––––––––
Jasmine and Ariel walked in a half hour after Cole left.
It had been at least a week since we’d had a girls night, and I needed one bad. Not that I could tell them much about what was going on in my life, but it felt good to just have them there, eating ice cream, throwing popcorn at each other, and watching The Notebook on permanent repeat. We may have not had much experience with boys, but we were still true romantics at heart.
“So, did Eric propose yet?” I teased.
Ariel’s cheeks reddened, and her eyes lit. Her silver spoon dipped in to her bowl, before reappearing with a glob of chocolate ice cream. She put it in her mouth, and sucked on it thoughtfully, a slow smile spreading across her face.
“Spill,” Jasmine said, placing her bowl down on the bed and leaning toward Ariel. “What’s new with lover boy?”
Ariel sucked on her spoon for a few more seconds before placing the bowl on the floor and crossing her legs beneath her.
“Ladies, I think I’m in love,” she screeched.
Me and Jasmine screamed, and threw pillows at Ariel’s smiling face.
“That’s not news!” I said. “You’ve been in love with Eric for forever.”
“No. I’ve been in love with the idea of Eric forever. With his popular persona and his online persona. Now, I’m in love with him.”
“What’s the difference?” Jasmine asked.
“Because,” Ariel tipped her chin in the way she always did when she was going to lecture us, “I didn’t really know him before. Now, it’s different. There is just so much about him that’s sweet, and kind, and strong. God. I just want to eat him up!”
We screamed again and put our hands over our hearts, pretending to be scandalized.
“Why, Ariel Swimworthy, what would your father say?” Jasmine asked.
“Daddy loves him.”
Jasmine and I gawked at our red headed friend, our mouths hanging open.
“He’s met your father?” I asked.
Ariel nodded.
“When?”
“Yesterday. When he showed up at my door with flowers and chocolates and asked Daddy’s permission to sit with me on the front steps of our building and talk.”
“No way,” Jasmine gasped.
“Yes way. Daddy called him respectful.”
For Triton Swimworthy, calling someone respectful was like calling them a saint. Respect and manners were huge in Ariel’s house. Eric had scored some major points.
“So, what did you two do? Just sit on the steps and talk?”
“Until ten o’clock. Then he walked me back upstairs, thanked my father for the opportunity to talk to me-”
“He said that?” Jasmine asked.
Ariel nodded. “He walked in and said, ‘Mr. Swimworthy, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to get to know your beautiful daughter. Here is my phone number in case you ever need to get in touch with me’.” Ariel’s eyes rounded. “I’ve never seen Daddy’s mouth hang open like that. Ever.”
“That’s incredible. And so romantic!” My heart was racing just from hearing Ariel’s amazing story.
“You should have seen it. My sisters were lined up in the hallway, and he introduced himself to each one of them on the way out. Then, when he told me good night, he kissed my hand. Girls, I thought that I was Juliet and he was Romeo.”
“Does he have a brother?” Jasmine asked.
Ariel fell back on to the bed, arms splayed open as if she was trying to make snow angels in my sheets.
“Then, when he got home, we texted each other all night.”
“Who knew that he was such a gentleman?” Jasmine said.
“His grandfather is an oilman from Alabama. His father is an interpreter for the French embassy. Charm is practically running in his veins.”
“And respect,” Jasmine added.
“Yes. Respect, too. He asks a lot.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“He asks me a lot of questions. How are you feeling? How was your day? Do you like to do this? Is it okay if I kiss you? What are you thinking?”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Jasmine said. “Back up. He’s kissed you?”
Ariel shrugged and moved her feet around excitedly. “Well, only on the hand. But he always asks. May I kiss you? Can I kiss you? Is it okay if I kiss you? God. I just want to write him a permission slip that says, kiss me anytime you want.”
“So, this was more than a one-time thing?” I asked.
“Whenever he sees me, he kisses my knuckles, then puts his hands over it, like the kiss is going to fly away or something. Then, when he says goodbye, he kisses my palm, and closes my hand over it. I just want to drag him behind the bleachers!”
“Ariel, you have struck gold!” Jasmine said. “Respectful, nice boys with hot bodies and cute faces are very hard to find. You better marry him before he flies back to heaven with the other angels.”
I laughed out loud.
“Amen to that,” I said.
“So, when are you going to announce to the world that he’s yours?” I asked.
Ariel shrugged. “Soon, I hope. I’ve seen Ursula sniffing around him, and I’m too young to go to jail for murder.”
Jasmine chuckled.
“It’s true. They’ll put your hair in corn rows and make you wear orange jumpsuits. I’m not sure that goes with your complexion.” She poked at Ariel’s chin, and the three of us exploded in laughter.
Laughter so loud that we almost didn’t hear my dad knock on the door.
“Girls,” he said. He’d just gotten home from work, and he looked tired. There was dirt beneath his fingernails, and he smelled like hay and horses.
“You have some more visitors.”
More visitors? Who would visit us? I wasn’t expecting anyone.
He disappeared from the door, and Stephanie, Mel, and Ursula stepped over the threshold, taking in my unpacked house and my barely decorated room. Mojo followed after them, growling.
What were they doing here?
“Are you lost?” Jasmine asked.
“Nope,” Mel said. “We just came to pay a visit to Bella. We figured that now that you’re popular that you’d need some friends worthy of your new status.”
