Chapter 3: Wednesday Afternoon, 12:14PM – Negotiation

Ayanna laughed for an entire minute. It started out with the same full laugh as before, then changed to a sort of hysterical, high pitched laugh which turned heads, and finally tapered off with a wheezing, weak laugh as she caught her breath.

Alaina sat in her chair, stone-faced, and finished her sandwich. Once she was done, she sulked, unable to get mad because of who was laughing. It’s not funny. It’s definitely not funny.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Ayanna barked a cough. “But c’mon, A. It’s funny. It’s funny because it’s you. And this is like ... the most not-you thing that could ever happen. I mean, there’s you and you-know-who, which was kinda shocking at first, but that’s not even close to being on the same level. More like the other way around, if you think about it.” She stifled another laugh.

She’s right about some of it, at least. I should have known she’d laugh, though.

“Okay, but seriously. You were right, that is fucked up. So yeah, okay, I see why you’d need a day off after that. But then what happened with—oh wait, you said—but ... no!” Ayanna looked scandalized. “You didn’t! Tell me you didn’t do what I think you did!”

Alaina smiled weakly again. “There were circumstances?” She said, cringing visibly. Please don’t ask, please don’t ask, please don’t ask, please don’t ask...

“Oh. My. God.” Ayanna’s eyes were wide, her mouth hung open. “This is so juicy! I gotta know, I gotta know. Before we go any further, are the rumors true? Does he—Is—If you had to give a grade, what would it be?”

Alaina covered her now-blushing face with her hand. I should be upset. If it were anyone else, I would be furious. But somehow, when it’s Ay, I just can’t.

She peeked out between her fingers. Ayanna was staring at her like a kid stares at a birthday present. “I really don’t want to talk about it,” she said.

“I can’t tell if that’s really really good or really really bad! C’mon, A, you gotta give me something. Anything! I promise I won’t ask again, but I gotta know. Everyone’s heard the rumors. Everyone.”

Ugh. I don’t want to lie to her again, but it feels wrong...

Her mind tried to recall parts, fragments, of Monday. The feel of the desk under her, her hair falling around her face like a curtain, the heat between her legs, the rhythmic pistoning, in and out, like a machine, always going at exactly the pace she wanted, hitting exactly the right spot...

She shook herself back to reality and blushed even harder behind her hand. She lowered it and made eye contact with Ayanna, giving a sheepish half-smile and nodding with her reddened face. Fuck.

“Aaaaaaaaaahhhh!” Ayanna actually gave a little shriek at the response. “Are you fucking kidding me? Holy shit, A, if you’re the one having this kind of reaction I can’t even imagine. Wow. I have so many questions now! Argh! Why the fuck did I promise not to ask! Curse this brain of mine, forcing me to be a good friend against my will!” She clutched at her head in comic fashion.

Alaina covered her mouth and choked off a giggle before it could escalate. She was smiling now, though, a genuine smile. “Your brain has always been the better friend,” she said.

Ayanna grinned, her green eyes sparkling. “Okay, wow. This is not how I expected our talk to go. Wow, I can’t even—So okay, that happened on Monday,” she waggled her eyebrows, “and then yesterday you—”

“Well of course I fucking did!” Alaina interrupted. “It’s his fucking fault I’m...” She deflated in her seat a little.

“Hold on, wait a sec, A. How is it his fault? Nobody can choose a Class for someone else, right?”

Alaina began tapping a finger on the table. “You know about those studies they’ve done, Ay. The ones where they had people focus for the whole day on what they wanted to do with their lives? And how there was a direct correlation between what they were thinking about and the Class they got?”

“A, those people were focusing as hard as they could for an entire day! Wait, you’re sayin’ it was that good?” Ayanna smacked the table. “What the fuck, Alaina!”

Alaina blushed again, deeper this time, and stopped tapping her finger. Am I going to spend this entire lunch period doing my impression of a tomato? “N-no, that’s not what I meant,” she said softly. Or was it? “Um, I meant...” she trailed off. What did I mean? Uhhh ... Did I just imply that sex with Will was good enough that I wanted to be an onahole for the rest of my life?

“Wow, A. Just wow.” Ayanna sat there, sipping her carton of orange juice, staring across the table. Her eyebrows raised. “You weren’t kidding, you’re pretty fucked up.”

Of course I’m fucked up! I’ve got this abomination of a Class, my life will be ruined after I get put in the registry on Friday, the whole school knows I’m a notch on Will’s bedpost by now...

Wait a minute. Alaina replayed the conversation with Ayanna. She didn’t know about it. How did she not know?

“Ay, you didn’t hear about any of this before now?” she asked. “Nothing?”

“What, you mean about your Class?”

