devotion

unsteady

Jules white angel winged cut through the water of the pool, her glittery makeup dropped down her face in a way that made her look like she was crying glitter. The light in the trees created the look of red stars reflecting off the pool and her fingertips danced on top of the water. She was wasted and laughing and swimming. It was almost hilarious if it was normal to see Jules like that, but it wasn't. Scarlett laid her hand lightly and he put his hand over hers, giving it a squeeze. Rue walked to the edge of the pool squatting down to be almost eye level with Jules. Scarlett and Fez watched the whole thing happen. Rue was talking sternly to Jules who was floating around in the pool going on and on about something that they couldn't hear. Everything was fine till Jules reaches up to grab Rue by her costume and pull her into the water. Scarlett could hear Rue telling Jules to stop before it happened. Her voice made Scarlett feel a pang in her heart. After Jules pulled Rue underwater Scarlett began to get worried when they didn't immediately rise to the top and 20 seconds passed before they did. Jules angel wings were blocking their faces but when Rue started walking through the water quickly Scarlett knew she was upset. As Rue ran out of the pool passing Scarlett, Scarlett tried to reach out for her. "Rue, wait" she had said but Fez just grabbed her arm lightly. "Give her some room Scar. She upset." Fez told her. Scarlett just nodded in response walking back over to the pool towards Jules. "Do not pull me in." Scarlett told her before hiking up her dress shirt to sit down by the pool. She took off her slippers and put her feet in the water. "Jules?" Scarlett said. "Yes madame." Jules responded trying to curtsy in the water. "Are you okay?" Scarlett asked swinging her feet through the water. Jules swam over to her. "What even is okay? Is it a measurement of feelings or shall it be the weight of contentness in a wandering mind?" Jules said rambling drunkly. Scarlett just starred at her friend. Jules was always happy and bubbly, she was the one to always cheer Scarlett up when she was down but in this moment Scarlett didn't know how to help her. It was rare for Jules to get drunk and Scarlett had never seen her drink so much in one night. Jules was supposed to be the level headed one but tonight was different. Jules was different. Fez has walked to the side of the pool. "She should get out Scar." He said. Scarlett just nodded in response and each of them held out their hands for her. She surprisingly held on and they lifted her out of the pool. "Babe, do you think you should go find Lexi, maybe you should go home and sleep it off." Scarlett said to Jules touching her face lightly. "Ugh noo party pooper the night is young!" Jules said and ran inside. Scarlett and Fez decided to let her go. There were many times when Jules was the one trying to rangle Scarlett but Jules has always let her decide when it was time to leave so Scarlett thought it may be best to just let her do her thing. After all Nate wasn't here and Jules was old enough to decide for herself.
Fez and Scarlett decides to hang out longer just to make sure Jules didn't leave with anyone that was a stranger and didn't do anything dumb. In the house they heard the song Juice by Lizzo come on. "Oh my god I love this song!" Scarlett said to Fez. He looked up like he was thinking for a moment. "Wanna dance?" He said. Scarlett's jaw almost hit the floor. "Your gonna dance with me? Have you seen my boyfriend?" She asked joking around. "Nah I'm serious maybe I'll just stand there and you dance." He said. She grabbed his hand and dragged him inside. He was right though he mostly just stood there as she danced around him. She loved that he was there with her, she loved when they were together no matter what they were doing. He was holding her hand spinning her around as she sang the song at full volume. It was a bad remix the kid who was DJing had made of course but she still loved the song and she loved that Fez was "dancing" with her. They stayed in the living room dancing in the crowd for a couple more songs and by the end Fez was actually kind of dancing with her. They were laughing and Fez couldn't stop smiling watching her dance around him. She was by no means an amazing dancer but when she did dance it wasn't overly sexual or putting on a show. It was like when she was listening to a song no one else was there and she didn't care if it was embarrassing or to the wrong beat, she was carefree. That's one of the things Fez loved most about her, she didn't care much what other people thought. She was authentically herself even if she wasn't exactly sure who she was. She never judged Fez or made him try to change. She accepted him and understood him. It was something he wasn't used to but watching her dance around like a fool made him smile from ear to ear. As they were dancing she saw Cassie run though the house crying and sprint out the front door. What the hell is going on tonight? Scarlett thought to herself.
