just thinking about this piano. I got it at an auction. On a whim. I told myself I was going to learn to play. Never did.”
“Okay,” I said, catching my breath. “There was someone leaving the driveway…”
“Good,” she said. “Leaving is good.”
“It is?”
“Do you know why I never learned piano?”
“No. Why?”
“Fear,” Claire said. She put the martini glass down on the top of the piano. “I mean, I can lie to myself all I want. That I’m too busy. That I’m not talented. But it was fear. Something new. The unknown. Now this thing sits here, wasting away. An entire room for something I have, but never truly have.”
I licked my lips.
I needed water.
Or a drink.
Or to get out of this house and go back to Gi’s where that whole feeling of normal existed.
“I was worried for a second,” I admitted. “Seeing that same car. That guy in the car. He works for you?”
“Nothing to worry about here,” Claire said. “This isn’t back home.”
“Oh, I know that.”
Claire swiped the martini glass off the piano and walked out of the room.
I eyed the piano and all it did was make me think of Barr.
I had to get out of the room.
And I went right up to bed.
I didn’t feel like having a decent day turn into shit because the sun was about to go down on BFH.
And that was when all the things seemed to want to happen.
* * *
I opened my locker and there was a tan, cloth bandage half unrolled waiting for me.
“Asshole,” I whispered, knowing that was from Barr for my ankle.
I slammed the locker, shaking my head.
Beth came to her locker and for a second, she acted as though I wasn’t even there.
Screw that.
“Hey,” I said to her.
She nodded. “Hey.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s a lie.”
“Probably.”
She opened her locker and I put my hand to it, shutting the door. “Talk.”
“Nothing to talk about.”
“Are you going to keep the eighth grade bullshit act up all day then?”
“Not sure yet,” Beth said.
I slid to block Beth’s locker. “Then I’ll just stand here and wait. And miss class. And get into trouble.”
Beth’s eyes filled with tears.
She shook her head and backed up.
I reached for her but missed her by an inch before Vicky threw a shoulder at her, knocking her forward into my arms.
Beth burst into tears.
“Oops,” Vicky said.
“Whore,” I said.
“At least I know how to have fun,” Vicky said.
“Yeah… with a pack of hotdogs,” I said.
“Don’t bother replying, Vicky,” Blair said. “That’s how those street scums act. Looking for a fight. It’s really sad.”
The two bitches walked away as I held a crying Beth.
I put my head back against Beth’s locker and sighed.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. So sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?” I asked.
Beth looked at me, her chin quivering. “What are you going to do?”
“About what, Beth?”
“This entire thing. I thought I was telling you to protect you.”
“You’re talking about the Rulz?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t worry about them.”
“I don’t know why I told you,” Beth said.
I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say. Feel sympathy for her? That wasn’t going to happen.
“What else is wrong?” I asked.
“Denny,” she said.
“What about?”
“What the Rulz did to him…”
“I’m so sorry for that, Beth,” I said. “That’s been eating me up since it happened.”
“No, no, no, listen to me, Ti. They were right. They did good. I kind of want them to do it again.”
“Break his hand?”
“Break his other hand.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“He’s just a piece of shit,” Beth said.
“He hurt you. What did he do?”
“What all guys do.”
“He fucked someone else.”
“Big shock, right?”
“You thought you two were exclusive though.”
“Stupid me,” Beth said, her eyes welling up again.
“Shit. Come here.”
I hugged Beth again.
I saw Gi and Iris walking the hall. They both stopped and both lifted their eyebrows at me.
I mouthed fuck off to them.
Iris put her hands to her eyes and twisted them, pretending to cry.
Damn, she really didn’t like Beth at all.
That was a story I needed to get to the bottom of.
They kept walking, leaving me standing there with Beth.
“Let me walk you to the bathroom,” I said to Beth. “So you can get cleaned up.”
“We’re going to be late,” she said.
“Someone once used period cramps to get out of trouble,” I said with a grin.
“Works every time,” Beth said, her chin still quivering.
I took her to the bathroom and she stood over the sink, cleaning her face. I’m talking her bag on the counter with full cleaning stuff out. Like she was scrubbing herself before bed.
“What did he actually do?” I asked her.
She finally calmed down. Her eyes reflected to my eyes. “Some rotten cunt from East. I think I know who too. I’ll get my hands on her. Trust me. I will.”
“Good,” I said. “Or better yet… let him have her. It’s his loss. And if he goes near you again I’ll stab him with a screwdriver.”
“Or maybe we can do something else,” Beth said.
She turned and offered a wicked grin.
“Like what?” I asked.
“I was thinking… remind Denny of the Rulz.”
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“Hear me out,” Beth said, eyes wide. “You go tell them that Denny did something again. They’ll believe you. Then we sit back and wait and watch. They’ll destroy him. I heard that Malcolm bumped into you at the beach and they damn near took him out for good. He told his parents he was jumped. Did you know that? He told them he was over near East and things got tense. They have police looking over there for clues. All because Malcolm knows better than to say a word about Barr, Pres, or Kip.”
“Are you kidding me?” I asked.
“Not at all. That’s the power… of you.”
“Me?”
“You, Ti,” Beth said. “You’re not the puppet anymore to them. They are to you. You point and shit happens…”
I looked away.
I didn’t want to believe that for a second.
But it was true.
The thing with Malcolm. Oh, and then before that… the guitar dude. Barr put his foot through the guy’s guitar. Then they made him go get a new one. Because of me.
I shook my head. “No.”
“No? Fuck that, Ti. It’s a yes. You know it. That’s how I get him back.”
“Get him back? Come on, Beth…”
“What? I just told you what he did to me. You don’t even give a shit, do you?”
“Give a shit? Of course I give a shit. We can handle it together. Plus, if I do that and they get Denny and he says I’m lying, then what?”
“They’ll beat him even harder,” Beth said.
“Or they find out I was lying.”
“And you tell them you were testing them,” she said. “You were testing their loyalty to you. Oh, it’s perfect. They’d do anything for you right now. All because they want you.”
“Stop,” I said.
“Ti, listen to me.”
“I said stop!” I yelled.
My voice smashed against the walls.
Beth stepped back.
“This isn’t a fucking game for me, okay? Is that why you told me what you did? To use it? To use me? I’m not some fucking hit woman or whatever. I’m not going to stand there and point at a person and watch them get hurt. What happened to Malcolm was wrong. And it’s still bothering me.”
“So, that’s a no…”
“Screw you, Beth,” I said. “I can’t believe you just asked me that.”
I walked toward the door and ripped it open.
“I loved him,” she called out. “I’ve always loved him.”
I let the door shut but I didn’t turn around.
“Who?” I asked.
“Denny,” she said. “He was the one I really liked. And loved. I watched him flirt with so many girls. And I heard of him fooling around with some. When he was flirting with you that day, I got really jealous. But then he got beat up and he came to me for help. I thought we were finally going to have our chance together. Yeah, maybe that was bad thinking, but oh well. He hurt me, Ti. And with some trash from East? I’d rather him go down to HCH and fuck one of their whores.”
