Beneath Our Faults

by Charity Ferrell

  "DID YOU have so much fun at school today?" Sophia squealed, jumping down on my bed. I had a history book opened in front of me but I hadn't glanced at it once. My mind was racing with too many things to concentrate on World War II.

  "It was fine," I lied, shutting my book and crossing my legs. Yeah, if I counted being stared at by the entire student body and tormented by the school's designated mean girl fine. "Did you have fun today?"

  "YES! I always have fun at school, silly. This week is the letter C which means I need to find something super cool to bring in for show and tell that starts with the letter C. Oliver said he is bringing his pet cat, Carey, so I need something way cooler than him. I don't like him because he pulled the head off my favorite doll." She crossed her arms and pinched her lips together.

  "Just your luck," I said, getting up from my bed. "I think I just might have something that is cooler than a cat. You just have to promise to be extra careful with it."

  She nodded her head five times quickly in assurance and I leaned down grabbing my camera bag from under my bed. "This is my camera." I lifted one of my most prized possessions out of the bag.

  "Whoa," she said slowly. "This is so awesome!" She jumped up in excitement and her ponytail bounced through the air. "Everyone is going to be soooo jealous! I need to go show mommy and daddy and come up with my speech!" The camera got released from my hand quickly and she went flying out of the room. I looked up to my ceiling asking God to please let it return back in one piece.

  Sinking back on my bed, I leaned my head against the headboard, thankful for some alone time. My body felt like it had been on constant overdrive the last few days with the move. My phone beeped again, reminding me of the text message I hadn't replied to yet. Grabbing my phone, I opened it, read it again and swallowed.

  Dawson: You need to talk to Tess. She’s going off the deep end. I can’t believe you left without telling her goodbye.

  My finger hit the reply button.

  Me: I know. Tell her I’m sorry.

  The phone chimed immediately like he had been sitting with the phone in his hand waiting for my answer.

  Dawson: YOU tell her you’re sorry.

  Tossing my phone down on my bed, I closed my eyes and allowed my body to start to relax. I wanted to call her but my finger refused to hit the send button. Instead, I shut my phone off and closed my eyes.

  “GOOD MORNING.” My head shot up at the sound of his voice and I spotted him in front of his car, wearing another black V-neck t-shirt and holding a Starbucks cup. “I figured you might need another ride.”

  “Thanks.” I shuffled over to him and grabbed the warm cup he was holding out to me.

  "Good morning, Keegster!" I spun around to find Sophia barreling out the front door towards the two of us, her hair flying in the wind and tennis shoes slamming against the pavement. "Looks what I got!" The black strap to my camera bag was in one hand with my camera in the other, dangling from her fingers and almost smacking into the pavement. Great, I was certain it wasn't going to be coming back in one piece. "Daisy is letting me bring her fancy dancy camera with me today!"

  Keegan grabbed it and turned it around in his hands. "This is a nice camera," he said, looking at me. My eyes stayed glued to his hand hitting the power button. My throat tingled when I realized what he was doing and I was grateful I switched memory cards before handing it over to Sophia this morning. Long gone were the pictures of Tanner and I, replaced with my scenery pictures. He flipped through the photos, pausing at each picture and eyeing it carefully before going to the next.

  "I think this is my favorite," he said, pointing to the screen. I glanced over his shoulder, taking a look at the picture of the covered bridge I took in Parke County last year. It was during their annual Covered Bridge Festival Tanner and I always went to. The picture showed the falling leaves fading color perfectly, but still didn't do it justice.

  "Thanks," I said, quietly, kicking the ground. "We should probably get going, though. I don't want to be late."

  "You're right," Tommy agreed, coming out of nowhere. Keegan shut off my camera, grabbing the bag from Sophia and carefully placing it there before giving it back to her. "Have a good day," my uncle shouted, strapping Sophia into the car.

  "So you ready for your big second day of school?" Keegan asked, opening up the passenger side door for me again. After hearing all about his womanizing ways, at least he opened up the door for girls before he tried to relieve them of their panties. I guess chivalry wasn't dead until after you screwed the girl.

