╭ ╮
━━━━  " 📂 "

𝙋 𝙃 𝘼 𝙎 𝙀 𝙎

╰ ╯

"KAHLIA."

She had left the classroom with very little intention of thinking about SLTs at least until lunch was over, her arm linked with Darren and Quinni as the three of them made off to go find a new place to sit and eat and to try and figure out more of the map before they got too worked up about anything.

Looking over her shoulder, her eyes landed on Malakai as he left the classroom, hurrying a little to catch up with them. "Hi." He smiled, looking between the three of them. "Kahlia... couldn't borrow you for a chat, could I?"

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Kahlia untangled herself. "Text me where you guys are, yeah?" Darren and Quinni nodded and retreated further from the classroom, whilst Kahlia came to face him. "C'mon, we'll go sit somewhere." She said, turning back on the corridor.

"Hey - what's this then?" She had almost crashed into Spider's chest as she turned and it brought them to a halt.

"None ya biz, bong water." Kahlia mimicked, reaching behind her to seize Malakai's hand and push through them both. "Enjoy your crabs, dickface."

Spencer spluttered as he was left behind, gaze on the retreating back of dark, bouncing hair, and would find himself holding a similar glare to that which usually appeared on Kahlia's face not ten minutes later, when the pair had found themselves a spot to sit that just so happened to be across the tarmac from them.

She sat on top of one of the benches that the group of boys sometimes frequented, legs stretched out over the red-painted metal seat below, her handbag placed perfectly to the right of where her feet sat and Malakai sat next to her, leant forward onto his elbows.

"I didn't expect to see you here... I would've texted you or something if I did." Malakai told her. "I didn't mean to make things awkward with your boyfriend."

"No, oh no - no, no, no..." The corners of her lips turned up into a half-smile. "No, don't worry, he's not my boyfriend. He wishes." Her eyes flickered across the courtyard, because she had felt eyes on them the moment the sat down. "He apparently likes to act like it, though."

"Yeah, I kind of got that whole..." Malakai's words tailed off. "He's like a massive dick."

"Seems like it?" Kahlia hummed, feeling oddly defensive about the whole thing. "But that's just Spider... I don't know. I've known him my whole life."

"I guess that explains it all then." He was smiling, and it made her feel more comfortable than she cared to admit. "Yeah, but, can you actually explain all this sex-map shit to me? I have no idea what that whole... SLTs thing was about."

Kahlia's eyes brightened. If there was something she enjoyed, it was gossip - and to explain absolutely everything to someone who didn't have a clue? The dream. "So Ams... Amerie, the girl that called you a cunt - map bitch?" She asked, spinning in her seat to cross her legs under her, the handbag carefully placed to keep everything hidden. "She decided she was just a little too bored with her life and to spice it up she used every little bit of gossip... and truth she had ever been given to make a map to show just how fucked up we all are."

And as Malakai sat in listened quite intently, the flame that had been present in Melbourne settling into a low hearth of familiarity as she told the tale, Spider sat halfway across the yard, confused and somewhat uncomfortable.

✬

Darren and Quinni were in the bathroom. Well, Darren was waiting dutifully outside, texting one of their ongoing hookups and Quinni was in the bathroom, worrying about her flaps.

After brief conversation with Darren, who deemed Malakai hot enough for her to sleep with, Khalia pushed open the turquoise-painted doors. "Quinni, darling, you shouldn't listen to anything Spider says because he's an actual dickhead." She announced, before realising there was someone stood by the mirrors. "Yes?" She asked pointedly, and watched as the girl shrugged and brushed passed her to leave.

"Who was that?" Quinni asked, from within one of the toilet stalls.

"Some bitch in Year 10." Khalia shrugged. "But seriously, babe, he's a prick so like, don't listen to anything he's saying."

"But you're sleeping with him." Quinni said pointedly.

"I'm also a bit of a prick, let's be honest." Khalia replied as she came to stand in front of the mirror, reaching into her bag for her lipstick and puckering up before her own reflection. "Seriously. Darren told me you're worrying about your flaps."

