by Nora Cobb
“I’m surprised you smoke around all this yarn,” I comment.
She laughs. “I’m trying to quit.”
I smirk. “We all are.”
“I saw your video. It was cool. I liked it. It was ballsy and definitely something new. But I can’t help you out.”
“Is there a reason why I keep hearing no?” I ask.
She puts her nail in her mouth but doesn’t bite it. “They don’t like you. And you know who I mean so I won’t say their names. If any of us help you, they’ll go after us.”
“But you do fiber,” chimes in Theo, “that has nothing to do with Hollywood.”
“Costume design, Theo,” she replies, “I’ll need a day job, and I’d rather do something in my field than work corporate or retail.” She turns toward me. “I’m sorry, Vicki, but nobody’s going to say yes.”
She reaches over and picks up the picture. Talia nods her head approvingly at the image and hands it back to me.
I shake my head. “If you want it, you can keep it for being honest. No hard feelings.”
Talia smiles and puts it down again. “I do like it.” And then she sighs. “If you want to work in the industry, I wouldn’t fight these cracked boys. I’d like for you to win, but taking down one is hard, and you’ve got three against you. Do what the rest of us do. Keep your head down, your mouth shut, and just wait for it all to be over.”
Chapter Thirteen
Today is the last day to hand in the form for sponsorship, and I don’t have a club to back me. Even though I don’t have their sponsorship, I continue going to the cinematography club meeting. But I have a plan.
As I sit down beside Rosie, Dom ignores me, but surprisingly, the others didn’t. With a nasty side-eye, they ignore his standoffish behavior as he taps his phone. Even Paloma is speaking to me again, making it a point to ask me random questions anyone could answer.
I tap Rosie’s arm and nod once in his direction.
“He’s out of our league because he’s in one all alone,” whispers Rosie. “You’re not the first girl he’s pulled that shit on. Like father, like son.”
Dom glances up from his phone, and quickly, I look at the wall like it’s new to me.
“We’re going on a field trip,” Neil announces, holding a set of keys as he walks into the room. “Bring your stuff. We’ll leave from there.”
We gather our stuff, and it sounds exciting until we turn left, instead of right, and head deeper into the basement, walking to the end of the hall. Even though it’s sort of clean and lit, the basement gives me the creeps. It’s too isolated—anything could go on down here, and no one would know. We stop in front of a large gray metal door with two locks, and Neil unlocks it. Inside, it looks like a weird repository of cardboard banker boxes carefully numbered on shelving that’s lined up in never-ending rows.
“Welcome to the maze,” Neil says in a ghoulish voice. “Enter at your peril.”
I don’t move and neither does anyone else including Liam, who looks like he could barely fit through the doorway. Joking, Dom scoffs and pushes Neil’s shoulder aside. Laughing, they walk in, and Neil hits the light switch. Not much of a difference as a few bare light bulbs cast dim cones of light on the cement floor. Timidly, the rest of us file in between high shelves that reach the ceiling.
“What is this place?” I ask.
Neil pulls down a box, drops it on the floor, and lifts the lid. Inside are old VHS tapes, stacked to the top.
“It’s the film archives,” answers Neil. “Everything is being converted to digital. There’s a room in the back. It’s a big project, and we get credits for helping. Plus you get to watch old movies.”
Paloma pulls down another box and flips open the lid, pulling out an old VHS tape in a faded eighties cover. “You mean I can pass trig just by coming here daily and racking up extra credit?”
Neil laughed. “You still have to do your homework.”
I turn to the box closest to me, pull it off the shelf, and peek inside at more old VHS tapes. I don’t recognize the films, but someone wants to save them for posterity. I think it’s odd that we’re meeting in the basement when there are comfortable classrooms with sunlight and comfy chairs right above our heads.
“Are we looking for inspiration for the festival projects?” asks Rosie, pulling out a tape with a cheesy romance cover.
“We could,” says Dom, “but I wanted everyone to know about his place, and it would be interesting to look around today.” He glances at me then looks away.
Is this his way of avoiding me? The room is big enough for all of us to spread out. Dom couldn’t sit in the other room and stare at his phone for the entire meeting. Neil should be in charge anyway. He’s a fucking lot nicer. Maybe I’m not the center of his life, but judging by the dirty look, I’m somewhere in the vicinity.
“Well,” Neil claps his hands once. “Happy hunting, my fellow thespians.”
“Aren’t thespians actors?” asks Liam.
“Then go break a leg, motherfucker.” Neil grins.
I start exploring, but I’m not adventurous enough to explore too much. I see a door in the corner and a window in the wall. It’s not an exterior wall, and someone has drawn a curtain over it. I peek behind the curtain, and it’s not a normal window. The glass is smoky, and there’s a curtain behind it, blocking out the interior of the room. I shake off a chill that races down my neck. Thinking it might be the room for watching the videos, I try the doorknob.
