Hate Me

by Leen Elle

  When he shook his head, I got up from the bed, returning my guitar to its original position. I gave him a little shove out of the room, reaching for my things. "Let's go out and grab a bite before that sucker comes back." He followed me out of the house, waiting for me while I locked the door. If that guy returned and couldn't get in because he forgot his keys, it wasn't my fucking fault.

  When we turned at the sidewalk, he was just returning. He glowered at me, reaching out a hand to slap on Melvin's shoulder.

  "Where do you think you're going with my son?" He growled, keeping his hand on my brother's shoulder. Something stirred inside me, something which roared that he had no right to even touch Melvin, much less call him 'son'. I slapped his hand aside angrily, glaring right back at him and leading my brother away. He continued standing at the sidewalk, clutching a plastic bag straining under the weight of three six-pack beers, staring as we walked away. He was a downright pathetic person, and I didn't even have to think twice to agree with that.

  Melvin knew me long enough for thirteen years of his life not to bug me when I was in a brooding, pissed off mood, so he walked on in silence next to me, shooting back glares at anyone who gave me a disapproving look with my crazed gothic appearance. That's one of the reasons why I lo – why I really cared for my brother. He never hesitates to stand up against anyone he doesn't like, just like me. Maybe the genes ran in the family. We stopped at the fish-and-chips store where I ordered us some food.

  While I was grilling Melvin about his homework and 'good boy' record in school, a boy I recognized from school came and pulled out a chair next to me, sitting down and giving me a grin. I glowered at him, waiting for an explanation. He was most definitely a jock, with his broad shoulders and rippling muscles. His floppy brown hair fell into equally brown eyes that the female population would most likely describe as 'pools of liquid chocolate'. He held up his hands and grinned again, "Chill, dude. I'm Logan. There's a party going on at the Reeses, that big house up on the hill. We're looking for more people to join us, wanna come?"

  I gestured to my brother, "I'm not leaving him alone with a psychopath." Thinking that I was joking about the psychopath, Logan chortled. He pointed to a couple of other kids hanging at a table. Melvin caught sight of them and lifted the corner of his lips in a wry smile.

  "'S okay, bro. I know 'em. I'll be fine, so go have fun at your party," Melvin reassured, finishing up the last of his chips. "I'll go join 'em now. Bye." I watched as he joined the other two lads, hi-fiving them and settling into a seat. Turning to Logan, I nodded. He tilted his head towards a big, I really do mean big, car sitting on the road.

  There were actually three rows of seats inside, and half of them were filled up already. The lads crowded inside gave me half-hearted waves and a couple of ''Sup?' came floating through the air. Shrugging, I slid into a seat as Logan introduced me to them all. There were a couple of familiar faces from some of my classes and being new, I didn't know any of them well. All I could do was to sit in silence as Logan drove the car up to the mansion-like house. Suddenly, someone exclaimed, "Eh! Aren't you like, that Goth boy who sat next to Ice Queen Raylin in World History today?"

  I traced the voice back to a guy with tousled brown hair and hazel eyes. He grinned, "Jimi here. You're Mason right?"

  "Viper." I was beginning to find that repeating that on auto mode was rather irritating. While the guys digested this new piece of fact, I mused over whether it would be right to change the name on my ID to 'Viper Gray'. Or better still, take the last name right out of my life. In fact, I had no wish to be related to that guy. Trooping out of the car at long last, the whole bunch of us went up to the door where pounding music was already coming through the doors. It seemed like the party was in full swing.

  Everybody else disappeared, leaving me to stand in the midst of a dancing crowd. Making my way to the drinks and food table, I grabbed a chilled beer and popped the tab. When I couldn't stand all the noise any longer, I headed outside into the backyard, where the air was way fresher and where less people were milling about. And then it happened. One moment I was drinking my beer, minding my own business, and the next? I saw her fumbling towards me, crashing straight into my arms and passing right out. Crap. Now what?

  RAYLIN

  Belinda was off in one of the bedrooms with Jake, doing hell knows what. But I sure as hell knew that there were suspicious grunting noises coming from said bedroom. When Logan arrived with his bunch of nuthead friends, Calista had left Leila and me nursing our vodka-laced soft drinks. Then, some hot guy turned up and stole my best friend away from me and the last I saw of her was her being pressed up against a wall by that hot guy.

