The Wrong Side Of The Tracks (Leighton)

by Amanda Austin

  “What are you doing on this side of the tracks?” he demanded.

  “Uhh I was just taking a short-cut,” she stammered.

  She broke eye contact and looked down at her fresh French manicure; she nervously chipped away at her white tips suddenly feeling self-conscious of their perfection. What made him so sure she went to Leighton Prep? Did he own this side of the tracks? She had every right as he did to be cutting through these trees. Alexandra looked back up at him and he had a devilish grin on his face, not devilish/flirtatious, more like devilish/mean.

  “Hurry home princess, before Mommy and Daddy put your face on a milk carton,” he sneered.

  Her lips curled down and she looked at him in disgust. Today was not her day. And why was something so mean and ugly coming out of something that good looking? A flood of anger and frustration that had been building up all day inside her began to bubble over. She swung her designer bag over her shoulder and stomped passed him so aggressively it barely phased her when the back of her hand brushed against his warm bare skin. As she stomped out of the tree line she heard his deep demeaning laugh growing farther away.

  Alexandra’s mind was whirling as she walked the rest of the way home. She kept picturing Maria’s look of disgust on her face when she realized she and Alex had on the same shoes, and then she’d imagine how pathetic she must have looked leaning against Camryn’s locker crying because she had been ditched, then she would see the boy in the woods laughing at her and telling her to go home. It was an embarrassing movie on repeat playing over and over in her brain.

  Alex kicked her boots off on the sun porch, and wandered through the doorway into the kitchen, then yelped. She had been so busy replaying her day of shame she hadn’t even noticed her Dad’s huge SUV looming in the driveway. Her dad was sitting at the counter with his ear-piece on nodding his head and shuffling through papers that were laid out in front of him. He looked up and smiled, and raised his finger to his lips in a ‘Shh’ position, indicating her was on the phone. She dropped her bag on the floor next to her feet and waited for him to finish.

  Her dad, Davis Raker, probably seemed very intimidating to anyone who didn’t know him personally. He was in his late thirties, about six feet tall, and in great shape. His five mile runs every morning since she was old enough to remember were definitely paying off. He had jet black hair and pale blue eyes like Alexandra, and dressed impeccably well. His silver Rolex clanked against their marble countertop as he gathered up his paperwork and placed it inside his leather briefcase. He was obviously trying to get off the phone, but whoever was on the other end of the conversation wasn’t in any kind of hurry.

  “I told you, we will do whatever you want, AFTER November. That kind of publicity is not what I need before the election.”

  Alexandra smirked, you’d think she her father was running for president not the mayor of Leighton the way he was talking. Although he did plan on taking his political career to the next level and run for governor next year, he was taking this election way too seriously.

  “I’m not being inconsiderate. I’m being logical. I know this is important to you and we can do something huge, it doesn’t have to be the specific date of the accident, it’s the twentieth anniversary all year long. Okay, we’ll talk about this later I really have to go I’m running late. I love you too.”

  Alexandra’s ears perked up, she had assumed it was someone he worked with by the way he was talking. Why did he just say ‘I love you?’

  “Who was that dad?”

  “Your nana, being her usual pain in my ass,” he grunted, noticeably irritated by the conversation.

  “What did she want?”

  Mr. Raker stopped packing his bag and looked up at her. This would be the moment his wife would scorn Alex for not knowing her place or being disrespectful, but they were two completely different people. Davis’s face softened, and his lips curved up in a small smile.

  “Your Grandma wants to do some sort of memorial for your Aunt Sandra, next month will be the twentieth anniversary of her passing.”

  Alessandra Raker was Davis’s little sister by two years, and Alexandra’s name-sake. Alex had never met her aunt; she passed away when she was sixteen years old after a tragic car accident. Her death wasn’t a secret, just not something that wasn’t discussed very often. From bits and pieces of dialogue she had picked up over the years via eavesdropping she learned that her Aunt was an epitome of a spoiled rich girl rebelling against her snobby parents, and according to her mother quite a “wild child.” Her Grandma always made references to how close her father and Aunt were, and how hard he had taken her death, her mother had no comment on that though.

  Alex glared at him, “Why is a memorial for Aunt Sandra going to hurt your campaign?”

  “Politics are tricky sweetie. Trust me, your Aunt Sandra was my best friend I would love nothing more than honoring her life. But, that’s not a good idea to do so two weeks before Leighton goes to the polls. You know your Grandma is going to pull out all the stops, it’s going to be extravagant, and I’ve been trying to make voters forget that I come from a family made of money.”

  “A memorial could help you get more votes, it’ll show them how family oriented you are.”

  Davis laughed, “Maybe politics aren’t so tricky for you. But, what about all the votes I lose because the people think I’m a slime ball and using my sister’s death to my advantage, and trying to weasel up some sympathy votes? The last thing I want is to drag what happened to Sandra into the polls, it would be disrespectful to her.”

  Alex sighed, he was probably right. But she really wanted this memorial, there were so many things she wanted to know about her Aunt Sandra.

  “After the election we can have it though, right? You promise?”

