Speculo

III

The car, however despicably pink it was, got V to her destination. It was the destination itself that confused her. She had driven around the same quiet block three times looking for the address before she realized it was right in front of her face. The tiny plaque had fallen over in the yard and was covered in grass and weeds. The "school" was more of a large house. It was an old red-brick Victorian type with mismatched shutters and dying plants neglected across the porch. There were two cars in the small driveway and a black and red garage apparently used for decoration only. Three or four porch swings creaked back and forth in the wind. Paint chipping and chains rusting.V pulled in best as she could behind a shiny black box of a car that didn't seem to belong in the rustic clutter of the building. She squinted up at the second story windows which must have been covered in black curtains. Nobody parted them to squint back at her. Maybe this was a scam and she was about to be on the Walmarts missing persons board. Deep breathes V you can do this. You, she told herself, are an artist. Artists do things like move to the other side of the country to go to a small discreet art school led by a suddenly plummeted refined english artist. Do it for tge aesthetics. She opened the monsters door. The small picket fence separating the driveway and the backyard wobbled  when she shut it. She checked her phone again to make sure she was in the right place. A little yellow message was on her screen that said shed arrived at her destination. Well. Here goes nothing. Or maybe everything. V would be content with somewhere in between but things were not very often in between. She mounted the steps with her ugly grey bag and rapped her knuckles against the canary yellow door. She waited as the inside of the house admitted a series of crashes. This was it. Turn and run or face the art.
"comiiing! " this was followed by a few satisfactory words before the door swung open. What greeted her was not what she had expected. It wasn't even what she had not expected or what she had allowed herself to expect. Honey colored hair fell in loose waves down its back and its blue eyes shone. V then realized it was actually a girl. The girls cheeks were rosy as if shed been running.
"can I help you" could she? Wait. Yes.
"oh-yes sorry I'm looking for a Mrs. Mulsby?" V's throat was scratchy from the dust puffing through the monsters AC unit and she sounded like a smoker. Smoking was a nice aesthetic but not worth the prospect of lung cancer. The girl nodded and swung the door wider inviting her in. This V, is where the mobsters jump out.
"you're the new student then I suppose?" The girl questions her over a shoulder and  V nods before giving her a verbal affirmative. This girl wore a denim skirt and converse and a rather clashing dusty coat. It had a strange emblem of a wolf wearing a crown on the back and she wondered if it was from the school. V was a lover of old things and she hopped so. She walked into what must have been the makeshift lobby. Several coats hung on racks and all manners of shoes were lined against one wall. Strange and colorful paintings hung at curious angles and she resisted the urge to picture exactly how they'd been done. Instead she turned to the blonde girl, "do you go to school here?" the girl laughed and V thought maybe the question had been too obvious. Maybe everyone here thought she was mentally ill. But the girl had a nice laugh, the kind everyone but V liked because everyone but V had no clue it was faked.
" gosh no I can't even barley write in cursive let alone make art"
"you'd be surprised" V realized that may have come off rude but the girl just shrugged.
" Beatrice is my aunt, I work for her part-time cleaning" V opened her mouth to ask what cleaning entailed when she was cut off,
"she doesn't clean. She makes more of a mess for me" a bony old woman shuffled her way into the room and tapped the girl's knee with her cane. She was hunched slightly but tall and her hair was dark with small streaks of silver like coal. She reminded V of one of the panthers at the zoo. Clever but restrained.
"are you Mrs. Mulsby?" V let go of the suitcase and extended a hand.
"last time I checked I was yes, and who are you?" Mrs. Mulsby talked like she had eaten foreign alphabet soup, like she had taken a bunch of accents and mixed them up in a pot for dinner. She said her a's like u's and s's as z's which made was turn to wuz and would no doubt make words like supermarket fun to listen to.
"V Montgomery miss" the lady looked reproachfully at her outstretched hand.
"I'm sorry?" I'm zorry?
"Vienne-Vienne Montgomery? I applied for your school?" understanding and relief  dawned on her wrinkled face and she grabbed V's hand.
"Oh of courze 'ow zilly of me yez we're so glud to have you dear" she shook it vigorously before letting it fall back and knocking the blonde girl in the knee again.
