70 Days Of Summer

Day 41

Beep beep beep
I open my eyes and bolt upwards, scared that we might be in an accident, or visiting someone at the hospital. I take a sigh of relief, when I notice that the beeping is Catalina's alarm, and she and paige are fast asleep.
" stop the sound," Catalina mutters, flipping Onto her left side. Paige moans in agreement, so I roll my eyes and pick up the alarm. I run my hand through the outside of the alarm, but I can't seem to find the switch.
" help, I can't find the off button," I whisper.
" somewhere there," Catalina slurs, waving her hand like a drunk person. Paige moans again in agreement, and I place the annoying, beep sound right on Catalina's ear. She jumps up, screaming, and she accidentally kicks paige, making paige fall backwards off the couch.
" what is wrong with you?!" Catalina screams at me.
" your alarm, your problem," I say non-chalantly, throwing the alarm at her. It accidentally hits her face and we get into a verbal and physical fight on whose responsibility the alarm clock is. After 10 minutes of full on fighting, we collapse into giggles. We get off the couch, and are surprised to see paige fast asleep, and snoring on the floor next to the couch. Catalina and I give each other a knowing look, and we place her hand in a bowl of cold water. We giggle as she starts to pee, and tip toe out of her room, but kiddy as we get close to the door, Minou runs in. Her hair is up in curlers, and her Diane Von furstenberg wrap dress is crumpled.
" paige! Paige! Wake up," Minou screams, shaking paige violently. She steps back for a moment, cocks her head, and says matter-of-factly,
" is that urine? I do hope it's not."
Catalina and I splutter, and paige starts twisting around and moaning.
" oh, paige, darling! I have terrible news," Minou shrieks.
" hmm," paige replies simply, furrowing her eyebrows, making her look like a lost puppy.
" come down to breakfast! I'll tell you then," Minou says hurriedly, and runs out of the room.
Paige follows her down the stairs, Catalina and I behind, whispering about what could've happened.
Once we are all seated on the table, and everyone has a slice of toast on their plate which they are not actually eating, Minou blurts out,
" Vanessa is dead."
Those words echo in my head, Vanessa is dead.
How? What? Who? When? I glance at paige who is violently shaking, and she pushes her chair back, and says quickly,
" I need to go."
She runs out of the room, and Catalina slides off her seat and says,
" I'll go."
She runs off and I follow.
" sorry," I mutter to her parents who are shocked at the breakfast table scene.
Breaking news: girl leaves breakfast table without saying, 'excuse me.'
I rush to Catalina room but neither of them are there, so I rush back down stairs. I run through the living rooms, and through the kitchens, but nada. I'm about to give up, but I notice 2 figures running outside in the field, and I zoom in my eyes to discover Catalina and Paige running. I bolt out the door and sprint behind them. I pass by the 3 barn houses, and onto the remaining 3 acres of the house. I catch up to Catalina but paige is a good 10 feet away. We continue running, breathless, and with sore feet. We can see the staff house, which stores over 1000 of Catalinas staff. It's hard to believe there are over 1000 staff. I barely see them. I hear loud Irish music coming from up ahead, and I ease my head to see around 500 people dancing around the humongous staff house. I stop dead in my tracks, cock my head to the right and squint my eyes.
" what?" I say in disbelief. What the hell is going on?
" they're weird," Catalina shrugs. I nod and continue to run, but stop again because paige is out of our sight. I look to my right where Catalina is breathing heavily and bending down with her hands on her knees. I look back at the staff house and they've stopped the music, dancing and....grilling?
" c'mon. Let's go back to the house," I suggest to Catalina, looking away from the staff. It's quite creepy having more than 500 people stare at me.
" ok," she breathes.
We trudge back to the house, and we reach at 11. Minou is running around the house, 2 cellphones in hand, hair curlers unrolling, and her wrap dress flowing around causing her to trip over it. 2 men in black pantsuits are following her around and she turns to face them angrily.
" leave me alone! I don't know what to do with her dead body! I've got enough on my plate with the funeral and all," Minou says angrily at them, waving them off.
"no.....yes....no...no........yes.....no......no......yes" Minou says quickly into the phone, and then hangs up and picks up her third phone which is in her....jimmy Choo heels.
" yes....fine.....daisies.....do you understand," Minou shouts into the phone and throws it, causing her $3500 glass piece to shatter into pieces. Minou points at one of the guys in the black pantsuits, and points at the broken glass, and says,
" you, clean that up."
She picks up a plastic, black and white, 1 dollar store vase and shoves it in the other guy in the black pantsuits hand.
" follow me," she instruct and starts to walk out of the room, and FINALLY, FINALLY, notices Catalina and I.
" oh. My darlings! Where's paige? Oh, I have to take this," she pants to us and picks up her phone. We can just make out the echo of her voice screaming,
" funerals tomorrow at 4."
Catalina and I sludge up the stairs and plop down on her bed. Paige needs time. Alone. It's only natural.
" I can't believe it," Catalina huffs.
" yah," i puff.
