Dirty Rush

by Taylor Bell

  Jonah got up and started pacing around the room.

  “First of all, fuck Jack. Second of all, they’re still selling?”

  “Kenadie is Sarah’s dealer. Colette has to be involved, because I don’t think Kenadie’s capable of pulling something like that off on her own, bless her heart. So, yes, that would mean Colette is still definitely in business.”

  “So, if they get caught she’s gonna do the same shit to Kenadie that she did to your sister?”

  “Yup. Don’t you think?”

  Suddenly, Jonah stopped pacing, and turned and looked at me with a funny look on his face.

  “So, wait—she knows you know.”

  “Yeah, what?”

  “And she’s ruthless . . .”

  “Yes, definitely. What?”

  “What if she made the video?”

  “What?”

  “What if she didn’t just put your name out there. What if she fucking made it? She could do that, right?”

  “Holy shit, Jonah. You’re fucking right.”

  “Yeah,” he said, smiling. “You’re welcome.”

  “Holy shit, Colette made the fucking video! That’s it! She made it look like me, so she could get me kicked out of the house and maybe even the school. She wants me out.”

  I let out a huge guttural scream.

  “Is that a happy scream or an angry scream?” Jonah asked.

  “Both . . . I don’t know. I just feel like we’re getting closer to the truth.”

  “Okay, so if Colette made the video, then we need to see her copy of it. We need Colette’s computer.”

  “Give me a sec to think,” I said, putting my forehead in my hands.

  “Yes. That’s it,” Jonah yelled. “We get into that computer, we find out who the real girl is and expose them all!”

  “So you think I should go public with all this?”

  “You have to.” Jonah sat there for a second staring at me. “Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to call Meg and get her to come over here and you’re going to tell her the whole thing. Then we will go from there. Good?”

  “Great.”

  “Are you sure, Tay? Once you tell Meg—”

  “I’m sure,” I said looking right at him. “Let’s do this.”

  “Okay.”

  21.

  UNICORNS, FETTUCCINE ALFREDO, AND A COFFIN

  “Heyyy, Meg. It’s Jonah . . . I’m fine, thanks . . . Yes, I’m still gay.”

  He put his hand over the phone. “She sounds drunk,” he whispered.

  “Anyways, I’m calling because I wanted to see if you could help me with something,” I listened as Jonah started to slowly pace around his room.

  “Okay,” he said to Meg, “you know some major shit has been going down and basically Taylor’s getting eaten alive out there. Jack is literally the biggest pussy that ever lived—”

  “Jonah!” I screamed. “Just ask her to come over here. Jesus.”

  “Sorry!” he mouthed back, “Anyway, if you’re free, swing on by my room for a sec. Greenberg Hall, room 344. That’d be awesome.”

  Her response seemed to be taking a long time and Jonah wasn’t saying anything, just mindlessly staring at the wall, then, “Yeah, I have some beers,” he said, “okay . . . okay.”

  “So, she’s coming?” I asked, sitting up.

  “Yeah, I’m texting Jane now.”

  Thirty minutes and a shower later, Meg, Jane, Jonah, and I sat in a circle on the floor of Jonah’s dorm room like some sort of Little Rascals episode. Except one of us, Meg, was drunk. But she was cute drunk, not “Meggy drunk,” which is what we call it when Meg drinks vodka. Vodka turns her into a monster. I guess it does that to some people.

  I told them everything.

  Everything I knew and everything I thought I knew. I told them about Colette and the drugs, and the resignation letter, and what Sarah had said to me in the dining hall about Kenadie, and the money, and my theory about the video, and all of it.

  “So . . .” Meg said, “Colette’s been holding out on me all year? After everything I do for her? She knows how much I love Adderall.”

  “Jesus, Meg,” laughed Jane. “This is not a joke.”

  “I don’t think she was trying to let anyone in the house know about her business,” I told them. She’s leading a separate life and she wanted to keep it that way.”

  “Oh my God, Colette is the devil!” Meg shouted.

  “Literally, my first thought. But I just don’t get why Taylor is the target here,” Jane added.