  "If it's as great as the one I had yesterday, than no, not really," I huffed, climbing into the seat carefully, not wanting to spill my drink on myself or in his car.

  He shut my door, circling around the car. "Not so marvelous, eh?"

  "No so much," I mumbled, removing the splash stick from my drink. I narrowed my eyes to peek in the tiny hole of my lid, trying to see what was in the cup, but had no luck. "What is this?"

  "Caramel Apple Spice," he replied, grabbing his own drink from the cup holder. "It's practically the best thing on the planet." He lifted the cup to his lips taking a large drink. "You've never really had one of these before?"

  I shook my head, putting my nose in the opening and inhaling the sweet scent of cinnamon. He raised his eyebrows looking at me curiously. I had somewhat of a strange habit. I had to smell everything new before I actually tasted it. The warm scent drifted up my nostrils making my mouth water. Lifting the cup to my still chapped lips, I took the first sip, immediately bringing the cup back to my mouth for another, letting the hot liquid run down my throat.

  "Holy yum," I said, swiping my tongue across my bottom lip. "This is amazing."

  "I told you."

  "Definitely the best thing that's ever been in my mouth," I blurted out, without thinking. I stopped, re-said the words in my head and instantly realized my bad word choice. My face dropped as his head cocked to the side and smirked. "Shoot," I cried out, humiliated, and smacked the palm of my hand against my forehead. "Yeah, that wasn't supposed to come out like that."

  "I knew what you meant.” His attention turned back to the road ahead of us. "But I don’t know if I would agree it’s the best thing that my tongue has tasted." I choked on my drink at his words and he chuckled. The car stopped at a red light and he grabbed his drink again. Lifting it up in a cheers motion, he took another huge swig. "You should be fine with Gabby and Cora by your side," he said, changing the subject and pressing on the accelerator as the light turned. "They will make sure no one fucks with you."

  "Why? Because you haven't hooked up with one of them? Or because they aren't afraid of your pinched face girlfriend?"

  "I see you’ve heard the rumors about me. Didn’t you mom ever tell you to believe everything you hear?” His fingers strummed along the steering wheel. "And to answer your question, no, I have never hooked up with either Cora or Gabby nor will I ever."

  Poor Gabby, looks like she would have to unwrap that v-card and re-gift it.

  "Why is that?"

  "Cora is like breaking the number one bro code," he explained. "I would never do that to Lane. He's my best friend and family. Plus, she annoys the living fuck out of me. As for Gabby, she's Cora's best friend. I piss her off, I piss Cora off and she gets pissed off at Lane because we're related like she did when I never called her slutty cousin."

  I rolled my eyes at his last comment. "Of course, she's the slutty one, not you."

  "Hey now, I never said I was a perfect angel. Hopefully, she learned her lesson to assume guys want a relationship. Plus, I got mine, don't worry. Cora ratted my ass out to my aunt who then made me come over so she could give me some moralizing speech. So I now try to steer clear of pissing off my cousin's evil girlfriend. That little shit is vicious when she's mad. As for your second question, Piper is not my girlfriend, like I told you yesterday during Health."

  "Fine," I moaned. "Friends with benefits, fuck buddies or whatever you guys call yourselves," I lifted my han
d up and waved in a "who cares" gesture.

  We pulled into the parking lot. "Sorry babe, but Piper is no friend of mine. Her and I, let's just say we have an agreement."

  "An agreement," I repeated. "So what? You give her a ride to school then she rides you later type of agreement?" I asked, turning to unbuckle my seatbelt.

  His shoulders shrugged. "Not necessarily in that order, but it works. Would you like to try it?"

  I scoffed. The nerve of this jackass. "Heck no. I'll pass on that and I think you forgot to pick up your little sex arrangement this morning."

  "I told her to drive herself. If I take you to school, I won’t take Piper. She was being a bitch to you for no reason yesterday and I didn't like it." I looked away from his gaze, opened the door and got out without looking behind at him still in the car. Curiosity itched at my brain. Why would he even care if Princess Piper was a bitch to me or not?

