Chapter 5
Tara
It was a miracle I made it back last night. Honestly, I don't even remember how I got home, but I was here, and I didn't have any body parts missing.
Slowly, I got up from my bed and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. It was time to inspect the damage. I was still in my clothes from last night and they reeked of alcohol. I could feel the paint sticking to my body and all the glow stick bracelets were still working. I lost a heel though.
I walked over to my vanity to see how I looked. Hair was still the same length, color, and I didn't see any fresh tattoos on my body. No bruises either, which meant I made it through the night without falling on my face.
The sound of my phone ringing somewhere in my room caught my attention. I just wanted to smash it because the noise was too much right now. Following the sound to my hamper, I fished it out. Why was it in there, I had no idea. "Hello?" I answered.
"Hey girl, what's up?" To my surprise it was Deon. Usually I was the one who had to call him, so I was wondering what he wanted.
"Nothing, I just woke up. Why?" I asked, yawning.
He laughed. "You sound like you turnt up a little too much last night." Yeah, he wasn't lying about that. "Get dressed. Meet me at the club in an hour. And wear something nice." Dude hung up before I could even say anything else.
It was way too early to be wearing something nice, and an hour wasn't even enough time for me to reach my bad bitch final form. Thankfully, this girl was always prepared. I threw myself into action. I ripped all my clothes off and ran to the bathroom. I was going to have to burn myself today. I didn't have time to wait for the water to cool down once I turned it all the way to hot and back to medium.
I swore once the water hit me. Quickly, I reached out of the shower and grabbed my shower cap. I did not have time for wet hair right now. After washing and exfoliating my body, I ran back to my room, naked and still wet. I shook my body to dry myself off before dumping a shit load of Bath and Body Works body butter on myself. Then I ran to the closet while rubbing all that in, multitasking like a boss before I jumped all the way to the back and pulled out my emergency dress.
It was a pink velvet spaghetti-strapped dress that I always had ready in case I didn't have time to figure out an outfit for a last minute thing. I threw that bitch on and grabbed some strappy black heels.
Being careful not to die when I ran to my vanity, I plopped on the seat and got to work. Deciding on black rose earrings, I paired them with a thin choker. My makeup was simple and took about ten minutes tops (thank god for Youtube tutorials.) After that, I just piled my hair into a big bun and called it a day. Quickly, I ordered an Uber, dabbed on some Prada Candy, grabbed a clutch, and bolted.
Grandpa would've whooped my ass for the noise my heels made as I flew down the stairs, but I knew his old ass was at bingo. It was an all day affair with him on Saturdays.
I went outside once my Uber pulled up and got to the club 15 minutes later with 5 minutes to spare. I was like Usain Bolt up in this bitch.
I speed walked all the way to Deon's office. I laughed when Neal whistled as I came up the stairs. When the door opened, I saw Deon on the phone, running around his office. While still talking on the phone, he grabbed me, and we left. It wasn't until when we'd been on the road for about 5 minutes, that he finally hung up and gave me his attention.
"Surprised you actually made it on time," he said, looking over at me, smirking.
Hi, my day was alright, oh you think I look nice? Thank you.
I shrugged. "Yeah, I just threw something on. Where are we going anyway?"
"To a party." Very helpful.
"Just to a party? Then why did you say dress nice?"
He tapped on the steering wheel as we waited for the person in front of us to turn. "It's on a yacht and some important people are supposed to be there."
I nodded, understanding. This meant people who weren't from Southern Gardens were going to be there. Probably CEO's and executives.
We drove about forty-five minutes before pulling up to a harbor filled with expensive looking boats. The biggest one had laughter and the sound of violins coming from it. I could see people looking over the rails, pointing out towards the water.
"Come on," said Deon getting out of the car. I followed him and we walked down the dock side by side to board the boat.
The classical music hit me full blast once we got on. I could already tell this wasn't like the usual events we attended. The first thing I saw was waiters. They were dressed in vests and slacks, carrying glasses of champagne on silver trays. One came up to me, offering Deon and me a drink, which I gladly took. Then there was a group of people playing...I believed it's called shuffle board? Only the rich and old played that.
Looking around at all the ladies, I saw my choice of dress was acceptable. No one was really dressed up. Most of the women wore dresses above their knees, while some had on tight miniskirts. Shoot, out of everyone, I was the most covered up. All the men wore the same blazers and polos paired with 'my dad's a lawyer' shorts.
