Second Lanark

Arrival - Part 26

     The day after my party was a write-off; I couldn't get out of bed until I had to go to my late afternoon review class armed with multiple bottles of water and a massive hangover. I hadn't even been sure it was worth going, but I couldn't miss another exam review class and still expect to be prepared for my exams. Luckily, Anil had gone to the review class I missed and offered me his notes, so I didn't feel quite so bad for playing with puppies when I should have been in class.

      I looked at the clock on my desk again as I poured through review material for my exam on Monday. I'd given Lark my car to go pick up Cal at the airport. She'd asked me to drive her, but I couldn't stomach watching their loving and tearful reunion knowing she'd most likely slept with Matias the night of my party. I hadn't asked her, but I knew she'd done the walk of shame the next afternoon – not even the next morning.

I had no idea what I was going to do when Cal showed up. It made me feel queasy to even think about it. Somehow, I had to pretend that it wasn't weird to see her with a boyfriend when she'd been acting, for the most part, like he didn't exist.

      There was a knock on the door, and I dropped all my highlighters to grab it. I pulled the door open to find Ashley standing on the threshold.

      "I took a risk that you'd be home. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Ashley fidgeted with her hands and looked anxious. Her long dark hair cascaded down her back and looked like she'd spent some time on both her hair and her makeup. I wondered if she was going out later or if all of this war paint was for me.

      I stepped back from the threshold and motioned to Lark's lawn chair. "Have a seat," I said, going back to my desk chair, looking at Ashley expectantly as she closed the door and sat down.

      "I just wanted to check with you to see what you were planning to tell the coach about," she hesitated and then said, "initiation."

      I pursed my lips and looked her up and down. "What do you want me to tell him? I planned on telling him the truth. Honestly, Ashley, I thought initiation was a little tame. I was kinda disappointed. Well, apart from the red hair; that was a mistake."

      She gave me a half smile. "Yeah, it didn't really rinse out as well as the box said it would."

      Few things worked as well or as poorly as the advertising claimed, but I didn't figure it was the conversation Ashley was hoping to have with me. The red hair had horrified my parents. My mom had called her hairdresser and got me in for a quick fix while I'd been home at Thanksgiving. Although I'd pretended annoyance at my mother, I'd been pretty happy not to have hair a weird shade of red for the rest of the semester.

      "I just – I wasn't sure if you were going to tell him that it was all in good fun or not," she said, still sitting in the lawn chair.

      "I had fun. Have you talked to Cathy? She's the only one that I can think of who might not have had a good time. Everyone else seemed on board." I thought back to that night again, and even still she was the only one who seemed out of control drunk.

      "I did, yeah. She, well, she said she didn't rat us out." Ashley played with the hem of her shirt and didn't relax into her chair.

      "So, she's going to tell Coach that she had a shitty time? Is that why you came here?"

      "I'm going to see Faith, too. The two of you seem to have the most influence on the rookies, and I need help keeping everyone on side with this. I could get kicked out of the school. Other Seniors could be in trouble, too."

      I sat back in my desk chair and watched her for a few minutes without saying anything. I was starting to wonder if she wanted me to operate as some kind of enforcer. I didn't have that kind of influence; I was a good swimmer who worked hard. I wasn't intimidating, at least I didn't think I was.