"Elizzundra take this girl to her room please and explain to her the rules I would do it myzelf but I need to zturt dinner". Elizzundra rolled her eyes playfully "don't disrespect me, girl, I don't pay you to look pretty" she sighed a fine shaking her waterfall curls and motioned for V to come with her. "take her bag luzy girl!" this part was yelled from what V assumed was the kitchen where dinner was being zturted. She allowed Elissandra to snatch her bag and followed her through the strange house. There were piles upon piles of books from countless authors she'd never heard of. No doubt beautifully minded tortured artists of literature. V was still working on several flat manuscripts of her own. The interior of the house seemed much smaller than the outside and she wondered where the rest of it had gone. Mismatched teacups and hand painted ceramic sat on the table waiting for their owners to come back to claim them. Not an inch of the wall stood bare, odd paintings and photographs hung from brass hooks and tacks, one was completely composed of newspaper clippings about dogs being shot in the shape of some sort of bulldog mix. It was mesmerizing. A spiral staircase stood in the center of the room and curled up into the ceiling. Someone had twisted scarves around the railing in random colorful splendor.
"she likes it to look lively" Elissandra must have noticed V's staring, "your rooms upstairs" she turned to drag the suitcase up but V held out a hand. She couldn't bare to watch other people take care of things for her. If she needed it done she needed to do it.
"I can get it...you don't have to" the girl stared at her quizzically for a second before shrugging and letting her take it.
"I'll still show you your room so you don't get lost" V nodded thanks and let her go up the stairs ahead of her, trailing her fingers in the silk of the scarves as she went, but one tag caught her eye. Venezuela. This was seeming less and less like a scam by the minute and she allowed her heart a small ray of hope. The upstairs was more open than its lower floor. The walls were the same shade of navy blue but the hall was wide and well-lit by its numerous windows. Several doors stood back into the wall, each one a different color.
"yours is the blue one" Elissandra pointed her red painted fingernail to a sky blue door at the end of the hallway on the left. "bathroom is there" she twisted and pointed to the other end. Then she turned back and held out the hand to V. "I'm Elis" V took it and they shook once.
"V"
"just V?"
"just V" Elis nodded and started back down the hallway. She paused at the top of the staircase.
" I'll let you get settled then. Call if you need anything". She smiled back at V before descending. V walked to the end of the hall and  stared down her new door. She noticed now that it was not the color of the sky but instead of forget-me-nots, a kind of flower the grew around her house and she automatically felt warm. She took a deep breath and reached for the handle only to find an empty hole. The original handle must have come off. She would have to buy herself a new one no big deal. She stuck her fingers into the hole and pulled the door open. The room that met her was small and plain. There was a bed with grey sheets and pillows, a small mahogany nightstand and a storage rack to hang her clothes on. Utterly plain. She noticed A small note tacked to the end of the bed and carefully removed it. It read, this room is bare to let your creativity decorate it. It will be graded as your final at the end of the year. Clever. V stuffed it into the nightstand drawer so she wouldn't forget it. She had been here ten minutes and already she had an assignment. She sighed. She was going to do just fine here. Maybe even enjoy it. She realized that Elis hadn't ever told her the rules and decided she should probably know them. It was easy to break rules you didn't know were rules. She threw on a clean shirt and sweats out if her suitcase and headed back downstairs.
"Hello?!" V's voice seemed to be absorbed by the house but she heard voices coming from a small room on the left side of the living room away from the from the parlor. The room she had assumed was the kitchen. She stepped over a white cat and through the doorway. Elis stood with her back to her and talked to Mrs. Mulsby who noticed V over her shoulder right away.
"Oh, Vienne how are you zettling?" V nodded.
"good yes, I like the room"
"well I hope not or you won't get a very good final grade" Elis chuckled and shook her head. She had turned now towards V and was absentmindedly toying with the wood of the low lying counter she was leaning on. The kitchen was compact, a long table took up most of the room and no chair was the same. The counters were mostly hip level and made of light wood. V had to wonder again where the scale of the house was hiding.
"uh, Elis I was wondering if you could help me unpack something" V wasn't a skilled liar and so she focused on a painting of a spoon behind Mrs. Mulsby's head. Elis looked confused but nodded anyways and they both waved at Mrs. Mulsby on their way out. Elis waited till they were up the stairs to ask what V needed help with.
