Bad Girls

by Aurora Yeo

  “Hey, Winnie, you didn’t get to tell us. Did you end up finding Nate?” I rested my chin on both my palms and waited patiently for her answer.

  “Yeah. Turns out he is already married with a kid about three years old. I’m too young to be an aunt, damn.” Winnie joked, snapping her fingers in an exaggerated manner.

  “That’s how you afforded the major life change?” Summer questioned, suddenly also interested in the topic. “Your brother got himself a rich wife?”

  “Not really, no. They’re both sort of rich now. Nate’s old job paid well, and he doesn’t even work now but has more than enough money to do practically anything. His wife owns a little gym downtown and trains the more well-off folk of California.” Winnie shrugged, leaning back against her bed.

  The door suddenly creaked open, and William’s face popped into the room. “Winnie, Mom asks if you want to go and have some ca—oh, hi, Avery, Summer.”

  “Hey, Will.” I smiled.

  “Hey, William.” Summer waved, her cheeks slightly tinted pink.

  “So, cake?” William gestured out of the door, and we all got up and followed him down the stairs. When we reached the end of the second floor, though, I slipped away, while they weren’t paying attention, and went toward the balcony area. I couldn’t resist climbing up to check out the rooftop. It just seemed like a perfect personal spot away from the noise and commotion. And heaven knows that I needed a break from reality.

  I heaved and panted, flipping my hair to the top of my head. I looked up and nearly dropped myself off the roof when I noticed that someone else was already there.

  “Wes! You scared me. I didn’t know you were here. Why aren’t you downstairs eating cake?” I breathed out, pulling myself up to sit beside him on the roof.

  “I don’t even like cake, princess.” Wes chuckled slightly, lying down against the rooftop and gazing at the stars.

  “Right. I forgot.” I sighed, lying down right next to him, looking at the sky as well.

  “Can’t blame you. It has been forever since our childhood days. I probably forgot what you hated the most as well.” He shrugged, releasing a long breath as silence enveloped us.

  A few moments later, that peaceful silence was broken. “Have you ever felt like nobody ever understands you?” Wesley asked out of the blue, and I turned my head to face him, staring at him with a curious expression.

  “All the time, Wes. Except I know that nobody does. No one really ever did understand me after our childhood days.”

  “Same. Although I know one person who always understands me. From back then till now.” A small smile appeared on his face as he shifted his attention to me.

  I felt something pull at my heartstrings as I wondered who could it be. “Who? From what I recall, you don’t exactly have a large circle of friends.”

  Wesley laughed, a large rumble of pure joy as his shoulders quaked slightly.

  “Ever the charmer, Avery. But there is this one girl. She’s beautiful and ridiculous at the same time. Last time, all she ever did was look at others and strived to be that kind of person. She never did realize that she was already pretty much perfect just by being her. Now, she is finally being her true self. Not living to others’ expectations as much as she thinks she is.”

  “And how do you know that?” I scrunched my nose, propping my head up with my hand and raising an eyebrow. “This person will always strive to meet someone’s expectations. It is how society is shaped. The world simply demands it.”

  “Not you, princess. You defy everything. Just by being yourself. You keep thinking that you are being the villain other people see you as, and yet you’re just another girl who misses her best friend. You’re opening up and finally stepping out of the mold society forced you in.”

  “They needed a Queen Bee last time since Winnie wasn’t around.” I shrugged. “I just so happened to fit the bill. Blonde, smart, outgoing, pretty, rich, and head cheerleader. I’ve never stopped attempting to reach the expectations and dreams others had set up for me. It’s been this way ever since you guys left California.”

  “It was almost the same for me,” Wesley admitted, and I stare at him in surprise. “First glance and everyone thinks that I am the black sheep of the family. Decorated with tattoos and leather jackets for days. I was thought of as the troublemaker while Will and Winnie were perfect little angels. Though they couldn’t be more wrong, I fell into their trap. I let society shape me as well as it did you.”

  “You broke out of that mold, though. You made it,” I pointed out.

  “So did you. And that’s why you’re the only one who will ever understand me.”

  For a second there, Wesley shone with all the radiance in the world. He was no longer consumed by the darkness of the night. Instead, his eyes shone with so much brightness, it challenged the moon’s ethereal glow. His revelation hung in the stars, dancing along the shimmering atmosphere as the night droned on. I never felt as understood. I never felt more at peace.

  Chapter 7

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  I jumped slightly and whipped my head around to check who on earth that was.

  “Will! Holy shi—” I caught myself in time. “You don’t just scare people like that.” Placing a hand on my chest, I immediately tried to regulate my breathing as William snorted rather ungracefully.

  “And you don’t just spy on people like that too!” I glared at him and raised a finger to his face, flipping him off.

  “Don’t sass me, William Jerald. Now, keep quiet.” I reached my hand out and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him to the ground beside me.

  “So,” William started to ask, “what are we doing?” He shifted himself slightly to peep from behind the bush.

  “We, my dear William, are spying on dear little ole Charlotte.”

  “And why are we doing that?”