“No, the other thing.”

“You mean—no, you kidding? I wouldn’t have believed it if you hadn’t told me yourself! I’m still not sure I do, A. I mean, c’mon, you’ve always hated his guts.” Seeing the look she was getting, Ayanna clarified, “Well, maybe not like you do now, but ... Remember when you slept over for New Year’s? Weren’t you the one who said, and I quote, ‘I bet that useless playboy wouldn’t even have run for student council this year if Ms. Perez wasn’t the adviser.’ I’m not gonna do the hand motion since we’re in public, but you know the one.”

Alaina put her hand back up to cover her flaming face once again.

“Yeah, you remember now. Damn, A, you’re on a hair trigger today with that blush!”

Alaina raised the other hand as well for full coverage. I did say that, and Ms. Perez does have amazing boobs. Does gravity not apply to them or something? I don’t even like girls that way and they’re mesmerizing!

“This is fun,” Ayanna chuckled, breaking Alaina out of her brief and cleavage-filled daydream. “I haven’t seen you be this real in public in forever, A. Even when we hang out lately it’s not the same. You’re always so busy being,” she added finger quotes, “‘The President’, and doing drama club, and studying to keep that valedictorian status that it’s like you forget to be a person.”

Alaina blinked, losing her previous train of thought while she continued to hide behind her hands. Was I really that bad? I thought I was juggling everything pretty well. She began thinking over her schedule, lowering her hands back to the table as she moved through the days. Monday is checking in with the newspaper to coordinate with council objectives, then drama readings or rehearsal depending on how close the shows are, then home by seven-ish and bike ride with Mom if she’s not at work—otherwise study more, making dinner after, study until bedtime...

She took a sip of water and continued through the days, but Monday turned out to be her lightest day. Tutoring usually took up at least an hour or two on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and she had actual student council responsibilities on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Maybe I have been a bit overloaded lately...

“Y’know, you might be right,” said Alaina.

“I know you’re busy, A. I’m an [Organizer]; I’m all about that time management, that self-motivated business owner-type stuff, too. But you’re only eighteen. I was gonna let it go another week since Macbeth just ended, but you gotta lighten your load a bit and have some fun. Quit tutoring, those rich kids can find someone with more free time. We only got super-senior year left here, you should take some time and enjoy it instead of running the school 24/7. When was the last time you even went on a date?”

Alaina glared at her.

“Okay, maybe bad topic considering recent stuff, but still a valid question.”

“If I recall,” Alaina drawled, “the last attempt was the guy you set me up with who wanted dick counseling. He didn’t get it.”

Ayanna guffawed, slapping a hand over her mouth. “Oh my god.” She snorted, unable to completely hold in the laughter. “I forgot about Dick Counselor! I can’t believe I forgot! It’s only been ... When was that, last December?”

“Yup, a couple weeks before school break. Great way to start the holiday season—truly one of the best gifts you’ve ever given me.” Alaina rolled her eyes while keeping a straight face, sending her friend into a fit of uncontrollable giggles. Her own facade crumbled after a few moments, the laughter being too infectious to resist, and she joined in.

“Who does that?” asked Ayanna when the laughing had begun to taper off.

“At least he weeded himself out before we actually met in person. Much better than that creep who tried to grope me at the movies on our first date.” Alaina curled her lip. So disgusting.

“Alaina, girl, that was over a year ago. You gotta let that one go. You kicked that guy so hard he probably still can’t sit down, and that was before Ken gave him a piece of his mind.”

“He even did the yawning-arm-wrap-around move!” Alaina’s voice rose in pitch. “I thought it was a joke until he started reaching down my shirt! You said he was one of Ken’s friends!”

“Yeah ... a friend...” Ayanna looked out of the corners of her eyes and she muttered, “ ... of a friend.” She picked up speed after the hedge. “But what about that Tim guy? He got to home base, right? And--”

“Ay, I was in a drought. It was like the Sahara, and Tim was a half cup of stale water in a ditch. At best. He was decent looking and didn’t immediately start pawing at me, but I know you remember how that ended up. My nipples were sore for days.” She leaned in and hissed, “And he gave me a fucking hickey!”

“But just think of all the younger students who copied your turtleneck look afterwards!” Ayanna said.

Alaina glared back. Having Mom give me that ‘I know’ look was bad enough, but then when she started suggesting makeup options for covering ‘neck blemishes’ I thought I was gonna die of humiliation.

“Look, maybe these guys weren’t knights in shining armor for you, but I did what I could. You said you were too busy to find a guy, but you were the one who broke up with Spencer. And you stayed broken up, even with,” Ayanna raised both hands at her sides, “whatever kinky thing—”

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Alaina hissed. “Not so loud! That can’t get out!”

