Young, Dumb, Broke High School Kids
Young, Dumb, Broke High School Kids
“You’ll never believe who liked my IG post last night?”
Aliyah mirrors her friend’s actions as they take their seats on the school benches with their respective lunches.
“The one where you’re where you were in Greece wearing basically nothing?” sarcastically quips one of their friends.
“I was wearing clothes. I was wearing a bikini-duh,” equally sarcastically retorts Lucy with a cheerful middle finger up to the offender, “but no. Weirdly enough not that one. It was the one where I was wearing that cute red top-”
“You mean my cute red top?” interrupts Aliyah to which Lucy just shrugs.
“Maybe…But yes, guess who?!”
Aliyah glances across to the last one of their little trio-Maddy. Their prolonged silence a game they love to play on Lucy, who cannot keep quiet for the life of her, makes the poor girl scream silently.
“Guys! This is huge, okay, come on!”
Aliyah gives in. After all, she has known Lucy since like kindergarten.
“Fine, tell us, we are just dying to know.”
“Isaac Taylor.”
Both Lucy and Maddy fixate their gaze on Aliyah observing closely for signs of a volatile explosion but Aliyah simply rolls her eyes.
“I don’t care. I’m over him.”
Maddy nods slowly like she doesn’t believe her while Lucy also gazes at her speculatively.
“Seriously, I don’t! We were together for sophomore year. It’s been almost 2 years since that, I’m totally over him.”
“Girl,” whispers Lucy, “wasn’t he your…first?”
Aliyah feels her breath catch as always when conversation comes around to this. Despite sharing almost everything with the 2 people around her she calls sisters from different misters, that is something she cannot reveal. Isaac and her had dated at the start of sophomore year and at the time she hadn’t been ready to do anything more than kissing. As they’d kept seeing each other, things had naturally progressed but never to that. Something in her had kept pulling her back and it turns out that despite saying he’d wait and be faithful, Isaac wasn’t. He’d hooked up with some other girl and with it being high school and all, she’d soon found out. They quickly broke up and for some reason Isaac had never dissuaded the assumption that they’d had séx. Aliyah knows that she should have at least been honest with her friends but things had been so crazy and by the time she realised, it was too late for her to say anything.
“What a díck. You trust someone with that kind of intimacy and they do that. Fúcking a-hole,” curses out Maddy shaking her head.
Aliyah feels comforted definitely by the fact that her girls will always have her back no matter what, but honestly he wants to forget about Isaac. She doesn’t care about him, especially not with bigger things on her plate. Her parents want her going Ivy and if she doesn’t get the grades this year, it might not happen. Not only that but she knows college is going to be her time. She’s determined to have the full college experience, bad, good and everything in between. Although for that, on her bucket list is to first lose her pesky V-card.
“I told you Le, best way to get over a díck is to get on one.”
Maddy wrinkles her nose at Lucy’s philosophy but Aliyah can only snort in laughter.
While Lucy is definitely their adventurous one, Maddy is more their reserved one. The girl’s waiting for marriage and with that in mind, neither Lucy nor Aliyah had expected the shocking revelation their innocent friend is secretly the dirtiest minded out of them all.
“I don’t know. A good rabbit is much more reliable. Plus, it can’t talk so it can’t lie or cheat on you,” retorts Maddy.
“Guys, honestly I am over Isaac. He apologized a long time ago and we talked and we’re cool. So…Luce if you want to go there with him…”
“Ew, girl, no. So he’s got the whole Blake Griffin thing going on and he’s probably going to get a ball scholarship but I would never touch that with a 10-foot pole okay? Never.”
Aliyah can’t help but laugh at her friend’s conviction.
“Although…I do wanna know one thing.”
One dark eyebrow raises as Aliyah responds, “go on.”
“How big of a pole are we talking? And…was he any good at using it?”