  SO FAR, I had survived Atlanta for two full weeks. I could already feel the light change shifting in me. Sure, I still noticed the eyes watching me as I walked down the hall but it was for a different reason now. In Indiana, I was the new girl whose boyfriend got murdered. In Atlanta, I was just the new girl. Nothing more, nothing less.

  Keegan had become my daily ride back and forth to school. Every morning, he greeted me with my new favorite drinks sans Piper. Our conversations were normally limited to school or upcoming plans for the weekend. Well, his upcoming plans since I never did anything. Ever. I had steered clear from participating in any social events since I'd gotten here, opting to spend my time hanging out in my bedroom. I did bring up the idea of getting a job to my aunt and uncle, but they shook their heads, telling me it wasn't needed. After insisting I wanted to do something to reciprocate for all they were doing, we decided I would watch Sophia a few days a week for them. So that had become my life. School, my room and Sophia.

  “Daisy,” Cora said, peering at me from across the lunch table. "Lane is having his legendary Halloween party this weekend and your attendance is mandatory." She clasped her tiny hands together and I unwrapped my sandwich. "I will not take no or any other excuse I know you're trying to conjure up in that pretty little head of yours for an answer."

  I bit into my sandwich, taking an extra large bite to bide me some extra time before mumbling some bullcrap excuse. I hadn't been to a party since the weekend before Tanner died. The memory of that day would forever burn into my brain. Tessa and he were having their annual pool party at their house while their parents were away visiting their aunt in Texas. Tessa and I had "borrowed" her parent’s rum, mixing it with pineapple juice. We had declared that our favorite drink during freshman year and drank it at every party since then. I remembered how Tanner's eyes never left me, watching me dance around the pool to old school Britney in my bikini. See, I used to be fun.

  After finishing off the bottle, I made it my mission to give him an awesome lap dance, but drunkenly failed. He was appreciative of my efforts, though, because he flipped me over his shoulder, smacked my ass and yelled that he was going to marry me to the entire party. He carried my drunken butt away from the party, to his room, where we spent the rest of the night together.

  Gulping, I lifted my bottle of water to my lips to wash down my sandwich. "Yeah um," I struggled for the right words. "I'm just not into parties." I played with the plastic bottle in my hands, moving it back and forth.

  “Daisy, girl, you’re coming,” Lane chimed in. “You’ve been here for two weeks and have opted out of everything we've invited you too. I'm beginning to think you really don't like us." He folded his hand across his heart, feigning a frown. He was right. The three had been constantly inviting me to Cora’s tennis matches, Lane’s football games and different parties, but I always declined. “Plus,” he added, turning the frown upside down; “it will make Cora happy if you go. When Cora is happy, I’m happy.”

  “Why do you two have to be so sickening sweet,” Gabby teased, beside me, wrinkling her nose. “Be nice to us people who don’t have a boyfriend who worships the ground we walk on.”

  Guilt swept over me. I was grateful for the three people sitting by me. They had made my move easier than I could have ever imagined. The guilt was soon replaced with fear. I was scared of losing them and their friendship. I had already started to bond with everyone, especially Gabby.

  "You need to have some fun," Gabby whispered, pulling me into her for a side hug. "You deserve to get out a little." My mom's voice filled my thoughts. You've got to move on.

  I groaned, they both were right. "I'll go," I worked out slowly, before adding. "But I am not dressing up."

  “Oh yes you are,” Gabby squealed, displaying a wide grin. “I have the best idea EVER! Us three,” she pointed to herself, then me before over to Cora, "are going to go as the Power Puff Girls. It's going to be perfect,” she told us, singing out the last word. Crap. Where was the remote of retraction so I could rewind my agreement to go?

  Lane snapped his fingers and pointed to Gabby. “That is a great idea.” He looked over at his girlfriend with a sly smile. “You would look sexy as shit as a little power girl, baby.”

  Cora, clearly not amused, glared over at him with irritation. "It’s Power Puff Girl, genius. How can you say I would look sexy as one when you don’t even know who the hell the Power Puff Girls are? You just think it’s a great idea because you don’t want to match me this year.”

