When It All Changed

Chapter three

The rest of the day went by without anything out of the ordinary happening. I went home and did my homework, before I turned on the TV to watch some Netflix. The doorbell rang, I got up confused, considering I'm not expecting company and my mom always uses her key. I looked through the keyhole and was surprised to see Bash at the door. I opened the door and simply stared at him. He stared back, not saying a word. After a while I finally invited him in. "Sorry for showing up so unexpected, just wanted to hang out, I guess."

"It's cool, want to watch Netflix? Or play Monopoly?" It wasn't the first time he came over, so he knew his way around the house already. He opened a small closet in the living room and got out the monopoly. "What do you think?" I smiled and rolled my eyes at him. I loved playing board games with him. Maya despises them, and I don't exactly have a lot of other friends. I got some snacks while he set it up. Mainly for him, I used to be chubby, so now I'm careful about what I eat. Don't want to go through that again.

"Want to know a secret?" He was smirking, so I'm pretty sure it's dirty, as usual. I debated a bit with myself if I wanted to know. Bash tends to overshare on certain things, that I really wish he didn't. After probably five seconds, because I just need to hear more gossip, I nodded. He leaned back on his chair, putting the dice down and continued smirking. "I don't know.... How badly do you want to know?" I hated when he does that, gets me all riled up and then teases me about it. "Don't do that! Come on, tell me! I'll give you a snicker bar." That was his weakness, he absolutely adores snicker bars. "Deal, guess who recently had an epic threesome with the two hottest girls at school?" He was still smirking, to tease him a bit, I pretended to think about it. "Ares?" I smirked back at him. "Me!" He stopped leaning back and instead got closer. Saying me like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "And it wasn't even my idea! Diana just wanted to sleep with Edina without Edina getting suspicious." Now that was shocking, why the hell would she want to sleep with Edina? Unless.... "You are telling me, that Diana is a lesbian? Or at least bi?" Bash suddenly looked alarmed. "Whaaaaaaaaaat? Nooooooooo, you know, I completely forgot. It was my idea. Yup, totally my idea."

If this was a T.V. show, I would have looked at the camera like, seriously? "Bash, A. That lie is so unbelievable that I'm just going to ignore it all together. B. You always, always drag out some words when you're lying." He looked like he was about to argue, so I simply looked at him sternly. "Alright fine. But you can't tell anyone! And I mean it!" I held out my pinky to him, and he looped his with mine. It's childish, I know. But still effective.

"Sweetie, I'm home!" My mom came into the dining room, where me and Bash were packing up the Monopoly. I won. "Oh, hello Bash, I didn't know you were coming over today." She then turned to me. "Is he staying for dinner?" Seriously mom, he is right there, you can ask him. "I'm going to get back to you on that." I turned to Bash and stared at him for three seconds, before realizing that he is waiting for me to ask the question, idiot. "Bash, will you be staying for dinner?" He turned to my mom and smiled his typical, 'charm the parents smile'. "I would love to; do you require assistance in any way?" He thinks it's charming to talk to parents like he came out of the middle age, all formal and using big words. "You need our help mom?" I asked, looking at Bash grinning. He knows I find it annoying when he does that. I think it's the reason he does it actually.

"I need you in the kitchen with me, and Bash dear, would you be a doll, and set the table? You already know where everything is." She went into the kitchen without looking if I was following and without hearing Bash's response. She already knew he was going to say yes. This wasn't unusual for us, Bash often came over and I always forget to ask my mom. At first my mom thought that me and Bash were dating. Even when I assured her that we weren't. She only believed me after she saw him making out with some girl in their back yard. The back yard was a regular place for Bash's flirtations. Our house has a direct view to the garden, sadly. I have to admit, it was a chic magnet, absolutely romantic, somewhat private. Our friendship actually started with me seeing Bash with one of his mistresses... They were practically dry humping and I screamed in surprise when I saw them. You'd think he'd be mad, he wasn't. He came over laughing and knocked on the glass door. I was hiding behind the couch. When I came out, this contagious laugh spilled from him, I couldn't help but laugh. That night he knocked on my window with a few stones he gathered up before. He kept passing notes all night. The next day, when I saw him at school, I tried to approach him but as soon as he saw me, he rushed out of the room. I took it as a hint never to try that again.