“Oh Jesus, Lucy! Talk about a one track mind. Besides it’s probably rotted away from all his skanky behaviour and-”
“Yeah but I mean pre-skankiness. Come Le, we never got these details.”
Aliyah winces mentally preparing for the way to lie the least but either way not admitting the truth means she’s going to be doing at least a little.
“Ehh, well I mean…It was my first time. But he was…well-proportioned to his body.”
The last part wasn’t a lie at least. They did get to just short of final base.
Her two friends glance over behind her to Isaac’s normal table-the one closest to the hoops-as they rake over his tall, broad statue and come to the correct conclusion.
“Oh,” mumbles Lucy while Aliyah can only giggle and shake her head.
“Well, whatever, he’s still you’re ex-”
“Lucy, if you want to go there I don’t-”
“Yeah yeah whatever. I’m not and also, he’s still in high school. You know I’ve got my no high school rule.”
Both Maddy and Aliyah exchange glances knowing full well about her no high-school rule. It hadn’t started out that way but since getting her heart broken, Lucy had put on this persona of some ultra-confident no-strings attached player. So far it hasn’t got her into anything dangerous but Aliyah forever the worrier is concerned it could.
“Except Ren Becker,” points out Maddy, “I would marry then fúck that boy in a heartbeat.”
“Ahmen sister,” nods Lucy and even Aliyah has to agree to that.
Lawrence ‘Ren’ Becker would be their equivalent of the rebel misfit. While their school isn’t private, most of the kids attending including Aliyah are all relatively well off. For instance, none of the people she knows has a part time job unlike Ren. Unlike Ren, if they wear clothes with rips in them or are faded it’s because that’s the way it was sold. Still despite being a private kind of guy, he’s always rumoured to be seeing a different girl every month. Yet shockingly, none of them seem to care about the others or bítch about him. Aliyah doesn’t know what voodoo magic he’s doing to cause that, but it must be pretty powerful.
“Yeah, imagine having him be your cherry popper. Damn,” sighs Lucy.
“He can suck my cherry all night long-”
“Oh my God, you guys are gross!” laughs Aliyah before they continue on objectifying the poor guy.
Thank God, it’s all just between them girls.
Just a few more weeks to go and she’ll be in a completely different part of the country, living with completely different people and sleeping in a completely different bed. Aliyah clips back the polaroid photo of the girls and her nearer the start of summer when they went crazy in Cuba. It had been both a celebration of graduating high school and of Maddy’s 18th. A few more weeks and she’ll barely get to see them unless it’s for the holidays. Aliyah pushes away those melancholy thoughts after all, college is going to be fun. It’ll be great. Just great.
At least she knows now the type of person she is. At least she’s already starting it with some confidence in herself. Being black in a mainly white school hadn’t been the easiest thing, never mind when going through puberty she suddenly spouted a butt bigger than most of the girls in her class at the time. Or the fact that being black, in her family she was the skinny one. Her aunties all had full curvy figures and they’d insisted she’d grow into hers but here she is at 18 and she’s still rocking that B cup. But as her mom told her each time she’d petition for that new push up, bóobs are boóbs and they’re there to serve a purpose.
It did eventually sink in and now the push ups are just for those special dresses to help balance out her frame.
All that confidence in her body learnt over that period of high school and Aliyah can’t wonder why it is then she can’t seem to find the right guy to lose her virginity to. She could always try Isaac. People already assume she lost it to him. Would it be so bad to make that a truth? He was…okay and 2 times out of 5 he’d gone down on her she truly did have an orgásm. That’s not too bad right? Aliyah groans under her breath. No what’s she thinking, he would be a disaster.
Every time she’d even touched his díck he’d acted like some overenthusiastic puppy. She doubts he’s got any better in the past 2 years and honestly, she dares not risk it.
Though what options does that leave her? It’s not like she can manage to hook a boyfriend for these last few weeks so one night stands will have to be it. Which would ultimately be better as there’d be no emotional ties when she does move away.
