Prologue: The Legend

Our school cafeteria had these ugly orange plastic chairs and matching trays. There were hundreds of them too, ugly as hell, all lined up around tables that wobbled when you leaned on them, and usually spilled your drink when things got a little boisterous, as they often did in a typical Frederick Ranger High School lunch hour. I walked with my orange tray through the cafeteria, looking for someone I knew, someone interesting to sit with.

Charlotte Lawsen looked up from her conversation as I went by and stared at me. She smiled and I nearly tripped over a kid who had his chair shoved way out into the main aisle. I stumbled, almost spilling my fries. I smiled back at Charlotte.

"Watch it, man!" the kid said to me.

"Sorry." I answered.

Charlotte had returned to her conversation again.

"Anthony! Over here, man!"

It was my buddy Mick. He was sitting with a guy I'd never seen before.

"Anthony, this is Jimmy. He's new to Ranger. I'm just filling him in on who's who."

Jimmy nodded at me and went back to gawking around at the various hotties in every direction.

"Unbelievable," he said. "How do you guys concentrate with chicks like these around here?"

"You get used to it," Mick replied. "But there are some days when every fine-ass babe in school shows up wearing a short skirt or tight jeans. Then it's agony and ecstasy at the same time." He nodded toward me. "Anthony, am I hallucinating or did I see Charlotte Lawsen checking you out back there?"

I shrugged.

"Who's Charlotte Lawsen?" Jimmy asked. He scanned the rows of seats in the direction I'd come from.

"Blond, stacked like a fuckin' centerfold-of-the-year, about three tables back and two seats over, other side of the aisle. You can't miss her."

"Oh my fucking god!" Jimmy said. Charlotte threw her head back and laughed loud at something a girlfriend said to her. Then she held up four fingers.

"Oh my god, four!?" her friend yelled. Then they all leaned in and spoke more quietly. Gossip, I assumed.

"That, my friend, is the reigning queen of Fredrick Ranger High."

"She got a boyfriend?" Jimmy wanted to know. We laughed at him.

"Charlotte doesn't do the boyfriend thing," Mick said.

"Why not?" Jimmy asked, still staring at her.

"Because having a boyfriend would get in the way of her, um, social life."

Mick said social life with finger quotes in the air and a smirk on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, let me put it to you like this..." He leaned forward, looked around to see if anyone was listening, and spoke in a lowered voice. Jimmy leaned in to listen. "Charlotte Lawsen, that absolutely gorgeous thing you see sitting over there, is a complete and total slut."

"A slut?" Jimmy said. His mouth gaped.

"A slut. If you've got a hard-on, and you don't look like you just rolled out of a dumpster that morning, she'll probably do you at some point."

Jimmy's eyes lit up like a predator who'd just caught the scent of easy prey. I gave Mick a disapproving look. Charlotte wasn't that bad. At least not that I knew of.

"Well, he asked," Mick told me.

"She seems like she's got enough friends," Jimmy said.

"She's actually one of the most popular chicks around. Always has been."

"You mean she's a total ho-bag, but everyone still loves her?"

"She's not diseased or anything," I answered. "But she does get around a bit."

"So she is a ho-bag then."

"Well, she hasn't done everyone, " Mick said. "But she's probably slept with more guys than any other chick in school."

"Like, how many? Ten? Twenty? Thirty?"

"Around twenty maybe," Mick said. "I'm not even sure."

"N'ah. More like ten or so," I added. I was pretty sure Mick was right, but I didn't like the way Jimmy was ogling her like a walking cum rag.

"And she's still popular?"

Mick dipped a French fry in some ketchup and bit it in half.

"Usually people hate sluts, especially other girls, and especially very beautiful sluts like Charlotte. But nobody hates her, not at Ranger High anyway. It's weird. She is a lot more slutty than other chicks, but she does have some rules when it comes to who she fucks."

"Such as?" Jimmy asked. His eyes turned to Mick just as Charlotte glanced over at me. I looked away, nervous as hell, but I couldn't look away long. I looked back and realized she was actually staring at me. Me? What the hell? She smiled again. Then she wiggled her fingers in a little wave and went back to the little gossip session over there. I almost had a heart attack.

"She never sleeps with another woman's man," Mick said. "And she doesn't do the boyfriend thing."

"Nice," Jimmy replied. "You ever done her?"

"Oh yeah," Mick replied. "I've been on the Charlotte ride. That girl knows tricks."

Jimmy's chuckle faded into a low murmur: "Damn..."

"She knows her shit. She's like a sexual encyclopedia or something."

Mick was out of fries, so he grabbed one of mine and shoved it in his mouth.

"Have you ever done her?" Jimmy asked me.

"Not yet. Maybe someday."

A girl named Justine slid into the seat beside me and snatched up one of my fries as well. Jimmy's eyes widened for a moment when she wasn't looking. Justine was yet another Ranger High hottie, a brunette with pretty brown eyes and a fair sized chest.

"Who are we talking about today?" she asked.

"Charlotte Lawsen," Mick said. "Jimmy here is new to the school and he wants to know all about her."

"Surprise, surprise," Justine said. "Every guy wants to know all about her. And they usually find out too, sooner or later."

Justine didn't seem too bothered by Charlotte's reputation, proving Mick's point about her popularity.

"You friends with her?" Jimmy asked her.

"She's awesome. I love her."

"Jimmy, this is Justine Campbell," I said. "She's somewhat of a slut herself, if you're interested."

"Fuck off! I am not!" she said, but she knew I was just kidding. She threw a French fry at me and I had to flick it off my shoulder. "I'm no Charlotte Lawsen anyway."

"So what's the deal with Charlotte?" Jimmy asked. "Why is she like that? How'd she get that way?"

"Nobody really knows," Mick said. "It's a complete mystery. She's almost a legend. We all know what she's like, but no one knows why. She should be a nice, decent, respectable girl. Her family's rich. She's beautiful, smart, talented. But instead of being a model student, she's like, the hottest fuck in school. She'll suck your brains right out of your dick, fuck you stupid, and then walk away bragging about it. Nobody really knows why."

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