(A/N: This is real extreme crap. I wrote it in all of thirty minutes and it’s probably one of my worse stories. Way too emo and sloppy, and just…whiney I guess. So you’ve been warned. I can think of a million ways to fix this and make it better. But please give me YOUR opinion. The prompt for the class was ‘Four people have died within the year, what do they have in common?’)

Teen Funeral Home

“Why is it that it’s like humanly impossible to put mascara on with your mouth shut?” Victoria asked looking into the mirror with an intent expression.

Michelle, seeing that Victoria was done with the mascara pulled the tube out of Victoria’s grasp and started applying the mascara (with her mouth open).

“I dunno, I think it has something to do with how the bones in your face are aligned or something.” Ashling said flipping through the latest issue of Cosmopolitan. “But that’s not important, the real issue here is should I get highlights over the summer? She pulled on a strand of her light brown hair.

“Well, everyone else is.” Victoria said still looking in the mirror. “You can come with me when I get mine. My stylist is awesome; he always makes my hair look like perfection.”

“Well, I kinda wanted to go to Hayden’s stylist.” Ashling said, “I mean our hair types are pretty similar.” Ashling knew the second the words came out of her mouth that she had said the wrong thing.

Victoria was sucking her cheeks in, something she only did when she was pissed.

“Oh, so Hayden has better hair than me, huh?” Victoria said finally breaking eye contact with the mirror and turning around.

“No, of course not!” Ashling said, “It’s just that you’re a honey blond and I’m a sandy brown.”

“Yeah Vic, everyone knows you’re hair is prettier.” Hayden said, “My hair is just like blah.”

“Yeah, blah!” Michelle said nodding along with Ashling and Hayden, “You’re the best.”

“That’s not what you said about cheerleading,” Victoria said glowering at Michelle. “But look whose captain of the squad, not me!”

“That’s just because people are threatened by you,” Michelle said. “You’re like ten times better than me!”

“I am pretty good, aren’t I?” Victoria said turning back around and smiling at the mirror.

“You’re phenomenal!” Hayden said.

“Hayden, I know you’re smart and everything, but don’t use those SAT words around me!” Victoria said narrowing her eyes.

“Right, sorry Vic,” Hayden said sitting on the bed with Ashling.

“No biggie,” Victoria said scrunching her nose and smiling. “So, are you guys coming to my house after the party?” Victoria asked changing the subject.

“Duh!” Ashling said and Michelle nodded.

“I’m not sure if I can even go to the party in the first place.” Hayden said twirling her hair around her finger and trying to avoid eye contact with Victoria.

“Of course you’re going, just sneak out if your mom says no. Duh!” Victoria said.

“I’m already in trouble from last time,” Hayden said. “I really need to fly under the radar.”

“But it’s the New Years party!” Ashling said. “And its Luke’s New Years party, everyone is going!”

“Yeah!” Michelle said. “You’ll be like optermerics from our social society.”

“I think you mean ostracized,” Hayden said.

“Whatever!” Michelle said. “You’re already not like normal because of your smartness and stuff, you can’t add to your social awkwardness by not going to Luke’s New Years party!”

“But…” Hayden started to argue.

“But nothing, you’re going to sleep over and go to the party and have fun!” Victoria said posing in front of the mirror like a model.

Hayden knew then that she was going because no one ever argued with Victoria.

“I have to call my mom,” Hayden said.

“NO!” Ashling said. “If you don’t ask she can’t say no, but if you do ask she can say no, so don’t ask!”

“She’ll worry,” Hayden said.

“Let her worry, your mom is such a bitch,” Victoria said smiling into the mirror and flipping her hair.

“Yeah, she’s always like blah, blah Hayden be a genius blah, blah,” Michelle said.

“My mom wasn’t popular when she was young,” Hayden said. “So, she just doesn’t get it sometimes.”

“My mom was just like me,” Victoria said. “Fun, flirty, sexy, and popular.

“Your mom is still like that,” Ashling said.

“She tries to be anyways,” Victoria said rolling her eyes. “She is such a hanger-on, I think she thinks she still our age. It’s pathetic.”

“Well I’d rather have your mom than my mom,” Michelle said. “My mom wants to be just like she was in high school, she actually gave me some of her old clothes, gah-ross!”

“Ew, that is nasty, but at least your mom isn’t running around spying on her ex-husband’s new wife like my mom,” Ashling said. “She is obsessed, I swear!”

“Well I mean my mom is okay,” Hayden said.

