Luke opened Ariella's car door and she hopped out. She walked towards the house, a little fazed from what she had been told. She walked back into the house, Luke right behind her and Cooper, Brandon, and Michael trailing behind. She sat on the same small couch in the same spot she had before and picked up the papers and the small box. She opened the box and took the beautiful ring with the peridot out and examined it, it taking on a whole different meaning than it had in the car on the way here. She slipped it onto her middle finger on her left hand, it fitting perfectly.
"It fits perfectly." she whispered, amazed because she always struggled with finding rings that were just the right size for her bony fingers. The four boys and Cooper's grandpa watched Ariella carefully as she looked at her hand. She then lifted the papers off the coffee table and began to reread the contract. Cooper placed a pen carefully on the table and Ariella glanced at it. She took a deep breath and knew that this was going to change her life completely. Somehow getting involved with the 'bad boy' at the school (who turned out to be a gang member "stalking" her) led her to a life altering decision to make.
She let go of the deep breath she had sucked in and lifted the pen.
She could feel 10 eyes burning through her as she slowly began to sign her name.
'Is 16 a legal age to be doing any of this stuff...?' she thought and finished signing her name, making the contract official.
She looked up at the clock to see what time it was. 6:35. It had been over 4 hours since she last looked at a clock. Those 4 hours changed everything.
Ariella slid the papers back towards Cooper's grandpa.
"I guess I should get going? Thanks Mr. Howen." Ariella said and stood up.
"Call me Carl." he said and for some reason that triggered something in Ariella. She whipped her head towards him and squinted her eyes at him, trying to figure out why that name was so familiar. But she recomposed herself and smiled.
"Cooper, I'll be in the car." she said and caught the keys that Cooper tossed her. She walked out with the ring still on her finger. She unlocked the door to the silver Honda and sat in the passenger's seat. She took out her phone and called Beth.
"Hello?" she heard the familiar voice and felt instantly safer.
"Beth you're not going to believe how many cute boys I met today." Ariella said, knowing she shouldn't mention the ring or the contract or the Black Hood.
"No way. What the hell girl I thought we were in this together!" Beth yelled and Ariella laughed.
"I promise you can have one. So basically I was with Cooper all day, you know he texted you to cover for me in case my mom called because I was drunk and he was taking care of me." she could hear Beth breathing on the other side.
"And I met a few of his friends, he has 3. And let me tell you, you would LOVE them." Ariella said and Beth squealed.
"Are you guys hanging out right now or like?!" she asked and Ariella pondered for a second.
"I'm quote unquote 'Cooper's' until 9 so I'll try and suggest dinner, I don't have money but I'm sure someone will pay for it." Ariella said along with a small laugh.
She soon saw 4 boys walk out and salute to Carl before heading towards the car and truck. She told Beth she would text her when she found out about hanging out.
Cooper sat in the driver's seat and started the engine.
"Are we getting dinner?" Ariella asked in a monotone voice and Cooper eyed the pickup truck Luke was driving.
"Yeah, Brandon said he knows a good place so I'm going to follow Luke's truck, is that cool?" he asked and started to pull out of the driveway.
"Only if my friend Beth can come." Ariella said with hope in her voice.
"Fine. I guess after all that, you deserve something nice." Cooper said and Ariella was confused whether he was being nice or looking down at her, as if he should be bowed down to for letting her bring a plus one. Ariella texted Beth and Cooper called Brandon to tell them they needed to pick someone up.
Ariella told Cooper the directions to Beth's house with Luke's truck following. They got there after 30 minutes, hopefully enough time for Beth to get ready. Ariella got out of the silver Honda, Cooper giving her a smirk for some odd reason she couldn't figure out. She rang Beth's house's doorbell and as soon as the door was opened, she was pulled inside and dragged upstairs.
"I need help, quick." Beth said, close to panicking. There were 4 outfits laid out on the bed. Ariella pointed to one with a denim-looking soft circle skirt with a black top and cream colored cardigan. Beth quickly got dressed as Ariella began to describe Luke, Brandon, and Michael. Once again leaving the contract and Black Hood out. Beth grabbed her purse and suddenly stopped.
"That ring." she said, looking at Ariella's left hand.
"Oh yeah, this? I just found it in my pocket when I was at Cooper's. I think it was grandma's or something. I don't know why it was in my pocket though." she answered smoothly and Beth smiled.
"It's beautiful. Compared to all the black and grey you wear. Ugh god Ariella when was the last time you took a shower?" she asked, scrunching her nose and laughing.
"I wanted to shower at Cooper's but I haven't even changed my clothes since yesterday." Ariella complained and took out her phone.
"Cooper is calling me." she said and answered.
"Any minute now babe." he said and Ariella rolled her eyes.
"Well tell the guys to wait 15 minutes because you didn't give me a chance to shower this morning." she said and hung up. Beth tossed her a towel and Ariella rushed through a shower. Her damp hair was being blow dried by Beth as she applied concealer, powder, matte nude eyeshadow, and mascara.
"I need clothes oh my god." she said and Beth finished blow drying her hair.
"It's on the bed. You have 4 minutes until your 15 minutes are up." Beth said with a chuckle and Ariella rushed back into Beth's room. On the bed was a black pair of leggings, a white sweater with her favorite Disney character, Pluto on it, and her phone and the ring.
"Beth, I love you." she said and quickly changed.
"You can keep that sweatshirt by the way." Beth said as they jogged down the stairs.
"No way." Ariella said, putting her white converse back on.
"Way." Beth said as they waved goodbye to her mom.
"Thank you so much. You rock." Ariella said as they jogged back to Cooper's car.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Beth said as she buckled herself into the back seat.
"No, Beth, don't apologize it's only Cooper we're talking about here." Ariella said and Cooper smiled.
"I just can't crack you." he said and Ariella looked out the window.
"Yeah especially now that I know you're in a gang." she muttered and felt Cooper tense up at the risk of Beth finding out.
"So, these friends of yours..." Beth began, obviously not hearing what Ariella said and Ariella decided to tune her out. She scrolled through her twitter and saw she had a notification that someone had @ mentioned her.
'revenge sounds good just about now.'
What did that even mean? She tapped on the person's account but the profile picture was just the generic egg and the name was just a smiley face.
Then, she swiped to see the bio. And that changed everything.
'peridot girl.'
YOU ARE READING
My Ammunition
Chick-Lit"You don't like me." "Yeah. And you don't like me." "Then why are we doing this?" Ariella and Cooper were practically opposites and were most definitely not meant to be. But as soon as one party ends in a drunken Ariella and a "heroic" Cooper, the t...
