The Mischievous Mrs. Maxfield

by Ninya Tippett

  As we made our way up to the fourth floor unit, I started to feel the nervous knot in my stomach.

  If Stacey invited a lot of her same friends from high school to this party, I was almost certain I wasn’t going to have a good time.

  For one, I never got invited to any party she or any of her friends threw.

  I had barely been just on the edges of the social strata in Worthington Prep. I didn’t really care about it before because they had nothing to do with me, but being married to Brandon, I was extended family to his sisters who were very much part of this world.

  The last time I saw most of these other people was when I left Worthington Prep two years ago. I held my head up high, braving the catcalls and extra-loud whispers about how I always acted as if I was better than everyone else when they considered me lower than the dirt that was stuck on the ground they walked on.

  “Charlotte,” Tessa’s voice came from behind me unexpectedly. “Remember, we decide who we become. If you were no pushover years ago, you’re still not one now.”

  I glanced back at her with a smile just as the elevator slowed to a stop. “I remember. Thanks, Tess.”

  Anna looped her arm through mine and pulled me out to the hallway. “My sister’s right. Besides, who the hell would mock you now? You’re married to my brother.”

  “You have no idea how many girls tried to worm their way into our good side for a chance to get invited to things my brother was attending,” Tessa added with a roll of her eyes. “Most of them wanted to marry him but all of them wanted to sleep with him.”

  “But you, a) caught his heart, b) married him, c) get to enjoy your wifely privileges with him. If they’ll hate you for anything, it’s because you ran away with the grand prize.”

  “Ah, yes,” Jake said with a sigh. “Charlotte caught such a prime husband, even those who turned their noses up at her back in high school are now going to kiss her feet.”

  I made a face. “Er, no. I happen to like these boots. I’d like to keep them drool-free.”

  The four of us laughed but the knot in my stomach only loosened a little.

  It was shallow but it was a true, sad thing about life.

  A lot of people never leave high school. They become adults and continue in life thinking the world still so small, that it only revolved around them, that things such as popularity and social status were still what made the earth turn.

  I could face them down like I used to but it wasn’t just me anymore.

  There was my husband and his family, which was mine now too. I didn’t want them to be within striking distance of anyone who would dare come at me with claws unsheathed.

  Take it easy, Charlotte. There are two sides to this. Too much defense can become unnecessary offense.

  “Don’t worry, Jake,” Tessa said, patting his arm reassuringly. “You’ll have more girls to charm now. You and Brandon were always a tight race. Since he’s not available anymore, they’re going to come after you.”

  Jake’s brows furrowed. For a ladies’ man, he didn’t look thrilled at the prospect. “Uh, is it too late to back out now?”

  “You forfeit, you lose,” Tessa reminded him with a crooked smile.

  Jake glowered at her. “I bet you’ll throw me to the wolves happily if it helps you win the wager.”

  I grinned and patted him on the shoulder. “You’d best stick to one wager for now, Jake, especially when you just might lose.”

  “This has all the makings of a set-up, I swear,” he grumbled, smiling resignedly and shaking his head. His hand unconsciously dropped back to press against Tessa’s back.

  Can’t take his eyes off her. Can’t keep his hands off her. There must be a song for this.

  Anna smirked at him. “For someone who knows he’s being led straight to the sharks, you don’t seem to be fighting too much.”

  His eyes drifted to Tessa who was still smiling, and it was probably only me, other than her, who heard him mutter under his breath, “I’m too busy fighting something else.”

  We didn’t get a chance to say or do anything else because Anna pushed the door open.

  The party was in full swing by the time we stepped inside, and we were early.

  It was a spacious and luxurious suite with high-end furnishings and an expansive and I’m sure, expensive, view of the water. The twenty or so people already there left plenty of room for more guests.

  “Hello, everyone!” Anna, whose misery had been replaced by high-octane vivacity, greeted loudly over the pop song playing throughout the room.