  Davis ruffled her hair as he was passing her to leave, “I promise. You should go visit your Grandma and help her plan it. She would love an excuse to spend some time with you. I hear every day how sad she is because she never sees her grandkids anymore.”

  Alex smiled as she watched her father back out of the driveway, if only things were that simple with her mom. Her parents were opposites of how they appeared. If you met them on the street you would think her father was scary and her mom was the laid-back sweet one, but it was completely backwards. Her mother was uptight and strict, and her father was the laid-back easy-to-talk-to one.

  LVL

  Alex could smell the smoke rising from her head as she pulled her ceramic straightener through the last chunk of her thick black hair. She had so much hair she actually got cramps in her hands before she was done straightening it all.

  “Alexandra Leigh Raker! We were supposed to leave five minutes ago, LET’S GO!”

  She slipped her riding boots on over destroyed denim skinny jeans. As she ran out of her bedroom she grabbed her make-up bag and her navy hoodie with ‘Leighton Prep’ embroidered across the front.

  Her Mom and Donovan were already in the SUV with the engine running when she ran out the front door. She climbed in the front seat and pulled down the visor, then began smearing smoky gray eye shadow on her already lined lids.

  She made eye contact with Donovan in the mirror and in a moment of weakness sympathized for him, he looked pale and queasy, like he was about to lose his Wheaties.

  "Are you nervous?"

  Normally he rambled on and on about football, but he had nothing to say this morning; he just nodded his head and looked out the window at the passing houses.

  Last year he was on Junior Tackle so he didn't have to worry about LVL. Leighton High and Leighton Prep both had their Homecoming weekends the same weekend, and the football teams played each other. First Peewee football (Donovan's team) faced off at noon, Junior Varsity was at four, and then the Leighton High and Leighton Prep teams played under the lights. Throughout the day there was also a parade, fireworks, and vendors set up all up and down Main Street selling candy apples, cotton candy, hotdogs, nachos, and anything else you could possi
bly want. Today was bigger than Halloween and New Year’s Eve combined. The radio and news anchors referred to Leighton vs. Leighton as 'Doomsday' and the 'Leighton Civil War.' It was basically a high-school version of the Army vs. Navy game.

  Last year Alex's parents made her spend the whole day at Mr. Raker's campaign booth passing out pamphlets and talking to old people about her grades and extracurriculars, and that was not going to be the case this year. She refused to get dressed this morning until her mother agreed to let her spend the day with her classmates. They came to a mutual agreement, she would sit with Camryn and her friends but had to check in with her mother every couple hours, and answer whenever she called.

  "ALEX!" Camryn squealed over-enthusiastically as she ran towards Mrs. Raker's car before she even put the shifter into park.

  Alexandra climbed out of the car and jumped into her arms as if they hadn't seen each other in months. During their bouncing giggling embrace Chloe stood a few feet to the side awkwardly, with a bored uninterested look on her face.

  Alex shot her a dirty look over Camryn's shoulder. She could leave now. Alex couldn't stand the fact that Chloe took her place as Camryn's sidekick this year. They ate lunch together, went to the diner together, had all their classes together, and got in trouble together. That was how she and Camryn were in eighth grade, and that was how they were supposed to be this year. She knew deep down that personally she had nothing against Chloe, she was more irritated with the fact the Cam could replace her that easily, apparently their friendship wasn't as special to her as it had been to Alex.

  The bleachers were already packed and the Peewee football players hadn't even kicked off yet, which meant by tonight it was going to be standing room only when the Varsity played. Cam led her up to a spot high in the bleachers where she had already clearly set up camp. Nathaniel and about five other freshman boys sat guarding their blankets, bags, pom-poms and food.

  The first hour with her old friends was painful to say the least. She felt like she was competing with Chloe for Camryn's attention, and Camryn was oblivious because she was too busy competing with her for Nathaniel's attention. The thing is, after years of crushing on him he finally seemed interested in her and she wasn't so sure she wanted his attention anymore. He made her feel clammy and on edge, not full of butterflies and warm and fuzzy like she imagined it would feel. Every muscle in her body hurt from sitting so rigid and perfectly. She was in constant fear that she had something on her teeth, a fat roll if she leaned back too much, or a hunchback if she sat forward too much. And it seemed like the closer Nathaniel got to Alex, the ruder Camryn got to her.

  "Would you like to go for a walk and get something to eat?" Nathaniel asked politely. He looked the part of a typical prep-school boy. In the seventh grade he was dubbed the nickname "Archibald" because of his uncanny resemblance to 'Gossip Girls' Nate Archibald. He smiled at her with his muscular jaw line and gleaming blue eyes.

  Before Alexandra could respond Camryn chirped in, "Awe hurry up guys, I'm about to tell everyone that hilarious story from my parent's lake-house last summer. I'll wait for you guys to come back; I don't want Nathaniel to miss it."

