Chapter 4: Pole.
"Hurry, you have to see this." Aaliyah says, pulling me to the student lounge.
"Ugh, I have a class, 'Liyah." I tell her as I follow her against my will.
"Quit complaining, you'll love it." She tells me.
When we get to the student lounge, Aaliyah lets go of my hand and pushes me inside. I stumble in but balance myself immediately and stand up straight.
The room is covered in roses and Aaron is standing in the middle. There's a large banner with the words "Be My Valentine?" on it.
"Aaron, what are you doing?" I ask as I walk to where he is standing.
"Will you be my valentine, Jasmine?" He asks me and I hug him.
"Yes. I love you and I love this." I say to him. He squeezes my body as she wraps his arms around me. I pull away and kiss him.
"How did you do all of this?" I ask him, staring at the room.
"I had a little help from Aaliyah." He says smiling.
"This is so romantic. Thank you." I say, caressing his cheek.
"Anything for you, my princess." He says, grabbing my ass.
The school bell rings and my eyes instantly dart over to the clock on the wall.
It's time for lunch.
Which meant sitting at the table with Aaron's rich and snotty friends, listening to them rant about their yachts or their latest trip to Italy. It was always something with those people.
"Looks like it's time for lunch." Aaron says and I smile. "Let's go." He orders, stretching his hand out for me. I place my hand in his and intertwine our fingers. We walk out of the student lounge, into the hallway, and everyone and I mean, everyone is staring at us.
"She's so lucky." I hear someone say as we pass by their locker.
Once Aaron and I get to the cafeteria we head straight to the table in the center. We didn't wait in line to get our food. The servers come to take our orders.
"My man." Keith says as soon as we sit at the table.
"Hey." Aaron says to him and they start having a conversation which I tune out.
"Oh My God, I love that bracelet. Where did you get it?" Chanel asks me.
"Aaron got it for me." I tell her.
See, this was one of the perks of dating Aaron Jackson.
The gifts.
Yes, he hits me occasionally, but every time he does he pops up with a gift to "apologize". He gave me this bracelet yesterday. Aaron wasn't always like this. Believe me.
At first, he was really caring and sweet, and then he hit for the first time at the end of junior year. He told me it would never happen again. Well, we know how that story goes.
"That weirdo has been gawking at you for the past five minutes." Chanel tells me.
"Who?" I ask her, not wanting to make it obvious.
"He's sitting alone by the trashcan." She says before she drinks her orange juice.
I try my best to be discreet and turn my head, looking behind me.
It's the boy from the boy's bathroom. He looks away immediately as my eyes meet his.
"What a creep." Chanel says beside me.
"Yeah." I say, pretending to agree with her as I steal another glance at the mysterious boy.
"What would you like to eat today, Miss Prentice?" Stella, the school chef, asks me with a smile.
I am about to reply when Aaron speaks for me.
"I'll have the spaghetti, she'll have that too." He tells her.
"I actually wanted the cheese sandwich." I say, speaking out.
"You can't have dairy, you know that. I don't want you breaking out." Aaron says, cupping my cheek. Chanel "awws" beside me.
"Cut that couple shit out." Christian, Chanel's twin brother says as he sits at the table.
Stella walks away and Aaron wraps his arm around my waist.
"If you ever counter me like that in front of our friends again, I'll make you fucking regret it." He whispers in my ear and I gulp.
***
"You're here early." Sophia, the house mom at the strip club, tells me.
"I'm not really doing anything. And besides, I can use this time to catch up on my homework." I reply.
"That's great. I'm glad you're getting an education too. You're one of the youngest girls we've hired. Did you know that?" Sophia says and I shake my head.
"We only hired twenty-one and up, but the boss insisted that you were hired. He actually watched you perform." Sophia tells me.
"Was he part of the judges?" I ask her, inquisitive about the man who thought I was worth breaking protocol for.
"No. Certainly not. He was up in his office. You've really caught his eye." Sophia goes on.
"Well, I'll be sure to thank him for this opportunity when I meet him." I tell her, smiling at Sophia before I walk to the locker room.
I place my bag in my locker and sit at the desk with my homework. I make good progress before I am interrupted by Sophia's voice from the other side of the door.
"Jaz, you're up in ten!!!" Sophia yells.
"Okay." Is all I say before I close my books. I look in the mirror and realize that I am not alone in here. All the other girls are here too. I didn't hear them when they came in because I had my earphones in. It's a full house tonight, a guest must be coming.
I walk to my locker and put my books inside before I take my black latex costume from the locker and my stripper heels.
"Those are sick." Andrea compliments.
"Thanks Andrea." I tell her.
"You're welcome. Where did you get them?" She asks me.
"Amazon." I reply.
"They are very cute." Andrea repeats, staring at the black and white bedazzled heels.
"Five minutes!!!" Sophia screams again from the other side of the door.
"I should probably get changed." I tell her and she nods.
After I put my black little number on, it is time for me to work the pole. The DJ introduces me and "Excitement" by Trippie Redd featuring Party Next Door booms throughout the speakers. I touch my boobs and go lower, touching in between my thighs. The men in front of me whistle and I smile to myself. I mount the pole and start swinging. Wrapping my body against the steel metal, becoming one with it, I move like a snake. Slithering my body around the pole. It's like my body is made of jello as it melts into the iron bar. I do an air split and the men watching me, roaring with praises as they throw their money at me. Once the song stops, I thank them and get off the stage.
I am walking to the locker room when an arm grabs me. Turning around in fear, I see a tall man staring at me.
"Can I help you?" I ask him with a sassy tone.
"Um...I'm sorry. My name is Christopher." He says and I scoff.
"That doesn't give you the right to touch me though." I tell him, shrugging his arm off of me.
"Pardon me." He says, letting go of my arm. "You did really good today. Not bad for your first night." Christopher tells me.
"How did you know that it was my first night? You're just a customer." I say, rolling my eyes at him.
"I'm not a customer." He says, sternly.
"Then who are you?" I ask him, smirking.
"Your boss." He says and I stare at him with wild eyes.
"Is that how you go around grabbing on the rest of the girls? Because if it is, I won't be working here very long." I rant and he just stares at me as I talk.
"I just wanted to tell you that you did good." He says and I nod.
"Well, now you have. Have a nice night." I tell him before I walk away.