I scrolled through the rest of my messages. My crew of girls were warning me about what Meg had done. I closed my eyes. It wasn’t just her. It was him.
Taylor was the first to message me, so of course it was the last one I read.
Turn off your phone. I’m coming over.
I looked at my door and it was flung open. “Sorry. I had to make a few stops for my mom. But look! Coffee!”
What Taylor and I called coffee came in the signature cups but was about ninety-eight percent everything but coffee. It was just a mocha flavored milkshake.
“What the hell is he doing? Was it really him?” I entertained the brief thought of photoshop. I wouldn’t put it past Meg.
“Yeah. It was really him.” Taylor gave me a frown and touched my shoulder.
The girls were excellent internet sleuths. They had been awake and on duty before I had opened my eyes. I didn’t ask how Taylor knew, but I trusted it.
Peaches walked in my door, also holding coffee. Taylor and I gave her a smile and she held up the drinks. “Oh shit. Cool. We all have the same solution to our problems.” She got on my bed and set the extra cup on top of my end table.
“What are we doing? Burying a body? Keying a car?” Peaches took a sip of her drink and came away with a whipped cream mustache.
I shook my head. “No. We’re above all of that.”
Peaches gave Taylor a look. “She’s not above that.”
Taylor nodded. “True. We all know I can’t be trusted. At all.”
The next person in my bedroom door was Austin, also with two cups of coffee. Though I knew he’d have the real deal in his. “Ah. Great minds and all that.”
He was in a long sweatshirt that seemed to double as a skirt, fingerless gloves and Doc Martens. Every nail was a different color of the rainbow.
Taylor slapped the spot next to her. “Apple Bottom. Come sit next to Mama.”
Taylor wasn’t shy about her yearslong crush on my brother. She claimed he ruined her on guys that didn’t smell as good or look as impeccable.
Austin put both his cups down and sat next to Taylor. “Listen, jailbait. Be less attractive. Starting now.”
Austin knew about the crush and always threw flames on the fire. He had a way of being non-threatening about it, and Taylor fake swooned.
“How’d you find out?” I asked him.
“Teddi Bear, I’m insulted. You know I run an entire business on that website. No one can so much as sneeze on there without me hearing about it. Plus, I have any girls you don’t like on notifications in case they start shit. Like today.” He reached out and held my hand. “Drink your fake coffee. We’ll hash this all out.”
I did what he said, and I soon had a whipped cream mustache, too.
Chapter 25
RUFFIAN
I WAS WORKING with Pixie and Gaze in the living room on the practice test for the placement exam. It wasn’t too hard, but I had to read the questions a few times on the written portion to understand what they were asking for.
When I handed my paper in to my “teacher”, Pixie, she tutted at my handwriting. “Maybe we should have you use a keyboard. Will they let him do that?” She was asking Gaze more than me, and he only shrugged.
“I’ll google it.” She sank down into the couch and started her search.
Gaze took my paper. “I can read it.” He looked from Pixie to me and back before starting to read what I had put on the paper.
My left foot started tapping. I didn’t like this part. Waiting for results. The assessment portion of school might be hard for me if I couldn’t deal with waiting for this.
“He can. He can request it in most places. Do you like writing better with a pen or typing?” Pixie was up again, pacing.
“I’ve only done that one paper.” I pointed at Gaze. He and Pxie passed a look between them and he handed her back the paper. “Usually, I would type any stories at the library.” She started reading, apparently able to decipher what I had put down.
The front door opened and shut, Rocket barking at whoever it was. Pixie and Gaze didn’t react. So many people had come in and marched up to Teddi’s room I was starting to think they were constructing another floor on the house or something.
“This is really good.” Pixie pointed at the paper. “Like poetic good.”
“That’s correct then?” I felt like my whole body was squinting while I waited for an answer.
Gaze shook his head. “Oh no. It’s super wrong, just really pretty.”
Blunt. My brother was blunt, I’ll give him that.
Pixie gave Gaze a look of chastisement. “Stop, it’s not super wrong. We just have to discuss how most teachers would like the answer framed.” She sat down next to me with my paper. “You got the answer, but you have to reread the question and make sure you answered every part.”
Pixie broke down how the question was really asking multiple things and how to write a conclusion that looped back to the actual question.
“That doesn’t seem like fun.” I looked at her while she stared at me so long I started to wonder if there was something on my face.
“You can’t write for fun when it’s something like this. They’re looking for specific answers. Think of your answers as like your words in a uniform. The uniform they wear has to show that you have a firm grip on the subject and the way to convey that subject.”
“So write boring? And be super detailed and extra?” I took my paper back from her.
“Yeah. Try that.” Gaze opened up the small laptop next to him and brought up a new file. “And type your answers here so it doesn’t look like an old-timey drunk Pilgrim wrote it.”
Pixie hissed at Gaze.
Gaze winced and rephrased his answer, “Uh. Do your best. Reach for the stars and all that.”
Pixie tilted her head toward her shoulder.
“What? I’m trying?” He held his palms up.
