by Cleo Fox
She smelled super good, and for a second, the thought of kissing her entered my mind. I wanted to know if she tasted as sweet and good as she smelled.
I shook my head. Weed didn't normally make me horny unless it was a really strong sativa and the opportunity to bang someone presented itself. But she wasn't that kind of opportunity. I had to get those ideas under control fast.
Chanel laughed. "God, I haven't had this much fun in a long time. Where to next?"
I shrugged. "I like the Shipwreck ride."
Her green-eyed gaze met mine. "Oh, my god, yes! I haven't been on that since..." She trailed off. "Since I was younger. Let's go!"
What was she going to say before she stopped herself?
Jumping up from the seat, she slid past me and the wheel with ease. She was skinny, almost too skinny for my liking. I never wanted to feel like I could break a girl just by holding her.
We followed after her, and Zeke sighed. "How is she so chipper after so many high-velocity rides?"
I laughed. "This is great, and the edible is making it even better. Hey, you were game for the amusement park before we got here."
Zeke pushed his glasses farther up his nose. "I figured we’d do a few small rides and then go to the restaurant for their All You Can eat buffet."
Rhett bumped him as we descended the stairs off the Teacups ride, and hurried to catch up with Chanel as she walked toward Shipwreck, more than eager to get on it. "We'll get food eventually. Don't be a buzzkill. I don't think I've ever seen her show this much emotion. It's actually showing us she's human and not a snob bot."
Zeke shrugged. "I still wouldn't call her human, yet."
"Well, she's not bad, either. The only one of us she's insulted is you, and frankly, you deserved it for being a jerk. Maybe the one who needs to learn empathy is you." I jogged ahead of the group, wanting my body high to return. It would in a little bit as my body digested more of the cookie. "Yale, wait up!"
I wasn't sure if I should be insulted that she didn't want us using her name while in public, but it seemed like she was worried about something.
Chanel turned her head to glance back at me and smiled. Legit smiled. Not a snobby smirk, not a fake one she forced. "Bet you can't beat me there, high boy."
She pulled the hood tighter around her face before she took off, zooming toward the swing ride like her ass was on fire.
I blinked for a second, my high brain a bit too fuzzy to process what she’d said, before I took off after her.
Maybe all those years of doing track would actually come in handy. I wasn't the best on the team, but I wasn't the worst, either. I almost caught up with her, but she managed to stay several strides ahead before stopping in front of the rope to pass the line. We'd reached it just as he was switching out passengers.
Stopping, slightly out of breath, she glanced at me as I halted next to her. "I won."
I rolled my eyes. "Only because you cheated and got a head start. I would've left you in the dust if we'd started at the same time.
She gave me a look as the line guy unhooked the rope and let us through. "Mmm-hmm, if that's what you need to tell yourself to sleep well tonight."
Glancing over my shoulder at the others, who’d caught up to us, we didn’t run far, we let the man scan their passes. The boat was wide enough, and she was tiny enough, that we all fit on one bench.
I took the seat closest to the wall, while Rhett took the other side of her.
The operator’s voice came through a loudspeaker. "Who's excited for the ride to begin?"
We all yelled in response.
"Show me how excited you are by putting your hands in the air!"
We lifted our arms into the air, and the golden bar came down toward our laps to keep us from flying from the ride like some kind of Final Destination shit.
"Ready? One, two, three."
The ride started off slow, swinging back and forth, before picking up speed.
Chanel and I put our hands back up in the air as we swung back and forth. Not the most exhilarating ride the park had to offer, but it was still fun.
After a couple of minutes, it finished.
As we stood outside the ride, Sai patted his stomach. "That burger is wearing off. Why don't we get some food?"
Zeke sighed with relief. "Finally, something that sounds like fun."
Chanel stiffened.
I glanced at her. "You not game for food?"
Were the rumors about her true? Maybe her eating today was a one-off.
She pulled out her phone and frowned at a bubble icon that had the red circle showing the number of unread messages. She slid it down to the bottom of the screen to make it disappear before glancing at the clock.
"I should have enough time between now and the morning," she mumbled. "Let's do it."
What was she so worried about? What did the morning have to do with anything?
Sai lifted an eyebrow at her. "You sure? you seem nervous about it."
I couldn't agree more.
She shook her head. "No. It'll be fine. I still have twelve hours. C'mon, before the dinner line forms for the restaurant. Only I can skip that with my VIP pass."
Walking off, she left us in front of the ship ride.
We all looked to each other, confused by her statement and behavior. As if there was only a small window she could eat in or the world would explode.
At last, I shrugged. Whatever floats her boat. She was fun to hang around when she wasn't acting like a bitch.
We got in the small line for the restaurant. The dinner rush hadn’t picked up yet, too many people still having fun on the rides to seek out food. The place had good buffet foods, and my stomach was looking forward to it.
Even though Chanel could skip the line entirely with her pass, she chose to stay with us. Standing in line. Happiness surged through me. I didn't know how to explain or even logically reason why I felt that way. It had to be the weed talking. It had to have been the weed, too, that possessed me to talk the others into hanging out with her.
