Chapter 4

Avery ignored her mother as she entered the house. Avery ignored. She lived in a slender two story home. Home to five people and three bedrooms. Headphones were the most important invention in Avery’s life. Everyone needed something in the Shannon home. The sheriff had her sudoku books. The doctor had his pool table. The sister had her video games. The brother had his friend’s house. Avery had her headphones.

“Avery!” She jumped as her mother’s hand squeezed down on her shoulder. Avery knew it was best not to scowl but it was a fight every time, “Sweetheart, your hair’s a mess.”

“Thanks, mom.” Avery dragged her headphones down around her neck. The music could better be heard in the kitchen.

“I’ve brought dinner home,” Elizabeth sidestepped the “You’ll hurt your ears.” warning, “Can you run over to the Harts’ and bring back Curtis?”

“What’s for dinner?”

“I got takeout from Alice’s,” She answered.

“More for us then,” Avery smiled, hoping the conversation was about to end, “David’s on a date tonight. Curtis is obviously somewhere else.”

“Date?” The sheriff looked down the hall to her daughters’ room. She reached down and lifted Avery’s legs so she could slip in under them. Avery was dressed as she had been for school. Pink socks stuck out of dark jeans. A paler pink T-shirt, proclaimed her, in gold, Nobody’s Princess. Avery’s long black hair was draped off the armrest and nearly touched the floor. The wings drawn on over her eyelashes were way too obvious for Elizabeth. Avery’s legs were laid back down on Elizabeth’s brown slacks. She had discarded her uniform top and was wearing a green tank top over a black sports bra. She shared all of her hair color and two thirds of the length with her daughter, though Elizabeth’s was still up in its work do.

“You know, I could just watch Netflix maybe,” Avery knew she wasn’t getting up because Elizabeth had a grip on her knee.

“Who’s David dating?” Elizabeth leaned in.

“I am not gossiping with my mom.” Avery rolled her eyes. She tried to focus on that very real reason. Somehow thinking of David on date bubbled up envy, or anger, or hurt and that didn’t make any sense.

“Tell me, please, sweetheart?” Elizabeth pleaded, “We’re all going to have to deal with the eruption when you-know-who discovers her crush is dating. Let me be prepared.”

“Fine! He’s out with Leanne,” Avery dragged up her headphones. Elizabeth pulled her hair out of its bun. She slapped Avery’s thigh.

“What?”

“Go get your brother,” She ignored her daughter’s argument.

“He has a cell phone,” Avery sighed.

“He doesn’t answer it,” Elizabeth kept in the tired frustration that she mirrored with Avery.

“He answers texts,” The daughter hoped to reset the headphones permanently this time.

“Just go, Avery,” Elizabeth dumped her daughter’s legs off her lap, “It’s literally through the backyard.”

“God! Fine!” Avery tossed her headphones onto the floor next to her tablet. She kicked the pile under the coffee table and out of accidental stomping range. Her mom headed up the stairs to fetch Victoria. Avery slipped into a pair of beat up basketball shoes, trudged whatever detritus was on them over the living room carpet and left via the kitchen backdoor, dragging her untied laces behind her.

The Shannons were separated from the Harts by a thin woods. The trees ran all the way through the middle of the block, effectively separating the Lemon Street houses from the Maple Street ones. There was a path, foot and bicycle tire, beaten by David and Curtis over a dozen years. Avery tromped through it almost all the way. She took four steps back and hid herself behind a crooked trunk.

Kristi, that new girl that had latched herself onto David and Curtis, was slipping out of David’s window. Holy shit! David was a player? No, he was out with Leanne. Maybe Curtis was over here? Is that what happened? Curtis gets a girlfriend and David feels envious. Asks out the easiest yes in school. Sort of. The easiest girlfriend yes. There were easier blowjob yeses. David was out on a date tonight and Michael was never around on Wednesdays. Was Curtis using David’s room as his fuckpad? Was David a really good friend? Or was Curtis a really bad one?

“Kristi!” Avery’s eyes flared to see another girl hissed from the window. Two bitches? No way. Avery took measured steps further back. She wasn’t camouflaged. She was an errant look from discovery. The girls at the window were too wrapped up in themselves to see the girl in the woods.

“Just hand me the fucking cooler,” Kristi was a redhead, yet darker than the black haired girl she was speaking with. She was awkwardly wearing a green wrap shirt and jeans with something shiny studded into the back pockets. She was hotter than Curtis deserved. The brunette was something else entirely. She was topless, at least, handing shit out to Kristi in a hurry. The redhead strapped a cooler tightly around her shoulder. The rest of the stuff, clothes, piled up on the eave over the back door.

