Gio: Hey, no stealing my dictionary words ;)
So that’s where he got that word.
Me: LOL. So anyway, yeah… Last night…
Gio: …was almost amazing. Glad the party is tomorrow. You’re hanging out with me after it’s over (or before, whichever you prefer).
So it’s official… He’s swiping my V-card tomorrow. That is, if I let him…
Me: K. Btw there’s something I need to ask you…
Gio: What’s that?
Gulp.
Me: Have you ever done it with a virgin before?
He hesitates for only a second.
Gio: Once or twice. Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as they say it is.
I smirk.
Me: Says the boy in the equation…
Gio: Lol no, I mean that’s what girls have told me. It hurts and it’s messy, but that’s just the first time. After you get over that hump, it gets easier.
Me: Teehee… “Hump”…
Gio: I love your dirty mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Damn my stupid breasts!” I yell as I’m getting dressed for Gio’s party on Saturday.
Ana is in my room with me. “What’s wrong?”
I’m in front of my full-length mirror, adjusting my strapless purple bandeau bikini top. It’s slightly too big for my breasts. “I hate being between cup sizes,” I rant, scowling.
“Sorry, girl,” Ana says compassionately, and comes up behind me to see if there’s any way to tighten it. “It doesn’t look like anything can be done to fix that. Why did you get it too big?”
“They didn’t have any A-cups,” I say, “but I really liked the style. Now I’m regretting it.”
“Can’t you just wear another one?” she asks.
“This one makes me look bigger,” I say. “I don’t want to look flat-chested in front of Gio’s friends.”
“Well, alright,” Ana says, shrugging at me in the mirror. “Just be careful if you get in the pool. And you might want to stuff it a little below your boobs to make it tighter.”
“Good idea,” I say, and I go in the bathroom and put some cotton balls down in the bottom of it just above the underwire. After I’m done, I actually look like I have a hint of cleavage. “You’re a genius, Ann!”
Ana smiles and comes in the bathroom with me. “It’s a time-honored fashion tradition. If you want to be safe, just don’t jump in the pool at all… or if you do, don’t move too much.”
“Got it,” I say, feeling jealous of her perfectly symmetrical C-cups for a brief moment.
We head straight over to Gio’s pool after that, where a lot of people have already arrived. Dart is the first one to recognize us and he immediately climbs out of the pool to greet us, dripping wet and smiling.
“Hey, ladies!” he says.
“Hey!” I reply.
“Can I show you to the bar?” Dart asks. “Gio’s busy inside right now, but he’ll be out in a minute.”
“Um…” I look over at Ana. Aside from the glass of wine we drank here with Dad’s permission on the night of the dinner, we’re not supposed to be drinking at all. Ana just shrugs. “Yeah, sure,” I say, not wanting to look lame.
Dart leads us past some attractive people in bikinis and swim trunks to the bar, where they’re serving margaritas. I figure just one won’t hurt… Dad doesn’t want me getting drunk, and one margarita is not very likely to accomplish that. Dart hands us each a margarita from the outdoor wet bar, and I grin as I accept my first real drink. Ana and I look at each other as we both take our first sip at once, and her face scrunches up at the taste of it. “Mm… Strong,” she says, trying to disguise our liquor virginity.
“Yeah, Gio came up with this particular margarita. He likes them loaded with tequila. You’ll get used to it.” Dart looks up and sees some more guests coming in. “I gotta go help some more people. Let me know if you need anything.” We nod, and he hurries in their direction.
“I guess he’s the stand-in host when Gio’s not around,” I say to Ana.
We move away from the bar and find some chairs to sit in between the pool and the hot tub. “This is pretty good,” Ana says, taking another sip. “Strong, but good.”
I take another sip, and my tongue starts to get used to the zing of the alcohol and I taste the other flavors. There’s salt around the edge, of course, and the flavor is fruity with a hint of coconut. “I’ll have to agree with that.”
“What do you think Gio’s up to?”
“Probably screwing his backup date,” I joke.
Ana’s jaw drops in horror. “Mads!”
