Page 48 of Slumming It
This wasn't true. None of us were crazy, but wewereloyal. In contrast, Morgan and Nikki called their own mothers the c-wordall the time – maybe not to their faces, but the point remained. Loyalty wasn't their thing.
Of the two of them, Morgan was the most dangerous. In high school, she had been the undisputed queen bee, and not only because her family was the wealthiest in town. She reallywasgorgeous – even if I hated to admit it. But of course, Morgan's mom had been Miss Michigan back in the day, so it was hardly surprising.
Morgan and Nikki were still going back and forth when I heard something new in the distance. The way it sounded, another vehicle was coming up hard and fast from the direction of town.
I looked toward the noise just in time to see a bright yellow sportscar roar up from around the bend. I jumped back as it veered onto the shoulder and squealed to a sudden stop barely two feet from Morgan's back bumper.
Morgan and Nikki turned to stare as a curvy middle-aged blonde wearing a red leather jacket and tight black jeans emerged from the driver's side of the exotic-looking vehicle. The woman slammed the door shut behind her and marched toward us on feet clad in…what the heck? White bedroom slippers?
Well, that was unexpected.
All three of us were still staring when the woman called out, "What areyoulookin' at?"
Morgan called back, "We're looking atyou, psycho."
The woman stopped walking. Her eyes narrowed as she said in a smoky voice, "Yeah, well if you look any harder, I'll have to charge extra." A slow demonic grin spread across her face. "And yeah, maybe Iama psycho, so unless you want a boot up your skinny ass, you'll get the fuck out of here."
Morgan and Nikki shared an incredulous glance before Morgan pushed her sunglasses up onto her head and said with a laugh, "How? You're not evenwearingboots."
Nikki pushed up her sunglasses, too. "Yeah, seriously, what's with the slippers?"
The woman looked down, muttered a few choice words, and looked up with a murderous glare. "Don't worry," she told them, "I've got cowboy boots in the trunk. Real shit-kickers, too.Don'tmake me get them."
"Cowboyboots?" Morgan scoffed. "Are you for real?"
"Oh, honey," the woman sneered. "I’m realer than you know." She pointed toward the road ahead. "Andyouneed to leave.Now."
"Why shouldweleave?" Morgan demanded. "We were here first."
I couldn't resist. "Actually," I called out to Morgan, "Iwas here first.Youwere here second." I pointed to her sidekick. "Which puts Nikki in third place."
Nikki made a sound of protest, "Why amIthird?" she said, giving me an annoyed look. "If anyone's third, it should be you."
Morgan and Nikki had always been extremely competitive, even in the smallest things, like high school volleyball or likes on social media. This, of course, compelled me to add in my snottiest voice, "Sorry, no trophy for you."
Even as I said it, I realized this was a ridiculous thing to say, especially considering that trophieswereawarded for third place – at least as far as I knew.
I mean, I was no expert.
But sure enough, the barb found its mark, and Nikki began to sputter. "Hey! I've got ten times the trophiesyou'llever have."
This was probably true. Back in high school, both of them had racked up plenty of trophies for cheerleading and gymnastics, while I'd earned only a single trophy in my whole life – a tiny plastic one for finishing second in the third-grade spelling bee.
But hey, who was counting, right?
In the driver's seat, Morgan snapped, "Will you two shut up?"
Nikki whirled to face her. "Why shouldIshut up? I'm onyourside, you know."
As they bickered back and forth, the blonde stranger looked to me and asked, "You need a ride?"
I blinked.I did, in fact.But still I hesitated. The woman was a self-proclaimed psycho, and she certainly drove like one. If the sounds of her arrival were any indicator, she had been going at least a hundred miles an hour.
How crazy wouldIbe to get into her car?
I was still debating my response when I realized that Morgan and Nikki were no longer bickering. Morgan looked toward the woman and said, "Hey!Wewere gonna offer her a ride."
In the passenger's seat, Nikki's forehead creased with apparent confusion. "No, we weren't."
