Girl Red

Lorelei

I have two things on my mind: high school and a fucking bomb. Walking past dupe perfume samples and the click and clack of never-has-beens makes me quite literally want to implode myself. As I walk I grit my teeth through the popcorn-smoke-flavored clouds of this suburban hell.

"Lei!" A small voice squeaked that leaked through the towering, post-pubescent high schoolers. I didn't turn around because I knew exactly who it was. But I found that little mouse right next to me in a blink. Melanie was abnormally short with the clearest, darkest skin, this atrocious, fried, black hair, and a perfect smile. I hated her, no matter how many childhood playdates and ice-cream-sipping days the universe made me spend with her.

"Hello, Mini..." I replied, sarcastically. Don't be alarmed, she loves it when I call her that.

"I hate it when you call me that. I can get you canceled on every high-performing social platform that exists."

"If you could even reach those high-performing social platforms, of course." She grunted, but continued to walk, as I saw her disappear into the horizon of mumbling, brain-dead teenagers, me, being one of them. It's just so satisfying when you realize everyone is just as hell-ridden as you are. In fact, I'm looking forward to hell, it can't be as eternally traumatizing as high school. My high school, at least. I would ramble on and on about how fucking low my school is, but I hear a grumble from behind the large crowd of students, which I know is my cue to scurry into class.

I can't say I hate English class. Oh wait, I can. Fuck. You. I don't fucking get it. How can any half-baked arrangement of words be enough to make you cry, Ms. Elizabeth? Besides your tragic divorce papers, of course. She looked up from her clipboard and paper, evil eyes hidden behind black jail cell frames. My eyes met hers, brown eyes vs brown eyes, hatred vs hatred.

"Lorelei..." She growled dryly. The room was buzzing, happy faces and sad faces alike, and it made me sick to my stomach how these people were just like mindless robots to further advance one booty-shaking, pom-pom gripping, tear-inducing main character's plot. I looked down, not bothering to answer Ms. Elizabeth. She genuinely wouldn't care anyway. A deep but womanly voice rose from the back of the class, a foreign one for sure. Someone I haven't heard before, which is weird, since I had been stuck in this "nothing and everything happens" rollercoaster since I exited my mother's womb.

"Ms. Elizabeth," The voice began, and I perked up. It was that voice you could get lost in for hours and days, getting lost in a cave between her vocal cords, slowly dying of the noises. That kind of voice. Fuck. I'm sorry. That's weird.

"Err, for the writing thing.." She continued. Writing thing? Jesus Christ. Ms. Elizabeth wasn't calling my name, she was talking about the people who hadn't given back the assignment. Still. My distaste towards her morning growls stays the same.

"Could we write it about.. mhm.. this town?" She asked, confidently but in horrible English. I thought, why would anyone want to write about this stupid, boring place? This is the kind of town that sets up community picnics to bring together busy parents and mindless teenagers. Even Ms. Elizabeth scoffed.

"Of course..." She looked down at her paper quickly. "Georgie." Well. Nice to meet you, Georgie. Georgie sat down in her chair (I could tell from the shuffling of chairs and tables), and continued talking with her friends. Soon, the foreign, attractive voice was lost in the sea of chatter. I looked up at the clock, which read 2:45 pm, and I felt a small smirk creep up on me. Only 30 minutes left of school and I'm out of here for the weekend. Honestly, I really don't know why everyone gushes about the weekend, where all they do is smoke weed or long for their depressive episode nap. I sat in my chair, twiddling with my pencil, just staring at the empty piece of paper. I couldn't muster up enough energy to press that stupid piece of shitty-quality lead into a piece of shitty-quality paper. Soon, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Fuck... of-

"Mhm... You are Lorelei... no?" Oh? Georgie? I turned around and there she was. And wow. Georgie was tanned, tall but bulky, and had hilariously crooked teeth. She had her dyed, light-brown curly hair pinned into a tight ponytail at the top of her head. I nodded in response to her impractical introduction, and a grin spread on her face. For some reason, she suddenly went 4x the normal speed of a human and pulled a chair in to sit next to me. Wow, I'm honored really.

"Mhm...I heard you lived here long. I want you to show me the cave." She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, and looked straight at me. How did she know? Was I not just some growing fungi at the side of a convenience store?

"Is that a demand?" I replied, at a 3/4 view on my chair. I couldn't look her straight in the eye, even though I challenge plenty of people to do so daily, so I continued looking straight at the clock. She tilted her head sideways and a frown appeared on her face, while she looked up and thought about it.

"Mhm...Yes." She answered. "After the school, you show me the cave, alright?" A grin emerged from her tan, freckled skin, and she placed her meaty hand on my shoulder. Should I? Could I? I don't even know if it's still there anymore. Fuck. I bit my lip unconsciously, trying to remember if it was still there or not. Wait, Melanie would know, right? She still hasn't let go of a show that she watched at 7, so she would know.

"Sure, whatever. I need my friend, though. To um, help us." Bleh. I couldn't believe I was thinking of asking the 5-foot child to help us. I expected a nod of approval, but Georgie burst into laughter. She had this hearty laugh, and it almost made me smile. Almost.

"Thank you, Lorelei. Mhm... Yes. I will give you my number." She got out her phone and beckoned me to bring out mine, and we exchanged numbers. I was worried she'd break my phone screen or something, her palm was almost the size of it anyway.

"Do you play basketball or what?" I mumbled, zoned out completely. I didn't even realize I said it until she laughed again and put her hand on my back.

"Yes! Mhm... I guess you can tell." Georgie chuckled and walked away straight. While I had my phone out, I managed to text Melanie about it.

"hey, i forgot where the cave from when we were younger- can u plz come? after school, thx"

But maybe it won't be so bad. A dark cave with a stranger and a... "friend". Yeah... It's not bad at all.