Forty-One

I woke up on the day I was going home for summer vacation with a terrible headache. I sat up, only then realizing I was naked. And that I wasn’t in my room.

Huh, this was a new dilemma I never thought I’d be in.

I tried to remember what had happened last night, but to no luck. I could only remember up to…

I turned in my Spanish exam, just then realizing that freshmen year was over. I didn’t have to deal with any of these classes anymore. I didn’t have to come home to an empty dorm anymore or have to deal with people’s antagonizing stares.

Of course, it was just for three months, and for those three months I would have to deal with Derek and a painful family vacation.

I couldn’t decide whether summer or school was worse.

Then there was Mitchel. Or rather, the lacking of Mitchel. After what had happened, he had left Sunview. When Ms. Thomas had asked Oliver about it in Biology, Oliver had stared right at me and said that Mitchel had transferred out of the school.

Afterward, instead of pairing up Earnestine and Cassie’s partner, she had split Oliver and I up and paired Oliver with Earnestine, and myself with Cassie’s partner. When I asked Ms. Thomas about it, she had simply said that she had thought it was the best idea.

As in Oliver had asked to be switched. I knew that for certain.

Now, the only people who were nice to me were Joe and Mr. Thompson. Sometimes I wondered why Mr. Thompson was so nice to me when I was just another freshmen, but it didn’t bother me anyway. I was glad I was going to have him as a Dean for the next three years.

Of course, I thought that until Mr. Thompson had been dethroned. After he had voiced his suspicions about a Houseparent having something to do with Cassie’s death (I was still curious about why he suspected this), he had asked the police station to interrogate them. The police didn’t think it was necessary, so he had taken it upon himself to politely question all of them.

One Houseparent had complained, and it completely blew up to the point where they didn’t want Mr. Thompson to be such a big power in the school anymore. He was still a teacher, but that was it. He had been replaced by a younger asshole. Great.

As I walked to my locker to clean out the last of my books and all of my decorations, I suddenly noticed a folded up piece of paper on the floor by the wall. I picked it up, running my fingers over the symbols.

It would have been gibberish to any Unpopular, but I had been the one to help create the language. Derek had wanted a way to inform certain people of parties, to keep out crashing upperclassmen and all the geeks. He said it was also preparation for when we would be seniors. I had helped him with it.

From the note, I could tell that the party started at night, which was obvious, and that it was at the beach house.

For some reason, this gave me a spark of rebellion. Crashing a party sounded pretty exciting. Who put the invitation in my locker didn't matter; I couldn’t wait to ruin at least one person’s night.

I spent the rest of the day planning my outfit and packing, since our parents were coming to sign us out tomorrow. I kept my black halter dress with rainbow straps and my converses out, deciding I might as well stand out as much as possible.

Once seven o’clock rolled around, I slipped on the dress and my converses, putting my hair up in a bun. Now that it was late June, it was finally hot and reminiscent of the true California. I was enjoying every minute of it.

I grabbed my cell phone and put it in my pocket, walking out into the dorm hall. People lounged around near the walls, writing on each other’s boards, wishing everyone a happy summer. When they saw me walk past, the gossip started.

“Was she really invited to that party?”

“Derek is her stepbrother after all.”

“Maybe she’ll tell us where it is.”

I had learned to ignore it all, even as I walked across the parking lot in the pitch dark. No wonder nobody found out the hiding place of the parties. You could only see other people heading for the party once you were actually at the parking lot.

People continued to whisper, though now it was more loud and in a “I don’t give a crap” way, which I admired. At least these weren’t wannabes. They didn’t care about my well-being or what I did. It didn’t stop them from gossiping, though. But what did?

The second I saw even a tiny hint of light from the beach house, I could hear T-Pain playing. I didn’t want to go inside just yet, so I walked through the trees to the beach, where there were party lights and people swimming in the shallowest part of the lake.

I sat down in the sand, draping my arms across my knees. Despite all the swearing and obnoxious yelling I could hear from the party, and all the people going wild around me, I managed to block it out.