"I mean... kinda." Quinni replied, and the girl outside could hear the sound of an iPhone camera taking pictures. "How do you know if... hold on."

"Yeah." Khalia agreed absent-mindlessly, and allowed herself to fully concentrate on her lipstick, every swipe purposeful. As she reached for shimmery gloss, she zoned back in on the conversation behind her, on the two closed stall doors.

She could see Quinni's head poking over the top. "Well you shouldn't. Eating and pooing messes with your digestive tract." She was saying to whoever was below. "But, I'm glad that we've had this chance to talk."

"Yeah, um, maybe not." The other person replied and Kahlia became that much more alert. Because, despite what was obviously a full-mouth mumble of words, it sounded exactly like Amerie.

"I know how you're feeling." Quinni said.

"I seriously doubt it." Amerie told her.

"Just hear her out, Map Bitch."

"Alright, Kahlia." Quinni shushed her. "No, listen I do, because when I was in grade six, I found this giant gumnut, and I was like 'oh my god, giant gumnut!' was so excited and showed everybody because it was the best gumnut I'd ever seen. Turns out it wasn't actually a giant gumnut, it was just a piece of solidified dog shit." She paused for a fraction of a second, taking a deep breath, "and I got called Giant Gumnut for the rest of the year.... So I'm kinda guessing that's how you feel right about now."

"Sorry, but can you leave me alone?"

Quinni sighed. "Is this your thirteenth reason?" She asked.

Amerie paused in her rustling. "What?"

"Like, are you gonna unalive yourself?" She continued.

"No." Amerie replied. There was a pause... then, "Seriously, what do you want!"

Quinni rose her eyebrows momentarily. "I just need someone to look at my vagina for me." She said blatantly.

"Oh... no." Amerie scoffed, beginning to pick up her stuff and exiting out of the stall, and coming to a stop. "Oh, Jesus, Kahlia." She jumped out of a skin as, right in front of her stall, stood the dark haired girl.

"I mean it is kinda your fault." Quinni called.

"It is, Amerie." Kahlia said, leant against the door out. "So, you're not going to check her flaps for her? It's the least you could do."

"No - no, I'm not. Just move, Kahlia, I'm not gonna scrap with you."

"What, your ego couldn't take another loss?" Kahlia rolled her eyes as Amerie managed to get past her. "Fuck you too, Map Bitch!" She shouted, both herself and Quinni following the girl out pof the bathrooms. "I hate bitches who don't own up to their shit."

"Ugh, but I love when toxic bitches enter their flop era." Darren replied, watching as the girl retreated.

"You can't say that, it's really mean." Quinni frowned as they continued walking.

"She's literally the one who put your flaps on the map." Kahlia commented. "Without her then you would never have even had to worry at all about your flaps and... well, everything else."

"Yeah, I know." Quinni hummed. "But it was Spider who told everyone, so he's the arsehole, not her."

"Do not remind me." Kahlia let out a sigh.

"I love you," Darren began, stopping in his tracks and turning towards his best friend, "but that girl has literally never acknowledged our existence."

"So?" Quinni asked, looking between the both of them. "Haven't you ever felt like a complete reject."

Kahlia didn't not whether it was better to shake her head or say nothing at all. She chose the latter, and watched as Darren let out sigh.

"Exactly." Quinni said. "C'mon, we've got maths." She said, and dragged the both of them along.

✬

"Lia." Spencer caught her just as she was leaving school that afternoon. "Hardly seen you all day." He said, pulling her closer to where he was waiting for his friends, leant against the hood of Dusty's car.

"Don't you have basketball practise?"

"First one tomorrow." He said. "Coach thought we should settle into school again before we start off. First day doesn't really count, does it?"

