Orchid

I Wake Up On Velvet....

 I open my eyes, stretching out. I'm lying on my back in a velvet couch, my arm slung over the armrests.

 Velvet? In our little city of Chicago, only one family owns real rich velvet after almost all of the velvet  here was bought by them. The others are imitations. Only Jenna's family owns real velvet now.

  Yeah, by the way, my age is really easy to know. If I somehow forget my age, I just remember the year, and there I go. But it's confusing because my birthday's not smack on the first day of January. It's July 11. Sometimes I love that birthday because it's the b-day of my favorite character of all time, June Iparis. I think it funny sometimes because her name is June, and she was born in July. Awkward. Still, she's not alive yet. She's going to be born in the year 2116, according to the author. I'll be long dead by then.

 Sorry. Back to the subject. And my point. WHAT AM I DOING IN JENNA'S PLACE? All I remember is jumping out the window, certain I would either get shot from below or die of the impact of the crash.

 A clean-shaven aging man with no hint of stubble on his chin and loose twig-colored hair notices me awake and calls, "Miss Jenna, your friend is awake."

 I lift my head as Jenna enters the room, a glass of lemonade in her hand and her short streaked red hair on brown glistening as if she poured water on it. "Thank you, Dallas," she murmurs softly, blinking her perfectly shaped almond eyes at him and smiling sweetly. "And she's not quite my friend, but we could become friends soon."

 "Apologies, mistress." Dallas backs away from her, bowing as he goes. I'm surprised he doesn't hit the wall. He must've done it a lot of times.

 "It's OK. Call me later. See ya. I'll be hanging out with my friend," Jenna says, fluttering her long lashes and making a phone signal. That's an act of feigned innocence. Jenna is a liar if there ever is.

 Jenna inspects me for a moment with her glittering, venomous green eyes, the sparkle of flirting gone completely. "You took a while," she says.

 "Yes, I enjoyed it," I snap back. 

  Jenna bursts into laughter. "I had to save your goddy ass back there." She places her glass down on a neighboring table and sits herself on another velvet seat. I notice quietly her leg is wrapped up. "Bled a lot. Doctor said I might get an infection and I'm lucky I didn't yet. While you escaped without a single scratch from your s'posed boyfriend."

 "He's not my boyfriend." I want to strangle her in the neck right now, though she did save my life. "In fact, he's not any of the other girls's boyfriends either. He's not yours either too."

 "Who said I liked him?" Jenna shrugs and picks up her glass, elegantly sipping it. "All of the other girls were low or middle-class. And he doesn't like upper-class either, apparently. And one of my hobbies is flirting."

 "Yeah, flirting with Dallas is really a great hobby." I wrinkle my nose in disgust at the thought of the aging servant.

 "He's already married," Jenna says in a casual way. "And his daughter happened to be Arabella. He still works for us though. He doesn't even know his daughter is dead."

 "Then tell him!" I say angrily. "He has a right to know. And you're withholding information."

 Jenna sighs. "Anyway, I'm tired of this conversation." 

 "So what am I doing here?" I try to sound indifferent and try to keep my tone as bored as hers.

 "Ms. Amphitrite insisted I house you, Lily, and her." I can't help but feel jealous as she chugs her drink down. My stomach feels empty and my tongue is as dry as sandpaper. "How about we check the news? Dallas," she hollers. "Turn on the TV."

 Someone else enters. It's a petite young woman, not Dallas. "Dallas is busy right now." She takes a remote control from her apron pocket and clicks the ON button.

 "Thank you, Erin," Jenna says as the TV in the room flicks on. 

 I recognize Cheryl Burklin, a news reporter, as she stands in front of our school. Some windows are smashed and holes fill some of the walls. "Yes, Linda. A tragic incident today at Thalia Crestwood High School. At approximately 9:03 in the morning, a male student, a junior who attends the school, pulled out a gun and started shooting. He was identified as Xander Jackson as he fled the school and escaped. A manhunt is currently going on to catch him. He shot and killed Arabella Cole, Katherine Patterson, Paulo Alvarez, Tehya Smith and wounded about ten more. Among the missing are Orchid Evergreen, Lillian Burke, and Jennifer Robinson, all female juniors, and the language professor, Amphitrite Daley. At 9:25, he escaped out of a side door and a driver was waiting for him."

 Paulo and Tehya, two seniors, were in love. At least they're together now in wherever people go when they die. And damn. I was really looking forward to Xander being tried and sent to prison if he did it voluntarily or a rehab center if he's insane and didn't know what he was doing.

 "Did I hear my name?" Lily sticks her head of golden waves in the room. Her pale brown eyes scan us. "'Cause I'm pretty sure that I heard Lillian and Burke."

 Jenna waves her in. "Yeah. We're catching up on the news." She smirks as she catches the last drop of lemonade in her mouth. "And ya just missed it."

 Lily stares accusingly at me. "Well, here's Orchid. She apparently has a-c-r-o-p-h-o-b-i-a. The wrong fear at the wrong time." I think I see a slouch to her shoulders, a hint of grief in her eyes. Katie's death must be affecting her. They were actually very close, unsnobby friends before Jenna came. Lily isn't that bad. It's just Jenna's influence. For a second, I feel sorry for her. But naturally Jenna has to ruin it.

 "The Queen Team is down to three." Jenna winks at Lily. "Three is better than four anyway. Four is a curse number." She tucks a strand of wild reddish-brownish hair(maybe I'll be nice and call it autumn color, though it really looks like blood smeared on her hair) and smiles widely.

 Lily stiffens. "Celebrate yourself. I'll be calling Amphitrite."

 "Miss Amphitrite," Jenna corrects.

 Lily rolls her eyes. "Whatever. She's only twenty. So I'm taking it the teenager way before she reaches twenty-one." She takes her head back and unlike-Jenna-way, softly calls, "Amphitrite? Orchid's awake."