She could always ask Lucy for one of the many guys her best friend knows. One of them would surely be willing to relieve her of such an inconvenience. However, asking Lucy would mean confessing her lie of omission and if Lucy gets upset at her now, their friendship may never recover. So where the hell does that leave her? She’ll need someone that she knows (to make sure they’re not some serial killer), someone good looking enough she gets wet and most importantly someone who’ll be discrete- not blabbing to everyone. Now where in the world can she find this miracle man? Because he sure as hell can’t be on Earth.
In the middle of the night, Aliyah’s resting brain finally sparks up the room with her lightbulb moment. Afraid she’ll forget, Aliyah in a half conscious state grasps for a pen and sticky note on the bedside table before she scribbles down the fleeting thought. Secure in the knowledge she’ll remember in the morning, she rolls back to sleep.
Ren.
Why the fúck did she write down Ren? What does that even mean? Ren…Becker? Ren Becker. Of course! It clicks. Ren Becker would be the perfect first time partner. Experienced, good looking and most of all discrete. She certainly wouldn’t be opposed to it but it’s not just up to her. But then what if he’s one of those guys that feels weird about being a girl’s first? So she’ll just need a game plan. That’s fine, she’s a planner after all and if Christine wasn’t her middle name it definitely should have been tenacious.
Aliyah recounts her list mentally waiting for entry into the venue. Her phone buzzes as she gets the text from Lucy replying with a thumbs up. She could always count on that girl. Of course for covering for her Lucy would need to know her reasons. She had been honest with the going to a gig part but she’d also lied and said it was on a date with a college guy. A guy that obviously exists especially seeing as how her girls would most definitely internet stalk him, just that she has no idea what he’s up to tonight just that he’s not with her.
It’s not exactly her type of scene. Sure she like rock and roll but this had been advertised to have a few metal bands performing too and being more of an Ariana Grande, Katy Perry type girl, she’s not too sure she’ll enjoy it. Although even if it was ‘bubblegum’ pop music, with the nerves fluttering in her stomach she wouldn’t even be able to appreciate that either. It’s not nerves from the actual thought of having séx but the uncertainty and possibility of rejection from Ren.
Too late now. The bouncer glances at her fake ID and waves her through.
Aliyah takes a deep breath keeping herself narrow and to herself as she wades through the crowds towards the stage. Despite the darkened room she knows she doesn’t exactly blend in with target audience wearing no item of black clothing and instead opting for a dusky pink, off the shoulder dress that makes her skin glow and light make up. She had considered blending in slightly better with the crowds but she’d figured she could use the help of her lucky dress. Besides, considering her natural afro curls whatever place she’s in she’s always going to stand out.
The first few bands were okay. Rock, which she could handle. Her body had swayed, her head bouncing to the beat as she brushed off the bumps from the jostling crowd growing increasingly drunker. Her breath catches as she waits in anticipation for the announcement of the next band. When it turns out not to be Ren’s, she deflates slightly the relief mixing with anxiousness as she watches them take their places and plug in.
Overcome suddenly with doubt, she finds herself drifting backwards, her feet taking her directly on a path to the exit. It’s in one moment of clarity that she stops herself. The people behind her curse as they almost bump into her but she shrugs it off. Instead, Aliyah realises it’s time for some liquid courage. Not enough to get her sloppy drunk of course, but a small buzz to calm herself and pull out the confidence she normally has.
Shots seems wrong without the girls however desperate times call for desperate measures. Aliyah downs the Sambuka, flinching only slightly at the burn of liquor down her throat. Another one down and although she’s yet to feel it, the false bravado returns dragging her back into the anonymity of the pulsating crowd.