I looked over, and saw Derek hanging out with a boy I didn’t know, and when I looked to the patio of the beach house, I saw Micael, sitting on one of the beach chairs. I smiled at him, even though he wasn’t looking at my direction in the least. I stood up, walking towards the beach house, right past him.

Once I was inside, I saw Tyler making his entrance as well, dragging a slightly terrified looking boy after him. “Let me introduce you to my dear younger brother, Coonie!” he was announcing, his arm around the boy’s neck in a death grip. “He’ll be attending Sunview as a freshmen next year. Give him a warm welcome!”

Tyler was getting weirder and weirder, I thought with amusement, wondering if I should take my chances with whatever drinks they were serving. I decided not to.

“What are you doing here?” a voice demanded, and I turned around to see the brilliantly fake blonde hair of Earnestine.

“Hey Earnie, what’s up?” I asked with a smile.

“You weren’t invited,” she said in a low voice.

“You’re right, I’m crashing,” I said with a shrug. “Thought I’d have some fun.”

“Why don’t you just leave?” she asked with a snarl. “Nobody wants you here anyway, Solomon.”

“But without me, there is no drama at this school,” I said. “It’s my duty to stir things up. What’s your problem with me, anyway? What did I ever do to you?”

Earnestine simply turned around and walked over to Tyler, who attempted to kiss her before she pushed him away.

I knew she didn’t have an answer. She went with the crowd. She did the extreme of what everyone else was doing. I never did anything to her.

I realized just how thirsty I was, and I sighed, getting an empty cup and going over to the sink to get a glass of water.

I sighed at how refreshing it was, and marked my cup before turning around to watch the crowd.

I found myself interested in the people dancing, and I went over to the other counter to watch while the song began to wind down. Once it was finished, I turned back to my cup, making sure it was mine before taking a big gulp from it.

It tasted disgusting and I frowned at it. After that, my memory blanked.

It was confirmed. I was not a virgin anymore.

It was assumed, anyway. I was sore, I wasn’t wearing any clothes, and I felt severely violated.

Despite how traumatizing it actually was, I couldn’t bring myself to cry. After all the shit that had happened, it didn’t seem worth it. I was only in moderate shock.

I found my clothes and slipped them on, walking out into forest, with the sun peaking out through the trees, causing my headache to double.

What made this walk back to the school slightly less creepy was that I had seen at least five kids on the way. Three were conscious and making their way back or soaking up the beach before they had to leave, but the other two looked peacefully passed out on beach chairs.

The second I walked into Green Hall, Galegos grabbed my arm. “Um, hey, what’s up?” I asked, giving her trouble so she actually needed to drag me.

“Where were you last night? Can you get any rules through your thick skull?” she exclaimed. “My office, now.”

“Dude, there are like, fifteen other kids walking around drunkenly. I’m the only one who’s actually level-headed.” Not necessarily true, but whatever.

She walked over to desk once we were in her office, and I rested my palms on her desk.

“Well, it’s too late now, I caught you,” Galegos said, tapping her fingers once she was seated at her desk, staring at me. I sat down in her seat, copying the tapping. “Are you going to explain yourself?”

“Yes, I went to this whole beach house party to crash it. I was planning on pissing off a few people by doing nothing in particular. Easy, right?” I said, and she waved her hand.

“Go on.”

I took a deep breath, the actuality of what had happened the night before fully sinking in. “Nothing happened. I fell asleep."

“Well then," Galegos said after giving me a hard stare-down. "I’ll pass on your suspended privileges to Terry.”

“Terry?” I asked.

“Mr. Leon, to you,” Galegos said with a smirk. “The new Dean. I must say, he’s a fine replacement. I never trusted Mr. Thompson. Such a loose cannon.”

I bit the inside of my mouth, willing myself to keep quiet. I had gotten in enough trouble already. I still wanted to get into a good college.

“What are my suspended privileges?” I asked once I had taken ten deep breaths.

“You’ll find out, now won’t you?” Galegos said with a smile. “That is all, Miss Solomon.”

“Thank you for this chat, Dean Galegos. It was beautiful,” I said, flashing her an even faker smile as I spun on my heel and marched out of the door.

