by Mark Tufo
Callis took the quiz on autopilot. She was lost in those two words: You dog. She must have repeated them a hundred times trying to discern their meaning, twisting them about from a variety of angles. There was not one scenario that made her feel good about those six letters.
Lunch took close to seven weeks (or four hours) to arrive, but time is relative. The more you want something to come, the longer it will take.
Callis noticed the look of concern on Kevin’s face as he was scanning the crowd looking for her. His face was part relief and part dread when he spotted her. He pushed more than one unsuspecting classmate out of the way.
“We need to talk.” He grabbed her shoulder gently.
The bottom fell out of Callis’ stomach as they moved towards the exit.
“Where you going, Denton?” Mr. Asbury, the gym coach and luckily the varsity football coach, asked. It was his week for cafeteria duty, and short of an all-out riot, he generally didn’t give a shit what the youths did during lunch. ‘Toughens them up’ was his mantra.
“Uh?” Kevin started.
“Listen, my J.V. coach has great things to say about you, as does my star offensive lineman. Today you’re going to fight for the starting position. You up for that?”
“Yes, coach,” was Kevin’s stunted reply.
“Great. Just be back before the bell,” the coach said as he returned to his Sports Illustrated magazine.
“Okay, coach.”
“What’s going on?” Callis asked as they went outside.
“Have you heard anything?” Kevin said, sweeping his hand over the top of his head. He was clearly as unnerved as Callis.
“Nothing.” She thought back on those two words that had been tormenting her the entire morning ‘you dog’.
“Laura and probably Talea, and I bet even my sister, in fact, I’m positive this is all my sister, have started a rumor.
“About me?” Callis began to seethe.
“About us.”
The seething was turning to dread. “Well what is it?”
“Now I need you to trust me that nothing happened, okay?” Kevin sounded truly concerned.
“Kevin, tell me.” She started thinking that right about now would be a good time to go crawl under a rock.
“They’re saying that Laura and I hooked up on Saturday at Ted’s.”
“Did you?” The question slipped out of her mouth before she even processed it.
“You know how I feel about you, Callis. How could you even ask that?” he said, hurt in his eyes.
“I’m so sorry…it just came out. I’m a foster kid. I have trust issues.”
“Callis, I think I love you.” He stroked the side of her face. “I would never do anything to jeopardize that.”
And she believed him with nearly ninety percent of her heart, but there was a dark ten percent that didn’t. Mindy had accomplished what she’d set out to do; she had planted a seed, and with some nurturing, she would be able to get it to sprout and grow roots deep into the psyche of Callis.
Callis knew there and then she would get the answer, the one hundred percent answer she needed. “I believe you (mostly),” she said, giving him a kiss.
“Man, I thought that was going to be way worse. Well, that rumor should just go away now,” Kevin said naively.
But Callis knew better. The next rumor – and the next after that – would be bigger and bolder; sooner or later, she would become the target and she had no doubts that Mindy could destroy her at this school. She realized she needed to act now or there might not be another chance. First things first; she would deal with Laura.
The rumors persisted. Callis was even called out as being a chump for staying with him. It was Thursday before Callis had an opportunity to corner Laura. She watched as Laura went into the girl’s room before lunch.
“My turn,” Callis said as she made a straight line for the door. She made a quick and hurried assessment to check that no one else was in there, spun, and locked the door.
Laura turned to see who had come in. Her eyes grew wide when she realized whom it was.
“The truth,” Callis demanded.
“He was fantastic.” Laura recovered quickly.
“You lie!” Callis’ voice rose.
“Do I? Did he say he didn’t do anything? Well what did you expect him to say? Boys want to have their cake and eat it, too,” Laura laughed.
“You slut!” Callis approached. Laura begrudgingly held her ground, but only because there was nowhere else to go.
“Did you really think he would want you over me? You’re poor, you have no family, for God’s sake, you live in a piece of shit trailer!”
“Kevin...he doesn’t care about those things,” Callis said defiantly.
“Are you so sure about that?” Laura sensed she was getting the upper hand and pressed the attack. “What about his mother? You think Mrs. Denton is going to want her son to go out with a person that is half a step above a vagabond? There’s the Denton family name to protect. I’m a perfect fit for him. You’re just something to play with and discard when something better comes along.”
“You lie,” Callis said without much conviction. She was on the verge of tears; partly from rage, but mostly from the overwhelming sense of loss she was experiencing. It was like the partially healed wound over her soul was having the scab ripped open and pulled off. “Why would you take this from me?” she sobbed.
“That’s the thing, Callis, you never had anything…and you never will,” Laura said, standing tall as Callis bent over gripping the sink to keep from falling to the ground.
Callis stood; a spark of insanity rippled across her mind. “That’s where you’re wrong, Laura. If I can’t have him, then neither can you.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Laura asked haughtily, but she was slightly concerned.
“This is going to hurt,” Callis told Laura just as she seized the reins.
Laura had a moment to utter “Don’t!” before that was taken away from her.
Talea did not breathe as she sat in the stall. She had been filing her nails about to tell Laura how well their plan (well, her plan really) was working, when she heard the bathroom door open. She could not believe her good fortune when she realized it was Callis. This could be good, she thought.
