White is for Virgins

by Necks, S. Eva

  “Not at all,” I lied with a grin, “Are you here for the CPR class?”

  He nodded, and I ran a hand through my hair as his blue eyes smiled back at me.

  ***

  .FOX POV.

  I escorted an old lady to the room where Emery and the creepy gay guy were setting up the blow up dolls and mats and other stuff.

  “What’s your name young man?” the senior citizen asked.

  “Fox,” I said, “And yours?”

  “Fox? How lovely, I’m Deirdre,” she smiled and pointed to the girl next to her, “And this is my granddaughter, Linda.”

  Linda was drooling as she whispered, “Hi.”

  Oh, God. Remind me again why I stayed for the class?

  Studying.

  I saw Emery smirk in my direction before turning back to Mr. Baby GAP. She was so oblivious.

  “Right, so how does this work?” I asked Emery, leaving Deirdre with her granddaughter.

  “Well. I work with Tommy, and you work with those lovely ladies over there. The instruction guide is on the doll, so it shouldn’t be too hard,” she told me.

  “Tommy? Listen Em, there is no way I’m teaching those ladies how to blow on a doll, they’re freakin’ creepy,” I told her, and she smirked.

  “Why can’t you just teach all of them at once? I’m sure Mr. Baby GAP wouldn’t mind, and the Golden Girl would love to learn from a professional,” I added.

  She laughed this time. “Golden Girl? That’s mean, Fox, she’s not that old,” she said, taking another look at the granny in the corner. “And Mr. Baby GAP? What the hell’s with that? Tommy is a firefighter.”

  “A gay one,” I smirked.

  She frowned, and glared at me, “Fine. I’ll teach the whole group, on one condition.”

  “I’ll do anything,” I said, immediately wishing I had chosen other words.

  “Okay,” she said, raising her voice to get everyone’s attention, “Ladies and gentleman, I’m Emery, and this is my lovely assistant, Fox,” she smiled.

  She’s good.

  “You do exactly what I tell you,” she whispered as we both sat down on the mat by the blow up doll on the floor.

  “If there is ever someone who needs CPR, this is what you do,” she started.

  I did just as she instructed, pretending to check a pulse, pumping the chest, blowing into the mouth. It was pretty weird, but I was desperate for the A in creative writing. My dad would probably neuter me and then send me to some military school thousands of miles away if I failed again.

  He even considered sending me to my mother’s. I almost lost it.

  We moved on, giving them each their own doll to practice on.

  Emery wrapped up the class and gave them each a certificate, congratulating them on their ‘immense accomplishment’.

  ***

  “You disinfect those dolls, right?” I asked, sitting on the couch in the lobby.

  “I did now, but I’m not sure if the one you practiced on was clean, since Carlos has been gone for a while,” she shrugged.

  “You’re kidding me.”

  “Yeah, I am.”

  Relief washed over me as she laughed.

  “You’re lucky you got a doll. I should’ve made you practice on Linda,” she said, and when she saw the disgusted look on my face, she added, “Or her grandmother.”

  I shuddered just thinking about it.

  “I would’ve rather demonstrated on Tommy,” I muttered, even though I wouldn’t have done that either.

  She laughed again. A light, soft chuckle.

  “I’m sure…” she commented.

  “Nah, he would’ve liked it.”

  “No, he wouldn’t have.”

  “He’s gay, Em. He likes men,” I told her in all seriousness.

  “Just because he knows how to dress doesn’t mean he’s gay,” she said, trying to make herself believe her own words.

  “Fireman? He’s tiny! I swear he shops at Baby GAP…” I smirked.

  “No, he doesn’t, Fox. You’re so mean,” she laughed.

  “He does. I bet he likes sliding down the poles at the fire station,” I laughed, “God, I thought girls had gay-dars. You’re supposed to sense this type of stuff.”

  “You’re such a perve,” she sighed. I saw that smile, though, the one she was trying to hid.

  “And you refuse to accept that I’m right.”

  Just because I was going to study, didn’t mean I couldn’t have a little fun with it.

