“Ok,” I said,
folding my arms and sitting back in the booth. “I get it; you’re a bad ass bitch.
Now what the hell do you want?”
She set down her
burger, ketchup and onions spilling out where she had taken a bite. The greasy
graveyard on her plate made me want to vomit. I had spent a good portion of my
life avoiding crap like that. Not only was I trying to stay skinny, but that
stuff goes straight to your complexion.
“What’s the rush,
Victoria? Believe me; we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other from now
on.”
“Yeah,” I snorted,
“right.”
“And your tone!
What would your mother say if she could hear you?”
“You don’t know
crap about my mother!”
“Well, I know she
raised a shallow, manipulative mess.”
I couldn’t keep
my anger inside any longer. Still, I didn’t want to cause a big scene, even if
we were in a trashy diner. I reached out and grabbed her plate, sliding it
toward me. I grabbed the salt and twisted off the top. Then I flipped open the
burger and dumped the contents of the entire jar onto the beef patty. I smiled
and slid the plate back to her.
The wretch shook
her head. “Now what was the point of that?”
“It made me feel
better.” My smile turned into a grin.
She sighed and
pushed the plate toward the edge of the table, where the waitress could collect
it. “This conversation’s starting to bore me,” she said, “so I’ll cut to the
chase.”
“Well?” I asked
impatiently.
“I need your
help.”
I scoffed. “You
need a lot more help than I can give you.”
“You mean more
than you already gave me,” she said, her eyes squinted in contempt.
“Exactly,” I said
coldly. “If you need some help getting out of town, I’d be happy to oblige.”
She laughed. “Oh,
I’m not going anywhere, Victoria. In fact, I think I’m going to settle in
here.”
“Why?” I asked in
disbelief.
“I’m sick of
being alone,” she said, seemingly honest. “I just want friends. I want to be
normal.”
“You’re never
going to be normal, you freak.”
“Well, that’s not
entirely true. That’s where you come in.”
“What do you
mean?” I asked as the waitress grabbed the plate. She made a face at us when
she saw the salt covered food, but she didn’t say anything about it.
“Are you ready
for the check?”
“Yes,” I said
quickly, shooing her away with my hand.
“You broke my
heart, Victoria. So did Dr. Kunst. Why does everyone want to hurt me?”
“Not everything’s
about you,” I told her. “Sometimes things just don’t work out.”
“You sound like
Dr. Kunst,” she said harshly.
“He sounds like a
smart man.”
“Not really,” she
replied with a smile. “Like you, he underestimated me.”
“So what? You
want revenge just because a couple of people didn’t have room for you in their
lives?”
She gulped down
the rest of her iced tea and then slammed the cup down on the table. Luckily it
was plastic, so it didn’t break.
“Nobody
understands. All of you have had such easy lives. My own parents didn’t love
me; they had their own affairs to consume themselves with. You didn’t love me;
you just wanted me to be your real-life Barbie doll. Dr. Kunst didn’t love me;
he just wanted me to be his youthful distraction. I have no idea what it’s like
to be loved. I want to know. I want to be like everyone else.”
“Wah wah,” I
said, wiping the fake tears from my eyes. “So your life sucks. Get over it.
It’s not going to get any better by complaining about it and getting back at
the people who hurt you.”
“Oh, no?”
“No. If you want
it to get better then you need to be proactive. You have to do something to
change it.”
“That’s exactly
what I’m doing.” She smiled at me deviously.
“No. You’re
bitching at me, thinking it will get me to feel sorry for you.”
“Well, I can see
that it’s not working.”
“Wow, you’re so
perceptive.”
“There’s no need
to be facetious.”
“Wow, that’s a
pretty big word for a chick with a second grade education.” I rolled my eyes.
“I told you, I’ve
been catching up.”
“In more than one
department.”
“Hey,” she said.
“It’s not my fault if boys find me desirable. What am I supposed to do, turn
them all down?”
“No, but you’re
not supposed to screw all of them either. That’s what we kids today call a
ho-bag.”
She laughed.
“Just because you’re afraid to explore your sexuality doesn’t mean everyone
else is.”
“What the hell is
that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, come on,
Victoria. You don’t think I’ve figured out you’re a virgin by now?”
“Jesus, you say
it like it’s a bad thing,” I said, looking around the diner. “And keep your
voice down.”
“Sorry, I didn’t
realize it was such a touchy subject for you.”
“It’s not!” I
insisted. “But unlike you, I don’t want the entire town to know about my sex
life, or lack thereof.”
“Speaking of the
entire town, that’s what I need your help with.”
The grumpy
waitress brought the check to our table and walked away without saying a word.
She didn’t go back to the counter. Instead, she went outside, and I could see
her lighting a cigarette through the window.
“What do you mean
you want help with the entire town?”
“Well, I told you
I wanted to know what it feels like to be loved.”
“And you want to
love the whole town? Ew, way to be gross.”
“No, you
imbecile, I want the whole town to love me.”
I couldn’t help
but burst out in a fit of laughter. It took several minutes for me to finally
regain my composure. “And just how do you expect me to pull that off?”
“Well, there’s no
greater sign of love than to be elected by the people.”
I looked at her
sideways. “I’m not sure I follow you.”
“I want to be
Prom Queen.”
Once again I was
seized by an uncontrollable fit of giggles. “It will never happen,” I said
through laughs. “I’m popular, not a miracle worker.”
“You
underestimate yourself, Victoria.”
I shook my head
in disbelief. “Even if I could do it, there’s no way I’m helping you.
Not after what you’ve done to my family.”
“You really don’t
think it’s the right thing to do?”
“No!” I blurted
out in amazement. “The right thing to do would be to kick your ass and send it
back to the flames of hell from which you came.”
“That’s too bad,” she said in
mock despair. “I was hoping you could be reasoned with.”
“Sorry to
disappoint.”
“I guess that
means I’m just going to have to resort to threats.”
I gulped. I
wasn’t really scared of her, but I had seen the trouble she could cause. “What
do you mean?”
“Well, just
because your sister is gone doesn’t mean there aren’t other people for me to
play with.”
My stomach felt
hollow. I was glad I hadn’t eaten anything; otherwise I might have thrown up.
“Who should I
start with? There’s Avery. She’s pretty eager to get away from you. Or maybe
your dad? He’s been pretty lonely lately, too. Maybe he could use some company.
Then there’s always Elliot…”
“Stay away from
him!”
“Well, I’ll only
have to concern myself with him if you make me…”
I sighed in
frustration. “If I do this, if I help you, do you promise to leave me and my
family alone?”
“If you help me
win Prom Queen, and get the student body to respect and love me, then yes, I
will leave you alone.”
I was running out
of options. I didn’t know what to do. The police weren’t going to believe me.
There was nothing I could do to her without getting arrested myself. I had to
just do what she wanted and hope she would go away.
“Fine, I’ll do
it.”
“Then I’ll see you at school on Tuesday. I
hope you make the most of that Monday. I’d hate to come back to those nasty
Sloppy Joe insults.” My own personal demon slid out of the booth and stood up.
“You made the right decision, Victoria. Elliot is too pretty to let something
bad happen to him.”
She turned and
walked out of the diner. I grabbed the check and clenched it in my hand. I was
sick of paying for her mistakes.