We just lie there, staring at the ceiling, and thinking about the great times we've had with Vanessa.
After 30 minutes, Catalina gets up and suggests,
" let's go do something fun."
" what?!" I blurt out.
" let's go do something fun," Catalina repeats, matter-of-factly.
" Catalina! Our best friends mother is dead, and our best friend is lost, and all you can think about is having fun," I say in disbelief.
Catalina frowns and looks at me,
" that's not all I can think about. I just said lets go do something fun. Paige is probably not coming back for a few hours, and I'm not spending the day, at home, with my psycho mother."
I think about it for awhile, and agree,
" let's go do something fun."
We get changed, and wear our matching, orange, chiffon, long sleeve shirt, with puffy shoulders, I wear my mini denim shorts, while Catalina wears her DKNY trousers. We leave the house, not telling her mum incase she tries to stop us. Catalina leads me down a few sketchy alleys, and I ask worriedly,
" where are we going?"
" a party," Catalina says mischievously.
Catalina pulls me down into a small, hidden, walkway in the alley. We crouch down as we trail through the twisted dark path; the only light being the neon graffiti on the small tunnel walls. I've never seen this shortcut before, and I don't think many people have because I can hear people walking on top of us on the real alley.
" up the ladder," Catalina whispers. What ladder? I can't see anything, but I can briefly make out Catalina's figure, floating in the air. I shuffle forward and my hands grip a metal ladder. I swing my feet up onto the rung of a ladder, and slowly make my way up. I sense that Catalina is higher above me because I can feel the ladder shaking by her barely there weight. Out if nowhere, a bright light and loud music appears on top of me. Aaaaah. A trap door! At least, that's what I think it is. I see Catalina hop off the ladder and onto the carpeted floor of the house. I follow her and shut the trap door. There is around 20 people clogging the small, chic living room. I step over the vomit stains and beer spills on the beige carpet, and follow Catalina to the kitchen. She opens the stainless steel refrigerator, and offers,
" beer?"
" sure," I say, and grab the beer she just opened for me.
" where are we?" I ask confusingly. This is just so.....random.
" come here," Catalina says quietly, and pulls me into a corner.
" this guy called max. He's in uni and this is house. He holds parties everyday, like, even if he's travelled. The house is protected by walls so the only way for party guests to enter is through the secret tunnel path in the tunnel that he created. Basically, there's a set list of guests, and he knows every 500 of them by heart. Max Is dangerous, and he doesn't like guests bringing their own guests, so just let me handle the talking," Catalina explains, and rushes the last sentence as a guy with a curly beard, red leather jacket, and matching pants walks up to us, with his 2 henchmen behind. He folds his arms as he walks up to Catalina and says,
" slut! What's up?"
Slut? How rude! I wouldn't consider her a slut, at least not compared to the 2 wasted naked girls making out with the also naked and even more wasted guy on the couch! Catalina doesn't seem to take offense, because she just replies non-chalantly,
" what's up is you don't have any Smirnoff."
" my guys restocking tomorrow," he says cooly, and then looks at me, and spits,
" who's she?"
" friend," Catalina replies, taking a swig of her beer.
" she's not in the guest list, so it seems that my friends are going to have to have her escorted outside," max says.
He clicks his fingers and the 2 henchmen start to walk forward, but Catalina stops them,
" she's cool. Name is clara. Dating all star footballer Berun hiclls. You know him."
Max strokes his beard, and eyes me up and down as if he wants to rip off my clothes. I bet he gives that look to every girl...and guy!
" alright...I'll add her to the list......on one condition," he says mysteriously.
" what?" Catalina says sourly,
" your not using her for another one of your games. I will not let that-"
" it's fine. Bring it," I interrupt her confidently.
" so as the famous footballers girlfriend, how do you keep him...entertained. I mean, there are loads of girls who want him, but, what do you have that they don't. Etiquette in bed, multiple thongs, double D's, but I'm doubting the last one," he says slyly, staring at my breasts when he recites the last sentence.
" Ex boyfriend. I ended it with him. He was tacky. Oh, and, I'm not a Barbie doll, I never had to try, I always just did," I snap at him.
" maybe I underestimated that sweet face of yours. But, if you want to stay in the private party club, you've got to prove that your going to bring something to it. That your not going to just waste our booze. What connections do you have? Who are your parents? Where do you live?" He questions me. Now it hits me. This club is for the rich and exclusive who use their connections and money to bring in booze and drugs.
" nobody you'd be interested in, but you might have heard about my aunt Rosie. Used to be married to big french investor Phillipe. They got divorced and my aunt got millions and used it to build a record company in Oklahoma," I inform him.
" yah we've heard of her. But she doesn't count. I guess since you failed the interview, you'll just have to take the exam," he grins, and then nods his head towards a pole and continues,
" 2 minutes. Impress me."
" oh, I will," I say boldly.
