so I'm only going to keep this up for a short while! I know that a lot of people will say nothing happens and there' no pointing to writing anymore, but this is just about real life and all the struggles teenagers go through. A lot of internal conflict! So please go ahead and rip it apart! Friendship, a lot like a ravel on a dress, can only be pulled and tugged at so many times before giving up and finally coming undone right before your eyes. However, friendship is under a lot more stress then a silly loose ravel, as you all know, it faces flip flops and summersaults and unnecessary drama that everyone dreads. The difficult, and sometimes seemingly annoying part, of it is trying to find the ones worth fighting for and trying not to let yourself get unravelled along the way.
So what is one thing that can completely wreck this bittersweet endurance of friendship? Well the answer is simple. A secret. Everyone has that one secret that could ruin their lives, the one they don’t want to share, even a person who portrays their selves as perfect. It could be that they’re going out with the biggest loser in their school, that they’re the only virgin left in the grade or that they’re scared of the dark. No matter whom the person is they have a secret, sometimes so scandalous they’d do anything to keep it to their selves, even betray they’re best friends.
Chapter One: firebomb
April Fisher stood on her tip toes, her arms stretched behind her back as she tried to reach the disobeying zipper of her dress. She sighed and dropped her arms to her sides then angled herself in the mirror so she could see her back. “Bridge!” she called out, as she responded to a text on her phone. “Come here! I need your help!”
A short petite girl entered the ensuite bathroom. “With what?” Bridget Granger asked. She stood still for a second, fiddling with a ravel on her colourful silky dress, trying to break it free without the whole dress spiralling to the floor. She unhooked the tiny piece and her emerald green eyes gazed towards April.
“Can you zip me please? Fucking zipper is being a bitch.” April said annoyed, gathering all her bleach blonde in one hand. She inhaled deeply and held her breathe while Bridget zipped up the green dress. “Thank-you!”
Bridget smiled. “You’re welcome.” The two girls looked into the mirror; Bridget ran a hand through her straight chestnut brown hair and adjusted one of the straps of her dress while April applied mascara to her already thick lashes.
The bathroom was painted in a deep brown with ivory contrasting it everywhere; the long curtain that hid April from peeping toms when she stepped out of the shower nude, the bath matt that prevented her slipping on the tiled floor, the towels that were placed on her vanity and very detailed trim that underlined the celling. The bathroom was wide with a stand up shower against one wall and a roomy Jacuzzi for relaxing against another, also there was the essential toilet and of course sink.
“You know I am so-o-o-o happy your mom went away for the night,” Bridget said as she stepped back from the mirror. She took a sip from the plastic cup which she had just picked up from the vanity.
April smiled. “Me too, thank-god for her stupid art showings.”
Both girls knew that even if June was home a party could still have been thrown; June wasn’t big on rules as long as the girls remained safe, but it was a lot more fun for them, especially April, to be able to get ready without June coming into check and make sure they didn’t need anything. Still, the girls loved June all the same.
“April, why does your body wash smell like shit? Who the fuck uses pomegranate scented body wash?!” A slightly muffled voice asked.
April rolled her blue green eyes. “Fuck off, Brooke. If you don’t like the smell of pomegranates bring your own next time.” She swiped a pinkish coloured lip-gloss over her thin lips, trying to add a little more oomph to them.
The running water in the shower stopped, allowing the girls to hear the loud upbeat song from April’s iPod dock better. Brooke loudly sang to the next part, earning smiles from her two friends.
“A-a-a-a-a! I need a towel!” Brooke called, lingering her words.
April smirked then turned to Bridget. “You give fire crotch her towel, I should probs go downstairs and see if anyone is here yet!”
Bridget laughed as April disappeared from her bathroom and strutted into her bedroom. Bridget grabbed a towel from the closet and knocked on the shower door. “Here, boo.”
“Thanks, pookie.” Brooke said, she wrapped the towel around herself and stepped out, her mane of strawberry blonde hair dripping on the floor. She walked over to the mirror, fastening the towel securely over her boobs, and began to brush out her hair. She sucked in her lips and popped her dark blue eyes then ran a hand through her hair. “I think I’m going to straighten my hair.”