Kahlia's head tilted in thought. "This one definitely does, Spider." She said, and she couldn't be more truthful. It was one thing for any of her secrets to be exposed to the whole school, but her entire sex life was another story. That was meant to be private, for only a few people who she genuinely trusted to know, and Amerie had broken that trust. Not to mention that Sasha had been a complete bitch to her and, especially, Missy, and all the other problems that came with the revelations from the map. Quinni and Ant and Dusty and... just everyone.

So many of her closest friends had had everything exposed right there on that map from things everyone knew to ones that nobody did. From the sounds of it, Amerie had put down every rumour, everything she noticed that could happen and everything she knew that did happen. So much had been revealed on that map.

"What?" Spencer asked, sitting forward as he wrapped a hand around her waist. "You look like you're about to tell me off. Is it about Quinni again-"

"Shut the fuck up, dick." Kahlia shook her head. "I just think... I think we need to talk about things." She said slowly, rationally.

"Jesus, Lia, wasn't the whole point of this was that it wasn't going to be complicated and shit?" Spencer let out a sigh, pulling away.

"Yeah, when it was private and the only people who knew about it was Ant and Dusty... and Amerie." Kahlia replied. "Now it's complicated. I fucked another guy in Melbourne and there's that whole thing with poor Quinni's flaps."

"I haven't seen Quinni's-" Spencer began angrily and trailed off at the sight of her stood there, eyebrow raised and arms crossed against her chest. "Look, Kahlia, this wasn't supposed to be complicated, so I don't see why it needs to be."

"Because, Spider." Kahlia pressed a hand to her eyebrow. "We said we wouldn't fuck anyone so it's safe. And don't fucking bring up Malakai."

"What else am I supposed to say?" Spider's eyes darted over her shoulder. "Look, Kahlia, can we talk about this later? I'll come over, okay?"

Kahlia's eyes narrowed slightly, wondering just what exactly had distracted him.  "Yeah. Fine." She heard a scoff behind her, and that something angry in the pit of her stomach ignited. "Yeah." She repeated, sagely, reaching up to take her earrings out. "You can do.... Just whenever." She added, and Spider held his hand out to take the gold jewellery.

"I can't fucking believe it." She heard the conversation, even though it was further away than she expected. "After all that shit you chat about people pissing you off and-"

"Oh that is fucking it, Sasha, you fucking piece of shit." Kahlia rounded to face Sasha, several feet from where she had initially scoffed. "Fucking cunt."

"Oh yeah, you gonna fight me now?" Sasha stopped and turned around. "Because you can't deal with the fact that you're a hypocritical cunt who preaches about being this good person but here you are- what the fuck, my fucking knee!"

"Yeah, cunt." And then Kahlia was pulling back her hand back to slap Sasha across her face, reaching for her hair as the girl stumbled back and as she swung again, she was pulled back. "What the fuck - what the fuck! Put me down!"

"Get in the car, idiot." Dusty and Ant put her down, feet away from where Sasha was now cowering, clutching at her cheek as Missy pulled her away.

"Yeah, enjoy your time between Greta Bathgate's legs, cunt." She shouted after them, just as Spider was pulling her into the backseat of Dusty's car. "What the fuck, guys?" She asked, as Dusty pulled out of the car park and began to drive. "It was just getting to the good part, I was gonna curb stomp that bitch."

"Because, dickhead, you were still at school." Dusty said, glancing back to where she sat next to Spider. "At least wait for cemetery if you're actually going to fight her."

"I only slapped her!" Kahlia huffed. "What is that supposed to say about me? Last time I fought someone I got more than a slap in."

"Spencer, why didn't you stop her?" Ant asked.

"Someone had to hold her shit. I was waiting for you lot." Spider shrugged, and as Ant turned back around, disappointed, he slid along the seats, slinging an arm casually around her shoulders. "Didn't get you, did she?"

"Did she fuck." Kahlia rolled her eyes, but she was pouting and Spider watched as she held her hand out. "Bitch made me break my nail though."

✬

Dusty dropped her off at home. Almost as soon as she stepped in the door, dumping her bag on the velvet-covered bench that she sat on to take off her shoes, her phone rang. And of course, it was her mother, half way across the country spouting all sorts of bullshit about how she'd ruined her reputation just because she'd slept with a few people.

