Chapter 6: Stephanie

Stephanie

“You WHAT?” Bella exclaimed. “When?”

Bella was shocked at what Stephanie had just said. She slept with Zane? Stephanie had been dating the same guy since freshman year. They’d had a few little episodes where they broke up for a month or so, but they always would get back together. For her to just randomly sleep with Zane was totally unbelievable.

“Last week” Stephanie answered.

“I was trying to corner him and find out what the hell his deal is and things just, happened.”

“And so you slept with him? What the hell did he say? And what the hell is Anthony gonna say?” Bella asked.

“Fuck Anthony” she said. “He’s being such a dick lately it serves him right if I start seeing someone else”

“Seeing??? Now you’re seeing him?” Bella asked, again, shocked.

“Okay not SEEING, just fucking” Stephanie answered with a little laugh.

“You were right though” Stephanie continued. “Zane really does seem to have control of all the votes. The seniors will probably all vote for whoever he asks them to. Maybe not who he asks them to vote FOR, but definitely who he asks them to vote against. So, I figured what the hell, it couldn’t hurt to have him on my side.”

Once again, Bella could barely even think.

Stephanie.

He had gotten to Stephanie. The sweet, pure, ever faithful Stephanie. The feeling of defeat that had been washing over her since that party just ballooned into a massive thundercloud above her head.

“So, what does he have against me then? What the hell did I ever do to him?” Bella asked.

In the last week Bella had learned that Zane had threatened Nikki with the same deal he’d given her, have sex with him or get kicked off the squad. She’d also learned he’d already been sleeping with half the squad, while getting very cozy with the other half, and now, even Stephanie had slept with him just to keep her spot. Despite all of that, her question was, “What does he have against ME” because obviously, this was all about Bella. It always was.

Stephanie answered “You didn’t do nothing. It’s not about you. He’s a guy, he just wants to sleep with all the cheerleaders so he can brag to his friends. He’s a fucking perv. That’s all”

“That’s just sick” Bella replied.

“Yeah well, I guess it’s a guy fantasy. Like having a threesome with twins, or that kind of bullshit. Anyway, he seems to have found a way to make it happen, AND to make half the girls on the squad think it’s THEIR idea to jump in bed with him.” Stephanie laughed as she said it.

“You sure seem pretty happy about it” Bella shot back at her, surprised to hear her laughing about it.

“What, it’s a clever scam. You gotta give him credit.” She answered, still with a little giggle in her voice.

“Besides, he was actually pretty good!” she added, with a wink.

Bella let out an exasperated sigh. She couldn’t believe that Stephanie had fallen for this. AND cheated on her boyfriend to do it. And LIKED it! Then she thought back to that day in the bedroom. He really was very ... slow, and ... tender ... and sweet ... and she HAD been getting caught up in the moment ... right up until he laid his ultimatum on her. What a dick.

The fact that Stephanie had actually cheated on her boyfriend of almost three years barely even cracked into Bella’s train of thought, other than surprise that she would even consider doing it. She was supposedly one of Bella’s best friends, but Bella clearly never even thought to ask her what the hell was going on with her. It was exactly what Stephanie had expected.

Stephanie’s lie

Stephanie had not in fact slept with Zane. Yet. She had figured out that Bella was lying about the whole episode and wanted the real story. So, she lied herself. Stephanie was smart. She actually was as clever as Bella thought herself to be, she almost had this whole thing figured out, at least a version that made sense to her. By saying that Zane did the same thing to her, and she had succumbed to his blackmail, they could exchange stories. They continued to talk and Bella finally told her the truth about what had happened. The whole, honest truth. She had gone in there hoping to gain Zane’s favor somehow, but with no plan at all on how to do it. She had never even considered what she would have to do to accomplish that.

Stephanie said that her story was much the same as Bella’s, except that the first thing she did was make him put his phone in a drawer on the other side of the room, there was no way she was letting Zane take nude pics of her, and definitely no video! She enjoyed that little dig, watching Bella cringe. For some reason Bella thought it made sense at the time, but it sure didn’t now. She still hadn’t even seen the video. She never knew he was taking video. Stephanie couldn’t stop thinking about that video either, and not because of Bella.

Stephanie was surprised to hear Bella say that she had actually been enjoying what Zane was doing. He really knew how to work his fingers and his tongue. She was lying back letting the feelings just wash over her when she suddenly realized how the situation had gone so far out of her control. She couldn’t believe he had gotten her to that point. That’s when she knew she had to get out of there fast, and that’s what she intended to do. The next thing she knew, his dick was in her mouth and blasting a load of cum down her throat. She still couldn’t remember how the hell he managed THAT?

Stephanie was fascinated by Bella’s real story. This was a lot different from what she told her and Nikki that first time. It sounded to her like Zane was simply taking advantage of finding himself in bed with Bella, naked. If she were him, she probably would have done the same. Except for the whole threatening her unless she fucked him part.

Stephanie left still thinking about Bella’s story. Still thinking about Zane.

