‘She just did BJ’.
‘No, I head she climbed the pole’. Queenie said, feeling so proud of her innuendo.
Pokello laughed.
‘That is so nasty, then again it’s Anna we are talking about’.

‘Can you girls change the topic please? Who cares if Anna Braxton rode the janitor? Principal Langston always talks about spreading love, it’s about time someone put it into practice’. I said as I collected books from my locker.

‘You think you could send some of that love in my direction?’ I turned to face Zayn and Jake.
‘Hey Zayn… and his sidekick’. I greeted.
‘Heyy Zayn’. Queenie said flirtatiously.
‘Hey girls’. He greeted with a big smile.
‘You look well rested, no signs of that hideous smirk. Enjoying your sweet days of being grounded?’

‘Definitely, June bakes such delicious velvet cupcakes’.
Hearing her name reminded me that I still owed her an apology.

‘Ooh those are legendary, even better when accompanied by vodka’. Pokello said dreamily, food is one of her greatest vibes.
‘You always know a Harden by their wildness’. Zayn said
‘Thanks for the compliment’. Pokello curtseyed.
‘See you ladies around’. He said and walked off.

I locked my locker and turned to face the girls who were all wearing their spill it face.

‘Nothing happened’. I stated.
‘Come on, we can all see that something has changed’. Katie said matter-of-factly.
‘Can’t one just be cool with their in-law?’I asked and they all raised a brow at me.
‘Okay, will you guys stop making that face?’
Just then the bell rang for first period and I sped off to math.

I kept avoiding the girls between classes which wasn’t difficult since I share most of my classes with just Queenie who kept texting me, trying to bribe me to tell her if I was thinking about dropping Travis for Zayn, except in geography because she was too busy flirting with Mr. Dawson.

‘Who ever said you are boring Mr. Dawson? You are very lively, I’m sure your girlfriend agrees’. She said.
‘Maybe she would when I get around to finding her. Think you could help me with that, Miss Tanner?’

He did not just say that.

‘Of course. Anything for the good teacher’. She said in that voice she learned from one of her Barbie films. What am I going to do with her?

I had lunch in the basketball court but was joined by Pokello.
‘How did you know I was here?’ I asked as she took a seat beside me.
‘It was pretty obvious’. She answered.
‘Strawberry?’ I asked, offering her my lunch. She took five at once.

‘So. What’s up with you and Rodriguez?’ She asked, munching on the red bundle of goodness.
‘I managed to get him to delete the photo’.
‘At what cost?’
‘Friendship’.
‘Friendship?’
‘Yes. He wants to start all over as friends. No matter what we do we’ll still have to deal with each other so why not make the best out of it?’

‘I guess’. She said with a shrug.
‘I still don’t trust him though’. She added.
‘No one is asking you to. I can’t say I completely do either, just see him as a necessary evil’.
‘Fine’.

He was sitting with his noisy group as I walked into literature, laughing at a joke someone must have told and as soon as he spotted me, he winked and I moved to my seat sparing him a small smile.

Queenie kept talking about how fun it must be to date two boys at once as we walked to my car after school.
‘How many times does she have to say that she is not dating Zayn before you understand, Queenie?’ Katie said
‘I honestly think she should. If one boyfriend is good how great will two be?’
‘How would you know? When you are stuck with a massive crush on your geography teacher’. Katie said with a mocking smile that caused wrinkles on Queenie’s forehead.

‘Meghan! Katie! You girls wait up’.
We all turned to see Tara Johnson aka Tara tots running towards us in her ridiculously high heels. I totally understood the heels, without them she’d be stuck staring at people’s butts.
She got to us and spent thirty seconds gasping for air.

‘Hey girls!’ she shrieked. Someone with a voice like hers could never be ignored.
‘Hey Tara’. We all mumbled.
‘You all look tots amaze balls today, you should all tots become Victoria secrets models especially you Queenie, you’ll tots look great in a lingerie on the front page of a tots fab magazine. Anyway, I’m having a party tonight, y’all should tots come, okay?’
We all nodded vigorously.

‘Great!’ she jumped and ran off to meet the rest of her clique.
‘If she is so fond of running why doesn’t she just wear snickers? Pokello said as we all kept staring at Tara.
‘If she did that, we’d only know she was running when we feel her between our legs’. Katie said and we all laughed.
‘Come on let’s go, all those tots have tots taken a toll on me’. Queenie said and again we laughed.

‘Just to be clear, are we attending….?’ I started.
‘We are’. They all shut me up.
‘Parties don’t happen without us Meg’. Queenie said as she got into the back seat with Katie.
‘Whatever, I’m bringing a date’. I said

Immediately, I sent a text to Travis.

