-Friendly reminder that Mason is a GIRL-
“I swear, you get cooler every day,” Mason tells me with a laugh.
“I didn’t know that I was cool,” I admit with a small smile.
“You’re totally cool,” Stella assures me with a nod. It’s Saturday and I feel the best I have in a long time. I have no sore muscles from practice or sleep deprivation because I slept in this morning. I have a full 48 hours to do whatever I want. Even at home, I didn’t have that kind of freedom.
We’re spending the Saturday afternoon shopping in Los Angeles. Stella has a car, so she drove us over to LA which isn’t very far at all from Oxnard. She insists that they have better shopping in LA, and I have no reason to doubt her. I’m sure everything is more expensive here too, but all I need is a bikini, so I don’t complain.
“Well thanks for that,” I giggle, moving through the clothing racks in the Forever 21 shop we were in.
“Can I buy you an outfit?” Stella asks me excitedly.
“No,” I shake my head at her. “I don’t want you to spend money on me or anything. I have money.”
“Sienna, I don’t want to sound braggy or conceded, but I’m loaded. I have more money than I know what to do with so please let me buy you something? Do you wear dresses?”
“I mean…” I trail off. I don’t wear dresses, but that’s just one of his rules. I never was allowed to wear them or he’d- “I don’t. But I’m open to wearing one, I guess.” I cut my own thoughts off before I get flash backs and my day of peace is ruined by him. I won’t let that happen.
“Yay!” She squeals, running towards the dress section. “Come, we need to find out what your size is.”
I leave the swim suit rack I’m at and follow her through the store with Mason, laughing as we go.
“Do you have a preference?” Stella asks me. “I mean, you seem to like black and combat boots, so a black dress?”
I look down at my outfit- the same combat boots I’ve been wearing, light blue skinny jeans, and a black t-shirt with the phases of the moon on it. “I wear these boots because they’re the only shoes I have,” I tell her with a shrug. I mean, I do like them but they’re not the only things that I wear. “And I can wear things that aren’t black. You choose whatever you want as long as it’s not skimpy.”
“You’re giving her too much power,” Mason whispers to me with a giddy laugh. “She’s going to explode.”
“Oh,” I mutter. “That’ll be interesting, I guess.”
“We’re going to go find swim suits, Stell, don’t do anything illegal,” Mason calls to Stella, who is now frantically thrashing around through everything in the dress department.
“She really likes shopping,” I observe, returning to the bikini rack that I was going through before.
“Yeah,” Mason agrees. “She and Anthony’s parents have always been really distant. Anthony copes with it by being a total dick head and Stella shops.”
“I’m glad that Stella isn’t a total dick head too,” I say. “It’d be harder to be friends with her.”
“That’s very true,” She nods at me.
Once we leave Forever 21, we all have new bikinis, even though they didn’t need to buy new ones, they did anyway. Stella bought five dresses because apparently, we’re the same size and when she found that out, she looked like she was more excited than any one person should be able to handle. Anyway, she bought five dresses and informed me that we can share them until the end of the summer and then I can take them with me. Before I leave, I’ll make sure not to take them with me though, because I won’t be able to wear them unless I successfully get out of that house with my mom and Jo.
“So Brian,” Mason pipes as we walk with our bags hanging on our wrists towards the food court. It’s Saturday in LA, so the mall is really busy, but we manage to not get lost in the crowd and stick together, which is good because I’d probably get swallowed by somebody if I wasn’t with Stella and Mason. “He didn’t want to come shopping with us, which is reasonable, but he’s hanging out with Andrew and Liam today.”
“I don’t know who those people are,” I inform her. I recognize the name Andrew as the guy that Stella was looking for last night at the bonfire to set me up with, so I don’t think I like wherever this is going.
“They’re Brian’s friends. He says that if he hung out with me and Stella all the time, he’d be gay by now,” Mason laughs. “Anyway, they’re in the D Building class, so that’s why you haven’t met them. Brian just texted me though, and he said that Andrew thinks that you’re cute.”
She seems to be looking at me, but I’m sure that she’s actually looking at Stella. “Me?” I wonder just for clarification.
“Yes, you!” Mason giggles, nudging my shoulder with her own. “He saw you at the party last night and said that you’re cute. That’s all I know right now but I’ll squeeze more out of Brian later.”
“That’s perfect,” Stella insists with a grin. “I knew you two can have a thing. I’ll introduce you two when we get back to the school tonight.”
“I really don’t think that’s necessary,” I admit softly, trying not to upset them or anything. I don’t know why I think that might upset them, I just think that it’s possible.
