Golden

by Leah Adams

“Well I wanted to tell you that I thought what you did to Jay were funny.” He chuckled. “It made all of us have a good laugh. Jay isn’t used to girls acting like that with him.”

  “Well he should be. He was very rude to me, a complete jack butt.” I paused and looked out of the corner of my eyes. I almost forgot I was talking to Leon and Leon was close to Jay.

  “Yeah Jay can be that way.” Leon shook his head and even took his hands from the stirring wheel as if slowly getting comfortable. “He’s been that way for a long time.”

  “Really?” I let out and folded my arms. “Why did you want to tell me you thought what I did was funny?”

  Just as I said it I wanted to take it back. I wanted to kick myself for asking that stupid question.

  “Well because I wanted to warn you that Jay isn’t going to let that go.” Leon tone was honest and kind of hot. “But you didn’t hear that from me.”

  “Well you tell him that I don’t like him. So he can bother all of the other girls in the school that want his attention and leave me alone.” I said as I turned to look at Leon and that’s when I saw that his eyes were on me….watching me. I hoped I wasn’t blushing too much. I would hate for him to see. “Yeah….mmmm….just tell him that.”

  “Okay.” He said as he looked at me with a puzzled face. “Why is your face turning red?”

  “What? Your face was turning red earlier.” I shot back and hit my hand on my head. I put my hand on the door and opened it to get out. “Thanks and bye.”

  I was moving out of that car so fast and running into the backyard even quicker that I didn’t even know if he had said something else to me. It wasn’t until I got in my house that I realized my ankle no longer hurt.

  ****

  The rest of the day was better. My sister came and picked Luria up around seven. She even cooked for me. I was glad that she had, that meant I didn’t have to eat my mom’s food or wait for my father to make something. I could cook myself but I rather take my chances on my mom cooking.

  After I ate some of my sister’s food, I took a shower and went to bed.

  I had a good night’s sleep without even thinking of Jay and him kissing me. I had no dreams enter my mind.

  I woke up the next morning with not only a smile on my face, but the sun light coming in through my shades, on my face, it was almost blinding. I had to put my hand over my face to keep the sun off of my skin. I got up out of the bed and tried to fix it so that the sun wouldn’t come in so much.

  By the time I had fixed the shades I decided to just go out and take a shower before calling Angelica to see if she was alright, something I hadn’t forgotten about. I knew if she was still sick something must have happened to her. Angelica was never the type to stay sick and I wasn’t going to believe that she was sick for this long of a time for one minute.

  Either she was hiding from me because she was mad at me about what had happened the night with the forbidden four or she didn’t want me to know what had happened with her and Damon. Whichever it was I was going to find out rather she liked it or not. If she didn’t want to talk to me over the phone then I was going to drive over to her house and make her see me.

  I ran the warm water across my skin. I couldn’t help but think of Leon for some odd reason. I wasn’t used to a guy making me feel so nervous and not in control of everything.

  It was clear that I made him nervous, I wasn’t too sure why, but I kind of liked it. He seemed so sweet and nice I wondered why someone like me made him nervous.

  After I finished my shower I dried off and through some clothes on. I blow dried my hair and halfheartedly tried to do something with it, but it seemed not only was the blow dryer fighting me but the flat iron as well.

  Once I was done I stared at myself in the mirror and put on a small frown. Looking in the mirror was something I did often, too often. I thought quickly.

  My mind wondered why I always looked at myself when I was about to leave out of my room in the morning. A habit I needed to break. It made me think that I was the teenage girl I claimed not to be.

  I called Angelica on my cell phone hoping that she was going to answer her own cell phone and when it rung at least four times I started to get ready to get my car keys. It wasn’t until I heard her light voice answer a dragged out ‘hello’ did I stop reaching for my car keys.

