Struggle: Beautiful Series, book one

by Anderson, Lilliana

  “That would be awesome. I’m so in!” Katrina laughed.

  Huh? I had to backtrack my thoughts a little to remember what she was excited about. Egging Cassie. Oh shit.

  “We can’t get drunk first though,” she continued. “We’ll need to be sober to get away. It’s out in Mulgoa, so we can drive out there, park your car around the corner and wear hats and glasses so we blend in with the crowd of parents and friends taking photos. Then, as soon as Cassie gets out of her car, we’ll egg her—we’ll egg all of them—and run.” She laughed and sat back in her chair. “It’ll be epic.”

  I watched Trina as she spoke of her evil plan with an amused grin on my face. “Well, look at you. I’ve never seen you go this nasty before. I like it,” I said, nodding my head while I chewed on the end of my pencil thoughtfully, weighing up how likely it would be that we’d actually get away with this. I decided getting back at Cassie was worth the risk and held out my hand. “All right, let’s do it. I don’t think one prank against all of her nastiness will tip the karma scales against us.”

  “Not even a little.” Trina grinned and took my hand, shaking it solidly to seal our plan.

  Eleven

  On the night of the formal, Trina and I loaded up a small Crumpler bag with about a dozen eggs and drove to the venue. With excitement buzzing in our veins, we parked at one end of the street then walked to the opposite side of the circular driveway where everyone would be dropped off to make their grand entrance. And we waited.

  The grounds had these really exquisite gardens, so it was easy to obscure ourselves by the side of a palm tree without calling attention to ourselves.

  “I’m so nervous,” Trina whispered, slumping against the palm as she pulled her cap over her face.

  I grabbed her arm and tugged her away. “Don’t lean against the tree. Those things are always full of Huntsman.”

  Trina stood up straight and immediately brushed off her arm, shuddering. “I hate Huntsman. They’re the worst kind of spiders with their long creepy hairy legs. Yuck.”

  Families had already begun to gather with their cameras at the ready, and I could see Cassie’s mother in among them. I had a momentary pang of guilt before remembering the multiple humiliations Cassie had bestowed upon Trina and me. She and her cronies deserved some retribution.

  People talked a lot about taking the high road and not stooping to your tormenter’s level. But I always thought the people who came up with that shit were either tormentors themselves, or had never been one of the tormented. Because the feeling of sweet, sweet revenge felt like reclaiming our power, our lives.

  Not going to the formal to egg Cassie would have been our greatest regret. This had to happen.

  I nudged Trina and pointed to Cassie’s mum so we could keep an eye on her. She’d know which car Cassie was coming in and would serve as a warning for us to get ready.

  We stood and watched the first few cars come up the drive, letting their occupants out at the front entrance. You’d think it was some kind of award show the way the flashes of cameras and phones were going off.

  Eventually, I noticed Cassie’s mum getting excited. “This must be her car now. Get ready,” I said to Trina, reaching in the bag to grab as many eggs as I could carry in one hand.

  Katrina let out a loaded breath. “Fuck, I’m even more nervous now. I don’t know if I can do this.”

  “Think about that time Cassie reported you to the school counsellor by saying you wanted to have sex with your brother.”

  “Oh god. I nearly died when they sat me down to explain incest was illegal. He wouldn’t even accept that maybe she was making it up. Her and her friends cackled when I left his office red-faced. I kept finding copies of Flowers in the Attic in my locker all year.”

  “Bitches.”

  “Yeah. Fucking bitches.”

  “Bitches who deserve some egg in their face?”

  She grinned. “Hell yeah they deserve it.”

  “Then let’s do this.” I grabbed her arm, pulling her forward. “Load your weapons.”

  She closed her eyes for a moment and took an egg in each hand. We walked quickly toward the black limousine as it pulled up and waited while the door was opened by the driver.

  “Ready?” I asked as I saw the first leg emerge from the limo.