  I threw down my can of diet coke in rage. This was just great. How was I supposed to leave without them? Some drunken person wrapped his arms around me, mumbling into my hair, "Hey baby, wanna get some action on?" I didn't even bother with a sarcastic comment as I kneed him in the gut and stalked off to the bathroom.

  I looked into the mirror and got a right shock. The alcohol had certainly taken an effect on me, and alcohol with a horribly humid atmosphere made a lethal combination. My hair was flat, no longer in its sexy waves. The make up I had so carefully applied was beginning to come off and my skirt was definitely off centre. Groaning, I fished out a small bottle of portable make up remover from my purse, wiping off every single bit of it from my face. I could have easily gone au naturel but no, I wouldn't. Somehow, I managed to reapply my make up in my slightly drunk state, setting my skirt right again and ignoring my flat flat hair. There was nothing I could do about it and even I knew it. That bitch in the mirror looked horrid, and she couldn't even give a proper smile as she flounced out the door.

  Entering the dance floor, I started moving to the beat. Dancing at these kind of parties shouldn't even be called 'dancing'. I dubbed it 'body rubbing' instead. While the pounding music throbbed in the background, scantily clad girls (like me and my girlfriends) grinded and bumped against the male population with the beat. Otherwise, much booty shaking could be seen across the dance floor. Getting sick of being shifted about in the sweating, sticky throng of people, I sidled to the drinks table, accepting the drink someone offered to me, not even bothering to look at it.

  The drink blazed its way down my throat, before I forced myself to look at it. Definitely tequila, I decided. The drink was a hazy orange, probably fruit punch before some happy guy dumped an entire bottle of tequila down it. I downed the rest of the suspicious looking liquid, squeezing my eyes shut against the blazing trail it made down my throat. I whirled around to refill the glass, only to see a couple leaning against each other out in the backyard, pointing at the stars. Hell, I was sneering to myself. Did they really think they were in love with each other?

  Before my mind could register what I was doing, I stalked out into the backyard, hovering right before the startled couple, hearing some maniac scream, "Hell yeah go ahead and mumble sweet nothings to yourselves, why don't you?! You're gonna have one heck of a time when you break up sometime soon anyway! LOVE DOESN'T EXIST, DON'T YOU GET IT?! IT DOESN'T!"

  When the couple continued staring at me with bug-eyes, I realized to my horror that the person screaming had been me. Me, calm, composed, Raylin the Ice Queen. I turned on my heel and ran, stumbling as my legs nearly gave out on me. The last I heard before I hit something solid and darkness enveloped me was a rather familiar voice muttering, "Now what?"

  VIPER

  I was trying to drag her onto a deck chair or something, but for someone so petite, she sure was heavy. I nearly staggered and dropped her once, but clung to her waist as tight as I could. Quite a number of passing teenagers gave me the 'you're so in for it' look and I was damn certain my bad boy image was going straight down the drain. Finally, I resisted the urge to hurl her into the deck chair but placed her gently down instead. And all I wanted to do was to turn tail and go home to my guitar when some pretty-face I had seen hanging out with Raylin came stalking furiously up to me in a t
ight red shirt and super low jeans.

  "What happened to Raylin? What did you do to her? How come she's knocked out?" The girl demanded, poking her long plum-colored talon into my chest with every word. Her mouth didn't even stop moving for me to answer any of her questions.

  "Enough!" I snarled, glaring at her. "Your friend here came crashing straight into my arms, and I think she was already pretty much knocked out when she did so. And I think you better get her home soon before some smart ass decides to take advantage of her vulnerable state right now."

  Turning to leave, I felt a small hand being placed on my shoulder. I turned and saw the girl who had been ranting at me looking sheepish. "I'm really sorry I over reacted like that just now. I'm Calista, Logan's girlfriend. I would drive her home but I doubt I'm in the right state to drive, so I'll really appreciate it if you could do it instead. I'll give you her address, if you will."

