Valley of the Dolls

(xiii) Smells Like Teen Spirit

           "Bee!" Sarah groaned.

           The curly-haired girl glanced between the pair with a grimace and scoffed incredulously. "Oh my God."

           "Look, all I care about is her cut comes out of your share," JJ came to the rescue of the girl he had been looking at for so long, trying to figure her out. Why wasn't she looking at him? Had John B said something? Has Sarah? He swallowed his worries, bit his tongue and sat back in his seat.

          "You know, I don't remember taking a vote," Kiara was back to yelling and Sarah was glaring at her from where she sat right in front of her. "This is our thing. A Pogue thing."

          Blair opened her mouth to speak, but didn't; she has milked the whole "I'm-not-a-Pogue" thing enough.

          Pope was sitting on the other arm of JJ's chair, sharing an uneasy look with Blair before he spoke up. "I gotta say, I'm just a tad uncomfortable with all of this," he pursed his lips, offering his opinion on the debacle.

           "Thank you!" Kiara exclaimed.

           "When are you not?" John B countered.

           "I dunno. I rode here on the back of JJ's bike. Pretty comfortable," Pope shrugged.

           "It's true," JJ nodded. "Most relaxed I've ever seen him."

           Pope snapped his fingers. "Oh! And I really like Blair's car," he added. "The leather seats are nice."

           JJ couldn't help but smile. He knew.

           "That's cute, guys," John B rolled his eyes.

           "You know, we were all extremely comfortably until you brought her," Kiara clenched her jaw and stared down at Sarah as if she wanted her to feel her weight in uselessness.

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" she yelled, leaning back in her seat. Her eyes met with Blair, who quickly shrugged and let her know through the white of her eyes that there was no way in hell she'd get involved between the two of them. And maybe she was a tad dissatisfied because her sister wasn't speaking up, but she was forcing herself to understand.

"Then leave," Kiara snapped.

Sarah scoffed and stared at John B. "I told you," she said.

"Told him what, exactly?" the Carrera girl frowned. "That you're a liar?"

Sarah scoffed. "No, that you're a shit-talking bitch," she shut her up. Pope exclaimed and JJ held out his money real quick; Blair buried her head in her hands and shook her head at the childishness of the two girls. "When have I lied?" she asked. John B nudged Blair desperately, but she only shrugged.

"My money's on Kie," JJ commented.

"You get somebody close to you─"

Sarah leaned forward. "I didn't lie about shit─"

Blair was about to speak up, but John B beat her to yet. "Everybody shut up!" he yelled. And silence swallowed them all while as he requested. Leo sighed and gestured towards him, as if strengthening his point. "Kie, you are my best friend, right?" he asked and she raised her brows for an answer. "And Sarah, you're . . . you're my . . ."

John B chuckled and Sarah smiled softly. "Say it." It was barely a whisper, encouraging him to utter the words he had been thinking about for days on end.