Upstream

Part 1

“Tsk tsk tsk,” Cassie remarked, “I think there might be something wrong with this one. What do you think, V?”  

“Ooooh, I think I might know what the problem is,” Vanessa answered quickly, a cruel grin building on her face, “I think this one might not know how ta talk. ‘Cause I think this one might be a widdle baby.

“Is dat twoo, widdle baby?” Vanessa moved again towards the girl as she raised the volume on her impression, while a crowd of students began to gather and laugh. “Is you too dumb-dumb to know how to make talkies? Well, I’m sowwee, widdle baby, but we don’t wike widdle babies awound heah.

“So get the fuck out.” Vanessa’s tone shifted abruptly, and she kicked the girl’s book down the hallway. 

With that, Vanessa, Cassie, and Amber turned and moved in perfect harmony back towards their lockers, leaving the girl in black scrambling to collect her things, muttering what the clique could only assume were curses under her breath. 

That day, Vanessa felt no remorse, no regret, and no repercussions. She and her friends had delivered a loud and clear message to their school, and their fellow students made sure to cast them wide berths in the halls. It was an auspicious start to an ambitious year, and it placed the girls firmly atop the food chain, where they belonged. 

Meanwhile, a new batch of classes brought little in the way of surprise. Vanessa made her way comfortably through dull lectures and simple quizzes, settling quickly into a steady rhythm of doing just enough work to get the grades that colleges would want to see. The first weekend of the year passed by quickly and uneventfully, and soon enough Tuesday arrived, allowing Vanessa to focus on the things she actually cared about. 

Her plan proved to be perfect. Like clockwork, Jack finished his swim practice at 4:30, while his summer fling was off in her own club. Vanessa, who had been waiting near the gym entrance, met him with a flirty wink and a soft ‘hey’, and the boy did nothing to shy away. 

“Hey,” he said back with an overeager smile, “‘sup?”

 “Oh, I don’t know,” the girl murmured, holding a finger on her bottom lip as she fluttered her eyelids. “Whatcha up to?”

“Oh, I was just, uh, at swim practice, y’know. But I’m pretty free now.”

“Oh. Well then,” Vanessa said softly, walking slowly closer to her target, “I was thinking we could maybe hang out, then?”

Jack let out a dopey laugh as he struggled to maintain his composure. “Uhhh… what would you wanna do?”

“Well,” Vanessa placed a finger on the boy’s chest, “maybe… I WANNA PLAY WIF YOU!”

Vanessa’s hand shot up to cover her mouth as her face turned bright red. Where did that come from?

Jack, in turn, took several steps back, his dumb-jock eagerness turning to confusion and fear. “Uhhhhh... what?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” the girl corrected herself quickly, “I was ummm… just, uh, making a joke. Yeah, sorry. Ummm, where were we?”

“Oh, ummm, you were just, you were just, uh-”

“HEE DA WAWA” 

Again, shock came over Vanessa as she blurted noises without any conscious thought. She stepped back away and tried to collect herself, but instead the noise simply came again.

“HEE DA WAWA”

Grasping her hands firmly over her mouth, the blushing girl saw no option other than to abort the mission and run. And run she did, all the way onto a bus and home.