Levi's Secret

CHAPTER 2

New experiences can sometimes be nerve wracking. While they were not usually as scary or breathtaking as sky diving or falling in love, talking to boys for the first time can be just as terrifying.

And so she scheduled a practice session in the privacy of her room with a couple of trusted accomplices. Since they stayed over almost every week, none of the elders suspected anything unusual.

"Hi, my name is Victoria Fannington." she said bowing slightly and curtsying at her audience. "Nice to meet you."

The response to her words were not what she expected. Gary paused bouncing the football on his knee to scoff rudely while Jason looked up from his unfinished painting and sighed.

"You are too formal Vicky." said Jason as he watched from the plushie cushion he was sitting on. He tucked the wet paintbrush behind his ear, looking at her with an assessing gaze. "You need to be cooler."

"Yes, you need to be waaaay cooler than this." chimed in Gary, turning to shoot a knowing look at his brother. His black eyes instantly found his brother's identical ones, his mouth tilting into a playful smirk.

Jason shook his head in resignation, the paintbrush falling down with the movement. Once Gary decided he was going to do something, there was nothing anyone could do to dissuade him.

"Haven't you seen any teen movies? There has to be a super chill dude who doesn't care about anyone and is hot AF..." started Gary enthusiastically.

"Gary!" hissed Vicky, looking around hoping her mother hadn't heard them. "Mind your language."

"As I was saying, there will be a hot dude, his minions and a group of super hot girls who picks on everyone and yet everyone thinks they are the best." plowed on Gary ignoring her. "You need to survive amidst all this bias. You need to learn slang, be comfortable with provocative clothes and be okay with detention."

Vicky suddenly felt very very nervous. It wasn't as though Gary was saying something out of this world. She'd seen plenty of movies. She knew how the Mean Girls plot line played out. She knew that the hot guy was usually a player and would eventually fall in love with an innocent girl. But not before the innocent girl beat all her opponents and came out stronger.

She never thought any of this could ever happen in real life. But now she had to rethink. What if they did? If things like that truly happened to her, did she really have what it took to fight back and make it through?

The realization shocked she so much she had to sit down. Maybe she shouldn't do this. Maybe she couldn't do this.

Vicky had never broken a single rule in her life...no that wasn't true, she had done a bit of unethical hacking...but she'd made sure it affected no one...and she was careful not to cause any damage to anyone. That didn't count, did it?

"Vicky," said Jason, his voice cutting through her thoughts as he resumed painting the canvas on his lap. He was the quieter, shyer sibling, who reveled in artwork. While he was more of an observer than talker, heaven knows he was just as destructive as his louder, blunt older brother.

"We are only middle schoolers but you can count on us to protect you. No one will be able to hurt you as long as we are there. I know you have your own reasons and uncle Axky said it's probably because of some boy, but whatever it is you can go ahead with your plan. Gary and I will back you up." he said reassuringly.

"We also promise not to rat you out to any of the adults." said Gary as he balanced the football on his forehead with deep concentration.

"Thanks guys." said Vicky as she fell back on her bed and buried her face in a pillow.