  “Angelica, I know you are not still asleep.” I said to her eyeing the clock by my bed. It was nearly eleven, an early one for myself, but she always woke up at least eight every morning. She would wake up early to let her older brother in who got off of work early in the morning and go for her morning run.

  “I was sick the other day, Bonnie.” She said her voice sounding as if she was starting to wake up. “Is that really the right time?”

  “If you see that it’s now a few minutes past eleven then yes.” I smiled knowing she was going to be freaking out in a minute. She hated sleeping in. She always believed the early bird catches the worm, where I believed if my friend caught the worm I know she’ll just share with me.

  “I need to get up. I can’t believe I was that sick. I hope Damon doesn’t get anything because of me.” She sighed. I could just see her running her hands through her thick black hair. “I really like him Bonnie.”

  “I can tell.” I let out hoping she couldn’t sense the indifference in my tone.

  “Bonnie, don’t be like that. You don’t even know him.” She responded back to my tone.

  I wanted to say do you, but thought that would be mean. She had just been sick. I didn’t want to send her to the hospital because of my words.

  “Ok, I see that you like him, Ang, but I don’t know him so I can’t really say. I am just going off of what I know of him.” I said thinking this was a better response for her.

  “Oh come on now. You are listening to all of the bad things that people say and I know you don’t like gossip about other students so why listen to the gossip about the forbidden four.” She said as if she had just made a great point to me. She was probably smiling as well as if there would be nothing more I could say about them.

  I wanted to tell her that I listened because something told me that it was true. It was like this feeling I got in my stomach that told me I should stay away from them, well not Leon, but the rest of them.

  “Look that’s just what I think, ok. You know about the girls that are dying and how their girlfriends come back all lifeless and what not. I mean think about it Ang, I really think there is something wrong with this picture.”

  “Oh you sound like my mom.” She laughed with a ton of emotion behind it. “My mom was acting all odd when she saw that I was with Damon.”

  I began to wonder how her mom had seen Damon and Ang together. I knew that Ang mom was very trusting when it came to all of her kids. It was to the point that she didn’t mind them having people of the opposite sex in the bedroom with the door closed.

  “How did your mom meet Damon? Did you two go back to your house?” I asked trying to keep her from knowing how badly I wanted to know.

  “Yeah,” She beamed. I wondered if she was blushing a thousand shades of red. “She was just about to leave for work when I pulled up with him. She was all like how old are you? Aren’t you one of the new teens I have heard about? I would love to meet your parents? It was so embarrassing. I was so happy that he didn’t seem to mind and when she left we did get the house to ourselves.”

  I haven’t seen or meant any of the forbidden four parents and it was weird that I hadn’t seen them, even at parent events. I should have run into at least one of them. But from the looks of it no one had, but it was even weirder was the fact that none of the teachers even asked about them.

  “So your mom was ok with leaving you alone with him in there?” I asked not able to believe her mom just left.

  I knew that her mom trusted her and everything, but that went only so far. I didn’t think she would leave Ang alone with Damon knowing about all the girls he dated and then dumped. Then again s
he may not have known about that part.

  “That was the weirdest thing, Bonnie. At first she said that it wouldn’t be ok if he was in the house with me if she was not home, but then Damon talked to her and she was like ok it is alright.”

  “Really, maybe Damon can talk to my mom and get her to let me go out more often.” I joked but thought about how Damon had got her mom to do that was really strange.

  Angelica laughed loudly. “Yeah I don’t think he’s that good.” I shook my head agreeing with her, but I forgot she couldn’t see me. “Do you think Damon is going to call me?”

  I paused thinking carefully about my next words.

  Damon never really seemed too stay with the same girl for too long nor did any of them, well Nathanial and Jay, Leon never dated, but I didn’t want to hurt my best friend’s feelings. So I deiced to just ask her about what happened and then tell her what I thought.

  “What did you and Damon do when you went home?” I asked feeling like I hoped she didn’t do anything she would regret.

