AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And today, when I want to think about how I’m not like the other alcoholics because my mom did love me, it chooses to play a memory I don’t want to see—a memory I could’ve sworn I forgot.
“Em?” Leah steps in front of me, waiting for me to look up from my homework.
“Yeah?”
“What do you think about this dress?”
I watch as she twirls around the room, showing off the soft and airy fabric of her yellow and blue sundress. Her hair is pulled back into a curly ponytail, and as usual, she looks beautiful. Too beautiful for words.
“I like it,” I say. “It looks good on you.”
“Okay.” She rolls her eyes and stops her fashion show. “What’s wrong with you this week? First you don’t feel like drinking with me Monday, you bail out of a trip to the Versace store with Vincent, and now you’re using the word ‘good’? Like, that’s it? You usually hit me with one of those ad—um...One of those—”
“Adverbs.”
“Right.” She shrugs. “What’s wrong?”
I put my pencil down and lean back in my chair. “Do you think I’m pretty?”
“You’re fucking gorgeous. You look just like me.” She laughs, then she stops once she sees I’m not laughing back. “I’m sorry.”
“I got nominated for homecoming queen last Friday.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I would’ve taken you shopping for a dress!”
“I pulled out of the competition...”
“What? Why?”
“When they passed out the ballots, everyone else’s name was right but mine. Somebody got a hold of them and crossed my picture out...Then they wrote ‘Fugly Slut’ where my name should’ve been.”
The principal had apologized to me profusely and swore to have the ballots changed by next week, but I’d told him that it was okay, that clearly I wasn’t meant to run. Even though he swore he’d get to the bottom of it and punish whoever did it, the damage had already been done.
At least in my eyes it had...
“Slut?” Leah wrinkles her brow.
“I’ve slept with two guys and I’m only sixteen.” I try not to cry because I know crying is pointless. “And everyone knows who those two guys were...One guy is understandable, but TWO? No one is going to vote for the school slut, Leah. I wouldn’t even vote for me...”
She crosses her arms. “Let me get this straight. You pulled out of the competition because some stupid bitches were jealous of you and jacked up the ballots?”
“I also don’t have any friends. You need friends to win. It’s a waste of time—especially if people already think I’m a slut.”
“First of all, having sex doesn’t make you a slut. The only people who believe that are the frigid virgin bitches who hold on to their cherries until they get married and realize their husbands can’t fuck for shit. Then they wish they had sampled around so they try to shame other women into sharing their misery by calling them sluts. Fuck them.”
I nod as she hands me a tube of mascara.
“Second of all, you’re putting your name back in that competition and we’re going to make sure you win, friends or not. I don’t need to see any of the other girls to know that you’re the prettiest one out of all of them.”
I don’t say anything. I just listen.
“Looks will always help you win, Emerald.” She pulls out her phone. “How many times do I have to tell you that?”
I’m not sure who she calls, or what’s up her sleeve, but she steps out of the room for twenty minutes and then she comes back.
“Okay. Let’s go get the dress for your big night.”
Two weeks later, my name is called at halftime and I’m crowned as the homecoming queen of Teaneck High School. The principal—a new one since our old one suddenly resigned for “marital issues” days ago, puts the crown on my head and I wave out to the crowd.
I expect Leah to be the loudest clapper. I expect her to wave back, especially since she went through so much trouble to get me back in the race, but she doesn’t.
Because she isn’t there.
When I arrive home later that night, I walk in on her sniffing a line of cocaine off our table.
“What’s up, homecoming queen?” She smiles.
“You said you were coming.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Em! I got a last minute call from Arnie and—he was really depressed, so I figured I could take him for double. But guess what?”
“What?”
“I got triple!” She stands up. “Looks like we both won tonight! Beer or wine? We have to celebrate!”