I giggle at her reaction. “I’m just kidding!”
“You need to think better of yourself, though,” Ana says with a serious gaze. “Gio is crazy about you. Don’t screw this up because of your low self-esteem.”
I take off my glasses for a minute so she can see my eyes better. “I really am just kidding, Ana. Relax.”
An Asian girl in an orange string bikini comes up to me, squinting at my face. “Raven?” she asks.
“Um… no, my name is Madison,” I tell her.
“Oh… okay,” she says, relaxing and smiling. “Sorry, I thought you were someone else.”
“It’s okay,” I say. She starts to walk away, and then she takes another look at my face.
“You’re really not Raven?” She looks at Ana, as if to gauge whether I’m telling the truth or not.
“She is definitely not Raven,” Ana says, mildly amused.
“Okay,” the girl says. “My bad. Enjoy the party.”
“Thanks, you too,” I say, and she walks away. Ana and I look at each other and laugh. “Well, I guess my mysterious doppelgänger now has a name.”
“Raven…” Ana repeats. “She sounds like an odd bird.” We laugh at the pun, and then a loud whistle comes from a balcony on the back of Gio’s house. There are a lot of people here now, and everyone looks up in the direction of the sound.
“What up, party animals?!” Gio yells through his hands from the balcony, eliciting a cheer from all his friends. He started some pop music that is now blasting out of speakers all around the party area. “Who’s ready to get this thing started?” Another cheer. People are still pouring in. There has to be more than seventy people here now. “Before you get too busy, I just wanna give a shout-out to my guest of honor tonight. Madness, can you stand up please?” He’s looking right at me. I blush and slowly stand up from my chair. “Allow me to present Madison Daley, my date tonight, who also happens to be the daughter of M.A.D. of Weep With The Willows.” Everyone gasps and looks at me, and they start to murmur among themselves. My glasses are still off, so everyone can see my face. “This is her first party here in LA, so everybody make her feel welcome, alright?” All of his friends clap for me, although some of them still sound confused. I must really look like this Raven person. “Enjoy your night!” Gio goes back inside, and immediately I’m swarmed by people… and questions.
“Are you really M.A.D.’s daughter?”
“M.A.D. is back in LA?”
“You look super familiar… have we met before?”
My answers start becoming robotic and pre-formed.
“Yes, I’m M.A.D.’s daughter.”
“We’re back in LA for the summer.”
“No, we haven’t met before.”
“I don’t know if W3 is making another album.”
“No, my dad is not home right now.” Dad and Cass are out again tonight, doing God knows what. Ana abandons me to talk to a couple of Gio’s lesbian friends after about ten minutes of the bombardment. I put my glasses back on, hoping to deter some of the curiosity, but people know who I am now, and they’re on me like flies on honey.
By the time Gio finally comes down to talk to me, I’m about ready to kill him. “Hey, beautiful!” he says, carrying a drink and grinning at me.
“Hey, bastard,” I reply with a scowl, making him laugh.
“Aww, what’s the matter?” he a
sks, putting his arm around me and leading me away.
“Why did you have to draw attention to me like that?” I ask him, annoyed. “I hate being the center of attention.” This is a new realization, since I’ve never been the center of attention before this.
“Sorry, I just didn’t want you to have to deal with people mistaking your identity all night,” he explains, still smiling.
“Yeah, about that,” I say, stopping and turning to him. “Who the hell is Raven?”
“Oh, they already figured that out, huh?” he asks, looking less happy. “Don’t worry about it, she’s just a mean girl from Wilcox who is never invited to my parties. Or any parties, really, unless she throws them herself. Anyway, there are some people I want you to meet, so let’s go this way.” He leads me through the mass of near-naked bodies to a corner of the patio where his beach gang is hanging out. There are about ten of them here. “Hey, everyone!” he says.
“Hey,” they all say, smiling as they greet us.
“Meet Madison Daley, the newest addition to our group.” Wow… he’s already accepting me into this group. I must really be underestimating how much he likes me.
“Hi, everyone,” I say, nervously. I have never been this popular anywhere.