I liked their banter. I knew they weren’t really angry with each other and I was happy they had talked about this among themselves beforehand. And then I tried to remember to distance myself from them. Means to an end.
After accepting the laptop, I started banging out my answers and trying to incorporate Pixie’s suggestions. I dulled it down. I made it more uniform. I pretended in my head that I had on a top hat that I tipped when I saw a woman and wrote it from that more proper place in my imagination.
My new feedback was great. Pixie’s eyes shone when she smiled. “This’ll work. But I don’t want you to lose how you wrote before this. Because that talent is something that needs to see the light of day.”
I stood up and stretched in time for Teddi and her friends to stampede down the stairs and out the door without a second glance.
Austin meandered down the rest of the stairs to the living room.
Gaze accepted the laptop and gave Austin a man shake. Then Austin came over to me and we worked out something with our hands. It was still in progress, but we were getting there.
Pixie hugged Austin and then they all looked at me.
“What?” Maybe I did something wrong.
“It’s just, Gaze and I are going back to school soon and Austin has a really busy schedule. Are you going to be okay here on your own?” Pixie frowned in a way that made me think she was concerned.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll be great.” I pulled out my phone and looked at it. There was nothing on it, but this habit seemed like a good way to make people think you were busy.
“Are you sure?” Austin twisted a ring on his left hand. “Meg and you doing okay?”
Oh, he was on a fact-finding mission. “She’s a friendly girl. I think it makes sense to make nice with anyone that wants to donate to Teddi’s cause.”
There, that should settle them down.
Austin took the ring off his finger and put it on again, over and over. “Yeah. That’s true. Anyway, you let me know if you need any help. If you need any outfit inspirations or anything.” He waved at Pixie and ruffled Gaz
e’s hair, though he had to jump a little to do it.
We tried the handshake again, and it was a little smoother.
With that, I had all the practice I was willing to do for the placement test. Tomorrow would be my first day of school. Teddi was supposed to be driving me. At this point, from the lack of attention from her this morning and this afternoon, I was pretty sure she might be interested in running me over instead.
TEDDI
TAYLOR WAS DRIVING and Peaches was in the backseat. I needed to clear my head and distract myself. We had stopped at three local businesses to get donations for our parties. I made sure to take pics and post them on our Twitter and Instagram, tagging the business owners so they would get some positive press.
I could do this job. It just took all my focus and determination. Thinking about Ruffian didn’t secure things that the families needed to make a perfect day full of wishes come true.
“Did Meg say anything else?” I looked over the seat at Peaches.
“Let me check. Her stories are full of her pedicure and a bunch of selfies with filters.” Peaches flicked her finger across her screen. “Oh, wait. She has a bikini thirst trap pic set up like four minutes ago. She’s working this whole angle,” she hissed under her breath.
“Well, she has a great body. She should be allowed and proud to show it off.” I exhaled loudly. “I mean, am I nuts or did he seem into me?”
I looked from Taylor to Peaches and back again.
“Oh, he wanted to nail you to the wall like a hammer.” Taylor gave a low whistle.
Peaches piped up, “Screw that guy. Whatever. You’re a bad bitch running your own damn show. You have a great rack, a set of legs that look like they are smoother than the hind end of a baby deer.”
My hype girls. “I love you guys.”
“We know. And you’re lucky we love you because you get us to do all this crap for people.” Taylor gestured to the gift cards and baskets we’d collected.
“It makes you feel like a million bucks to make those families happy, so bite me.” I grabbed my left boob like the very gesture was an insult.
When Taylor stopped at a red light, she leaned over like she might very well try to nibble my boob. I blocked her with my hand. “Drive your car. Sweet nelly.”
Taylor turned up the music and started scream-singing over my voice. I retaliated with my own scream-singing and then Peaches piped up with the “harmony” that sounded like two goats mating.
We popped by Brutus’ house on the way home and said hello to him and a few of the football and soccer players in his basement playing bloody video games. Tasker and Anders were trash-talking into a headset.
When Tasker missed a shot, Anders flipped the small table holding his drink. In a flurry of movement, all the guys scrambled for the electronics that were getting drenched by his anger. Tasker handed me his controller to keep dry and I slid into his spot. I knew this game. Milt was a huge gamer my whole life, and when I was little, he would use me to hold his place or help him with two player story games. I was weirdly good at this game, and Tasker had my favorite gun, the sniper shot.
Brutus took over for Anders while he apologized and helped clean up. They would curse at each other now, too, but Brutus and I were in the game. I lined up a set of shots and the heads of the digital soldiers exploded one by one.
“Damn, Teddi. What the hell?”
I got in the zone. I didn’t do well with the hand-to-hand combat aspect of the game, but I had great aim. And I lobbed a few health bombs at my struggling teammates.
“Shit! She’s pulling us through.”
All cleanup was halted as Brutus and I dragged the team back from certain loss. Finally, the end game sequence came on and declared our team the winner.
Anders groaned out loud. “You all need to let my boner take a rest here. I can only get so hard. That was fucking hot.”
I gave Anders the look that I hoped clearly conveyed the fact I didn’t want to hear him talk about his dick anymore.