" cue the music," I shout, and instantly the song changes from turn up the music by Chris brown, to anaconda by nicki Minaj. I jump up the pole and slide down, straddling the pole and making sexy face. I twerk on the pole and just as I'm about to move, I notice a familiar face in the crowd. Paige! I'm slowing down now because I'm so dirt acted but I hear boos from the crowd and I start up again. I just copy some moves I watched in burlesque, and eventually the 2 minutes end. I walk up to max and give him a serious nod and eyebrow raise.
" your in...for now," he says, nodding his head.
" let's go guys," he says and the threesome walks away.
" good job," Catalina says raiding her had for a high five.
" follow me. Paige is here," I say seriously, dragging Catalina to where i last saw her. But she's not there.
" she was here," I say sternly. I whip around to find Catalina in a conversation with....serena. As in my used to be friend serena who I ditched at a drunken party because she was a mess who was friends with Monique who is a slut who used to date Berun and cheated on him. Anyways, I duck out of sight, not wanting to face Serena. I swirl my head around until I find paige.....dancing naked on a bunch of sophomore guys. She is literally ON guys. I run up to her and pull her down, but she pushes me off.
" what are you doing?!" I scream.
" throwing away my life," she says drunkenly, pouring a bottle of whiskey all over her and the guys.
I try to scream back, but the guys carry her away. I try to find Catalina but I can't find there so I pull out my phone and text her,
see u at home. Dnt bring Serena.

I crawl under the trapdoor, and run through the private tunnel. My head feels a little dizzy but I only had one beer. I feel REALLY dizzy. I grip onto the stone cold metal sides of the tunnel, and make my way out into the sunlight. I just run to Catalina's house, and lock myself in her room. Beads of sweat are rapidly forming on my forehead, and my shirt is sticky with sweat. I rip off my clothes until I'm in my bra and underwear and just lie on her bed. I take deep breaths,
In
Out
In
Out
And drift off to sleep.

" yo! Yo clara! Yo! Wake up," Catalina's voice shouts.
" what?" I grumble, my head feeling a little better.
" come on, wake up," she insists shaking me. I sit upright and rub my eyes, making my eyesight even groggier than before.
" why?" I mumble.
" my mum says we need to go shopping for funeral outfits. She even handed over her black Amex," Catalina says eagerly.
Shopping! I'm always up for shopping! Especially when an unlimited Amex is involved!
" give me 5 minutes," I say, jumping off the bed. I run to the bathroom and switch on the shower. I take a quick Shower, letting the warm water soak in my stressed out head. I dry off and my head feels much better. I slip on my plain pink jersey, and grey, silk trousers.
" let's go," I holler. We run through the crazy living room where we almost get trampled over by a bunch of men following Minou walk back and forth. We catch the train to canyon square and while we're sitting on the train, she asks me,
" why did you leave so early?"
" I wasn't feeling so well. Did someone spoke the drinks?" I ask hazily.
" yah, a few people spike drinks there, it's all natural. Serena produces them. Why didn't you want me to bring her over?" She asks confusingly.
" I just wasn't in the mood to deal with her. Any new from paige?" I ask, changing the subject.
" nada," she says.
We sit the rest of the train ride in silence and get off at the square. We walk to flower fields mall, and enter 'dawn and death and dusk,' the funeral clothes store.
" what about this one?" Catalina asks me every 2 minutes, pointing to some flimsy black cocktail dress.
After one hour, we finally pick out our funeral outfits. I convince Catalina to Choose something half appropriate, and I literally have to pick out a knee length, black, side slit, strapless dress that she actually agreed to. I choose a black, pencil skirt with a black, peplum blazer, hiding a white tank top underneath. My outfit comes to $670 and Catalina's is $640.
We take back the train to Catalina's house, and daintily step over the 1000's of daisies minou was fighting for, as we make our way to Catalina's room. We call paige several times but no answer, so we give up. We get changed into our pajamas and have a huge lunch and dinner combined because we forgot to eat lunch. Thank god Minou hasn't asked about paige, otherwise we would be dead. After our lunch/dinner we call paige several times, but we get nothing except her new voicemail.
Hey, it's paige! I'm out getting drunk and high so don't bother leaving a message I probably won't be alive
At least she was sober enough to do that.
" give up," Catalina says dropping on her bed.
" she's got to come home eventually. Where's she going to go?" Catalina remarks.
" hmmm, let me see. Where could a young reckless 14 year old with no sense in the world go in Ohio?! She could hitchhike, crash at a random dudes house, sleep on the street, or even join a prostitute club for all we know! The skies the limit," I shout, angry at Catalina for not worrying about her best friend. Catalina just gives me a 'seriously?' Look and then says with concern,
" look, no matter how drunk or high she is, paige will always be paige. She's going to have a little sense in her."
" yah your right," I say stupidly.
" now, come here," she exclaims, patting the spot next to her,
" we need to get our beauty sleep if we're going to look fabulous at the worst funeral in history. Well, you need your beauty sleep, I look fabulous anyways."
I hit her with the pillow and sink into the other pillow.
It's not long before I fall asleep, fast asleep........
Don't be so peaceful, tomorrow's a new day, and new days bring new dramas. And this drama is.....suicidal