  “Not really, but I’ve come this far...”

  Out stepped Cassie, wearing this long peach coloured dress that was shimmering with little bits of silver stuff all over it. She was followed by Ben, who was wearing a suit with a tie that matched her dress. After them were, Terry with Maddie, and Aaron with Mara.

  “Go!” I called over my shoulder, sprinting with Trina close by my side. We let go of as many eggs as we could on our way past, hitting them square in their chests and exploding yolk everywhere. I would never forget the shocked looks on their faces, the horror, the shrill squeals, the gruff swearing from the guys. Suddenly, I felt so much better about the last few years’ worth of crap they put Trina and me through. Revenge really was sweet.

  Laughing hard, we ran.

  “Shit. Ben and Aaron are chasing us,” Katrina shrieked.

  “Fuck. Run faster,” I yelled, grabbing her hand and pulling her along behind me as we sprinted for my car.

  We hit against it with a bang and thankfully, I didn’t drop the keys. By the luck of the Gods, the car started first turn. I planted my foot and sped off.

  “Did they see the car?” I asked as I turned the corner.

  “I don’t think so. I couldn’t see them. I think we had too much of a head start.”

  All of a sudden, we both burst out laughing.

  “I can’t believe we just did that!” Katrina cackled. “Did you see Cassie’s face? I will remember that fondly for the rest of my days.” She sighed and settled back into her seat.

  I glanced over at her, a firm grin planted on my face, just like there was on hers. “That was probably the be—holy shit!”

  “What?” Trina demanded, looking around us frantically. “Are they behind us?”

  “Ah no. Just stay still, OK?” I told her, slowing the car and pulling over.

  “Why? What is it? Oh god, it’s a spider isn’t it? It’s a great big giant hairy mother fucking spider.”

  The Huntsman crawled over her shoulder. “Stay still and calm. I’m going to get it,” I instructed, getting out of the car to move around to her side.

  I opened her door and took her hand, pulling her out while she made a high-pitched squealing noise. “I felt it move!”

  “You need to calm down. You’ll scare it, and it’ll jump off you and into the car. Just come with me, calmly.”

  She continued to squeal with a much quieter tone as I pulled her away from the car, keeping my eye on the spider the whole time. I raised my hand and swatted it forward so it landed on the ground in front of us.

  “There. It’s gone.”

  Trina then let out a huge scream and jumped on the poor thing, stomping on it over and over again until there was nothing left to see but a couple of legs and pulpy mess.

  “Holy crap, Trina. It’s not like it was poisonous. You could have let it go.”

  She visibly shuddered. “I hate spiders,” she stated, stomping the spot one last time before getting back in the car.

  “I can see that,” I mumbled, following suit and getting back in as well. “Where to now?” I asked, once we were moving again and had calmed down.

  “Let’s get something to eat. Fish and chips at the river?”

  “Sounds perfect. All that egging and spider thwarting certainly works up an appetite.”

  We went and ordered our food and took it down to Nepean River then settled ourselves on the bank and ate quietly, watching a team of rowers glide by in their boats, a coach following after them in his speed boat.

  I pulled out a bottle of Southern Comfort and offered it to her. “Thanks,” she said, taking a swig then offering it back to me.

  “Nah, I’m driving. I’ll drink late
r.”

  “Is it wrong that I don’t even feel a tiny bit bad over what we just did?”

  “Killing a defenceless spider? Or egging the Celebs?”

  “Egging the Celebs. That spider deserved everything it got.”

  “Nope. Cassie has been a bitch to you for years. I’m surprised you haven’t retaliated before now.”

  “She’s been worse to you.”

  “Ah, she’s just got some weird fixation. I think she decided that if I wasn’t going to date her then she was going to make it so no one wanted to date me.” I shrugged and bit into a potato scallop. “I hated the way she treated you more. She deserved what she got today.”

  “You think so? You don’t think we were over the top?”

  “I thought you said you didn’t feel bad?”