"you never told me the rules but I didn't want to get you into trouble"
"Oh crap sorry thanks man" V shook her head to say oh its no problem. She was honestly relieved that at least one person here seemed like a normal college student and she let herself hope slightly they might become friends. " no boys over past eight. Turn your assignments in on time." she pushed open V's door with her hip. " don't be too loud and Sundays curfew is twelve. No alcohol on the premises and no puff puff" she made a smoking motion with her hand to her lips. V smirked, "what if I need it for my creativity" Elis jumped down onto V's bed and put on a mock slouch.
" you need nothing but your own mind for art" she mocked the old woman and V found herself laughing. " and don't miss class, if you do it too much she'll kick you out. Did you actually need help with anything?" V didn't. But she didn't necessarily want Elis to leave yet. So she thought of something.
"oh also," she wiggled her fingers through the door knob hole "do I get a knob?" This was obviously the question Elis was waiting for.
"you get your knob at the end of your first week. She picks it out special for you it's really cool" V loved it so she smiled. Elis understood because so she smiled back. V didn't really need anything else from Elis, But she didn't want to be alone with nothing to do either. Elis must have noticed her hesitation because she quickly offered to hang out. "I'm going to a party later if you want to come...but you'll have to change" she looked V up and down with displeasure. V looked herself up and down with displeasure.
" I don't really have anything...party worthy" V didn't say that she had only ever been to one party. She also didn't say that the thought of one made her stomach turn over.
"lucky for you I don't own anything not party worthy" Elis looked devious. V couldn't believe it but she thought she might have just made friends with this Barbie of a girl. She looked like every girl that V had hated in high school and yet, there was something about her that whispered look. She dramatically lifted herself off of the bed and took V's hand. Hers was warm while V had very poor circulation but Elis didn't seem to mind. She leads her to a room on the opposite end of the hall. Its door was purple and had small white flowers painted in lined along a crack in its surface.
"I thought you said you didn't art"
"I don't, my brother did this for me when I broke my arm" from the way Elis smiled V knew that her brother was important to her. She knew that look because she wore it when she spoke of her father. She wondered if it was that obvious on herself. Elis opened the door and pushed into a room even smaller than V's. It consisted of just a bean bag and a closet and smelled of roses. Elis threw open said closet doors while V crossed the room to the small window and looked out into the backyard. There was a flower bed full of rose bushes that were responsible for the smell and several glass frogs. The yard itself was green and freshly mowed. "how's this?" V turned to face Elis and the outfit she held out. The shirt was a warm fitted maroon T-shirt and the jeans looked to be her size. They stayed in all the way to the bottom and then rolled up into cuffs. V nodded and was tossed the two articles.
" so is Mrs. Mulsby really a teacher or did I fall for a scam?" in the most polite nonchalant way possible. Should I run. Elis chuckled.
" she's a teacher alright. She taught at a private school in Britain, was the best art teacher in all of England" V slipped her shirt over her head and replaced it with the one Elis had given her.
"so what's she doing here then?" Elis's face turned somber.
"she had a stroke in April and they wouldn't accept her back. Said her insurance was too high" that would explain the alphabet soup.V didn't know what to say so she just pulled on her pants. They were long at the ends so she had to roll them up.
"there, now you look nice...here" Elis flipped the mirror towards her. She looked okay. Her dark brown hair hung loosely on her shoulders.  And the pants were tight on her bony hips. She wished she had hips more like Elis's which were rounded and soft."now, you're ready let's go"
"now?"
"when else. I gatta pick up some friends on the way so hope you're a people person" V wasn't. She didn't say that though. Instead she just followed Elis downstairs and out the front door.
The friends that they picked up were in the most simple sense: loud. They didn't have much else to them besides hollering and roughhousing all over V's lap in the backseat of the boxy black car. One of them booped her nose and she resisted from literally snarling at him. Elis drove like V's father. Horrible. She took her turns sharp and fast throwing around the occupants of the backseat around like a human maraca.
"Hey, Elly whos's it this time" the girl yelling at Elis slurred her words as if shed already been drinking. And judging by the smell she had. It tickled V's nose and pulled at her brain digging for memories. She rolled down the window and let the wind rush over her.
"we're going to Sean's" there was a series of whoops and hollers at Elis's words. Maybe Sean was her boyfriend. Shit. Her boyfriend. V pulled out her phone and dialed his number. One ring. Two rings.
"Hello?" he sounded tired and she wondered if she had woke him up. One of the occupants of the car shrieked as they were tickled by the nose blooper boy.
"hey did I wake you up?"