“Hey, Madison!” they all say. There’s one girl in particular that catches my eye—she’s Hispanic, with gorgeous dark hair and eyes and a genuine smile. Gio introduces her as Zuri.
Over the next few minutes, they ask me the same type of questions that everyone else did, and I end up telling them my whole life story. “So you’ve never been in a real school?” a boy named Carson asks me. He’s blond and tan, and looks like one of the most surfing-obsessed guys in the group.
“Nope, not even kindergarten,” I say. “Dad was paranoid about somebody telling me who he was.”
“And you really didn’t know who he was that whole time?” an African-American guy named Cyrus asks.
“No clue.”
“How did you react when he told you?” Zuri asks, her eyes sparkling with energy. “That must have been such a shock!”
“Well, first I cried, then I laughed, then I started scheming to get him back to LA. Then I got mad when he wouldn’t go, and then I sang a song, and… Yeah, it’s kind of a long story,” I say.
“So you sing?” Cyrus asks me.
“Yeah, and I also play the guitar.”
“Oh my God, you’re a mini M.A.D.!” Zuri exclaims, grinning.
“Yeah, literally. My middle name is Alexandria.” Everyone laughs at that, and then all of them, including Gio, start talking among themselves except for Zuri.
“So you’ve been homeschooled all your life,” she says as we sit down in a couple of chairs by a table with an umbrella. “What was that like? Did you get to sit around in your PJs all day?”
“Pretty much,” I say. “It rocked, except for not having any friends.”
“I hate school. I would give anything to be able to sit around in my underwear all day.”
One of my eyebrows goes up. “I didn’t say underwear.”
“Well, that’s what I sleep in,” Zuri says, and we both laugh. “I’m Zurina Juarez, by the way. My mom is a teacher at Wilcox, so I go for free.”
“Nice!” I say, smiling. Gio hangs out with teacher’s kids. My respect for him just went up a few notches. “What does she teach?”
“Chorus.”
“OH MY GOD, I want to be in a chorus so bad!” I groan. “I have since I was a little girl!”
“Well hey, if you stay in LA, you should come to Wilcox next year,” Zuri says. “My mom loves W3. She would probably keel over and die if you joined her class.”
I giggle. “Well then, I guess I have another mission to work on: Get Dad to stay in LA.”
Zuri scrunches her eyebrows. “Mission?”
“Oh, it’s just this little thing I do. Kinda like life goals, except smaller. I used missions to get Dad to LA in the first place.”
“Ooh, sounds intriguing,” Zuri says, leaning forward with her chin on her fists. “Tell me more!” I tell her about my missions, and Zuri listens intently, laughing at the funny parts. “Damn, you are a piece of work!” she says at the end.
“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.” We laugh. I think I’ve just made a new friend.
“You ladies getting along?” Gio asks, coming over to sit with us.
“Yeah, Abate, she’s great!” Zuri says, smiling widely. “I see now why you like her so much.”
“Wait… has he been talking about me?” I ask, grinning at Gio.
“Constantly,” Zuri says, and Gio starts to look a little embarrassed. “We all went to the beach yesterday and he wouldn't talk about anything else.”
“I see,” I say, amused and flattered.
“Shut up, Juarez!” Gio says through his teeth, playfully punching her in the shoulder. She punches him back, giggling.
Carson motions to Zuri to come to him, and she holds up a finger like, “One second.” “I gotta go, the boyfriend is calling,” Zuri says, smiling. “Come and hang out with us in Santa Monica any time, okay?”
“Def,” I say. “See you later!” Gio and I lock eyes, and I’m still feeling amused that he was talking about me so much to his friends. I don’t say a word, but he still says:
“Shut up.”
He takes me around the pool and patio as he talks with his guests, and people can’t stop raving about how cute of a couple we are. I thought they would think it was weird that he would want to be seen with me. I mean, come on, I’m wearing glasses at a pool party.
Gio actually comments on that later in the night. “Do you own contacts?” he asks when we get a break.
“Nope,” I say.