  “’Cause I don’t believe her good little girl act.” For the past week, I had followed Charlotte around, seeing exactly what she does after school. Every two days, I observed that she only went home straight. The third was spent either on a date with Blake—to which I promptly left—or to a local cafe known as Cafe Joe’s to work. That day, however, I hit jackpot. She trailed off a few streets from our school and where her house was and had been acting sneakily the whole time as if she had sensed my presence following her. I poked my head out of the bush and examined Charlotte. Dressed in a white tank top and a pair of jeans, Charlotte walked slowly inside a tall building. It was only when I had examined the building carefully I noticed that it was an orphanage. What is Charlotte doing at an orphanage?

  “What is she doing at an orphanage?” Will voiced out my thoughts, and I shrugged.

  “I don’t know. I’m just as clueless as you are. Let’s go see.” I pulled Will, and when we were about to cross the street, Charlotte appeared with about six other children. Cursing, I ducked behind a bush and roughly pulled Will in as well. As Charlotte got closer to the park and passed by us, I craned my neck to listen to what they were saying. Charlotte’s lips moved quickly as she said something to the little kids. All together, they nodded their heads obediently and dashed into separate directions, off to play with their friends.

  Charlotte, on the other hand, sat on a nearby park bench. She pulled out a pair of sunglasses from her bag and wore it casually, then folded her arms and leaned her head back, dozing off.

  “Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t she supposed to watch the kids?” Will scratched his head slightly and looked at me with a confused expression.

  “Yeah, she probably is supposed to be, but she isn’t doing a very good job, huh?” I commented, slowly shifting my position to grab my phone. It all started to make sense now. Charlotte needed to do more charity work to build an impressive résumé after graduation, and these children were her current victims.

  The next part of my revenge plan began to form beautifully in my imagination. I just needed some proof. Just as I was about to snap a picture
, a little girl began to run toward Charlotte, making me halt.

  The girl appeared to be crying, and being unable to resist it, I quickly started to videotape their conversation, inching closer to get a better view.

  “Peter fell into the pond again, Ms. Brooke.” The little girl rubbed her eyes, waking Charlotte up from her slumber.

  “What? Again? That stupid little imp. How many times must I tell him to stay nearby? Go get him, then. Do you expect me to do it?” Charlotte snapped at the little girl, who looked not more than five years of age.

  The girl’s eyes started to water as she hiccupped and nodded. She dashed off and soon came back with five other boys; one of which, I assumed, was Peter.

  “You! Peter Hunt, how many times do I have to tell you to stay on the freaking land? No wonder every couple that adopts you gives you back to the damned orphanage in less than a week. You are just fucking pathetic!” Charlotte growled and slapped the young boy’s cheek.

  Will gasped a little from behind me, and I widened my eyes. The boy appeared to be around eight years old. He wasn’t even supposed to be exposed to such vile words at this age.

  “We’re all going back thanks to this little troublemaker. You can thank him later again because none of you are getting dinner anymore,” Charlotte snapped at the children and began to drag them back toward the orphanage, storming out of view and away from the park faster than she entered it.

  “My God,” William breathed out as I switched off my phone. “That was such a plot twist. I thought she was a good girl?”

  “Tell me about it. Come on, we’ve got something else to do.” I stood up and pulled William back on his feet, and we walked back to the school.

  Since I used to be the president of the student council and Charlotte used to be the vice-president, my position automatically went to her when I left the council. And as I remember, the president has to give a speech at the start of each new semester to discuss upcoming school events as well as global issues. Fortunately, I had also witnessed Charlotte working on her speech in the library a couple of times.

  As a child, William had always been fascinated with technology and what it could do. Once, he had even told me that he took up computer classes during their search for Nathan so that the chances of finding their long-lost brother would increase. So, let’s see how good he exactly is with hacking and editing, I said to myself.

  ***

  “Come on, Dad. You always talk about how we should help as many people as we can! You always go overseas, and I’m left in Cali all alone when you do leave.” I gently pulled my father’s arm as he furrowed his eyebrows.

  “Are you sure about this, Avery? We aren’t adopting a dog here or just simply shopping for a new toy. This is an actual human being we’re talking about.” Taking his reading glasses off, my father ran a hand through his neatly combed, graying hair, obviously bothered by my constant pestering. “Besides, the adoption process is not going to be easy. There’s a lot of paperwork to be done, pumpkin.”

  “I’m just saying that we can foster him while the paperwork is being dealt with.” I shrugged. “Didn’t you always say that there is not a single problem in the world that money can’t solve?”

  Not that I agreed with this saying, but I was already getting desperate.

  “I saw this little boy at the park getting mistreated, and I want to care for him. I want a brother,” I said. For further effect, I pouted my lips and furrowed my eyebrows, and my father sighed deeply.

  “We are going to foster him until the paperwork is done.”

  Immediately, I smiled, but my father was not done. “But if the orphanage does not allow it, we will have to deal with it the old-fashioned way, okay?”

  “You’re the best, Dad.” Leaning forward, I quickly kissed his cheeks. “Now, come on! I have a tight schedule to stick to.”

