Pippa was such a shitty tutor.
We had been at this for almost two hours and nothing was sticking. It was all going in one ear and out the other, plus, her voice was so quiet yet so shrilling I didn't want to pay attention to her.
"Urgh, this isn't working!" I threw my hands in the air and slumped down in my chair. We were in the public library at around five pm after school. Barely anyone I knew was here which was fine.
"Maybe if you just –"
"No, this isn't about me. You're just not at very good tutoring." I snapped. I couldn't keep my attention on anything. She was so fucking boring.
"Actually, Mrs Sanders says –"
"Do I look like I care what 'Miss Sanders says'?" I snapped once more. Poor Pippa. She was actually a very nice girl but my frustration from this fucking Chemistry question was too much to bare. God, I needed to get laid.
Pippa sighed and went on to talk about the proton thingy whilst I contemplated texting Adam. He always had a thing for sexting.
Me: I'm in the library, but I can't stop thinking about something.
I try to be coy to get his attention. A few seconds later he texts back.
Adam: What?
Me: How I'd love for you to bend me over this table and fuck me till I can't walk.
The notification letting me know that he read it made me smile. He was probably jerking off now.
"Are you even listening?!" Pippa sighed dramatically. I rolled my eyes and stuffed my phone back into my bag.
"Nope. And I think we're done for the day." I got up from my chair and flung my bag over my shoulder. She tried to protest but I was already over this session. I wanted the mall and some coffee.
❦❤︎❦
Rya was always up for up for a trip to the mall. We sat in a Starbucks, I picked at my apple slices whilst sipping my gorgeous Iced Dirty Chai Latte with almond milk and an extra shot of expresso. Who needs men when you could have coffee? If only coffee gave you orgasms. Foodgasms? There's a fair point.
Rya shoved a cookie into her mouth, sipping her Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino with extra whipped cream and caramel drizzle. We knew our Starbucks' orders to a tee. I felt like everyone had to know their best friend's Starbucks' orders.
Sometimes I really wished I were Rya. The girl could eat forever whatever she wanted and not an ounce of fat appeared on her. She was always so slender. However, if I ate one bite of that cookie, I'd suddenly look five months pregnant. She was also exceedingly smart. The only thing she was worried about was becoming Valedictorian against Christopher Knowles.
"I think if I died right now, I'd be happy. Chocolate cookie in hand and I'm ready to go." She took a large bite of the chocolatey goodness and smiled goofily. I laughed at her adorableness. It was a side she never let many people see. Rya had this fierce competitiveness and intense, serious intellectual side to her that most people saw. However, it was hard to believe that when you saw her with her cheeks stuffed with cookie and whipped cream.
You'd think people would see Rya as a complete nerd, but she was drop dead gorgeous. Her long blonde hair fell to her waist in a gorgeous blow-out with curtain bangs perfectly framing her soft face. Her dark blue eyes always stood out against her porcelain doll-like skin. So many boys would kill to have Rya, but she was completely uninterested in any sexual or romantic attention. In her own words, she had fingers, a showerhead, and books, and that was all she needed.
"If I died in a Starbucks, I think I'd kill myself."
"You'd already be dead."
"Doesn't matter." I shoved a forkful of lettuce into my mouth and sighed dramatically.
"Tough time with Pippa?" Rya already smartly assumed.
I groaned and rubbed my eyes. "The girl is shit at teaching. She keeps going over and over and over the same thing and I keep getting confused and bored and slightly depressed."
"She's always had quite a weird voice. It's..."
"Quiet but shrilling?"
"Exactly." Rya nodded. This was why I got on with Rya so well. We agreed with practically everything, thought the same things at the same time, and our opposing personalities and talents complimented one another well. "Any plans on getting Adam back."
I shrugged. "Eh, I'm giving him some time with vanilla. He'll get bored eventually. Especially when he finds out she's very..."
"Vanilla?"
"Exactly." Leah was definitely a virgin, there was no doubt about it. The girl dressed like Carrie White before she became the embodiment of my period at Prom. When Adam pops her little cherry for excitement and finds the boring innocence... well, boring, he'll come crawling back to me.
"Do you think you can still convince Roman to tutor you?" Rya pulled me out of my thoughts and I looked back at her and sighed.
"No. I'm kind of glad because, one, he was a rude son of a bitch, and two, he's Roman Lawrence. My whole entire social life would be out of the window if anyone found out." I'd rather be dead than be caught with Roman Lawrence. "Besides, I don't need his stupid, nerdy, flat ass anyways."
"But what are you going to do about graduating? D'you think Pippa can get your grades up enough?"
"Urgh, no!" I groaned and slumped back into my chair. This was a fucking disaster. "I honestly think I need some dick. I haven't had me some in ages." Not since Adam's been frolicking with Mother Theresa.