"Okay I'm tired let's get a drink." She said pulling him towards the kitchen. When they got there he hoisted her up so she was sitting on the counter and began making her drink. He put a straw in it and gave her the vodka soda. Rue and Jules showed up and once again Rue was trying to get Jules to slow down on her drink. Eventually she gave up and began talking to Fez again. Scarlett sipped on the drink as Fez stood in between her legs with his back facing her. She had her elbows on each of his shoulders as he leaned back into her and they sat there like that talking on Rue for a while as Jules danced around the kitchen. Suddenly they heard chanting in the other room and looked over to see what the noise was about but the crowd was too thick to see through. Soon enough though in walked Nate. Maddy was walking in front of him as he fist bumped people left and right. He was dressed in a full prisoners costume which Scarlett thought was fitting. Maddy had told Scarlett that what the police were saying was a lie but she wasn't very convincing. Scarlett has seen Maddy at school that day and she knew that Maddy wouldn't be caught dead in a turtle neck long sleeve and baggy sweatpants if she wasn't trying to cover for someone. The only person Scarlett could think of that Maddy would ever cover for was Nate. Rue and Scarlett looked over and Jules who had stopped dancing and seemed to be stuck in her place. Nate lifted Maddy onto the counter top across from Scarlett. He quickly poured both of them and drink and chugged it, his eyes trained on Jules who looked like she had seen a ghost. Rues eyes seemed to be locked in on Jules. Scarlett knew this was tearing her apart and she couldn't watch it anymore. She knew Rue would get Jules home so her and Fez decided to leave. On the walk home Cassie had declined her call so Scarlett figured she must have gone to sleep or something. Just as she slipped her phone into Fez's suit to hold it started vibrating again.
"Somebody callin you." Fez said. She grabbed the phone from his hand but when she saw the name she dropped it. Cody. Scarlett wasn't really sure why he was even still in her phone much less calling her. Fez picked up the phone and gave it back to her.
"Who was it?" He asked. "Not sure if you really want to know." She said which only peaked his interest more. "He's someone from my old town. Used to be neighbors. Did something kinda fucked up to me." She told him not wanting to go into detail. "Well fuck em" Fez said grabbing her hand. She just smiled up at him. She liked that he was secure. As they walked back to Fez's place hand in hand in comfortable silence.
The next day Scarlett woke up early to shower and get ready for school. As she was in the shower she thought about how much her life had changed. She had found her own place in this town. She had let go of a lot of the toxic things she had been keeping inside. She had worked through some of her issues, maybe not in the most healthy ways, but she had worked hard to become a better person. Fez was a good influence on her despite his line of work. He was a lot quieter than Scarlett and although he didn't say much he showed her love and safety in a way she had never known before. He was there for her and he did everything he could to protect her. She loved him for so many reasons she couldn't even explain and she was grateful to have found someone who showed her love instead of just saying it.
She got out of the shower and got ready for school. She put on denim shorts and a white crop top with flowers sown onto the neckline. She left her her to air dry and decided on only mascara and a little bit of concealer and lipgloss. Fez drove her to school. "Love you. I'll pick you up at 2 okay?" He said. "Sounds good love you have a good day." She said giving him a quick kiss before opening the door to walk up to the building. The energy in school was strange but she couldn't put her finger on why. When she got to her first class Jules had her head down on the desk which Scarlett took as a sign of a major hangover so she didn't talk much all class long. By the time lunch rolled around Scarlett was feeling better. She got an apple and some Mac and cheese and started to make her way towards the picnic table outside. "Holy shit." She heard behind her. She knew that voice. She couldn't pin point where she had heard it but she knew that it was familiar. When she turned around she felt like all the air had been sucked out of her lungs. In front of her stood Cody Jackson. Immediately her mind went to the call she had received last night. Scarlett wasn't sure how the hell they were in the same place again. She wasn't sure why the hell he was in this town or at her school. They were about 6 hours from her old town. This had to be a nightmare.
"Scarlett Abrams. In the flesh. You look good." He said looking her up and down.
