I woke to the sound of my room door creaking. The window was slightly cracked, letting in a slit of light enough for me to realize my door was indeed open. I sat up quickly, feeling a little dizzy from lifting my head up too fast. As I looked at the door, I got the chills thinking something would come out at me. It's hard to feel safe in the dark. Everything pops in your mind, and you feel like the least expected will happen.
"Hello?" I whispered. "Amber? Is that you?"
A couple of seconds passed, but I got no reply. I was about to lay down when something walked out of the darkness, exposing their horrid face. It was Sunny. She walked over to my bed and sat at the edge.
"Shayla upset you?" She asked.
Scared, terribly afraid, I pulled the covers near my chin, not that it would protect me from her.
"Relax," she whispered. "I'm not here to harm you."
She faced the floor, hiding her horrendous face. In the dark, she looked so innocent. Like a little girl, lost and lonely. I almost wanted to reach out and hug her as if she was my own sister, but I didn't. I feared Sunny. I didn't trust Sunny.
"She did upset me," I admitted. "She's horrible."
Sunny looked at me, her face now visible to me since my eyes had adjusted to the darkness. "Then let's do something about it," she smiled.
"What can we do?" I asked.
Sunny climbed off the bed and stood up. "Daddy and Shayla are out cold. We have time."
"To do what?"
Before I could stop her, Sunny ran out of the door giggling. I followed her, trying my best to get down the stairs in one piece. Sunny met me at the bottom then took my arm with her freezing cold hand that snatched all the heat right off my skin.
"Shayla has a huge meeting tomorrow," Sunny stated. "Let's make sure she doesn't miss it."
"Won't we wake them up?"
"No, I drugged them."
"But-"
"It's safe. Sleeping pills, no biggie. Come on," she pulled me inside of their room and turned on the light.
Shayla and my father laid in bed, both wearing a sleeping mask over their eyes. One of my dad's legs hung off the bed, and Shayla's arms were sprawled out everywhere. Even I didn't sleep that wild. The bed had red and white sheets made of fine silk. A dresser full of makeup was to the left of us. Sunny went straight for it, taking out something from the dresser.
"What is that?" I asked, looking at a small tube in her hand.
"Gorilla glue," she replied, then ran over to Shayla while giggling. "Bring eyeshadow, lipstick, and contour.
I did as I was told then watched as Sunny smeared the gorilla glue on Shayla's eyelids, eyebrows, cheeks, and lips. She dropped the glue then stuck out her hand for the makeup. I gave her the lipstick, then the eyeshadow, and finally the contour. She used black and pink on Shayla's eyelids and did the same with her cheeks and lips. Shayla looked like someone did her makeup blindfolded. When Sunny was done, she stood there, holding in a laugh. Her laugh finally came out, making it impossible for me to not laugh along.
Sunny took Shayla's phone off the dresser and took a picture using the flash. I watched as she uploaded the picture to Shayla's Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. She captioned each one, "Out with the boyfriend."
"Dad's not going to like this," Sunny said. I saw the notifications blowing up. People were commenting stuff like, "Wtf?" and "BF? and married?" and "Still would Smash." Vulgar things. Shayla was popular on social media, and the comments didn't stop. She had 115k followers on Instagram, 45 people had screenshotted her picture on Snapchat, and there was already 15 shares on Facebook.
"Wow," I said. "I didn't know this stuff would get spread around."
"You don't care right?" Sunny threw the phone on the bed and gave me a stern look.
I shouldn't have cared, but part of me did. I didn't want to get in trouble for this, even though it was my fault. Before I could say anything, Sunny frowned.
"Fine," she said, then disappeared.
My eyes widened. I dropped everything on the ground and ran back upstairs, forgetting to turn off the light in my parent's room. I closed my door, burying myself underneath the covers. I couldn't stop smiling when I realized what I had done. Shayla was ruining my life, so it was only fair that I did the same to hers. Guilty or not guilty. If she was going to stomp me in the dirt, then I was going to bury her alive.
***
The next morning I was awakened by my father and Shayla arguing. His voice was to the roof, and it was constant rambling about Shayla being stupid and immature. I opened my door to listen and saw Amber doing the same thing.
"What are they arguing about?"
I shrugged. "I don't know."
"Liar," she said. "I know you had something to do with this."
"What? You're blaming me?"
"You did something," she said. "Sunny told me it was you."
"Hey, she-"
"Olivia!" My father shouted. "Let's go! Now!"
***
I wasn't given an option to shower before I got to school. Deodorant and some perfume would have to hold me for the day. In the car, dad had cursed Shayla and cursed all the young woman in the world. Stupid girls, opening their legs for every damn guy on the planet, he had said. I sort of laughed at his statement. I mean, Shayla opened hers for him, and he didn't complain.
In the cafeteria, Rose caught up with me. She sat next to me with a big smile on her face. "Hey, I missed you," she said. "You've been distant."
I've been distant? She's the one who's been distant. "Sorry," I said, going along with it. "How are you?"
"Stressed," she replied, leaning on the palm of her hand while looking at me. "The dance is coming up in three weeks, and I wanted to enter the Capoeira contest."
"What's that?" I asked.
"Ever watched Avatar the Last Bender?"
"Yeah."
"Remember in season two when Aang and Katara were dancing?"
"Oh," I said, remembering. "Like martial arts, but dancing."
She snapped her fingers together. "Exactly! No one in the school is interested. The winner wins four-hundred dollars. It's a big deal."
I chuckled. "Well, good luck!"
She took me my hand. "Please be my partner. I have to win this."
No way. I had no rhythm what so ever, nor did I dance. My anxiety was off the roof whenever one person stared at me, so how was I going to handle hundreds. I couldn't do it. "I'm sorry," I said. "That's too hard. I don't have rhythm."
She scooted closer. "I'll teach you, and you'll do fine. Please, please. I need the money. I want to see my grandmother, and I really don't have the funds. She's all the way in California, and I want to surprise her before anything happens. Please."
I hated how her seeing her grandparents relied on me now. That wasn't fair. I sighed, giving into something I knew I would mess up. "Fine," I said. "But I'm not good, and I don't know how I'll react to a crowd."
She quickly hugged me then kissed my cheek. "Thank you!"
Before I could say anything, someone yelled out, "Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaay." I turned around and saw Megan and her copycats strutting behind her.
Rose laughed. "It's okay, ignored them."
I smiled at her, almost blushing. My face still tingled, and I couldn't contain the fact that I was blushing. Was this normal? Whenever Rose hugged or even held my hand, everything felt amazing. I had this feeling that I couldn't explain, and it was the best feeling ever. Just before Rose continued eating, I saw Robbert walking pass our table. He frowned at Rose. Not me, but at Rose. He didn't even acknowledge me. It was a hard glance, and he was definitely angry at something. I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but he kept going until I could no longer see him.