Page 5 of Save Me

“Why not?” He acts offended, but still smirks like the son of a bitch is some sort of pussy magnet. “I’m a fucking model!”

“Granted, you are attractive, but…” She leans in closer, lowering her voice to barely more than a whisper, “you stink.” I have to bite my lips together to stop myself from laughing. “I’m really sorry, but you remind me of a tutor I once had who chain-smoked and had breath like a freshly fertilized field. My friends and I agreed to take it in turns to ask him a question when we got stuck. We knew we’d have to hold our breath to stop ourselves from smelling his. The thought of kissing someone who actively chooses to make their breath smell like that is enough to instantly put me off. So, sorry football Kyle, but it’s a hard pass from me.”

“Oooh, bitch is mean!” Kyle stands huffily while Sam wets himself in the corner; his laughter sounding a lot more genuine this time around. “Come on, man, this bitch is cold, and most likely locked together at the knee!”

They begin to walk away, muttering about the girl who just turned down the football God, Kyle Holmes. He continues to gripe all the way back to the party, probably calling her a whole host of names that are unwarranted.

“Sorry,” she calls out, “it was nice to meet you!”

She grins cheekily to herself and continues to read, clearly proud of the reaction she’s just induced. I’m half tempted to reveal myself and congratulate her on putting Kyle in his place, but then the back-gate creaks open, which tells me Bodhi has finally decided to show up. I still consider going over to her, but when I look up, she’s gone. Vanished!

“Hey, man,” Bodhi says as he lazily waves at me, already pulling out his stash, “what’s tickled you?”

“A nymph,” I reply with a shrug. “Where you been, stoner boy?”

“My apologies, Fenton, but there were some awesome waves,” he replies with a grin, “you know I don’t turn those down, not even for old friends like you. Speaking of, where the fuck have you been? We never see you our way anymore.”

“Life, Bodhi,” I reply sadly. I can’t even remember the last time I got my board out. “Soon I’ll get my shit together, then I’ll join you one eve.”

“Make sure you do,” he tells me as he points at me with a wide grin, “you’ve pissed off a few of the others by dissing us.”

“I know,” I admit with a nod, “what can I say? I’m an asshole!”

“Sure are, bro,” he says while we make the switch over between weed and cash. “Mind if I park here and call Annie? The old lady is doing her nut for some reason or another.”

“Knock yourself out but I gotta get back,” I tell him as I jack my thumb out in the direction of the fuck fest, “I’ve already spent over half an hour back here waiting for your ass to show.”

“Sure, sure.”

We fist bump before he meanders over to the bench where the strange, unknown girl was just sat, and begins to roll a joint. He pulls out his phone, which is scratched and cracked to shit, and begins to dial his partner of sorts. To be honest, I have no idea what Annie is to him, but then, I don’t know if he does either.

“Don’t be a stranger!” He points to me, and I wave back over my shoulder as I walk towards the safety of the games room in the basement.

Chapter 2

Beth

God, I really am a bitch sometimes! Though I’m sure they’ll torment me at school when it starts, so I may as well get my kicks in now. Besides, mother nature brought karma to me when I got a sudden urge to empty my bladder and had to walk through the sea of boobs, bottoms and way too much PDA. Once back outside, I walked over to my secret hideout as soon as my legs could possibly get me there, secretly relieved to have escaped the attention of any of the local wildlife that is randy, drunk teenagers. When I moved a final branch out of the way to get to my little bench, I grinned widely at the pleasant surprise that was awaiting me.

“What the hell are you doing here, Bodhi?” I cry out, running up to give him a lap hug. I kiss him on the cheek before messing with his hair. “Please tell me you’re here for the evening?”

“Fuck, no!” He squeezes me back. “This is not my scene at all, or yours for that matter. Why the hell are you here? Surely Daddy would be doing his nut if he knew where you were?”

“For once, Dad and I are in complete agreement over this party, just not for the same reasons,” I explain as he nods in understanding. “This one’s on Mum. She’s doing the whole ‘get out there and make friends’ routine. I tried to argue that I would rather be having my teeth pulled out with a pair of pliers, but it fell on deaf ears.”

“And what’s the final verdict?” he chuckles. Given the grimace I’m currently sporting, I bet he can already guess.

“It’s only one school year is all I’m going to say,” I answer with a full-on pout. “Please don’t tell me I’m missing a get-together at the beach?”

“Nah,” he smiles and lights up his blunt. “Annie’s pissed at me and some of us caught some waves, but that’s about it.” He offers me an inhale, but I shake my head, feeling a bit hypocritical for being a cow bag to whoever it was from earlier on. I don’t usually participate in smoking weed, but I have been known to try it at a few of their parties. It’s only to get my kicks in while I still can.

“What time is it?” I ask. “Can I sneak off to bed yet?”

“Fucked if I know,” he replies with the blunt gripped between his teeth as he glances down at his phone. “Eleven o’clock. That is early for you at one of our get together, but here? I would have passed out from boredom a good few hours ago. Speaking of, I gotta go, water baby.”

“Really?” I sigh with a whiney voice. “You’ve been the momentary light in this shitty evening.”

He merely smiles smugly as he theatrically takes a bow. Arsehole!

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