The shots hit, the music enunciating they’re unwinding sensation. Through half shut eyes Aliyah barely realises that the it’s finally Ren’s band turning up to the stage. As the drummer he takes his seat at the back and while all his band members are undeniably hot, it’s to him her eyes are drawn to. Their music is most definitely heavy metal, a genre that is not for Aliyah yet despite their loudness, she is able to tune them out. Her mind focusing on the wild, brash movements of the boy-man she gains glimpses off within the darkness and the lead singer.
There is just something so hypnotising about his ability. The passion, power and skill all bleed together pouring through the audience like the River Styx and Aliyah is swept away. Her hands too rise up, one pair in the hundreds that call out to them.
It’s over far too quickly. They played about 3 songs but for the life of her Aliyah could not remember much of any single one. The spell is broken as the lead singer announces his thanks on behalf of the band and they all slide out. Her rich brown eyes blink into the present, pinpointing the exit off the stage the band leaves through. Spotting a door beside the stage, she figures that must be the way to the back rooms. With that in mind, her mission to make it to that way is simple. She sidesteps over the group in a mosh pit, the couple heavily making out and the idiots still bouncing up and down with no music playing and drinks in their hands.
Of course, things are never too easy and in her mind, Aliyah had figured the easiest part would be seducing Ren, not actually getting to him. The side door has a keypad lock, obviously. Even a venue and dump as small as this has some sort of security. She has no choice but to wait it out. The minutes’ pass by agonisingly slowly but thankfully a girl in their black uniform juggling a few beers stride towards the door. Aliyah leans back against the wall, her arms crossed as she pretends to be waiting for someone. With just a sly glance, she notes the number lock combination.
It takes all her self-control not to key in the code and enter straight away. Instead Aliyah waits until the girl exits again before.
Maybe she should have worn black, at least then she could pass off better as an employee. Too late now. Glancing around, she keys in the code and without a single backward glance slips through. The flimsy door doesn’t drown out much of the noise but as she moves further along the narrow hallway, it dulls. The distance between her and the door at the end isn’t far, yet guilty in her trespassing it sure feels it. There are 2 doors either side. She tests out the left one first and peering out into the darkness where cables line the floor like snakes, Aliyah quickly realises it’s the one to get onto the stage. The one of the right is locked so that just leaves the final one at the end which is slightly ajar. As she nears it, the sound of male laughter and voices is evident.
Her heart is pounding. Yet another thing Aliyah hadn’t taken into account-other people. Suddenly, the alcohol in her stomach seems to turn to vinegar and she feels so very sick. Getting rejected is bad enough, getting rejected and having witnesses is even worse. She can’t do it. She can’t. What a stupid dumb idea. She should never have done this, never never have-
“Woah, hey!”
Aliyah stumbles back as the tall, slender, tattooed man with long curling hair bumps into her before promptly steadying her.
“Oh sorry, I…”
He doesn’t wait to hear her explanation, instead carrying on. The door is most definitely wide open now and the many guys (and 2 girls) in the room focus on her in confusion.
There’s a painfully awkward moment of silence as she stares at them in horror and they stare back at her.
“Can we help? You lost? Or with one of the bands?” asks one of the guys.
This one also has long hair, only his is pulled into a bun and he has a cigarette in his mouth.
“Um,” mumbles Aliyah scanning the room for her target and hopefully her rescuer from this painful situation, “Ren. I’m looking for Ren.”
Their eyes swing to a spot in the corner when Ren is hunched over, headphones in, wrapping up his drumsticks. Feeling all their gazes on him Ren glances up, popping one bud out.
“What?”
The guy that had been talking to Aliyah nods in her direction for Ren.
“She says she’s here to see you.”
Beneath her dark skin Aliyah feels herself burning up. She shifts her weight as she clears her throat and summons her voice.
“Er, yeah. I…I just needed to talk to you really quickly.”
All the way across the room, with some of their audience still interested, Ren looks her up and down and it only takes a split second before recognition hits him. She admits, that hurts a little bit. Their high school had been big but she hadn’t exactly been a nobody. She’d been fairly popular. Prom committee, head of debate club and a member of the student fundraiser society, people had known her for (hopefully) the right reasons.