"Deon!" A business-looking man was coming towards us, arms spread wide and smiling ear to ear. He wore a yellow polo tucked into tan shorts.
They briefly hugged before Deon firmly shook his hand. "Mr. Checkerfield-" Deon started before the man cut him off.
"Now Deon, Mr. Checkerfield was my father. You know I prefer Christian." He slapped Deon on the back casually.
Deon chuckled. "Alright Christian."
"That's more like it!" Noticing that Deon was with someone, Christian smiled and lightly grabbed my hand. "And is this the beautiful piece of Dove chocolate I've been hearing about? How do you do? I'm Christian Checkerfield, Ceo of Axis Group Pharmaceuticals."
How he know about me? I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and just smiled prettily. "Hello, I'm Tara."
"Beautiful name! Is it short for something my dear?" he asked curious.
"Taraelle."
"A lovely name for a lovely woman." I liked attention and all, but dude was staring at me a little too much.
"She's a twin actually," Deon said. I turned to look at him, confused as to why he said that. Literally had nothing to do with the conversation.
Christian gasped. "You mean to tell me there are two of these walking around? Where can I get the other?" He said laughing. "You both sure are blessed." He was making that "mhm" sound.
It was more likely that Tatiana would drop out of school than be with this creep. I didn't like how he was talking about my sister, like he was discussing the price of a car.
"Yeah. I'm gonna go get a drink. Over there," I said pointing. I walked away from the conversation about chocolate girls and God. I wasn't trying to get struck by lightning. I really wanted another drink though. I wasn't feeling comfortable. I ordered a strawberry daiquiri at the bar and sipped on it while watching Deon.
Two more men joined the conversation, shaking hands with Deon. No one would've thought he came from Southern Gardens. He looked like he belonged with all these rich dudes.
I'd only been on the boat for about 20 minutes, but I was getting so damn bored. If I knew that this party was going to be like this, I would've stayed home and slept off the hangover.
"Hey, two long island iced teas," I snapped to the bartender. Once I got my drinks, I finished the first one like I was dehydrated and worked on the second. If you wanted a party to start, you had to do it yourself.
Going over to the stereo system, I stopped whatever Beethoven crap was playing and hijacked the aux cord. Once I plugged it into my phone, I opened my Spotify and selected "711" by Beyonce.
Shoulders sideways, smack it, smack it in the air
Legs movin' side to side, smack it in the air
Everyone paused at the change of music, looking confused. I sat my ass right next to the stereo, drinking my long island and clapping my hands to the beat.
I couldn't see their faces, but Deon and his group were all staring in my direction. If they were mad, so what? Since no one came over to change the song, I wasn't going to sweat over it.
Wave your hands side to side, put it in the air
Wave your hands side to side, put it in the air
My drink sloshed around in my glass and onto the deck as did what Beyonce told me to do.
"Whoo! Get it!" Some random girl yelled as I got up and started to dance. She came over to join me, a drink in both her hands while she shimmied to the music. She handed me one, so I quickly downed the rest of mine and gladly took the other. See, I knew this party was missing something; me.
Just like last night, I danced all my worries away.
🌸
Tatiana
I was going to go to a bad place if I kept lying to my poor Grandfather. Now, Grandpa wasn't a fool, but because of how much of a good child I was, he had no reason to believe I would lie to him. Yet I was covering more for Tara lately and my moral compass was really taking a beating. It was Monday morning, but there had been no sign of my stupid sister during Mr. Ully's class. I knew she was probably alright because I saw she had posted a selfie on Snapchat, but she hadn't been home for two days and I would crack if she did it for a third. I was gonna have to bust out the Moroccan stewed chicken to butter up Grandpa.
"Yo?" In front of my desk was the new girl Indigo. She might've been calling me a few times already. "You good?" She asked.
"Oh. Yeah, I'm fine." I was just wondering how many different types of alcohol my sister consumed over the past two days, nothing much.
We were in English, brainstorming questions for our project. I hadn't really been talking much, choosing instead to listen.
"Oh okay. Well, did you think of any questions to ask?"
I nodded and read from the list I had written down in my notebook. "What is your favorite color? Do you have a middle name? Are you right handed or left handed?" I looked up once I was finished.
"Ehh, aren't these questions kinda vague?" I gave her a puzzled look. "I mean, I feel like these questions won't really tell us much about each other. I wouldn't know what books to look for if that's the information I went on."