“Why not?” Stella wonders. “You’re beautiful, Andrew’s beautiful. And he’s pretty nice too and you’re super cool. I think you’ll like him.”
“It’s just guys in general,” I tell her. “They make me nervous.”
“Have you ever had a boyfriend?” Mason wonders.
I shake my head. “My dad is really against letting me date. I mean, I kissed a guy once but that didn’t end well,” Because I got pushed down the stairs after that guy kissed me, but I obviously don’t elaborate that far. Getting pushed down a set of steep stairs is a bit of an encouragement not to talk to boys at all.
“That sucks,” Stella nods. “Well, your dad isn’t here, so you can talk to Andrew.”
“Unless you don’t want to,” Mason adds as we get to the food court finally- this mall is incredibly huge and I don’t know how they know their way around it so well. I guess they’ve been going here since freshman year, but it still seems more complex to learn even in three years. “Because we’re not going to force you to do something that you don’t want to do, Stell,” She says that last part more to Stella than to me to tell her to stop being too pushy.
“Right,” Stella agrees with her friend. “If you don’t want to, we’ll respect that.”
“Thanks,” I sigh.
Stella and Mason order lunch at the mall’s food court but I just get a soda. I don’t want to waste my money on food when I can get free food back at the school. I’m hungry now, but we’ll be back soon so I can wait.
“But you’ll have to meet him anyway,” Stella adds while eating her Asian salad. “Just because when we get back, we’re going to go hang out with Brian and they’re with him so even if you don’t want to hook up with Andrew, you’ll still meet him.”
“I can live with that,” I assure her.
After they finish eating their lunches, we get Dip N’ Dots from the kiosk and then we decide to go back to the school considering we are pretty tired from walking around the huge mall and we just want to go back to the school and just lazy around for the rest of the day.
“Do you think Gianna will report what happened last night?” Mason wonders on our way back to Oxnard.
Stella shakes her head. “Probably not. I mean, she might go tell her mom but she doesn’t have any proof, right?” She looks at me for an answer.
I shake my head. “I mean, she probably has a bruise, but she can’t prove that I did it.”
“Well then you’re fine,” Stella assures me. “She might not have even told her mom if you really scared her.”
“I either scared her or just pissed her off even more,” I admit with a small, careless laugh. “I guess we’ll find out eventually.”
I know that I should probably be afraid of Gianna, Anthony, and their minion friends because of what they did on Thursday, but I’m not. I’m confident that I can defend myself, even though they’ve given me serious proof that when they attack together, I am weak and defenseless. I refuse to feel that way again, so I just tell myself that if I don’t want to feel that way, I won’t. If it happens again, it will happen differently and I will come out unscathed and a winner. They won’t get me again. Why? Because I say so.
The drive to the Vaughn Dance Academy entrance only takes about twenty minutes and once we get inside, Stella parks her car in the front parking lot which is the one that the students have to use. We walk through the center courtyard of the school. It’s a circular piece of grass outlined in sidewalks and in the center is a circular fountain with flowing water. Now that I’ve been here for a week, I know how the school is set up. It’s all navigated with this circle, like it’s a huge compass. To the west of the circle, there are the dorm buildings. Since the school isn’t fully occupied in the summer, they only use one of the dorm buildings instead of all four like they do in the normal school year. To the east of the circle, there are the buildings for the core classes. I’ve never been to that side of campus because we obviously don’t need core classes during the summer. Next to those three buildings, in the north east corner are the dance buildings. We use D and E but F is left empty during the summer because of the lack of people. All of the dance buildings are tall enough to have more than one level and Stella tells me that there are more than one studio in each building, but in the summer only the first floor is used. To the north of the circle, there’s the food court and a convenience store so students don’t have to go off campus to buy shampoo and toothpaste if they don’t want to. To the northwest corner, that’s where the pool is that I was so generously tossed in and I was also told that there’s a gym over there too for the crazies who want to work out on their days off. At the entrance of the campus, the south side of the circle, that’s where the office is where people do office stuff.
“So, where are we going?” I wonder, following Mason and Stella towards the dorm building.
“You’ll see,” Stella informs me with a grin.
I stay silent and continue to follow them. We go into the building but instead of using the stairs or elevator to go up to our room or Mason’s, they walk past the stairs and the elevators. Waving to the lady at the front desk, we go into a room that’s on the other side of the first floor that I haven’t been to yet. Inside of the room, there’s a few couches and bean bag chairs with a big flat screen TV. There’s also a pool table and a foosball table. It seems like a huge teenage hangout, which is probably what it is. Brian and two other guys that I don’t recognize (probably Andrew and Liam) sit on one of the couches with Xbox controllers in their hands.