Ayanna’s hands came around in front of her like a shield. “Okay, my bad, but you know what I mean. I’ll concede that maybe some of my setups were,” she harrumphed, “not up to standards, but It’s not my fault you can’t find a date. You’re the one who decided that after you-know-who you wanted to focus on your studies and not get distracted by going out with someone from this school.”

Alaina started a retort, then stopped. She furrowed her brows. “Wait a minute. When did this become about my lack of a boyfriend? My whole situation was caused by a guy!”

“Puh-leeze, I know you want someone to blame, but how you gonna blame the guy that, by your own account, gave you,” she leaned in, “the best dicking in the past century, maybe ever. A, if I were you, I’d be calling him up for seconds, thirds, fourths, you name it! Any time, any place!” She waggled her eyebrows. “I’m still a little tempted, and if Ken didn’t just rock my world on Monday I might do more than have my little idle fantasies.”

Alaina blew a raspberry and rolled her eyes. I definitely shouldn’t have told her about that.

“I kid, of course,” said Ayanna, leaning back in her chair. “I’d never cheat on my Ken. But you don’t have that problem.” She started packing the remnants of her lunch onto her tray.

“No, I have another problem, specifically with him,” Alaina growled the last part. “He—”

The bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. Forty minutes is not enough time for lunch. The din of the students, all 500-something of them, flooded towards the pair of girls as it surged past them and towards the exits.

Alaina put the zipper bag back into her lunchbox next to the ice pack and sealed the whole thing up.

“You gonna tell me what that problem is?” asked Ayanna as they stood up, practically shouting in order to be heard.

“Definitely,” said Alaina at a more normal volume after she closed the gap between them. They started walking towards the door, heads together. “But let’s wait until later, Ay. You free after school? Well, after the council meeting...”

Her dark-skinned friend considered it as they walked out of the cafeteria. “Ah, can’t. I gotta babysit the brats today; I’m even skipping a Future Business Leaders meeting for it. How ‘bout tomorrow?”

Alaina sighed. “I have to tutor—”

“A, c’mon. Take a break. You’re not even getting paid that well!”

Alaina frowned. I really shouldn’t, but it would be nice to have some time off to hang out with Ay...

“We’ll get ice cream. From that new place on the boulevard. I know you’ve been itchin’ to go since they opened last month, and I hear their pistachio is insane.” Ayanna grinned widely and stared her down.

That’s not fair, she knows my weakness! “Fine, you win,” Alaina pouted. “I can at least take one more day off since there’s no tests coming up.”

Ayanna pumped her fist in the air. “Yes! I’m gonna grill you so hard—I mean, I’m gonna stuff you so full of ice cream you won’t even notice the grilling!”

Alaina snorted and rolled her eyes. “Right. I’ll see you in History, Ay.”

“Later, A!”

They waved, then parted as they headed in opposing directions: Alaina to her double period Chemistry class and Ayanna to Spanish.

Despite the prospect of being grilled, tomorrow is looking up. Alaina found that maintaining her smile was easier after spending lunch with her longtime friend. Or perhaps it was simply the promise of her favorite ice cream flavor. Yeah, maybe things aren’t so bad? So what if my Class is [Onahole]! I’ll just ignore it. There’s plenty of people who don’t let their Class rule their lives; wasn’t one of our recent presidents a [Philosopher]?

Her knee-high, black, suede boots made a satisfying clicking sound as she strode through the halls of her school. She stowed her lunchbox in her locker before checking her appearance in the small mirror that hung on the inside of the locker door. She straightened the neck of her blouse—also black, and pulled down her tan skirt where it had ridden up slightly on her waist. Her wide-rimmed brown glasses completed the look.

Damn, I look good. Hot, even. She licked her lips slightly, feeling a small tingle pass through her body. She had a slightly naughty thought. Time to get some revenge.

The grabbed her binder and a pair of textbooks, then hip-checked the door closed and strutted off towards the science department.

Alaina Bishop wasn’t unpopular when it came to the population of her school. She’d always garnered some amount of attention, but it wasn’t something she sought out: it was simply her subjects paying their due respects to their queen.

As she walked through the halls now, however, things were different. If she caught a classmate looking, she smiled warmly back at them—a genuine smile. To a one, they smiled back. They have been bestowed the queen’s favor! She giggled at the thought.

Their monarch was in a good mood. There was revenge afoot!

Revenge is exhausting. How do porn stars manage this? I have so much respect for them now.

Alaina grimaced inwardly. Outwardly, she caught him looking again out of the corner of her eye and twirled a strand of hair slowly around her finger, crinkling her brow just right and pursing her lips while she looked down at her textbook.