"wha-no oh, no you didn't what's up?" she could tell by his breathing that he was holding the phone between his ear and shoulder. He was busy.
"I just wanted to let you know I settled alright" she had to yell over the noise and she mentally apologized to him but didn't want to waste her few words on saying it out loud.
"oh that's good yeah how's the school"
"good" he was definitely busy with something else. it was the equivalent of talking to a toddler watching tv. "hey I'm going to a party so I won't text back for a bit I'll uh I'll-"
"oh okay good I'm glad you're making friends. Hey I need to let you go I'm making dinner I love you though" she tried not to let her stomach drop.
"I love you too"
"watch out for mountain men" he hung up. Maybe she would find a mountain man. There are no god damn mountains in Connecticut V. She sat back and rolled up the window. The car had slowed down considerably and Elis careened into a slanted driveway. The house didn't have the appearance of somewhere there was a party in session, perhaps they were early. The loud gang swung and fell and carried themselves out of the car and V waited until they were all walking up the sidewalk to the front door before opening hers. She shut t a little too hard and Elis turned around. She smiled and motioned for V to hurry up slowpoke. V's stomach felt nasty and tangled but she followed the others up the steps to the house anyway. Elis didn't knock. She simply popped open the screen and sauntered in. The air coming from the house smelled like smoke and taquitos. She entered. The front door opened up straight into the living room and a set of stairs dived into the lower floor on her left. She was blocked from seeing what lay below by a purple curtain hung from the doorway. A half-eaten bowl of dip sat vacant on the coffee table. Elis stomped downstairs. Elis seemed to stomp everywhere. She was the gangs merciless leader and completely entranced, they followed her into the mouth of the dungeon. V wandered along after them and when the curtain swung back they were met with more empty house. empty of people that is but full of everything else. The bottom floor of the house was completely open and there were bean bags strewn everywhere. At least five couches leaned against walls and a pop-up whit table held what looked like more chips and dip. Though much fresher. A mini fridge and a cooler occupied one corner along with an empty table of the same sorts as the dip one. And a very long boy slouched sleeping on a beanbag. His hair was obviously slept on because it was flatter on one side and his face was extremely freckled. It was V's car salesman. He looked decidedly less awkward when he was asleep. Elis kicked him in the shin. V just stared. Small world.
"Parties started get your lazy arse up" the boy groaned and scratched his head where his hair was flat. "Wheres Sean?" He groaned again.
" Ell?" His voice was scratchy as he wiped the sleep from his eyes. Elis rolled her eyes and stomped towards a small hallway tucked into a corner of the room.
"Sean quin your parties starting without you!" A male voice yelled a few very colorful words down the hall.
"He's in the shower" freckle boy was standing now and the awkwardness was back. He stood out in a way that it was obvious he was trying to blend in. He slouched and stayed by the wall and watched each of them carefully while looking utterly bored. He saw her and it faltered. He looked for a moment confused before resuming his stare of polite disinterest. And that's when the attention of the room was diverted to the half-naked man that walked in. One of the girls squealed and one of the guys chortled and made a grab for the towel hiding his lower section. In a beautiful moment of luck that V didn't usually posses, he missed. The man was tall but only averagely so and his hair was... Wild was the only word that did it justice. It looked like fork-in-the-electrical-outlet hair. V's phone vibrated in her pocket. She stepped back through the curtain as the boy made another grab for towel man's coverage and didn't miss this time. She answered her phone and walked halfway up the stairs and sat down. It was Beck.
"Hey babe what's up"
"Hey, baby still good to come over tonight? I made pastaaaaa with cheese cubes and the little flags you like"
"what" V laughed, she didn't even like cheese. She didn't like cheese. Oh.
"I thought we could eat and then maybe catch a movie or something like that, it was going to be a surprise" her heart felt as if someone had shoved a metal pick into it.
"Beck-"
"or we can just Netflix like last time" last time? How long had this been going on? How long had she been completely oblivious? Her hurt started to flame to anger.
"beck shut up you dialed the wrong effing number" her voice cracked on dialed and he was silent. Probably checking which babe he had called. Beck had never done her wrong, he hadn't ever even mentioned other girls.
"shit" god she had been gone two days. Two fricken days. She had been stupid not to have been worried. Were there signs? Had she ignored anything?
"Yeah, shit beck oh crap oops frick what are you going to do now?! Christ how long Beckett?!"
"V-"
"how fucking long have you been lying to me?!"
