"Love, you too, mom," I said, hanging up on my mother as I put my phone in the back pocket of my black paperback slacks that Claudia had forced me to wear as it was apart of my costume that I hadn't finished putting on. I only had on a white t-shirt, but I didn't put the leather jacket on yet.
The professor had decided to call me while I was in the middle of becoming the one and only greaser Danny Zuko himself. I took the phone call outside since it was beginning to get loud downstairs because groups of people had started to arrive.
Crush took care of the last-minute invitations via text message, and he bought all of the snacks and the drinks. Oliver took care of the decorations and music. Simultaneously, I made sure to transport all of my family's valuable possessions to my bedroom, including my mom's sculpture of the gigantic female genitalia that she treasures so much.
My mom never shied away from the female body. In fact, she found every possible way to display her love for it everywhere she went. Her reason for this dauntless behavior is because she wants me to learn to love my body. She told me that society tends to shame women for their bodies if they reveal even the slightest bit of cleavage, expose their stomach, or show their buttocks. Yes, I said buttocks. Don't make fun of me. The same reason why I don't like saying ass or butt is the same reason most people don't want to use the word moist.
I was in my bathroom when I saw Claudia hurry past me, nearly knocking me down as she pulled down her pants and plopped down on the toilet. I slammed my hand down gently on the thulian tiled counter, and I said, "Great. First, you kill my goldfish, and now you're trying to knock me over on the floor like an older woman on a Life Alert commercial. I might as well become best friends with Michael Myers at this point."
"I said I was sorry. I'll buy you another one." Claudia said, relieving herself.
Even though Claudia and I have only known each other for two years now, we were pretty comfortable with each other. She was like a second sister to me; she was more of a sister to me than my oldest sister, Rayna, was.
One time, when I came back from work, I walked in on Claudia shaving her kitty pow, and I told her to shift her position to, you know, really get in the crevices. I had no problem with her flaunting her lady lips out in the open.
However, if one of us were planning on getting our groove on, as Claudia likes to refer to sex as, we'd let each other know in advance so that one wouldn't feel embarrassed if caught in the act.
I've merely had any guys come back to my dorm to do the deed, and there were only two guys I've slept with since my time at Hartley. One was a senior, and the other was a freshman. I didn't bother getting their names. A woman shouldn't feel obligated to get the name of someone she had sex with if she's only going to be with them for a short amount of time. It's useless, and it doesn't make a girl a slut.
"Dorothy is not replaceable. You can't just buy a new fish every time one dies, or something unfortunate occurs." "Why not? People do the same with the children in the system all the time." She made a good point, but neither situation should be justifiable.
Claudia grabbed a piece of toilet paper from the stand, wrapped it around her hand, and wiped herself as I resumed putting on the rest of my costume. I grabbed the gel at the corner of the counter and threw the cap off. I swooped my trimmed and clear-polished nails into the blue substance and applied it to the sides of my short curly brown hair.
"I know, it's just Dorothy meant a lot to me; I just used to talk to her about my rough days when I first started going through puberty. And now, I can't talk to her at all because you killed her." I said with a calm face while I was combing back my hair with an orange comb next to the hairbrush that I hadn't used since my stay here last week.
I heard the toilet flush, followed by the lid slamming. Claudia's footsteps pattered against the pink and white limestone tiled floor as she made her way to the second sink next to me, facing the door that led to my bedroom.
"Look, it's not my fault I have a big ass. Don't blame me, blame my mother for giving me her genes and feeding me cornbread every Sunday." Claudia retorted, drying her hands with the white towel hanging on the towel ring adjacent to the light switch and the hairdryer.
"Claud, it's fine. I forgive you now. Okay, I'm over it. Besides, by the looks of the lumps on her body, I think she was sick."
▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️
I had just finished holding a girl's hair up in the guest bathroom downstairs to relieve herself orally of the alcohol and the food that she had consumed.
So far, I've had to stop two guys from getting into a quarrel over some girl, and I had to stop this girl from making out with my dad's Bugs Bunny vase in the living room.
Oh, and the best part of all is that I had to fish someone out of my swimming pool with a net because they thought they were Jesus, and well, if you've heard the story before, then you probably know where this is headed.
Crush and Oliver were God knows where doing God knows what.
Claudia, or should I say, Miss Sandra Dee, abandoned me to get drunk with some junior. Let's just say jiving wasn't the only thing she was using her hands for in the corner of the living room, sitting on my mom's blue mid-century love seat sofa. She covered her hand and the junior's junk with her gigantic sparkly clutch.
