Sleep Magazine (Completed)

The Scandal: 4

Emily glanced at the door to be sure it had closed and that AJ was well out of earshot. She grinned at her circle of friends and locked eyes with Celia before she spoke.

"Have you ever met his grandmother?"

"No..." Celia replied wearily, a hint of intrigue in her voice.

"My mémé told me she used to be really weird in school. They were dissecting frogs in science class and everyone swears she killed the frog without touching it," said Emily.

"Wait! I think my grandpa told me about that once!" said Madison.

Celia thought the tale sounded familiar enough but she chose not to add to the speculation. She smirked at Madison and looked back to Emily intently.

"Yeah she does other weird stuff too," continued Emily. "She used to keep her kids on leashes made out of twine and tie them to trees while she did chores outside. They all turned out a little brain dead." Emily brought her glass up to her mouth but remembered another detail before she could take a sip. "Oh! And Donald said she leaves her Christmas tree up all year."

 "Donald's lying, she does not," Madison scoffed.

"Yeah, everyone would see it in the window," added Emma.

Emily pulled her shoulders back and shook her head as she spoke a little slower and sternly, as if she were scolding her friends for doubting the credibility of her gossip. "He said when he goes to put up her tree he takes the old one out from the year before first. Every year."

Celia looked past the group and out the front window of the house to watch AJ's car start up, headlights illuminating the dead leaves scattered about the driveway.

"Well all our grandparents do wacky shit," said Emma plainly. "He's pretty smart though. He doesn't even have to take math because he took senior math last year."

"So what? If he was really smart he'd take AP Stats with us this year," argued Madison.

As more girls gathered to join them, the conversation evolved into the girls discussing their group math projects, causing Celia's stomach to drop as she hadn't yet started her portion. "I'll show you the slide I started," said Alexis as she patted the back pockets on her straight cut jeans. "Where the hell is my phone?" she asked no one in particular, frustrated, as she glanced back at the kitchen table and then whipped her head around to scan the countertops.

"Right here," said Emma. She picked the neon-encased phone up off the nearby mantle by its charm and swung it into Alexis's waiting hands.

"How did it get over there? I didn't put it there," Alexis chuckled.

"Yes you did, you just weren't paying attention," said Abby playfully.

Celia shot an eager look back out the window and discovered that AJ was already pulling out of the driveway and onto the road.

"How is that possible?" asked Alexis, shaking her head as she brought up the slideshow on her screen. "How can I possibly do something without knowing that I'm doing it?"

The girls laughed and gathered over her shoulder to view the beginnings of her project. The lighting over the kitchen shifted subtly as someone suggested for Alexis to spread her content out over two separate slides and Celia—seemingly the only one to have noticed the change—looked up at the ceiling fixture just in time to witness one of the three bulbs burn out.

Suddenly, she felt a pull on her arm and turned her head to see Grace.

"Why aren't you going with him?" Grace whispered anxiously, leading Celia a few steps away from the group.