  I blinked in surprise and against my better judgment, I nodded. Calista fished out Raylin's car keys from her purse and placed them in my hands, giving me a final grateful smile and turning to leave. "What have I gotten myself into?" I moaned out loud as I scooped the unconscious girl up and made my way to the car her friend had pointed out to me. Though I'll have to admit, this is one neat car and the dashboard was as shiny and speckless as new. Besides, the car still had that new leather smell.

  Somehow, between trying to keep Raylin from throwing up in her own car and almost getting lost on the way to her house, I managed to pull up into the huge house's driveway. This house was big enough to match the one the party had been held in. I rapped on the door and a small girl with long red hair with clear blue eyes opened the door. Her features were uncannily like Raylin's, yet had a world of contrast between them. She took in the sight of me holding Raylin and gave me a smack on the arm. Hard.

  "What was that for?" I snapped, lifting a hand to rub my sore arm.

  "What did you do to my sister?" She half shrieked, dragging both me and her sister into the house with surprisingly strong force. Ah, her sister. That must explain the striking resemblance. What was it with girls and the immediate assumption that I had done something to her? All I ever did was to catch her when she toppled over, just like any other sane person would have done. Right? I conveyed this to her sister, still keeping one arm tight around Raylin's waist.

  "Oh," was all she could come up with as she implored me to bring her sister up to her room. Being the ultimate softie at heart, I gave in to her request and carried her sister up to her… amazingly organized, horribly neat room. There wasn't even a stray piece of clothing in sight. "She's a real neat-freak, didn't you know that?" The sister came back into the room with a glass of water.

  "What's your name? Rayne? Well that glass of water isn't going to help since she's unconscious right now," I told her, placing her sister down on the bed. I looked down, startled to see that her denim skirt had ridden up so high. I gestured to it, and Rayne yanked it down immediately. "Where's your kitchen? I'll get something for her."

  The kitchen was huge, really huge. I nearly got blinded by its shining countertops the moment I stepped in. Rummaging in one of the (neat) drawers, I drew out a seemingly unused towel, dousing it in cold water and filling a basin with more water. When I returned upstairs, Rayne took one look at the basin and sniped, "You could have told me you wanted to give my sis a bigger glass of water."

  Smartass, I though to myself, ignoring her comment. Leaning over, I placed the wet towel on her forehead. I had been in enough similar situations to know what would ease a throbbing hangover the next day. Raylin moaned and turned over, the towel falling off with a splotch. Irritated, I leaned over again, slapping the towel back on. I glanced at the white wall clock in the room and got a shock. It was nearing midnight and I wasn't home yet. Fishing out my cellphone, I dialed for Melvin.

  "Mel? Where are you right now?" I couldn't keep the overwhelming tone of worry from my voice. "You're staying with Sam? Alright, that's okay. No, stay there. Right, bye." Rayne gave me a funny look as she covered her sister with a blanket. I pulled it down, shaking my head.

  "Do you need me here? If not, I think I'll just leave," I directed this question to Rayne, keeping one eye on Rayne. When she shook her head, I continued. "Well, make sure you replace the towel every time it goes dry."

  I was about to shut their front door when a small voice called out from the stairs, "Viper? I think it's better if you stay…" Rayne was standing there, looking so small and upset that for the second time that night, I went against my better judgment and ran back up the stairs. There I stayed for a freaking three hours, talking to Raylin's sister and continuously replacing soaked towels on her forehead.

  In those three hours I learnt more about their family that you'd ever know. Rayne babbled on to me about how their father walked away with some bitch and how their mother just got dumped by her boyfriend for some sexed-up other bitch and how their mother has had countless of boyfriends in just ten years. I listened in silence, actually feeling a little bit sorry for them.

  Then all of a sudden, Raylin stirred, groaned and flickered her eyes open.

  RAYLIN

  You know how people usually wake up to squawking sounds emitted from an irritating overactive alarm clock? I woke up with a hangover so bad I couldn't even open my eyes thanks to the throbbing pain in my head. Thank you very much but I think I'll take those electronic squawking noises any day.

  Well, I opened my eyes to see my sister's worried face staring down at me and another, kinda familiar face hovering behind her. I squinted, trying to make out the purple-tinted black hair, heavily eye-linered blue eyes and eyebrow and lip piercings.