She may have thought that no one saw her, but those rapid movements of her hand and the consistent bouncing of her purse isn't fooling anyone. Well, by anyone, I mean me, someone, who's not intoxicated. Usually, when it comes to parties, I'm not a party pooper, but since the event is taking place at my house, I have to stay alert and make sure everything stays in place just the way they were when my mom left for Maryland.
I was cleaning up Dorito crumbs off of the blue granite counter with a purple and white witch-themed napkin when I saw Theo and this girl in a pink cami dress with blood all over her body, including her hair. I reckoned she resembled Carrie from the movie Carrie. They were bickering the way my grandparents used to before my Albie died.
I was getting the impression that they had been in a relationship before because of their body language towards each other, almost as if they had been down whatever road they were on before. A road that had caused them great happiness and great destruction.
They went out the back door in the kitchen that consisted of a narrow passage that led to my backyard. Being the nosey person I am, I decided to follow the pair. Luckily, I was on my way to the mobile trash container. I swept the crumbs into the white garbage bag that I was holding with my unoccupied hand.
After the crumbs fell into the bag, I tossed the napkin in as well. I hurriedly pulled the strings of the bag up and closer together to shut it. When the bag shut, I double-knotted it. Then I headed outside, away from the loud music, and was met by even more loud music. I honestly don't know why Crush decided to bring six Bose speakers or where he got the money to buy because they were about six hundred dollars. Then I was reminded of how rich he and his family were.
I shut the door behind me and dragged the heavy bag to the bin. While I was trying my hardest to lift the bag into the waste container, I heard shrill shouting and excessive profanity over the boisterous music. When I finally succeeded in raising it with my tiny muscles, I dropped the bag into the container, on top of another garbage bag that I had previously taken out two hours ago.
Then, I heard a shriek. It sounded like a girl. It must have been the girl who was arguing with Theo. I ran to see what all of the commotions were about and saw that the girl had fallen into the pool. I was surprised to see that my mother hadn't covered it yet because of the change in weather. She must have forgotten about it since the only thing she could talk about these days is her conference or was her conference in Maryland.
People began to crowd around the pool, making it impossible for me to see where she was. They were laughing and talking so much shit about her. One person called the girl a "slut," and someone else even called her a "liberal layabout."
If I didn't know any better, I'd assume that Theo had brought judgmental, uptight conservative youngins to my house that reeked of granola, Democratic parents who raised their daughters to carry their own beliefs and never to submit to a totalitarian government that threatens their rights and what they stand for.
But tell me this, is human rights and equality equivalent to politics? Don't actually answer that. It was rhetorical.
Theo didn't bother helping the girl out of the pool; no one did. They just walked away and pretended like they didn't see a thing. Soon enough, everyone had removed themselves from the scene by going back inside of the house or exiting to the entrance of my driveway that led to the front exterior of my green 18th-Century Victorian. I, scoffed and mumbled, "Fucking preppies."
I took off my leather jacket and threw it on the ground. I took off my black loafers, one by one, and flung them to the side of the pool. The girl was struggling to keep her head above the surface of the water. I quickly paced towards the pool and willingly jumped in, arms pointed and legs together. I bore a resemblance to a crucifix.
I swam through the heavy water, and through my eyes, I saw the girl beginning to sink to the bottom. I had never been a fan of swimming, but today, I became Michael Phelps. When she was in my reach, I grabbed her arm in a swift motion and brought her close to my chest, holding her against me so that she wouldn't slip out of my embrace.
Her eyes were shut, and her cheeks were flushed. She looked as if she had already been dead. Her face, pale. Her lips, pink. Her tiny nose, cute.
When our heads were above the water, I picked her up, forcing her arms to drop back into the water. I was breathing heavily, but she wasn't breathing at all, and I was worried about her. I didn't want her to die in my arms.
But then, out of the blue, she began coughing up the water, and I stopped myself from moving in the water. She lifted her upper body and started to cough up the water.
She opened her mouth to speak, and I wasn't expecting her to say what she said.
"My yo-yo. I lost my yo-yo."
a/n hey, angel cakes. once again, i want to remind you to make sure that you vote as nov 3rd is approaching. it is essential, our country is at risk, and we need better people running it. i also wanted to remind you guys to also vote on my chapters, comment, or maybe, even check out my other books as i plan expanding my collection of stories on wattpad. i am going write more about diversity, representation, and lgbtq+ community. in addition, i want to discuss more important topics that happen in the world and in peoples' lives. everyone's story is worthy of being told.
stay safe and stay healthy. 💕and most importantly, be mindful of others and yourself because we're still in a pandemic. 🥺🥰