“Of course you guys are playing video games,” Stella sighs. “You’re pathetic.”
“We are enjoying our day off,” Brian defends.
“Hey, Stella,” One of the strangers pipes. “And Mason.”
“Hello,” Mason chirps politely. “Who’s winning?”
“I am,” The second stranger adds proudly. “Easily.”
“That’s because you play this game all of the time, dude,” Brian reminds his friend. “And we actually have these things called lives.”
“Okay, well Sienna, this is Liam,” Stella informs me, motioning to the guy who apparently has ‘no life’ and is winning the video game. He has fiery red hair and a freckled, pointy nose as his green eyes glare at the TV with pure determination. “And this is Andrew.”
Stella was right when she told me that Andrew was cute. He’s very cute, actually. He seems tall even from sitting down and he’s muscular, which is expected from people around here considering we’re all athletes. But not too muscular. He has straight blonde hair that hides his forehead and just the tops of his eyes with his back hunched over and his elbows leaning on his knees.
“You guys weren’t out shopping for very long,” Brian observes. I finally look up at the screen to see that they’re playing some zombie fighting game. I don’t know video games at all, so I don’t know what it’s called or what they’re even trying to accomplish, but it looks exciting. It looks hard too, by the way they are all furiously pushing a series of buttons on the controllers without even looking down.
“We were gone all morning,” Mason tells him as she wedges herself between Brian and the arm rest of the couch so she’s practically sitting on his lap. If I’m not mistaken, I see a hint of red poke at his cheeks. “We are going to the beach next weekend by the way.”
“Who is ‘we’?” He wonders.
“Anybody who wants to go to the beach,” She informs Brian. “It was Sienna’s idea. We’re taking her beach virginity.”
“You’ve never been to the beach?” The red haired guy wonders without looking away from the screen.
“No,” I sigh. “There’s no beaches in the middle of Georgia.”
“So that’s why you have an accent?” Andrew wonders. “Because you’re from Georgia?”
“Yes,” I nod even though they’re not really paying attention to what I’m saying. “I guess so.”
“I’ll go to the beach with you guys,” Brian says randomly. They all put down their controllers and Liam starts jumping excitedly, so I assume that he won and the game is over. On the screen, two of the characters lie dead while one is still standing.
“I’ll come too,” Andrew adds, glancing over at me. I blush and then advert my eyes. I remember what Mason said about him telling Brian that he thinks I’m cute. The whole thing makes me feel like I’m back in elementary school with my friends passing on messages and stuff like that.
“I can’t,” Liam says. “I have to go visit home for the weekend or they’ll come here and that’s not going to happen.”
“Yeah, they’ll find your stash of weed,” Andrew laughs.
“Among other things,” Liam sighs. “But you kids have fun with your beach. Don’t get attacked by sharks or anything.”
“Because that happens every time we go to the beach,” Stella agrees sarcastically. “You’re an idiot, Liam.”
“I’m just being cautious,” He defends.
“Speaking of being cautious,” Brian changes the subject. “Have you talked to Gianna since what happened last night?”
I decide that I look too awkward just standing in the room, so I grab a bean bag chair and sit across from the couch like Stella did when we came in here. “I haven’t.”
“What happened last night?” Andrew wonders curiously.
“Sienna kicked her ass,” Mason grins. “I didn’t see it, but I really wish I did. I bet it was amazing.”
“I didn’t kick her ass,” I deny with a shake of my head. “I just punched her. Twice.”
“You do know that her mother is on the board of this school, right?” Liam asks me with raised eyebrows. He’s giving me a ‘you’re the stupidest person ever’ kind of look.
I nod softly and then I shrug. “She can’t prove anything.”
“She doesn’t need proof. If her mother wants you out- you’re out,” He tells me.
I laugh, but try to choke it back. They don’t know that my uncle owns this place and if they try to get me kicked out without a good reason, I’m sure he’ll have something to say about that. Again though, I don’t want them to know about my uncle being Chase Vaughn because I don’t want them to think that I’m superior over them or treat me differently or anything. “I’ll deal with it if the time comes.”
“That’s brave of you,” Andrew comments with a smile poking at the side of his mouth.
“Thanks,” I mutter softly. Through the silent gap, my stomach rumbles loudly, reminding me that I haven’t eaten since breakfast and it is now three.
“Hungry at all?” Stella asks me with a small laugh.
“We literally just ate,” Mason reminds me. “How is your stomach growling right now?”
“I didn’t eat at the mall,” I inform them, standing up from the bean bag chair that smells of teenage sweat. “I am going to go get something to eat now though. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
“I’ll come with you,” Andrew pipes, standing up from the couch to follow me out the door.
