Ch. 16 Burn it Down
“Morning, ladies!” a voice announced. “Time to wake up and head down to breakfast.”
I blinked blurrily, sitting up. I had slept with my contacts in, so I could still see when I woke up this morning. I focused on a familiar looking young man that stood in the doorway of the room. I frowned and squinted.
“Chris?” I said hesitantly.
His eyes widened as he recognized my face, and it confirmed my suspicions. It was the kid who got shoved into the lockers. Coincidence, much?
“You’re Keegan, right? The one who helped me get out of a locker?” he asked incredulously.
Beside me, Ellie was waking. She sat up, her hair a mess and her eyes half-open. “Wha’?”
“What the heck are you doing here?” I blurted.
“You didn’t hear? I got expelled from your school.” Chris said, blinking in surprise.
“For what?”
He grinned sheepishly. “For punching the jock who kept shoving me into the lockers.”
“Oh.” I paused. “But that still doesn’t explain what you’re doing all the way in California, much less here.”
“My family moved here because my uncle kind of has cancer and is living alone.” Chris explained shyly. “We’re staying with him and while my mom is searching for a good school to put me, I decided to get a job. Getting hired at this place kind of happened by accident, but here I am…”
“Oh.” That seemed like all I could say at the moment. “Well, uh, hi.”
“And I see you both are up, so I’ll just leave. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes to escort you guys to breakfast.” Chris said, flashing me one last timid smile before exiting the place.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Stand still and let me look at you.” Ellie commanded, watching me through narrowed eyes. She smirked and crossed her arms. “I must say, I have done an awesome job in making you look hot.”
“I feel uncomfortable in these clothes,” I muttered. “And this makeup.”
I was wearing Ellie’s clothes, which consisted of a tight My Chemical Romance t-shirt and ripped denim shorts. How I never knew that some of my best friend’s clothes looked so trampy is still a mystery.
And then my face. Don’t even get me started at the eyeliner or pile of dark eye shadow staining my eyelids.
There was a knock at the door and Chris entered, bowing formally to us. “Ready to—WHOA!”
“I told you I looked horrible,” I hissed at Ellie as we walked to Chris. He stared at me throw narrowed eyes, his mouth slightly hung open. I turned to Chris and raised my voice. “Just tell me the truth. I look bad, don’t I?”
“You look hot.” Chris blurted, and my face went beetroot red. Chris’ eyes widened and he quickly said, “I mean, you look really nice. You don’t look b-bad at all. We should get to breakfast…”
He took us both by our arms and literally dragged us out of the apartment, closing the door behind us. We stumbled after him through a curious maze of fancy, polished hallways until we reached a gigantic pristine dining room with the long table, silver dinnerware, and a huge long line of food.
“FOOD!” I blurted and without registering everyone else in the room I dove forward, grabbed a huge breadstick, and shoved it in mouth.
“Keegan! You totally just ruined your bad girl look.” Ellie hissed in my ear as she yanked me backwards. I still clutched onto the breadstick tightly.
“How so?” I said, my mouth full of food.
“What is her friend doing here?” A voice suddenly yelled, and I looked over to find Liam standing up and glaring angrily at Ellie. I swallowed the breadstick and glared at him. Did he not see me at all?
Liam stomped up to us, and I was surprised that Taylor wasn’t anywhere to be seen. He looked at Ellie with narrowed eyes. “Where’s Keegan? And why did you come back here with your little friend? None of you are allowed here!”
“Liam! That’s no way to treat your friends!” It was Liam’s mother, whom I also realized was in the room along with his dad.
“They’re not my friends.” He snarled. “Get out!”
Ellie retaliated and spat at Liam’s feet, which proceeded to him to cuss her out. Liam’s parents started shouting, too, telling Liam to stop using bad words.
“You little—”
“Don’t you dare call me that, numbnuts!” Ellie snarled.
“Excuse me? Why you stupid little piece of—”
“Liam! How dare you use that language in this house!”
My eye twitched. Jeez, everyone seemed to be ignoring me. I gathered up a huge amount of air and screamed, “STOP!”
The sound resounded off the walls and there was a sudden silence. I marched up to Liam, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and shoved me against the nearest wall. Where I was getting all this ferocity and sudden confidence was beyond me, but I focused on the boy in front of me.
“Hey! Let me go!” Liam growled. “Did Keegan set you up to do this?”
“I am Keegan, stupid.” I snapped at him. “What? Don’t recognize me from the makeup and the change of clothes? Seriously, I’ve been standing here the whole time while you insult my friend, and I’m not going to take any of your bull for much longer!”
Liam stared at me. “Keegan?”
“I just told you that.” I snarled at him. “And you better not insult Ellie or me for the rest of our stay, otherwise I’m going to punch you in the face again!”
I felt a rough pair of hands grab me by the shoulders and yank me away, restraining me momentarily in their iron grip. “Hey!” I said.
“Calm down, Keegan. It’s me.” Chris whispered in my ear. I wondered where his new strength came from. Working out, maybe?
I shook my head. Now was not the time to get distracted. I looked over and saw that Liam was being restrained as well by his father.
“You two clearly have some issues right now, and if we are going to have peace for the rest of the weekend, then you two have to settle your problems.” Liam’s mother said firmly. Chris began to drag me to a nearby bathroom and shoved me inside. Liam stumbled in a few moments later. “And you will be kept in here until you do. If you want to act like children, so be it.”
And then she slammed the door in our faces, followed by the click of the lock snapping in place.
I looked at Liam, who was glaring at me. “This is all your fault.” He hissed.
Suffice to say, things didn’t go according to how I imagined the situation to be.
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The Story of Us
Romantizm"It's hard to say when I fell in love with Liam Sheppard. It could be when he returned after three long years and confessed that he loved me. It could be when I chased him to Hollywood and tried to win over his affections. It could be when I kissed...