"Use your fingers." Rya shrugged taking a long sip of her drink. Of course she'd say that.
"I can't. It never works as good."
"Works fine for me."
"That's because you've never gotten good dick before." I chuckled and pulled my arm back when she aimed to slap it. It was true. Rya lost her virginity at summer camp when she was fourteen to a camp counsellor who was sixteen. Apparently, she had the biggest crush on him and begged him to have sex with her after a flirtatious game of Uno. He was completely willing. She regretted it looking back saying that she was far too young and naïve to have understood the emotional toll sex had.
If you asked me, I'd call the whole thing disturbing to say the least. In fact, it made me feel sick when she told me, but she begged me to keep it a secret, brushing it off like it wasn't a big deal. But it was. Yet she never spoke about it again, but I knew it had a bigger impact on her than what she was willing to admit. It was an understatement that Rya was a tough cookie to break, and sometimes that made me worry for her even more.
She would have sex at parties randomly, but it was strictly sex and, as she puts it, not that memorable.
"Why can't you tutor me?" I begged.
"Because I'm not on the school's tutoring list and, let's be real, we'd spent the whole time gossiping." So true.
"Fine."
"What are you gonna do about your parents?" shit, my parents. Imagining their disappointed faces made me feel like the worst daughter in the world.
"Oh, you know, graciously explain to them how their daughter's an absolute, inept, failure."
"And then?"
"Watch the news saying Yellow Stone exploded when really it was just my parents." Rya laughed as I frowned down at my salad. Its happy greenness was mocking me. "Yay me." I muttered and stabbed the lettuce with my fork. I looked back up at Rya expressing a knowing smile. "What?"
"Admit it, you need Roman."
"He's a rude, know it all. Of course I don't need him." But one look at her stupid raised eyebrow made me realise how wrong I was. I needed to graduate. I had to. And Roman was the one who could make me.
"I really hate when you're right." I narrowed my eyes.
"I know, but I love it."
The door opened and a cool breeze of air swept in. Rya's eyes travelled to the door and then narrowed into slits. "Quick, pretend you're having an intellectual conversation with me." She flipped her head around to face me.
"I thought the whole point of this conversation was that I'm clearly not an intellectual –"
"Just do it!"
"Err... I like the geometry on your cup." I struggled. Geometry on your cup? Maybe I needed tutoring in common sense as well? Rya gave me a look as if to say 'Really?!' and I shrugged. What did she think I was going to come up with, Pythagoras's Theorem? What even is Pythagoras's Theorem? A birth control brand?
"Ladies." A voice approached us in a charming manner. I gazed up to see Christopher Knowles. a.k.a. Rya's arch nemesis, a.k.a. golden boy of the school. His medium brown hair fell into the curtain hairstyle that gave him the 90s heartthrob vibe. The grey, khakis pants and loose, white dress shirt only added to it.
"Sienna." He smiled at me. "McCoy." He acknowledged Rya. I could feel the irritation radiating off her. "How are we doing today?"
"Peachy." Rya replied giving her best 'this is a fake smile' fake smile.
"Glad to hear it." Christopher did the same one back. "I heard that your ex is going out with my cousin, Sienna?" oh shit, Christopher is Leah's cousin? It's a small world after all. Those mechanical munchkins were right. "Anything I should be worried about?"
"Oh, you know Adam. Likes to play but never commits. Only to me, that is." The aggravation on Christopher's face said it all. "Just make sure to stock up on ice cream when she gets her feelings hurt." I smirk back at Rya, but she doesn't look back. She's too busy glaring at Christopher.
"Right." He replied. "Oh, Rya." He turned to my steaming best friend who I was sure was about to explode out of annoyance any minute. "I heard you got a 95 in your Algebra test today. Shame. I'd invite you to our study group, but we don't consider anyone below a 97 as... well, as smart of a standard to be the best. Hope you understand."
I looked back to make sure Rya's head hadn't shot off to bite out Christopher's eyes. Nope, still there to my unfortunate amusement.
"That's fine. I was going to say the same thing about our History group. 92, Knowles? Must've been a rough night."
"Oh, it was." He smiled cockily. "So many girls and so, so, so rough. I barely got any shut eye. But you know what they say, getting laid is the best relaxer – oh wait, you don't know that saying, you've become a Mother Theresa recently. I'm assuming that's by choice but, then again, I don't know many guys that'd want to get it from you." Oh shit. He did not.
"You little –" I pulled Rya's arm down before she could rip Christopher's tongue out and make a new bracelet.
"Nice seeing you, Christopher. Look after Leah now and make sure she doesn't give her cherry to the wrong picker." I smiled a wide, fake smile and waved him off. The sentence obviously irritated him.
"Yeah, see ya." He said before exiting out the door.
"Why did you do that?! I could have played jump rope with his intestines! D'you know how amazing that would've been for me?!"