Apparently the woman wasn't even upset because she had had sex, majority of the flack came from the threesome of all things, not to mention her and Dusty losing their virginities to one another because as she said that she would 'never be able to look his mother in the eye' again, which even Kahlia thought was personally a bit dramatic. Then, in the fashion only her ever-busy mother could achieve, she left Kahlia with the message that her father would be in touch and most likely home soon to give her a proper talking-to before she went.

And so she settled down for the night with a pit in her stomach that refused to leave her. Sasha, for being such a hypocritical cunt - how the fuck could she shame her for sleeping with Spider and being a bad person when she was easily just as bad for what she did to Missy. And she knew that Spider hadn't seen Quinni's flaps but Jesus fuck what had possessed him to tell everybody she had a lazy kebab?

Dusty tried to slut shame her, Livvy had managed to piss her off again and she was destined to sex jail for the upcoming few weeks just because she had acquired a short list of people she had slept with. It wasn't like it was a bad list - Dusty, Ant, Malakai, Spencer, Nathan, not to mention a number of lines linking her to a number of her explorations over the past couple of years. But at least she hadn't done anything with Malcolm or something like that, if she had she would never dare show her face in public again.

It wasn't a bad list, and she was going to stick by that, but Christ she had never had to face so many repercussions for her perfectly fine actions, and it was driving her crazy. Who the fuck did Amerie Wadia think she was to paint a map detailing every inch of her personal life that the school could find out about at any possible moment. An abandoned stairwell? Seriously?

And now her parents knew everything she would never want them to know about and what did Amerie get as punishment? Nothing. They were all subjected to SLTs, all had to face their secrets being known by the entire school and had to pick up their personal lives from the pieces left behind by the stupid incest map.

She retrieved her bag, and trailed through to her room and slumped down on the decorated bed. Amongst all the decorative pillows and the fluffy throw, she let out a sigh loud enough to rattle anyone before sitting up, frowning.

No one could exactly explain what was going through Amerie's head as she made that map. But if she truly, seriously, wanted to ruin everyone's lives by airing every inch of gossip and reality she had accumulated over time, then Kahlia wasn't going to let it ruin hers.

Sure, her parents knew all about her sex life, something that she had never wanted them to ever think about and sure, she couldn't think about them finding all about it from a phone call from Woodsy without shuddering and feeling the need to throw up the contents of her stomach... but what was so bad about it? She hadn't gotten pregnant, despite the school's beliefs and the creation of SLTs, she was practising safe sex and what was so bad about all the people she had sex with?

Yes, Amerie had somehow decided it best to document any of her romantic history. First kiss, first makeout, first date, first finger, first everything, but the people who it was with was nothing to be ashamed of.

Dustin. Her parents knew Dusty, she had known Dusty and his entire family for years, and her parents respected their family. Maybe a little bit less now, but that only meant she wouldn't have to sit through those group dinners as often. Nathan in the year above wasn't that bad... he was actually quite attractive, only more so now because she had seen him once in Kmart and he had finally grown a mustache, not that she loved sucking face with people with facial hair. Ant was one of her closest friends, her lapse in to lesbianism was fuelled by Missy and certainly there was no disapproval there.

Except... maybe the threesome. Kahlia couldn't imagine that Woodsy had actually explained that to her parents in detail, so she'd worry about Ant if he came up.

Yes, she had flashed Harry in the year above for a joint once but he hadn't told her that he'd up the price so it wasn't her fault and besides, he was a nice enough guy. If anything, all it told Kahlia was that she had a thing for people in the next couple years above her in school, because she had ended up making out with them one too many times to count. But that was hardly even a detail on the map, really.

Malakai was in Melbourne, and unless her parents got her cousins on the phone there was nothing they could say about him. And unlike Harry, he was definitely the nicest guy she had done anything with. It might have been in the guest room of someone's house that she definitely didn't know, but that wasn't a crime as far as she was concerned.

