A Deeper Cliche

Chapter 7

Rascal: Damn. I'm sorry. I expected more of a stereotypical church girl answer.

Me: That's why you don't assume and agree with stereotypes. Because I don't always fit them.

Rascal: You seem to be doing the same thing about me. I know I may look like the popular idiot from the school, but there's more to me than that.

Me: I know that. I don't think that lowly of you.

Rascal: I can almost assure you that you did when we first met two weeks ago. You can't keep preaching against something that you do yourself.

Me: Maybe. But I'm not denying that I don't sometimes do that. I'm just saying, it's not always a good thing. And besides, that wasn't even my point. I was just trying to get you to understand that I'm not some normal church girl. Keeping my head in the Bible like I do has allowed me to go beyond the normal church answer and know what God is really saying and has given me the ability to answer you like I did. That's all I was trying to say.

Rascal: Belle, you really need to relax. I wasn't trying to attack you. I was basically doing the same thing. Because though I seem like I have that whole badboy persona, I'm more than that.

Me: *a small smile creeps onto my face* We'll have to see about that.

Rascal: *rolling his eyes* Whatever, Belle. Quit trying to maintain that perfect girl mentality. I know there's some bad in you and I plan to get some of it out.

What scared me the most was that I believed him. I knew I was far from perfect. I hadn't really made that many mistakes or anything like that, but I knew I was capable. Sometimes I wondered what it'd be like to give into temptation. And something in me told me that somehow Rascal would be able to make me do more than I'd ever imagine doing. And that scared me to death.

Friday, April 29 - Penelope's House, Late at Night

Penelope: I can't fucking believe you guys didn't tell me about Rascal being at youth group the first night that he was there. I wondered why I saw you talking to him a few times at school over the past few weeks.

Me: *rolling my eyes* Maybe it's because we knew that you'd come just because of him and you'd end up ruining youth group for the rest of us. There are already enough girls fawning over him there.

Penelope: You included?

Me: Penelope! Of course not. I hardly even talk to him. But I've been learning a bit about him and finding out that he's rather interesting.

Penelope: *rolling her eyes* Sure, you keep telling yourself that. We all know you're just attracted to how fucking hot he is.

Me: Really?

Penelope: You're not blind. I'm sure you've notice.

Me: You really think I'm that shallow?

Penelope: Hell no. We all know that's not true. But I don't believe for one second that you don't want to be with him just like every other girl.

Me: It's not like that at all, Penelope.

Penelope: *rolling her eyes* Don't give me that shit, Belle. You're a normal girl like the rest of us. I just can't believe that it took a bad boy to bring it out in you.

Me: Please stop. I promise you, we're not really even friends, let alone me wanting to get with him. Besides, I could never date him. We'd fight way too often.

Penelope: They say opposites attract. I think our little perfect church girl, just found herself the stereotypical bad boy.

Me: No! I could never fall for him.

Penelope: Bullshit! You've already begun to fall and just don't know it yet.

Me: Stop! It's not happening.

Penelope: It so is. It's just too perfect. "Church girl falls for badboy"

Me: Stop it! I'm not a stereotypical church girl.

Penelope: Really, Belle? There isn't a person in the world who wouldn't believe that. You always have your head stuck in the Bible. You probably pray at least ten times a day. And you do all of that other religious shit, including going to church way too many times in a week. Don't you dare try to tell me that you're not a stereotypical church girl.

Me: Stop it!

Penelope: Oh, did I piss little Ms. Church Girl off?

Me: *charging Penelope and tackling her onto the ground*

Penelope: *yelling, waking up Tabitha & Cherry (along with probably the rest of her own family)* What the fuck, Belle? *pushing me off of her roughly*

Tabitha: What the hell is going on here?

Penelope: Belle fucking attacked me?

Cherry: What did you do, Penelope?

Penelope: What the fuck? Why are you attacking me. Belle's the one who pulled this shit.

Cherry: Belle wouldn't do anything she wasn't provoked to do. So what did you do?

Penelope: I didn't do shit.

Tabitha: Okay, fine. Belle, what happened?

Me: It doesn't matter.

Cherry: *rubbing my back, pulling me towards her* What's going on with you?

Penelope: Fine. I was just joking around with Belle and then she freaked out.

Tabitha: What about?

Penelope: About Rascal. It's obvious she wants him. It's that whole stereotypical church girl falling for a badboy. And she fucking freaked out when I said that.

Tabitha: You should have known better, Penelope. You know Belle hates getting that kind of attention. And when you do it, you just make it that much worse.

Penelope: What the fuck? Why are you all defending her? She fucking attacked me.

Cherry: Because you won't admit you're wrong. Belle's over here, mumbling she's sorry and stuck in some trance. I've seen this before. She only does this when she's done something she regrets. And you can be sure she's sorry for what she did. Now you just have to be as well.

Me: *getting pulled out of my trance* I'm sorry Penelope. I was out of line. I just hate it when you make fun of me. And you wouldn't stop.

Penelope: Damn, now I feel shitty. *moving towards me and hugging me* I'm sorry girl. I shouldn't have taken things that far. But I was just trying to get you to see that there's truth to what I'm saying. You may not see it yet, but I know you will.

For the second time that evening, I was scared to death. Whether I'd doubted what Penelope had been saying while we were fighting or not, I certainly wasn't anymore. There was something about Rascal that was drawing me to him. He was like some kind of magnet. I didn't know how to stop it from happening. It was all happening too fast and I was scared to death of being pulled into him too fast and giving up myself and everything I'd always believed. I didn't know why, but there was something about Rascal that was going to cause the death of me.