  Everyone on the bleachers jumped up and started stomping and whooping while one of Leighton Prep's peewee players went for a forty-yard touchdown. Alexandra didn't stand, she looked at Camryn, hurt and confused. Camryn smiled back, and for the first time Alex seen right through her fake white smile and shiny lip-gloss. Her best friend had turned into a mean, scheming, back-stabbing bitch. Alexandra thought about all the fun they had the last few years; especially last summer, and Fourth of July at the Rollins' lake-house. Mrs. Rollins being the uber cool and hip mother she is bought the two of them a six pack of wine coolers. Alex had never drank before, so after one and a half coolers she fell down the stairs. She laid at the bottom of the Rollins' banister laughing so hard at herself she wet her pants and passed out. The next morning she sat in front of the toilet crying and vomiting, embarrassed and physically ill, and made Camryn promise to never tell a soul what happened. Being the bestie she was Camryn rubbed her back, held her hair, and pinky swore. Was she really blackmailing Alex with it right now? Camryn obviously had her sights set on Nathaniel, and she made it very clear if Alex even thought about hooking up with him she was spilling her embarrassing secret.

  Alex nervously raked her fingers through her long straight black hair. After everyone took their seats again, she announced, "I got to go check in with my Mom, she's being a psycho."

  She smiled at Nathaniel sweetly, "I'll be right back."

  Alex stood and started descending down from their nose-bleed seats.

  Camryn called after her, "Boo! Hurry up! Love you!" Alex rolled her eyes. Really? When you love someone you don't throw them under a bus for some preppy boy who looked like every other boy at their school. How did Nathaniel become so god-like? There was nothing unique about him; if you threw him in a line-up with ten other freshman boys she wasn't even sure she could pick him out.

  Keri Raker was leaning against the fence behind Donavon's team-bench, talking to some of the parents and snapping photographs with her digital camera.

  Her face lit up when she seen Alex, "Did you see the boys' touchdown?"

  Alex nodded and looked across the field, not making eye contact.

  Mrs. Raker draped her arm over her shoulder and talked quietly in her ear. "Alex, don't waste your energy being mad at me today. This is supposed to be one of your most exciting days of high-school. It’s your first LVL as a high-school student. You should be with your friends painting each other’s faces, and making up cheers, and ..."

  Alex cut her off, "Mom thanks. I'm fine I just came down to go to the bathroom. We're cool."

  The irony was too much to handle. Her Mom was being nice, and telling her to go have fun with her friends. If only she knew she had no real friends here. She was out of the freshman loop, not allowed in the sophomore loop, and the only person who seemed to sincerely want her here was Nathaniel, and she could care less. And it was probably safe to say her "bestie" would have preferred if she stayed home.

  "Owe!" Alex was lost in her thoughts, and walked straight into someone. She stepped back, flustered and embarrassed.

  "I'm sorry," she muttered.

  She waited to be sworn at and braced herself for a harsh comment about watching where she was going, but to her surprise the girl just smiled at her. She brushed her wild curly brown hair off her face revealing a flawless tan and sparkly green eyes.

  "It's fine. I love your boots!"

  Alexandra looked at her suspiciously. Was she serious? Her Mom hated her riding boots, she said she looked like she just hopped off a Harley, and every time she wore them Cam reminded her how ‘played out’ they were.

  The strange girl leaned forward with a mischievous smile, "Do you have a lighter?" she whispered.

  Alex nodded, and fished around inside her Marc Jacob’s purse and pulled out a hot pink Bic she had scarfed from her mom's junk drawer. When she had taken it a few weeks ago, she honestly had no clue why. It just made her feel bad-ass to carry a lighter in her purse.

  The girl's face lit up and she grabbed Alex's arm and lead her through the crowd in front of the concession stand and down Main Street. Alex looked down and noticed her beaded bracelets and colorful rings. They ducked behind one of the large tents set up selling weird Indian dream catchers and overpriced posters in picture frames. She sat down in the grass and gestured for Alex to join her.

  "I'm Kenzie, what's your name?"

  "Alexandra."

  She pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her fringed tan shoulder bag, and lit herself one.

  "Would you care for a cigarette Alexandra?" she asked in a heavy phony British accent. They both giggled as Alex took a long cigarette out of the box. She lit it the same as she seen Kenzie do, careful to not reveal that she had never smoked before. She took a tiny drag without inhaling; to make sure she didn't cough and blow her cover. She stared at her long m
anicured nails wrapped around the filter, it tasted gross but she felt so cool and grown-up holding it.

  "Why were you by yourself?"

  Alex looked up, "Huh?"

  Kenzie let out a puff of smoke, "When you walked into me you were by yourself. You weren't with anyone?"

  "Ohhh. I was sitting in the bleachers with my friends. I just walked down to get a drink," she lied. She didn't feel like explaining the day's course of socially tragic events.

  "I hope they're not sending out a search party."

  "I doubt that."

  "What do you mean?"

  Alexandra changed the subject, "So you go to Leighton High?"

  "I live in The Boxes, so yeah. I just started tenth grade."

  Just Alex's luck. Her first sophomore friend and she didn't even go to Leighton Prep; on top of that she lived in The Boxes. She was intrigued though; she wanted to ask her about the boy in the woods but couldn't muster up the courage. Instead she asked, "Why were you alone?"

  "My friends aren't here. No one from my school really comes until later during the Varsity game. I just wanted to check out the vendors. Look, I got a new ring!" She stretched out her hand and wiggled one of her ringed fingers in Alex's face.