She was proud of how her friend was taking it to the bitch. That all changed with Callis’ threat, but it didn’t sound like a threat, it sounded like something bad was about to happen. She pictured Callis holding a knife about to stick it in Laura’s gut. She wished she were able to get up so she could watch, but she felt bolted to the seat, fear keeping her riveted to her spot. In retrospect she wished she had turned on her voice note app so she would have had proof of Callis’ crime. She determined she would not make that mistake again.
Callis marveled at her power as she kept Laura motionless. She could feel Laura’s heartbeat racing in anxiety. She could sense the thoughts that were running rampant in an effort to find a way out of this dire predicament. Callis held Laura as tight in her grip as a child does their favorite stuffed animal in a room full of strangers.
“The truth,” Callis hissed.
Laura’s mouth didn’t twitch, but not for lack of trying.
“Right,” Callis said smiling. She went in and checked the controls; like a skilled surgeon, she severed the ties that kept Laura’s mouth in check.
“What have you done!” Laura asked. “Let me go!”
“Inside voice or I will stop your heart.” She didn’t know if she could do that, but it was the perfect threat. Laura’s expression was almost comical it was so over the top.
“What have you done?” The volume was lowered, but that was made up for in the higher pitch of angst.
“Consider it a lie detector.”
“Is this what you did to make me hit Mindy?” Laura asked, conscious that Talea was in the bathroom stall. If she could get an admission of guilt, maybe she could get back into Mindy’s good graces that way.
; “You know what I think? I think you enjoyed the hell out of smacking her. She’s a bitch and you’re just her plaything. Maybe I controlled the hand, but not the feelings of payback you felt with the contact. Oh, you’re surprised I knew that? Yeah I felt it, I could tell you hoped you’d hit her hard enough to break that foul-spewing jaw of hers. I think that was the exact phrasing you used.
“What are you?” Laura asked, fear choking her throat.
“Trailer trash, remember? You said so yourself.” Callis walked to Laura’s side. Laura strained to follow her but couldn’t. “I can make you do whatever I want, you know. I can make you take off all your clothes and make you walk out into the hallway. That would be hilarious. I wonder what people would say about that.”
“Let me go and I’ll tell everyone it was a lie,” Laura said licking her now seriously parched lips.
“So you admit it’s a lie?”
“We were just having fun.”
“Messing with me and Kevin was fun for you?” Callis said, coming back into Laura’s field of view. “Wait…you said ‘we.’”
Talea winced. Laura, you stupid bitch! Maybe Mindy was right casting you off.
Laura clammed up.
“Who is ‘we’?”
Laura still said nothing even as she began to unbutton her blouse. She could do little as her hands betrayed her.
“Stop, stop! It was me and Talea,” Laura begged as she undid her last button.
Shit! Talea thought. She knew if Callis did bodily harm to Laura she would be next on the list. She debated on confronting Callis now and helping Laura, but prudence won over. She would wait until this particular scene unfolded and then she would go to the authorities and have Callis thrown in jail. Laura was on her own for exposing Talea, although she didn’t think she would have helped either way in all reality.
“And Mindy…did she play a part in this?”
“Not really,” Laura bemoaned.
You bitch, you throw me under the bus but not Mindy? I wish I was holding the knife, I’d gut you my damn self.
“I’m going to make sure you never give another blowjob…whether real or made up.”
“What are you going to do?” Laura was nervous and helpless.
Callis had meant only to scare Laura but misjudged badly as she thrust the top half of Laura down towards the sink. She had meant to pull up short and merely frighten the girl. She was just as surprised from the impact of Laura’s teeth on the porcelain sink as Talea and Laura herself were. Callis jerked Laura back to a standing position, blood poured from her split lip, but that did little to hide the splinters of her two front teeth that had been reduced to shards. Blood and bits of her pearly whites littered the bathroom floor.
Laura was moaning, her eyes were closing, and she looked about ready to pass out.
“Damn!” Callis said, looking at the mess.
Talea heard the sickening crunch of bone on ceramic. She cautiously peered under the stall door from her vantage point. She could see Laura’s feet and the burgeoning pool of blood. She placed her hand over her mouth to stifle the cry of surprise.
Callis slapped Laura awake. Her eyes flew open in a start. “You tell anyone what happened here and I’ll kill you, I swear I will. You understand?” Callis asked in a panic. She looked back towards the door, wanting to be away from this scene as quickly as possible.
Laura’s eyes were wide with fear but she nodded.
Callis released her grip. Laura nearly folded in on herself but grabbed the blood-slicked edge of the sink to keep from going down.
An intense facial tic pulled up the left side of Callis’ face, giving her a lopsided sneer. She rubbed it frantically until it released. Her face went slack momentarily and then sprang back into its former position. If she hadn’t known any better she would have sworn she’d just suffered a stroke. She departed as quickly as she had come in. Talea waited until she heard the door close and then a moment longer just in case Callis thought better of leaving a live witness. Somewhere in the back of Callis’ mind she knew what she was doing was taking its toll on her body. But like the Surgeon General’s warning on a pack of smokes, she ignored it.
