Are you sure that she is interested in young men and not in young women? Not in a good way, if you know what I mean.”
She frowned, staring at her.
Brooklyn rolled her eyes.
"Mom you don’t have to worry. Think about the wrinkles you are going to get by frowning. Mila is ok. You shouldn’t judge people based on the way they dress. Appearances can be deceptive.”
"Oh come on baby, what other ways can there be? Appearance is everything. That’s the first impression people get. Don’t be ridiculous.”
She looked at her daughter blankly.
Brooklyn sighed, her mother was hopeless.
“Just forget it Mom.”
She wondered if maybe there was still some beer in the house because Mila probably needed something stronger than tea after this nerve-wracking day. She went to the refrigerator and tucked a pack of beer under her arm. Meanwhile her mother had already turned back to the TV and was laughing at a stupid joke of the show master.
“Baby, there is half a bottle of champagne in the fridge. Maybe you can offer your new friend a drink.”
Brooklyn shrugged and tucked the bottle under the other arm. It surely could not hurt to have a choice between beer and champagne. She grabbed two paper cups and opened the door to her room with her elbow. Mila had called her grandma in the meantime and texted Aiden and Leyla to tell them that she would stay at Brooklyn’s house and they would talk tomorrow about Port Hope.
Her phone beeped instantly. Both were, mildly put, surprised that she would stay with Brooklyn. Apparently, she was not the only one who was full of prejudices. Leyla wrote only one word: Cool.
The little witch; she certainly rubbed her hands that she had once again been right about something. She always insisted that Brooklyn was ok and not the bimbo Mila thought she was.
The text from Aiden had been on another level:
“What are you doing with her? If you are hurting her in any way, you are going to regret it. I’ll kick your sorry butt…”
Mila could not help but grin when she read his text. They all had that strange idea, that she was so incredibly dangerous, even Shane had accused her of being a serial killer after he found the hammer and tongs in her handbag. Yet, hey, a girl had to be prepared for everything. She was honestly glad to let grow some grass over her failure before she had to answer the clan’s questions tomorrow. Finally, it was actually her fault that Gregory was in this state. Tomorrow, it was still early enough to admit her defeat. That was also the reason she had written vaguely about a partial success when she had texted them. As a matter of fact, that was not even a lie, because firstly she had made him take off with the horse because she had scared the shit out of him and the horse. Secondly, she had treated him with her variations of antidotes. She really hoped that he was still alive.
She wasn’t even sure about that. When she drove off, he had been unconscious for a change once again. She would call Shane or better yet Maria tomorrow, to ask how he was doing. She could actually do without Shane's cynical comments when she reconsidered his usual sarcasm. Mila wore the pajamas Brooklyn had given her. She looked at herself in the mirror. Yep, she sure looked dangerous, like a huge pink rabbit or an oversized version of the beach Barbie’s friend, the one with the dark hair. What was her name again? She grimaced at her reflection in the mirror as Brooklyn entered the room with champagne and beer.
"Hey, you look good - all in pink. If only my mom could see you like that.”
"Why? What did she say about me?"
“Oh, nothing really, but she made it pretty clear that she thinks you're some kind of bull dyke that could distract me from my path of virtue.”
She laughed blithely.
“What a surprise, people really think the worst of me. Even Aiden has his doubts about my motivation to stay here tonight. However, his concerns are quite different from the ones your mom has. He is afraid that I could slit your throat while you are sleeping.”
Mila stuck out her tongue at her own reflection in the mirror. “Come on, that's not really me; I look like a dahlia or another huge pink flower.”
“You look pretty and tomorrow I'm going to find something for you to wear that brings out the best in you and I’ll do your hair and makeup. They will hardly recognize you at school.”
That sounded pretty frightening Mila thought to herself.
“I brought something stronger than tea. Thought after a day like today, you'd probably like to have a beer or a glass of Champagne.”
She reached for the can of beer and tossed it at Mila.
“Was I right?"