“Are you all going to help do work on the Me Party houses? We’re doing two this holiday season, so get your crap in order.” I set the controller down on a dry end table.
Brutus was as close as he could get to Taylor without licking her face. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but I hoped it was something by way of a date. Taylor wanted to have Brutus be her tux filler at the prom. She said her dream date would be Austin and they would both wear prom dresses, but he was too old to accompany her. Her second choice was Brutus because he had shoulders like a Mack truck and a chin dimple. Apparently, the tuxedo was emphasized best by these traits.
I thought about Ruffian and his floppy hair and white smile in a tux, and instantly daydreamed about my prom that I never knew I wanted. Until now.
Goddamn Meg. She was always getting into what I had. Since we were kids. Since we were best friends. Until I got moved into a house staff role in her head. I was helping her family with tax write-offs now. I didn’t have a rich enough family to stay friends with her in high school. We went to the eighth-grade dance separately, because she had stopped wanting to be seen in public with me. Her perceived reputation was more than I was worth to her.
She went to the private school, and I went to the public. I became the center of a lot of groups, and she had a small circle of snobby friends from her school.
It hurt when she started to do that shit to me, and it was a wound that reopened when she and I started hanging out in the same circles again. We played nice to each other’s faces. But I still missed the friendship and the memories we had that she was so quick to bury. Or flush. Or whatever she considered the right thing for a friendship that had spanned years.
But this was the icing on the shit cake. She was going to start dating the cute guy who was living in my house. I would say it was typical for her, because it was.
I’d really thought Ruffian was into me and the fact that Meg had so quickly turned him to her side made me boil all over again. She was always swooping in to make me feel awful.
And now Ruffian was the toy she wanted. And I didn’t want to fight her. I liked to believe I was too cool for this whole childish song and dance. Being gracious. Being the bigger (wo)man so I could get the good money for the Me Parties. It was a microcosm of politics. And I really disliked it right about now.
Taylor caught my eye and made the flying bird gesture with her hands. It was our special signal when one of us wanted to know if the other was ready to bounce.
And I was. So I did it back to her. Tasker got on one knee in front of me. “Come on, Teddi. You got to play a round or two with us. Anders is such a pussy and this is the weekend event. With that win we could maybe get to the leaderboards!”
They were a group of athletes, so of course they were competitive. Brutus was even closer to Taylor, who had her back pressed against the wall. Taylor made a hand signal of a crashing bird. Now, she wanted to stay a little longer. I nodded. We had room for one more, because one of our teams disconnected. I texted Milt.
Hey, you down for a little Code of Warfare? I’m helping some friends mop up in this tournament.
He responded so quickly I didn’t have to put down my phone.
Send me the room code.
I took a picture of the screen and sent it to him. Tasker looked like he would have rather called a different person. His opinion was about to change. If they thought I was good, Milt was going to blow their balls off.
I set my phone to speaker and Milt and I traded insults back and forth. We took off at the starting chime like we always had. Run for the trees and start to gather as many weapons and ammunition as we could. We worked together in a clockwork pattern, making it seem like we were a lot more players than we actually were. We were able to pin down the opposing team while the other guys stole the resources we needed. When we had our second win in a row, they were happy to have Milt on the line. After the fourth round, they were letting him call the shots.
We went on to the tourna
ment and came in third, which was pretty depressing, except the guys seemed thrilled with where they placed. I thanked Milt for making the team a contender.
Tasker sat back against the recliner while sitting on the floor. “How many brothers do you have again? You keep getting more, right? Like full-grown adult guys?”
“What? No. I have three brothers, my brother Gaze’s girlfriend, and now we just had Gaze’s half-brother move in. And he was at the party last night.” I kicked my legs out while they pondered my family tree.
“So the dude you were making out with is like your half-brother’s half-brother?” He scratched his neck and then his balls.
“No. Not like that at all. We adopted Gaze. And now he is a guardian for his half-brother. I’m not related to him.”
Tasker coughed out the words, “Not really.” And tried to pretend the words were a bodily function.
“You guys suck. We ladies are leaving.” As I stood up, I watched as Brutus gave Taylor his best smolder. Peaches sat up from the beanbag chair where she had fallen asleep. That girl could nap on a pointy rock.
Taylor was the last to leave and we teased her about Brutus on the way home.
“I thought you were saving yourself for my brother?” I tapped the crystal she had dangling from her rearview window.
“You heard him. I have to get older. And when I am older? I don’t want to still be rocking the big V.” She took a turn a little too fast and we all yipped.
“You good?” I grabbed the oh shit handle.
“Yes.” Taylor grimaced at me.
I went back to our original topic. “I think it would creep me out to have you date Austin.”
“Great. Another thing against us. I have competition with boys and girls, and now you won’t even support me.” She blew a raspberry in my direction.
Peaches leaned forward from the backseat. “Brutus is all about you now.” She showed us her screen.
Brutus had a TikTok of him writing Taylor’s name across his stomach. He had clearly drawn a few abs on his round little belly.
Swimming in Sparkles Page 16