Avery watched. The girls bickered. Kristi got fed up and climbed down, carefully. She used the patio railing and the electricity meter as footholds until she hopped down the last three feet. She wobbled on the grass. The brunette slipped out. Avery’s jaw was hanging low. This girl was a Goddess. She was fair, but unlike Avery with the ability to tan. Her eyes were big and blue. Her lips were reflecting the last of the sunlight. Her tits were reason enough for Avery to hate her. They weren’t even that big. The brunette wagged her round butt as she quietly edged the window down to almost closed. She hurried into an oversized shirt that was at her feet. She tied on a pair of shoes very tightly. With the rest of the clothes in her arms, she leapt.

“Jesus!” Kristi staggered back but brunette had hit the ground running, “Where are you even going?”

The girls disappeared by the garage. They weren’t coming her way. Avery eyed the window and the back door. A minute ticked by and there was no sign of Curtis. Maybe he wasn’t here after all? That meant those girls had been here for David. She smiled. She smiled way too hard. Her cheeks were almost hurting. She was going home.

“Kristi!” Kristi turned around on the eave to take the cooler from Shannon.

“You know we could’ve just as easily left out the door?”

“Yeah, and how are we going to lock it behind ourselves?”

“Fuck you,” Kristi sighed.

“I thought you had a headache,” Shannon sniffed.

Kristi fixed the strap tighter around herself and let Curtis’s clothing fall onto the eave. The wall crawl down was so much scarier than a climb up. She needed to figure out if there was a way to break into her own home. Shannon dropped down right behind Kristi.

“Jesus!” Kristi swore but Shannon was already dashing along behind the garage, “Where are you even going!”

Behind the garage, there was a secluded grove. Shannon dropped down and sneaked into Curtis’s oversized pants. She tucked the excess pant leg into her sneakers. The belt was nearly twice as much tongue as it should’ve been. Kristi ran right into the back of her.

“Fuck! Shannon?” Kristi patted down the cooler to listen for broken glass inside. She sighed relief.

“Dude, calm down,” Shannon webbed her fingers through her hair and shook herself out over her shoulders, “Now give me the Charming Prince.”

“Fine,” She unzipped the cooler and dragged out the bottle. Shannon grabbed the top and was about to dump it onto the ground, “Do we need the peacock strands?”

“No, I have more in the toolbox,” She dug out a small plastic sewing kit from under a couple of glass bottles. The contents of the potion sloshed out over the ground before she could show Shannon, “I don’t know what your hurry is. We still gotta wait for David and--”

“Fuck, again?” Shannon hung up on her mother. It vibrated again in her hand.

“Goddammit, Avery!” Shannon texted the words, “Gonna miss supper. Tell mom” to her sister.

Shannon grabbed the soiled silver coin from the ground. It wasn’t the collector’s item from Kristi’s dad. They had hit up the flea market over the weekend and overpaid a crunchy looking black woman for it. Kristi wanted to go back. That woman had some really cool things that might let her try out some more potions.

“Do you want to go rinse this out with the garden hose?” The coin rolled back into the sports bottle. Shannon slapped it up at Kristi’s thigh. The redhead grumbled and stalked off.

“Mom, caught up with some school project stuff. Back tonight.” Shannon texted, hoping her mother wouldn’t ask any specific questions. She was relentless when she was suspicious. A minute later he received “You should’ve told me that when I called the first time. Learn to pick up.”

“Learn to type.” It was pushing it. Curtis would’ve thought twice. Shannon had hit send before that happened. Lovely.

“Careful, sweetheart. Call if you’re going to be later than 10. CALL.”

“Ah, fuck,” Shannon jammed the phone back into her pocket.

“I still don’t see what our hurry is,” Kristi trudged back, “We don’t have coffee or David.”

“David won’t be back before eleven, are you going to get in shit if you stay out that late?”

“I’ll have to check in,” Kristi shrugged, “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.”

“For you, maybe. How do I check in? I think mom’ll notice the difference,” Shannon overexaggerated her alto-soprano.

“Well, what are we going to do? Crash David’s date?” Kristi had her hands on her hips.

“It doesn’t have to be David, dude?” Shannon asked, “I mean, you were looking for a boyfriend too, right?”

“And I’m going to get one by what, ambush handjob?”

“Only surefire way.”