"Vienne"
"You know what I don't want to know. Don't call me" she hung up first for what seemed the first time in months. God. She had been with Beck for close to two years what had changed. What had she done wrong? The real question was: who had been better.
"are you okay?" the long/car-salesman/beanbag/freckled boy stood over her. Elis appeared next to him.
"vienne do you want anything to..." she trailed off when she saw the phone limp in her hands and the nature of her face. Also as a rule V didn't drink. V hadn't drank in over three years. "I'm going to get you a drink"
"yes that'd be nice thanks". Elis disapeated. The boy sat down. He didn't ask questions or make her feel uncomfortable just sat.
"my boyfriend cheated on me"
"oh" he pulled his knees up to his chest and folded his hands in front of them.
"yeah"
"that blows"
"thanks I think" he shifts a little.
" how's the car?"
"it's good thanks I like the...color"
" it's ugly" he nodded. Her chest felt too hot. Her face was hot. She felt way too fricken hot.
"I'm oliver"
"V"
"vienne?"
"yeah" why was it so hot in here. She puts her face into her hands and can feel her heart beating in her palms and cheeks.
" I hate to ask if you're okay cuz I mean. Obviously not but do you like...need anything?" V was trying to think of anything she needed when Elis reappeared with a large glass of something that looked like smurf pee.
"what's that?"
" uh, vodka, blue raspberry coolaid and honey" all of those things sounded quite nice to V but Oliver scrunched up his freckly nose and took the concoction from Elis's outstretched hand.
"do you want the poor girl hurling all over your carpet?" he stood up and reached out a hand to help her up. For being so lanky he was strong enough to pull her most likely dead weight from the stairs. She let him lead her to the drink table. Towel man had clothes on and one of the loud girls in his lap. They were all laughing and drinking, completely oblivious to V's problems. Good. That's how it's suppose to be. Fix yourself Vienne. Oliver handed her a much less blue drink and she took it gratefully. You know what. Fix yourself tomorrow she told herself. Tonight you get to be whoever you want. Oliver held out his shot glass to hers and she tapped it and threw it back.

When you're intoxicated everything gets a little fuzzy around the edges. V felt like she was in a room made of sheep. Floof everywhere. So fricken floofy. So many people had shown up and you couldn't move in the room without bumping into someone else's body. But that's just it. Someone's body. Not jake from history or smelly Elly or the goth. Just bodies and V was euphoric. Hands laid on her hips, chests brushed against her cheeks leaving the smell of sweat and cologne. She threw her head back and moved along with the pulse of the base, a living creature below her feet. The song switched to something slower and she forgot that she didn't have hips to sway. She swayed away. Her feet hurt. Maybe she should put them in a sink. Cold sounded good. She made her way through the crowd as best as she could. That hallway in the corner probably had a bathroom. If the hall itself would quit moving it would make things a lot easier. She eventually found one of the hallway walls to stable it and walked until there was a door. The bathroom floor was really cold. Her stomach felt light and fluttery as if she could just let go of all her problems. She smiled and let go of every worry. Oh no wait. Wait thats puke. She had puked. There was puke on her feet. Crap. Sink. She climbed onto the toilet and shoved her feet into the sink and that was how Elis found her.
"vienne what are you doing?!"
"I've got problems on my feet" she frowned at the sink. It should probably be on now. She wondered why it was being so stingy with its water.
"did you throw up??"
"probably" Elis stepped over the pile of worries on the floor and turned on the sink until V's feet were clean. "I don't usually do this" Elis nodded and helped V off the toilet and onto the floor in front of it so when V threw up again it landed somewhere easier to clean.
"awe honey" Elis held V's hair up and rubbed circles on her back as she let go of her stomach contents.
"I don't-ever do this"
"I know"
"no really I never..." V couldn't finish her sentence before she threw up again.
"trust me if you did ever do this you'd have know you're a lightweight" Another figure blocked the light from the hallway.
"Jesus" hey, V liked that guy. He gave her a car. Why would he do that?
"Oliver...I've been drinking I'm really super sorry but can you drive us home real quick?" Elis again. Elis was V's friend. She liked her too.
"Of course come on, wheres your keys?" V was handed to Oliver who after attempting to get her through the crowd on her feet just picked her up and gently slung her over his shoulder. She puked on his back.
She was allowed herself one more, "I never do this" before everything went black.