“Well you better hurry the fuck up, people are here now,” May, April’s younger sister, informed. She pitched Brooke a very short and very expensive purple dress. “I went down to get something to drink and there’s like eight or nine people here already.” She tightened her silver blonde ponytail and crossed her arms under her chest.
“Fuck.” Brooke breathed. “K, well leave so I can get this on.” She started to push May and Bridget towards the bathroom door.
“Wait! What about your makeup? Do you want me to go it?” Bridget said
Brooke stopped for a minute. “No, fuck it. I can do it.”
Bridget frowned, always use to Brooke pleading and whining for her to do her makeup. “You sure?”
Brooke nodded. “Yes, now both of you get the fuck.”
May scoffed. “Thanks, love you too.” Sarcasm dripped from her 14-year-old voice.
“Meet you downstairs,” Brooke said shutting the bathroom door quickly after May and Bridget departed.
Brooke waited until she heard both sets of footsteps leave the room and then made sure the door was locked. She pulled her things out from her LuLu lemon bag and laid them on the counter, her hands were slightly shaky has she laid her cosmetic bag down and she quickly glanced over her shoulder. She pulled her pink underwear on and fastened her matching bra over her boobs then opened up her cosmetic bag and pulled out a zebra pill case.
She inhaled through her nose began to bite her thumb nail as she stared at the pill case. She glanced away and instead directed her eyes toward her image in the mirror where she stared for a second then closed her eyes shut. She let the guilt bite at for a few moments then opened her eyes, a grin playing on her lips as the excitement took over.
“Fuck it.” She turned the tap on and took a single pink pill out of the case, placed it in her mouth and reached for her glass of fruit punch and vodka; she took a sip and swallowed then did a little shake and finished the rest of her drink.
Every single time Brooke swallowed a pill from her case she ignored the annoying feeling of guilt and waited for the delicacy of loving everyone to take over. The pills were able to make her feel like she could do anything for around eight hours, depending on how many pills she wanted to consume. Brooke made herself believe that she only liked the feeling the pills gave her that she was not addicted, that she could stop anytime she wanted to, though she had yet to try the latter.
Brooke picked up the hair dryer and began to blow dry her long mane. She could not take the grin off her lips. In twenty minutes not a fucking thing would matter.
May was use to that kind of treatment from her sister’s friends especially Brooke, who had been waiting to prod and poke at May just like April had ever since the day June had found out she was pregnant. Brooke had even tried to convince June to name May Sammy, but June said she had to call her May because if not she would be left out, June was a bit more on the weird side back then, April always pondered the theory that June had done drugs way back when.
May was quite unlike April however. While April had two best girlfriends and was also surrounded by a large group of friends, May was quite alone. It was not that the girls and guys in her grade avoided her because they thought she was weird and not worthy of her time, it was more of May who shied away from her peers because she felt they were all too trivial and conceited.
There were two girls in May’s grade that she sometimes hung out with, and she was always invited to their parties, but May partly suspected it was because they knew she was April’s sister. Marissa Longton and Kara Goodridge had in fact asked May if she wanted to do something that night, but May figured it was only because they had heard about April’s party and wanted to try and sneak a peek at the senior guys up close.
Music blared loudly from downstairs, completely blocking out the sound of the TV which May had just switched on as she sat on her bed. “Ugh, fuckers.” May breathed. She turned the volume up and sat back with a huff.
Chapter Two: Always
April laughed. “Really though, she always does that.” She picked up her glass, twirled around the liquid with her striped straw and took a long thirsty mouthful.
London Sovine also took a sip from her glass and nudged her best friend, Paris Vitale’s, arm. “It’s true, Pair. You always do.” London’s hazel eyes glanced at April who was smirking.
“I do not!” Paris exclaimed. She glared at London and placed a hand on her hip.