I climbed the stairs, worn out. I just wanted to take a Tylenol and fall asleep until the alarm clock woke me up to take me back to sunny California.

The second I reached my door, I noticed something wrong with it. It took me a moment because my brain was on lock-down, but when I realized what it said, I let out a deep breath of air, trying to calm myself again.

A blown-up picture of me and someone impossible to recognize making out was pasted against my door, and under it was, “BRIDGET: THE SCHOOL SKANK.”

People had already noticed it, laughing and pointing. I smirked at them. “You guys are so horny, one of you can take it and wank off to it in your bedroom. I didn’t know I was that loved.” I glared at each one of them before tearing the poster down and walking inside my dorm.

I put the picture in my backpack to later examine it and see if maybe, by some miracle, I could recognize him. It was so dark you could barely tell the color of the guy’s hair, which would have been at least slightly helpful.

I got changed out of my disgusting party clothes and threw on shorts and a top before I collapsed on my bed, ready to go and fall asleep all at the same time.

I must have really passed out, because the next thing I knew, Joe was knocking on my door. “Bridge, we have to go!” he yelled.

I gurgled something unrecognizable back at him, sitting up and running a hand through my hair.

He opened it, going straight to my bags. “Why did someone write that on your door?” he asked, picking up both of my suitcases.

“Don’t you know? I am just that popular here,” I said.

Joe laughed, but it was forced. “Freshmen are bitches. No offense.”

“None taken in the least,” I replied, picking up my backpack. “How’s Derek?”

“Silent as ever now that he has to deal with his family,” Joe with a humorless smile, as we made our way downstairs. “I heard he was quite boisterous at that party last night, too.”

“It sure did seem like it,” I said, as we made our way downstairs. “How’s that new Dean?”

“He’s terrible, honestly,” Joe said. “I’m really sorry you never knew how amazing Mr. Thompson was.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said with a sigh. “But, hey, I already got my schedule for next year, and at least I have him for World History.”

“Considering I’m his best student, you’ll be automatically a favorite.” Joe turned around and winked at me, just as we walked outside to the rented car.

I snorted. “Mmhm. Where’s Mom and Tony, anyway?”

“Galegos called them for a conference.”

I stopped. “Oh, shit.”

Joe rolled his eyes, dropping my bags in the car. “You pissed off Galegos again, didn’t you?”

“Yes, basically I did,” I said, embarrassed as I put my backpack in the back seat.

“Oh, and they have a surprise for us, too. Some life-altering thing.”

“We’re moving to Tokyo!” I guessed, excited. I gave him a hopeful look, but he simply laughed.

“Not so much, but that would be kind of cool.”

“Sugar muffin!” Zoey screeched, running up to Joe and wrapping her arms around his neck. “I can see why people call their lovers that. It gives me warm fuzzy feelings whenever I say it.”

“Mm, I need a cheesy nickname for you, too, then,” Joe said, turning around and giving her a kiss.

“You know, I’d rather not see my brother maul somebody in public,” I said, crossing my arms.

“Oh, hi Bridget,” Zoey said, turning around to grin at me. “We haven’t gotten to talk much. We should definitely chat over the summer. Did Joey tell you I’m coming to visit?”

I stared at Joe.

“Zoey is coming to visit,” he coughed. “It’ll be so exciting.”

“Our family is too dysfunctional for exciting.”

“Oh, boy, you should see mine now,” Zoey muttered, giving Joe a final hug. “See you in July.”

“Bye, schmookins,” he said.

“That doesn’t work,” she said, wincing.

“Really? I find it endearing.”

“You have really bad taste,” she said, laughing before waving at me. “Bye, Bridget.”

“Bye,” I mumbled, watching her skip back behind Green Hall to her own dorm room. “She’s cheery.”

“She really knows how to make the best of a bad situation,” Joe corrected. “You should learn from her.”

I gasped. “Me? Little miss sunshine? I’ll have you know I am an extremely peppy person.”

“Peppy isn’t exactly the word I would use,” Joe said, giving me an incredulous look.

“You’re a terrible brother, and that’s that,” I said, crossing my arms and turning around.

I noticed Mr. Thompson packing suitcases in his car, and I called out to him. He waved back, walking over to us.

