Life Of A Bitch

26

"Who the fuck snaps such photos of themselves?" Alz growls, keeping her voice low.

I sigh, not making eye-contact with her. "It was just a one-time thing. You know, for fun. I even deleted it."

"But like always, you forgot to remove it from the Recently Deleted album, didn't you?" She yells, flailing her arms.

I keep quiet. How would I have known that this would happen someday? Plus, everyone has weird photos of themselves in their phones. It's not abnormal.

"Alz?" Mom knocks and enters the room.

"You are supposed to be in your room, studying," she admonishes her. "Your scores are getting weaker, remember?"

"Mom, do you need something?" I ask her, trying to hide the anxiety and fear on my face.

She nods and looks at Alz again. "Have you seen my phone?"

Alz turns to me, her eyes filled with terror. I cough and say, "Yeah, actually it's with me. Do you need it?"

"Yes, I need to make an important call to one of my clients." She says and outstretches her arm towards me. "Phone."

"Call him or her an hour later," I suggest, keeping the tremble out of my voice. "I need to call one of my teachers, regarding an important matter. She actually dislikes me, but if she sees the caller ID isn't mine, she might pick up the phone, rather than reject it."

"Then you can use the other phones in the house too, if all you need is a different caller ID."

Alz cuts in. "Your phone number is saved in Miss Renee's phone. So, if she sees that it's the parent of a student calling, she might pick it up. Strange caller IDs are often rejected by busy people."

Miss Renee, busy? C'mon, she practically has no life other than correcting quizzes and assignments. Still, I smile gratefully at Alz. Her expression says, You owe me.

Mom stares at me for a while and nods. She instructs Alz to go study and leaves the room.

I exhale in relief and crash into a chair, my body limp with sweat. Alz looks at me and I hold her eye for a long time. Finally she jumps up and says, "Brandon can help you!"

"What?" I ask her, sitting up straight.

She looks at me with shining eyes. "Brandon is the best- though only- person to help you in this. Look, since you left your phone in the green room, it's obvious that a school student has stolen your phone. Since it's a matter within the school, Brandon can help you with it."

Me accepting help from Mr. Arrogant at whom I shouted indecent words does not seem nice. And anyway, my ego won't allow it.

"I don't need Brandon to help me in this," I state, standing up and looking into Alz's now downcast eyes. "I can do it myself."

She snorts at me rudely. "And you think you can hack into a secure Instagram and Gmail account?"

"I can learn," I say, frowning at her.

"Oh, please. It will take you months to learn hacking properly. You can forget the dream of getting back your phone now, honey."

She's got a point.

I have my point too.

Which is always useless.

"I'll ask the tech-nerds to help me in this." I say, smiling confidently. "They're bound to help me. I'm the Queen here."

She starts laughing, clutching her stomach. After dramatically pushing away fake tears of laughter, she looks at me, as if I'm the dumbfuck here. "Oh, J! You're stupid to think that they'll help you."