  Great, Anna. Not everyone can do a grand entrance like you.

  Since it was early and most people were still sober and enjoying the food, heads turned in our direction almost in unison, faces breaking into smiles as they recognized and greeted Anna. I recognized majority of the attendees as graduates from Worthington Prep.

  Their gazes went to Jake first, who was the tallest in our group, and most of them looked pleased to see him. Like Brandon, he was a recognizable face in esteemed social circles. Good looks, deep pockets, excellent connections and all that.

  When their attention turned to Tessa, most of them looked puzzled at first. They probably didn’t recognize her because she didn’t look like the quiet, plain-looking younger sister Anna was usually accessorized with.

  I glanced at Tessa and saw her take a deep breath, uncertainty flickering across her eyes for a moment. Jake, who was standing behind her, stepped closer, pressing her back against his solid length. His hand rested on her bare shoulder, and as if his touch were electric, the contact caused her spine to straighten and her chin to lift in confidence.

  Good for you, Tess. You don’t need everyone to believe in you—just those who matter.

  My momentary relief abruptly ended when the scrutinizing gaze fell on me. I stood at the edge of the group, right next to Tessa.

  I slowly met every curious stare I could, and smiled, even as some of them furrowed their brows or widened their eyes in surprise at that exact moment of recognition.

  Other guests who weren’t from our high school, waved and said a loud hello at us before turning back to go on with their business, but those who were well-acquainted with us, were awkwardly struggling to form a greeting.

  “To those who look like they’re suffering from temporary amnesia,” Anna finally said with a dramatic, exasperated sigh. “This is my brother’s best friend, Jake Hastings, my lovely sister, Tessa, and my awesome sister-in-law, Brandon’s wife, Charlotte.”

  I shot Anna a sideways glance as people rumbled out a few abashed laughs, and greeted us with wary politeness.

  I understood her motive to remind everyone that I wasn’t quite the social outcast I used to be anymore but in a way, the fact that I seemed to have risen in status farther than any of them ever expected, only put me in a different caste that was still many layers apart from everyone else.

  Good intentions can be like a stray bullet sometimes. It always lands somewhere and occasionally injures, if not kills.

  I would’ve preferred if she hadn’t made the grand announcement but since the milk had already been spilled and I had long learned never to cry over any of it, I broadened my smile at everyone and lightly said hello back.

  Our little group broke up once we came off the doorway and joined the rest of the party.

  Anna went over to some of her old friends to catch up, a couple of guys who knew Tessa came up to her eagerly as if they’ve never seen her before, and Jake was doing his best not to growl at them.

  A smile, a nod, a hi here or there, were the most I was doling out as I made my way to the massive kitchen island where the food and drinks were served. I craned my neck around to find something non-alcoholic but quickly remembered that this was Stacey Watson’s party. Who was I kidding? Not one was soul was going to leave this place as sober as a Sunday church-goer.

  “Charity Charlotte,” a female voice came from behind me and I turned and found myself staring at none other than the pa
rty’s host, Stacey Watson.

  She hadn’t changed much since high school—except for the bigger implants and the even bigger platinum blond hair.

  “But I guess with you being married to a Maxfield now, I can’t really call you that name anymore, can I?” she continued with a haughty smile. “Just imagine, Charlotte Samuels—charity case, cafeteria server, deadly dull assistant librarian—now Mrs. Charlotte Maxfield.”

  I tried, I really did, but I had always been unapologetic before about who I was. The last name might have changed but the girl sure hasn’t.

  I couldn’t help but smile at the irony. “I know, right? When I spite people, I don’t do it in half-measures.”

  Stacey’s smile faltered a little as she narrowed her eyes at me. “Well, you surely have the ego to match the last name. I bet you think you’re invincible now.”

  I grabbed a fruity cooler (it was the only thing with the lowest alcohol content) and twisted the cap off. “Not really. If I look like I can’t be beaten down, it’s just because I’m stubborn. Most people can’t tell the difference.”

