Breaking Her Rules

Chapter 18

'Play the video,' I say. Violet has just come back from the bathroom, where she has just potentially filmed proof that Taylor is cheating on Watson.

She flips open the screen on the camera and rewinds to the point. All I can see is a green wall, and she explains, 'I was in the cubicle. Taylor and her friend were at the sinks, powdering their noses or whatever those bitches do. There was a beep when I hit record but I think I covered it well enough with a cough. Now listen.'

The sound quality is not perfect, but it's easy enough to hear Taylor's friend say, 'so what's going on with you and Duncan? Are you guys back together?'

'I don't know,' Taylor says. 'He's so confusing. One minute he likes me; the next minute he hates my guts. And I'm exactly the same. I just don't know what to think about him. It's Duncan, and it's always been Duncan, but he's hurt me before and I'm worried he'll do it again.'

'Aw, babe, you've just got to do what makes you happiest and I can see Duncan makes you happy,' the other girl says.

Taylor sighs. 'I just feel so bad about Watson. I wish Duncan would just let me finish with this whole thing. Urgh, I don't want to talk about it. Come on, let's see if we can get a cocktail. I'm sick of being sober.'

I hear the bathroom door open and close, and then the video stops.

'That's proof,' I say. 'And fuck her for feeling bad about Watson. She doesn't get to feel bad about Watson. She's a bitch.'

'My poor brother,' Violet says.

'We have to tell Watson,' Ainsley says.

'We have to sit through this fundraiser first,' Violet says. 'But you guys can come over to my house afterwards. We'll tell Watson together, and we'll all be there for him.'

The catering staff serves alternating chicken and beef to our table, and because Ainsley is beside me I ask her which she'd prefer.

'Chicken,' she says quickly, so I swap my plate with hers. My meal is a large piece of steak sitting on a bed of vegetables, with mashed potato soaked in a red wine sauce. It looks delicious and I start to eat, before noticing Ainsley hasn't picked up her knife and fork beside me.

'What's up, Ains?' I ask through a mouthful of meat.

'It's just... it's just the chicken,' she says.

'Eat the vegetables then,' I say. Her veggies are covered in a creamy looking sauce, and she looks at them distastefully.

Feeling sorry for her, I pick up the beans on my plate with a fork and put them on her plate. 'Look,' I say. 'There's no sauce and no chicken. Eat that.'

'Thanks,' she says quickly, and she eats one bean. 'I know it's stupid. I just can't eat meat anymore. It makes me feel sick.'

I finish my meal and I help Ainsley eat some of her food so it looks like she's at least attempted the meal. She's grateful because her mum doesn't notice.

After dinner there's an auction on items donated to the P&F society. My parents bid casually on an antique armchair but an old lady wins it. After dinner the DJ puts on some faster tracks, and plenty of the parents get up on the dance floor. Most of the students remain seated or gather around the professional photographer, trying to avoid their parents.

I head to the bar, wondering if it's possible to get alcohol, and Violet heads to the bathroom again. At the bar I get caught up in a conversation with my mother and another couple. Of course she has spent most of the night loitering by the bar. By the time I've gotten myself out of it, I've lost Ainsley and Violet.