  “I don’t feel bad as such, but I do wonder if it was a little over the top.”

  “As over the top as claiming I forced her to have an abortion? Or telling everyone we’re related and in an incestuous relationship?”

  “Well, when you put it like that. No, I don’t think we went over the top at all.” She laughed, picking the crispy batter off a piece of fish. “Do you wish we’d gone to the formal?”

  “No Trina. I’d prefer sitting here with you any day.”

  We went quiet again for a while, staring out at the now glass like water.

  “Let’s go,” I told her when we'd finished eating. “We’ll go home and get changed. I’ll take you clubbing, so we can get smashed like you wanted.”

  She laughed and helped me roll up the remains of our food in the white butcher's paper. “That sounds like music to my ears.”

  I dropped Trina off at her house and went back to mine to get changed and call a taxi to take us to the train station. We had decided to go to one of the clubs in the city and only had about forty-five minutes before our train would arrive.

  I told Mum I’d be home at some ungodly hour and dashed out the door to the tune of her telling me that just because I was eighteen, didn’t mean I could do whatever I wanted. I smiled to myself, knowing that as long as I came home before the sun was up, she’d be fine.

  When I arrived at Trina’s, she was already dressed and waiting for me. “Whoa!” I whistled at her. She was wearing a fitted black dress that barely covered her arse and a pair of low strappy heels. She’d piled her hair up on her head and put a tiny bit of makeup on. “You look absolutely smoking hot, Trina.”

  “Just look after her, David. I’m not happy about her going out in that scrap of a thing she’s wearing,” her dad told me.

  “I’ll keep her safe, Mr Mahoney.”

  “Mr Mahoney,” he muttered. “I thought I told you to call me John?”

  I gave him a half smile. “Force of habit.”

  Outside, the taxi beeped to let us know it was there. Saying goodbye to her family, we rushed outside and started the hour and a half journey from where we lived to the city. The nightclubs close to home sucked, so the trip was worth it. We generally spent the train ride in drinking southern and coke out of a sports bottle, so we’d arrive slightly tipsy, anyway. Drinks were really expensive, and we were going out to dance and have fun, not waste time forcing our way up to the bar to drink enough to feel something.

  By the time we arrived at Town Hall station, we’d emptied the sports bottle and thrown it into the rubbish bin on the platform before continuing on our way.

  By the time we arrived at the Shark bar, the place was already jumping. The moment we entered was like being enveloped in an underwater cave. It was dark besides the flashing lights of the dance floor and the blue illumination of the fish tank and the bar lights.

  “One more before we dance?” I yelled into Trina’s ear as we moved towards the bar. She nodded and took my hand, following close behind me so we didn’t lose each other in the crowd.

  “Let’s do shots,” she yelled over the noise once we made it to the bar. She didn’t even wait for my answer before she yelled our order at the bartender, asking for six B-52s.

  Glancing at her, my eyebrows shot up in question, I placed my mouth near her ear. “Are you sure about this?”

  “We agreed to get hammered,” she yelled back.

  “We still have to make it home.”

  She laughed and rolled her eyes while I handed over some money.

  Picking up the first shot once they were set out, Trina handed one to me, tapping the plastic in cheers. “Drink up.”

  I held the shot to my lips, watching her as she downed hers quickly then reached for her second. Once again, she was holding mine out to me. “Drink!” she urged me again. “You’re falling behind.”

  I downed my shot, then took the second. Then the third, knocking them back one after the other. I was fairly tipsy from drinking the Southern on the train with the shots quickly mixing with what was already in my veins.

  Katrina let out a loud whoop and raised her hands above her head, swaying her body as she started to make her way to the dance floor. Following close behind her, I couldn’t help but laugh and feel glad we were out in this club instead of stuck with all the dickheads we went to school with.

  With the drink buzzing through my body and the music pulsing through the air, I started to let go. For hours, Trina and I danced among the crowd, slowly pressing closer and moving as one.