"Cleary more than getting an electric chair!" I leaned in and hissed.
"We don't have that in this state, the law is –"
"Dude, I did not want to get banned from my local Starbucks. My day has been shit enough."
Rya sulked back in her seat and huffed. "Fine. But next time, I am chopping off his dick and feeding it to my fish. It's probably only an appetiser to him anyways."
"Don't you have a teeny goldfish?"
"Exactly."
Chuckling, I finished off my drink and threw it in the trash nearby. "I think you should thank me." Rya cocked her head to the side before I spoke again. "Telling him that Adam's something for him to worry about. I mean, he is, but not nearly as bad as I made him out to be. And so, whilst little mister Knowles is busy keeping Adam's hands out of his cousin's pants, little miss McCoy is going to be smashing his ass out of all high academic study groups, securing that Valedictorian speech in the bag."
Rya had her mouth open wide before she laughed pointing a finger at me. "Oh, you're good!"
❦❤︎❦
The next day at school, I watched as Christopher Knowles dragged Leah as far away as he could from Adam. It was such a great sight to start my morning and gave me the perfect chance to make a move.
"Lonely today, are we?" I leaned back against the locker next to Adam's and watch his eyes flicker to mine. They were a glimmering grey which complimented well against his black hair.
"Morning, Sienna." He grumbled and shoved a book into his locker.
"Is that all I get? A depressing 'Morning Sienna'. Not even a 'Good' morning."
He looked back at me and sighed. "What else do you want?"
"I used to get a kiss."
"Well, that's not happening." Excuse me? Who pissed in his cornflakes this morning? "Look, I don't have time to talk, I've got a busy day."
"C'mon, baby. We always have time for each other, that's how relationships work –"
"You're not my girlfriend anymore!" he suddenly burst. I stepped back and blinked a couple times out of pure shock. Adam wasn't one to lose his temper so quickly, especially around me. Something else was going on.
"This is about Leah, isn't it? She's done something to you." I swear to God, if that vanilla stick hurt my Adam, I was going to make sure her vanilla turned strawberry. "Adam, if something has happened, you can tell me. You know me." Even if Adam and I were in a weird place, everything in my body and soul still cared for him. He always had a problem with opening up and so he learnt to, in time, with me. I was always patient because I never wanted to rush him. Letting people in is always a difficult and vulnerable thing. That's why I rarely did it.
"She won't talk to me. I don't know what I did wrong." My heart almost broke at the sight of his glumness. Almost but not enough.
"Seriously, Adam? Your intentions with Leah aren't necessarily the best. You're just playing around, everyone knows that. You do it all the time and then come running back to me. No wonder why she's not talking to you. In my opinion, Leah doesn't want to get used and good for her for having common sense." or Christopher, "Now stop this misery and finish this silly, little game. C'mon baby." I reached out to touch his arm.
Just as he looked me in the eye, the bell for class went and Adam went rushing past, muttering a quick "See ya." Urgh, boys.
After hiding my phone from Mr Wright in English, texting Rya the whole update between Adam and I, I scurried out of class before Mr Wright could hand me my test back and tracked down the hall to meet Rya by Geography class.
Geography wasn't too bad. I managed to get a C+ consistently throughout but maybe it was because Mrs Sella always had cute ass nail designs you got to see whenever she pointed to the bored.
After class, I walked down the halls to my locker. I had a study hall which also meant I could do whatever the fuck I wanted. Just as I was fixing my hair in the mirror attach to the inside of my locker door – by the way, totally recommend doing that – I heard a loud clang down the hall down from me and a few mutters. Male laughter.
What the hell? I sighed and pouted my lips in the mirror to see if my lipstick was still on. Thank the Lord it was. Rya got me the Christian Louboutin lipstick last year for my birthday and I was obsessed.
The clanging noise went off again and I heard a groan amongst the laughter. I huffed. What the hell was wrong with people? And decided to see what the noise was. However, as I turned the corner, I was shocked at the side. Three jocks, all on the football team, standing around a guy on the floor, whose back was slammed against a locker with blood dripping down his nose.
But this wasn't just any guy.
This was Roman Lawrence.
"Gonna fight back, Lawrence?" one of the jocks sneered and laughed amongst his friends.
"Nah, he's too much of a pussy to do so." Another jock laughed in hysterics. Roman tried to get up off the floor, but another jock kicked him down.
"Look at him. And who'd have thought he tried to ask out Emily Lewis? Damn, what a loser."
"And then being turned down because you're a virgin. What a sad life." Another tutted before bursting into cruel laughter. What the fuck was wrong with them? I didn't see a problem with Roman asking out Emily Lewis, she was the basic girl next door, I was sure many people wanted to ask her out. At least Roman had the balls to do it.
