Black and White

by Ludivig, K. R.

  Marcus laughed. “There’s no way they’d try anything. They’d get their asses beat.”

  “That’s just the thing though. What if Zack paid them and reassured them that nothing would happen to them. They’d be stupid enough to believe it. And I know where they are.”

  “Where dude? They could be anywhere in Detroit by now?”

  “No they’re at Lightstaff.”

  “What are they doing there?”

  “They go to school there with Katie.”

  “Katie?” Marcus said.

  “Yeah. How do you think Zack knows them?”

  “Wow. I’m stupid. I can’t believe I didn’t figure that out.”

  “It took me a little bit too.”

  It was quiet. We pulled up into the driveway and ignored the fact that Katie was excited to tell us the color of her dress and called up Zack’s friends to pay them a visit.

  I left after Chris and Marcus decided to leave me at his house. I drove back to Lightstaff storming angry. I got a call from Jake, Ella’s boyfriend, on the way back.

  “Katie.” He said.

  “Jake? What’s wrong you sound upset?”

  “Well yeah kinda. Ella cheated on me.”

  “What? No. Ella wouldn’t do that, she’s too sweet.”

  “She just told me she fucked Blake.”

  “Whoa what? Why would she do that?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Tell me the story.”

  As he began to let it out how he went home from work one day he found Ella in bed with Blake, he cried and bitched about the best relationship he’d ever had.

  “Jake.” I paused. “If she cheated on you then maybe she doesn’t want you. That means that she doesn’t love you enough to be faithful.”

  “That’s awful.”

  “But it’s true. I know what it’s like to be cheated on. It’s awful I know. I’m sorry but that’s what the truth is. Do you want me to come over so you have a friend there?”

  “No I’m ok. I think I’ll be fine. I’m just going to go to bed. Thanks Katie.”

  “No problem Jake. Anytime you need someone to talk I’m here ok?”

  “Thanks. Good night.”

  “Night.” It wasn’t exactly a good night but at least I was going to back to Lightstaff before sunset. I watched the sun lower in the sky on the twenty minute drive back to the school. I found myself gazing up at it in the parking lot. The skies turned a beautiful pink and orange color. I walked slowly up to the dorm, admiring every ounce of sun I could grasp through the window. I put my key up to the door and it opened in front of me.

  Ella was right there. “Hi Ella. Thanks for getting the door.”

  “I liked you well enough, but joking or not, do NOT try and get with my boyfriend, especially when you tell him the day before that you like him... that is so disrespectful.”

  “Whoa! Where did this come from Ella?”

  “You just got off the phone with him. He told me that you offered to come over.”

  I did but if she was going to play attitude, then I was too. “Haha,” I laughed. “What are you going to do about it? All I was trying to do was offer a friends shoulder to cry on when you screwed another guy. Especially Blake.”

  “Well, you never took advantage of Blake.”

  “I was still in love with Chris. What did you think I was going to do? Have completely meaningless sex with someone I don’t even love?” I laughed again. “You are so naive!”

  “You think this is funny? Have you noticed how he hasn’t texted you at all? Why do you think that is?”

  “It’s been twenty minutes. I don’t think he’s really had time to text me,” I replied. “Besides Ella... it really is funny. You're stupid as shit you know that. I don’t even know how you got into Lightstaff. You know what? It’s too bad you can't tell me the same thing. I’m already smart enough.”

  “Ha-ha...wanna bet? Chris doesn't even want you...because you're a skank. And that's all there is to it. You laid in bed with Blake for a month and a half without Chris. What makes you think he’d even want to touch you if he knew?” Ella shot back.

  “Jeeze Ella, do you even know who you’re talking to? I don’t mean to be a princess but people respect me because I respect them back. What happened with Blake was unfortunate and I’m sorry but you brought this upon yourself. Chris was at the hospital after Zack found me. I know Chris loves me.”

  “You're not even worth my time. Good luck with your boyfriend from the hood Katie. But then again, you're gonna need a lot more than luck to try and get anyone to like you.”