“Holy shit, Laura, are you alright?” Talea slipped out of the stall, doing her best to sound genuine.
“Where were you?” Laura asked, her face pale.
“I’ll get help,” Talea told her, not wanting to personally help Laura stand lest she get blood over her new top.
“I think she fell,” Talea said to Mr. Asbury.
The football coach lifted her lip up to look at the damage. “Come on, let’s get you down to the nurses’ office. That’s going to be some serious dental work. I thought you cheerleaders were graceful?” he asked as he half carried her down the hallway.
It seemed that the entire student body had turned out to watch as Laura’s rapidly swelling face was led to the nurse’s station. Laura nearly collapsed when she saw Callis staring at her, and quickly turned away.
“What the hell happened to her?” Mindy asked, coming late to the viewing party.
Talea grabbed Mindy’s hand. “Come on I’ve got to tell you something.”
“Is it juicier than this? Because I’m loving the karmatic justice of this whole thing. Her face is busted up.”
“What if I can tell you how it happened?”
“Okay…that’s pretty juicy, let’s go.”
Talea began to relate how she was in the bathroom when Callis and Laura had come in and that they were fighting. She had difficulty gauging Mindy’s reaction, whether or not she believed the probability of this chance encounter. She moved on quickly, not giving Mindy much time to reflect upon it.
“They were going at it, Mindy – yelling and screaming – and then Laura got real quiet. I think Callis had pulled a knife.”
“A knife, are you sure?”
“Not a hundred percent, but Callis threatened to kill her if she kept spreading lies and then Callis must have grabbed the back of Laura’s head and smashed it into the sink. It sounded so disgusting.”
“You didn’t help?” Mindy asked.
“She’s not my friend.”
Mindy seemed pleased with the response. “So the Rose has thorns…how interesting.”
“Should we go to the cops with this story and have her thrown in jail? She scares me, Mindy.”
“What are you afraid of? You’re not the one telling everyone you blew my brother. No, we let this keep going. Maybe we’ll get lucky and Callis will go to jail for life for killing Laura.”
You really are a cold-hearted bitch, Talea thought. “Sounds good,” is what she said.
“Did you see Laura’s face?” Kevin asked. “She looked like she tried to kiss a truck. I know she’s an ass, and I’m pissed she spread those rumors, but I wouldn’t have wished that on anyone.”
“Me neither,” Callis said nervously.
“You alright? You seem a little jumpy,” Kevin asked as they walked home.
“I’m fine. Just the rumor and then Laura; a lot happened today. I hope she’s alright. You’re right, nobody deserves that.” But I think I’d do it again…serves the bitch right. Callis did not like the direction her thoughts were taking her and quickly moved past them.
“Hey, I didn’t want to tell you this.”
“Please, not another surprise. I don’t think I can take it.”
“No, no, it’s a good one I hope. I won’t be in school tomorrow. I’m going to go take my driver’s license test. I didn’t want to tell you in case I didn’t pass. Getting held back in the first grade might just work out for me. I’ll be the only freshman in high school with my license.”
“Funny. You’ll be fine.” She smiled. “So you’ll be driving me home tomorrow then?”
“You bet. Thanks Callis. I’m glad you didn’t believe Laura.”
A part of me did. “I trust you like no other.” They kissed and he headed home.
Callis sat down heavily on the front step of the trailer’s porch
. The events of the day weighing heavily on her. She was more concerned about the trouble she could get in if Laura ratted her out than the act of actually hurting the girl. She had it coming, she rationalized.
A pigeon landed not more than ten feet from her. It pecked once at the ground, then looked up at Callis. Callis seized it before she even thought about doing it. The bird became rigid; its eyes darting about wildly. Its small heart was hammering in its chest, FLY, FLY, FLY! its repetitive urgent message. Callis ‘moved’ a little deeper into the bird, she touched the wildly slamming heart, she grabbed it and began to psychically squeeze it. The bird’s heart tempo at first increased then suddenly it stopped without warning, as Callis clenched hard. The bird fell over dead, its heart burst, her control lost with the death of the winged rat.
The connection was not severed quickly enough as she felt the finger of death mark her. It was a cold spot on the center of her forehead and it would be three hot showers later before it would begin to fade.
Laura missed the remainder of the school week and most of the next; the extensive dental work and the damage to her lip would need weeks to heal. But that did not keep her from her phone. The wound created a noticeable lisp, which drove Talea crazy when they spoke, so she made sure that the majority of their communication was through texts.
“Can you believe what she did to me?” Laura was almost in tears; something she had been close to constantly since her meeting with Callis in the bathroom. The stress had been more then she could bear. She had never felt so powerless in her entire life.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have tried to sleep with her boyfriend and then spread rumors,” Talea replied, still pissed off that Laura had given her name up to the psycho, who so far thankfully had not approached her. Talea hadn’t used the school facilities since. She’d almost had two accidents, but she would not chance it. She had even left the school grounds once so she could race home and use her own bathroom when her cycle had started rather than risking Callis Rose. It had cost her one Saturday of in-school suspension, but that was infinitely more preferable than any alternative scenario involving Callis.
“It was your idea,” Laura sobbed.