Dancing Around // peter parker

33

I walked into the locker room hurriedly, rushing towards my locker. Cindy was already dressed out when she saw me. She had pieces of papers in her hand as she sat at her usual spot on the bench. "You're going to love me," she said.

"Why's that?" I asked, my voice cold.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine."

She stood up, curving her head, trying to make eye contact with me. "You don't look fine."

I sighed. "What's up with the papers? Can you just tell me?"

She sat back down. She didn't look convinced but didn't push further. She lifted the pieces of papers up. I grabbed them, reading them in a few short seconds. "Why am I look at an application for a cruise sweepstakes?"

"It's not an application for the sweepstakes itself. It's an application for the opportunity of winning one. It's a Brainiac gameshow. If we win, we win a cruise, which means that someone wins a cruise."

I handed her back the papers. "Don't be stupid. We're not going on a game show."

"We are if we get selected," she said.

"We're minors," I said.

"So will bring our parents."

"My mom is busy."

"Lucky for us, my mom isn't."

I sighed, looking down at her. She was like an annoying little sister at times. "What's your problem?" I asked.

"What's yours? This was your idea. You texted me this idea," she said.

I had done it once late at night when I was feeling empty and drank too many energy drinks. Recently all my nights looked the same. I was having trouble with sleeping, and I found myself in a habit where I would drink energy drinks in replacement for sleep. Last night I only had an hour of shut eye. "Yeah, an idea to jump off of. I didn't actually mean we would get him a cruise. I was suggesting a fake one. Photoshop. Stuff like that."

"That doesn't make sense. Where would he go? He would find out it's a scam. We're not trying to get his social security number, we're just trying to make him leave."

"He'll come back."

"We'll get a really good replacement. Too good we won't need him back."

I rubbed my face, frustrated. "We're not signing up."

"It's too late. I already did."

I looked at her. I could feel my eyes burning as I looked at her. "You what?" I snapped.

She didn't look scared, even with my sharp tone. It was like I was talking normally by the way she calmly said, "I signed us up."

I squeezed nothing in my fist as I looked at her. The corner of my eyes looked towards the door at just the right time. Adelaide walked in. Her head moved back a bit as she laughed at something the girl next to her said. Her eyes then met mine. She kept eye contact with me as her friend whispered something in her ear. She covered her mouth and laughed again. I completely lost it then.

I walked past Cindy, ignoring her question about what I was doing. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't have any control. I was just angry and irritated. My hands swung out and grabbed a handful of hair. I pulled it towards me.

"Ow, what the hell?" She yelled, grabbing everybody's attention. Her friend grabbed my wrist, trying to make me release it.

I tighten my grip. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"What are you talking about?" Adelaide said.

"Marina, what are you doing?" I heard Cindy shout. She placed herself between Adelaide and me. "Let go of her hair!"

"You're the one who is spreading the rumors, right? You're calling me a slut behind my back, right?" I asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Adelaide screamed.

I felt force against my chest. Cindy pushed me back, causing me to tumble. I released Adelaide's hair in order to try and catch myself.

"You crazy bitch," her friend spat, "We're going to tell the principal on you."

"Fucking do it," I yelled.

Cindy shook her head. "No, no, don't do it." Her back was facing me, so I couldn't see her face. She looked at Adelaide and her friend. "That's only going to cause more trouble."

"She yanked Adelaide's hair," Adelaide's friend yelled.

"I'm not saying she's right, but she's a damn good soccer player. Let me just talk to her, okay? Tell Coach that we got our periods or something. Make an excuse," Cindy said. All the girls in the locker room stood still. They all looked towards me like I was some kind of rat. "Go!" Cindy yelled, making them all snap out of it. I never seen someone command a room so well.

It wasn't until the last girl was out of the locker room that Cindy looked at me. I expected her face to be full of rage, but it just looked tired. She placed her hands on her hips as she sighed. I raised my eyebrow, waiting for her to yell at me or lecture me. Instead, she gestured her head towards the door. "Come on, let me buy you some water."

"What?" I asked.

"You look like you need some."