When They See Us (Book 1.0)

Chapter Twelve

Adelaide

"Gi Gi pass me my halo" She tosses the white circular ring toward me, and I glance in the mirror, attempting to put it into place. I clip it into my hair and smooth down the flyaways.

"Beautiful," Gina says, kissing my cheek. I smile, but it doesn't make it to my ears. I'm not sure why I'm still in this weird mood, it's been almost two months since the incident with Macy. I don't want to think about her anymore. Her name gives me a sour taste in my mouth, which should be washed down by the sparkling mocktails I'll be drinking in a few minutes.

I'm not allowed to get completely wasted anymore. After the Labor Day party, I promised my parents. They grounded me for a month, and I could only go to school and come home. Even going to Gina's house was out of the question. She had no choice but to come to me. Thankfully, Mrs. Lewis grounded her with the exception of going to my house. We haven't even been allowed to go shopping. Fortunately, our punishment ended just in time for that Halloween party downtown. When our parents lifted the suspension on our cards, Gi and I were back at the mall, wasting our allowance on these stunning Devil and Angel costumes. It's not difficult to figure out who is which.

As I apply white shimmery eye shadow, my thoughts drift to the brown freckled irritant I've been avoiding. I have the impression that we are both ignoring one another. She still comes to school on occasion, but we never speak. I rarely glance at her, but when I do, I notice how different she's starting to look. I mean, she has never dressed to impress, but her hair suddenly seems to be in these messy waves all the time, and the bags under her eyes have gone deep purple. She also appears to have shed a great deal of weight, which is unusual given the short length of time that has passed.

When she doesn't show up to school, my mind nags me to go to her house and find out more about her drug addiction. I feel like I'm the only one who knows about it and sees how bad it's getting. My father is well aware of the situation, Macy told me so, but I haven't spoken to my parents about it yet. Dad asked me whether I remembered anything from the night I passed out, when they picked Gi and I up from the hotel. I told her no, wondering if I might have spilled the beans about why Macy and I had stopped talking. Her response was, "I figured!" before proceeding to tell me and Gina that we had been punished. Neither of us was angry. We actually smirked at each other before bursting out laughing. Gina and I have done nothing except get punished together since we became best friends. She's my partner in crime.

"How do I look?" Gina says, turning me away from the mirror.

I take a look down at her clothes. She's dressed in a red leather pencil skirt and a tub top. Her top has red feathery wings attached to the back, and her matching stiletto heels strap up to her knees. I smile as I adjust the devil horns on her head.

"Perfect!" She gets giddy and prances around. "What about me?"

She takes a look at my all-white mini dress, which has silver sequins on the top half. I shift my weight so that my upper thigh peeks out from the slit at the bottom of my costume. She smirks and tweaks my halo and wings, in the same manner I did hers, before kissing my cheek.

"You look beautiful Sugarplum." I grin and kiss her nose. "Okay! Let's go before we're late."

"Honey, the party doesn't start without us."

"We are the party."

"You're damn right we are."

We ran downstairs and yelled goodbye to my parents. "Don't get wasted!"

"Yes ma'am," We yell simultaneously, slamming the front door behind us.

The drive downtown is accompanied by loud music and air blasting through rolled-down windows. Since Gina's car was in the shop, Dad allowed us to borrow her car for the night. My siblings went to Uncle Roger's house, so my parents got to enjoy having the weekend to themselves. I wouldn't know how it feels to have someone special; I'm still a virgin and Brooklyn's just been a nuisance since our kiss at the last party. She keeps blowing up my phone and liking all of my social media photos. I told her it was simply a one-time thing and that I was... in the mood. Sadly she's delusional and believes it will happen again, but it most definitely will not.