Secrets in the shadows

“Caliana “ “Caliana “ “Come on girl, bust a move, we are going out!”  I pretended I did not hear her, I just wanted to mope on the sofa, maybe have a cat nap, I was not going anywhere, and Leila had rudely interrupted my quiet time, maybe if I kept my eyes closed and pretended to be in a deep peaceful slumber she would go away. “Caliana, come on girl, move! “ I practiced what I preached and breathed deeply, as if I were in a peaceful slumber, it was not that I was a social recluse, I just could not be bothered with the drama of dressing up and going to a strange place and exchanging pleasantries with strangers I really did not care for. It had all gone quiet, I smiled deep inside, I could not believe my master plan was working and right when I was secretly gloating, Wham!  A pillow came hurtling at my face, I was partly shocked that my genius plan hadn’t worked and partly shocked that a pillow had come hurtling at my face at the speed of light, I squinted my eye at Leila as if I was winking at her, she just stood there bent over in a fit of hysterics, clearly her disturbance of my fake slumber amused her, I waited for the hysterics to be over but she laughed until tears streamed down her face and I pouted at her like a petulant child. Leila always got like this when she found something funny, it was infectious but I wasn’t giving her the satisfaction of having me laugh right with her, I was however curious what her master plan entailed, there was always a master plan that more than likely I would be uncomfortable with, I’d shared an apartment with Leila for a year now, we had been friends since we were kids and when we set off for university the only logical thing we thought we should do was live together, it had its ups and downs but mostly I loved living with my best friend, that is until she came up with ridiculous notions like go out and mingle!  After what seemed like a lifetime Leila finally composed herself and stopped laughing, she threw herself on top of me. “Come on Leila, get off of me" She laughed at my childish remark. “only if you hear me out “ “No way! I am not going on another one of your wild adventures “ “Cal come on, please just hear me out, if you hate the idea, I won’t bug you “ I scrunched my nose at her and squinted my eyes until there was frown lines. “promise? “ She made a cross across her heart  “cross my heart babe “ I looked at her curiously, I didn’t fully believe what she was saying, once she had something in her head, she always acted on it unless her plan was diabolical in which case that would explain her obvious niceness over the whole thing.  I moved and sat up on the plush sofa with my legs crossed, the pillow that had just connected with my face moments ago, I hugged into my stomach with my arms wrapped firmly around it, I nodded at Leila to let her know I was ready, she slowly sat next to me, crossing her long shapely tanned legs and brushing her wavy blonde hair out of her face, she smiled.  “ Cal, I want you to come out with me tonight “ I pursed my lips as if deep in thought.  “ where?” she raised her eyebrows at me,  “ okay but first you have to hear me out “  “ oh no “  “ What Cal, what’s oh no “  I smirked, like she didn’t know what I was on about, like she had to play dumb, this is why our conversations did the rounds before she got to her point because we always played this game of she has no idea what I’m going on about, when in fact she knew exactly what I was talking about but today was different, I was more agitated than usual and I didn’t want to play her games.  “ Leila I don’t want to play this game today just tell me where you want me to go and why you’re been so secretive and more shifty than usual"  Leila’s big blue eyes bore into mine as if she was thinking over my last statement, she did have the most piercing blue eyes, like swirling pools in the Mediterranean, I had always envied that about her, her blonde wavy shoulder length hair, her tanned complexion and her beautiful blue eyes, Leila could have any man she wanted, she sure had the whole package, she was gorgeous, I always felt inadequate in comparison with my beautiful friend, I mean I wasn’t an ogre or anything, I just didn’t match up to her looks in comparison or at least I didn’t think I did anyway, my eyes were brown with specks of green, I always found them boring but if I was honest the green at least gave them a little character, I tucked my long silky golden brown hair behind my ears.  “ hello, earth to Leila “ she had me worried, usually you couldn’t shut her up, it was almost eerie, the fact she was so quiet.  I heard her let out a deep breath. “ okay Cal, so the thing is, you know how you have been struggling to find a job to pay off your student loans “  I knew only too well which is why I was moping around the house, the stress of my debt had really put me on a downer lately and I couldn’t really see a way out of it, I had tried everything but as I was only in my second year, I wasn’t really qualified to do much and I wasn’t going to bust my ass in a minimum wage job that wouldn’t even cover rent let alone my enormous amount of debt I had accumulated over the last year, with a sad look on my face I just nodded because I knew only too well what she was talking about, what I didn’t get was what this had to do with her crazy night out.  She held out her hand and placed it on top of mine.  “ if I could help you, you know I’d do anything right “  I smiled of course I knew she would, again I just nodded.  “ Cal did you know once a year all the elites and rich travel all the way across the world and they come here"  I frowned at her, I didn’t like where this was going. “ they have a massive party in the Woodlands “ she continued again I looked at her puzzled.  “ but that’s not all “  “ okay, I know your dying to tell me so, spill “ she smiled at me faintly. “ okay, so this party, everyone is invited, it’s not exclusive “  I thought I had an idea of where this was going. “ so you want us to go bump heads with the rich society and hopefully find me a job “ I quizzed.  She shook her head at me ferociously.  “Then what?”  “Okay so, they hold a bidding ceremony”  oh no if she was going to say what I thought she was then she had another thing coming, I was not going to this crazy orgy where the rich do God knows what.  “No f*****g way Leila!”  “What?”  “I am not standing on a bloody podium while the highest bidder chooses if they want to have me for the night!”  “Okay calm down babe “ calm down was she for real, I was desperate, but I was not going to sell myself to the highest bidder, that was a ridiculous notion! Besides whom would even want to buy me.  “Are you done arguing with yourself?”  Damn I hated that she knew me so well.  I nodded because I was intrigued by her plan, even though I knew my answer was a firm no but what was the harm in knowing all the details before I went full on anxiety mode.  “The thing is you don’t stand on a podium while they bid on you “ I was puzzled now, that is how I thought it worked, not that I knew but I had seen it in movies, so I assumed that was the deal.  “ go on “  “ basically you upload your photo onto a site, it’s well established, there is protection there, you add a profile and they bid on you and the highest bidder wins, I’ve seen these bids go crazy and your gorgeous I’m sure you would get enough to pay off all your Bill’s “  I shook my head at her. “ wait don’t discredit it yet” “ Leila, no “  “ no “ she asked me confused. “ yes that’s right, no, who would even want to buy me and what does it entail “ she smiled.  “ I don’t know, you accept their offer and there terms, it’s all up to you babe and they credit your account....”  “That sounds like the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard! “I screamed at her.  “okay but...” “no who would even want to bid on me" she shook her head at me and had a look of pity on her face which made me feel even worse. “well what have you got to lose then, just think, you go on a date with a rich guy and your money problems are over, it is a win situation. “ I don’t know why I did what I did next, maybe it was because I thought I was so undesirable that nobody would ever want to bid on me, it was the excitement like we were playing a game.  “Okay Leila “ “okay what? “ “okay I will do it" she squealed in my ear I had to cover my ears, the high pitch noise was that deafening.  “are you sure “ “hurry up before I change my mind “I stated with confidence.  I had clearly just lost the plot, why had I agreed to be sold to the highest bidder, knowing my luck if anyone did choose to bid on me it would be some overweight, balding perverted old man, why did this even exist, bidding on people, how desperate were the wealthy that they bid on people for what one night of pleasure,  the very idea was absurd but here I was agreeing to place myself on a website I never knew existed to be sold to the highest bidder, but if in some alternate universe someone did bid and this was all as legit as Leila had proclaimed, I would be saved, my panic, stress and anxiety would be gone and I could carry on my degree debt free and make a life for myself, it was a small price to pay to make it through my university years.  I stood up shaking, I am not sure why, it is not like it was going to go anywhere, it was just a game I kept telling myself repeatedly.  “Hey crazy where you going? “ I looked back at Leila. “to the bathroom to brush my hair for my grand appearance on buy me dot com”  I flapped my arms dramatically with a pose, Leila just smiled at me, I think I was worrying her with my newfound confidence, if I am honest, I was worrying myself, it was not that I had new confidence, I was merely playing a part, like I was the star of my own ridiculous show.  I stepped into the bathroom still shaking, my legs felt like jelly and as much as I willed them to keep moving they shook with might, I held onto the sink to prop myself up, I was scared, I would admit that to my myself but not my best friend, I didn’t know why I was scared, what was the worst that could happen I thought to myself as I brushed my long golden brown hair, I added mascara to give my eyes a more dramatic look and stuck some pink lipstick on my lips to give the effect that they were more plump as I looked in the mirror, nothing looked different as such, just I may have a more natural glow to what I usually did, I  wasn’t very girly and didn’t put much effort in my appearance, Leila always said that’s because I didn’t need to, I very much looked like the girl next door with my creamy complexion, high cheekbones and big bright smile, I blew a kiss at myself in the mirror, I was ready for act two of the deranged plan that was now my life. I sauntered back into the living room and it’s safe to say Leila looked more nervous than I was feeling. “ oh babe you look gorgeous “  I scoffed at her remark, she sure did know how to boost your confidence, she was always good at expressing herself and making you feel better about yourself, I myself was no good in that area, I always put my foot in my mouth and by that I mean I never thought about what I said before I said it, on numerous occasions the only way I could describe what I had was verbal diarrhoea.  I just smiled at her faintly. “ready?”  I just nodded, of course I was not ready but if I admitted that right now then I would back out and I would not go through with this crazy plan.  Leila stood in front of me with her camera in her hands.  “ok babe, your biggest winning smile"  I did as she said and pasted the biggest fake smile, I should have won an Oscar for my efforts.  “now a full image babe, just act natural"  I squinted at her. “why?” I quizzed her  “ why what?” she seemed confused over my question. “ why do you need a body shot?” she winked at me.  “ got to show them the whole package babe"  I closed my eyes and shook my head at her repeatedly. “ okay get it over and done with”  she snapped a few shots, I wasn’t really bothered, I was fully clothed in tight black Jean’s and a black crop top that showed off my little pert bum and my toned abs, I was something of a fitness freak if I’m been honest, it released stress and overall made me feel good, every time I felt stressed I would go to the gym or go for a run, so I wasn’t body conscious at all, it was just the thought of others looking at me to grade me on what they thought my body was worth that instilled fear into my very core.  “You can breathe now Caliana” I let out a deep breath, I did not even know I had been holding my breath, but Leila clearly did, she had already set my profile up and was just adding the images she had just taken of me, I did not know if I should be impressed or insulted that she knew I would agree to this ridiculous plan.  She laughed as if she knew what I was going to say. “was just precautionary babe, if you’d have disagreed, I would have deleted it” I raised my eyebrows at her not completely sure if I believed her, but I let it go.  “now what? “She smiled.  “hard bit over, now we wait and let them come running” we both laughed.  “didn’t you say we was going out?”  I had completely forgot with all the madness that had just taken place but that is how this had all come about with her statement of leaving the house and destroying my peace.