  .EMERY POV.

  If only Tommy had been a little scruffier, and a little less scrawny…

  I sighed and looked at the SAT list again, having memorized the definitions the night before.

  Time to get to work.

  “Ok. The first word is abjure,” I said, and averted my gaze to Fox who was staring at me strangely.

  “Do you know what it means?” I asked.

  “No clue. You’re the tutor here.”

  “Ok, I’ll give you a sentence, and you’ll guess the meaning,” I told him, focusing on the list.

  “On the last Creative Writing exam, you abjured and settled for a failing grade,” I sighed, looking up to see his reaction.

  He just stared at me.

  “It’s not that hard, Mr. Evans,” I frowned, “I don’t have to do this, you know? I could go home right now and leave you here.”

  “To give up,” he stated as he peered over my shoulder.

  “Hey!” I snapped, clutching the paper to my chest, “No cheating.”

  He smirked, but sat back on the couch and motioned for me to continue.

  “Ok, narcissistic,” I said, peaking at the paper. “Fox Evans is the most narcissistic person I’ve ever met.”

  He smiled, “You’re right,” he said. I raised my eyebrows in confusion. “I probably am the sexiest person you’ve ever met.”

  “You just proved me right,” I sighed. “And no it’s not sexy. It means vain, egotistical, conceited, and/or self-absorbed, actually.”

  He pulled the paper from my hands, “My turn,” he said, smiling devilishly as he scanned the paper.

  “But I know all the words,” I protested.

  “Well then I’ll practice my sentence structure,” he shrugged.

  “Acquiesce,” he said, “Sooner or later Em, you’re gonna acquiesce to the fact that I’m irresistible.”

  I smirked, “It means agree, or give in. And no I will not.”

  “We’ll see about that,” he muttered, still smiling as he looked over the list again.

  “Do something with juxtapose,” I told him, trying to give him a word that he couldn’t have fun with.

  “If I juxtaposed you and Teresa, the only similarity would be gender,” he smirked.

  Asshole.

  “I’d consider that a compliment,” I muttered.

  In contrast to Teresa, I’m smarter.

  “I wouldn’t, but then again, it’s just a sentence,” he smirked again.

  I snatched the paper back from him and put it behind my back.

  “Prostrate, meaning to lay flat,” I stated. “Gimme a sentence - a serious sentence – for that word.”

  “Women like it when I prostrate them,” he said simply, although the sentence sounded weird.

  He had on his poker face, but I glared at him until he let out a chuckle.

  “I said serious,” I scolded.

  “I was serious.”

  “You’re an ass.”

  “And you’re… prosaic,” he countered, smiling confidently. He just called me dull… with an SAT word.

  “I’d rather be boring than narcissistic,” I said, which wasn’t a complete lie.

  “I can’t acquiesce with you on that one.”

  “You are impossible,” I shook my head.

  “Nah, I just hate abjuring when it comes to verbal fights,” he grinned.

  “I have to close up,” I said suddenly, I was out of SAT words and sick of his insults.

  I went to shut off the
lights in the building while he sat there.

  “What about studying? You promised, Em,” he called.

  “You seem to have them down. Take my list, I know the words already,” I called back, yawning as I locked the front doors and headed for the back door.

  He followed.

  “What’s up with you?” he asked, close behind me.

  “Nothing, me and my prosaic-self are just gonna go home and get some sleep,” I huffed, stepping out into the cool night.

  Yep, it was definitely late-September.

  “Oh c’mon, you’re seriously mad at me?” he asked.

  “Nope, I’m fine,” I said through my teeth as I locked the back door and shoved my set of keys into my bag.

  I turned on my heel and started walking home, hungry as hell.

  “Em, I was just trying to piss you off,” he said, coming up next to me.

  “Yeah, well, you succeeded,” I told him, pulling my iPod out.

  “Well I didn’t expect you to get mad, just… annoyed.” I’m sure that explanation sounded better in his head.