  I caught Jonah’s gaze; he was looking right at me. Both of us knew that I’d have to expose Kelly if I was gonna fully explain this. I hadn’t thought it through and now I was in desperate need of a good cover-up. Kelly had taken the fall to spare all of her sisters and it’d worked. I couldn’t sabotage my sister and let all of her sacrifices be in vain.

  Shit.

  “It’s Jack,” Meg said plainly.

  “What’s Jack?” Jonah asked.

  “Of course!” Meg continued.

  “What? I’m lost,” said Jane.

  “Colette is trying to take you down because you were with Jack.”

  “Meg, what are you saying?” I asked.

  “Okay, I’ve only heard this story from two other semi-reliable sources, so who knows how accurate the details are, but when Colette was a sophomore and Jack was a freshman, Colette allegedly had a huge crush on baby hunk Jack Swanson. Which she drunkenly admitted to him publicly at an Omega Sig party when he was still a pledge and people laughed at her. I know that sounds crazy, but that’s Colette. And I don’t know if you know this, Taylor, but you’re the first girl to pin him down. And with basically no effort.”

  “Are you serious? Colette liked Jack?” I asked, attempting to sound totally genuine.

  “That’s the story I’ve heard,” confirmed Meg.

  “And when was he a hunk? I thought he was kind of a loser when he joined?” I remembered sitting with Jack on his dad’s boat. “He told me that.”

  “Okay, first of all, Omega Sig only offers bids to hot guys. Second, Jack Swanson has been a babe since he walked onto this campus three years ago. He told you that he was a loser?”

  “Yes.” I put my head in my hands. Now I genuinely felt like an idiot.

  “Clearly he was just trying to get you to pity slash fuck him with a fake sob story,” Jane added.

  “They all do that,” Meg added, “don’t feel bad about it, Tay.”

  “I can’t believe he didn’t tell me about this Colette thing, though.”

  “Probably because it was no big deal to him.” Meg took a swig from her beer can. “Jack Swanson was like this cute freshman guy and he was wasted and ended up fucking this other girl that night who was pledging Beta Pi. It was just some little thing, but apparently Colette was completely devastated about being the scorned lover—clearly that had never happened to her before.”

  “Whatever. He’s still a dick,” I announced.

  “Who knows if he even remembers. He’s hot, girls want to fuck him all the time. The only reason I even know this is because when I pledged and I met Colette, and saw how cold she was, I asked some of the seniors if Colette ever cracked or got emotional about anything. And this one sister Jenny, who was from your sister’s pledge class, told me that story and said that was the last time anyone had ever seen her fall apart or show emotion about anything. They said it was like seeing a unicorn.”

  We all laughed.

  “So, what’s the plan? We need to prove Taylor’s innocent. Can we get the original video?” Jonah asked.

  “Why do we need the original copy?” Jane shot at him, “We’ve all seen it, everyone’s fuckin’ seen it. It’s on the Internet, helllooo.”

  Jonah stood up, “Yeah, no shit, we’ve all seen it. But there might be more to the video that we haven’t seen.”

  “Like what?” Jane asked.

  I stood up and took off Jonah’s old swim team hoodie from high s
chool that I’d thrown on before the girls got there. I’d been cold earlier, but now it was getting warm in his room, or I was getting excited, or nervous. I was having a lot of feelings.

  “I think it’s possible that there is more to the video. There has to be more to the story.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Meg said. “It almost seems like the girl was following directions. Ew, it’s so creepy.”

  “Colette is such a whore, you guys!” Jane shouted.

  “She’s not a whore, she’s just a drug dealer protecting her turf,” I offered, trying to calm the group. “Colette obviously wants me taken down and she’s using the people around her as pawns in her game.”

  “Like she’s done with me for fucking years,” Meg interjected. “I’m always the one that has to clean up her messes with guys and other girls in the fucking house because she says I’m good with confrontation. If she wants to walk around swinging her shiny fucking hair in everyone’s face and ‘giving the best hand job on campus,’ then that’s fine, but I’m done with all of this bullshit. Taylor, she told me after Christmas break that you were cheating on Jack, and I didn’t believe her but I told her I did.”