Me: Party tonight, you up?

Assheart❤: you know I am.

He replies almost immediately.

Me: great. Text you the address later.

We all went to Katie’s house to prepare for the party. Queenie was currently raiding her closet while Pokello was downstairs scanning through her bar for the choicest booze.

‘Hey!’ Katie jeered from beside me on the bed as another skirt landed on her face.
‘Sorry’. Queenie said, throwing a top that barely missed Katie’s angry face.

‘I can literally see your room from here, why don’t you just get an outfit from your closet?’
‘Coz everyone is getting one from yours. How’s denim on denim?’ she asked, holding up a mid-length skirt and denim jacket.
‘I say it works’. I supplied
‘Always does’. Pokello said entering the room with two bottles in hand.

‘So, I got us a bottle of Bacardi rum for now and tequila for the road’. She proudly announced.
‘I love you girl!’ Katie cheered as she grabbed the bottle of rum, uncorking it and taking a long swig.

It was our tradition to get turned before going to a party even as Tara threw the biggest parties with kegs and left her father’s bar open to high school delinquents.
Katie passed me the bottle and I took a swig, I could feel the burn in my brain.

‘Wow. Good stuff’. I commended.

There was a knock downstairs.
‘I’ll get it’. Pokello said and ran downstairs
‘Katie!’ She screamed some seconds later. ‘Romeo is here’.
‘Did she have to say it in front of the guy?’Katie grumbled as we all went down.

He was standing by the door; raven hair, tanned skin, tall, goofy smile that revealed perfect teeth.
‘Holy shit, he’s hot’. I said as I descended the stairs.
‘Seriously girl, you have two boyfriends. Get your eyes out of the world’. Queenie said

‘For the very last time, I am not dating Zayn’. I sneered.
‘Stop it you two’. Katie said as we got to where Pokello stood, eye-raping the boy.

‘Hey girls’. He waved.
‘Hey Katie’. He said sheepishly.
‘Hey Daniel’.
‘Sorry to barge in on you girls like this, did I interrupt something?’ he asked, eyeing the bottle in my hand.

‘Of course not, go on please’. Queenie said sweetly.
‘So I got tickets to go see this illegal car racing stuff outside town later tonight and I thought you’d want to come’. He said, hopeful eyes set on Katie.

‘Racing? Oh how fun!’ Queenie squealed.
‘Don’t forget the illegal part’. Katie muttered.
‘Even more fun’. Pokello spoke
‘It was nice of you to ask me to come with but the girls and I are attending a party tonight’.

‘Nonsense, you can still go’. Queenie said
‘Yeah, rest assured we won’t miss you’. Pokello added.
‘But I will miss you girls and you know how I get when I miss y’all’. She hurriedly added.
‘No we don’t, you....’ Queenie said and Katie shot her a glare.

‘Thank you so much Daniel for stopping by, have fun at the fight club’.
‘Car race’. Pokello corrected.
‘Car race, maybe next time yeah?’ She said gently pushing him out the door.
‘O-okay’. He stuttered as the door was swung shut behind him.

‘Jesus, girl. I can’t believe you just turned down Daniel Wilson, the Daniel Wilson, super duper cute Danny, Dan the done deal, Danny…’
‘We get it Queen but seriously Kate, you were acting like the guy was distributing dog dunk or something’. Pokello said both hands on her waist.

‘Look, I’m just not ready to date again. Can we not talk about this right now? She said, taking the bottle from my hand and dumping herself on the couch.
‘Okay, but we are talking about this right after the party’. Queenie said, ascending the stairs with Pokello.
‘Yeah, says the girl who will get wasted thirty minutes into the party’. I said as I took a seat beside Katie on the couch.

Queenie flipped me off before disappearing upstairs.
I watched Katie take three long swigs from the bottle.
‘What?’ she asked when she noticed me watching her.

‘You know I’m not going to wait till after the party so why don’t you tell me why you are so scared of Daniel?’
‘I just don’t want to get into a relationship right now. Is it that bad?’
‘Why not?’
‘No reason, want to concentrate on myself for now’.

From the look on her I could tell there was more to it. If you asked me, I’d say she wasn’t completely over Jake but that was like ages ago, she must have been really hurt by what he did.

I don’t know the whole story about what happened with them and I can’t ask her, recounting it will be too hard, she never did tell any of us, not even Queenie. The only other person I could ask was Zayn, he is best friends with Jake, he’d know but will he want to tell me?

He will have to; no secrets, no lies right?

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Another update coming your way tomorrow before I get sucked into family drama... Very special thanks to Syokaumutulu for inspiration and everything else
Love you❤