After that god-awful assembly, everyone files out the door, screaming and talking, to their classes.
Of course my class ends up being with Pandora and Effy, and the former talks my ear off all the way there. Katie trails behind us, watching Effy. There's a strange dynamic between the two of them. Katie seems to hate Effy, but follows her around anyway.
Cook and Effy seem alike; both have magnetic personalities, but seem to be disliked by all.
Getting to the classroom, I sit in the first available seat, and Effy slides in next to me, rebuffing Pandora.
The slight doesn't register with the bubbly blonde girl, and she goes to sit with Katie.
I then see Freddy, JJ, and Cook walk in, right behind Emily and Naomi.
Of course, the gang's all here.
I feel Effy's gaze on the side of my face.
I turn to look into her bright blue eyes, emphasized by her dark eyeliner, so similar to my own.
"We're alike," she says suddenly.
I smirk, and answer. "I doubt it. But you seem the least annoying person here. I like Pandora, but she seems a bit much."
Effy leans in. "She doesn't steal my men, and she's useless. Are you?"
"I can't promise the first one, and definitely no to the second. But I like to get sloshed, and you do too. We'll get along."
She looks at me with understanding in her eyes, then goes to sit in Freddy's lap, since he, Cook, and JJ decided to sit in front of me.
"Oy, Princess!" Cook calls at me.
"Princess?" I respond, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, you look posh. Like you're a princess, or something."
"Not anymore," I mutter.
"So you are a princess," he teases. "Your royal fucking highness, would you come to Fred's party after school, yeah? His da's away on business, and it's Freddy's big birthday, so we're all getting sloshed in his sled. You'll miss out, highness."
"I'll come, I guess."
Effy leans in to listen to our conversation. She smiles, and says, "Panda and I are coming, along with everyone else."
Cook slaps his hands together and rubs them, chuckling gleefully. "Fook yeah," he sings, just as the teacher walks in.
"Sit down, sit down," he says, shuffling his papers and taking a long drag of his coffee.
He sits down at his desk, and then notices me.
"Ah, you're the new one I got stuck with. Well, I'm Kiernan. Come up and introduce yourself," he says with a shrug.
I roll my eyes and slouch to the front of the classroom, looking at my classmates, most of who are either asleep, high, or drunk at 8:30am.
"I'm Vivi Easton," I say, then look at Kiernan expectantly.
What does he want me to do now?
"Well, go on. A fun fact, or some shit," he says as though that's a given.
"Well," I awkwardly shuffle my feet until my eyes land on Cook, who seems to be the only one actually paying attention to me.
"Well, I guess my fun fact is that I don't want to be here," I say.
"Amen to that," Kiernan grumbles, and motions for me to sit back down with a wave of a silver flask he pulls out of his desk drawer.
♕⋆♕⋆♕
The rest of the day is pretty much the same. Nobody pays attention, and the teachers don't care.
Fine by me.
After school, Effy and Panda meet me by the entrance, and we walk out together.
"Well, that was shit," I say.
Panda says, "Actually, I didn't mind it. A lot better than beauty school, don't you think Ef?"
Effy smiles that mysterious smile, and nods in assent.
A heavy arm drapes around my shoulders, and I look up to see Cook.
"Hello, babes. And you too, princess," he says with a wink directed at me.
He lights a blunt, inhales, then brings his face close to mine, exhaling.
I inhale his second-hand smoke, then smirk.
Sneaking the blunt off him, I take a proper hit, and let the weed erase the shittiness of the last few hours.
"So, where to?" I say.
Cook grins, and then turns to see Freddy skateboarding up the sidewalk towards us.
"Come on, Freds! You ready?"
Freddy calls out in response, "Yeah Cookie, I guess. You got the drugs?"
Cook responses wordlessly, pulling a small baggie of white powder out of his pocket.
Freddy hops off his skateboard when he's close enough to us, and kisses Effy.
I notice how Cook looks at them, first with jealously, then looks away as if it hurts him.
He grips me tighter, and calls out to them.
"Me and Princess'll go get supplies!" he says with a grin.
He then drags me away.
I look at him curiously.
"So, you like her?" I say, talking about Effy. "She seems like the type everyone would like. Panda said you two fucked."
His jaw stiffens. "Yeah, I fucked her. Not a big deal. I fucked her, Panda, Naomi, and practically every girl at college," he says with bravado.
"Yeah, yeah, ok," I shrugged off his arm. "So where are we going, and what supplies?" I ask.
He smiles with mischief.
"You'll see, Princess."
♕⋆♕⋆♕
The mysterious place is a small corner shop, and the supplies turn out to be all the liquor he can fit under his shirt, and anything else I can fit under mine.
The vendor creepily follows me with his eyes around the store.
Wanker.
I get an idea.
I distract the vendor by flashing him my tits, then we both run out of there as fast as we can, chasing each other around the block, until we reach a small park with a bench that we both collapse on.
"Fuck," I pant, pulling the bags of chips and candy out of my clothes, while he unsticks three bottles of vodka out of his pants. I don't even want to ask.
I reach for one, cleaning the top of it off with my shirt, before unscrewing the lid and taking a sip.
The burning liquid races down my throat, immediately warming me up, and helping to numb my body and mind.
I stop there. Too much at one time makes me blackout too quickly, an unfortunate side effect of my meds.
He reaches for the bottle, and I let him take it, focusing on filling my aching lungs with air.
We sit there, wordlessly, until he's had his fair share of vodka, and then we stand to begin carting the supplies back to Freddy's.
Freddy's house turns out to be a respectable looking place on a nice, shady street. Cook pushes open the back gate, and makes his way through the garden, following the sound of loud music and the smell of weed and fire.
We arrive to find the group dancing around a large bonfire, drinking and smoking.
The couples seem to be preoccupied with each other, but everyone else is laughing and getting fucked up.
I turn to Cook, and grab his hands, then raise our hands over our heads like boxers.
"We're back! And we come bearing gifts!" I take a swig from the opened vodka, then spit it into the fire in front of me, causing it to leap higher in the air.
The group cheers, and we step further into the party.