“I’m leaving, we’ll talk and walk,” he announces to her.
The dictation irritates her a little but Aliyah concedes without argument. After all, it is his time she’s needing.
Turning to the group he states, “alright catch you guys later.”
A bunch of mumbles goodbyes are directed his way as he saunters over to her.
In his dark, acid wash jeans and black vest top, Aliyah can’t help the comparison of his stride to that of a graceful panther. He eases into his black leather jacket and sticks his drumsticks in his back pocket before gliding to a stop next to Aliyah. She can smell the musk of his deodorant mixed with hints of sweat. It should be gross, it totally should, but it’s not.
He jerks his head in a come on kind of way and they stride down the hallway. Aliyah feels her bare shoulders brushing against his leather jacket, she’s sure he doesn’t realise it but she is acutely aware of it. The walk is too short for her to be able to both dig up the courage to talk to him and to fully get him around to the idea.
As they reach the door, he opens it up waving her through. His front skims her back, shoulder bending slightly as he leans down to allow her to hear him through the noise.
“Head for the exit.”
Though not one to simply follow commands, she recognises they’ll need somewhere quiet to talk and does as he directs. As they wave through, his hands come to lie at her waist, a move she figures is not so much as him trying to put it on her, but rather for protection.
The rush of cold air of the midnight has Aliyah shivering. It’s California, she hadn’t expected it to be so cool. Then again she hadn’t planned on staying for so long. In her mind, Ren’s band would be playing first she’d grab him and they’d go. He turns to speak to her when a couple of girls’ stumble into her. She lurches forward only for her momentum to be stopped by Ren.
“Alright come on,” he mutters, taking her by the shoulder and leading her this time along to road to his sleek muscle car.
“So…what?” shrugs Ren opening the car to toss in his sticks before leaning against it.
He faces her awaiting an explanation and that increases the pressure for Aliyah.
“I um,” Aliyah takes a deep breath. She can do this. It’s just like any other presentation right? Or like an interview. She just has to sell herself.
“My name’s Aliyah. We went to the same high school-”
“I know who you are Princess,” he interrupts, “what I want to know is what you want from me.”
“Er well…I. It’s a little bit of delicate matter, you see.”
He blinks at her, his expression neutral as he deadpan tells her, “no, I don’t see.”
Well fúck. Now what? It’s not like she can blurt out ‘take me’ on the sidewalk. With another crisp breeze passing between them, Aliyah shivers, her hands folding over to keep warm.
“Ren…”
Ren sighs, tugging off his jacket and draping it over her slim shoulders. He nods to the passenger seat.
“Get in, then. I’ll drop you off and you can tell me whatever it is on the way.”
Aliyah sighs glad she’s not blown this already. Although there’s no way they’re heading to hers.
“So where am I driving?”
Aliyah drapes the heavy faux leather over her knees, strapping on the seatbelt.
“To yours,” she states.
Time she takes fúcking control of this shítshow.
Ren snorts in laughter, “yeah right. Seriously, where do you live Princess?”
Aliyah keeps herself poised as she faces him and in all seriousness responds, “my parents are home. They think I’m staying with a friend. I can’t go back home tonight.”
Ren shakes his head, “fine, then I’ll drop you off at the friend’s.”
“I’m not going to hers. She doesn’t know I came here and if I go there now it’ll be a load of questions.”
“Jesus. Why are you here then? Don’t tell me you like the music ’cause I’ve never seen you at any of the other gigs.”
“I’ll tell you once we get to yours,” she bargains.
They lock eyes, his greenish grey ones boring into her coffee browns. A battle of wills begins and this time Aliyah’s not backing down to him. He knows when he’s beat. There’s not much else he can do when she’s so stubborn and unwilling to give him hers or her friend’s address.
“Suit yourself,” he groans.
