Please continue reading. I know the beginning is starting off slow but that is because there will be a lot of drama and plot twists associated with the first few chapters.
June 15
Across town, sitting with a few of her friends at a local coffee shop was Victoria. Cafe au Lait had a whole wall made of glass overlooking the parking lot and street. Multiple booths and tables were scattered around the average sized cafe with sporadic plants placed on shelves and window panes.
Three of the girls were sharing a table when Victoria returned from picking up her drink order. Dressed in a casual gray dress and wooden wedges, she sipped her decaf frappucino. Fatigue from her four-day volunteer trip was expertly masked by concealer and a shot of espresso.
"So, how was your trip to your grandparents?" Molly asked sipping her drink.
Victoria faltered a little bit. "It was nice."
"Nothing exciting or cool happen? You didn't even tweet very much." Molly continued to ask.
Everyone at the table looked at Victoria expectantly, but she just shook her head in response and turned to another girl at the table hoping for a new topic to pop up.
"So, you know Carter? I was on my Twitter feed this morning and he got a callback for that reality show thing." another one of Victoria's friends, Abigail, said.
"That's hilarious; who would've ever thought. I got my call back ,like, the the second or third day we got out of school. I thought I did alright, but apparently I must've been pretty darn special." Melody smiled nonchalantly.
"Victoria, um, have you gotten a call back?" Melody asked twirling her straw, looking around the room.
"Nah, I probably won't either. But, I'm happy that you got a call back, Mel. If you get in, we can go on a massive shopping spree." She replied. Her eyes diverted and heartbeat picked up a little. Victoria cross then recrossed her legs under the table.
Melody tried to hide her small smile.
"Maybe they are saving the best for last?" Abigail honestly, "Don't worry. Victoria."
Victoria rolled her eyes inwardly and smiled saying, "I won't. Thanks, Abi.", then chuckled.
Her phone buzzed inside her purse on the floor, so Victoria pulled it out. "I gotta go. Joey wants to hang out at his place before he goes to basketball camp. I'll talk to you guys later." She stood up to leave.
"Wait, before you leave. We've gotta take a picture." Molly said. She pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of all four of them at the table; Melody fixed her curly blonde hair, Victoria plastered a smile, Molly smized wide while flipping her wavy brown hair, and Abigail said cheese.
Victoria slipped on dark sunglasses and picked up her half empty cup . Her espadrilles clanked against the slick floor as she exited through the door. Once she was in her dark gray mazda3, she pulled out her phone and replied to Joey. The engine roared the life and the GPS took route to Joey's house uptown.
Victoria pulled onto the driveway of a two story white brick house that her boyfriend lived in. Trees lined the exterior of the house and small gardens were flowering on either side of the front porch.
"Hey, babe." Joey said opening the door to his house. He leaned in to kiss her on the cheek.
"Afternoon." Victoria replied ruffling his hair as she past the front threshold into the foyer.
Joey said, "I like that outfit. Want something to drink?", as he headed to the kitchen. Victoria set her purse down on the foyer table and dropped her shoes on the mat.
"Water's fine." She replied following him into the kitchen. "I just came from Cafe Au Lait with Mel, Abi, and Molly." she sat down in one of the wooden bar stools in front of the granite kitchen counter.
A voice called from the game room. "Are you coming ,Joey? We're about to start a new game."
Victoria raised an eyebrow at Joey as she accepted the water.
"After I texted you, a couple of my buddies and their girlfriends came over, and I thought it could be fun. Please don't be mad." Joey said.
"I'm not mad. Just a heads up would've been nice." Victoria left the kitchen first and headed to the game room with Joey behind her.
Once they were outside the door, Victoria waited for Joey and then interlocked their hands. "Hey guys. Guess who dropped by?" She said when all eyes turned towards the door.
"Brought your lady to the party. Wanna play a little COD?" One of Joey's friend's asked.
"Maybe later. I'll go and hang out with the girls in the theater." Victoria pecked Joey on the cheek then left the room.
Down the hall was a mini theater. When Victoria walked in, a few girls from school were lying around flipping through magazines gossiping. The floors were a velvety red and plush chairs were lined facing a big screen right behind the girl's pile of magazine, nail polish, and other miscellaneous items.
"Hey!" Victoria closed the door behind her allowing the lamps on the walls to be the only thing illuminating the room.
The four girls lying on their bellies looked up and smiled at her. "How's it going, Victoria. Come on, grab a magazine. We were just talking about you."
Victoria smiled politely and sat down making the makeshift circle complete. "Why were you guys talking about me? Could've just asked me for all the one-on-one details." she laughed as she flipped through one of the magazines laying in a haphazard pile.
One of the girls, Natalie, rolled onto her back and crawled into a criss-crossed position. Her long brown hair piled into her lap as she spoke, "Okay, well, we were talking about whether you and Joey would be Homecoming King and Queen this year. Last year you two were on homecoming court but so were Melody Newman and Isaac Miller, Matthew James with Abigail Adams. Isaac Miller is completely out of the question, Abi and Mat weren't even together they were just voted for individually--"
"But, we were speculating whether Melody and Matthew might be thing and make a really cool power couple. Not that they would win with a land slide, but maybe a definite competitor." another one of the girls said.
"That is definitely a possibility. But I know Mat and Melody aren't a thing. And ,honestly, I haven't even thought about homecoming." Victoria said without hesitation and moved onto another magazine.
"Oh, then never mind." the same girl replied disappointed.
"New topic then. Victoria, everyone has been wondering since your two year anniversary with Joey is coming up if you two are going to. .you know." Natalie winked.
"We are all friends here, but we are not that close. Maybe if you all weren't planning to whip out your phones in two point five seconds and post about it or text about, we can reevaluate." Victoria eyed the three girls," How 'bout we talk about someone other than me, or really anything. What do you fellow females think about the current social tension in other countries regarding the sexual inequality and uproar going on now?"
"It truly sucks." Natalie nodded assertively, "This is girly zone, no politics. At school, we can let are IQs flourish ,but in here, no topic that has to use more than three brain waves. So, please pass the bubblegum pink polish and let's talk about The Fault in Our Stars or Justin Timberlake."
Picture of Joey up top :)
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Long Live the Queen
Teen Fiction"sometimes it's not the people who change, it's the mask that falls off." ~~~~ Brentwood is practically the size of a small town with over 3,000 students. And with any town, someone must rule over the common folk; that person was Victoria. As the qu...
