Taylor

Ariel clearly hasn't realised she already has a superpower. The power of endless conversation and energy. I've never seen someone talk and move so much.

Sitting at the usual table tucked against the corner of the cafeteria, I watch Ariel talking to a group of people as she gestures wildly. She laughs then points at someone on the other side of the cafeteria and darts over to them.

In a minute, she'll join us again. For the last five days, she's sat with me, Kayla and Sydney at lunch. Occasionally, she jumps up to talk to others for a few minutes but she always returns to us.

I was wary at the beginning of the week as I waited for Ariel to start hollering at someone and start a fight. She hasn't. Instead, she talks at a speed which is hard to keep up with and changes topics so frequently but gracefully that I can't help get sucked into her intense conversations.

Ariel is entertaining, funny and challenges the way I think so I can't not like her. Kayla and Sydney seem to enjoy her being around too.

"I'll be back in a minute," Miles says, leaning forward to kiss me. I turn my head so his lips brush my cheek.

Miles won't be back in a minute. He'll come over at the end of lunch, after Teresa has mauled him for a while, kiss me then go to his lesson. Miles is in the year above so we don't have any lessons together. I'm thankful. Miles is incredibly clever and ambitious, being his girlfriend means I'm reminded regularly of how I have no goal in life. Being in class with him would only remind me of how average I am too.

"I still don't know how you can just let her crawl all over him," Ariel says, dropping into the seat next to me.

I shrug. "I'll talk to him about it later."

"So, are you three going to the party tomorrow?" Ariel pulls out a sandwich from her bag.

"Unfortunately," I say, poking my salad. "Also Sydney, I forgot to say, Miles asked Gage about staying at Kayla's but he'd already made plans. You know we could skip the party and just chill at Kayla's."

I really don't need to spend another night sitting next to Miles as he gets hyped up on whatever pills he decides to fill his system with.

Kayla and Sydney shake their heads at me.

Kayla leans forward. "Seriously, Tay, what is it you have against parties?"

"Nothing." Everything.

It's not only Miles's behaviour that makes me not want to go. Parties remind me of the old me. The old me who would get drunk, dance and kiss. It reminds me of when I had lots of friends or thought I did. In the end, only one or two stuck by me and even they were secretly pleased once I moved away.

"What do you mean Taylor doesn't like parties?" Ariel asks.

She pulls out her notepad and starts to draw. She does this whenever she asks a question which will have a long explanation from somebody. At first, I thought she was being rude, now I realise it's her way of listening without interrupting us.

Kayla leans further toward Ariel. "Taylor hates them. She refuses to dance, drink or join in with the conversation. Admittedly, we never got invited to many before but now Miles is part of the basketball team, he gets invited to everyone one so Tay is invited which means we get invited."

"Obviously." Ariel nods while sketching. I watch Ariel's hand make tiny little scratches which look aimless until I start to see the beginning of an eye.

"Anyway, Tay always sneaks off-"

"No, I don't." I do. I pretend I'm going to the toilet or to get drinks then I hide somewhere quiet. Not because I don't want to join in, but because I want to join in too much. Part of me is desperate to down the shots, dance and play spin the bottle. I won't because that means I'd have to let go. It's what my sister did. It's the reason she ended up ruining our lives. She let herself lose control and did something which ruined her and ruined me. And I'm worse than my sister when drunk. What happens if I do something I could never come back from it? My sister didn't recover from her stupid drunken mistake. She's still suffering due to the repercussions of her actions.

"Tay?" A voice snaps me out of my thoughts. I look up and everyone is staring at me.

"Yes?" I ask.

"Do you not like getting drunk?"

"Alcohol gets people into trouble. I don't want trouble-"

"I just want a simple drama free life." Kayla and Sydney say simultaneously. They roll their eyes.

"What? I thought you guys didn't want to get drunk either?" I frown.

"We don't. Not regularly." Kayla looks at Sydney then back at me. "But it would be kind of fun to do it once. Just to try it."

"Fine. Tomorrow you can drink and I'll look after the two of you."

"But we should do it together. You know, get drunk for the first time as best friends," Sydney says.

How can I tell them I got drunk every weekend from the age of fourteen until I was rejected from my social group and was never invited to a party again? They don't know what the old me was like. They think I've always preferred a night in with a movie than a night at a party. They think I don't like to drink which is why I sip the same bottle of beer for the entire night.

I huff. "This is peer pressure."

Ariel stops drawing. "I don't like getting drunk. I hate being out of control, I hate having hangovers and I hate how it makes people do things they'd never do normally. If you don't want to drink don't. I'm not going to drink."

"We're not trying to force you," Kayla adds.

"Never. We just thought it would be fun," Sydney says quietly. "We don't want you to not drink because you think we can't handle it or something."

"Why would I think that?" I ask confused.

Sydney looks at Kayla for support. Kayla sighs and turns to me. "Tay you could be popular. The day you arrived everyone was interested and you purposefully hid. You spent every break in the library, and you didn't accept anyone's invitations to join them. You only became friends with us after we had to do that project together in history and we basically forced you to start hanging out with us. You even said you'd only spend time with us if it wasn't at big social gatherings." Kayla shrugs.

"You always look uncomfortable at parties like you can't wait to get out of there," Sydney adds quietly.

