Life Of A Bitch

39

I get into my car and take my seat behind the wheel. Brenna calls shotgun and Aaron sits at the back. As I drive my way out of the school parking lot, I look at Brenna scrolling on her phone, her thumb hovering over Callaghan's contact.

"Hey?"

She turns to me, with an annoyed look on her face. "What? I was gonna call her. You interrupted me."

I shake my head, turning my eyes on the road again. "Got something to ask you."

"What?"

"What if," I pause a little, thinking about Lucy. "What if Lucy wasn't the hacker behind all of this?"

"Yeah, I was gonna ask the same question to you too," Aaron says from the back.

"Oh you poor asses," she patted my shoulder, clicking her tongue. "You're so dumb."

"Yeah yeah," I say, shrugging off her hand. "Tell us."

"Lucy is a tenth-grade student, she's a fifteen year old over-smart, overconfident junior who has no respect for her seniors- same for all juniors. If she was truly innocent, she would've asked us for more evidence; she would've challenged us to go to the police station to prove her guilty. She's very smart, you know."

I raise my eyebrows at her, pulling on to the road. She places the call to Callaghan and I can feel my breath quickening. I look at Aaron, who nods at me, placing his finger on his lip.

"Hello?" We hear the familiar agonisingly sweet voice of Callaghan through the speakerphone.

"Hey, Michelle?" Brenna begins. "Long time no see, huh?"

There's a lot of noise in the background, which makes it look like she's in a shopping mall on sale day.

There's silence on the other end of the phone. Finally, she speaks. "We met a day ago, remember? At my birthday party, where you tried to hit me?"

"Yeah, about that.." she pauses, looking out of the window. For a moment, I sense sadness in her voice, and then it's back to normal again. "I drank a lot of punch that day, and they had alcohol in them, which I was not aware of. And, so I was out of my senses and whatever took place between you and Aiden... I just need to apologise, Michelle."

"I-uh, have cheerleading practice at the moment."

Okay, really? Is she lying or is the cheer team treating me like they don't want me in that anymore?

I don't believe my life is crumbling around me. And all because of that-

"It's okay," Brenna says, sighing a little. "I guess you have new friends now, who're fun to be with. Okay, that's all I needed to-"

I glare at her, signalling her to stop blowing things up. If we don't get the chance to talk to Callaghan, how in hell are we supposed to pull this off?

Brenna holds up her hand and makes a symbol with her fingers which vaguely resemble the letter 'C' with a long penis.

"Don't worry, she's playing the guilt card," Aaron whispered in my ear.

"Wait, Brenna." Callaghan interrupts her. Brenna smirks at me, raising her eyebrow.

"Yeah?"

"I'm at the school playground now. So, if you wanna talk, come and meet me here."

Callaghan hangs up, leaving me with no choice but to drive back to the school.

*

Telling Aaron to wait for us in the car, we head towards the football ground. I double check my pocket for my phone and follow Brenna, who seems to be in a great hurry to talk to her best friend, or ex.

When we reach the ground, we're beyond surprised; at least I am. When Callaghan told us she was in the middle of practice, I was expecting to see not more than eight students, doing exercises and chatting with each other.

Now, I see a huge crowd on the field, consisting of the athletes and the cheer groups of all grades, hanging around.

"What's going on?" I ask, trying to spot Stephanie.

"I think it's the preparations of the Annual Sports Meet, which is a few weeks away, I think."

I nod, feeling something in the pit of my stomach. Hurt, maybe. All these years, I was a significant part of it, and suddenly they kick me out.

"We can never get her to openly admit what she did in front of all of them," Brenna whispered anxiously, biting her lip.

"Yeah, I'll take care of it."

I turn around to see Brandon, standing just behind us, frowning.

"Bran, what the hell?" Brenna squeaks. "I thought you were home?"

"I'm the Student President, asshat," he said, taking out a clipboard from his bag. "I've to manage things, to prevent them from turning into absolute chaos. I went home, then came back when Anna texted me that the Meet preps are beginning today."

"Hey, J," I hear the sassy tone of Alz beside me and smile at her. "Was gonna call you about your whereabouts, but then I see you here."

"What're you gonna do?" I ask her, taking the water bottle from her arms to drink.

"I'm here for the cheer team, actually. They said they're gonna need all of us. But I'm thinking if I could participate in the races."

"Okay, Alice," Brenna says, grinning. "Go back to your team, they're looking for you."

She nods, rushing towards a bunch of excited girls, ready to show off their skills.

"When are we gonna do whatever we're gonna do?" She asks him, sitting down on the bleachers. I hand him the phone with the recording and take my place beside Brenna.

"After the cheerleader performance. We gotta do it properly, and at the right time."

*

"So, folks!" Anna's booming voice sounds from the speakers. "We had enough practice for today. Mr. Bennett set a time limit for us and we got to abide by that."

All the people go 'Aw' as soon as she makes the announcement. Anna steps down from the makeshift platform and smiles at Brandon approaching her. They talk for some time and then he walks to the stage, plugging in the phone into the loudspeaker, through which horrendous workout music was blasting a minute ago.

"People," he speaks into the mic. "I've an important announcement to make."

My eyes find Callaghan, who's sitting with Aiden and the rest of the gang, having the time of her life.

Brandon takes the phone in his hands and looks at Callaghan, who's looking back at him. I sense him hesitating for a moment.

Then he hits the play button on the phone. And the field echoes with the sound of Lucy's voice, first nervous and giggly, then confused, then angry and at last, confessing.

Everyone looks at Callaghan, who's still processing what has happened.

Or at least, that's how it looks in my imagination, as I see Brandon walking towards the stage.

Are you sure, Jennifer? Do you really want to do this to Callaghan?

Goddammit. Not the stupid conscience again.