"What the hell are you doing here?" She asked angrily trying to keep her voice down.
"Pops got moved to this base. Everyone back home thinks your like dead or something." He laughed.
"Yeah well I'm not. Are you like living here now? Is this real? " She said, her own words sounding repulsive.
"Sure am sweet cheeks. This is such a nice surprise. Thought I was going to be bored around here but I see I've found myself a little entertainment." He laughed. "Just stay the fuck away from me." She hissed.
"Yo Abrams. This dude bothering you?" Connor asked coming up behind Cody.
Just as Cody was about to speak Scarlett beat him to it. "Yeah actually." She said walking away. She threw out her food into the garbage and ran to the bathroom as quick as she could. She busted through the bathroom door and yanked open a stall kneeling over the toilet. The contents of her stomach were emptied into the toilet and she sat on the floor of the stall waiting for the nausea to pass. Cody had made her life a living hell at her old school. Not only had he used her to "become a man" but because he had managed to tell every single person at their old school about what had happened, leaving out of course the part where he had confessed his love for her and she had been the one to take his virginity. She probably even knew that night that he didn't love her, she knew she had never loved him like that. They were supposed to be best friends and he had convinced her since she had lost her virginity to Paxton a while before that taking his virginity was "just something a best friend with experience does". She knew at the time is was bs but he was her best friend and she did care about him enough to let him manipulate her. The rumors he spread after that were ruthless. It got to the point where some of her friends were no longer allowed to hang out with her anymore because she was the token town "slut". There was one last straw that broke the camels back but Scarlett couldn't even think about that right now. She was trying to convince herself she had imagined it all but she knew that she hadn't. She decided she would go about the rest of the day acting like nothing was wrong. She didn't want to give him the power to ruin her new life. It was too precious to her.
The rest of her school day seemed to drag on and she was stuck in her thoughts about Cody. She was thanking the man above that he hadn't been placed into one of her classes. It was a sick joke that Mr.Jackson got stationed here. She had made a point to have zero communication with anyone back home. She didn't want her step father finding them and it was one of her moms conditions when they ran. When the last bell finally range Scarlett couldn't have been happier. Two o'clock had never seemed to take so long to arrive. She bolted out of the classroom and down the hallway. She didn't bother talking to anyone or going to her locker, all she wanted was to be in Fez's car. She wasn't sure if she was going to tell him about the new arrival. She didn't want him to worry or go into protection mode if he didn't have to. Just as she was walking down the steps she heard that voice again. "Scarlett! Wait up."Cody yelled behind her. She didn't though, she just kept walking trying to spot Fez's car. Cody quickly got ahead of her making her stop in her tracks. "I don't want to do this Cody. Please just leave me alone. We don't know each other here. Okay?" She said trying to maneuver around him but he wouldn't let her by.
"Seems like you made friends here fast. That big football guy straight up cursed me out for talking to you." He said laughing. "Look what do you want from me Cody?" She said finally stopping and putting her hand on her hips. "I just want to talk Scarlett. We used to be really great friends." He said and if she didn't know him she might have even thought he was being sincere. "And do you remember why we aren't friends anymore?" She said, her hands still firmly on her hips. "Barely! That's in the past Scarlett don't dwell on the negative." He said. "Well I remember it well because it made my life miserable for months all because of you. You and I both know what you did." She spat the words out at him. "Look I'm sorry I kiss and told. You were a great lay." He said laughing. It was then that she realized Fez was parked only feet away. His eyes were trained on Cody and Scarlett. He had the window down and he did not look happy. "You have an extremely selective memory Cody but I don't really give a shit as long as you stay the hell away from me. I told you already. I don't know you here, got it? Good." She said stalking away from him. She went to Fez's car and opened the door and just as she was about to sit Cody spoke again. "Well you were a great time. I still remember it like it was yesterday baby." He said and when she turned to look at him she saw he was making a thrusting motion at the air while laughing. She immediately heard Fez unbuckle his seat belt and she used all her force to grab his arm to keep him seated in the car. "Fez don't he's not worth it." Fez met her eyes and she could tell how furious he was. "Just drive." She said begging him. He put the car in drive and sped out of the school parking lot.