"Did something happen at your old school at a party or something?" Kayla asks.

All three of them look at me. This is what I imagine an intervention is like. This is the sort of intervention my sister should be having, except my parents seem to think nothing is wrong even though she went from being an outgoing, happy and fun person to introverted and miserable.

I understand the reason behind my sister's transformation. Going from Miss Popular and Loved to the most insulted and hated student in school will have that effect, but we moved. She could have started again in this school. She could have forgotten what happened and what she did. Not that she did anything particularly bad. I mean, you'd have thought we were living in the repressed fifties the way people acted and treated her.

Then again, as a society, we often pretend we're all liberal and accepting but deep down we love to judge others because it makes us feel better about ourselves.

"Tay? Something did happen, didn't it?" Sydney covers her mouth and Kayla looks sad. Ariel is still drawing but her eye is now surrounded by dark clouds which makes the image look menacing.

"Nothing happened." I shrug. "I just don't like parties. I prefer hanging out with you two because we have fun."

"We shouldn't go to the party tomorrow night," Kayla says.

"We'll stay in and have a girls night," Sydney agrees. It's obvious they still think I was sexually assaulted.

I roll my eyes. "I want to go to the party and if you want to get drunk do it. I'll watch you and maybe even dance with you."

Kayla and Sydney frown and before they can say anything, I add, "Unless you don't like dancing?"

"You know we love dancing and we know you love it too." Kayla grins and turns to Ariel. "We have a mini rave every time we have a sleepover at Sydney's. She has this strobe light and colourful disco ball, it's so fun."

"My brother is a DJ so he gave it to me years ago. My parents weren't happy. He's considered the black sheep of the family because he got his seventeen-year-old girlfriend pregnant when he was eighteen and makes a living playing music to people tripping off their face. Not exactly something they want to tell their friends. It's annoying because I have to deal with the aftermath and all my whereabouts are monitored." Sydney sighs. "They think I'm just having a sleepover at Kayla's tomorrow not going to a party."

"You are having a sleepover at mine so you're not lying." Kayla smiles. "Ariel, do you want to stay too?"

"I'd love too." Ariel smiles. Her phone beeps and she looks at it. "Fuck, I forgot, I've got to go to my weekly check-in to make sure I'm not fucking up too badly at school." Ariel grabs everything and stuffs it in her bag.

"Wait, I don't have all your phone numbers." Ariel frowns. "Where did I put my phone?" She pats her pockets and looks on the table. She starts searching through her bag until she huffs then empties the contents on the table. Folders, papers, tampons and pens scatter everywhere and her phone lands with a thump.

"Fuck," She hisses.

The three of us start to help her pick everything up.

A voice behind us says, "you've got enough tampons to block up the crack in the Titanic. I knew you had a massive pussy but that's just ridiculous. No wonder you decided to go lesbian, a dick would get lost in you."

Ariel stiffens beside me. Her hands tighten around the papers she's holding as she continues to stuff them into her bag.

"Nothing to say?" Teresa says in mock sweetness. "I suppose there's no point in denying it since we all know it's true. Caleb told us he poked you and it was as wide as a bucket down there."

Ariel's jaw clenches and I'm confused as to why Ariel doesn't say anything in return, then I remember her mentioning the ban. Or I think that's what she said. She talks a lot so it's hard to keep up sometimes.

Teresa whispers to the girls next to her and they all proceed to laugh loudly. Taylor says, "Ariel you are-"

"Shut the fuck up, Teresa," I snap.

"Excuse me?" Teresa says slowly as she turns to look at me with an expression of pure disbelief.

I cringe. Shit, I don't want this. Getting on Teresa's bad side is asking for trouble. I don't like trouble. I don't want drama.

"What did you just say to me?" Teresa asks slowly with a tight grin.

I know she doesn't expect me to stand up to her. Very few people do. In fact, I've only seen Ariel do it and she ended up getting into trouble which I imagine Teresa loves. I can't stand people like Teresa. I may have been loud and spoke my mind at my old school but I wasn't horrible.

Teresa smiles thinking she's won. She walks over to me and leans forward. Her overly sweet perfume suffocating me as she snarls, "I didn't think you said anything you little-"

I slam my head forward and headbutt her in the nose. I don't know why but I couldn't stop myself.

Teresa's head flicks back and she shrieks. Holding her nose, she screams some more before fixing her narrowed watery eyes on me. "You.. uckin... itch." She mumbles as she holds her nose.

I smile sweetly. "I'm sorry Teresa it was an accident. I just looked up and your nose was there. Are you ok? You should get some ice because that's going to swell."

"Ahhh," She shrieks then storms off. A group of girls jog after her like a flock of mindless sheep.

I roll my eyes and look around to see not only Kayla, Sydney and Ariel staring at me in amazement but most of the students in the cafeteria are.

"I've got to go," I mutter grabbing my bag. I dart out of the cafeteria and into the corridor. This is exactly what I didn't want to happen. This is why I avoid having too many friends, especially ones like Ariel. Like Ryder said trouble surrounds her regardless if she wants it too. It's too late though. I've made myself a target and Teresa will make me pay. Now it's a waiting game to see how she'll retaliate.

Author's note:

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