  He let out a loud sigh. “Man,” he groaned out. “I really don’t want to go as Bam Bam.” Bam Bam? I could only have guessed Cora wanted to be Pebbles. “You know I will do it if you really want me to, but I think you would enjoy dressing up with your girls more.”

  I watched their exchange as nausea swirled around in my stomach. I hated myself for being jealous of them. I was a selfish person to be resentful of my friends' happiness. I just wanted it back. I wanted a connection like that with someone, like I had with Tanner. I wished I could dress up as a witch for Halloween and create some resurrection spell to bring him back from the dead. Unfortunately, my life was not some paranormal romance.

  “Okay then it’s settled,” Gabby confirmed, not giving Cora time to argue. "We shall go shopping after school for our costumes! This is going to be awesome!"

  WE SEARCHED high and low for our costumes but couldn't find anything. "Let's just make them ourselves," Gabby said, while we were waiting for our smoothies. We were deciding whether or not to find something else. “I mean, it can’t be that hard. We just need to find some cute matching dresses in pink, green and blue. Plus, a bow for me.” She pointed to her auburn hair before giving the guy at the register our order.

  “God,” Cora moaned, grabbing three straws from the bin beside her. “Why can’t I be the one with the bow?”

  “Nope,” Gabby answered, swiping a few napkins. "You are blonde, therefore you are Bubbles. Bubbles doesn't have a bow, she has-"

  Cora's hand went up, cutting Gabby off. "I know," she groaned. "Bubbles has freaking pigtails. I am going to have to wear blow job handles in my hair." The acne-ridden kid making our smoothies stopped the blender and gave us a creepy smile.

  "Creeper alert," Gabby muttered at him and his attention suddenly turned back to the blender to finish our drinks before handing them to us. Gabby looped our arms together and we made our way through the crowded mall. "Alright my fave chicas, let's go find us some costumes to kick ass in!"

  "I JUST want to say this real quick," Cora squealed, pausing the music that had been playing in her bedroom for the past two hours. "We are some sexy crime fighters." I forced out a smile and finished buckling the belt that wrapped around my torso.

  We finally found some short, matching dresses at a small boutique I had never heard of. I pulled down the hem of my green dress in an attempt to calm down my nerves. I was certain I would be having a major freak out before the night ended.

  My heart thudded against my chest as I stared into the mirror in front of me. I had sat down and let the two have their way with me. Lea
ving my hair down, they straightened it, making it appear longer. I was just happy I didn't have to sport a pigtail or bow. Cora did my makeup, giving me dark, smoky eyes.

  "Screw you, Blossom and your ridiculous pigtails," Cora whined, glaring at them in the mirror. "I am going to get so much shit for these stupid things." She pulled on one, making a disgusted face. "He's seriously going to be begging me for a blowjob all damn night."

  "I thought you weren't a fan of that?" Gabby asked, walking by her and flicking a ponytail.

  "I'm not. Hence the part where he is going to annoy the living shit out of me because he loves it." She smeared some gloss on her lips and smacked her lips together. "We should probably get going, though. We are already late."

  "Better to arrive late than ugly," Gabby laughed, spraying an entire bottle of hairspray into her hair before fluffing it out with her hands. "Let's go."

  I gulped, following them out of Cora's room and down the stairs, stumbling a bit in Cora's heels that she insisted I wear. We loaded into Cora's white Mercedes and Gabby cranked the radio up. While they sang along up front, I took that time to mentally brace myself. Wiping my sweaty hands down my dress, I pressed my forehead against the cold window, inwardly trying to wipe away my thoughts of all of the worst-case scenarios that could happen.

  Gasping, my eyes bulged out when we pulled into a giant, circular driveway packed with cars. Dang, Cora didn't lie when she said this party was going to be huge, but that's not really what shocked me. Lane's house was huge. I mean, like gigantic. I swear, the longer I was here, the bigger the houses got. The mansion perched in front of me was twice the size of my aunt's house. It screamed money from every angle. Columns surrounded the entire front in a circle and the rest of the house was made entirely of windows. Of course, there was also a large fountain in the middle of the driveway that could be used as a pool it was so big.