  “You know what? I thought about it and it’s just too bad that you only know me for my high school reputation. It's also too bad that not only am I more educated than you, I make more money without having to prostitute myself off the way you do. But life is all good now because I make my money with my mind.”

  “No you make money with your hands. Hello Instrument! All you do is use your hand and mouth.”

  “Ella shut up. You don’t have any idea how much brain power it actually takes to learn how to read music. Oh yeah and you’re the one used to using your hands and mouth. Just remember: You’re just coming here because your daddy is rich.”

  “You’re dad is rich too Katie!” She shouted back at me.

  “Yeah we haven’t always been rich. We had to damn work for our shit.”

  “You mean your dad did. You didn’t work for squat.”

  “You don’t know me Ella I know you. So go suck a dick, you’re used to that.”

  “Whatever Katie. I hate you. I can’t believe you’d stoop that low.” She walked out. And without even throwing a punch or picking a fight, I felt like I was slapped in the face by my best and only friend. Great.

  Chapter Fifteen: Bentley

  Even though we were roommates, Ella and I didn’t speak to each other for a week. And then…

  “Hey Katie?” she said.

  “Yeah?” I asked, looking up from studying the clarinet music Parker gave me for the “surprise soloist” the night of the senior concerto. I had musician form homework too. It was annoying but I needed to learn the fingerings for this piece. It was hard enough for the eighth year clarinets to learn it, let alone me. I just started to learn clarinet. And no one knew yet. Ella was supposed to but we haven’t exactly been on speaking terms, like I said.

  The down side was that I was really behind in like all my classes. I didn’t do homework when I was depressed and Chris and I just started to talk again. I was getting caught up this weekend. Chris or no Chris I was getting my shit done.

  “Are you and Chris going with Jake and me to the prom? We could go as a group?” she suggested.

  “Sure,” I said focusing easily away from my music. “That would be fun.” I smiled and then remembered our fight. “Ella?”

  “Yeah Katie?” she asked.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It was my fault,” she took the blame. “I know you’re not like that. I was just mad that you said the things to Jake that you did. I didn’t have the heart to tell him those things.” She looked down at the blue carpet and frowned.

  “But why did you cheat on him Ella?” I asked her, confused.

  “Because he’s sweet and hot and nice; he’s everything a girl could want.” She paused. I assumed for effect of her next sentence. I did that too. “Just not me.”

  “I see what you mean.” I said. I knew what it was like to have someone want you but you-yourself can’t want. I felt that way towards Blake, only kissing him, never anything more. Ella was the one that convinced me to sleep over and of course it was me that gave in, but Blake and I never did anything except sleep.

  “Hey El?” I said a few moments later not patient enough to keep my focus on my homework.

  “Yeah Katie?”

  “Do you want anything?” I asked. “I’m going to Starbucks to get some coffee.”

  “Sure,” She said. “Umm… I’ll have whatever you have. You’r
e good at that.”

  The funny thing was that I knew what she normally ordered. She was the one that got me hooked on the Marble-Mocha-Macchiato. So amazing! I loved coffee and I loved chocolate but normally I didn’t think they should go together. I was totally and completely addicted. I walked down the corridor and down the staircase to the parking lot. The Starbucks was just down the street and since Zack was in jail, I decided to walk. I put my keys in my pocket. When I looked up, I stopped dead in my tracks.

  “Oh my goodness,” I said. There was a car in the front lot that had spray paint all over it. It was easy enough to spot that it had stopped me. A bright rainbow of colors all meshed together in the paint. There was graffiti all over it. I never could read it. I was blind enough to the paint that there was no point in trying. I looked over it again, trying to pick out the crazy colors that had taken up this car. When I walked closer, I realized whose car it was.

  There was the Bentley symbol right there on the tail bumper, with the engine number covered up. I walked up to it to feel if my sight was deceiving me. The bird wings stretching out from the B in the center was a black.

  “Oh my goodness,” I fell to my knees right there in the lot. “My Bentley.”