While helping my mom with cooking and I always do that, I kept eating some of the food. Bad habit, but it happens. Mom and I made small talk, Bash can't cook to save his life, which is why he isn't allowed in the kitchen. "Who ate the chips?" My mom turned to me, looking at me pointedly, with her hands on her hips. "Don't worry, it wasn't me. Bash ate everything. Plus, I wouldn't want to repeat history." My mom came a bit closer. "Good, because we don't want you to get chubby again." She patted my stomach before turning around and continued with dinner. She didn't notice that I flinch every time she does that, which is a lot. During dinner, I wasn't really hungry which was just fine, considering Bash ate enough for both of us. After dinner, I walked him to the door, leaning on it a bit. "Next time, I win at Monopoly." He pointed his index finger at me, as if that was going to convince me to let him win. I waved him goodbye without answering before shutting the door. I went back to see my mom cleaning the dishes, I kissed her on the cheek before going upstairs to my room.

It was Friday, and I was once again in my room, watching Netflix. It wasn't boring or anything, just a bit sad. My phone peeped and I picked it up, my eyes focused on the small screen on my laptop. I glanced down really quickly, not wanting to miss a thing. It was Maya, considering it's about 11 o'clock, I'd say she was at a party or a date. Though she only texts me 30 times in a row when she is drunk. She wrote about how awesome the party was and how much she loves me. I love drunk Maya, she was always funny and spontaneous. I checked to see where she was on an app. We have that in case we ever needed to pick the other one up. My eyes widened when I saw where she was. She was at Edina's place, well palace. Edina is rich, and her family owns it. They have the biggest 'house' in our town. It is more like a mansion. The reason I'm slowly getting worried is the fact that Edina is known to invite a few bad seeds to say the least. I didn't want her to get roofied or something like that.

I quickly got dressed, and I went to my mom, with the sweetest smile on my face. As soon as she saw me, she understood. "If Maya might be in any trouble you can go to the party." I was relieved, even though she always says yes, before I paused. "How is it you always let me go?" I always forget to ask that certain question. She got closer to me, put her hands on the side of my arms and showed me this tiny sad smile on her face. "You know it's unsafe for young women to be at a party alone, I wouldn't want anything traumatic to happen to Maya, or to you. So as always, don't forget your pepper spray." My throat closed up a bit, knowing that she was talking about rape. It was a frequent subject, seeing as some guys harassed my mother in the past. But it made her learn, how to keep that from happening to me and Maya. Maya's mother doesn't really have a popular opinion on that subject. She sometimes says that it's in a man's DNA, or that they can't help it.

I took my mom's car. We don't have another one,I don't necessarily need it. The school is not more than a 15-minute walk fromhere. I opened the window and let my hand out, feeling the wind. I absolutelyloved the feeling of the wind against my skin or the sun shining down on mybody. I parked the car a bit further away from the mansion. Not wanting anyoneto puke or piss on it. I speak from experience. I also didn't know if there wereany parking spaces that are closer. Getting out of the car, I gripped the endof my jacket and started to speed walk to the party. Not because it was cold,but because I can see some guys in the ally, and I don't exactly trust thelooks of them. I didn't gawk at the place when I got there, in my opinion, itwas too much. Too many expensive things, just to show off. I tried to watchover the crowd but I wasn't that tall. I got on one of the bar table there, tosee if I can spot Maya, lucky for me. She was the one of few in the world whohad naturally strawberry blonde hair. I was looking for her when someone fromour school started to yell. "Are you going to dance or what?" I looked besideme, trying to see who he was talking with. I was the only one on the table. Ipointed at myself, staring him in the eye before shaking my head. I jumpeddown, accidently stumbling on someone. It was Ares. He looked unbelievably hotwith messy hair. He eyed me before he simply walked away, ouch. I started towalk, more like push my way through to the drinks section. I wasn't naïveenough to actually drink anything. But I figured Maya would be there.