Alice’s Diner was on Autumn Lane, the main drag of Truce. Actually, there was another main road peppered with bars, restaurants and shops. Autumn Lane and Spring Lane walled in the heart of the town from west and the east. Summer Park and Winter Hill were to the South and to the North. The town was nestled in its awkward trapezoid.

Alice’s Diner sat across from the six screen cinema. It was a small, eight table hole in the wall that sold most of its food in styrofoam containers carried away in brown paper bags. The black woman behind the counter was Alice. There was a cook and a dishwasher in the back and cute blonde classmate of Leanne and David’s manning the soda machine. Leanne squeezed David’s elbow.

“I’ll grab us the table before someone else takes it,” She whispered in his ear as he stepped forward in the line.

“Sure, Leanne,” David put his hand over hers. She was dipping into her purse, “I’ve got this.”

“Oh, um, OK, thanks,” She beamed at him and he smiled back. A couple of people took a look or two as she crossed the restaurant to the little booth in the corner. It was a weird sensation. Yeah, she didn’t normally wear eyeliner or her hair so wavy but she’d been feeling scrutinized all week. She tugged her overshirt a little tighter around her breasts. She swept her skirt tightly to the backs of her knees as she slid into the booth. She felt better putting her back to everyone. Let them look at the back of her head.

A couple of minutes later, David sat across from Leanne. She had wanted him to snuggle in on her side of the booth. The booths were small. She couldn’t believe herself. Only why she had done this. Not when she believed she was serving a devil. Not where she had put Quinn. Not what she had done for this night. Not who she had stolen from.

“You didn’t have to buy my food,” Leanne explained, “I have money too.”

“I asked you out.” David grinned.

“I asked you out, too.” Leanne laughed.

“Then you can pay on Saturday,” David smiled and Leanne’s heart was derelict of duty.

“Or I could just get the movie tickets tonight?” She hoped.

“I already paid,” He wiggled his phone at her.

“Popcorn?”

“Included,” He announced smugly.

“You’re really taking care of me tonight,” Leanne let herself relax. It was a struggle but when she found David’s foot under the table she felt at ease.

“Yeah, I’m pretty awesome.”

“You really are,” She blushed and she smiled. The waitress came by and laid out their drinks.

“Thank you,” David said and Leanne was happy. She had found herself a genuinely nice guy and all it had taken was one poisoned cupcake. Magic was crazy. The results were startling, just look at Natalie. That girl was practically someone entirely new. Everyone was looking better. A little good news and confidence made everyone look better. She smiled around her straw.

“You’re welcome, food’ll be up in 5.” The blonde winked at Leanne. Leanne blushed as the waitress headed back to the counter.

“So, what don’t I know about Leanne?” David asked without any of the nervousness she could feel skittering on the underside of her skin.

“Uh, not much. We’ve been in some of each other’s classes every year, haven’t we?”

“Yeah, but knowing you can glue together a kickass Bram Stoker’s Dracula collage isn’t really what I wanted to know.”

“Oh,” He remembered that! “But, well, what do you want to know?”

“Just you. What do you like? Food? Flowers? Colors? Movies?”

“Pitch Perfect,” She asserted.

“Yeah, my dad loves that one.”

“Your Dad? Really?”

“Oh, yeah, ‘I’m really fat Patricia, ‘ nearly laughed him off the couch.”

“What’s your Dad like?”

“He’s great,” David slurped his milkshake as he gave the question some thought, “He’s, uh, I think he’s a little lonely.”

“I could only imagine,” Leanne reached across for David’s hand. He squeezed her fingers.

“But yeah, total movie buff. Every Tuesday we watch at least two movies.”

“Yeah, that’s cool. My family’s way too big to guarantee time with dad or mom every week.”

“Yeah, there’s five in Curtis’s family too. I could only imagine.”

“Five?” Leanne smiled.

“Yeah, you, your parents, Candace and Silas, right?”

“Hahaha!” Leanne fell back, “I’m the third child of six.”

“Six? How does your mom even walk?”

“With a big old smile,” Leanne joked and then the thought hit her. She went red to the ears. But David was grinning. He teased her foot.

“So, um, what’s your favorite movie?”

“Office Space,” David answered as quickly as she had.

“I’ve never seen it,” Leanne considered, “Do you think we could watch it sometime?”

“Anytime.”

“Really? Even if it was on your dad and your movie night?”

“Well, not the first one,” David shook his head. Leanne froze, really, but she loved him! And he loved her. He had to love her... “Every time someone’s joined us, Dad makes sure you’ve seen the important ones.”