“Oh, crap, I just realized you’re not my teacher anymore,” Joe gasped. “This is depressing.”

“You could always be an aide,” Mr. Thompson suggested.

“Oh, can I be an aide too?” I asked, grinning.

“You don’t have a study hall for half of next year,” Joe replied with a smirk.

I punched my fist against the air. “Technicalities.”

“You could always help out after school,” Mr. Thompson said. “Being a student in AP and being a teacher are one and the same.”

“Awesome. And I probably won’t have much of a social life.” I gave Joe a high-five, before turning back to Green Hall. Sure enough, I saw Tony and Mom walking up. “And there’s our parents.”

“Home sweet home,” Joe said, and I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

“Well, I better get going,” Mr. Thompson said. “I can’t wait to have you as a student next year, Bridget.”

Just as Mom was slipping out of the passengers seat, she gasped. “John?”

Mr. Thompson did a double-take. “Christina,” he exclaimed. “What a surprise.” He didn’t sound so surprised.

I was not expecting that.

“You guys know each other?” I asked.

Mom’s face when from shocked to relieved as she laughed, but her face was dark. “Well, we may have seen each other a while back.”

“Things were pretty serious,” Mr. Thompson said. Both of their smiles were fake. “But she’s moved on.”

Tony nodded at him, picking up my bags. I was still kind of disgusted by the fact that my Mom was involved with so many men that out of all the schools in the country, there was a teacher at mine that she had dated.

Something else was starting to form in my head, but I shook it away.

“Where’s Derek?” Mom exclaimed, suddenly excited and clapping her hands. Yes, she had forgotten the Galegos meeting.

“Right here,” said a voice I remembered all too clearly. He appeared next to me, setting down his bags.

“Oh, I hope you too have been comforting each other after what happened,” Mom said, suddenly sullen. Someone was becoming bipolar.

I glanced at Derek, who was smiling. “Of course,” he said, wrapping his arm around me and squeezing my shoulder. I smiled as well, but I’m pretty sure it simply distorted my face.

“Anyway,” Mom said, suddenly happy again. “Guess what!”

“I think we’re past the ‘Guess what!’ stage,” I said, crossing my arms. I couldn’t help it; by now I was curious.

“We’re moving to Minnesota!” she said, jumping up and down. Tony put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, but it didn’t help much.

“No!” I exclaimed, just as Joe cried,

“Yes!”

“There’s nothing waiting for us in California,” Mom said. “Tony’s family is in Montana, and I have no family. And this is your school, and I’m sure you’ve grown to love it.”

“It’s like a second home,” I said sarcastically. “But, Mom, I’ve lived in California all my life. Sure, it’s the slut state but it is my slut state.”

“I know how you feel, Bee, but this is for the best. Plus, maybe you won’t board at Sunview anymore, and you could attend as day students.”

Like that was going to happen. Mom wouldn’t be able to stand us for two weeks, let alone a whole year.

“Is this for sure?” Joe asked.

Mom nodded. “The house is bought, and we’ll be moving in by the beginning of July.”

I made a face and opened the car door, getting in. Once we were all settled, I ended up sitting next to Joe and far away from Derek.

As I looked back to see Sunview disappearing behind us, I couldn’t help but miss it. It was like a campus of soap opera. As much as I had truly hated these last couple of months, the months before those had been some of the best of my life.

I guess I could try and focus on the good, but questions still bugged my mind.

Who killed Cassie? Was the whole thing going to pull a television show and become some conspiracy, or was it just some lunatic in the forest?

Who was that terrible to take advantage of a drugged, five foot girl like myself? Or had he been drugged too? Was it someone I knew?

What was the deal with Mr. Thompson’s and Mom’s romance?

Was I really going to have to survive living in Minnesota for the rest of my high school career?

How was I going to deal with Derek for three months?

And most importantly, how did I manage all of this without Mitchel?

Derek was right. Everything was just manufactured perfection. Life was cruel like that. Instead of giving you the good things in small doses, She just gave you all of it at one time and used the string attached to snatch it away as quickly as it was given.

THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED.