The Good Girl Squad

Chapter 3

     "Fancy meeting you here," a voice drawled from behind me. I pushed off of the school's outer wall and turned around, my uniformed plaid skirt swooshing.

Caesar stood in the doorway. His arms crossed, a simple smile on his face, his hair its usual messy self.

"Oh hey. I didn't know anyone else was still here." It was an hour after school ended. I thought I was the only one left.

"Yeah. I was in the art room and got distracted. What about you?"

"My ride is just a little late, that's all." My dad was supposed to pick me up for a therapist's appointment, but he was very late, I just wasn't about to admit that.

My father was a top notch workaholic. My mother had committed suicide the year before, hence the therapy sessions. I was still scarred from it.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. What?"

"Why do you hang out with those girls?"

"The Good Girl Squad? They're my friends."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," he ran his hand through his hair, gazing at me with a curious expression. "If you believe that, why do you still talk to me? I'm sure they told you about how hated I am."

"The funny thing is, I'm not sure I care about that." I decided to then accept that my father wasn't coming and just walk home. "I'm going to go. It looks like my ride isn't coming after all. I'll see you later."

"Ashleigh?" He called, as I began to walk away. I stopped in my tracks. "I think you and I both know that The Good Girl Squad isn't what everybody thinks it is. You might want to get out before you get hurt."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"Oh, and Ashleigh? I have one more question."

"Ask away."

"Can I have your number?" I gave him my number, than was finally off. It took me almost an hour to get home and that was with the skip in my step Caesar had given me.

My almost everlasting grin was wiped off of my face faster then Usian Bolt on steroids, when I stepped into my house. It was cold and silent. I was an only child, so my house was anything but welcoming. My dad was hardly ever home, so it seemed like I lived alone on most days. Home sweet home.

I think I knew the situation had gone from 'okay, this is bad' to 'holy crap, call Child Protective Services,' but I hadn't, and I wouldn't. Don't ask me why, I don't know.

     Maybe that was why I needed to be in the squad so bad. I needed to feel like I belonged somewhere, like school wouldn't be the same as home. Like I could be loved somewhere in this messed up world.

It was like I had my own thick, gray cloud hanging over my shoulders, as I shut the door behind me. It was cold, dark, and formal, just like my father liked it. I tried to think of the last time he had made eye contact with me for more than a split second. Maybe he knew what he was doing to me, maybe he didn't. Sometimes, I can understand where my mom was coming from.

A couple days later, I was talking to Caesar in the hallway, when the girls approached me. "I thought we told you that you couldn't talk to him. Don't make us angry, there will be repercussions," Patricia reprimanded me like I was her pet. Her property. She talked like Caesar wasn't right beside me, like he couldn't hear us.

"I'm right here, Patricia," he said, earning a fierce death stare from her highness. He held his hands up in mock surrender, flashing his innocent face. I couldn't help but grin.

"No more, Ashleigh, no more," I had known her for four weeks now and that was the first time she ever got my name right. I'm ashamed to say that I was happy for the recognition.

Patricia grabbed my wrist and dragged me off to meet the other girls. I quickly turned to send Caesar a short wave. He grinned, his adorable, slightly crooked grin and pushed his glasses up his nose. The gesture would have looked nerdy on nearly everyone else, but on him, it looked enchanting.

As we strolled through the hallways like people in parades perfectly perched on floats, the girls lectured me about him again. I had to be more careful. I couldn't be caught at school with him again. It was too risky. I needed the squad, I didn't know why, I just did.

During lunch that day, Patricia, Grace, Jasmine, Rebecca, and I left the building, under the pretense of going for a nature walk, even though it was late November and starting to get cool. The secretary didn't even question Patricia's story, because she was the one, the only, Patricia Leonard, who could never do something wrong. "Why are we out here?" I asked, shivering in my sweater.

"To, drumroll please, smoke!" Grace answered, over enthusiastically. She leaned close and grinned in my face, like a crack addict, before erupting into giggles.

"Yes, because you definitely need it," Jasmine did her signature eye roll to enhance her comment. Rebecca and Patricia laughed, while I cracked a smile, resorting to fake laughter to calm my anxiety. Smoking?

We went behind the school, under the bleachers, then kicked a couple out for making out, the perfect high school cliché coming to life. Check that one off of my bucket list. We sat on the dead grass, our backs leaning against the cold metal. Jasmine pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her book bag, and Grace pulled a lighter out of her bra.

"Why do you keep that in your bra?" I asked.

"Where else would I keep it?"

"I don't know, somewhere that won't result in you losing a boob."

"Eh, they're fake anyways. I heard plastic isn't that flammable." My eyebrows shot up in surprise. She was seventeen with fake boobs.

"I think it's the other way around," Rebecca said, taking a puff of her cigarette. She blew it out in a circle, watching it swirl up.

"Whatever. I probably wouldn't be able to feel it anyways."

     "Do you guys do this a lot?"

     "At least once a week," Rebecca replied.

     "A smoke a day keeps the stress a day," Jasmine spinner in a circle, gazing at the smoke spheres.

     I nodded. "Light 'em up," Patricia said, handing me a cigarette.

     I looked at it distastefully. "I don't smoke."

     They smiled at me. "You do now."

     I chewed my bottom lip and looked down worriedly. Grace lit it. I took a deep breath, the stuck it in my mouth. I coughed and almost threw up, but took another hit successfully. Everybody cheered.

     What kind of group cheers at that?