Lunch with Zane

The next day, Stephanie once again caught Zane before the lunch period began.

“Hey Zane! Come sit with me!” she said, back to her bright and cheerful personality.

Zane considered for a moment. Anything Stephanie or Nikki did was suspect, simply because of their closeness to Bella. This couldn’t be good. Zane liked Stephanie though, so he cautiously accepted her invitation and the two of them picked a quiet table off to themselves.

After a bit of small talk about school and life in general, Stephanie drilled down to what she really wanted to know.

“Did you really threaten to get Nikki kicked off the squad, just like Bella, if she doesn’t have sex with you?” she asked.

Zane dropped his head and let out a heavy sigh.

“Which one of them told you that?” he asked and paused. “First of all, I never threatened Bella with anything. She made that up. And I didn’t threaten Nikki either, all I said was, maybe I should make you the same offer, I never said what that offer was”

“Yeah, have sex with you or get kicked off the squad” Stephanie said.

“I never said that. I just said, the same offer, Nikki and Bella decided what that offer was on their own” Zane replied.

“Why?” Stephanie asked.

Zane answered “Did you see the way she was acting for the last week? Following me around making crude remarks anytime I tried to have a conversation with anyone. Practically calling all of the other girls sluts for even talking to me. She was just being a cunt, and she needed to shut the fuck up. Everyone is starting to hate her, and if you don’t believe me, get to practice early and then see what happens to the conversation when she shows up. It’ll be dead silence.”

“So, you’re not just trying to get her into bed?” She asked.

“Nikki? No. I’m not. I was just trying to get her to cut the shit and keep her from making all her friends hate her.” He answered.

Stephanie paused for a moment, then she said.

“You should just go with it and fuck her anyway” she said. “She deserves it.”

Zane was taken aback. Did Stephanie actually just say that? She seemed to be very amused by the whole thing. What the hell was happening here?

“What?” He asked.

“Just fuck her. If she’s stupid enough to believe all of Bella’s freaking drama and think you can follow through with it, then just fuck her. Why not? You’ll never get a better chance.” she answered.

Zane sat there staring at her in disbelief. Stephanie just laughed, enjoying his confusion. She was having fun now.

After a moment Zane asked

“Okay, who are you, and what have you done with Stephanie? Shouldn’t you be yelling at me and telling me to leave your friends alone?”

“Pffft, some friends. All they ever think about is themselves. If they’re too stupid to figure out they’re being played then I’m not gonna do it for them. I say screw it, take advantage of it and fuck em both”

Zane just sat there with his mouth open staring at her. He didn’t know what to think.

Stephanie also just sat for a moment, smiling and thinking to herself. She’d had a moment of insight when she was talking with Bella, these girls were not her friends. Not real friends. Sure, they had lots of fun times together, but when it came right down to it, none of them knew what was really going on in each other’s lives. When it came down to the real drama it was always me me me. She made some decisions that night, and now she felt even better about all of them. A great big satisfied smirk lit up her face.

Out of the blue, Stephanie looked up from her lunch and said “Hey, will you go out with me?”

This stopped Zane mid-chew. “Huh?” Now he was more surprised than ever.

Stephanie said “Go out with me. On a date. You’re single right? I wanna go on a date with you” and she put on her biggest smile.

Zane finished chewing, swallowed hard, and said “Don’t you have a boyfriend? Since like, grade school?”

“Fuck him, he’s an ass. We’re over. I wanna date someone fun for a change. C’mon go out with me” she said, again with that big smile.

“You know I’m dating Julia now right?” he asked.

“Seriously? Since when? Didn’t you do her already?” she said.

“Excuse me?” he asked.

“Well you know, since you boned her at that party shouldn’t you be moving on to the next girl by now? I wanna be next.” She answered.

Exasperated yet again, Zane replied “Jeez I don’t know where you get your information, but nobody ‘boned’ anyone. Nothing happened at that party except that we had some time alone together. Since then we have been on exactly two dates and our clothes have remained on the whole time, no sex, no ‘boning’, just dates, simple and innocent. You seem to think I’m some sort of man whore just going around fucking anything I can get my...” and he stopped mid-sentence, obviously a bit frustrated.

He completely missed the end of that sentence.

Stephanie just laughed at him. She paused for a moment, thought about it, and then said “Are you exclusive then? Or are you still fucking Natalie in your car every morning? Does Julia know about that? Should she?”

Zane’s mouth dropped. “What? All I’ve done with Natalie is give her a ride to school. Nobody’s fucking anybody.”

“Oh please, people have seen you doing it, everybody knows all about it” she said.

“Well, everyone but me. Trust me, if I was fucking Natalie every morning, I’d be going out with Natalie” Zane said. “just rides, no fucking”

“Yeah, okay ... Maybe I should just tell Julia about it anyway, just in case she hasn’t heard” Stephanie responded, that smile turning into an evil grin.

“Are you trying to blackmail a date out of me?” Zane asked.