  “I’m sorry I disappointed you…?” I said in a sarcastic, purposefully-awkward manner.

  “Don’t be like that.”

  I turned to glare at him, narrowing my boring brown eyes.

  “I’m sorry, alright?” he blurted and I tried not to smile.

  I got the narcissist to apologize.

  “Can you ever forgive me?” he pleaded mock-sincerely, pouting.

  “Ehhh…”

  “Say yes, Em,” he said, “Or else I’ll prostrate you.”

  I blushed, thankful it was dark and he couldn’t see it.

  “We wouldn’t want that,” I laughed.

  “I don’t know about that, I’m pretty sure you want me,” he said in that cocky voice of his.

  “You’re forgiven, perve. Study those words,” I said, walking away.

  “Don’t need to,” he called, turning back to the parking lot.

  His ego was freakin’ inflated, I bet it didn’t fit into his car. It was almost that big and unhealthy.

  Almost.

  Chapter 11

  .FOX POV.

  Mrs. Sawyer’s heels clicked on the floor as she walked down the aisles and placed a paper on each desk.

  I know this.

  We began.

  I was surprised to find how well I was doing, and how easy the test seemed to be. Maybe I was becoming a nerd or something; Emery was rubbing off on me. I needed to impress my father. I needed to do some serious sucking up – and acing this exam would be the perfect place to start.

  That was why I’d been studying with Emery this entire freakin’ week. Even though she had to watch Holly, I’d coaxed her into staying an extra hour to help me study both English and History. Holly got extra time on the playground, and I worked on broadening my attention span.

  To put it simply, the week had been complete hell. And it had all led up to this.

  Prostrate.

  Picturing the look on Emery’s face when I’d given her a sentence for that word made me want to laugh, but since my life depended on this grade, I didn’t want to give Mrs. S any reason to deduct points.

  Prosaic.

  She had gotten pissed at me for calling her boring. I didn’t know she was that sensitive… she loved being a bitch to me, so I figured she wouldn’t mind. But she did.

  It wasn’t like she really was boring – just, I don’t know, different? Em was strange – she worked too hard in school and she spent all her time volunteering.

  “Pass them in!” Mrs. Sawyer announced, which meant there was like a minute left in class. I quickly scribbled down the last sentence and went up to the front of the room with my paper.

  I had been the only one still working. Swell…

  The bell rang, and we all shuffled out. I waited for Emery outside the room.

  When a short girl with dirty blonde hair walked out, I grabbed her and swung her around. She squealed and tried to get me to put her down, but I didn’t. Not until Mrs. Sawyer stepped out and gave me the creepiest stink eye I’d ever seen.

  “I take it you think you did well,” she muttered when I finally put her down. Her cheeks were pink as always.

  “I know I did,” I replied.

  “Cocky son of a-” Before she had the time to finish, Lily came out of nowhere and looped her arm with Emery’s.

  “Hey, Lil-”

  “Fox, love to stay and chat but Em and I have class,” Lily said quickly and pulled her down the hall.

  Right…

  “Mr. Evans,” Mrs. S said, stepping out of her room, “What was that little scene about?”

  “I was just… showing my appreciation,” I smirked, watching her brows crease.

  “Appreciation?”

  “Yeah, Emery’s my new tutor,” I stated.

  “If she’s anything like the rest of the tutors you’ve had, I will not be surprised after grading your exam,” she muttered, stepping back into her room and closing the door.

  Ouch, Mrs. S got jokes.

  ***

  .EMERY POV.

  “Lily, are you alright?” I asked, checking the list of supplies we had on the counter like Mr. A had instructed.

  We were experimenting with the Betty Crocker Bake ‘n Fill today, making cakes for no specific reason.

  “No, I just-”, she stopped, shook her head, and tied her hair into a ponytail at the top of her head. Her bangs were still in her eyes though.

  “You just..?” I pressed, cracking a few eggs into the bowl.

  “Why are you spending so much time with the SG?” she asked finally, eyeing me as we poured a few other things into the bowl.

  “SG?”

  “Sex God.”