“Honey please your mom is the worse” Victoria said turning away from the mirror “Anywayz, it’s settled; you’re going to the party, and no calling mommy to ask for permission!”

“Okay, I’ll be so grounded though, so don’t expect to hang for a while after this”

“Yeah, but it’ll be so worth it!” Ashling said “Brendon Urie is gonna be there and Therese Cruz, you know Matt Sander’s girlfriend? Told me that Matt told her that Kevin Wilbanks, you know Brendon Urie’s best friend? Well Kevin told Matt that Brendon told him that he’s totally digging you! And it has to be true since Kevin is Brendon’s best friend!”

“Brendon Urie, the track star?” Michelle asked, grabbing a bottle of “Pretty In Pink” nail polish.

“How many Brendon Uries do you know?!” Ashling said.

“But I thought Victoria said she has dibs.” Michelle said crossing her arms and watching as Victoria who had turned back towards the mirror narrowed her eyes and turned back around, her back now against the mirror.

“Yeah Ashling, I believe I said that like two weeks ago!” Victoria said.

“Well yeah but…I though that since he didn’t really show any interest that you have moved on” Ashling said

“Well you thought wrong, so stop trying to set up my best friend with my future boyfriend, K?!”

“I wouldn’t worry Vic, I’m totally not into Brendon especially since you’re so totally into him, that would make me a heinous best friend.” Hayden said smiling at Victoria.

Victoria crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes “I told you to stop using those SAT words! Geeze! And what about what Ashling said about Brendon saying he liked you?! You totally stole him away from me didn’t you? I totally thought you were my BFF!”

“Why do you listen to Ashling, her gossip is always 100 wrong anywayz, personally I wouldn’t worry if I was you.” Hayden said glaring at Ashling for starting the drama about Brendon in the first place.

“Oh I’m not worried; Brendon would be a complete moron for not liking me. He totally likes me! He’s obviously trying to load my thoughts with uncertainty and kill my self esteem by acting like he’s not interested so that I’ll sleep with him faster, but that totally is not gonna work this time. I learned my lesson!” Victoria said turning back towards the mirror.

“Too bad he doesn’t realize that killing your self esteem is mission impossible.” Hayden said smiling. “Everyone knows that any guy would kill to have you.”

“I know.” Victoria said smiling into the mirror.

Later that night the four girls climbed into Victoria’s Hummer and drove the three miles it takes to get to Luke’s house. They were over an hour late and the party was in full swing when they finally arrived. Some random pop song was playing as they entered the house.

“Hey Victoria!” Two girls called out as Victoria walked past. Victoria smiled and gave a small wave (she called this wave her princess Diana wave).

“Yo Vicki wassup!” A group of boys surrounding a keg yelled, they were already drunk and looking to get drunker.

“Hey boys!” Victoria said smiling and flipping her hair.

Everywhere the group walked people shouted greetings to Victoria, sometimes giving the other three girls a small wave or smile. Victoria was always the center of everything.

“Oh I see some strawberry daiquiris with our names on them!” Victoria shouted over the loud blasting music.

“Hey ladies!” Ryan Ross said smiling at them “What’s your poison?”

“Oh Ry Ry, you know we always start out with something light and then get heavy, do you ever have to ask?” Victoria said smiling as Ryan handed the girls their strawberry daiquiris.

“Enjoy and please come back soon.” Ryan said winking at Victoria.

“Sweetie, you know I will.” Victoria said walking off and linking arms with Hayden.

Victoria took a huge gulp of her daiquiri and watched as Hayden took a small sip.

“Oh my GOD! Just drink the damn thing, why are you always such a chicken about drinking?” Victoria said rolling her eyes at Hayden.

“Sorry Vic.” Hayden took her glass and chugged the rest of the daiquiri in three big gulps.

“Now that’s more like it!” Victoria said nodding and going back to the open bar, getting a drink for Hayden as well.

As the night progressed the drinks got heavier and heavier, Hayden stopped after her fourth drink but the rest of the girls just kept drinking more and more.

“Hey Hayden, me and Ashling are gonna go circulate the room, k? You stay with Victoria and keep her out of trouble!” Michelle said stumbling away. Hayden wondered who would keep them out of trouble.

“Oh my GOD! I am so totally wasted” Victoria said slurring her words and bit and laughing.

“Just a bit” Hayden said gripping Victoria’s arm to keep her from falling.