“Absolutely! What about you? I suppose you are drinking a bit of champagne?”
Brooklyn shook her head.
“I'll be fine with tea.”
"Oh come on, don’t be a spoil-sport. Drinking alone isn’t half as fun. My first girls' night calls for a drink.”
Brooklyn sighed with restraint.
“I'm sorry, I can’t.”
“What do you mean, you're teetotal? As it seems, your mom is not exactly against it, if she gave you that stuff.”
Brooklyn began to nibble nervously at her nails.
"Now stop ruining your manicure and spit it out. What's going on? I understand that something is bothering you. What’s the matter?”
“Ok, but you have to promise that you don’t tell a soul.”
“Sure, I'll give you my word of honor.”
“So you know, the thing is, I have a doctor's appointment on Friday.”
“But tomorrow is only Monday,” Mila seemed confused.
“Wait a minute,” she looked at Brooklyn with opaque horror, "Do you suffer from a terrible disease like cancer or something?”
"No, no, don’t worry. It's not like a disease."
"Phew, I thought you were severely ill or something. So what is it?”
Brooklyn looked at her uncertainly.
“My God, I thought we were friends now, so do not make such a fuss. Or am I not good enough to know what it is? If that's so…”
She crossed her arms over her chest and looked offended at her. Brooklyn took a deep breath and said, without looking at Mila, “I'm pregnant.”
Mila was thunderstruck and looked at her in disbelief. At first, she thought she had misheard.
“What?” Brooklyn repeated softly, “I'm pregnant.”
Mila shook her head doubtfully and then she finally seemed to understand what she just heard.
“This pig. What did he do to you? This hypocritical slime bag. Did he rape you?"
Brooklyn had no idea what she was talking about.
”Who?”
"Well, Aiden this slime bag, I really didn’t expect that from him.”
"You got it all wrong Mila. I was just as involved in the matter as he was. He didn’t force me to do anything I didn’t want to do. It just happened.”
She looked imploringly at Mila.
“I love him.”
Mila seemed to calm down.
“Ok, ok, but it still makes me sick. Ever heard of contraception? This idiot is old enough to deal with it. Does he know about it?”
Brooklyn nodded.
"What did he say? Guess he doesn’t want anything to do with it? Did he say it was not from him?”
She banged her fist into her open hand, as if she was going to hit somebody. Brooklyn could hardly resist laughing out loud. “No, he said it was great.”
“What?”
"He said he was thrilled and that we'll be fine.”
"What about you? Are you thrilled as well?”
Brooklyn shrugged, “I think we're too young for a baby and I haven’t decide anything yet. Yet I can assure you that Aiden is not the kind of person you think he is. He would never intentionally hurt me or do something to make me suffer."
Mila grimaced, “Ok, I guess he's all right. When will you decide what you are going to do?”
"Honestly, I don’t know yet. Now, after you have met my mother, I am sure that you
can imagine what will happen if I tell her.”
Mila understood only too well.
“Well, then, she would probably prefer a bull-dyke in this case. No kidding this is a very difficult decision you have to take. Who else knows about it?”
Brooklyn looked at her and smiled?
”Leyla. She even got me a pregnancy test.”
"Clever girl. Guess now I have to drink the beer and the champagne, huh? What about the movie? I would favor something with blood and zombies; I will go for any kind of horror movie."
Brooklyn was not into horror movies and claimed that she preferred to see a romance. After they argued back and forth for a while, they agreed on a classic: Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo di Caprio. Mila thought he was hot and there was bloodshed in that movie, so they were all set. Brooklyn smirked at Mila’s remark that Leo was hot.
“But Leonardo's too old. I didn’t know that you do like older men. Mila you're full of surprises.”
"So what. Leo will still be hot when he is 90 just like Alice.”
Brooklyn had no idea what she was talking about.
"Who the hell is Alice? You do speak in code, you know that?"
Mila just smiled grimly and did not answer.