  “Hey Katie wait up,” said Ella, entering the lot from the dorm. “Oh my god, is that your car?”

  What used to be my beautiful midnight purple Premier 4509 Limited Edition Bentley Continental GT Coupe was now a multicolored train car. It was completely covered in graffiti, not a square inch of purple left.

  “Katie?” Ella said my name again. There was no Katie. No me without the Bentley. I specifically picked this car for the reason that it fit the dreams I had for myself. It fit my personality.

  “Ella, call the police,” I said. “I’ll call my dad.”

  When the police, my father and Chris arrived in the lot, I couldn’t help but cry.

  “You have insurance correct, Mr. White?” asked the cop.

  “Yessir, we do,” He said ‘yes sir’ as one word, which bugged me.

  “I’ve had this car for two years. Who could have done this?”

  “The jealous SOB that got out three hours ago,” said Chris. “Zack got bail this morning.” I must have gasped because Chris held me closer, comforting me, protecting me.

  “Wait. Didn’t he get six years?” Dad asked Chris.

  “He got life.” Chris shook his head. “For what he did to you.” He spoke to me, wiping the tears from my face. “He’s got 300 feet before he violates his parole, Mr. White. But the parking lot is ‘fair game’.” Chris put his hands up and used quotes with his fingers. “A police officer couldn’t do anything about it, providing Katie wasn’t in the lot.”

  “But if he’s only been out for a few hours, there’s no way he could accomplish this much.” Argued my father. I just cried in Chris’s arms.

  “You’d be surprised what you can do with a can of spray pain in mere seconds, Mr. White.” Chris argued back respectfully. My father and I both gave him a look of disapproval. “Okay so I was a troublemaker for my mother as a teenager. What young boy isn’t?”

  “Yeah Daddy remember Ben?” My father froze. I wasn’t suppose to mention Ben. No one was. I hadn’t seen Ben since the summer I ran away.

  “Who’s Ben?” Chris looked puzzled.

  “Shhh… I’m sorry Dad.” I said.

  “Katie,” said the cop breaking the awkward silence between me and my father. Chris just gave me a look. “Your car is seriously damaged.”

  “Well I can see that.”

  “Katie Marie!” my father encroached me. “Officer I apologize for my daughter’s rude behavior. She’s normally not this upset but she did take very good care of this car and she did really love it.”

  “Love it?” I was appalled at my father’s obliviousness. “I worshipped the ground this car touched. The treads of the tires so neat and refined, the glass a perfect illegal tint, the subs a customary system, hand chosen by myself. Loved it? You are seriously mistaken sir.” I exaggerated. “I never in a million years dreamt of a luxury hot box like my Bentley. When we were broke, I didn’t even dream of heat.”

  “When were you broke Katie?” Chris asked. “You’ve been rich as long as I’ve known you.”

  “Until my dad brought the golf course and resort, we’ve been broke, all of our ancestors.”

  “Katie there isn’t any need to tell Christopher that.”

  “I’m just letting him know that at any point we could still lose everything. That just because I have money, or my family does, doesn’t mean that I will stay that way forever.”

  “Excuse me?” said the officer. “Luxury hot box makes you sound like you smoke a lot of weed in your car.”

  “Come on officer. Get with the lingo. You’re also crazy if you think I smoke that crap,” I replied. “The one I really wished for was the 1.6 million dollar Bugatti Veyron but the engines suck on gas mileage with a W16 engine and all. Oh yeah and I’m not that rich.”

  “Mr. White, your DAUGHTER knows cars.” He emphasized the word ‘daughter’ as if he were surprised. “May I?”

  “Proceed officer.” May he what?

  “What major corporation is a 572 engine made from?”

  “Chevy.” I said as if that were the easiest question I was ever asked. My father looked astonished.

  “How many cylinders does a Bugatti Veyron engine have?”

  “I just told you that.”

  “What did you say again?”

  “It’s a fricken W16 engine, which means for the mentally impaired that there are sixteen cylinders.” I rolled my eyes. “Holy crap.”

