The Stripper Equation

What's the Big Idea?

            All eyes were on me.  I just stood there unable to speak.  I could see Kiera’s smug grin and all I wanted to do was jump across the table and slug her.  I don’t know what it is about her.  She has always hated me and I don’t have any idea why.  I have never wanted to hurt anyone like I wanted to hurt her right now.  But none of that was helpful.  All I could think about was how furious at Kiera I was.  I couldn’t focus at the task at hand.  I couldn’t get my mind clear enough to come up with an answer to her damn question and the longer it was taking me the guiltier I looked.  I hadn’t felt like this since the first time my parents caught me in a lie.  I was thirteen and I implied there was going to be parents at a party where there definitely weren’t going to be parents.  It was my first real lie and I had gotten caught.  I could feel my palms getting sweaty. 

Dominique’s voice brought me back to the present.  “You were in Mark’s office?”  I wiped my palms on my tights.  I couldn’t think.  All the lying I had done lately and I just couldn’t think of one, let alone a good one.  I had no idea what I was going to say.  Dominique was waiting for an answer.  The only thing I could think about was how I was going to need Vinnie to defend me after I killed Kiera.  I wondered if Noah would be my arresting officer.   

“Mark borrowed my ipod the other night when Danny had off.”  Daphne commented in a nonchalant way.  She knew her answer was vague but she said it like it was the truth and she owned it.

Dominique put her hands on her hips, obviously not satisfied with the answer.  “Well that clears up nothing.”  She was getting impatient.

“Well he needed mine because obviously I have the best taste in music.”  Daphne smiled innocently playing dumb.

“So because you have Kesha on your ipod, Ginger gets free reign to go into Mark’s office?”  Kiera mocked.  The other girls just sat there waiting to see what was coming next.  Hell I was waiting to see how Daphne was getting us out of this.

“Or he never gave it back to me the other night.  His office door was open.”  She spoke as if what she was saying was the most obvious explanation in the world.  She would make an amazing lawyer.  “The last time I saw it, he had it on top his filing cabinet.  And since you said he was going to be m.i.a for a while I asked Ginger if she could check if it was there and get it for me.”

Kiera looked as if she was setting the trap.  “And you couldn’t get it yourself?”  Daphne’s execution was almost flawless but Kiera found the one hole.  Again all the eyes were on me.

“Awe come on Kiera, you know how I love the fresh meat.  I didn’t want to miss any of this.”  Daph gestured towards the half-naked hopefuls that were still waiting for our votes.  “I really didn’t think it would be that big of a deal.  I mean it is my ipod.”

            Kiera grinned like she just caught us in the act.  “Your ipod, huh?  So where is your ipod now?”

            I was too scared to look over at Daphne.  I knew that we had been caught.  When Daphne would have to admit that we hadn’t found it in there I knew Kiera already had her responses prepared.  She was going to ripe the story apart.  But before the barrage of questions started I saw something out of the corner of my eye.  I heard plastic skid across the table and I saw it was Daphne’s ipod, in all its fake, pink, bedazzled crystal glory.  I looked up to meet her face as she was looking triumphantly at Kiera.  If we were ten years younger and not in the presence of witnesses she would’ve stuck out her tongue at her.  “Anything else Inspector Kiera?”