MaLuke

Chapter 25

Saturday morning, and I was feeling even more energetic than a fully charged cyborg. I woke well before the alarm rang, and did all my morning routines before it rang. Adrienne was the second person to be up and running. Going through a little bit of yoga on the balcony, she came to join me for breakfast as I scurried around the kitchen frying bacon and eggs. Bread was on the toaster, and orange juice was on the counter with three glasses.

I was in the midst of spreading butter on the toast when Meghan came out of the room. Dressed in boxers and a hanging t-shirt, she looked like crap. Then again, nobody ever looks good when getting out of bed.

"Morning Dude." I greeted her. She sent me a sloppy smile and joined us in the kitchen to make coffee. We all sat down on the kitchen stools and had breakfast together. It was nice, we never did this together. Ironic that the day we do this, we'd also be doing things to ruin other people.

"So what's up this morning?" Meghan asked. Honestly, I didn't know. All thins were prepped and ready to roll.

"Shopping?" Adrienne suggested.

"Aw, Hell naw." Meghan protested. "I've seen enough boutiques to last me until my last pair of jeans or Jordan's gets ripped." I had to go with Meghan on this one, I was getting tired of shopping.

"Just saying." Adrienne grumbled and bit into her toast.

"We could go, but going to the mall gets me tired. We have a party to attend, so I don't think we'll be going anywhere that makes us tired." Meghan nodded at my reasoning and went back to eating all the bacon on the plate. I rolled my eyes.

"'Kay then, what we gon' do?" Meghan asked.

"I don't know. Maybe we could go and spend our day on the roof, hang out by the pool and eat chips or something." I suggested. Meghan's eyes lit up, and surprisingly, so did Adrienne's.

"Settled then." Adrienne said enthusiastically as she popped up from her stool and started collecting the plates. Meghan was reaching for the last strip of bacon when Adrienne grabbed the plate from the other side and walked over to the sink. With an annoyed yelp, Meghan leaped over the shoulder high counter and strangled Adrienne to take the last strip before the plate got soaked in soap water. I laughed, these two's, forever the clowns.

"Do you guys have everything?" Adrienne called from the doorway, a hint of impatience in her tone. Meghan gritted her teeth in annoyance. So did I, Adrienne wasn't carrying anything but her towel and sunglasses. Meghan had two bags in her hands, while I carried a cooler with booze, and our towels.

"Coming." I balanced everything on one hand as I locked my door and shoved the key into the back pocket of my short jeans. We rode the elevator up, and I was glad to find the pool area empty. For a Saturday, it was a blessing the pool wasn't crowded.

"Hey Meghan, did you bring any ice cream?" Adrienne asked as she sat down on one of the deck chairs. Meghan dropped the two bags down in exhaustion.

"No, we ran out of ice cream two days ago remember?" Meghan reminded her. Adrienne nodded as the remembrance dawned on her. Then she brightened up suddenly.

"I bought another four litre ice cream on Thursday night, it should be at the top corner of the deep freezer." She chanted. Meghan and I knew she wouldn't go down and get it. I looked at Meghan and we both knew what was going to go down.

"Scissors, paper, rock." We both released our choices. Meghan picked rock while I picked scissors. A square loss. I sighed as I dropped my towel my deck chair and raised to the stairs. Elevator would take too long to come up from the fourth floor it was on now. Busting out of the escape door on my floor, I ran around the corner to my door.

I came to an absolute stand still as the person standing in front of my door turned around. I don't know who was more surprised.

"Hello," He breathed.

"Hi," I said somewhat awkwardly. "What are you doin here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He let out a stiff laugh. I didn't smile, nor did I do anything else. My expression was stoic, at least I hope it was. "Wendy and I, we're over."

A feeling of relief and happiness washed through me, making me want to run to him and give him a big hug. But my pride wouldn't let me. Damn pride. So I stood there watching him, like a predictor watching it's prey. Except it felt as if we were both the prey.

"And you're telling me this why?" I asked. He didn't owe me anything, much less did I to him.

"I thought you just deserved to know." He said with his head bowed. When his face lifted, he was grinning slightly. "And you look hot today." He walked towards me and past me, down the fire escape to his own floor below me. That jerk. Though I still couldn't bring myself to hate him as a whole.

I took a step and heard the fire door open. "Oh and for the record, you're hotter than Wendy."

"Then why'd you date her then?" I asked. I felt self-conscious that he could've gone down to his floor and I could be talking to myself.

"I don't.... I..." I heard the fire escape door shut close and echoing footsteps down the steps. I sighed to myself. Zayn wasn't particularly close to anyone, so I couldn't actually "ask" he's friends anything. Come to think of it, what do I know about Zayn.

That he's some rich kid with mixed heritage, with looks that could account for a male model, or better. I hardly knew anything apart from that and where he lives. I actually don't even know where his apartment is. Below me, for sure, but the door? Nope, nothing. I knew nothing.

What if he was a serial killer, or an assassin? Living on gang money, or money from bank robberies. He could be a bloody convict. But I knew I was taking it too far. He probably was just one kid with issues, and him and I had unresolved issues that I plan on settling tonight.

Satisfied at the thought, I unlocked my door and went in to retrieve the ice cream. On the carpet in front of the door, a small envelope lay. I looked at it for a second before picking it up. Zayn probably slipped this in when he came about. Thinking twice about it, I ripped it open. My eyebrows lifted up, disappearing into my hairline. Okay, not literally, but you know what I mean.

Grabbing the tub of ice cream from the fridge and raced up the fire escape, not before locking the door, not bothering to check if it really ws locked. Running over to Meghan and Adrienne, I almost slipped and fell in the pool. I dropped the letter on Adrienne's lap and started pacing.

"What's that?" Meghan asked, her mouth filled with pretzels. I waved her over. She chewed quickly and swallowed as she made her way over. "Who's it from?" I didn't answer.

"From Student Body President," Adrienne read the heading. "Dear Khaimon, if you think you've won, think again. The skim that you pulled with my boyfriend, will not slide over so easily with me." Meghan made a gurgling noise of disgust.

"If your man enough, come to the stranger party at Club Midnight. We'll sort things out." Adrienne closed the letter and laid it on the bench. We all stood silently for about thirty seconds, not knowing what to say.

"That's good right, she's coming to your party. We'll just add a few more things in." Meghan shrugged. I was nodding slowly. The movement felt numb. Not exactly mine.

"She could also ruin your party. It's your eighteenth birthday. We don't want it ruined by some skank." Adrienne leaned on the deck chair arm. I looked at Meghan. She shrugged again.

"Seems fine to me." Meghan started slowly. "We could arrange things carefully. I'll take on Zayn with Khaimon and Mary. Adrienne you'll take Cindy and Kelly to take care of Wendy." Adrienne started nodding, but caught herself and turned to me. They both watched expectantly for my expression. I stared back blankly.

"Let's kick some ass then."

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