“Aren’t you Dana’s friends?” Ariel asked. “Isn’t this some sort of conflict of interest?”
“Not at all.” The three girls stepped deeper in to the room. They looked around in disgust. Like they would catch a disease from the carpets or something. “With Dana on the outs socially, we thought that we’d start exploring other options, and Bella’s name was the first to pop in to our collective minds.”
“Well, you know what they say,” Jasmine said. “Small minds think alike.”
Stephanie narrowed her eyes at Jasmine.
“Anyway, Bella. We thought we’d come by and let you know that anytime you need anything at all, you can let us know. Consider yourself arrived.”
“Great,” Ariel said. “Now you can arrive yourself back to the strip club that you crawled out of.”
Stephanie took a step toward Ariel.
“Maybe if you had better manners, people who mattered would actually remember that you exist.”
Ariel stood, and stormed forward, standing nose to nose with Stephanie.
“The people who matter to me are in this room. Minus the three of you, of course. Why don’t you run along before I decide to throw Nair in your hair?”
Stephanie gasped, then looked at me.
“Aren’t you going to reign your friend in?”
“No one reigns me in,” Ariel growled.
“That’s funny,” Ursula said. “I’ve been hearing that Eric has been reigning you in just fine. Though I’m not surprised. He’s always liked to slum it.”
The second the words left Ursula’s mouth, Jasmine and I jumped up, holding Ariel’s outstretched hands back from Ursula’s throat.
“Don’t you dare say his name!” Ariel cried.
Ursula gave her a sly smile. “Why wouldn’t I? He’s already said mine. Over and over and over again.”
“Eric would never touch a fat whore like you!”
Ursula’s eyebrows rose. “Wouldn’t he?”
In a sudden burst of strength, Ariel ripped herself out of mine and Jasmine’s hold and charged at Ursula. In record time, we grabbed her again.
Mel, Stephanie, and Ursula stood back, smiling at us.
“You know, Bella, I would rethink my associates. We came here to extend our support, and your red headed beastly friend just attacks us out of nowhere. Is this what you want us to tell everyone at school tomorrow? That you associate with wild animals?”
“I’ll show you an animal!” Ariel continued to buck and shove us away, desperate to get to the girls.
I couldn’t let that happen. If Mel, Ursula, and Stephanie were extending an olive branch to me, I had to take it. One, it would give me unmatched insights in to Jake’s life. Maybe they could tell me if he was, indeed, involved in dealing drugs like Detective Harding thought he was. Plus, they would be able to give me valuable tips on being popular. Tips that Ariel and Jasmine didn’t have. And, if they started spreading rumors about Ariel, those rumors might reach Eric. What would he say? What would he think?
“Ariel, stop.”
Ariel’s wide eyes zeroed in on me as if I had just cursed her father.
“What?”
“Stop. Just be cool.”
“I will not be cool,” she said. “Not around them.”
“They’re just being friendly,” I said. “Can’t you just be normal about it?”
“Have you forgotten that Stephanie dunked your head in a toilet?”
I sighed.
“That was Freshman year.”
“Or that she spread that rumor that there were crabs in your hair?”
“That was sophomore year.”
“Or that they’re probably working with Dana to cover your locker with crap every morning?”
“For the record,” Stephanie said, “we had nothing to do with that.”
“Yeah. I’ll bet,” Jasmine said.
“I just want us all to get along,” I pleaded with them. “Can’t we all just be friends?”
“I can’t be friends with someone who attacks me and my friends,” Stephanie said.
“And I can’t be friends with a bulimic spazz.”
Stephanie’s face stretched in outrage, and she glared at Ariel.
“Them or us, Bella,” she said, her voice dropping to lethal tones.
“Can’t we-”
She glared at me. “Them or us.”
I took in a deep breath, my eyes darting between my best friends, and the girls who’d tortured me since Freshman year. I had to make a decision. A decision that would affect everyone in our school. With Kenny being Mel’s on again, off again boyfriend, I was sure that she could tell me exactly what I needed to know about Jake and his drugs. Maybe the four of us could convince Jake and Kenny to stop dealing in our school.
I, Bella French, could clean up St. Mary’s Academy once and for all.
I let out the breath, and kept my eyes on the carpet, my stomach tied in knots.
“Maybe you should go,” I said.
“Ha!” Ariel cried out. “Get back out on the streets before your pimp comes back.”
“I meant you.”
I looked up, watching Ariel and Jasmine’s face squeeze in confusion.
“Us?”
“Just for tonight. Just until you cool down.”
“You are kicking us out. Your best friends? The two people that you can actually trust, for these skanks?”
I felt terrible, but if the Stephanie, Ursula, and Mel were offering an olive branch, I had to take it. It was the only way I could think of to get information about Jake. I couldn’t just let them walk out.
“I-”
“Don’t answer. We’re leaving. Come on, Jasmine. We shouldn’t stay where we’re not wanted.”
My heart sank in to my feet as I watched Ariel and Jasmine put their ice cream bowls on the table and walk out of my room. They didn’t even turn around.
I’m a terrible person, I thought. I am a terrible, awful person.
But I had no choice.
Stephanie, Mel, and Ursula turned to me with smiles. Smiles that, deep down in my heart, I knew were mocking me.
“Now,” Stephanie said, “let’s talk all about your new boyfriend.”