"Well then, Romeo and Juliet it is,” Brooklyn said firmly.
School life
Brooklyn was very satisfied with her work while Mila looked anything but pleased at her reflection. She was wearing a black T-shirt with the inscription ‘Noir’, which was somewhat suitable. Well, at least, she had insisted on a black T-shirt. Brooklyn had wanted to make her wear a cinnamon colored shirt. Damn, she had a reputation to lose, but this crazy fashion set girl didn’t seem to care about that. She had straightened her hair for over an hour. At least the jeans were fine and the Converse were ok, even if they were half a size too small and her feet already hurt. When she complained about it, Brooklyn said that beauty knew no pain. Apparently, Mila had no saying in anything this morning. When it came to makeup, she successfully refused the whole load, but not that damn lip gloss and Mascara she hadn’t been able to avoid. Anyway, she almost didn’t recognize herself in the mirror. Her only hope was that the others at school didn’t recognize her either.
Then she could try to hide in the classroom hopefully unnoticed. Brooklyn’s mom certainly remained flabbergasted after seeing Mila all made up and stylish.
Mila’s normally shoulder-length curly hair had won in length with the stretching torture and reached almost to her lower back. As they approached school from the Subway, the Akandos were hanging around on one side of the entrance. Mila tried to hide herself behind Brooklyn. She felt as if she had to pass them by being naked. Most of them did not even seem to recognize her. Only Leyla, who was standing next to Melissa, seemed to recognize her.
Her eyes were wide open in surprise and she smiled approvingly at Mila holding her thumb upwards. Aiden, who was involved in a conversation with James and Matt turned around and had only eyes for Brooklyn. Yep, love was a wonderful thing, as the song said until somebody left, died, or cheated or whatever, Mila thought slightly annoyed. On the other side of the stairs she saw Gabe, standing alone leaning casually on the wall and observing the scene with a vigilant face. She didn’t see any of the other vultures around. Aiden's eyes fell on Mila and his eyes narrowed as if he'd have to think who for heaven's sake was roaming around with Brooklyn. This idiot, well what could you expected from someone who didn’t even have a condom under control. His IQ had probably dropped by a few tenth since he had seen Brooklyn. Anyway, Mila strutted into the school building without taking further care of all the gawkers. Brooklyn looked after her and said to Leyla and Melissa, “Well, Mila is not quite coping with her new look yet, she apparently first has to get used to it.”
Melissa looked in admiration at Brooklyn.
“You are an artist Brooklyn. You're sure becoming a famous stylist. Mila looks stunning.”
Brooklyn smiled silently and linked arms with Leyla.
“Come on girls, let’s get to class.”
Melissa stayed behind because she had to investigate the latest gossip on the way to the classroom,
”How is Gregory?” Leyla tried to keep her voice down.
Brooklyn was just about to answer her question when Angel suddenly appeared beside them accompanied by Greyson. The two of them seemed to laugh about something enjoying themselves a lot.
“We will have to talk about it later then,” Brooklyn said.
The morning seemed to drag on endlessly and Leyla could hardly hold back her curiosity. Unfortunately, she didn’t even get a chance to talk to Brooklyn at lunch because Melissa babbled all the time and made conversation impossible. Worst of all, she told them such incredible crap that it was quite sure no one was interested about except herself.
Frustrated, Leyla went outside after lunch sitting down on a bench. She couldn’t stand Melissa a second longer. After a while, Mila and Aiden showed up, and the Vultures were nowhere to be seen. Mila just wanted to make an attempt to tell them about her poopy weekend gently, when an ocher-colored, slightly battered jeep stopped very close to her in the parking lot with screeching tires. A tall lanky boy with dark short, tangled hair got out. Leyla jumped up. “My God what is Shane doing here? She ran to him and hugged him fiercely. Mila couldn’t believe her eyes. What the hell was he doing here?
She had no longing for another dose of sarcasm or irony. Her needs were covered for several weeks. Besides, it would ruin her disguise. Then she grinned secretly. Provided the fact that he would recognize her at all. Then she heard Aiden’s low voice.