Oddly enough, she hadn't made me regret it. We'd been together for almost an hour, and she hadn't thrown one insult at me or called me the dreaded nickname.
What she was calling Zeke was pretty funny. Out of curiosity, I looked it up on my phone. It wasn't even that bad, and honestly, it fit him well. He was being a dick.
Chanel rocked on the balls of her feet as she played with the strings that tied her hood closed. I doubted anyone could've recognized her from the little bit of face she revealed. If we hadn't seen her drive up, I doubt we would've known it was her, either. Her paranoia and fear reminded me of the same paranoia I got while walking the halls at school.
The body high that had started to taper off after the ship ride came back with a beat as we got closer to being able to eat. As if my stomach knew, it pushed the cookie through my system to make room for more food. The buzz filled me with a confidence I didn't have during my sober hours.
If it weren't for the fact that I was thinking of joining the CIA out of college, and they required a minimum of a year of being drug-free, I'd want to smoke it into college as well. If my life took a different path, and the CIA didn't accept me for whatever reason, I'd probably return to weed. I didn't feel so small when it was in my system.
But we'd all agreed we'd never go to class during school high. It would just cause too many problems.
Usually, the hair hanging in my face brought me comfort. Something to hide behind. But at that moment, I wanted nothing more than to chop it off so I could see Chanel better. I tucked it behind my ears, clearing it from my face.
As if on cue, her gaze turned to me and a small smile pulled at her lips. "Wow, you have really pretty eyes. You should show them off more. I bet you'd have more girls lining up for your number."
All I could do was blink. Did she just pay me a compliment? Me?
My brain couldn't fully process it.
The line moved, and we were almost at the door. She looke
d around for a second before she pushed the hood off her head, and pulled the hairband from the messy bun. As her red hair tumbled to her shoulders in waves, I was hit with how beautiful she could be when she didn't have all her masks up. I didn't realize how many she hid behind until that moment.
Had anyone ever gotten to see the real her?
Chanel glanced around again, before tugging the hood back up. What or who was she so scared of? And why was she showing us herself? It was as if we caught her in an in-between state, and in the morning the spell would be over, she'd be back to the perfect mega bitch.
I didn't want this version of her to end. I could actually see the girl I used to be head over heels for.
She turned to me, held up the elastic band, and motioned to my hair. "May I?"
Again, I blinked, not fully understanding what she was asking, or why she was being nice to me, but I nodded.
Moving behind me, her fingers combed my hair back away from my face and over my ears. It took everything in me not to have a reaction to the soothing touch. In combination with the high, it felt incredibly good. Had I known how good it felt to have someone play with my hair, I would've let my last brief girlfriend do it. She always wanted to, but I didn't want her to feel the grease.
But at that moment, I couldn't bring myself to make Chanel stop.
She was gentle with the few snags she hit, pulling them free without being harsh before she gathered my hair into a ponytail and used the tie to hold it in place.
Forcing my eyes open, I looked at her as she came around to face me, again. Another smile crossed her lips before she reached up to pluck some of the shorter strands free. They hung on one side of my face without blocking my vision. "There. Now we can see your eyes."
Reaching back, I felt for the ponytail, then glanced at the others to make sure it looked okay and she wasn't making fun of me. They seemed just as surprised she would do something like that for me. "Thank you."
Chanel nodded as the line moved into the place. All we had to do was wait for them to let us pay so we could find a place to sit and go to town on the buffet.
A frown tugged her lips down. "I'm breaking a lot of my rules doing this. Being nice, and hanging out with you guys in a public setting." She looked beyond us, back to the outside, before her gaze turned back to us. "Don't be surprised if I'm a bitch again on Monday. I don't have a choice then. I'm taking a risk now."
Zeke snorted. "You make it sound as if you have to be mean to survive."
She nodded and her voice dropped to a whisper, so quiet I had to read her lips. "That's exactly what I'm saying. There's a certain level of expectation from me on how I should act in the public eye. There are things about this state and it's leaders that you could never begin to understand, but they hold all the tarot cards, and if I don't act how they want me to..." She trailed off and swallowed hard. "They could make the last bit of me I'm holding onto disappear entirely until I'm nothing but a Stepford wife to that asshole. I’d rather die. That's why I need your help. So, I can get out of here."
There was no mistaking the fear in her voice. I could hear it even over the hum of conversation around us. It made my skin prickle as another round of sober mind came on.
"Welcome. How many in your party?" asked the hostess behind the cash register as we made it to her.
Chanel took her wallet out of her hoodie and pulled out some cash. She handed it over, along with her silver pass. "Me plus the four of them." She motioned to us.
She was paying for us?
The woman nodded and handed over five disposable plastic cups with the amusement park's blue and red logo on it. "May you have a fantastically delicious meal."
My head still swarm as Chanel took one of the cups for herself and passed the rest back to us. She went toward the line for the buffet and grabbed a tray, two plates, and silverware.