  “What?!” I immediately felt the sting. Colette had been hatching a plan for my demise slowly and meticulously since the day I met all of the BZ girls. Maybe even before I got here.

  “I’m sorry, Tay.”

  “No, it’s fine. It’s not your fault, guys. You guys are all here,” I looked at my three friends, rapt with the drama of it all, “because I trust you. I don’t trust anyone else right now.”

  “Whatever you need us to do, I’m down,” Jonah said, taking a swig of beer.

  “Me too,” Jane and Meg said almost in unison.

  “Okay, then. Let’s head over to the house. I don’t think we have much time here. Meg, can we confirm that Colette will not be at the house, but Nancy will?”

  I knew Nancy wasn’t a threat. She was our house mother, and didn’t exactly know or care about the petty house dramas that went down under her “supervision.” Meg took a second to think, then quickly sent a text and got a response.

  “Yep. She supposedly just got to Steph and Liv’s for a pre-game situation. She should be out for the night. And duh, Ole Nance is always at the house. Twenty bucks she’s in the kitchen eating fettuccine alfredo that she made for herself by herself.”

  “Poor thing,” Jonah spat out.

  “Alright then,” I said as the girls started to get up and make their way toward the door. “Meg, give your keys to J. If you weren’t too drunk to drive yourself here before, which I think you probs were, then you definitely are now. So finish your beers and let’s go.”

  “Go where?” Meg asked as she fished her car keys out of her green mini Longchamp bag.

  “To the BZ house,” I said.

  “Oh . . . right. Remind me why?”

  “Jesus, come on,” Jane pushed Meg out into the hall and off we went.

  “I’m kiddiinngg!!!” laughed Meg as she finished her beer and chucked it into the trash.

  “Wait, why do I have to do the boring-as-fuck job?”

  Jonah wasn’t happy that his accomplice duties involved waiting in a parked car on the side of the house, but we needed someone to have a clear view of the front and back yards, keeping watch on who came in or out.

  “Jonah, boys are not allowed into the house unless they are family, and you know this,” I told him as he swerved left onto Hilldale Ave.

  “So while you guys are in Colette’s room trying to ‘find Meg’s lost necklace’ slash search her computer for the video, you want me to just scour the entire basement for the Adderall supply?” Jane sounded apprehensive.

  I turned around to face Jane. “There’s a bathroom in the far right corner of the basement and the door is painted green. Search every drawer, cupboard, and cranny in that room.”

  “Why do you think it’s in there?” Jane asked.

  “Um, I’ve seen Kenadie going in and out of there randomly.”

  “Got it.”

  We slowly crept up to the BZ house and I had Jonah pull around and park on the corner closer to the side door, in case we needed to rush out of the house.

  When we got inside, it felt eerily empty. I was expecting to have to navigate through girls and conversations, but luckily, it seemed like everyone was pre-gaming.

  “Hi, Meg. I thought everyone was at the twins’ tonight?” I heard Nancy say from behind us.

  “Hey, Nancers, we’re heading to the twins’ place in a sec. Just needed to stop in and grab a necklace Colette borrowed from me. My look won’t really come together without it; you understand.”

  “Of course, darling,” Nancy said with a smile, pulling her glass of white wine to her mouth and taking a long sip, still holding the smile and looking at us while she sipped. She was so weird.

  We all just kind of looked at each other. I could tell Jane was about to start laughing. I knew we had to get going.

  “Well,” Nancy finally said, “I don’t wanna keep y’all. I’ll be in my room if anyone needs a tampon or anything. Just kidding!”

  “Ew, Nancy. Please,” said a genuinely disturbed Meg as we made our way toward the stairs.

  “We all know what’s happening and what we’re doing, yeah?” I quietly asked them.

  “Si, señorita,” Jane said. Meg nodded.

  “Okay then; Meg and I will be as fast as we possibly can and you should too,” I whispered to Jane. “When you find pills, if you find pills, take photos and get the hell out. If anyone sees you down there, say that Meg asked you to find some old party decorations or some shit. I don’t know, make something up.”