  “We went into my room and we made out.” She said her voice very low. “I was up there and I kept thinking how he was such a great kisser, then well I wanted more of him. It was like this overpowering feeling. I had never had a kiss like that before Bonnie, it felt like my life was being pulled out of me yet held so sweetly. I wanted more.”

  I set there visioning her and Damon on her bed making out. I could just see Ang tongue down his mouth as it had been that night. I shook my hand at the thought and continued to listen to her.

  “I don’t know when my shirt came off but I took his off as well and we were both on the bed rolling around as we kissed. I told him I wanted more of him and that I think I needed more of him. I didn’t even care how I sounded Bonnie, but then he just smirked at me and kept kissing. It was so weird I didn’t care I felt his chest and started to take off his pants….”

  “This isn’t going to go R on me is it?” I teased but I hoped beyond hoped that it wasn’t going to go that far, for her sake.

  “Just listen ok.” She said her voice sounding light but slightly on edge. I knew she wasn’t trying to sound angry but she must have done something she really wanted me to know or get off of her chest.

  “Listening.”

  “Okay well I had his pants off and mine soon followed. We were getting really far and I was so ready for where we were going with this. I was lying down and I felt him start to kiss me some more, I was feeling really good and then I saw something.”

  Her voice paused and I could hear the clear hesitation in her voice. I don’t know what she saw but wanted to know badly. It sounded as if whatever it was had scared her and she needed to say it out loud but feared to say it out loud. I suddenly wished I was there with her. I wanted to be able to hold her and tell her it was ok. I needed to tell her she would be alright.

  “Ang it’s ok if you don’t want to say it right now or ever.” I told her wanting her to feel like everything was ok.

  “No.” Her voice was just above a whisper. “I need to tell you.” I waited only a few minutes before she started talking again. “Ok like I was saying I felt really good and I was going to let what I knew was about to happen, happen, but then I saw….myself in the mirror.”

  “What?” I asked not understanding. When she saw her reflection did she start to think she couldn’t do it or something?

  “Bonnie you had to see it. My body looked way different. I have never looked like that before in my life. I looked like I ghost or a zombie but with bruises. I had red marks on my body and some of my skin looked like it had been sucked at leaving nothing but skin. I screamed and Damon stopped kissing me. He looked up at me and then he watched where my eyes were looking. He had a smile on his face and I yelled at him asking ‘why are you smiling when I looked this way’ and he just said ‘you look beautiful’ I looked back into the mirror and I saw my face, my body, and wanted to scream again.”

  “Bonnie I didn’t look beautiful at all. I looked very sick and it scared me. You remember that zombie movie we saw on that commercial well I looked like that but white like a ghost. I looked even worst then those zombies.”

  I didn’t tell her I didn’t remember the commercial, but I knew what she was trying to say.

  “Oh Bonnie I wanted to cry, but he grabbed my face and had me look him in the eyes. He said Angelica you look beautiful. I believed him I don’t know why but I believed him and didn’t think twice about it. It wasn’t until the next morning when I looked in the mirror did I want to cry again. I felt kind of lifeless to and it made me feel too weak to cry, but I kept thinking about Damon and I wanted him here with me. I don’t know why but I can’t get him out of my mind Bonnie.”

  I went to sit on my bed. I allowed her words to roll in my head. I didn’t know what to say about the whole thing. I cared more about how she saw herself in the mirror then if she and Damon had sex. I wasn’t going to ask her about that topic, knowing something like that was private. I knew she would tell me if she wanted but if she didn’t well that would be fine. It was her business, not mine.

  Even if she was my best friend and if I did something like that I would tell her, but that didn’t mean she had to tell me.

  “Do you think I am weird thinking I saw myself look like that in the mirror?” She asked. “I mean I am looking in the mirror right now and I look fine. I mean my color isn’t right, its paler than normal, but I look better.”

  “No I don’t think you are weird at all.” I told her telling her the truth. In fact I thought she was really on to something. Maybe Damon was the one that did this.