“Why not? I mean, I like your glasses, don’t get me wrong, but it must get annoying to have to wear them all the time.”
“Actually, I choose to wear these,” I tell him. “Glasses give me character. If I give them up, I’ll look just as basic and normal as everyone else.”
“Madness…” Gio smiles warmly. “You have plenty of character even without glasses, believe me.”
We meet up with Ana after that, who is next to the deep end of the pool, talking to a beautiful African-American girl with pixie-cut black hair and stunning honey brown eyes. She’s wearing a neon green string bikini, and her body is flawless.
“Hey Ann! Who’s this?” I ask.
“This is Jerica Valrey,” Ana says, and Jerica waves a little.
“Call me J,” Jerica says, smiling and extending a hand to me. Her voice is low, syrupy, and pleasant to listen to. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Madison Daley.”
I shake her hand. “The pleasure is mine,” I say.
“J is a business prodigy,” Gio explains to me. “She developed a computer program at age 14 that many businesses depend on today for their administrative tasks.”
“Wow, that’s impressive!” I exclaim, glancing at Ana. She looks absolutely smitten by this girl, and it’s no wonder.
“Thank you,” Jerica says humbly. “Being a geek has its perks sometimes.”
“She’s a billionaire. Her main house is bigger and more beautiful than the two of ours combined,” Gio says, grinning. “And she has five beach houses in different places around the globe. ‘Perks’ indeed.”
“How old are you? If you don’t mind my asking,” I say.
“18,” Jerica says, and my mouth falls open.
“I bow at your feet,” I say, bending over at the waist and making her laugh. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize how close I was standing to the pool.
Before I know what’s happening, I lose my balance and fall face-first into the deep end of the pool. I’m so shocked at first that all I can do is gasp for air and flail around for the edge. “This way, Mads!” I hear Ana say, and I start to swim towards her. When I pull up on the edge closest to her, I hear her gasp. “Oh my God… Mads, look down!” She sounds horrified.
I look down and suck in a strangled gasp.
My bikini top flipped completely inside out in the water, and now my boobs are out for all the world to see. I quickly flip my bikini top up, but then I realize something’s missing. “Where are my…” Ana points behind me, and I immediately feel like ducking my head underwater and keeping it there.
My cotton balls are floating out in the middle of the pool.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m in my room sobbing my eyes out at ten o’clock. I can still hear the party going on next door, but I fled as soon as people saw my cotton balls and started laughing at me. Gio and Ana tried to stop me, but I was too humiliated to stick around, and I broke away from both of them. I’m never going to live this down. I’ll never be able to show my face outside this mansion again.
My phone dings, and I push up and grab it off my nightstand. It’s a FB message.
Gio: Hey… Please come back. No one even remembers it anymore, trust me. They’re all too drunk.
Me: I can’t… Sorry.
Gio: Then I’m coming over there.
Great… now I have to face him. I really was hoping I would not have to do that for a few days. I rub my eyes and let out a shuddering sigh, wondering where the hell Ana is. It’s not like her to not come after me. Then again, she was chatting up a billionaire before I wrecked it all.
Gio knocks on my door five minutes later, and I get up to let him in. I can’t even look him in the eye as I open the door. He takes me in his arms. “Madness, it’s okay—“
“No, it’s not. I’ll never be able to face those people again,” I say against his bare chest.
“It’s really okay,” Gio says, chuckling a little. “Most of the people there didn’t even see it, and some who did didn’t understand what the cotton balls were for. Besides, if anyone made fun of you, they’re not my real friends, and I wish I knew who laughed so I could deck ‘em for ya.”
I smile a little. “Thanks. Still embarrassed, though.”
He pulls back just enough to look at me. “If it helps, I really enjoyed catching my first glimpse of your goods when your swimsuit came down,” he says, grinning.
My smile gets a little wider. “Really?”
“Yeah, it was hot. And I’ll admit, it was kind of funny because of the cotton balls. But I would never laugh at you, I hope you know that.”
Diary of a Rocker's Kid (D.O.R.K. Book 1) Page 7
