The Dragon's Daughter

Chapter 2

Friday 5:00 p.m.

I was surprised to hear the doorbell chime a few hours later. When I answered it, I was greeted by Jess's unhappy features.

"Sorry I didn't text first, but I'm so mad." She brushed past me into the hall. "Girl!"

"What happened?" I peeked outside before closing the door, making sure her twin little sisters—who were usually tied to her hip—weren't following her inside, but all I saw was her white Kia in the driveway, sitting blissfully empty. I shut the door, pleased my friend finally escaped babysitting duty.

By the time I turned around, she had already made it to the living room and plopped on the sofa.

I heard my dad greet her and she replied with a polite, "Hey, Mr. Brandt. How are you?"

"I'm doing well, thank you.. Can I get you something to drink?" I heard him ask as I approached. My dad was ever the consummate host. Plus, I think he was treading lightly after our earlier tiff.

"No thank you, sir," she replied.

"How about some snacks for the two of you?"

She looked over at me and I shrugged.

"I'm going to take your hesitation to mean you need food," my father joked. "I'll go see what I can scrounge up."

"Thanks, Dad," I glanced at him. Perhaps he should be forgiven..

"Thanks, Mr. Brandt." Jess beamed at him.

"Now, What's going on?" I asked as I plopped on the couch beside her.

"Emory bailed on me tonight."

"What? You two have been flirting for months and you just made a date. How could she bail?"

I found it so odd that there were still some idiots out there that thought Jess and I were a couple, that two girls couldn't be friends if one of them was lesbian. Those people could go pound salt for all we cared. Not everything in this world was about attraction. Jess and I were family. Sisters. We'd known each other since we were toddlers. I hated the way school gossip demeaned her sometimes. And now Emory was being some kind of bitch? I'd kick Emory's ass if I needed to. Yes, I would.

"Ugh," Jess groaned, "You won't believe what she did. She's at Hector's party. Right. Now."

"What?" My mouth hung open from shock.

Hector's brother Dante had a small condo he was gifted by their parents when he graduated last year. Sometimes, Hector used it to throw parties on the weekend. And apparently, he was having one this afternoon. Naturally, our crowd wasn't the type to be invited. In fact, I found it sus that Emory got an invite.

Jess wrinkled up her nose in disgust, "Yeah. She got the invite yesterday through her friend Alison, and she told me she wanted to go with me. Of course, I told her I wouldn't be caught dead there. We argued. She didn't see the big deal because said..." Jess lowered her voice so my dad couldn't hear, "as long as there was free alcohol and a good time, who cares who was providing it."

I grimaced. "What kind of twisted logic is that?" I muttered, "Would she take chocolate from Hitler or Cheetos from Pol Pot too? That's just nasty."

"I know, right?" Jess nodded, clearly still riled up. "That's pretty much what I said. Though I didn't actually go as far as comparing Hector to genocidal maniacs."

I just shrugged.

My father returned about this time with chips and a couple of cokes.

"You girls enjoy," he said, then added, "Raina, are you still cooking tonight?"

"Oh, for sure!" I replied with a nod.

"Then, I'll just go watch some TV in my room till your mom gets home. Give you two some space to talk." He smiled warmly at us.

"Thanks for the snacks, Mr. Brandt."

"Yeah. Thanks, Dad."

"You should stay till after mom gets home." I told Jess, "She had a twelve-hour shift at the hospital again and I wanted to surprise her with something special to eat. I'm making stuffed peppers. It's her favorite."

"Mmmmm," she moaned, grinning for the first time since she arrived, "I love those. I'd love to stay."

Jess stood and walked over to the large saltwater aquarium that took up much of the far wall of our living room. She ran a finger along the tank and our yellow tang, the one I'd named King Charles because I thought he looked so regal, began to follow her finger like he always did. It was just his thing. He followed fingers that traced the glass the same way most dogs would fetch. Jess sighed and watched Charles. I waited for her to speak again.

"I just can't believe this. I thought I knew Emory. She ditched me for some lousy party."

"You can still go, you know," I suggested. "Meet up with her. You really like Emory, and you know where she'll be."

"But that's not the point!" Jess looked at me as though I was the most dense person in the world, "She didn't even care that I didn't want to go! She just totally ignored how strongly I felt about this! What if somebody you liked wanted to go to one of Hector's parties?"

"I'd seriously question their judgment," I answered honestly.

"My point exactly. I didn't know she was that kind of girl."

My furrowed brow encouraged Jess to continue, "You know... the kind lured in by fancy stuff and money. I mean, I get it; who doesn't like fancy stuff? But people you care about and their opinions are supposed to be more important than all that, right? My feelings about going to his party were really strong. I told her I would never go—considering some of the heinous things he'd said to me over the years. But she wanted to go because of who was going to be there. Being seen was better than being with me." Her voice broke and I was prepared to dry my friend's tears if it came to it.

Jess stopped interacting with King Charles and came back over to where I was sitting. She looked so forlorn.

"I'm so sorry." It was the best I could come up with at the moment.

She stared at the palms of her hands, eyes welling. "I want to be worth it to somebody."

"To the right somebody, you'll be worth everything." I assured.

"At least I have you to listen to me."

"You'll always have me," I promised, meaning it with all my heart. "Now let's find some cheesy comedy to watch to cheer you up."

"I'd rather watch a zombie flick," Jess admitted.

"Ok, then. Zombie flick it is. But don't freak out later when the stuffed peppers remind you of little green brains."

"Oh my God!" Jess laughed and hurled a throw pillow at my head. I giggled and dodged it.

"But for real though," I told her looking stern, "let's not give Hector Delarosa one more thought for the rest of our Friday night."

"Deal." She nodded. "I'm not giving Emory another thought either."

I could tell she was lying about that one, but hey, A for effort on her part.