Backstabber
Saturday. April 10th. 2020.
"Happy birthday, Arabella!" I shout with the crowd around me. It's packed in Arabella Kelly's kitchen. All of her friends and family are here for her twenty-first birthday. They sing poorly, I don't have to try to be in tune. My eyes fall on Sevastyan across the island. He stands next to Arabella's younger sister, Faraoh, dancing foolishly in place. My best friend laughs, glowing with pure joy. She's a pretty girl with chocolate skin and long, coffee colored hair. Her makeup is caked with all colors of the rainbow around her almond, brown eyes. She's thick, her huge breasts pop out of her tight, pink cocktail dress that keeps rising. Once everyone is finished, she blows out the candles. We all cheer and clap our hands.
"Thank you, everyone!" Arabella scans the kitchen. "Tonight has been amazing. I can't believe I'm fucking twenty-one!"
"Don't overdo it on the drinking, Bella." We chuckle at her mother's comment.
"I won't, Mom." Her manicured hand rests on my shoulder. "And another thank you to Vella for her performance. She truly gave us a show." Everyone cheers again, this time for me. I blush a bit, flashing the gap between my upper teeth with a smile.
"Free of charge just for you." I say with a tilted head.
"Thanks, bestie." She hugs me. "You're a sister to me." The crowd awes as she picks up a knife. "Now, let's have some cake and continue to party!" The room roars with claps once again as she hands the knife to her mom.
In the sunroom, I sit between Arabella and our good friend, Sophie on her leather couch. Our friends from high school, Willow, Aurora, and Teyona, are on the adjacent couch. We share a blunt with a bottle of strawberry Svedka on the coffee table. Poppy is playing on the stereo, Sofia bobs her head to the bubbly song. I take a sip from my cup as Aurora gushes about Arabella's new single.
"I just can't believe you're singing now. I always loved your voice, but it's so nice hearing it with instrumentals."
Arabella pinches her shoulders in. "It was Isavella's idea." She nudges my shoulder. "I'm thankful Sevastyan helped me get in touch with Sanjay."
"He's a good producer." Teyona jumps in, handing the blunt to Aurora. "I worked with him once for my single, 'Disaster'."
"He helped you with that?" I asked. "I didn't recognize his style."
Teyona pops her shoulder. "He wanted to do something different with me."
I raise my eyebrows and nod slowly. "Interesting."
Her head tilts. "Why aren't you releasing anything new? Everyone has been asking about you."
I weakly smile. "I'm not ready."
"You've done this before, Vella. You literally went on a world tour. How can you not be ready?"
"Have you ever been on a world tour, Tey?" I lift my brow. "It's exhausting."
Her face scrunches and there's a twitch in her brown eyes. "I'm not on your level, yet. But if I were, I'd ride the wave until it was over." She smiles, "It's not over for you, girl!"
I stare blankly in return. "I never said it was." My eyes catch Arabella's stare.
"Just make music when you're ready." She stares straight at Teyona.
"What? I'm saying what we're all thinking. Have you seen the forums?" Both Willow and Aurora are uncomfortable, their faces are shades different but the expression is the same. Aurora holds the joint in her hand and stares at it as Willow glares eerily at Teyona. She continues, popping her brow. "Will it take another collab with Boa Gunner to get you ready?"
My jaw clenches along with my hands. Heat rises up my chest. I blink a few times as I respond, "Screw you, Teyona!" I huff, "You know I'll never work with him again." I scoff and stand up. "You really just mentioned him, bitch?" I storm out of the room.
"Vella!" I hear Arabella following me into the kitchen. "Don't let Tey piss you off."
My black acrylics grip the marbled island. "She just did. How dare she bring up one of my fucking rapists?"
Arabella holds her fingers. "She doesn't mean any harm… and you know that."
"She didn't?" I widen my eyes.
"I didn't." Teyona says behind Arabella.
I stare at her, just her face alone send rage through my body. "Why would you bring up Vince's producer?"
She comes to the center and sighs. "I was hoping you were over it, girl."
My jaw drops. "Over what he did to me? He raped me!"
"Maybe it's time to move on. It was a year ago, everyone was drinking and high as fuck." She perks up. "We're doing this collab together and he said it would be perfect to have your voice on it." Her head falls. "He's really sorry about what happened. Probation changed him."
I grit my teeth and glare at Arabella. "The fact that you would do that…" My eyes scan back to that bitch. "…makes me want to rip your weave off your fucking head!" My voice and anger grows by the end of the sentence.
Teyona straightens her head. Darkness falls over her brown eyes. "It's a favor, Isavella. You know, since no one wants to listen to you anymore. Going back to Starlight and working with Boa's gang will get people interested in you again. If you want to die a loser, so be it."
"A loser?" I laugh loud. "Fuck off." My expression straightens. "I'm totally fine without his or your help. I suggest you get out of my face before I ruin yours."
Arabella comes between us. "Okay, Vella, let's not ke—"
"Keep threatening me and see what happens." Teyona deepens her voice.
I release the island. "Don't tempt me, bitch. You know why I didn't finish high school."
"Guys, stop!" Arabella holds her hands out. "No fighting at my party!"
"You're right." Teyona backs away. "You're just mad everyone found out about your fun night. Boa is right, you wanted it like you always want attention."
My fist pounds the island and I go for her hair. I rip a chunk of her braids down and punch her face. She tries to hit mine but I have the advantage. "Stop!" Arabella breaks us up, giving her an opportunity to deck me in the cheek. I take her hair again and swing her around. Seeing the island, I lift her head and slam it down on the marble. There's a crack sound before she starts screaming.
People pack into the kitchen. Arabella's mother runs in first to aid Teyona since Arabella is in shock. I'm in fumes, breathing hard and refraining from screaming. There's a pit in my stomach, heat in my chest. "Someone call 911!" A person says. I see people reach for their phones. That's when I snap from the black out and look down. Teyona is bleeding on the tiles. She cries as she holds her mouth.
Arabella's mother looks at me. "Why did you do this?" My mouth drops, but I don't answer. Sevastyan comes into the kitchen with Faraoh by his side. He comes to me, standing taller than my height.
"We need to go." He says gripping my arm.
"No." I snatch away from him. "She needs to apologize."
"What?" He glances at Teyona. "You're going to get arrested."
I scoff and shout at her, "Apologize!"
She looks up at me, whimpering in her hand. Unable to speak, she furrows her brows instead.
"Apologize for what?" Arabella's mom asks.
"She said I fucking wanted to be raped." People are recording what's going on. I wanted everyone to know why I did this. "Boa, Lee," I yell, "your damn brother, Tez, all took turns on me. Vince was the fucking mastermind, rather you want to believe it or not!" Everyone is completely silent as I start to sob. "I'm so fucking glad he's dead."
"Let's go, Vella." Sevastyan holds my hand softly. I look at him and lower my head.
Arabella's mom stands up. "You're not going anywhere. You knocked her teeth out, Isavella!"
"And I'll fucking do it again!" I shout.
"You're an animal!" She yells.
I stomp out of the kitchen, pushing pass people and their cameras. Sevastyan follows me into the living room. Sirens can be heard outside. I didn't even notice the music was turned off until I heard them. Sevastyan looks out of the window just as an ambulance arrived. Arabella's Mom escorts Teyona through the crowd. We watch as she goes by. Arabella looks at me then follows them. I go along too with Sevastyan behind me. When I get out the door, my heart drops. I expected only an ambulance, not the cops.