I walked slowly up the porch steps, as I did my best to prolong the inevitable. The second that I pushed open the door, my dad was onto me. The first words that came out of his mouth were, “out of all the guys in your school, I never thought you’d pick the gay one.”
“Dad, he isn’t gay,” I responded curtly, as I always did when my dad tested Chase’s sexuality.
“I’ve told you this many times before, but you just won’t get it through your head,” he answered and I mimicked his actions as he said for, mostly likely the thousandth time, “no guy that does ballet could ever be straight.”
“He plays football too, you know,” I responded. No matter how many times we got into this argument, it was always the same. “Besides, we’re dating, I don’t think he’s gay.”
“He’s just using you as a cover Chastity!” he shouted, his temper rising.
“Dad! Get over it, Chase isn’t gay!” I yelled back and rolled my eyes. I left the living room and started my way upstairs. I made it about half way, too, before I was stopped in my tracks.
“We are not finished with this discussion young lady,” he yelled up the steps after me.
“What discussion? As far as I’m concerned all you’re doing is calling my be-boyfriend gay,” I almost said best friend instead of boyfriend, and I hoped that he hadn’t noticed.
“I don’t want you seeing that woman Chastity,” well this was certainly a new one.
“Dad!” I shouted, outraged. Even though Chase and I weren’t really dating, my dad’s constant bickering about the two of us, even as friends, finally pissed me off. “Stop saying that he’s gay! Just because he does dance does not mean that he likes men, give it up all ready!”
“You will not speak to me in that tone of voice, young lady!” he reprimanded me.
“Then stop calling Chase gay and just accept it, we’re t-together! Deal with it!” After that, I ran up to my room, leaving my dad as he fumed at the bottom of the steps.
“Don’t walk away, or you will never be let out of this house to see that girl ever again,” he threatened just as I reached my room.
“For the last time,” I shouted, “Chase isn’t gay!” I slammed the door and flopped face first onto my bed. The second that I settled into a semi comfortable position, a sharp rap on my window caused me to groan and roll over onto my back. When I didn’t get up to open the window for her, my neighbor and friend Mickayla took it upon herself to climb through.
The first thing that left her mouth was along the lines of, “why the hell didn’t you tell me?”
I let out a light chuckle and say, “that rhymed you know.” She quirked an eyebrow at me as I, not so strategically, avoided the question. When she didn’t respond, I sighed and closed my eyes.
“Whoa, are you okay? Was it what your dad said?”
“Not really, I mean he’s said it all before,” I responded before I shot up. “Wait, how did you know that he said anything?”
“Walls are not as thick as you may think,” was all that she said. “Do you have any clothes I can borrow? Wait, why do I even bother asking anymore?” she laughed to herself as she went to the drawer that I kept for when she came over to my house, in the middle of the night. “Well don’t just sit there, get changed, those heels must be killing you.”
I rolled my eyes at her behind her back, and ripped the heels off of my feet. I massaged them gently, in an attempt to get the blood circulating again. “So why did you come over again?” I asked as she walked back into my room wearing plaid pajama pants and a baggy t-shirt.
“I felt like it,” was her creative response. “Now get changed, you have so much to answer.” I stood up and grabbed a pair of shorts and a tank top from my dresser. I slid the shorts on under my dress and, paranoid as I was, shut she shades before I shimmied the dress off and slid my tank top over my bra.
“Okay, let’s do something,” I decided as soon as I through my dress into a hamper.
“Are you seriously sleeping with your bra on?” Mickayla asked.
“Is that seriously what you’re thinking?” I retorted.
“You know that makes your boobs stop growing right?” ‘Where does she get all of these weird facts?’ I thought to myself before I voiced it out loud.
“Where do you get all of this stuff?”
“The internet,” she shrugged. “So, get Chase on the phone, I have a very important message for him.”
“Wha-, that um, won’t be necessary,” I stumbled; fully aware of what she had intended to do, as she had done so to every one of my previous boyfriends. Not to mention that she always, and I mean always, followed through on her word. “It’s Chase, Mickayla,” ‘and we aren’t actually dating,’ I added silently in my head.
“I’m just looking out for you, besides, he didn’t even invite me to the party tonight,” she reasoned.
“He invited you, you just couldn’t show,” I answered and rolled my eyes.
“True, I just thought it would make him sound bad if I said he didn’t invite me,” she smiled. “Now give me your phone.”
“Come on Mick, I don’t want you scaring him,” I protested, but she had already stolen my phone from my bed and started to scroll through my contacts. By the time I had gotten up to snatch the phone out of her hand, Chase had already picked up and the phone was on speaker.
“What the hell do you want Chas, I’m sleeping,” he groaned.