  “Did Damon do anything weird to you?” I asked not wanting to sound crazy myself.

  “What? No he was great. Really great. I hope he calls me back Bonnie.” I heard the pure hope in her voice. I could even hear her question behind her words. She was asking me to tell her he would call.

  Could I lie and say yes? I wasn’t sure. I honestly didn’t think he would call her, but maybe he liked her enough to call her for a few more nights as he did the others. I was just scared that she would be too sad to hear that truth.

  “I think he will call. He has your number right?” I asked as honestly as I could sound.

  “Yes and I have his number.”

  “If you have his number this is good. He never gave out his number before.” I said now thinking maybe he would call her. The forbidden four didn’t give out numbers because they were the forbidden four. They didn’t want anyone to be able to reach them at any time, really any of the girls they dated.

  I remembered over hearing some girls in the restroom talking about how they had never got them to give them their numbers. I knew that if Ang had gotten Damon number that it was a good sign.

  “Well no, I got his number from his phone when I was holding it. He doesn’t know.” She said. I started to laugh out of pure filled horror. I just could not believe she had sunk so low. “Don’t judge me Bonnie!” She laughed loudly. “I know it was bad but I just had to have it something just came over me.”

  “Right, it was so bad that you had to have his number. Well you can’t use it without him knowing about you taking it.” I told her still laughing hardly. “So what are you going to do with it?” It got quite on the line and for a second I thought that the call had dropped. “Angelic are you still there?”

  “Yes I’m here…..I just well…need a huge favor from you.” Her voice sounded really full of hope. “Please say you’ll at least think about this ok.”

  My mind wrapped around all the things she could ask me but I refused to think of anything bad, like me going out with Jay because of her. I didn’t think she would ask that of me, then I knew Ang and if she really wants Damon she would do anything to get him and if that meant using me in what she thought was a small way she would do it.

  “What happened with the two of you, you and Jay I mean?” She asked but I could tell by her tone she just wanted to test the waters with me about Jay.

  �
�Well you would know if you didn’t hang up on me.” I grinned to myself.

  “Oh Bonnie, I don’t even know why I hung up. I don’t really even remember it, so I am really sorry.” She began and I could hear the honesty in her voice. “It is so weird. When everyone started to run I got this feeling of I don’t even know, it just felt weird like I had to put everything aside and go with Damon. Bonnie it was like nothing else mattered. So when you called you didn’t even matter at that point and I am so sorry for that.”

  She stopped and I could hear something else behind her voice: crying. I wasn’t too sure but it sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

  “Bonnie I don’t know what happened and I am so sorry for that. I never would want anything to happen to you and I should have called you sooner to see that you were ok. Can you forgive me?”

  I could hear her voice choke. She was crying and I didn’t want her to be sad because of that. She was my best friend and like my sister. Angelica would never act like at. I knew she cared about me. We had been best friends since forever it seemed.

  As I listened to her cry and wanted nothing but to be there to hug her. I wished I had been there in her house to have this conversation instead of at home over the phone with her.

  “It’s ok Ang; I know you wouldn’t want me to be hurt.” I told her trying to let her hear the words beyond the words I was saying to her through the tone of my voice.

  “But Bonnie I didn’t care at that moment. All I cared about was Damon and getting into his pants. And look at me right now; I am trying to get you to help me get him to call. What kind of best friend does that?” Her voice rose a bit higher. “I don’t want you to forgive me so easily.”

  “Okay, by me lunch tomorrow and we will be fine.” I said just wanting her to forgive herself as I had already done.

  “Ok.” She laughed.

  I didn’t want to tell her that I had a feeling that Damon had done something to her because I knew she would just think I was crazy or letting my already bad feelings of the forbidden four rule over my feelings for Damon. I wanted to know more about the forbidden four now. I needed to know more about them. There was something that wasn’t right with them.