Life Of A Bitch

35

I try to straighten my wrinkled jeans for the last time and ring the doorbell.

An old woman, with silver hair chopped to her chin opens the door. She smiles at me with her kind eyes and says, "You must be Jen. I'm Brenna's grandma."

"Yes, ma'am." I bow low to her, and then not realizing why I did that, I stand up straight, flustered. "Is Brenna there?"

"Oh yes she is," she nods, moving away from the doorway, laughing a little. "Complaining of her headache since she woke up. What did you all make her drink yesterday, eh?"

"Uh-" I stammer, trying to find the right words. "You see, this was her first, uh, party where they actually drink and um, the drinks were spiked and uh.. she didn't realize and when on to drink many cups.. I- I really wasn't there or I should've stopped her-"

"Of course not," she smiles, stopping at the foot of a staircase. "She needs to have these experiences, doesn't she? The important thing is, you didn't let her drive and dropped her off."

"Aaron did that."

"Oh, yes I know." She says, with a fond look in her eyes. "That sweet young man! Go up, she's waiting for you. First door on the right."

I nod and head up, opening the door.

Brenna's sitting at her desk, her eyes glued to the laptop screen in front of her. Her hair's a mess and spread out everywhere, she has smudged kohl around her eyes and holds a cup of what I assume is coffee in her hands.

"Hey?" I ask, tiptoeing into the room, trying hard not to shock her or something. She's suffering from a terrible hangover and I know what it's like, so I better do everything quietly if I value my life.

"Oh yes, Giselle, come on in." She says in a cracked voice.

"Jennifer-"

"Do I look like I care?" She growls and clutches her forehead. "Stupid party stupid best friend stupid me stupid life stupid everything."

"Listen, if you're too messed up to handle me right now, I can come another time," I offer helpfully.

"No, let's get this shit over with."

I spot a tool near her bedside, drag it to where she sits and sit beside her.

"Okay, before we begin." Brenna says, looking at me. "Know that Michelle's hatred for you is far more than yours for her. She loathes you, despises you, mentally cringes whenever she sees your face and thinks yourself to be cocky."

I stare at her, not expecting such an attack on me suddenly. "And apparently, you think the same."

"Of course," she says, smiling forcefully turning back to the screen. "So, if I remember correctly, she said it more than once that it would be nice to get hold of your phone and leak every embarrassing thing present on it."

I curl my lips tightly, narrowing my eyes. "I suspected her too-""

"Let me finish, Giselle!" She shouts, glaring at me with such ferocity that I dare not correct her about my name. "So, she's on number one on my suspects' list."

She has a suspects' list? "How many suspects are there?"

"Excluding her, nine. All you."

I gape at her. "You mean to say I stole my own phone?"

"For attention. Okay, next. We have no one to tell us who went to the green room because everyone was in the auditorium and the area was completely deserted."

Despite being annoyed at her, I nod.

"Now, it can't be Michelle who stole it. It has to be someone else because I was with Michelle the whole time."

"Someone else is on this plan?" I ask her, surprised. Callaghan is surely very powerful at convincing people against me, first Anita and now this person.

"Yes and I assume it's someone within our circle, someone you bullied?"

I think about it for some time and then give up. I've bullied many people till this date and I cannot possibly remember all of their names or faces.

"Listen, Brenna, I asked Callaghan about this and she straight up denied. She said that if she had that phone, she would've used it to blackmail me or do something with it, not just keep it to herself."

She deadpans at me. "Wow, Giselle, asking a murderer whether he or she has murdered or not? Nice job."

I flinch at her remark and then realize I don't really apply my brain in areas other than academics.

"What do we do now?"

"Hmm," she stopped scrolling and looked at me. "How was your phone like?"

"Yeah?"

"Was it expensive?"

"It was the newest iPhone model so yeah, it was expensive."

Brenna shuts down her laptop and stands up. "We just need to find someone else who owns the same model: someone we know."

"Doesn't make sen-"

"Aaron owns the same model!" She blurts, smiling. "Was your phone silver?"

"Yes-"

"Perfect," she grinned, with a malicious look in her eyes.

I squint at her, trying to understand what she's planning in her head. But I couldn't because I didn't know what she needed another smartphone of the same model for.

"Where did you get your phone cover from?"

I hesitate for a moment and reply. "From the 24/7 dollar store two blocks away from my house."

She looks at me incredulously.

"You get a thousand dollar phone but pay a dollar to get its cover?"

"I was in a hurry," I justify myself to her, knowing it's useless by the look on her face. "Besides, I just wanted something basic so.."

"Anyway, what I need you to do is to buy the exact same cover from the store, make a list of all the apps you had in your phone the last time you used it and prepare to give up your current phone to Aaron temporarily."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I shout at her.

"Don't yell, Giselle!" She barks.

"I'm not Giselle!"

"Of course you are," she looks at me as if I'm the one who has forgotten her own name. "Listen, if you want your phone back, just do as I say."

I huff, leaning into the chair. "Okay, I'll do what you told me to do."

"And when is the fake scholarship test that Brandon organised?"

I try to remember what date it is today and look at her. "Monday 2.30. After school."

Brenna sucks in her breath as if she's smoking and says, "You'll get your phone, your hacker and the mastermind behind it to own it up real quick tomorrow."