“It’s not Chas, and you better listen up, because I’m only going to say this once,” Mickayla smirked into the phone. “She’s my best friend, and even though you two will probably break up by next Tuesday, and will not end well, like not well at all, you better not hurt her in the process. Because if you break her heart and I need to buy ten gallons of ice cream, you will not only pay for it, but you will not be able to walk the next morning.”
“Mickayla!” I whisper-shouted.
“Look, I appreciate the warning, but it’s not necessary, now can I please get some sleep?” Chase groaned again.
“So long as you understand,” she said before hanging up. “All done, now you must be wiped out from that party, get some sleep.”
“Yes mom,” I said, rolling my eyes before I flopped onto my bed and fell into a dreamless sleep. Needless to say I woke up drenched. “Mickayla! What the hell was that for?”
“You wouldn’t wake up,” she shrugged. I glared at her and she held up her hands. “What? Breakfast with your dad was awkward!” When I turned over to go back to bed, she ripped the comforter off and leaned over me. “This glass is still half full,” she threatened. “Come on, we’re going shopping.”
“But Mickayla, I don’t want to,” I whined, hoping to score some sympathy votes.
“Deal with it bitch, I need new shoes,” she said as she dragged me up from the bed and pushed me towards my closet. “You’ve got five minutes.”
“That reminds me,” I said as I picked out a pair of skinny jeans and a long sleeved top, “what time is it?”
“Uh,” she hesitated before checking her phone, “9:30.”
“That’s nice,” I mumbled as I grabbed my clothes and changed in the confines of the bathroom down the hall. Once I was dressed and ready to go, Mickayla and I decided that the window would be a better way to escape than to face, yet another lecture about Chase’s sexuality, from my dad. Though Mickayla climbed into my room, enough times that you’d think that she lived here, I had never climbed out of my window before.
Her strategy consisted of using the tree that scaled the side of my house like a ladder. It was flat across the side so, in theory, it would have been pretty easy to climb up and down, you know if it were anywhere near my window. Mickayla did some freaky maneuver of hers, and managed to make it over to the tree by hanging onto the roof. “Mickayla, I don’t have your upper body strength!” I yelled when she reached the ground.
“Then walk on the roof!” she shouted back.
“You could just catch me!” She chuckled and nodded her head to the tree that seemed to distance itself; even farther than it had started. I knew, in my head, that it was only a foot away, but it looked about ten, feet away, that is. After I dropped my purse down to he, I sucked in my breath, stuck one foot out of the window, and sat on the edge. I swung my other leg over, after I had gotten a solid grip on the roof and stretched my right leg to reach the branch. I shimmied over a bit until my foot was a mere inch away from the top branch, and tenderly placed it down.
“Now climb down slowly!” Mickayla shouted up at me. My hands were trembling and my knuckles were white, from clenching onto the roof. A sharp, wintery breeze struck me, and I shivered in it’s wake. After I lowered my feet a few branches, I slowly took one hand from the roof, and placed it onto the top of the tree. Once I was securely on the tree, I started to climb down, very slowly, if I might add. I touched the ground and let out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding. “Come on,” Mickayla said, grabbing my arm and dragging me towards her car. She threw me into the passenger’s seat, and walked around the car, sliding into the driver’s side.
It took about fifteen minutes to drive to the mall, and when we got there, Mickayla dragged me into every store she saw. “Can we please get some orange chicken?” I begged for the umpteenth time that day.
“No, are you like on your period or something?” she asked. Just as she said that I felt that familiar feeling, and I narrowed my eyes in distaste.
“I hate you,” I growled.
“What? It’s just orange chicken, it can wait,” she said as she examined the shoes on the rack in front of her.
“I’ll be right back,” I muttered before I raced out the door.
“Where are you going?” she shouted after me.
“The bathroom!” I yelled back. I ran down the mall like my life depended on it, which at the time, it kind of did. When I barreled through the entrance I fumbled with the change in my purse, searching for three quarters. I crossed my legs and put in the 75 cents, necessary and waited for what I needed to slide out of the metal box. I grabbed it and raced into the nearest stall, locking the door behind me. As I did what needed to be done, I chanted ‘this is disgusting’ over and over again in my head until I was done. I finished up, opened the stall door, and went to the sink to wash my hands.
“So I ask you if you’re on your period, and you all of a sudden get it,” Mickayla said, causing me to jump a mile in the air. “That just isn’t natural.”
“Maybe your some kind of a witch and did it to me on purpose,” I shrugged.
“Not possible, I didn’t get my letter to Hogwarts when I was eleven,” she rationalized, though, her head was still very much in the clouds.
“Stop daydreaming!” I shouted at her after a solid minute of her staring at the ceiling, deep in thought.
“Sorry,” she said, shaking herself out of her head. “Let’s get back to shopping.”
I looked at her for a second before sucking in my gut and replying, “no, we are getting my chicken.”
“Fine,” she sighed and allowed me to drag her towards the food court. I got my orange chicken and plopped down across from Mickayla. “You eat like a pig, you know that?”
