Explosive

12 || Prank Call

When I enter my room, Tamara is sprawled across my bed, her mouth in a scowl and my laptop open in front of her. "Do you have anything on here other than old 90s music?" she mutters, glancing up at me, her piercing catching the light.

"Hey!" I respond. "What are you doing on my laptop?"

"It's not my fault that you don't have a password on it," Tamara snaps, sitting up and crossing her legs. Taking my laptop from her, I place it on my dressing table.

"I do. It's just that when it goes to sleep it doesn't request a login." I sit at the edge of the bed as Tamara pushes her glasses higher up on her nose.

"Is everything okay?" I ask, trying to read her.

"Why wouldn't it be?" she says coolly. Her fingers play with the tassels that line one of my throw pillows, a smile stretching across her thin face.

"I don't know. It's so late and... wait a minute. How did you know where I lived?"

Tamara rolls her eyes and falls against the pillows, letting out a sigh. I'm surprised at how comfortable she is. "Please. Everyone knows where Josh lives."

"Right. Anyways, I'm glad you came," I say, my lips twitching into a smile. And I am glad. Especially after seeing a darker side of my uncle I need someone like Tamara to laugh with. "Do you want to watch a movie?"

"Sure," she mumbles. "How about 22 Jump Street? I liked the first movie." I groan internally at the mention of 21 Jump Street. A few years ago, I had watched it with Emily and Aryan. Though it was funny, it wasn't worth it for the amount of trouble I got in from my mom for watching it. Plus, I couldn't stand the swearing. Emily said that made me a goody-two shoes. I thought that it made me sensible.

"How about something with a little less swearing?" I offer, placing my laptop on the bed.

"You're so lame," Tamara moans, taking the laptop from me. "We're going to end up watching some stupid Disney movie, right?" I shrug and give her a sheepish look. "Fine, you choose the movie."

"How about Iron Man?" I say finally, crawling up to sit beside her, despite my initial hesitation not to. I haven't really taken the chance to know Tamara better.

"Are you sure that it doesn't have too much violence for you?" She rolls her eyes again and does a quick search for the movie. "By the way, how was the basketball game?"

My smile falters and I look at my hands, avoiding Tamara's gaze. "I stayed until halftime. But they won."

"What's the matter with you?" Tamara asks, catching the shift in my mood.

"Nothing."

"Girl. Don't lie to me. You're not supposed to lie to your best friend." She laughs to herself before nudging me with her foot. Her toenails are painted a neon pink color and I try to focus on them.

"It's nothing huge," I say, leaning my head back. Tamara gives me a strange look before going back to playing Pac-Man on my laptop.

"The fact that you said that implies that it is huge."

"It's not a big deal," I say quietly. A short period of silence falls between us as I try to figure out what to say. Even Blake had asked me what had happened and I didn't want to tell him. It's obvious that Tamara doesn't like Cynthia and I really don't want to start something.

"I'm going to play the movie," Tamara threatens. I almost roll my eyes because she hasn't even found it yet.

"Never mind. It really isn't anything," I say, grabbing my phone from the side table and checking for any texts from Emily.

"Fine. I'm leaving, then," Tamara says, her eyes filling with annoyance. She starts to get up, pushing the laptop to the side.

"Okay, okay. It was Cynthia." I didn't mean to say anything, I really didn't. A heavy sigh escapes my lips and I close my eyes.

"What did that bitch do now?" Tamara seethes. "I swear to God. After the whole paint thing I have discovered a new kind of hatred for her."

"Why is she so mean to you?" I ask, averting the focus to her.

"She is crazy," she sings, tapping at my laptop quickly. I frown at her. "What? I think I can call her that after she got people to beat up my brother."

"She did what?" I screech

"I have a brother who is two years older than me. A few years ago, Cynthia got a couple guys to beat him up."

"Why would she do that?" I question, realizing that she isn't telling me the whole story.

"I told you, she is crazy." I don't think I have ever met anyone that makes me as angry as Cynthia. No, I know I have never met anyone like her. Period. "What did she do to you?"

"She was being mean?" I offer, hoping that it will be enough.

"Give me your phone," she demands, grabbing it from my hands before I can protest. "You told me that she gave you her number."

"Wait. What are you doing?" She waves my hand away and pulls out her own phone.

"Payback. Since you are too much of a chicken to do anything. I will do it for you." I open my mouth but she just holds up a finger. "You have her number, right? I used to but then she changed it." Tamara scrolls through my short list of contacts and pulls up Cynthia's number, then types it into her own phone.

"Don't do this Tamara," I plead, mortified at her confidence. "She'll know it's you."

"Nah. My brother made me change my number last month."

"But -" My mouth clamps shut when Tamara puts her phone on speaker.

"This is Cynthia. What's up?" Her voice sounds a pitch higher than usual, it's her fake voice. That's when Tamara stars breathing heavily into her phone and I drag my hand across my face at her childish 'plan'. "Who is this?" Cynthia screeches. Tamara continues her odd breathing. "Todd, if this is you, you're so dead."

I take the phone from Tamara and disconnect the call. "You're crazy, you know that?"

"Give it back," she yells, gripping my wrist. I drop her phone. "I wasn't done yet." She redials Cynthia's number and I cross my arms. It's so bad that I'm kind of enjoying this.

"She's going to figure out it's you," I whisper.

"Hi. Is this Cynthiatits?" Tamara says with an awful British accent. Trying to make her voice nasally, Tamara is pinching her nose delicately. "I was told that for a good time I should call this number."

"Who the hell is this? I am going to call the cops on you!" Tamara turns her phone off before she bursts into a fit of laughter. She falls back onto my bed, giggling hysterically.

"She's going to call the cops? What an idiot!" Tamara howls, slapping my arm slightly.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side," I say sarcastically but her laughter is infectious. It isn't long before I start chuckling to myself, glad that I had somebody that I could count on to make me feel better.

|| Author's Note ||

I know this was a short chapter but I really want to develop the relationship between Audrey and Tamara. Just a quick fun chapter. I hope you guys liked it.