“They keep that locked.”
Squealing, I jump so high I almost hit my head on the ceiling.
Liam laughs. “Sorry I scared you. Next time, I’ll wear squeaky shoes.” He walks up to the door and tries the knob. It won’t open in his big hand. “I don’t know what’s in there.” He stands back and looks around the dimly lit corner. “I hate basements. Come on, Vicki. I’ll show you the room with the equipment.”
After twenty minutes, I’m done. The admins’ office will be closing at six. I check my phone. I’ve got twenty minutes to get a signature and run over. Christ, I wish Neil was club president. I’ve got one plan, and it’ll work if testosterone is stronger than common sense. I’ve done worse. I can suck it up if I have to. Not literally.
Dom is standing in an aisle alone away from the others. A box is open at his feet, but he’s scrolling on his phone. I wonder if anything has happened yet on the internet, but he’s too calm if it has. He looks up when he hears my footsteps approaching.
“Well,” he grins, “if it isn’t V for viral.”
I smirk. He can joke now, but I’ll be laughing later. I reach into my pocket and hand him the sponsorship form. “You’re going to sign that, pretty please.”
He looks at his phone again. “No, I’m not. You didn’t pass initiation.”
Smiling, I stand closer and touch his arm that’s holding his phone. I run my hand along the short blond hairs on his upper arms, locking my gaze on his.
“You changed your mind?” he whispers. “You must want it bad.”
“Not as bad as this.” My hand glides from his arm to his hard chest. I step a little closer. Damn, this boy is solid.
“So, you’ve stopped playing and decided to get serious.” He looks over his shoulder toward the locked room. There’s no one over there.
I take a step closer and feel the heat of his body almost touching mine.
“I’ve been serious from the start,” I reply, holding up the form with one hand. My other hand goes much lower until it stops on the front of his jeans. My hand trembles as my thumb outlines his hard bulge. “And I’ll show you when you sign this.”
“Welcome to the majors, Vicki.” He tugs me close with one arm and puts his phone away. “About time you left the playground behind.”
“It’s not hard,” my gaze drops for a second, “to win if you’re willing.”
Breathing heavy, Dom leans forward, pressing me into a shelf of boxes. I close my eyes, my hand trapped in between my body and his. I close my eyes,
and his hot breath hit my ear. Shit, my breathing is becoming shallow, and I’ve got to remind myself that he’s an ass. He presses the form against the boxes and signs it. I grab it fast with my other hand and shove the paper deep into my back pocket. I sigh with relief, which he mistakes for lust.
I move my hand below his stiffening cock and to his balls. My grip is firm as I squeeze him tight until my knuckles ache. Eyes wide, Dom gasps in pain as I push him off me. His hand grasps a shelf, and a box comes tumbling down, spilling old VHS tapes onto his back as he crumples to the ground.
“Thank you for your support. You won’t regret this.” I spin on my heel and run out the door as if he were chasing me, and almost knock over Rosie.
“What’s the matter? Did you see something?” she asks.
“No, I have to hurry to the admins’ office before it closes.”
“I’ll go with you. The basement gives me the creeps.”
I make it to the office in three minutes. I hand in the form as I clutch the counter, panting like I ran a fast mile. Smiling like an emoji, Jagan comes out of his office. Does he ever go home?
“Look at that.” He faces the admins. “This is a student that is eager to participate at a time when the older generation accuses the young people of malaise and unresponsiveness. But I say first clean your own house, and then you can help others to clean their own.”
“I’ll wait outside,” whispers Rosie. I grab her by the wrist.
“Vicki,” Jagan faces me.
“Yes?” I hold my stomach as I catch my breath. Gym’s not mandatory, but I’m starting to rethink it.
He puts his palms together and bows. “May all paths lead you in the right direction.”
***
Rosie and I step outside, and I offer her a cigarette.
She shakes her head. “No wonder you run like you have rocks in your shoes.”
“Is Jagan really that clueless?”
“My mother doesn’t like talking to him. She says it feels like new-age church. Now, she mails her check. Don’t underestimate Jagan. The school is in the black.”
We walk to the end of the path, and ironically, I have to choose left to the student center or right to the day lot. I start heading to the day lot, but I stop when Rosie heads left. I want to talk to Rosie in private
“You want to go for a ride?” I ask.
She nods, and we walk to the day lot. “I have homework, but it can wait an hour.”
“So, what happened?” I ask her.
“About what?
“You know what. Paloma was barely speaking to me. A lot of people weren’t speaking to me, and now, we’re all friends again. You know that’s fucked.”