“Who is that dude?”
Mila raised her hands.
“Please don’t ask me!"
Aiden looked probingly, “Does that mean you know him?"
She looked annoyed saying between clenched teeth.
“This is Shane and I don’t think it's such a great idea to come out here drawing attention. This school is full of Vultures,” Aiden shrugged.
“Maybe he has something important to tell us?”
Meanwhile, Leyla came back to them with Shane in tow. Leyla laughed, “I'm really glad that you want to return to college. I think it’s a wise decision.”
She turned to Aiden, “Aiden, this is Shane. I've already told you about him.”
Shane turned to Aiden and said, “Hi.” Then his gaze went further; he saw Mila and froze.
He stared at her obviously confused. No, that was not possible. It couldn’t possibly be her. He cleared his throat.
“Do I know you?” Mila looked at him warily.
“Maybe, I'm Alice.” Leyla shook her head and looked incredulous from one to the other.
“This is Mila, what's the matter? There is no one listening to us out here.”
Mila and Shane continued to stare hostile at each other. Neither Aiden nor Leyla had a clue what was going on between the two of them. Leyla coughed nervously.
“Shane, may I ask you what is so important that you came here in person. I mean, you could have called me to tell me that you are going to Boston. Not that I'm not happy that you're here, but it's not exactly safe.”
Mila’s mind was racing; there was this horrible premonition rising in her brain. Holy shit, she had killed Gregory. What other explanation could there be that Mister Sarcasm was standing in all of his glory in front of them.
“He's dead, right? I killed him.”
She looked guiltily around her.
“I'm a fucking freak. How could you trust me?”
She stood up and walked restlessly up and down. No one said a word until now. She grabbed her bag.
“I will better get the hell out of here,” she sounded miserable as if she was close to tears. Before she could put her plan into action, Shane grabbed her arm when she wanted to go past him.
“What is wrong with you? Are you completely losing it? What makes you think something like that? You haven’t killed him. Quite the contrary; this morning for the first time, he remembered so
mething before the incident.”
Mila looked at him speechless, and then a smile lit up her face. She was relieved. She had not killed him after all. Everyone talked at the same time. Mila had recovered from her shock and raised her hand.
“Silence! Damn it, I want to know what he said!”
On the other side of the meadow at the main entrance to the school building, the Vultures were now lingering in packs. Mila’s gruff voice got Gabe’s and Angel’s attention. They both looked quite interested at them.
Aiden was aware of it immediately.
“Congratulations, very well done, Mila,” he said softly.
“Now we have at least Gabe’s undivided attention and need a damn good reason why Shane is officially here.”
Leyla ignored his remark and stared at Shane full of expectation.
“So, what did he say? What did he remembered first?”
They all were hanging spellbound at his lips. He looked around uncertain what to do next and said quietly, “Should I really share the exact wording? It might be a little embarrassing for you.”
Leyla had no idea what he was talking about.
“You speak in code again. What the heck! Come on, tell us what he said.”
Everyone nodded in agreement and Aiden mumbled soothingly. “Yes, say it, but please quietly, because the enemy is listening.”
He watched Gabe and Angel, blatantly staring over at them.
“Ok then. So, he said that he misses Leyla and that he remembered a concert when they kissed.”
Leyla shrugged.
“So what? It’s not such a big deal.” Shane shrugged continuing, “Then I asked him if he was in love with this Leyla? Do you want to know the answer?”
Matt and James nudged each other and grinned. James could not help giving a comment.
“We are ready to hear what he said,” Matt added.
“Hey guys, I have another question. That thing you two had going on is called incest. You know that, don’t you Leyla? We thought he was your cousin. Nasty stuff.”
He slapped his thigh and laughed pretty stupid, as if he considered this comments to be a really great joke. Leyla's face resembled a tomato.
ELEMENTARY VIRTUE: The Savior Page 22