“Why not, blackmail seems to be all the rage lately” she answered.

Zane stopped to think for a moment. Stephanie was right, he wasn’t exclusive with Julia, yet, although he wanted to be. He was totally smitten with her. And no, he wasn’t fucking Natalie every morning, a couple times a week yes, but not every morning. This whole thing just felt like a trap to him. This was so NOT Stephanie. Last week she was burning mad at him for blackmailing Bella, now she thinks he should just fuck her. AND Nikki. AND she wants to go on a date with him herself, because all of a sudden her and her boyfriend are over? What the hell is going on?

“Okay, when did you have in mind?” he asked.

“Friday” Stephanie replied enthusiastically.

“Nope. I’m going out with Julia Friday. Sorry” he answered.

“Okay then, Saturday” She said.

“Hello, you guys have a competition on Saturday, remember?” he answered.

“Oh, yeah” she said. “Okay Sunday. OOOH that’ll give us the whole day, sweet! we can take our time and really have some fun! Does that work? Or are you chicken?” she said.

Zane didn’t know what the hell was going on. He hesitated as he tried to work out her angle, but couldn’t see any reason not to go on a date with her.

“Okay, sure” He said.

“Oh goodie!!” she exclaimed. Then she jumped up and leaned over to plant a little kiss on his cheek.

“It’s a date!” she said, as she gathered her things and bounded off to her next class.

Zane was left sitting there in stunned silence. What the hell had just happened?

Stephanie had barely cleared the cafeteria doors before Carly and Julie came scrambling over and pulled up a couple of seats right next to him.

“WHAT ... THE HELL ... WAS THAT?” Carly asked.

Zane thought about it for a minute and answered, slowly “I ... have no idea ... but apparently I have a date with Stephanie on Sunday”

The two girls were as surprised as he was and proceeded to grill him for another five minutes. He couldn’t really tell them much other than exactly what had just happened. They immediately thought that there must be some kind of “counter plan” going on. Zane asked if they knew if Stephanie had broken up with her boyfriend. The answer was, not that anybody knew of.

Sunday

Sunday rolled around and Stephanie drove over to Zane’s house to pick him up for their date. She had insisted that since she asked him out, it was her date. She made the plans, she paid, and she drove. Zane was amused by this so he just went with it. Whatever you like crazy girl. He still had no idea what she was up to.

To his surprise, they went on a simple, ordinary date, just like he had with any other girl. First, they went to the trampoline warehouse. Stephanie figured a gymnast and a cheerleader could have a great time there, and she wasn’t wrong. Once Zane let his suspicions go about her motives, they had a lot of fun.

After a couple hours of bouncing and jumping and Zane showing off his gymnastic skills, they headed off to lunch at the usual local hotspot. A few people from school saw them and stopped by to say hello and pry into their business, surprised to find Stephanie with a guy other than her boyfriend. Stephanie smiled at all of them and completely ignored any questions they asked about it. They all walked away with curious looks on their faces and, most likely, starting their own rumors before they were ten feet away.

They had their lunch. They talked, they laughed, and they had some great conversation. Not a single word was said about Bella, or Nikki, or Carly, or Anthony, or cheerleaders, or secret votes. It was all about Stephanie, and Zane. They just had a good time. After lunch they stopped in the mall and played games at the video arcade and won enough tickets to get Stephanie some hideous little stuffed animal. It was cheap, and it was ugly, and Stephanie clung to it like a ten-year-old girl who’s just won the giant, life sized teddy bear. Zane still didn’t understand it, but Stephanie was smiling and giggling and very happy, which made Zane happy too. It was infectious.

After a morning of fun and games they stopped back at Zane’s house planning to call it a day. At least that’s what Zane thought. Stephanie still had some other ideas, she had some plans for this part as well. When they arrived, Stephanie asked if he was going to show her around his house, which of course, he did.

They went inside, Zane introduced Stephanie to his parents, who absolutely loved her. How could they not? Then a quick tour through the house and they ended up out by the pool. Stephanie got all excited by the pool and eagerly started shouting

“OOOOH let’s go swimming!!”

Zane laughed and answered back “Sure ... do you happen to have a swimsuit with you?”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him close, and seductively said “Maybe we don’t NEED swimsuits!”

Okay, straying into strange territory again. The Stephanie he had been with all morning, that was the Stephanie he knew. This Stephanie who is suggesting they get naked in his pool in the middle of the afternoon, that wasn’t the Stephanie he knew.

Zane was too wrapped up in thinking that she had some ulterior motive to think that maybe she just wanted to get naked with him.

He answered, “We’re not skinny dipping with my parents home.”

“Awwwwwwwwwwww” Stephanie answered with a pout.

Zane laughed again. He asked “Do you want to see if we can find something for you to wear? Julie might have left one of her suits in the changing booth”

“Julie?” she asked.

“Yeah, you know Julie. Cheerleader. Senior. She’s on the same squad as you. She lives right there” Zane said, pointing to the house next door.