“Paris always does what?” Daniel Hagelin asked as he strutted to the spot where April and the twins – as everyone had nicknamed Paris and London – stood chatting. He swirled around the ice in his glass and took a gulp. He smacked his lips together, ran a hand through his already ruffled deep brown hair and snaked an arm around April’s waist.
Normally April would squirm to make Daniel take his arm off her waist, because Daniel’s girlfriend was known to be an uber jealous person, but she happened to not be in town during that particular party. Something else known – well not so much known but assumed by everyone – was that April and Daniel, while best friends, sometimes shared more than a friendly kiss. So April left Daniel’s arm around her waist and everyone could guess why.
April chuckled. “Whenever she laughs too hard she pees her pants, well dress in this case.” She glanced at Daniel, his dark brown eyes smiling at her, breathed in his whiskey smelling breath and smiled.
Paris stamped her foot. “Do not!” she yelled definitely more loudly then intended. She sat down on the barstool, her lips in a pout and leaned back to rest an elbow on the countertop and while in the process of doing so tipped over a Vex, the bottle fell spattering blue liquid and glass onto the floor. Paris looked up from the mess, her mouth agape and her eyes landed on April.
April, Daniel and London laughed.
“That’s another thing you do, always spill.” London informed. She pulled down her black dress and sat up on barstool.
Paris shot her a glare. “Stfu. Do not.” She ran a hand through her platinum blonde hair, something she always did when she was annoyed.
Not because they were lazy or because they wanted to seem separate from everyone else, but for the simple fact that “it makes life easier” – according to London – Paris and London always shortened their words. They had made acronyms for a very long list of phrases and had memorised each one so most times when they used them it was hard to decipher, but in this case everyone knew that Paris had just told London to shut the fuck up.
London checked out the invisible split ends on her dark brown hair. She smirked and said, “Sook.” To which Paris narrowed her eyes further.
“I am so-o-o-o not cleaning that up,” April said and she took another sip of her drink. “The mop and broom are in the closet over there Paris.” She pointed to a closet off the kitchen.
Paris’ brown eyes frowned and she stared at April for a minute, but knew better not to challenge her. She stalked off in the direction in which April had pointed.
April’s kitchen had three walls painted a bright red and the last painted in a multiple of different colors with the words Eat Love Laugh painted boldly in black. Every single utensil – the fridge, stove, microwave, dishwasher and the toaster and such – were all stainless steel. There was a long table, able to seat ten people, and a very wide island which was covered in boxes and bottles of booze at the moment. The wall furthest away from the island was barely a wall but more of an archway that led to a small gap, in which you could access the other side of the house or go through a wide swinging door which led to the second kitchen, or as her family called it, the Cooking Kitchen.
June, having fled from her parents’ house when she was eighteen, had never acquired the knack for cooking. For the first little while when June lived on her own she had ordered take out constantly, but when she started to notice the damage it was doing to her butt and thighs she laid off it and hired a live in chef once she moved to her new house.
When June was in her teens she had been an excessive partier, somewhat like April now, and had gone through many a boyfriend. After a drunken night of sex without a condom with a friend of a friend, Matthew Chapmen, June had become pregnant with April, which led her to move out of her house and find an apartment which Matthew later moved into. It wasn’t that June was forced to leave, but she didn’t want to tell with her agonizing mother who would constantly torture her for her parenting skills or lack of at that time.
Matthew was slightly older then June and had previously been engaged but had screwed that up his wife to be – also the mother of his baby boy – when she had discovered his night with June. However, four years later when June announced she was pregnant with May, Matthew had announced that he was going back to his first lover. That exact day was when June started to strongly believe in karma.
Paris stalked back to the group around the island, which had grown slightly and now included Cameron Gray and Drew Beherd.
Cameron and Drew best friends but were polar opposites and not just because Cameron had light blonde hair, pale skin and gray eyes while Drew had black hair, tan skin and dark eyes. Cameron was quite, easy-going and really into school but Drew on the other hand, for lack of better words, was an arrogant prick who lived for sports. It was a mystery to everyone how their friendship managed to survive but somehow it worked.
“I see you’ve spilled already, Paris.” Drew said raising his eyebrows. He earned a chuckle from all but Paris.