“Important movies?” Leanne approached relief.

“Oh yeah, everyone sees Airplane. Everyone sees Alien. Everyone sees Amadeus. To start.”

“Alien? I’m not really good with the monster movies,” Leanne smiled.

“Um, OK, I ugh, I know it’s a superhero movie but we are going to see Constantine: Hellraiser.”

“Well, you’ll just have to keep me from getting scared,” She grinned.

“I’ll do my best,” He smiled back.

“One single and one double cheeseburger and curly fries for both of you.”

“Thank you,” Both teens said without even seeing Alice.

Eddie Huang was king of the Goddamned world. He had to be something, hadn’t he? He was sure as shit tired of being that other guy with the football players. He had even made the team this year. Short guys could be running backs. Of course, his mom was gonna kill him when some linebacker scrambled his brains on the gridiron. Oh well, small price to pay for pussy. Except, didn’t seem there was any pussy to buy. The hockey players snatched up all the cheerleaders and the whole groupie thing wasn’t paying off with the smart girls. Maybe he could get into drugs?

Idea two, the motorcycle, was no longer in the works. Fail three road tests and all of a sudden dad rescinded his offer to go halfs on that Yamaha he wanted. Why couldn’t his parents have forced him into piano or violin or something? If he knew how music was made maybe he could’ve pivoted into the rockstar thing. Instead, he got to be tone deaf and perpetually virginal. He shoved his hands deeper into his windbreaker pockets. Girls like money. What about job?

“No,” Kristi shook her head as Shannon pointed out another boy, “He asked me out literally the first day I stayed at school. He’s--No.”

“Eddie’s a bit of a spazz but he’s polite and he’s kind,” Shannon was actually having less trouble defending Eddie than she had the others. Admittedly, Alexander was inside his home and knocking on his front door and meeting his parents wasn’t an exciting prospect just so you could seduce their son. Then there was Ferris, and he was kind of hideous. Eddie had a zit or two along his jaw, and wouldn’t know a comb from a woolly mammoth, “Besides, he’s kind of dying for some attention.”

“But--No.” Kristi rejected him again.

“OK, so not a boyfriend, how about a fling?” Shannon hoped.

“I’m not going to just fuck someone I hardly know!” Kristi shook her head. Eddie had seen them. Don’t come over here. Don’t come over here. He took the turn up Danube Road.

“All evidence to the contrary,” Shannon sniped.

“Bitch!” Kristi scowled.

“It’s not a bad thing,” Shannon smiled, “I fucked you the day we met. I wouldn’t trade us for the world.”

“Well,” Kristi didn’t know how to fight off the verbal barbs and the friendly side hugs, “But you can’t really put your dick in the world.”

“You can’t tell me what I can do,” Shannon disagreed.

“But--OK, tell me why I have to go get a boy. You’re the one built for sex.”

“Except, as Curtis, I’ll have to see this guy tomorrow,” Shannon sneered, “I can hardly handle what I think about doing to David. Shannon daydreams kind of bleed into Curtis daydreams. It’s disconcerting.”

“Oh, I don’t have that problem with Zachary,”

“That’s cause Zachary’s a bigger cock-slut than the two of us combined.”

“That’s, wow! And you’re kind of a whore.”

“And you’re kind of a princess. Same thing really, except the whore gets paid and the princess’s dad gets a good trade deal with Poland.”

“We wouldn’t want to piss off Poland.” Kristi shrugged.

“So, you could still catch Eddie,” Shannon gestured.

“Look, you think it’s going to be bad seeing Eddie tomorrow as Curtis?” Kristi shook her head, “Everyone is going to see Kristi tomorrow. The scrubby bitch who fucked Eddie. Who the fuck is Shannon? Nobody knows. Stories go nowhere and Eddie’s just a braggart without a clue.”

“But--”

“Besides, I don’t need get a boy off to go home,” Kristi raised her eyebrow.

“It’s like that is it?”

“Yeah, we agreed you’d get a girlfriend before I went boyfriend shopping anyways,” Kristi poked Shannon, “And I can do way better than Eddie.”

“Probably not way better,” Shannon considered, “And this is all Shannon, so don’t throw this in Curtis’s face later.”

“Now I definitely have to.”

“Good point,” Shannon swiped her bangs back with a tired gesture, “I can’t see us trading down from David.”

“I’ve got a thing for Curtis,” Kristi admitted, “But that’s the point right?”

“Yeah, I get it. Shannon gets it anyway. You need someone to break your heart and if it’s David or me, you’ll be devastated. The way we’d feel if you ripped out either of our hearts. Especially for the other one.”