She supposed, the worst of them all, the worst thing she could have done... besides the threesome, was Spider.

A year long friends-with-benefits situation was not something she could brag to her parents about. He wasn't the nicest guy; just him telling people that Quinni had big flaps was enough to determine that and yes, they had been hooking up in her house every time her parents left for days, and even when they didn't... but it was Spider.

He knew her better than anyone, as much as she regretted to admit that. He was a good lay, Kahlia couldn't argue with that, and as much as her track record showed that if anything, she was against blond men of any kind, he was good looking. He might be a dick and say dickish things but when it mattered he was nice. Besides, they were too alike for her to say anything bad about him.

Loose morals and whatnot.

Well. That was that. She wasn't pregnant with Spencer or Malakai's baby, she wasn't riddled with any kind of STD and as far as she was concerned, except Spider's metaphorical crabs, the record of her dating and sexual encounters painted on a pink wall of Hartley High showed only one thing; she was, healthily, exploring a burst of teenage hormones and she was not a slut.

Now, with that out of the way, all she had to deal with was Sasha.

Enough people had seen the beginnings of what could have been a great fight for it to go round the gossip circles quicker than she could even pray for, which meant that people should know what would happen if they even dared to speak on Kahlia's situation. If Sasha spoke up again or, should she say, mumble her supposedly witty judgements under her breath, then she had gotten her warning.

And if the pink-haired performative bitch dared speak to her again, Kahlia knew she could take her.

As such, after she soaked off the nail set that had been entirely ruined by Sasha running her mouth, Kahlia designed a set that was a little less decorative this time. And a little sharper than usual. Nude ombred into a berry red, with pretty hibiscus flowers at the base.

It let the hours pass easily and distracted her from all the problems in her life. She definitely didn't care that her parents now thought she was an easy lay, or that everyone at school knew the intricacies of her private life. And she definitely still wanted to bang Sasha's head against the fucking concrete, or at least go at Livvy again, the stealing cunt.

But despite the endless reel of distractions available in her particularly large, particularly empty home, it was easy to get caught up in her own thoughts and found herself grateful to hear the knock on the door.

Hastily she picked herself up, fresh nails brushing hair from her eyes and adjusting her top to make her tits look just that bit better, regardless of the fact it was Spider, and made her way - with a totally normal pace, by the way - to the door, pulling it open.

"Hey, Spence, how are your crabs?"

"Fuck off." He rolled his eyes and stepped through the door, kicking off his shoes like he owned the place, following her through to the living room. "So, your little bitch fight with Sasha, you get it all out of your system?"

"Nope. But I have a new set of nails now, though." Kahlia slumped down on her sofa, frowning. "How's your mum?"

"Glad I'm not a massive virgin." Spider replied loftily, an arm around her shoulder's again. "Kidding."

"Obviously."

"Decided that she was glad that I wasn't a... complete misogynist." Spider didn't look at her, not properly. "Although she thinks I'm only using you." He admitted, and managed a smile, only slightly, when he felt Kahlia wrap her fingers around his. "Glad to know you have a little empathy."

"Yeah, same here. Your mum can be a cunt sometimes." Kahlia told him, as if he didn't already know. "Did my nails again. It's like the fight didn't even happen. Except it totally did and I can poke the bitch's eyes out next time."

"And as much as I would love to see that happen, Dusty and Ant will always be there to pull you away. As far as I'm concerned, fight the cunt, but not with those two around."

"They care too much. And was Dusty flirting with Livvy again?" Kahlia looked up at him, watching him slowly nod. "Dickhead. He can get her crabs for all I care."

"Livvy actually has crabs?"

"Or chlamydia. But you totally didn't hear it from me, right?"

"Of course." Spider replied, but knew that as soon as he even bothered to bring it up that Dusty would be aware of exactly who it came from. "So... I guess we should talk?"

