An Unwelcome Visitor

1663 Words
“How cute is it that Ty asked me to go to the party with him?” Marissa Cole squealed, unable to contain her joy. Mars, as she was fondly called by everyone who wasn’t her mother, was a simple girl who led a simple life when she wasn’t partying, hoeing or playing monarch with Jennifer Simon. Jennifer rolled her eyes in an obvious manner, really hoping that one day Mars would focus on something more important than enchanting sacks of testosterone-because that was all boys were to her. At age ten, Jennifer already figured that a lot of boys would seek her out, willing to do anything to kiss her royal ass, so why pursue them? “Mars, you know I love you right?” Jennifer took one hand off the steering to stretch all the way to the back seat where Mars sat to give her a good old pat on the knee. “But I always say, don’t chase the guys. Let them chase you. Just act like you just can’t be bothered by them, but if they do come, you can manage to grace them with your pretty self,” and with one final pat, Jennifer return back to steering with both hands. She looked at her reflection in the side view mirror and smiled at it, simultaneously checking to see if there were remnants of the crab cake she had eaten at home before going to pick up Mars and Raven. “I didn’t chase him Jay,” Mars said, her bright eyes now turning into a dark cloud. Jennifer knew that she had to apologize to remain in Mars’ good graces as no one in their right mind would want Mars to stay angry at them. God knew what the girl would do to her if she ever solidly crossed her. No, she wasn’t afraid of Mars, but even she knew that there were some boundaries she shouldn’t cross, and there were certain strengths she lacked that Mars possessed in greater amounts. Mars was also the only person who dared to call her ‘Jay’; they had known each other practically their whole lives. “Yo...chill out guys...” Raven drawled out. The black haired girl who sat beside Jennifer was their third wheel, sort of. The thing was, Mars and Jennifer had lived in Knox their whole lives and were already bored with it. Knox wasn’t so small a town but everybody knew almost everybody, and gossip flew faster than the speed of light. One practically couldn’t bat an eye in peace. So it was some welcome relief when Raven swerved into Knox in her matte Jeep, scaring the living daylights out of innocent pedestrians with her rough driving. Having never actually thought that anyone could own a matte Jeep, Jennifer was impressed, and although Raven’s death couture wasn’t so palatable to her, she eventually gave in to Mars’ pleas to let her in their posse. Raven couldn’t care less about hierarchies and monarchies-she just needed people who would fill in on the loneliness she would have to endure living with her ever-busy newly divorced father; and also someone who had the necessary connections to provide her with psychedelics. “Are you high right now?” Jennifer stole a look at Raven. Normally, Raven let her hair cascade down in all its wavy glory with its highlights and violet streaks glinting in the sunlight, but today she put her hair up in a bun. “Maaaybeee...” Raven laughed. “See, Raven gets the idea. You don’t have to be uptight all the time Jay,” Mars commented, poking at Raven and dissolving into a fit of giggles whenever Raven tried to swat her hand away and missed. Raven’s motor skills were usually in disarray when she was under the influence. “Yes Mars, doing drugs frequently is healthy. It’s not like it doesn’t ashen out your complexion or increase the risk of death or anything,” Jennifer said with as much sarcasm as she could muster, but her words were lost on the two girls engrossed in their little game. She cranked up the volume and let the song on the radio deafen out Mars’ giggles the rest of the drive, looking forward to meet Pearl who was already waiting for them at the mall. - - - - Vi shrugged out of her leather jacket and tied it around her waist, careful not to tie it in such a manner that it would obstruct the view of her thigh length shorts and get people thinking she wore the jacket as bottoms. She needed to draw attention quite alright, but not the weird kind. She had been labeled a weirdo in another lifetime, and she wasn’t about to begin a new chapter in a not-so-new town on a bad note. It seemed petty to her that something as minuscule as her sense of fashion should matter in making a good first impression, but here she was trying to impress snobbish strangers. It would all pay off in the end, she silently promised herself, looking up at the tacky neon sign at the tippy top of the mall which read ‘...’ Very little had changed since she was here last, and it was a relief to find out that this town had evolved a little, otherwise she didn’t know how she would cope moving from a large place like California to a small town like Knox. Sweat gathered at the tip of her brow, and she was glad she had her sunglasses on. True, it was weird changing schools in the middle of the semester, but she needed the switch. Her old school bored her to death, and the fact that she made no friends there contributed to her boring social life. But here... Her thoughts trailed off as a blue Sedan pulled up beside her and swerved into the empty parking space beside the lilac Mercedes she had gotten for her 17th birthday the previous year. She watched as the family of four the sedan belonged to alighted from the car, and got quite intrigued by the boy who alighted from the left side of the sedan facing her. He looked her age, but was probably older by a few months. She recognized him as Aaron Felt, Jennifer Simon’s love interest at the time of the incident. She wondered if that had changed. He glanced her way, noticing her for the first time, and managed a small wave in her direction. But Vi stood with her face set in a stoic expression, and she was again glad that she had sunglasses on. She knew a lot of people wouldn’t recognize her, but that didn’t mean she had to be nice to win their hearts, after all they weren’t so nice to her. Aaron put down his hand awkwardly, wishing he didn’t wave as he was so rudely ignored by the strange girl. He guessed she was new to town, yet something about her seemed familiar and he had an eerie feeling about it. Vi locked her car and walked into the mall, scrolling through her shopping list written on her phone’s note app, but she was so engrossed in her phone that she didn’t see the girl standing at the mall’s entrance, equally engrossed in her own mobile device. “Hey watch it!” the girl who turned out to be an Asian of average height spat with venom, fumbling to prevent her phone from slipping from her porcelain like hands. Vi grudgingly muttered an apology and went into the mall, deciding to consciously try not to attract any more attention to herself. Pearl stared daggers at the girl as she made her way into the mall, and if looks could kill, she’d be a smoldering human barbeque by now. She had to admit that she liked her outfit though; it was very chic and different from the way a lot of Knox teenage residents dressed. Which most likely meant the girl wasn’t from Knox, or she was new in town. At that thought, she couldn’t wait to tell Jennifer the news. She only hoped the girl would be attending Knox High rather than the private school over at St. Luke’s. As if the universe was waiting by the corner to manifest her thoughts, Jennifer drove into the parking lot and hooted twice to attract her attention. Pearl waved from where she was standing, not eager to move from the spot that shielded her from the blazing sun to go meet her gang in the sweltering heat. “Uh, I’ve been standing here like forever, the least you could do is walk a little faster?!” Pearl yelled, not quite making a statement and not quite asking a question either. “Yo...like chill...” Raven laughed. “Is she like, high?” “Definitely,” chorused Mars and Jennifer. Pearl rolled her eyes and continued, “Guys, you won’t believe some f***ing dumbo bumped into me and almost broke my phone.” “Omg who? Finally I get to beat up someone’s ass!” Mars exclaimed with fiery joy. “That’s sick. Anyway, I think she’s new in town. I was hoping we could scout her out, you know. God knows we need something new for a change in this boring old town,” Pearl finished, peering into the mall involuntarily searching for the new girl. “We’ll sit on it after the party. For now, let’s just focus on getting the best outfits for the party,” Jennifer said, leading the way into the mall. Vi saw four girls enter the mall. She didn’t recognize the one in the messy bun who was obviously high, but it didn’t matter. The point was that she was about to change their lives.
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