I see Stella wink at me and I blush in return. “Okay,” Is all I can make out before leaving into the hallway with Andrew following quickly behind me.
“You’ve been here for a week, right?” Andrew clarifies when we’re in the hallway.
I nod. “Yeah, I got here on Sunday.”
“Do you like it here?” He asks me.
I shrug. “It’s okay. Most of the people are nice and the practices are hard. How long have you been here?” I think that I should ask questions too, so that I’m not as awkward with this conversation.
“Since sophomore year,” He tells me. “I only come for the summers though. My parents won’t let me come during the school year too.”
“My mom didn’t know that I was coming. I just kind of ran away,” I don’t know why I tell him that but it just comes out before I can even stop it.
“Seriously? You just ran away from Georgia?” He wonders with raised eyebrows. “That sounds adventurous.”
“It was harsh,” I admit. “But my dad would have freaked out if he knew that I was coming to California, and he wouldn’t have let me come if he knew, so I just ran.”
“Aren’t they going to come and get you if they know that you ran away?”
“They don’t know where I am,” I sigh. “They just know that I’m gone. My family is a complicated thing.”
“Everything is complicated,” He informs me.
“I’m beginning to see that,” I say with a small laugh. Andrew isn’t that bad, I realize, he’s pretty cool. “I’ve never dealt with so much teenage drama in my life.”
He laughs as we walk around the circular fountain towards the food court building. “It does get pretty intense here. Gianna and Anthony are very… dedicated people, I guess you could say. I heard about what happened with the pool and everything. I think that’s the worst that they’ve ever done.”
“Well, it’s good to know that their hatred for me is one of a kind,” I sigh, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
“They’re not really used to people fighting back,” Andrew tells me. “Once they do something to a person, that person gets the hint and stops doing whatever it is that they were doing wrong in Gianna’s eyes. I don’t know if it’s like that during the actual school year, but I think everyone’s more competitive in the summer with the competition at the end and everything.”
“I’m used to fighting for what I want,” I inform him. “So I’m not giving up as easily as they want me to.”
“You’re probably scaring them,” He laughs. “It’s interesting to watch.”
“I’m glad that I’m entertaining,” I say with a smaller laugh than his. We enter the food court and I’m a little surprised at first by how empty it is, but it makes sense considering it’s three in the afternoon. There are a few people here and there around the room, but not a lot. I notice a group of volunteers sitting at one of the tables though, including Lacy, the blonde instructor, and Penn the Petrifying.
“It’s so weird seeing Jamie outside of practice,” Andrew tells me, eyeing the table of volunteers.
“That’s your instructor?” I wonder. “I never learned her name.”
“Yeah, the blonde one,” He confirms with a nod. I go for the sub area to get a sub instead of pizza. I’m not burnt out on it yet, but I decide that I don’t want to just continue eating the pizza until I am repulsed by it because I want to always love it.
“Is she as terrifying as Penn?” I ask him, grabbing an Italian sub and a soda as Andrew just gets a bottle of water.
“No, she isn’t,” Andrew tells me. “I mean, I don’t know how ‘terrifying’ Penn is, but Jamie’s pretty cool.”
“That’s lucky for you,” I say, sitting at one of the empty tables. It’s small so that it only fits two people and it’s by the wall. “Penn is tough and terrifying in every aspect of life.”
“Dramatic,” He accuses.
“But I’m still right,” I insist. “He makes people cry.”
“Has he made you cry?” He wonders curiously.
I shake my head, opening my sub’s paper wrapping to eat. He only got a water, Andrew did, so that means that he is either really thirsty or he came to the food court with me just to talk to me alone and that makes me nervous but also kind of flattered. “Not yet, but I’m sure the day will come.”
Andrew laughs again and so I laugh too, under the delusion that maybe something I said was funny. “I think you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
“I know that I’m slightly strong,” I shrug. “But I’m not strong enough to deal with that gigantic asshole for the whole summer without having at least one meltdown.”
“You have so much confidence,” Andrew comments with a sarcastic grin.
“I do,” I giggle just as sarcastically, starting to eat my delicious sub. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“I already ate,” He informs me, solidifying my theory that he didn’t come here with me for the food. “We’d been in that game room for hours and I felt like taking a walk.”
I finish my sub while we carry on a conversation about the school and other stuff. I find it easy to talk to Andrew but then again, I find it easy to talk to Stella, Mason, and Brian too so it’s not like I have decided that I have a crush on this guy that I just met an hour ago. I think he can be a friend.
And I can really use as many of those that I can get.