  “Who made the model of LaSabre?”

  “Buick, duh.”

  “Mr. White its official, your daughter knows more about cars and their engine than the average mechanic.”

  “Wait, how many cylinders does a Lexus model have?”

  “Lexus is a make not a model you airhead.” I said. “Which model?”

  “SC400.”

  “Eight.” I said. “It’s in a ‘v’ shape.”

  “What about my Neon?”

  “Four banger. Haha.” I laughed.

  “Ok so just because your car is a-”

  “Premier 4509 Limited Edition Bentley Continental GT Coupe? V8 engine, twenty-eight miles to the gallon, two door, sun roof, luxury sports edition car, illegal tint windows, currently the most expensive sound system, Foose designer rims, and currently covered in street paint?”

  They all laughed at Chris and my street paint joke, although it wasn’t funny.

  “-doesn’t mean you need to make fun of my neon!”

  “You make fun of it all the time.” I argued.

  “I know.” I smacked him in the stomach lightly. “You beat on that poor car.”

  “Katie,” said my dad. I thought he was going to scold me for hitting Chris and then he began with another quiz. “In the movie Transformers what is the silver car called?”

  “Really Dad?”

  “Answer it.”

  “A Pontiac Solstice.”

  “Holy shit.”

  “What?”

  “You knew that one too?”

  “Of course.”

  “The yellow one then?”

  “2009 Chevrolet Camaro. Beautiful car.” I drooled over the seriously awesome muscle car.

  “Katie.”

  “What?”

  “Puddle.”

  “Oh, thanks.”

  “Mr. White what do you propose we do about this issue.”

  “Sandblast it, sand it down and repaint it,” I replied.

  “Exterior knowledgeable too?”

  “You think I’d know the cars without the paint?” I said. “I’m not that stupid.”

  “Katie, you’re making us look bad,” said Chris.

  “Because I really do know more about cars than a qualified mechanic? And you know what I’m talking about.”

  “Yes,” said Chris and my father together. I stuck my ton
gue out at him. I knew he had a ‘don’t stick your tongue out unless you’re going to use it’ comment but my dad was right there.

  “Haha I can stick it out further than you.” He laughed like always. I was tongue tied and couldn’t stick my tongue out that far. I had considered getting it clipped but I had to relearn how to talk. They wouldn’t when I was little unless I had a speech impediment. Now I remained tongue tied. That’s why Dad said I mumbled. That’s why I never went home during the school year, because Dad teased me about it, not often, only when it came up in subject.

  I suddenly remembered my Bentley and instantly burst into tears.

  “Oh Babe I’m sorry. I was just kidding.”

  “My poor Bentley.”

  “Oh the car,” he said. “Right.” He held me. Even in front of my dad, which was seriously gutsy. “Mr. White, when will Katie’s car be fixed?” I looked at my dad with hope in my eyes.

  “Why do you ask?” he criticized.

  “Dad!” I shouted.

  “A couple days minimum.” He said. “Katie what kind of car do you want to drive until then?”

  “Haha,” I said and smirked. “Roles Royce.”

  “Haha,” he said. “I don’t think so. Pick something I don’t have to spend a gazillion dollars on if you smash it.”

  “You can pick. I just want my car back.”

  “Okay.”

  After my dad left to have the Bentley repainted, re-windowed and re-plated, Chris asked about Ben.

  “Katie?” he began. “Who’s Ben?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “Your parents brought him up at dinner that one night at your house. I’m curious because you never talk about him and he’s never brought up. Ever.”

  “Ben was my older brother.”

  “Was?”

  “Yeah.” I said. “He moved to Miami to open his own garage a couple years ago.”

  “Was that before or after you became rich?”

  “After.” I laughed. “Ben didn’t want anything to do with inheriting the ‘family business’ I guess you could call it. He was the first male and he’d naturally be the one to take it over but only when my dad was gone.”

  “Why’d your mom and dad get so mad?”