The next morning, after scarfing down toasted eggos, I grabbed my school bag and got into Kali's black 2019 Porsche 718 Boxster convertible. Before she was even driving away, I was digging through my bag for my pills. I had stolen a prescription pad from my mother almost a year ago, and know how to forge her signature perfectly, but Kali doesn't need to know that. I popped two of the Adderall, and almost instantly I could feel the effects taking place.
"You know, the way you take those people are gonna think you're an addict," she said snarkily.
"If they're prescribed by a doctor then it's not abuse," I said automatically, feeling my eyes sharpen and my nerves start to stand on end. She scoffed, mumbled what sounded like 'yeah right,' and turned on the radio.
"So are you excited?" she quipped, already over her judgement.
"For this weekend? Hells yeah. I can't wait to toilet paper that fuckwad's house," I said, thinking about the look on Coach Ramsey's face when he comes out of his house to find a mass destruction of single ply. "He deserves it after what he did to Lana." Lana was one of our not too close friends, Coach Ramsey decided to ask her to stay late after class and try to kiss her. She was the same age as me, fifteen, and he was like forty. It still makes my skin crawl thinking about it.
"Well yeah that too, but didn't you hear?" she asked, giving me that side look. When I didn't respond she sighed and looked back at the road. "I swear Lenna without me you'd never hear any of the juicy gossip in town. There's gonna be a new student starting with us today. A boy. Apparently he's a surfer from California with dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. His name's Aiden. Aiden Hill. I'm so excited to see what he looks like and see if he's in any of my classes," she explained, a bright look in her eyes.
"Aren't you forgetting something? You have a boyfriend. Ben? Did you forget about him?" I told her, pulling her back to the earth. Kali always daydreamt for just a little too long, usually getting caught up in her fantasies. Her face fell as she was once again pulled into her thoughts. I used this time to think about this 'Aiden' character. I was sure that eighty percent of what Kali told me wasn't true - that's just what Talihina was like. You couldn't trust rumors unless you asked about the situation straight from the horse's mouth. Sometimes I liked to play with that though, starting a rumor about myself, seeing how far and exaggerated it would get before coming back to me. It was a fun social experiment. I thought of the next rumor I would spread, maybe starting some gossip that I was gay, just to see the Christian mom's heads swivel. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't realize that we were close to the school until Kali pulled into her usual handicap spot. She put the handicap sign on her mirror that she got from her mom, who was in a wheelchair, and grabbed her bag from the back.
"Another day, another dollar," I muttered to myself as I copied.
"What'd you say?" Kali asked, and I answered with a shrug. No need to tell her. She never asked where I got my money from, and if she did I would tell her, but she gossiped so much I wasn't sure I could completely trust her with this.
"Hey, Kali!" Ben called, waving her over. Kali's face automatically lit up.
"See ya later," I said, heading towards my first class. But she was already gone. Sometimes it kind of felt like she chose Ben over me, but then I realized she did make time for both of us. It was just different than what it used to be because now I had to share her. On my way to my first class, a regular customer came up beside me and while we were walking discreetly handed me a twenty. I gave him a small plastic bag with two little blue pills.
"Thanks Lenna," he whispered as he started walking faster and past me. This routine carried on throughout the day, and slowly my stash started depleting. During lunch I sat at my usual table, with Kali, her boyfriend and Lana. During lunch was the main time me and Lana talked, Kali was usually too obsessed with Ben to be much of a conversationalist with anyone else. Lana was a quiet girl, shy, and she didn't make friends very easily. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen anyone else talk to her. I've known her since the first grade, along with Kali. Kali and I always clicked more than anyone else, and Lana, I hate to say it, was more of a third wheel in our friendship. Since Kali had been with Ben, though, I've gotten to know her better. She's a sweet girl, and as quiet as she is, she's very observant. She knows everything about everyone.
