Samantha Brittain

November 20, 2006

Brenner

Fiction 1

Girl/Pom-pom

Polite Bite

They were waiting for her when she stepped out of the bathroom, as she had known they would be. The three young women were dressed in purple and silver cheerleading skirts and blazers identical to her own. They each wear two pairs of nylons, one over the other, to help with warmth on this cold night. The fall chill that was beginning to seep in several weeks ago is now apparent; they can see the clouds of their breath in front of their faces. That isn't the only smoke coming from Carmen, however; she holds a lit cigarette between two perfectly manicured fingers.

"Getting a little too prideful for your own good, wouldn't you say, Erica?" Carmen asks venomously. As the leader and thinker of the group, she does the talking. She has always done the talking, even for Erica. But Erica is suddenly sick of Carmen's hypocritical ways: being oh-so sweet and polite to teachers, parents, and deans and then showing up at drunken parties with bruises on her neck from her football player boyfriend biting her.

What a whore, Erica thinks privately. So cold, so obnoxious, yet at the first sign of interest from a boy, the tits are displayed and she turns on the hundred-watt smile.

Erica tries to walk around Carmen and her two flunkies, Ruth and Jill, but Carmen steps into her path. Hard to believe that a few weeks ago, these girls were her friends. They had done everything together. Now she hates them with a passion.

"And where do you think you're going, little miss?" Carmen chuckled. "You're not getting away from me that easily." Erica moves to shove her, but Carmen simply grabs her arm and plants a ringing slap across Erica's cheekbone.

"Get the fuck away from me while you still can, Carmen. I don't want to play with you anymore."

"You're gonna play with me, bitch. Oh, how we're going to play." Carmen jabs her cigarette into Erica's arm. The pain is awful: Erica yelps and backhands Carmen. And as the fight begins, Erica thinks back on what started all of this.

Erica had gone to a club in the city alone, without anyone knowing. She'd told her parents she was going to a friend's house, and her friends that she was busy studying. She took the train into the city and walked the distance in her high heels and short dress, her coat thrown over it. Shivering, she had entered the club for her kind. The club for lesbians. She couldn't even make herself say it most of the time. She was ashamed of what she was. But at this club she fit in. No one questioned her, and occasionally she would dance with a girl, whether butch or femme. She couldn't help it, she loved women, and had since she was very young.

It was that evening that she saw a girl from her high school. The girl was in her English class, Erica recalled that her name was Melody. Melody had straight, shoulder length hair that was dyed orange and yellow in stripes. She wore spiked and studded jewelry and was dressed in black leather pants and a low cut, sparkling black top. Erica tried to keep the girl from seeing her, ducking behind dancers, but Melody locked eyes with her and smiled. The young goth moved across the dance floor, coming toward her, still smiling. Erica wanted to bolt, but that would be rude. Also, she couldn't take her eyes off of Melody. She had noticed her in English class, with her bold style and many rings. She was attracted to Melody and always had been, but hadn't thought she stood a chance.

"Hi, Erica," Melody said when she reached her, "I hadn't realized you…um…belonged here." Erica smiled, she couldn't have helped it.

"I didn't realize you fit in here, either." She said quietly, smiling. She had decided that she wanted to dance with Melody. Now if only she could find the nerve to ask…

As if on cue, Melody says, "I'm a little nervous asking this, as I don't really know you, but…would you like to dance?" Erica grinned and nodded eagerly.

The two girls stepped onto the floor, but as they did, the music changed to a slow song. Melody glanced shyly at Erica, then put her hands on the girl's waist. Erica smiled and pulled Melody closer to her. Melody's heartbeat doubled. She had noticed Erica in class, but hadn't wanted to ask her to do something with her because she had assumed Erica would be disgusted. Plus, Erica was in the popular clique, and Melody could be classed under the header, "Freak". Erica smiled and Melody smiled back. This was completely surreal, dancing with Erica Lange.

The slow song ended and a song with pounding bass started. The two almost jumped, then stepped apart and began dancing along with the beat, grinning and laughing.

They danced together the entire night, and when Erica had to leave, Melody walked her back to the train station. On the walk, Erica nervously took Melody's hand, expecting her to pull away. Instead, Melody smiled and squeezed her fingers, swinging their hands between them like a delighted little girl. Erica smiled at her and Melody smiled back. They reached the train station.

"So when we go to school on Monday…" Melody started nervously, "Are we friends?" Erica smiled at this and brought Melody's hand to her lips, lightly kissing her fingers. Melody inhaled sharply.

"Yes, we're friends." Erica said. She hoped Melody wanted to be friends. In fact, she hoped Melody wanted to be more than friends, but thought better of asking. They hardly knew each other, but tonight they had started a connection. Erica was reluctant to let go of Melody's hand when they got to the platform, but her train would arrive soon, so she let go.

"Erica…" Melody said softly, and when Erica turned she was standing extremely close. She put her hands on Erica's shoulders then lightly touched her lips to Erica's. A shock had run through Erica's body. Suddenly, she had pulled Melody close and they were kissing harder, Erica's tongue in Melody's mouth, caressing hers. Melody let out a soft moan at the intensity of the kiss and ran her fingers through Erica's hair. They stopped abruptly, hearing the whistle of Erica's train. Melody pulled away.

"I'll see you on Monday," was all she said, then hurried down the platform, glancing back several times and smiling. Erica had felt so warm at that moment that all she wanted was to stay with Melody.

In the weeks that followed, Erica and Melody became inseparable. When Erica took Melody to an Italian restaurant and asked her out, Melody had taken no more than a moment to say yes. They started spending a lot of time together. This had angered Erica's friends, who were used to her spending time with them. Carmen had even seen Erica and Melody together and privately taunted Erica about being a "dyke". And when Erica had been chosen to be the cheerleading captain the next year over Carmen, it had been absolutely the last straw. That was what had lead to this confrontation. That is why they were no longer friends.

Carmen pulls Erica's hair and backhands her, making Erica's ears ring. Enough of this cat fight shit, Erica thinks. Enough with the shoving and clawing. Carmen probably doesn't know how to throw a punch, but I do. She makes a fist and slams it into Carmen's stomach. The cheerleading captain doubles over, wincing. Had she eaten dinner, she would have lost it then and there. But she hadn't, so she doesn't vomit, she just hurts like hell. Erica uses the second she's down to use her elbow to hit Carmen a hard blow on the back of the head. The cheerleader falls.

"Stupid dyke!" she coughs angrily, unable to stand up. A black combat boot crushes her hand into the dirt. Melody is there.

Slinging her leather jacket around Erica's shoulders, Melody says in a harsh, cold voice, "Watch who you're callin' dyke." She pulls her girlfriend away from Carmen and leads her away. Carmen's flunkies back off, not wanting to fight the two of them.

"You ok?" Melody asks, eyeing the burn on Erica's arm. "Let's get that taken care of."

"I'm alright." Erica smiles weakly. "I'm fine, now that you're here."