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Having Thelma in detention was a blessing. Without her, I think I might've gone insane. The only other people there was a boy I didn't know passed out in the corner and the prefect from earlier, who introduced himself as Matthew before setting an egg timer for two hours. Even though we technically weren't supposed to talk, Matthew only chided us twice teasingly before completely giving up and just reading his book.
"I can't believe Mr. Grant would actually say something like that straight to your face," Thelma said, doodling absent-mindedly in her notebook. "He should be the one who has to serve Friday detention, not you."
"He's always been an asshole to me, I don't know what I did to deserve it. The only thing I can think of is that my brother gave him shit, and now he's taking his revenge on me."
"You're brother was kind of a trouble-maker."
I did a double-take at that. "You knew my brother?"
"Well, I mean, I knew of him," she said. "Everyone knew he was living with Paul McCartney, and he never hesitated to remind people. That's probably why people give you a bit of a hard time over it, because they assume if they didn't you'd be as cocky about it as he was. But he was also cool, good-looking, funny. He was a grade above me though, so I didn't know him personally."
It was so interesting to hear what words people chose to describe Jack. Good-looking was almost always one of them, cocky made it onto the list quite frequently too. And I guess, while he was here, that was how he came across, but I couldn't help but remember him as an awkward kid, the one who didn't know how to deal with pimples, who quoted Dune religiously and was too scared to talk to girls. It made me sad to think that I didn't like the person he'd become and that he was quite probably still like that, wherever he was.
Sensing I wasn't a big fan of the current subject, Thelma made an abrupt left turn. "So, is that Brandon guy the only person you've had sex with?"
My mouth dropped open at the question, and, in my peripherals, I saw even Matthew look up from his paperback with a curious expression. Right when I was about to say yes, I remember it wasn't true; I'd also had sex with Paul. But I certainly couldn't tell her that. "Just him," I whispered.
"He was an asshole right?" she asked. "You were pretty sparing with the details, but I got the idea that he wasn't so swell of a guy."
"I don't know..." I was painfully aware that Matthew was listening to every word we were saying. "He was fine, it just didn't work out." I knew that wasn't the whole truth, but I hadn't been expecting it to taste like such a lie in my mouth.
"You need to bang someone else," she said. "To fully get over him."
I almost laughed at how similar her plan was to mine. And we weren't wrong, sleeping with another person had most definitely helped clear Brandon from my thoughts, but choosing my Paul was causing infinitely more problems than it was solving. I should've just fucked Keith Richards when I had the chance.
"Maybe," I said.
"The problem is this school; it's so tiny. Everyone knows everyone. I hooked up with this guy who graduated last year, and, within, like, two weeks, the whole school knew, it was so annoying. And he wasn't the type I would brag about, if you know what I mean."
"Yeah, I haven't really talked to that many boys here," I admitted. "Before I joined the cheer squad, I didn't have any friends."
"That's another problem," she continued. "The hot guy to hot girl ratio is way off. Most of the boys are just so, you know, prep school, clean-shaven dickwads. And all the guys you'd actually want to fuck are already dating girls like Rosie." After a brief pause, she turned to Matthew. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
He paused, setting down his book cautiously. "No, I don't. At the moment."
"You're kind of cute," Thelma noted matter-of-factly. "Do you want to have sex with Lorraine?"
My face went so red, it took all of my willpower not to crawl under my desk and stay there. Thelma was like anti-me, except it was who she was all the time, not a façade she had to put on.
Matthew looked at between us for a moment, then, apparently deciding we were joking and he didn't want to be caught accepting a fake offer, said, "Alright girls, that's enough, this is still detention."
"You're no fun," she muttered, turning back to me. "Do you have to go right home after this, or can you stay with me for one more adventure?"
After we left detention, Matthew giving us a stern look on the way out, Thelma lead me out back to the brick wall where, I shit you not, Brandon and I had fucked multiple times while I was in Year 9 in the next building over. The place gave me the creeps, as if it were still haunted by the ghost of who I used to be.
"So, you know how boys draw penises everywhere out of a Freudian obsession with their own genitalia and the need to reaffirm their real or imagined sexual prowess?" she asked, taking off her backpack.
"Uh, I guess."
"Well, I'm very passionate about settling the score." She pulled out a can of red spray paint and tossed it a few times in her had as though testing its weight. "So I try to tag as many pussies around town as I can, especially places where there are cocks already drawn. Or on buildings where the patriarchy is trying to crush our spirit."
I stared with shock, horror and... pride as she covered her nose and mouth with a scarf and crew a cartoonish outline of a vagina about the size of a watermelon in the center of a brick wall, the lines a dripping crimson.
Once she was finished, Thelma came to stand next to me so we could admire her work. "Short skirts aren't a reason for a detention, so I figured we better let you earn your punishment."
We grinned at each other, her arm slung over my shoulder. "It's fantastic," I said.
"I've always found them much more pleasant to look at than massive, cartoon dicks," she admitted. "And it really ties the whole wall together, don't ya think?"
This chapter was so much fun to write, I love the way Lo and Thelma's relationship is coming. I hope you all liked it too, thanks for reading!