Victoria started laughing “Wow, you are like so totally funny, you know? You’re like my bestest friend ever, you know? I like totally love you, in a totally non lesbian way you know? But like sometimes I like really hate you too, you know? I get so mixed up sometimes but like I really do like love you, because most people wouldn’t put up with my crap, you know? But you do! I am such a bitch sometimes, but you’re still my friend, and that is like true friendship, you know?” Victoria tried to hugged Hayden but it was more like she was hanging onto Hayden so she wouldn’t fall. Hayden felt dizzy from the drinking and Victoria’s weight and Victoria’s speech.

“Um…I love you too” Hayden said struggling not to drop Victoria.

“See, you’re so good to me! So many girls hate me and I think it’s because they all know that I’m like so much better than them and I really can’t help it, but I try to be nice you know? But no body cares they always have to say something negative, it really hurts, you know?” Victoria said swinging back and forth.

“Totally!” Hayden said.

“Oh look! There’s my sexy Brendon coming over!” Victoria said clapping her hands and smiling

“Hey sexy Brendon!” Victoria put her arm on Brendon’s shoulder.

“Victoria! You look…really drunk.” Brendon said smiling and quirking and eyebrow at Hayden.

“Oh I am!” Victoria giggled “Do you know what you look like?”

“No, what?” Brendon asked smiling

“You look like my future husband” Victoria said her fingers were wiggling towards Brendon’s stomach.

“Well…who knows you know?” Brendon said stepping back a little.

“Oh I know Mr. Sexy pants!” Victoria looked like she was about to giggle but instead leaned forward, retched and threw up the entire contents of her stomach all over Brendon.

“Oh God!” Victoria said looking up at Brendon and then at Hayden, “Take me home now!”

“Okay…let me find Michelle and Ashling first okay? Brendon could you take Victoria out to her car?” Hayden said

“Stop being a doofus! Everyone knows I drive a Hummer, not some crappy car.” Victoria said as Brendon scooped her up.

“Right!” Hayden said smiling at her.

Hayden walked away from Victoria before she could say anything else. Hayden walked upstairs, trying to find Ashling and Michelle. No such luck. All she found was a bunch of pothead smoking a bong and a group of girls comforting another girl who found her boyfriend making out with the foreign exchange student from Russia (“He told me he hated communists!”). Downstairs there were only couples making out or people involved in some type of drinking game. The only place she hadn’t looked was the basement. The light in the basement was dim but she could hear voices downstairs and decided that the creepy basement was worth at least a look. As Hayden walked down the stairs of the basement, Michelle and Ashling came into full view. They were playing poker. Strip poker. And they were both down to nothing but their underwear. Hayden thanked God for letting her find them when they still had some sort of coverage.

“Okay…games over.” Hayden said “Time to go home!”

“But Hayden we’re winning this time, honest!” Ashling said smiling. Hayden knew from Ashling’s smile that they were in fact not winning and were probably losing. Hayden also sensed that everyone in the room knew they were losing.

“Too bad, Ashling, Vic is sick and we need to get home.” Hayden said.

“Hey, if the babes wanna stay, let ‘em stay, you know?” Said some guy who looked like a greasy burrito.

“I don’t think so buddy.” Hayden said

Michelle giggled. “Oh My GOD Hayden! You just said Vic is sick! You like totally rhymed, you’re a poet and you didn’t even know it.”

“Yeah…real cute Michelle.” Hayden said “Now let’s go.”

“But we need to win back our clothes!” Michelle said “He won’t give them back unless we win.” Michelle pointed at greasy burrito.

“He can keep them, this is probably the first and last time he’ll ever get to see any girl in her underwear, he needs a memento.” Hayden said grabbing Michelle and Ashling by the wrists and dragging them out of the basement.

“Call me sexy!” Michelle yelled to greasy burrito.

“You must have intense beer goggles.” Hayden said.

“Totally!” Michelle said “…Wait, what?!”

Hayden ignored Michelle and Ashling and pulled them through the house stumbling and almost falling several times. It took forever to get outside but once they did Hayden spotted Brendon throwing Victoria into the passenger’s seat.

“Oh crap!” Hayden said as Ashling and Michelle climbed into the back seat “Whose gonna drive?!”

“You are, stupid.” Victoria said leaning her face against the head rest.

“I’ve been drinking too!” Hayden said.

“Oh please…you’re not in the least bit drunk. I live like three flipping miles away; I think you can handle it.” Victoria said.

“Let’s just call one of our parents.” Hayden said “They’ll be proud of us that we made the right decision not to drink and drive and maybe we won’t get punished.”

“Where do you live? Fairy land?” Michelle said from the back seat “That kind of crap may work on teen soap operas but in reality it’s not gonna work. You’re mom would kill you and you know it.”