She sighs loudly. “Dom, Silas, and Chase may be on top, but they’re not that popular. Sure, they’re popular in their cliques but outside of them…” She shakes her head. “I have friends who want to spend time with me because they like me, not because they’re scared of what I might do to them.”
I hadn’t really thought about it that way. “Still, people were acting like I had done something with him.”
“They thought you had.”
“I didn’t. And he hates me.”
She shrugs. “Sorry for assuming. He acts as if he hates you, but when has that stopped a nasty guy?
My Mustang is untouched where I left it. Rosie smiles as she gets inside and wiggles her shoulders, getting cozy in the leather seats. “Nice ride, Vicki. How fast does it go?”
“The legal speed limit. My dad is paying my insurance.”
We take off and head to the mini-mart not far from the school. It’s a local ma and pa place that serves sandwiches and sells gas. Live bait is in a fridge around the back beside ice, and you can buy everything from bread to matches to aspirin inside. The floorboards creak as we walk in, and after we purchase a hoagie to split, we walk through to the picnic tables out back.
“You ever see that show Swamp People?”
I shake my head. “This is prime California real estate. There are no swamp people around here.” I bring the conversation back to Dom. “So, what changed? Why did people decide to believe me?”
“Nothing went viral.”
“You mean if I had, it would’ve?”
“Of course. Everyone who wanted to see it would have seen the video by Monday.” She takes a sip of her water. “No video, no proof.”
“Have they done this before?”
She nods and gives me a look for being simple enough to ask the question. “They have a website. It’s hidden. You have to know the exact URL to access it. At least, that’s the rumor.”
“How many girls do it?”
“Girls? Why do you think it’s only girls?”
My eyebrows go straight up to the sky. “They’re fluid?”
“Dom and Chase are straight, but they have friends who aren’t. There’s a rumor about Silas. They have parties in the woods. If I had known he was going to pull that on you, I would’ve warned you. Vicki, don’t mess with them. They’re unforgiving and vindictive.”
I sigh deeply. I just messed with one, big time. I wonder if it would matter if I raced back to the office, got that permission slip back, and handed it back to Dom. I wonder if he’s still lying on the floor.
“It’s all rumors. Except for one incident.”
“What was that?”
Rosie looks around to make sure we’re alone. “A girl dropped out last semester. You know the place in the woods. Other girls have been there, and they didn’t say no.”
Dom lied to me. I nod, encouraging Rosie to continue.
“They initiated this one girl and invited their friend to participate. The next day, they told her she wasn’t right for the role and picked another girl. The girl they picked, none of them had touched her. She didn’t go through initiation, and she was a better actress. It was brutal. The first girl went ape shit on Chase. Tried to stab him with a pencil. Girl was in a cafeteria with cutlery and she used a pencil. She wasn’t bright, but they shouldn’t do that to people.” Rosie shrugs.
“None of the other clubs would sponsor me.”
“There are two ways to approach them. You either stay off the radar and run and hide when they’re coming, or you’re so talented they respect you and leave you alone. Most of us are busy running and hiding.”
“Well, maybe I should be running and hiding too,”
“Vicki, there’s a third type.” Rosie continues. “Every once in a while someone shows up that drives them insane with jealousy. That’s the worst.”
For a moment, Rosie watches me but doesn’t say a word.
Chapter Fourteen
“Today is it,” smiles Luna as we walk from the day lot.
The election results are going to be announced during final period. I’m not sure if I’m going to win, but I feel optimistic anyway. I’m the underdog and the long shot, but students respond to me with eagerness as I promise that things will change. Students cluster around for my impromptu anti-bullying rallies, inspired by my first impromptu speech. Sure, some people in the crowd roll their eyes when I preach about banding together but plenty also join in and chant my name. During my debate with Silas, I called him out for his dirty tactics. I’m not afraid I can’t handle the backlash. Defiance is giving me an incredible high, much different than drugs. I’m getting off on the excitement of being challenged.
“Even if I lose,” I state diplomatically, “I made an impact.”
“Spoken like a person who wants to win,” laughs Luna.
***
“The votes have been tallied,” Jagan announces over the Bluetooth speakers in each classroom. “Saunders, four, and Vinson, three hundred and sixteen. Congratulations, Silas Vinson, our new class president.”
I gasp loudly, unconcerned with concealing my shock. Four fucking votes? All those people cheered me on, and only four voted for me. What the actual fuck?
After class, Luna and Theo sit quietly while I rant in his dorm room.
“Peo
ple came out in support of my platform. They cheered me on. They helped me pass out buttons. I went viral. Did the whole school just ditch me?”
Luna sits quietly on the couch while Theo leans against the windowsill and stares at the floor. They look like they regret ever speaking to me. I shake my head and shift gears.
“Why am I going off on you two?” I sigh. “You two voted for me.”
“I took a selfie while putting my ballot in the box,” offers Luna.