  Trina, me, dancing and alcohol were obviously a terrible mix. My heart thudded in my chest as my hands started to roam her body, pulling her closer. Our legs became intertwined as we swayed, her arms wrapped around my neck and mine around her waist. We were as close as we could get.

  I moved my head, desperately wanting our lips to brush. But when our eyes locked, there was something in hers that told me to stop.

  A slight sadness as she looked at my lips and then back into my eyes. “Is this going to be our tradition?” she said into my ear.

  “What is?”

  “You kiss me on the night of the formal then dump me in the morning?”

  “Trina, it’s not like that,” I told her, cupping her face in my hands and looking into her eyes. “It’s not like that.”

  “Don’t David. Don’t ruin what we have by going down this road again. You hurt me too much last time.”

  My mouth fell open as my hands dropped to my sides, and Trina turned and walked off the dance floor. For a moment I just stood there dumbstruck, feeling like an idiot for nearly kissing her again and bringing back the humiliating memories of the time before. Shit. I’m an arsehole.

  I kept watch as she moved through the crowd to the bathrooms, realising that she deserved far better than me. I was lucky enough to have her in my life, and I was a bastard who kept fucking that up.

  I spent the rest of the night watching over her as she danced with a group of girls she'd obviously met in the bathroom. They kept heading back to the bar and drinking. Eventually, Katrina caught the eye of some guy, and they danced together for a while before he walked her off the dance floor and into one of the darker areas of the night club.

  Knowing she was drunk and not wanting anything to happen to her, I moved to where I could see her better, fobbing off a few drunken girls who wanted to dance with me on my way.

  By the time I reached her, they were already all over each other. Despite understanding that I needed to back off, I was drunk as well, and watching her kissing and grope at another guy was like being kicked in the guts. I got her message loud and clear—she didn’t want me blurring the lines of our friendship. But, it didn’t mean watching what she was doing in front of me didn’t make me jealous as all hell.

  Walking up to them, I tapped her on the shoulder. “Trina, we need to go,” I said loudly.

  Breaking the kiss, she looked up at me, all glassy eyed.

  “Who the fuck are you? Her brother or something?” the guy she was with slurred.

  “Something like that. Come on, Trina,” I replied, pulling at her arm.

  “Leave me alone, David. Can’t you see I’m having fun with some
one who actually wants me?” she yelled over the music, stumbling over her words with her thick and drunken tongue.

  “Please don’t do this,” I begged her. “Just come home with me.”

  “Hey mate, she said she doesn’t want to come with you,” the guy said, puffing up a little.

  Trina put her hand on his chest and stumbled towards me a little. “No, it’s fine. I’ll go.”

  “Whatever,” the guy spat, turning away and disappearing into the throng. I breathed a sigh of relief that it didn’t escalate beyond that and turned to Trina.

  She was really struggling to stand up properly, so I put my arm around her and walked her outside to get some fresh air and make our way to the train station.

  We got maybe ten metres away from the bar when she pushed at me feebly. “Let me go!” she complained.

  “Trina, you’re drunk. I’m trying to get you home.”

  “Don’t act all nice like you care, David. You have no idea how much I’ve wanted you to like me since forever. But you don’t give a shit do you? You’d prefer to fuck bitches like Cassie instead of having something meaningful with me.” She jabbed a finger at her chest.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I told her, stopping with her as she leaned up against the wall of a building.

  “Yes I do, David. If you cared, you wouldn’t try to kiss me when you know you don’t want anything from me.”

  I placed my hands against the wall on either side of her head and leaned in close. “Maybe I do want something more with you, Trina. Maybe I’m scared that I’ll fuck it up and you’ll hate me. Have you ever considered that I care about you so much that the fear of losing you eats me up inside? I want you, Trina. I want you with everything I have. You are my world. My everything. If I fuck this up, I’ll have nothing. I can’t risk that. Don’t you understand?”