“Yeah…I really don’t want to hear you’re mom bitch at all of us, so just flipping drive.” Victoria said slamming the door shut.

“What do you think I should do?” Victoria said looking at Brendon.

“I don’t want you to get into trouble…so I think you should just drive. You’ll be fine. What could happen in three miles?” Brendon said.

“Do you think I’ll be okay?” Hayden asked.

“Yeah…you’ll be fine. If I thought you weren’t able to drive I would never let you drive, but you’re pretty much sober, so just go home and stay out of trouble.” Brendon said opening the driver’s side door for her.

“Okay…if you’re sure” Hayden climbed in the driver’s seat and cranked the car.

“You’ll be fine.” Brendon said shutting the door.

Hayden smiled and waved at him as she backed out of the driveway.

That was the last time anyone ever saw them alive.

Jackson Tyler stared down at the four girls. Of course, he recognized them from the newspaper and newscasts of the last few days. The town of Windsor had been shattered the morning after New Years to hear the newscasts that Windsor’s sweethearts had a head on collision with an eighteen wheeler. Windsor had been further shocked to learn that the accident was their sweetheart’s fault. Hayden Smith, cheerleader, student council president, debate team president and all around good girl had been driving under the influence of alcohol and had swerved into the other lane, hitting the huge truck head on. While Hayden had enough alcohol in her system to be considered illegal, the other three girls had enough to be tested four times over the legal limit. It was a wonder that alcohol poisoning hadn’t killed them first.

The high school was going to be closed an extra week after Christmas because of their deaths. The administration thought that they needed time to heal after such a horrific event.

After staring at the girls for several more moments, Jackson turned to smile at Sophia Kingston.

“You did a fantastic job with the make up; you can’t even tell that Victoria West had half of her face ripped off in the accident.”

“Thanks! You know the make up techniques these days are just fantastic. I basically just took some plastic and molded it into a mask, then carefully painted it to match the other side and ta da! She’s fixed!” Sophia said, touching Victoria’s face gently.

“Mr. Tyler, one of the deceased’s parents wants to speak with you.” Holly Jameson, Jackson’s secretary said popping her head into the lab but staying back as far as possible.

“Well…I’ll leave you to it.” Jackson said smiling at Sophia.

Jackson Tyler was the only mortician in Windsor and owned the only funeral home in Windsor. He was only twenty-four and considered himself to be one of the most successful men in Windsor. Needless to say he was the most used mortician in Windsor. The closest funeral home outside of Windsor was fifty miles away.

Jackson stepped into the well lit room outside of the lab and saw a couple, a man who looked to be around fifty and a woman who also looked fifty but was trying to look twenty. He recognized them as Theodore and Monica West, Victoria’s parents. He strode over confidently and shook their hands.

“How are you doing today?” Jackson said looking from Theodore to Monica. Theodore was pale white and looked like a scared little boy, while Monica looked devoid of any emotion. Jackson saw those kinds of faces everyday. They were the faces of the grieving and hopeless.

“We’re fine.” Theodore said speaking for himself and his wife. “We were just wanted you to know that we-“ Theodore looked like he was about to cry but cleared his throat “-We picked out a coffin for our baby.”

“Victoria loved pink, so we chose the white ivory with the pink cushions.” Monica said gripping Theodore’s hand.

“I’m sure she’d be very pleased.” Jackson said.

“I doubt it. Victoria hated anything serious and coffins are serious. She was always so happy and bright and cherry.” Monica said, looking straight ahead.

“Yes, I heard she had a lot of friends.” Jackson said “If you want, you can tell my secretary, Holly about your decision.”

“I’ll go do that.” Theodore said, hoping to get away and catch a moment to himself.

“Victoria and Theodore used to be so close…” Monica said “But…you know how teenage girls are, they get boobs and automatically being around parents is some form of torture. Suddenly going to the ball park with him was so lame and helping him fix up old cars was a punishment. It broke his heart you know? So I tried to compensate, I thought that I could be just like Victoria, you know? Victoria was just like me when I was her age, so I figured being just like Victoria at my age wouldn’t be too hard. I thought if I dressed and acted young that maybe Victoria wouldn’t change, that she’d stay our angel, you know. But she pushed me away too.” Monica started crying “Why couldn’t they have called us, told us they’d be drinking and needed a ride home? Was punishment so bad that they’d risk their lives to escape it? Was I that bad of a mother that Victoria couldn’t even trust me enough to pick her up from a stupid party?!”