“Fuck you, Drew.” Paris bent with a few napkins in her hand and laid them on blue liquid, her red dress had tightened and slipped up a little to reveal more leg then it was seconds previous.
Drew nudged Daniel and said, “My pleasure.”
Paris looked up with squinted eyes at him. “Uck.” She swept the shattered glass into the dustpan and stood slightly wobbly on her three-inch-heels then reached for her glass and sucked back the rest of her drink.
“Hey B!” London chirped as Brooke walked into the room. She kissed one of her cheeks and scooted over to make room
Brooke smiled as she sipped from her cup. “Hey boo.” She walked over to Paris and bumped her hip which made Paris lighten up. “Where’s Bridge?”
“She’s probably gone somewhere getting with Clark already,” Bree Reeves announced as she entered the kitchen, she looked windswept with her long black hair blown back from her deeply tanned skin. The yellow dress she had chosen made her brown eyes pop.
“Actually,” Bridget said as she walked into the kitchen, she made sure to bump Bree. “I was upstairs talking to, Anastasia on the phone.”
Her tone was slightly sour as she referred to her mother. Bridget wasn’t particularly close with her mom and only called her mom to her face. Anastasia was extremely strict with Bridget but she traveled so much that the rules she had made for Bridget were usually broken. When Bridget was younger things had been different, but ever since Bridget’s dad had died when she was eleven her mom became stricter and a lot more difficult to deal with. That was also when Anastasia had discovered her need to be in Paris more then she needed to be home.
“Bridge!” Paris jumped off her stool and stumbled over to Bridget and gave her a hug.
Bridget laughed and said, “Hey, Pair.”
Paris leaned in close to Bridget’s ear and whispered “Oh, Bridgey! Clark and Justin are looking for you!” Her voice was slightly sing-songy and she pulled away a wide grin on her lips.
She was referring to Bridget’s boyfriend of four months, Clark Miller, and Bridget’s best friend, Justin Blanche. Bridget and Justin had been best friends ever since Bridget had moved to Toronto from Paris in grade two. Part of the reason was he was the only one who could understand Bridget when she spoke in fluent French and because Justin was a slight loser. Justin didn’t have many friends because he had been extremely shy, his ears had been too big for his head, his teeth were bucked and he horribly huge glasses. However, now Justin was more blunt then needed, his ears fit his head perfectly, his blue eyes were no longer covered with glasses and his braces had finally done the trick. The thing that Bridget loved him for most was that he was always there, always.
Bridget raised her eyebrows at Paris. “Well I guess I should go find my boys then.” She grinned at Paris’ giggle.
“Ooh, I’ll come with, check out what boys showed up.” Brooke said as she mixed herself a drink.
“Okay! Mix me one too please?” Bridget said.
“Kind?” Brooke asked.
“Hmm, something with vodka.”
Bridget took a second to compliment Paris, London and Bree’s very well put together outfits while Brooke mixed her drink. Brooke appeared by her side, two drinks in hand and passed one to Bridget. Bridget took a mouthful which caused her nose to wrinkle.
“Oh my god, Brooke. Strong enough.” Bridget glanced at Brooke who was sipping from her cup.
Brooke gave a sheepish grin followed by a small laugh. “Oopsie. That’s mine. Here, switch.” And she took the cup from Bridget’s hand before she could say anything.
Bridget shook her head. “I don’t even know how you can drink that, it’s so strong. Yuck.” She took a sip from her own glass and left the kitchen, Brooke following. They went into the living where a few people were dancing and drinking, Bridget glanced around and did not see either Clark or Justin so she departed from Brooke, who had decided to join in on the dancing, to continue her search.
She sighed and decided to check in the basement where she knew a bunch of guys would either be playing beer pong or watching sports. She took a swig from her and turned around.
“Oof!” she complained into the chest that was blocking her way. “Sorr – oh hey baby!” she smiled and leaned up to kiss the delicious smelling guy very close to his lips.
The guy smiled. “Hey, Bridge.” He said