Wait, why was I defending Roman? Ew. Yet, in all honesty, I hated the jocks, and so any opportunity to hate them more was fine in my books.
"And even if he did get Emily, I'm sure any of us could fuck her so good that she'd forget all about you." Oh, and here we are with the derogatory, cockiness. I knew for a fact that at least one of them had a tiny dick, I remembered Rya going on about it sometime last year.
I watched the scene unfold some more before hearing Roman speak back.
"Just leave me alone." He groaned in pain before he groaned again as one of them kicked his shin. Ouch. They seemed to have had enough after that and walked off in chuckles, making fun of Roman in mimicking voices. I swore that their IQs were of the range of a five-year-old, and that was coming from me.
Now, I could have left and pretended that I hadn't seen anything. That would have made my life a whole lot easier. But looking at Roman and still hearing the irritating laughter of the jocks echo down the hall caused a fire in my stomach. Plus, a newfound opportunity rose into my mind and it was better now than later to act. I had the perfect situation.
I turned round the corner to Roman and walked up to his sulking body sitting against the locker. Fishing in my bag from something, I pulled out a tissue and extended my hand down to him, catching his eye.
"Here." I said and watched his expression take a confused turn. "I mean, you could be stubborn about it or –"
"Thanks." He snatched the tissue from my hand and wiped his bloody nose.
"I saw what they did." I began to say. "It was totally uncalled for."
"That's jocks for you." He sighed and rested his head against the locker.
"Why do you take it?" I then asked. I hated people treating me like I was nothing. I was something, and I would make sure to remind them on that politely or rudely.
"Like I could fight back. Besides, their right anyways."
"Right about what?"
"I am a loser." Urgh, why did he have to make you feel guilty? That sorry for himself look in his eyes made me want to throw up yet compelled me to stay.
"You're not. You're just... different." you are kind of a loser. But this wouldn't be the right time to say that.
"That's your way of saying I'm a loser." Very true.
"But I'm not explicitly saying you are one. Besides, being a loser – to them – is not being exactly like them and, trust me when I say, you do not want to be like them."
Roman furrowed his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side. "They have everything I could possibly want."
"Except an IQ. Trust me as someone who spends a lot of time with them, they don't know the different between oranges and apples. Even I can do that."
Roman let out a small smile followed by a light chuckle. "I guess that's true." But he looked down at the floor and frowned. Oh no, if he starts crying, I will personally kick his shin again.
"But they're right about one thing." I waited for him to say more. "Emily will always want them more. They're far more... experienced. At the end of the day, they're still right."
Urgh, I hated the jocks being right. But the true purpose for being here sprung back to mind.
"What if you proved them wrong?" I then said and Roman looked up at me, confused once again. Geez, for someone who was the smartest kid in school, he sure got confused a lot.
"What if you are the one to beat them down, fuck circles around them, and steal their girls because you fuck so good, they'll look like a bunch of Teletubbies."
A redness crawled up Roman's neck and flushed the outsides of his cheeks. "I-I don't think I could do that." Dear Lord, thank you and Jesus for being on my side today.
"What if I said you could?" I raised a brow and Roman quickly looked up so I could see his face. I wish I could have taken a picture because the innocence was priceless. "I would like to remind you of my previous offer." Instantly he turned his head away and scoffed.
"No thank you."
"But I don't think you're seeing the whole picture. You only think I'm doing this to benefit myself, but it could seriously benefit you." And once again, seriously benefit me.
"I don't get it." How was he so dumb?
"It was as I said before. You tutor me in school, I tutor you in sex."
"It's such a stupid idea." He brushed it off and rolled his eyes. I crouched down to meet his gaze and start speaking in smart desperation.
"You like Emily, don't you?"
He turned back and answered. "Yeah, since Kindergarten." Wow, that's a long time. Who'd have thought.
"And you want to stick it to those jocks."
"I guess so, yeah."
"Then I see no problem. Roman, you're the smartest kid in school and I seriously need to get my grades up. But this isn't just for me. Imagine the look on those jocks faces when they see you with Emily, tonnes of girls flocking over you, begging you to fuck them whilst those boys sit back in the corner, regretting every bad thing they did to you. Rubbing it all in their faces. How does that sound?"
He blew out a long breath. "Fucking perfect." I knew he'd like the idea. People who had spent their whole life in inferiority would kill for even a second of superiority.
"That's what I could give you. It's a fair agreement."
He pondered for a minute, looking at the set of lockers behind me?, before replying, "If I do this..." he drawled out slowly. "Do you really believe it could work?"
"Honey, I'm Sienna Callum. I know for a fact it'll work." he didn't answer but I already knew he had made up his mind. The look on his face was one I could read quite well even though it was subtle. "Do we have a deal?"
It felt like years of deadly silence before he answered what I had been longing to hear. "Fine. We have a deal."
Bingo, bitches.