Kahlia didn't say anything for a moment, and the music that had been playing from the speakers hung between them, the upbeat rhythm doing nothing to adjust the tone. He watched, past strands of once carefully pinned back hair, as she used the thumb nail of her right hand to scrape away a small mistake on her left.

"Yeah. I guess we should." She said, and sat up, shuffling away so she could face him. "The shit about Quinni-"

"Was me being a dick. I haven't seen her flaps." Spider quickly interrupted. She stared at him, evidently shocked at the name-calling. "Just wanted to state the facts. Haven't seen her flaps, haven't been anywhere near her flaps, wouldn't have a fucking clue what they looked like."

"You're such a fucking cunt." Kahlia rolled her eyes as he pulled his hair back away from his eyes. "Then why the fuck did you say it?"

"Look, it was a guy thing."

"Oh, it was a fucking guy thing?"

"It was a joke. I don't know where it came from but we ended up talking about girls and, well..." Spider shrugged. "We were drunk, or high or something, someone decided to tell someone else and it became a thing."

"Considering everything, I suppose it was you, Dusty, Ant and some other guys." Kahlia narrowed her eyes. "Did you three talk about my fucking vagina? Is that why Ant couldn't look me in the eyes for a week after?"

"Maybe." He shrugged. "Can't remember."

"And if you could remember?"

"Prettiest flaps I've ever seen." Spider quickly said. It might have been the worst formulated compliment Kahlia had ever recieved, but considered those three had definitely been down there at some point, there was no point in lingering on it.

Kahlia folded her arms. "Fine. Then I want you to apologise to Quinni." She told him.

She might as well have said that she had murdered someone, the way he looked at her. "It's not a big ask, Spider. Doesn't have to be a big thing, you've made the poor girl fixate on her flaps."

"I honestly thought she was a lesbian, so I don't know why she would be so bothered."

"Oh, for fuck sake, Spider."

"Fine - fine, I'll apologise at some point."

"At cemetery or before." Kahlia said. "And I'll tell her to expect it, and I'l be there to watch it."

"Fine. Now can we talk about Malakai? I'd love to hear what you have to say about that." Spencer said, sitting back in his seat. Kahlia fell silent. "Well?"

"I mean there's nothing much to it." She said. "I'm not gonna bullshit any excuse because we did kind of have that running agreement not to sleep with anyone else... but I was drunk and lonely in Melbourne."

"And what, he was nice to you?"

"And he was a very good kisser." Kahlia hummed. "Why?"

"You're infuriating."

"I know, it's my best quality."

SIlence hung between them once more. Kahlia examined her nails, legs curled up beneath her and Spider watched her carefully.

"Are you more pissed off because I broke the verbal, definitely not legally binding contract or..." Kahlia trailed off and stopped there. "Nevermind."

He sat up. "No, what were you gonna say?" Spider pushed. He didn't know if he even wanted to know.

"Are you more pissed off because I broke the agreement or because I slept with someone else." She asked, still staring at her nails, her voice a little quieter than it ever was. Spider stared at her. "Whatever, forget I even asked."

He shifted in his seat. "Yeah. I don't even know how to answer that." He said, Kahlia's fingertips brushed against the bare skin of her thigh, pulling the hem of her shorts down. "So... is that it? Is everything sorted? Like I haven't seen Quinni's flaps and you know... Malakai, well... he was in Melbourne."

"Yeah. And you're alright with that?"

"I mean..." Spencer fiddled with his ring. He swallowed, glanced away from her, eyes on the bright white surfaces of the kitchen counters. "I don't think I... I don't think I would be okay if you hooked up again. I mean - now that he's here and not in Melbourne."

"Yeah, no." Kahlia nodded, slowly. There was a tension in the air that she didn't recognise. "Totally. Same rules as before apply, right? We don't fuck other people. And until this whole thing's over with, no more threesomes."

Spider smiled, looking actually comfortable for the first time since he entered the house. "Ant will be devastated." He replied.

"I actually prefer it when Ant looks at me when I speak to him." Kahlia reached for the TV remote, tossing it to him. "So, takeout?"