  Her brows furrowed. “But invincible and stubborn—hmm, I’m not sure I understood what you just said.”

  I wondered how long that was going to last. Not very long, apparently.

  “Don’t worry about it, Stace,” I told her with a smile, raising the bottle at her in the gesture of a toast. “We’ve exchanged our customary insults. Now, let’s move on and enjoy the party. Great place, by the way. Fantastic view.”

  Her expression brightened at that. “I know, right? I told Daddy that the dorm just wasn’t inspiring me, you know? It blocked my intellectual juices. He got me this so my mind can be back in my Zen-zone.”

  “Zen-zone?” I repeated slowly.

  She nodded earnestly. “Yes. A blank mind, you know? I was told I was naturally gifted with it. Others have to try hard to achieve it but I’m naturally born with it.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “And who told you this?”

  “A few people,” she said, puzzled. “This guy I was seeing for a while—he’s a med student, super smart—told me my mind was so clinically bare—no gray matter, were his exact words—that no bacteria could cling on it and thrive. It made me think of it like a Zen-zone, you know?”

  I sighed and took a sip of my cooler. “This guy—med student, super smart—may have been insulting you, Stace.”

  Her eyes widened incredulously. “I don’t think so! Who wants bacteria to grow in their brain? Eew! Who wants gray matter in it?”

  “Someone who wants to have a modicum of intelligence,” I answered, slightly exasperated. “Gray matter is another term for brains. It also means intelligence. He was telling you that you don’t have any.”

  Her mouth dropped open in offended shock. “I have more than a m-moda... modi—I have intelligence! I don’t use big words like you because they’re all so very heavy and who likes them anyway?”

  Her voice was starting to rise that a few people started to glance our way. Even Jake paused from staring down Warren, one the jocks from high school who was flirting with Tessa, to give me an inquiring look.

  I should’ve never opened my mouth because it was usually worse than a can of worms, but somehow, it didn’t sit well with me for Stacey to go on in life, smiling happily and accepting creatively put-together insults as compliments. It was one thing for me to admit to myself that she wasn’t all that brilliant. It was quite another to let her have people slap her face with it.

  “Okay, let’s try this again, Stace,” I said as calmly as I could. “Let’s use his own words—clinically bare. Bare means empty. Bare means there’s nothing in or on it. If anyone’s using it in reference to your brain, you should feel insulted because no matter how much or little of it you have, your brain is not bare. Got it?”

  She blinked several times, making no sound except a slight stuttering that reminded me of a car engine that was starting with difficulty.

  I gave her time to process it, patiently waiting, until her shoulders finally relaxed. “Oh. I... Thank you, I guess.”

  I smiled. “You’re welcome. Now, go mingle with your many guests. I’m sure they all want to speak with you.”

  She nodded firmly and said nothing else before turning to go.

  “I don’t know why you spare her feelings,” a very familiar female voice said. “She’s so dumb she needs people to tell her or she won’t even realize it.”

  I glanced at Bessy, dressed to the nines in a leopard-print strapless dress. Matching it up with black high heels and super-model-like big hair, she looked stunning and scary at the same time—like a dominatrix who will spank you if you’re bad.

  Knowing her tendencies to be cruel and hurtful, she probably had a whip tucked under that outfit somewhere.

  I took a long swig of my drink before sighing. “And the smarter ones who think it’s fun to humiliate people are not really any better. I prefer the dumb but decent than the smart but sadistic.”

  Bessy snorted. “Why am I not surprised? You’ll always champion the miserable misfits.”

  I leveled her a gaze. “Don’t look down too much on everyone from your pedestal, Bess. You might fall out.”

  Before anything else regrettable left my mouth, I straightened away from the kitchen island and strode off, remarkably at ease for the first time since we arrived at the party, and greeted some of the people who’d prided themselves as my tormentors in high school.