“Deal with it,” I replied, stuffing the chicken into my mouth. I washed it down with my Coke. “So what should we do now?”
She thought for a second before rising from her seat across from me, “let’s go to Arden B and get you some clothes for tomorrow.”
“And why is tomorrow different from any other day?” I asked her.
She grinned slyly and winked as she said, “Because, silly goose, you have a boyfriend now, and since it’s Chase, you have to make a statement.”
“Why should I have to make a statement? It’s just Chase,” I protested.
“Just Chase? Are you kidding me?” she asked in disbelief. I waited for her to continue her rant as she led me towards the Arden B in our mall. “Have you even seen the other girls that he’s dated? Don’t get me wrong Chas, you’re pretty and all, but you don’t try.”
“He asked me out didn’t he?” was my clever response. Okay, so he never asked me out, and we technically weren’t dating, but Mickayla didn’t know that.
“Well yeah, but half the school is probably killing themselves trying to find out why,” she reasoned.
“Thank you Mickayla, you’re such a good friend,” I said sarcastically.
“I’m just looking out for you,” she replied.
“Well, I’m not a baby, I don’t need any looking out for.” She raised her eyebrows at me and shrugged.
“Well if you don’t want help, I can’t do anything about it,” she admitted, “but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I nodded my head and we stood in the middle of the mall in an awkward silence. “So, what do we do now?” I asked.
“I need some new bras,” she said, her head floating back into space.
A frustrated sigh left my lips, but it slowly turned into a giggle. “You are so random, you know that?”
“Hey, at least I don’t ramble,” she responded and stared pointedly at me. “And I’m not random, you just can’t think as fast as me!”
“You got that off of your backgrounds app, didn’t you?” I asked her. “Hey that gives me an idea!”
“What?” she asked warily.
“Let’s go to the Apple Store!” I squealed in excitement. I had a rather unique obsession with the Apple Store. It was like I could do whatever I wanted on the computers and no one cared.
“Ugh, fine,” she sighed. Everyone loved the Apple Store, to be honest. It was usually the place where you took pictures with your friends and posted them on Facebook. While I didn’t have one myself, Mickayla did and she was the one that posted each and every photo we took that day.
Soon enough, we got bored of the Apple Store and decided it was time to head back. It wasn’t until we were leaving, and I checked my phone, that I realized how long we had been shopping. “Mickayla,” I started as we drove out of the parking deck, “did you realize that it’s six o’clock?”
“Huh? Why does it matter?” she asked.
“We got here at 9:45 and it’s six now so that’s,” I trailed off as I did the mental calculation in my head. “That’s like eight hours that we’ve been here! Most of it was your shoe shopping!”
“I needed shoes,” she protested as she pointed to the multiple bags that littered the back seat. “I got you a pair of strappies while you were in the bathroom,” she said.
“Mickayla, it’s the winter, where the hell am I supposed to wear sandals?”
“Uh, okay so I didn’t think it through, but we’re the same size, you can just borrow a pair of boots whenever you feel like it,” she said as she tried to make up for wasting my day with her. Though, had she not dragged me to the mall, I would have probably sat at home on my computer all day.
“Whatever,” I mumbled as I pulled out my phone and looked at my messages. I only missed two texts, both from Poppy, and from last night. Her message was simply, “text me when you get this.” I flipped open my phone and replied to her.
Me: What is it? Did somebody die?
Barely a minute passed before she responded and I laughed at her message.
Poppy: Yes, the zombies have found the hideout and caught Nate unprepared, he has turned to the dark side and there is no way of getting him back. The Zombie Apocalypse has begun, and there is no turning back.
Me: Oh no! I told him to always have the knife with him, but now he’s gone and there are only three of us left. But seriously, what is it?
Poppy: I have a boyfriend! I could have practically seen her jumping up and down as she texted me the news.
Me: No freaking way, who is it??
Poppy: Nate <3
Me: GET SOME! It was the first time that I was able to use Poppy’s words against her, and I was grinning from ear to ear as I typed it.
“What are you so happy about?” Mickayla asked.
“I’m finally able to tell Poppy to get some,” I said. Mickayla’s mouth fell open as she realized what this meant.
“You mean, she has a, a boyfriend?” she asked.
“Uh huh, don’t worry, I’m just as surprised as you are.”
“But, this is Poppy we’re talking about, she doesn’t have boyfriends she has screw toys.”
At this, I realized just how bad of a reputation Poppy had cooked up for herself. “She doesn’t actually screw around with them, she just lets everyone think she does.”
“Who in their right mind would do that?” she asked as she pulled into my driveway.
“It’s Poppy,” I responded as I got out of the car. “She isn’t in her right mind.” I slammed the door shut behind me and walked into my house as sneakily as I could. I went upstairs and took a long shower before lying down on my bed. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.