  “Gotcha,” Jane said and we parted ways.

  “Good luck, text me if you need to,” I said to her. Meg and I headed upstairs to Colette’s room. She lived in the biggest room in the house, obviously. Supposedly it was even bigger than Nancy’s. And it was all the way at the end of the long, dimly lit hall.

  Her door was closed and locked.

  “Fuck.”

  “It’s fine, I have a key, duh,” Meg said. “She made me a copy in case of an emergency. When she gave it to me she said that I was her best friend. I believed her but it also made me sad. You know?”

  “I don’t know, Meg. Just open the door, please.”

  “Okay, okay.”

  She put the key in, turned it, and we were in.

  The room glowed in a warm yellow tone from the streetlights outside her window. Everything in her room was white or beige or gray. Everything.

  “Jesus, why is there no color in here?” I asked as I wandered around her room, trying to take it in.

  Meg didn’t respond. She was already at Colette’s desk, opening the laptop. She was the perfect partner for this mission. She was an engineering major, which meant she spent her days dealing with computers. It was like she went on autopilot as soon as we stepped into that room. For her, this was a test.

  I locked the door from the inside, then made my way over to Meg. She was scrolling through files with a search tab open. Despite her drunkenness, Meg was doing it all so fast. It was amazing to watch.

  “How do you know what to look for?”

  “Oh my God. Okay!” Meg shouted.

  “Shhhhhhh. Are you kidding? What?” I whispered.

  “Here.”

  “What?”

  “Found it.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “Dumb bitch called the file ‘sex tape-full,’ and put it in a folder called ‘PRIVATE.’ I thought Colette would be a harder nut to crack.”

  Suddenly the monitor went black and a play button appeared in the middle of the screen. Meg clicked it. It started the same. There were the guys sitting on the bed, just like I’d seen before, except now their faces weren’t blurred out. Oh shit, I knew these guys, they were all Jack’s friends and housemates. One of them was Todd Ridgley, who was actually a really nice and funny kid.

  “Ooooooh my FUCK!” Meg said i
n a hissing whisper, “Insaaaaane!! Todd, Teddy, and Nick. Those fucking sluts.”

  Then the girl in the mask appeared.

  “I know, I’m dying too. We need to see if there’s more footage at the end. We need to see if it goes on past when Todd comes. Todd comes last, right?” I couldn’t remember.

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  Meg sped up the footage, past the blow jobs, until the girl stood up, tackily wiped off her face and mouth with her hand, then, TING TING. My phone went off.

  Jane 8:49PM Not here. Not anywhere.

  “Fuck. Pause this. Pause it!” I said to Meg. The video froze on the girl, her hands rising toward the mask. Holy shit. I had to deal with Jane and I knew what to do immediately, like I was prepared for this to happen. I went to my text list and tapped on Kelly’s name.

  Taylor 8:51PM Did you ever hide the drugs anywhere else besides the basement?

  A bubble popped up within seconds. Thank you, Kelly.

  “What the fuck are you doing? Who are you texting? I’m gonna start putting this on the thumb drive,” Meg said.

  “Shhh, yes, do that! I need to deal with this. Jane can’t find anything down there.” Then,

  Kelly 8:52PM One time I hid some shit in the coffin in the attic

  Kelly 8:52PM Look INSIDE the coffin under the cushioning

  “Where would there be a coffin in this house?” I asked Meg.

  “Duh, you don’t remember getting into the coffin at initiation?”

  “Oh shit! Wow, of course I do.”

  “It’s in the attic, I think. Are you still texting Jane?”

  “Yeah, one sec,” I said, looking at my phone and switching back to my conversation with Jane.

  Taylor 8:55PM Go into the attic and find the coffin. Look inside the coffin. If you have to break it apart, do it

  “Okay, play it,” I said, sliding my phone back into my back pocket.

  The girl’s hands reached the mask, and she slid it off.

  Meg gasped loudly, “What the fuck? Kenadie?!”

  My eyes stayed glued on the screen. Kenadie smiled and the guys in the room all gave her high-fives. Kenadie started laughing and cheering along with them.