“Kids don’t think Mrs. West.” Jackson said, thinking of all the times he was a jackass to his own parents and promising himself he’d call them later.

“I tried so hard. I thought…hey she’s wearing this, if I get it then maybe we could bond. But she’d just roll her eyes and I knew she thought I was a loser. And I am” Monica said, wiping her eyes. “Now my baby’s gone and we’ll never get a chance to be close again. I’ve been mourning for her since she was twelve years old and decided that me and Theodore were the worse parents alive.”

“All kids do that, Mrs. West, it wasn’t you.” Jackson said “I did it, you probably don’t remember, but ask your parents and I’m sure they’d tell you that you treated them like crap. It’s just something that the hormones do to kids before they’re adults. They have to be jerks for a while.”

“But Victoria will never get a chance to realize that we were okay, that we at least tried.” Monica said.

“She always knew. She just didn’t want to admit it.”

“Well…I better go find Theodore, He’s probably having his own break down somewhere…I need to be there for him. Thank you Mr. Tyler.” Monica said trying to smile.

“No problem.” Jackson said watching as Monica walked away but then stop in the middle of the hall.

“Does it look like I’ve been crying; I don’t want Theodore to know. Someone needs to be strong.” Monica asked turning around and touching her face.

“You look like you haven’t shed a tear in years.” Jackson said lying through his teeth.

The four girls would have one big combined funeral for the general public to pay their respects and then four smaller ones for just a limited amount of people. Newscasters would be filming the big funeral. The town was acting like these girls were their own personal Princess Diana. Maybe they were.

Jackson remembered how his little sister had talked of these four girls. They were the school bitches, they were the teen queens, and they were what every girl dreamed of being. They were most likely the loneliest girls in school. Jackson remembered the same type of girls when he was in high school. Every girl wanted to be them, so in turn every girl hated them. Two days after they died and their parents announced that they would be using Jackson Tyler’s funeral home, he received a phone call from his sixteen year old sister.

“Jackson?” Tessa had said, her voice sounded muffled and weak.

“Tessa? What’s wrong?” Jackson had almost not answered the phone when he saw that it was just his little sister. Hearing her voice made him glad that he decided to take a chance and see what she wanted.

“Are they really dead?” Tessa had whispered.

“Who? You mean those girls? Well…yeah” Jackson said.

“Oh God!” Tessa had started crying.

“Tessa, you hated those girls, you were always telling me how rude they were and how stuck up they were. You can’t even tell me that suddenly you’ve seen the light and now you think they’re wonderful saints.” Jackson had said

“I know what I said! And it was true, but they’ll never get a chance to grow up and be better people, isn’t that sad Jackson. They’ll never be able to fix themselves.”

“That’s life Tessa, sometimes people don’t have time to change and sometimes even if they do they still don’t change.”

“I know…but…” Tessa tried to go on.

“I know…it’s not fair that they didn’t even get a chance to change.”

“But that’s life too.” Tessa said

“Wise words Tessa.” Jackson said smiling over the phone.

On the day of the funeral, Hayden Smith’s mother came by the funeral home. This was the first time she had ever been. Hayden’s father had been making all the arrangements for his daughter’s funeral.

“You probably think I’m the worse mother in the world” Mrs. Smith said.

“No, I understand, it’s hard dealing with the death of a child.” Jackson said.

“No, you can’t understand. You have no children, and until you do you’ll never understand.” Mrs. Smith said shaking her head.

“I’m sorry.” Jackson said.

“Everyone is.” She said nodding her head. “Hayden got accepted to Columbia, that’s was my school. Hayden was so smart but she always had to hang out with those girls. Don’t get me wrong, they were good girls for the most part. But Hayden wasn’t one of them, she never was. When I first met them, they were twelve. They all looked like model except for Hayden. She had braces and baby fat and pimples. I never noticed that Hayden started looking more and more like them every year. Until one day I almost couldn’t tell them apart. Same hair, same clothes, same make up, same body. Same person almost. Hayden was so insecure. I don’t know why…maybe it’s my fault. It’s probably my fault. In fact I know it’s my fault. Mothers are supposed to make their daughters feel beautiful. I tried to make mine smart.”

“Don’t take the blame.” Jackson said.

“You’re not a parent. Whatever the kids do, it’s always our fault in the end. Please give me a moment with my daughter. I need to tell her that I forgive her.”

Jackson walked out of the room wondering if all relationships were fragile and broken and if it took dying for people to realize how fragile and broken they were.

10