West Coast

Chapter 3: Alyssandra

Being the great judge of popularity potential I am, it only seems fitting that I show Amalia how it's done. I sit on one of the cast-iron benches in front of the school to wait for her. 

"Aly, can you drive me home?" My young sister, Hanaia asks with a pout.

"No."

She sighs. "Why not?" She looks around helplessly, trying to find another way home. 

"Take the bus." 

She throws her hands down angrily in a huff. "Only losers take the bus." She's fifteen so she always relies on me to drive her places. She thinks she's older than she is so she walks around lining her eyes in a moat of black, with three piercings in each of her ears. "Dad said you would drive me."

"Well, then Dad was wrong. I have plans." I scoff just as I see Amalia peak out the front doors of the school. "Alright, bye now." I gesture her away and she sulks over to big yellow school bus. Amalia glances at me indecisively and then starts to walk out toward the parking lot. I race to catch up with her just before she's about to open her car door. "Amalia! Darling!" 

"Oh, hey." She looks nervous. Her long blonde hair falls flawlessly down her back and I try my hardest not to be jealous. But then I also take notice to her lack of makeup and scream a silent victory in my head.  

"You know what? I can recommend a great conditioner for you. It would really help your hair look less dry." I add on a cheesy grin just for emphatic affect. 

Sean glances over at us and I scowl. Sean Candor and I dated for three years. But after one mistake I made, he dumped me and now I've been single for 4 months and it's killing me. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we broke up, but that doesn't mean I'm no longer attracted to him. Hell, if he asked I would run back to him in a second.

He waves and I grimace in his direction. After he obviously doesn't get the response he intended to receive, he turns back around and heads off to his own car on the other side of the lot.

"We can take my car." Amalia says meekly and I laugh a tiny bit.

"Well we have to wait for Gracie first." I say, hinting that she should have known that, which in reality she couldn't have.

She furrows her brow at me. "And who would that be?"

"Look." I ignore her question and evade it with an alternative answer. "If you want to make friends, you have to be open to meeting new people." I scold her with the point of my finger.

"Right." She says more to herself then me. She pushes a lock of platinum hair behind her ear awkwardly. I look at her lobe and see one hideous gold stud poking out of her skin. 

"Are those your earrings?" I ask nervously, making a small gasp.

She nods slowly. "Yeah, why?"

"Oh, no reason." I lie through gritted teeth. Making this girl over was going to be harder than I thought. 

Just then, Jesse Tailman walks by the car and glances menacingly at me. As if on cue, I drop my keys to the pavement, bending over to pick them up, and revealing the bottom of my black thong to him as he shoves his bag into the back seat.  When I look back at him, he has a wicked grin across his lips and he's shaking his head like he thinks this is a joke. 

"Aly!" Grace parades over and throws her arms lightly around me in a hug, air kissing both of my cheeks as I do the same. She looks over at Amalia and maintains her smile through her astonishment. "And..." She searches.

"This is Amalia." I put my shoulders around Amalia's as if showing her off and give Grace a look. "Amalia Hemming." I emphasize the last name so Grace will recognize her as being Diane Morris's daughter.