“What? I just think we all need to fuck up a relationship. And better we still have each other afterwards. I barely know anything about boys. And you know less about girls.”

“Even as one.”

“I mean, the Charming Prince helps, but we suck at sex,” Kristi shook her head, “We got to do it badly before we can do it well.”

“Like with magic,” Shannon grumbled.

“What?”

“Like messing up a potion’s expiration date, for one,” Shannon gestured to the cooler on Kristi’s shoulder.

“Oh, fuck off.” Kristi chuckled.

“You could at least apologize.”

“Not if I have to suck Eddie’s cock.”

“Fine, Princess!” Shannon stepped right in front of Kristi, “The whore will do it. Now give me your clothes.”

“What?”

“I’ll do it, dude. But trust me, when that Charming Prince hits. Curtis’s going to wreck you.”

“Not without David.”

“You scared of what’ll happen if David really likes Leanne?”

“Petrified. But that’s why we have the brown binder.”

“The summoning spells? I thought, some of those are really dark.”

“You have no idea,” Kristi tightened her arms around her trunk, “True Love is fucking terrifying.”

“Do you want the armrest?” David asked Leanne.

“Yes,” She declared lifting it to remove the separation between herself in David. She shifted over until her bum was hardly on the seat itself.

“But, um,” He smiled as she lifted his arm and draped it over her shoulder, “I had practiced the fake yawn thing and everything.”

“Don’t be fake with me,” Leanne turned David’s chin so he was looking straight into her eyes.

“Alright,” He smiled, “Touch the peanut M&Ms and we’ll have our first fight.”

“Deal, handsome,” She was actually not interested in them at all. She worried about the half burger she had failed to eat earlier. He had at least been happy to devour her excess curly fries. She looked up at him, “Talk during the movie and I’ll bite you.”

“Deal, beautiful,” She settled her head on his shoulder and ignored the popcorn.

Natalie had the best friends. Her dad had been incredible, buying her the necessities, but trusting her to really fill out her new wardrobe with Avery and Gia in tow. Avery knew how to trawl for boys and the top Natalie was wearing was proof. Gia knew what to do with the boys the top would snag. The feeling of a thong riding up her ass made Natalie feel beyond dirty. She liked it.

She wasn’t confident to try one of the bars by herself and there weren’t a lot of all ages hangouts in Truce. McDonald’s or Burger King made Natalie ill to consider them. She seemed to have an aversion for junk food. The pool hall off of Ash Street was way too far to walk. The mall near the river was overpopulated with nitwits. She sought herself some action in Summer Park.

She strode in, a lone tigress on the hunt. Truth was, none of her friends were around tonight. Eiko’s wish was taking longer than Natalie’s new body. Gia had dance and Avery had decided to be a funless bitch. Worst of all, Leanne was out on a date. Leanne! David Hart, what a waste of a ... Natalie wasn’t going to be upstaged by the damned good girl. She had been hot for two whole school days and she hadn’t even seen a cock yet.

The skateboarders fucked around their concrete playground. Nothing for her. She decided to start with something a bit more appetizing. But once she climbed that first hill, she could see herself filthy with dirty guys. They were sad to see her go.

Sloane and her clique were sitting on the chessboard tables. Natalie walked right by. There was no one playing baseball. The boys under the bleachers were a couple years too young. Her eyes lit up, Kevin was playing catch with Sam. The football spiralling perfectly from quarterback to wide receiver. The throws the other way tended to overshoot. Would it take much to send Sam home?

Eddie hit Summer Park at a trudge. He couldn’t spot Muffin among the skaters and so ignored them. He smiled at Sloane’s crew but was hardly visible to them. He smelt the weed wafting from under the bleachers and frowned. He figured he’d find Kevin or some of the other guys and burn away a night. He saw Natalie floating by herself. He had practically broken his neck following her ass at school today. She was half the woman she had been last year and all that remained was her fuckable parts.

Her blonde hair fell past her shoulders and framed the low-cut of her black shirt. Those large breasts strained the confines of her top. Long legs ran down the rest of the way to the ground. That was a long way down. Natalie had five inches on Eddie but that hardly stopped him from walking towards her green golden eyes and her dark red lips.

“Hello Eddie,” A hand on his arm and Natalie was forgotten. She stood over him, huge blue eyes and a nervous smile, black hair and light skin, her mouth made for sucking dick. She was wearing a green wrap shirt, strategically short to show off her flat tummy.