  "Viper?" I croaked in disbelief. "What's going on?" And so between the two of them, they managed to explain how I toppled straight into Viper's arms at the party, and how Calista persuaded him to drive me home (Hell help me if I don't murder that girl one fine day), and then Rayne asking him to stay and help her keep an eye on me. I was mortified, extremely mortified. I didn't give a hoot about Viper seeing me like that, he didn't matter, but I certainly minded letting Rayne see me in this state, much less let her worry about me. She helped me sit up and let herself be pulled into a tight embrace.

  "Thanks," I whispered to Viper. "You're a savior." He shrugged and got up, intending to leave. I stopped him. "Do you want to have a drink or something before you go? Like an orange juice or something?" Rayne gave me a look and I mouthed back 'I feel bad'. He shrugged and sat back down. My sister gave me a squeeze on my arm and left the room to get him a drink, leaving us alone in the room.

  "You were really out of it just now," he began, his husky voice sending a thrill down my spine. I frowned, what was I thinking? "And you nearly puked up all over your dead nice car." At this, I sat up straight, my eyes widening in horror. Seeing my look, he reassured me that he had dragged me out of the car before I could do any damage. I was so relieved I could have thrown my arms around him right there and then. In fact, I almost did but Rayne came into the room again. Saved by the sister. He accepted the glass of juice she handed him with a lopsided grin.

  While he drank deeply from the glass, she curled up next to me and mumbled, "Boyfriend?" And guess what yours truly did? I yelled, "No! He's not my boyfriend!" Rayne burst into a fit of uncontrollable giggles and when I turned my flushed face to the subject of our discussion, he had an eyebrow raised and the glass lifted halfway to his lips. I shook my head apologetically and he laughed out loud. He had a nice laugh, a deep belly laugh. It sounded more than a little unnatural from him as his looks didn't exactly fit the bill of a jolly person.

  My headache came back in a wave, causing me to wince and drop my head into my hands. I heard Viper asking my sister if we had bananas and strawberries and honey in our kitchen. Fool! What was the fool playing at? Clearly, my sister was having the same sentiments as me for she didn't hesitate to make it clear to him what she thought. He snapped back a reply and she nodded. He left the room and Rayne curled up tighter
next to me.

  "Promise me, Rayne, that you'll never ever do something as stupid as this. It's so not worth it." I murmured to her, gripping my head. Whirring sounds came from the kitchen and it sounded like our guest was working the blender. He emerged from the stairs soon enough, holding a glass of a mushy looking concoction. Wordlessly, he gave it to me, indicating that I should drink it up. I held up the glass, studying its milky mixture of yellow and pink contents suspiciously.

  "Drink it up!" He demanded. "It helps." Biting my lip, I put the rim of the glass to my lips and forced myself to chug it down. If I hadn't been having a horrid hangover with a disgustingly dry mouth, I'd have thought it tasted good. I looked up to see him scribbling something down on a piece of paper.

  "That's the best cure for hangover I know. Make it for your sister if she needs it again," he handed Rayne the slip of paper, giving me a meaningful glance. "If she's ever stupid enough to do it again. Gotta go, bye. Call me if you need anything." He directed this to Rayne, whom he probably gave his number too while I was in Sleeping Beauty mode. Rayne got up to see him off and I lifted my hand in a half hearted wave, picking up the slip of paper, struggling to read his chicken scratch handwriting. That guy was a superb artist, but his handwriting was…

  1 banana

  6 large strawberries

  2 tablespoons of honey

  1 cup orange juice

  1 cup milk/soy milk

  1/4 teaspoon salt

  1 dash of nutmeg

  Blend everything together and drink.

  Did we even have nutmeg in the kitchen? Then again, thinking of the well-facilitated kitchen, I had no doubt he found it somewhere. I tucked it into a box with some of my prized possessions. Maybe it would come in handy someday, if I'm ever stupid enough to go drinking like a fish again.

  Maybe.

  Chapter 5

  Sad, Small World

  "Gravitation can not be held responsible for people falling in love." –Albert Einstein