As we followed suit, I glanced back at the others. All of them had the same level of confusion on their faces as they processed Chanel’s revelation.
I had so many questions, but I had a feeling she couldn't answer them while we were in public. There were too many people, and it would have to be a lot of reading her lips.
She stopped before placing her tray on the slide counter in front of the first choices for salad and vegetables and pulled out her phone.
Opening it, she tapped on an icon with what looked to be annoyance before she stiffened. Her eyes scanned several of the messages that were on screen before she peered around.
"Fuck." Shoving the phone back into her pocket, she looked at us. "I have to go. You guys can have my plates if you want them. I'll see you around, for tutoring."
When she moved to run, Sai stopped her, grabbing her hand. "Is everything okay? Do you need us to walk you to your car?"
She shook her head. "That's the last thing I need right now. But, thank you."
Pulling her hand from his, she ran out the door and disappeared.
I looked to the others. "Should we follow her?"
Zeke shook his head. "If she's really being followed like she made it seem, chasing after her will only cause more problems. Do you think she was serious about everything she said just now? Like some kind of leaders having an effect over the state?"
Sai glanced around. "Let's grab to-go boxes instead and head back to Zeke’s place. I'll see if there are any cars in the area that can pick us up and take us there faster. I feel like it's not good to be talking, anymore." He looked to Zeke. "Can your friends pull up whatever messages spooked her?"
Zeke shrugged. "I think so. That should be doable."
We put our trays down and walked over to the to-go box stacks instead. No sense in wasting her money when she paid for the meal for us. I just wish she'd gotten a chance to eat, too. Worry filled me for her safety. Why was I trusting her so easily? It didn't seem like she was lying or messing with us, though. There was something about the look in her eyes. If she could fake fear like that, then she deserved an Oscar.
When we made it back to Zeke's, his dad still sat in the same place he was hours earlier. Zeke gave his mom one of the takeout boxes, which she accepted with a smile, thanking him.
It didn't take a genius to see his parents weren’t the lawyers he claimed them to be, especially when we were at his house into the evenings. I think the others just ignored the fact or chose to believe him anyway. I didn't care if his parents were poor. It just meant he was really smart to get a full scholarship to the school.
Sometimes, I felt he was too smart and could easily get bored, and liked to cause mayhem. I worried about what he would do to Chanel. After today, I didn't know how I felt about trying to teach her any kind of humility lesson.
Sitting down in the bean bag I'd taken over like mine, I reached behind my head and felt the ponytail. She hadn't done it to be mean or make fun of me. She did it to be nice. Like the day she pushed Jason and helped me clean up my stuff.
Maybe I was wrong about her.
Zeke sat down, texting one of the people he had helping investigate the cloud and her phone. "Got it. They got me screencaps of the messages that came through."
Wanting to know what had happened, Sai and I dragged our bags closer to him.
"Hang on." Zeke looked at us. "I'm going to make this easier on our necks." He turned on the flat screen mounted to the wall, then mirrored his phone's screen onto it.
Sai and I turned our bags to face the wall they'd been against. The text messages came on the screen. The person's profile icon was a black knight chess piece with the horse's eyes painted red.
Their name came up as Red and there were several messages starting from just before noon.
11:20 AM
Red: Does your mother know you bribe the help?
11:45 PM
Red: Having fun?
12:10 PM
Red: I see you. Oink Oink
5:00 PM
Red: What would your father think?
6:53 PM
Red: Whore.
Red: Slut.
Red: I.
Red: See.
Red: You.
Wow. Those texts were unnerving. I could see why she ran.
Sai pointed at the one with Oink Oink. "That's around the time we were eating. Her phone went off with a message, but she ignored it before we started working. We were there alone. At least I thought we were. There are windows all around. So it's entirely possible someone could've been watching us."
Bon frowned. "It was around five when we asked her if she wanted to hang out. And the last stream came in just before she ran off. The multiple ones in a row must've grabbed her attention if she had her phone on vibrate."
Sai looked to Zeke. "Dude, did you set this up? Do you have one of your people messaging her all creepily? This isn't cool, and nothing like what I agreed to, even though I didn't want to go with your plan in the first place.”
Zeke ran his fingers through his blond hair. "Naw, man. This isn't my style. I'm more into public humiliation of some kind. Where all the school could see them embarrassed over something. Even I can admit this is creepy and beyond what I was thinking."
I looked back at the screen. It appeared we weren't the only ones who decided to mess with the queen bee of the school. Someone else did, too, and they'd taken it to an entirely different level.
I took out my phone. If I were her, I wouldn't want to be alone. I had no idea if she had someone at home waiting for her, but at least I could offer my services for Calculus and maybe set up a time for the next day.
Somewhere private.
I searched my brain for a place she could go where it was doubtful someone would think she would go.
My house.
It was in a gated community.
No one would be able to follow her in.
Stupid, stupid, stupid! I shouldn't have been so damn careless. Why was I letting myself be so stupid? I should've known better than to open up to them.
I sped toward my house, even though I wasn't sure if it was the safest place to go.
