For Us: American Dreamers

Chapter 4: A Queen

Wilson's residence...

It's Saturday morning, the sun has barely joined the sky and Anastasia is already making sure that her ponytail is spot on. Once she's ready, she walks outside of her room, notices that her brother has fallen asleep on the couch and left the TV on. She takes a blanket from his room and covers him, wondering where the hell Sean is and why he didn't take his husband to their bed. "Anyways..." she whispers and ties her shoes, then she heads outside for a jog while she listens to Wasabi by Little Mix. After a half hour, her phone starts buzzing like crazy and then she remembers that she has to join the rest of the cheerleaders so they can plan a kick ass birthday party for Jade, a senior high schooler, cheerleader and Anastasia's only kiss with a girl.

She starts running towards the rest of the girls and arrives barely on time to help with the shopping and party planning. "How are we going to pull all of this off until the afternoon?" she wonders even though she knows that they are definitely going to be able to handle it just fine.

Orleston Park.
One hour later...

In the meantime, Hayley is sitting at a bench, hiding a local newspaper and checking every available job in Orleston. "Crap, crappy, disgusting...Oh girl with the whole package for Saint Louis Bar...I'm never going to find a job..." she says to herself as she starts losing hope that something good will come up. Half of the jobs asks specifically for a man and the others are not for her age range. Then she notices the cheerleaders walking out of the pizza store, all dressed up, clearly heading to a party.

For a second she envies them but she knows that trying to make friends can wait since she first needs to help her sister with their income. "Hello there pretty lady!" Roy appears out of the blue, he is holding a coffee in his hands and asks if he can sit with her at the bench. "You can sit, but if you try to touch me, I will hurt you...For real!" she warns him and he cracks a smile.

"I think you have misunderstood me...That day in class, when I made that stupid joke, I wasn't being serious. I'm a good guy." he points out trying to clear his image.

"Roy, you always make some misogynistic joke in every class." she adds and he grabs her newspaper.

"Let's see what you are reading with such a devotion. Work, work, work...boring. The girls are having a party, you should come with me, make friends..." he says and wraps his arm around her. She smiles and kicks his foot. "I guess that's a no?" he asks even though he knows the answer while she gets up and leaves.

Wilson Residence.
In the meantime.

George is sitting at the sofa, drinking wine and is watching the latest reality show. He calls Olivia to asks her if she wants to come by but she is stuck at her apartment, being incredibly busy since she has to grade tests. "Hey George, you don't mind right?"

"No, of course not...We will reschedule for tomorrow...Hey Liv-" before he can finishes his sentence, Olivia hangs up on him since she is on the clock. George sighs and closes the TV. He gets off the couch and walks at the backyard, he looks at the sky and whispers, "I'm alone..."

Orleston's rooftop bar.
2 hours later.

Anastasia and the rest of the girls are celebrating Jade's birthday by dancing non stop. The blonde beauty however is a little off since she feels like Roy is not giving her the attention she wants lately. She grabs her phone and checks her insta feed, noticing that Roy has commented in Hayley's latest pictures. "Bastard..." she whispers and walks quickly inside the toilet. She finds herself in front of the mirror and has a flashback of her dad being convicted for abuse, she remembers how her mother is not even around and when Wayne broke up with her because he found her extremely jealous since he left for college.

Then she notices that her hair need some care and releases them from the long ponytail, letting the long, golden hair to embrace her body. Then Cameron walks inside and he seems confused. "What are you loser doing here?" she asks him, seemingly annoyed. Cameron looks at her and responds, "What am I doing in the boys toilet? I'm confused..."

Once she realizes that she quickly turns around feeling super embarrassed and tries to flee but unfortunately for her, the young boy notices a glimpse of a tear on her right eye. He stands in front of the door and looks at her, "Are you okay? You really don't seem okay..." he points out.

"I'm fine...it's not like I'm going to pour my heart out to some stranger..." she responds immediately.

"Sure, okay...go out there looking like a cry baby, I don't care." he adds, knowing that she will open up if he does something to make her question her perfect looks. "Why do we live in a society that expects us to be perfect?" she asks the boy. He leans on the wall and thinks about it for a second...

"I don't know, I never cared about that stuff..." Cameron responds.

"For the past three years, I have tried to live up to the legend that my step sister is around here. From young cheerleader to mother of a young child by the age of eighteen. My father abused my mother, Diana...me." she concludes as she keeps looking at the mirror. Cameron is left speechless and doesn't know what to say to Anastasia. She turns to him and says,"Yeah, that's why I don't mention these things...keep that between us or I will make you sorry!" then she puts on some red lipstick and turns around, walking outside looking perfect, just like a queen.

Wilson's residence
Meanwhile...

George calls Sean but he doesn't pick up, instead texting him that he is busy with paperwork at the school. Since he is completely alone in the house, he decides to open a wine and call his sister to see what she is up to. However before he is able to do so someone knocks the door and he heads there to see who is looking for them. Once he opens the door and finds Olivia standing in front of him with a bottle of wine...

"I just couldn't stand the idea of you being here all alone." the young woman says to her friend.

"Liv, although I know how genuine you are, don't forget that we all remember what day it is..."

"I couldn't stop thinking about him today George or every other day for that matter..." Olivia tries to hold her tears back and hugs her best friend, letting him know that she is still suffering from the actions of that fatal night.

"Hey I'm here, you are okay...you hear me?" he says to her and closes the door.

A little after midnight...

Anastasia says goodbye to the rest of the cheerleaders after the party. On her way back, she feels like someone is following her, so she walks inside an alley and hits in the balls the person that was walking in there too. "Ugh that hurts!" Cameron says in pain and the young girl steps out of the shadows to see if he is alright. "Why the hell did you follow me?" she asks him.

"I was trying...to...reach you." he says as he turns purple.

"That was a dumb idea, I'm faster than all of you jocks combined, you would have never reached me." the girl says with pride and helps him get up.

"It's pretty late and after what you told me at the party, I guess I wanted to see if you are alright and protect you from the weirdos that come out during this hour." Cameron explains why he is there at the moment. Anastasia starts laughing, watching Cameron trying to recover from her lethal kick. "Yeah, my knight in shining armor, how about I take you home to recover, Batman?" she makes fun of him and the boy tries to hold his laugh.

"You know what? That would be great Harley Quinn." he responds with a little bit of annoyance in his voice and the keep walking towards their homes in a dark Orleston street while the streetlights light up the road.

To be continued...