I nodded in understanding. I could see what she meant. This project involved socializing, it was no wonder I was already doing shitty.
"Suggestions?" I asked.
"Yes!" She said excitedly. "I think if we want to do this right, we have to put some time aside outside of class."
I nodded in agreement. I could do that. "Where?"
"At my house. We can order pizza, watch our favorite shows, talk about boys-"
Hold the phone. This didn't sound academic at all. I think I was being scammed.
"Umm-" I began but she cut me off.
"Alright, I'll see you then." The bell rang, so she got up and left for her next class. I stayed in my seat, shocked. I never said I was going! I jumped out of my seat and power walked out of the classroom.
She was just ahead, so I sped up. I was so focused on canceling those plans, that I bumped into someone. "Oh. Sorry," I said from the ground, trying to pick up my phone. I stood up, fixing myself. I stopped mid dust when I saw who I ran into. It was the Tresemme Triplets. Okay, their last name was really Yun, but according to Tara, they always smelled like Tresemme shampoo.
Hana was sneering at me, while Livy looked mildly annoyed, and Fern just seemed awkward.
"Are you blind without the dumpster diva here to guide you?" Hana asked. Livy was behind her, trying to hold in her laughter. Yet I knew Hana would never say that shit in front of Tara.
The Yun Triplets were a year younger than me, but they were apart of the swaggy crowd, along with that girl, Brandy. But unlike Brandy's distasteful use of leggings, the triplets were classy. They always dressed modestly, never exposing much skin but very stylish. Besides her glasses, Fern reminded me of a cool looking Velma from Scooby Doo. She usually wore long denim skirts and orange fitted turtlenecks. To complete the look, she had on her signature Stuart Weitzman boots. The only reason I remembered the name was because both me and Tara wanted a pair of the cute, expensive boots.
Livy was probably the most boyish out of all of them. She always wore jeans or pants, and baseball jerseys with long sleeves under them. Like me, she wore high tops a lot. Unlike me, hers probably cost a fortune.
Hana stuck to dresses all year round. Today she was wearing a long sleeved white fitted sweater dress that went all the way down to her feet, so I had no idea what shoes she was wearing today. Kind of hoped she wasn't wearing any. All the girls were tan-skinned with the same butt-length, jet-black hair. Tara was jealous of that, but of course she would never admit it.
At the moment, I was trying to escape the triplets, but too many people were passing us on both sides to get to class. At least they were minding their business.
"Hey, sister of dumpster diva." I wasn't even important enough to get my own nickname. "You stepped on my white dress."
I looked down at her dress and saw there was a teeny tiny smudge on the hem. Like I had to squint to see that shit.
"Oh," was all I said. I didn't know what she was expecting from me. I already said sorry.
Hana raised an eyebrow while crossing her arms over her chest. She scoffed. "Oh? No apology?"
"She already said sorry." New girl was suddenly in front of me, towering over Hana.
Hana had to look up to her. "Well maybe she should speak up."
"Or maybe you should listen," she retorted back.
"How about you just mind your damn business. Who even are you?" Hana said snootily, hair flip and all.
"Someone that's about to break their foot up your ass if you keep this shit up."
Whoa, time for some damage control. Hana looked outraged, surprised that anyone would ever talk to her crazy. Not even Tara spoke to her like that. They only exchanged petty passive aggressive comments about each other.
I pulled on New Girl's hand, ignoring my sweaty palms, and pushed past the triplets with a soft "excuse me."
We rounded the corner of the hallway and went into the bathroom. I sighed, relieved no one was in there. Letting go of her, I stared at her flushed face, noticing her deep breathing. Taking one last deep breath, she gave herself a strong shake and smiled slightly at me.
"Sorry. I really have issues with girls like that."
"I see." I wonder what that meant. It would've sucked if they started fighting though. Technically, I was involved and that's not something I wanted on my record.
"And thanks. You know for stopping me. My brother would've beat my ass, even if the asshole deserved it."
I shrugged. "No prob."
She rolled her eyes. "I heard her call your sister dumpster diva. Do they have issues with each other?"
I nodded. "Definitely." Those two were like Pumpkin and New York from Flavor of Love.
"Figures. Speaking of your sister, where is she?"
I shrugged, but I was actually worried. I was praying she would be home tonight.
Otherwise, we were both dead.
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