“Better you than me. If Andre had tried that with me I would have cut his tongue.” Siobhan was laughing as she hung on to me and hugged me tight. “But it wasn’t so bad, was it? He’s such a good kisser.”
I couldn’t speak. I wanted to punch Andre in the face, maybe even throw him in the pool. My throat was tight with unshed tears.
“I can’t believe that stupid Adeline wanted to start a fight with me!” She smacked her lips. “Hmm I need to reapply my lipstick, Andre nearly licked it all off. Come with me, darling.”
She started to pull me away. I held back. “Excuse me,” I said. I wasn’t in the mood to even talk or be her shadow tonight, I just wanted to find a place to cry. When I pulled my hand away from hers she wanted to hold me back but I stopped her. “Siobhan please not now.”
I wish she had noticed the strain in my voice or even recognized the look of hurt in my eyes after I had just been humiliated in front of all our classmates yet all she cared about was her lip gloss. I guess my feelings as Plain Jane doesn’t matter.
“Ugh!” she exclaimed. “Whatever I’ll go alone.”
I went to the lone stool at the bar and sat on it. There was no one there to attend to me since they were all still gassed about the stupid game Andre pulled. I don’t usually love to drink unless Siobhan forces me to but I found myself reaching for one of the whiskey bottles and poured a healthy amount into one empty red cup. The liquid burned my throat as it went down causing tears to spring up in my eyes but that was good because it hid the tears in my eyes. And when it streamed down my cheeks I didn’t even notice.
I’m not very alcohol tolerant so my head began to spin almost immediately.
“Hey, Davis are you not coming back?”
I turned to the rest of the party. Thank God my sight was blurry because Andre was among those looking back at me but I couldn’t see the look in his eyes, I couldn’t even make out the expression on his face – honestly, the only way I knew he was among those who turned back is because he is taller than most – and that worked for me.
“Go on without me,” I slurred.
At least they didn’t argue and try to bring me back. I turned back to my drink and took a sip then another. I was about to take another to tear my eyes up some more when two fingers came down on the rim of my cup. I grunted and looked up.
Okay, one thing you should know before you drink is: Never drink too much. Or never drink at all in fact because Aaron was standing beside me probably looking at me with concern but in my drunken state, it looked like his head was revolving on his neck. Okay, that’s creepy but that’s what my drunken eyes could see.
“That’s enough Bianca,” he said. His voice was so deep and it sounded so loud that a sharp pain shot through my head.
“What?!” I squinted my eyes to better hear him.
He chuckled. “You are terrible with alcohol…” he tried to take the cup away from me.
“Can you stop shouting?!” I don’t know if I yelled but even my own voice sounded high and screechy causing more pain in my head. "And weren't you just celebrating with Andre?"
I thought he was going to scream back at me but he dragged another stool I hadn’t even realized was there and sat down beside me. Aaron reduced his voice to such a low point that it sounded so soothing. What happened to big head Aaron whose head was stuck so high in his ass it was a wonder he could see anyone else around him but himself?
“Hey, are you okay?”
I tried to nod but I figured if I nodded my head would roll off with its weight off my neck to the floor. “No, I’m not,” I confessed before I could help myself.
“I understand. I don’t think any girl would like to be kissed for being unattractive," he bent his head to catch my eyes with a smile. "Especially, one who is actually beautiful," he added.
I raised a brow. “Look Aaron, thanks for coming to check on me.” Yeah, thanks for coming over but I’m not so drunk I can’t remember when you got dared to lift my skirt in class while I was bent over picking my fallen books off the floor. “But if this is you still trying this Head boy, Head girl shit…”
“No.” he interrupted me firmly. “I know I hinted it earlier when we resumed and I know that was a dick move but that’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m just here to talk to you.”
I didn’t even know when he took the cup away from my hand. “You shouldn’t get yourself drunk over something that isn’t even true. Andre could just have easily kissed any other girl around here…”
“Exactly but he had to kiss me because…” I paused. Well, I couldn’t reveal that Andre was trying to get Siobhan’s attention. She is hot and I don’t think he expected the competition when he moved here to Edwin and Co. But what sort of a creep moves between countries just to be with a girl he fancies?
“Aaron, are you still game or not?” Dan shouted. The cup pong game was already breaking up since Siobhan left to get new lip gloss.
“No go on without me,” he yelled back.
I hoped he would forget what I was talking about before but I had no such luck.
“Because?” Aaron asked. When I just shrugged without responding he laughed. “I don’t think you like Rios. You have been nothing but hostile to him since he came here.”
“Yeah, that’s because I had an unpleasant experience with him over the summer. He’s such a conceited, arrogant idiot.”
Aaron was watching me with a funny look in his eyes. “Do you like him?”
I started. “Fuck no!”
Ugh, I hate him even more tonight. I could really just wrap my fingers around his neck and squeeze hard. I can honestly run him over with a truck. I will definitely…
“Good because I want you...I want you this term and I don’t want any competition.”
“Uhn?” I stopped mentally tormenting Andre in my head in various ways to stare blankly at him. “What?”
He stood from the stool with a smirk. “You heard Bianca. I want you and I’ll work to get you. I know you don’t think highly of me because of my actions since we were in junior class but I’m a different guy and I’ll prove that to you.”
Huh…
“I’m not the man I used to be Bianca Davis,” he said in a much louder voice for everyone to hear. “And I will prove that you.”