Page 35 of The Rebel of Raleigh High
15
ALEX
Leon goes back inside,but I need a moment to clear my mind. I can’t face the football team right now. All I really wanna do is think for a second, to try and wrap my head around the idea that Silver used to align herself with Kacey and her clones. I don’t hate Halliday, but the rest of them are vacuous witches without an independent thought between them, and it’s strangely unbearable to think Silver used to be like that. Likethem.
Around the side of the house, I'm unsurprised to come across a swimming pool. Steam rises off the illuminated body of water, up toward the night sky. Leon made it seem as though his father didn't want to support his commitment to his swimming, wanted him to do anything else but swim, but this makes a different statement altogether. Usually, people have modest pools in their back yards, kidney-shaped, maybe with a fountain or a waterfall. Not Leon's, though. Leon's pool was clearly not put here for relaxation purposes. It's an Olympic sized pool, fiercely rectangular, long and thin with only three lanes. Leon must come out here every morning and swim a thousand fucking laps to justify such a huge, obnoxious body of water.
There are sun loungers to one side of the pool, though they look like they’ve never been used. I sit my ass down on one and then lie back, staring up at the clear sky. Up there, the heavens are a midnight blue, the color of deep, dark water. The stars are incredibly bright, like burning pinpricks of silver.
Silver.
Silver.
My phone feels like a lead weight in the inside pocket of my leather jacket. I pat my hands against my chest, contemplating taking it out and pulling up her phone number. Maybe hitting the dial button. I wonder briefly where she is. What she’s doing. It’s late, almost one thirty in the morning, so the likeliest answer to those questions is that she’s in bed, asleep, and she wouldn’t appreciate a drunk dial fromme.
A burst of giggled laughter disrupts the quiet behind me, to my right, and I hear the sound of a door closing. The hurried padding of feet follows, and I know immediately that someone’s headed this way, toward the pool. I close my eyes, annoyance rippling beneath the calm surface of my exterior. It’s too late to get up and get the fuck out of here without being seen, and I don’t feel like I should have to move to make room for a gaggle of Raleigh High’s social elite anyway. However, when I crack my eyes and realize who’s coming running around the side of the building, wrapped in nothing but towels, I wish I had gotten to my feet and bolted.
Halliday, Kacey, Zen, and three other girls all study me with amused eyes as they tiptoe toward the pool. They all have wet hair, which makes it seem as though this isn’t their first dip into the water. Halliday’s expression tenses when our eyes meet, but Zen’s on the other hand…There’s something fucking wrong with that girl. She doesn’t seem to be getting it, and I don’t know of many more ways to tell her to fuck off without getting really hostile. She bounces on the balls of her feet when she sees me, covering her mouth with her hand as she leans over to whisper excitedly in Kacey's ear, and I swallow down a groan. Kacey's eyes cut to find me, and she arches an assessing eyebrow—she seems to be considering something. Zen clasps her hands in front of her chest, doing little hops from one foot to the other, her mouth stretched wide, bearing her teeth as she clearly says, “Pleeeeeeeeeeease?”
Kacey sighs, rolling her eyes at Zen, but she nods all the same. Zen squeals like she just got something she desperately wanted for Christmas. Halliday dumps her towel on the tiles by the side of the pool—she’s wearing a pink bikini and doesn’t seem bothered by the fact that I’m here to witness it. But then, why would she? She’s strutted around the stage at the Rock half naked, her tits hanging out of her doctored Raleigh High cheerleader uniform. One guy sitting by a pool isn’t going to faze her now.
The other girls shed their towels, all of them wearing a scant, tiny swimsuit or bikini of some description. Zen makes a point of bending over, ass facing me, making sure I get a good look at her as she stoops to fiddle with the ankle straps of her sandals, taking her time to unfasten them. She’s shit out of luck, though. I’m not interested, and I’m not looking. I go back to lying down on the lounger, my eyes firmly fixed on the stars overhead.
A series of loud splashes, along with girlish, high pitched squeals, signal that they’ve jumped into the water. Still, I don’t look.
The door opens again, and Jake's voice carries on the fresh, autumnal air. “You girls better be naked,” he calls. “My dick could break concrete right now.”
Gross. I don’t wanna think about Jake’s boner, or what nightmarish catastrophe is about to take place in that pool. Gradually pulling myself up into a seating position, I’m about to get to my feet when Jake sidles past me wearing board shorts and slumps down on the lounger next to mine. He holds out a beer to me, grinning from ear to ear. “Saw you out of the window there. Looked like you needed this.”
I don’t want the beer. I specifically don’t want it because he brought it out for me, but I can’t be an asshole. Not if I want to put all of these moving pieces into place and get what I want out of this fucked up situation. The glass is beaded with condensation, cool in my hands. The night’s growing colder, and it feels as though it’s going to start raining any second now, but the beer’s still somehow refreshing. I press the beveled rim to my mouth and allow the golden liquid to pour down the back of my throat, raising my eyebrows at the guy sitting across from me.
“There are some shorts inside for you if you want them, man. Leon has a thousand pairs. He doesn’t mind us borrowing his shit at these things. Mind you, from what I heard earlier, both Zen and Halliday wouldn’t mind if you jumped into the pool sans shorts.”
“I’m actually gonna head home in a beat.” I’m firm. My tone brooks no arguments. Not that Jake pays any attention to that.
“Ahh, come on, Moretti. The pool’s a right of passage. It’s gotta be done.”
I pull on the beer again, draining half the bottle in one swift move. I could drain the whole thing right now and get the fuck out of here if I wanted to, but Jacob would probably see it as a slight against him. I need to draw this out at least a few more minutes before I get to my feet. “Sorry, man. I’m just not feelin’ it. I got shit I have to take care of, anyway.”
“Let me guess,” Jake says, wagging the neck of his beer at me conspiratorially. “You can’t swim, and you don’t wanna embarrass yourself.”
“I swim like a fish.”
“Then, what? There are six beautiful women in that pool right now, and in about ten minutes none of them are gonna be wearing any clothes. Beautiful naked mermaid shit. Tell me you aren’t justdyingto see that. Don’t you like tits?”
“I like tits just fine. But I have better things on the agenda.”
“What does that even mean? What’s better than tits? Hey, Zen!” Jake calls. “Your boy’s talking about leaving. I suggest you do something to capture his attention and do it fast!”
It’s Kacey that answers, not Zen. “Don’t worry. We have something in mind for the newest student at Raleigh High. It’d be rude not to give him a proper welcome, don’t you think, baby?”
Jake whoops, throwing his hands up in the air, spilling beer all over the place. “That’s my girl. Come on, Kay Kay. Let’s see what you got!”
I’ve never been a relationship guy. I’ve been around plenty of other guys in relationships, though, and as far as I can remember none of them have encouraged their girlfriends to get naked to impress another man. If I went to the trouble of committing to a girl, I’d destroy any motherfucker whose gaze lingered too long in her direction. This just feels gross on so many fucking levels.
“Watch, man,” Jake says, laughing. “Just fucking watch. These girls are dirty as fuck.”
Sure enough, Kacey and Zen are stroking and caressing each other, unfastening each other’s bikini tops. It happens all too quickly. One second, they’re nuzzling at each other, smiling, whispering into each other’s mouths, and then the next they’re kissing, their tongues lapping at each other, flicking each other’s lips. The water’s lapping around their bare tits, their hands roving over each other’s skin. Kacey gasps as Zen ducks down, taking her nipple in between her teeth. She licks and sucks at the dark, swollen bud of flesh, and Jake grabs hold of my arm, digging his fingers into the sleeve of my jacket.