  It’s sad that others fill their time with so many grand illusions of their power over other people’s lives, they eventually forget that they've lost control over their own. Because if you could choose to be loved and respected instead of hated and wished ill, why wouldn’t you?

  ***

  While I had no expectations of fully enjoying the party, I was having a good time about three hours into it.

  More people arrived—many of them new faces that weren’t part of Worthington Prep’s esteemed alumni list.

  The food was good, the music kept playing and guests kept mingling.

  There was a lot of dancing (some dirty, some dyspepsia-inducing), video game matches, a few truth-or-dare rounds (which I smartly participated in as a spectator), a series of body shots and a very entertaining performance by one of the guests who was a ‘magic hobbyist' aka someone who knew a lot of good magic tricks.

  I stopped at one cooler after I dug up some sparkling cranberry juice from the fridge and kept watch of Anna who was a little attached to her alcohol tonight. I started swapping some of her cocktails with a concoction of cranberry juice and some tonic water. She was already tipsy enough that she hardly noticed the difference.

  Jake checked in on us a few times, when he could tear himself away from guarding Tessa as if he were her pet lion—seemingly tamed but ready to pounce to protect his mistress at any given moment.

  Tessa, usually the level-headed and sober sister, seemed to have acquired a fondness for spirits tonight (mostly just a few glasses of wine), along with the sparkling confidence with which she charmed every one she interacted with—boys, included. Many were practically all over her but some kept a respectful distance—or a cautious one, depending on your perspective and the intensity of the threatening glare Jake leveled at you.

  It secretly amazed me that despite the string of eager, attractive girls who sought Jake out, he remained keenly focused on Tessa. If he won the bet tonight, it wouldn’t be for his impressive restraint. What was there for him to restrain from when it looked like he wasn’t even in the least interested?

  “She’s acting out of character,” Jake grumbled as he and I sat together on stools by the breakfast bar. We were watching Tessa chatting and laughing with Brian Harrow, who was nodding eagerly as if he were actually listening to her when in truth, his eyes were glued to her breasts which were molded by her tight, white dress. “Something’s wrong.”

  I glanced at Jake’s scowling face and suppressed a smile. “She’s lowering her guard down a little bit and havi
ng some fun. I don’t think she’s ever realized before that she could shine just as brightly as her sister—or that she could shine at all.”

  “What nonsense is that?” Jake scoffed, taking a gulp of his beer from the same bottle he’d been nursing all night but could hardly finish with Tessa keeping him distracted. It was probably lukewarm by now but the man was too busy seeing green.

  “What nonsense is what?” I asked.

  “About Tessa shining like Anna, or shining at all,” he explained, and not-so-articulately either. He put to mind a gruff, grunting primitive man who was about to beat on his chest and whip out his wooden club.

  “I think that living in Anna’s shadow hasn’t helped Tessa build her confidence,” I explained to him in a low voice. “Anna’s always been seen as the beautiful and captivating one. And because everyone said so, Tessa believed it as well. It’s easy to imagine how that could make her think that she would never measure up or be as beautiful as her sister.”

  “That’s moronic,” Jake said with a snort. “Tessa’s absolutely lovely. Anna’s pretty, I agree, but Tessa has something else about her that makes her extra special.”

  I bit on the inside of my cheek to keep myself from grinning from ear to ear. “Oh, yeah?”

  Jake narrowed his eyes as he studied her intently from afar. “A lot of people think she’s shy or meek but when she meets your eye, her gaze is always steady and searching, glinting with a hint of amusement that you wonder whether there’s something she sees that you have absolutely no idea about. Her smiles are slow and rare and fleeting—it’s like chasing after enchanting butterflies that are forever eluding you.”

  I already knew Jake had quite a romantic streak but the sudden light in his eyes spoke of nothing less than his exact dilemma with the metaphorical butterflies—enchantment.

  “And when you get close enough to see and appreciate all the intricate patterns that make her unique, she either takes a nip at you or flies away,” he continued, his eyes never once straying from the object of his fascinated observation.