  ***

  It took less than half an hour’s drive for us to reach the orphanage Charlotte had been in the previous day. Once I opened the doors, the only thing I could think of was how the place really needed a renovation. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling like streamers in a birthday party, and there was a dreadful musk from the old wood in the building’s foundation. All in all, it seemed like a horrible place to be in, much less stay for an entire childhood.

  “Hi, may I help you?” an overly perky blonde greeted from the front counter, and I flashed an equally bright smile.

  “Hi, we’re here to adopt a young boy named Peter?” my dad spoke as he glanced at me briefly. I nodded my head quickly and looked back at the counter.

  “He’s about this tall—” I gestured to my waist “—and has dirty blond hair.” I finished with a smile.

  The girl thought for a while before her eyes brightened. “I think I know who you’re talking about! I’ll go get him.” She smiled and gestured toward the seats at the side of the room. “Please take a seat and ready your documents. I’ll be right back.”

  I sat down, retrieved my phone from the pocket of my jeans, and sent a quick text to William to ensure that the plan was running smoothly. I raised my head when I heard someone clearing their throat and blinked my eyes. In front of me stood a boy about eight years old, and his facial features held nothing but absolute boredom. When I realized that my dad had already disappeared to handle the paperwork, I turned my attention back to the boy.

  “So, Peter, right? Hi. I’m Avery.” I smiled, holding out a hand for him to shake. When he didn’t take it, I awkwardly tucked it back into the pockets of my jeans. “You don’t have to be scared. I’m not going to treat you like that mean lady who took you to the park yesterday.”

  At the mention of Charlotte, Peter’s eyebrows raised as curiosity flashed questioningly in his eyes. “She’s your friend?” he mumbled under his breath softly.

  “No.” My answer was immediate, hatred boiling in my blood. “She’s an enemy of sorts.”

  The plan went just as predicted. When my father had offered to donate a hefty sum of money to the orphanage on top of the adoption fees, we were allowed to bring Peter home with us as a foster member of our family until all the documents were handled. Peter stayed pretty much silent for the rest of the journey home. My father hadn’t bothered to talk to him but just gave the boy a brief smile, so he didn’t exactly know about Peter’s cold attitude. Once he left the house for work, I dashed up the stairs and into Peter’s new room to find him seated on the bed holding a picture in his hands.

  “What’s this you’ve got there?” I smiled at him slightly and sat beside him on the bed.

  “My family,” he finally replied. His voice sounded nothing like a troublemaker’s, and my heart almost instantly melted when I realized he had been crying. Peter was just a young boy who had lost everything in his hold all too soon. “You look just like her.”

  Slowly, he lifted a finger and pointed to a girl in the picture. She stood there beaming beside a younger version of Peter, and her eyes shone brightly with happiness. As creepy as it was, I had to admit the girl in the picture looked oddly like me, except she had long brown hair instead of my crazy shade of purple. She didn’t look a day past five, and my heart clenched painfully.

  “Is she your younger sister?” I stupidly asked and pointed to the girl. Peter only nodded once before tucking the picture under his pillow. “You wanna tell me what happened? I heard that when you share your feelings, you will feel better.”

  “My family died in a car crash. At least that’s what they told me. They never found my sister’s body, though.” He wiped a teardrop away from his cheek, and at that moment, my heart broke for him.

  “Hey, it’s alright. I know this isn’t saying much, but we’re your family too. And I’m sure that you’ll meet her again someday. Until then, we’ll take good care of you.”

  Peter began to smile just ever so slightly as I pulled him in for a hug.

  He lost someone dear to him, and that reminded me so much of myself.

  Chapter 8

  I would like
to think of myself as an evil genius.

  Since I was young, my friends had always called me cunning. Though they had meant it jokingly, I had always wondered what it would be like to use my wits and crazy ideas in real life situations. Often, I dreamt about how I could take down the bad guy of my own personal story just by using my wits and knowledge, to prove to myself and all those narcissistic jocks that not everything in this world is about being physically strong.

  I forgot about one thing, though. To defeat all those villains in your personal fairytale, you have to be emotionally strong as well. Strength does not only come in terms of muscle mass, but it also involves your emotional and mental capacities. I would like to think that I am a strong person. I mean, not everyone gets dumped by their boyfriend and childhood best friend only to rise up again from the dirt and come out back at the top.

  I am strong. And I will not let anyone tell me otherwise.

  Since I was given a choice, I would use my brain power to defeat the villain. I had decided to play Charlotte’s mind game. She fooled everyone, but not me. She fooled the triple threats, but they eventually knew her true colors. Charlotte was a dull gray, a color that might seem ordinary and bleak yet held secrets. Gray could be a color of elegance and superiority, yet it could be a color of doubt and deception. And that, my friends, was why it perfectly described Charlotte’s persona.

  She didn’t fool me, and to prove my point to the rest of the world, I decided to team up with my new younger brother, Peter, to beat her at her own game. Like I mentioned a while ago, the president of the student council has to address the school at the start of each semester. The theme of each talk is how we can improve our lives and better the society in our own ways. During one of my trips to the library in search of materials for a combined project, I had noticed Charlotte’s computer unlocked and left unattended on one of the tables. Luck was on my side because I found out that day that she was going to do a speech about the lives of orphans in California and how we can better their lives and help them feel wanted.