𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚕 (𝚊𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚗 𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚕)

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚗𝚎

arvin wasn't sure when he saw her for the first time. he didn't think anyone really was. all they knew was that she didn't belong in coal creek. she didn't go to church, didn't believe in god, didn't act all prim and proper like most of the christian girls in the town. her sundresses were short and spaghetti-strapped, and she wore beaten-up combat boots instead of clean mary janes. even her name was unusual: calypso. 

some of the more hardcore churchgoers would gossip about how she must've sold her soul to the devil to be that good-looking. arvin had to admit she was a real looker. he'd graduated last year, but he knew all the boys at school wanted her. she was a junior like lenora, but that was about where the similarities ended. while lenora read scriptures at night, calypso went to the drive-in and hooked up with tommy matson. lenora would pray for the soul of anyone who insulted her, calypso would flip a switch on them and put a cigarette out on their skin for good measure. 

calypso didn't get along with any of the girls in coal creek, save for one. actually, she didn't get along with anyone save for whichever boy or boys she was fucking that week. the one exception was a girl named donna. donna was like a toned-down version of calypso. she dressed and acted the same, but she didn't talk to boys and didn't have quite as much of a mouth on her. she went to church most sundays, but the congregation still looked down on her because she'd skipped several sermons for whatever mischief calypso had cooked up.

arvin had never spoken to calypso. the opportunity had just never presented itself, and there was no real reason for him to talk to her. but he watched her a fair bit from afar. she wasn't like anyone he'd ever seen, but he didn't mind it. he'd never really liked all the uptight church girls in coal creek; all they did was talk about sunday service and how they followed the lord when most of them would put out to a sweet-talking jock in the back of a shitty old car any day of the week. the only difference between them and calypso, as far as arvin was concerned, was that they kept it secret and went to church to cover it up. at least calypso was honest. he'd always felt like she might be someone worth getting to know, but in all honestly he was a bit scared of her. he'd never admit it, though.

it wasn't until arvin had well and truly had enough of those sons of bitches picking on lenora that he truly realized that he had good cause to be afraid of calypso robinson. he'd sent lenora off to visit her mother's grave and gone off in search of the boys, ready to catch them off guard. like his father years before, arvin had always been careful about picking his time. he knew he'd stand a better chance if he didn't try to take on all the dirty bastards at once. so he parked in front of the high school, young love by sonny james playing on his radio, as students ran outside in the pouring rain. then he saw tommy matson. he was running towards the empty schoolbus with a girl whose hair was so black and whose dress was so short that it could only be calypso. arvin pushed down his uneasiness at grinding tommy's face into the mud in front of calypso. he put out his cigarette and got out of the truck, striding towards the bus.

he heard them kissing inside, and gave the side of the bus a good kick.

"the fuck was that?" came calypso's voice. 

"nothing. must've not got shut all the way," said tommy, already shimmying out of his pants. "let's get them bloomers off, come on."

"close that door!" snapped calypso.

"goddamn better be worth it," muttered tommy, pulling his pants up halfway and shuffling towards the door.

"it always is!" she singsonged after him. 

he leaned out of the doorway backwards, but before he could get the doors shut, arvin grabbed him round the waist and threw him on the ground. "you piece of shit!" he yelled. he was whaling on the poor guy with a crowbar so hard that all tommy could do was lay there. "motherfucker!" blood spurted from his nose and face until he finally went unconscious. arvin got up and turned around to go back to his car, but he noticed calypso leaning against the side of the bus, lighting a cigarette. he nodded awkwardly, not really knowing what to say, and turned around to leave.