Later, at my last class of the day, I took my usual seat in the back. As I was taking out my book for biology, I looked up, which isn't something I normally do, but for some reason the whole class had gone unusually quiet. I saw the back of a boy's head at Mr. Krandon's desk, but it wasn't one I'd recognized. In a town this small everyone knew everyone else, and seeing someone new outside of tourist season was always exciting. Then I remember what Kali said this morning, we were getting a new classmate. Mr. K stood up and, to the boy's embarrassment, introduced him to the whole class.
"Everyone, this is Aiden Hill. He's new here from Nevada, so I want everyone to be welcoming. Aiden, would you like to tell the class something about yourself?"
"Um, not really," he said, a voice as deep as a well and clear as a crisp spring morning. He flushed as the class chuckled at what he said.
"Why don't you take a seat next to… Oleanna." Mr. K said, pointing me out. I looked around. Why me? Then I noticed I sat next to the only empty desk in the classroom. I gave a tight smile and a little wave and Aiden jaunted over to his seat next to me. I gave him a quick once over. He obviously wasn't wealthy, like some of my classmates. He looked like he could have moved to the trailer park two blocks over from my house. He wore greasy jeans and a plain black T-shirt, and he had dark brown hair and light brown eyes. As he moved closer I could see his cheeks had light freckles adorning the tops of them. I remembered what Kali had said and pleased to find that I was right. The gossip and rumors about him were only accurate about the name. He came from Nevada, for one, and he didn't look like a surfer at all. Even the colors of his hair and eyes were wrong.
"Hey," he said to me, once he was seated, "I'm Aiden, but I guess you already knew that."
"Yeah, small town life. Everyone knows everyone and you can't get away from the gossip," I replied. "I heard you were a surfer from California, for instance, and I guess you already heard that I'm gay, even though I just started that fun rumor this morning."
"I did happen to hear that," he chuckled, "I also heard you were specifically into the butch types. Why would you start a rumor about yourself?"
"For the social experiment. To see how exaggerated it'll get before someone has the guts to come up and ask me about it themselves," I replied. He seemed to mull that over for a moment, and was about to ask me something else, when Mr. K started class.
After school, I was walking towards the parking lot to wait for Kali to stop sucking faces with Ben, when Aiden came up beside me.
"Hey, what are you doing this weekend?" he asked.
"Me and my friend Kali are gonna toilet paper Coach Ramsey's house because he tried to kiss a sophomore," I answered truthfully.
"Gross," he said, "Well anyway I was wondering if we could hang out… maybe when you're done with that, or I could join you if you'd like…" He practically stuttered. He obviously looked nervous. I was surprised, a boy had never really asked me out before. I could see Kali headed my way, and she was not known to be patient, so I dug through my bag and produced a pen. I grabbed his arm and wrote down my number on his skin, noticing in the proximity that despite his appearance, he smelled heavenly. Like newly brewed coffee and fresh cut grass. I inhaled as much of it as I could, disguising myself with a sigh.
"Text me and we'll work something out," I said, capping the pen. As I was putting it back in my bag, Kali grabbed my arm and started dragging me away.
"Come on, you're gonna make me late," she said, but I could tell it was just her curiosity that made her rush me to the car.
"Sorry," I mumbled. Once she was driving, she bombarded me with questions about Aiden.
"Did you two have a class together?"
"Yes, the final period."
"What did you talk about?"
"How he's not a surfer from California."
"You're so weird. Why did he talk to you after class?"
"I think he wanted to ask me out."
"WHAT??? You HAVE to go out with him!"
"I gave him my number."
"You didn't make plans?"
"He asked about this weekend but we're gonna toilet paper Coach Ramsey's house."
"Oleanna Dickenson. You did NOT tell him about our plans did you?"
"I kind of did."
"Why would you do that?"
"Because he asked what I was doing this weekend."
"So you make up a lie! Now that he knows, we're probably gonna have to do something different to the coach and reschedule! Anyway, while I think of a better plan, you're free this weekend. Go out with him." That sneaky little bitch.
"Okay fine. But I have to wait for him to text me. I didn't get his number. He might not even contact me. He might think I'm crazy." I said, mostly to myself.
"You're different. That's probably what he likes about you," Kali said. Sometimes, in moments like these, I really understand why we're friends.