Part 58

Wednesday morning comes and at school I’m on the couch with Chelsea trying to guess who tee-peed the trees over at the boys’ school when Blair comes up and nervously says, “Hi”.

I move to the middle and pat the spot I was just in.

“Pull up a flat spot, Blair. Chelsea and I were just trying to figure out who tee-peed the boys’ school. Oh, you two know each other, right?”

“Hi, Blair.”

“Hey. Um, I heard that it was some kids from the Davidson Academy. They have that big lacrosse game this weekend. I also heard that somehow they let loose a bunch of pigeons into the school as well. It’s supposed to be quite the mess in there.”

“Really?” asks Chelsea. “I hadn’t heard that part.”

The thought of trying to chase the birds out of the school gets us giggling and breaks the ice between Blair and Chelsea a bit.

When the morning announcements are over, we all head off to our classes. It wasn’t that big of a surprise that a good portion of the announcements were about the school’s ‘no tolerance’ policy. I stop off at my locker to switch out my books and when I turn around, there’s Lindsey.

“I heard what you did and if you know what’s good for you you’ll tell Mrs. Cavanaugh the truth.”

Startled not only by suddenly finding her standing behind me, but by the venom in her voice, I reply, “Lindsey, what are you talking about, is this about what happened yesterday?”

“Are you denying that you lied about Joan to Mrs. Cavanaugh?”

Getting angry at the accusation I say, “As a matter of fact, I do deny that. I didn’t lie.”

“I don’t believe you. I think you lied, I think you lied because you don’t like her and you really don’t like me. You figure that getting her in trouble will hurt me. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll tell Mrs. Cavanaugh the truth. Otherwise you’ll regret it.”

“Don’t threaten me, Lindsey. I only told what I saw, not to hurt you or Joan but to help a friend who was being wrongly accused of something. Now leave me alone.”

With that I slam my locker closed, shoulder my way past Lindsey and head off to English.

The incident with Lindsey rattles me so much that the next thing I know the bell is ringing, signaling the end of class. For the life of me, I can’t say what happened in class–I was that distracted.

By the time lunch comes around, I’m better and am able to put the whole thing behind me. Well I would be able to put it behind me if I could avoid Lindsey. Every time I see her, she’s glaring daggers at me.

“I wouldn’t let it get to you, Alex,” says Chelsea, “she’s all bark and no bite. There isn’t anything she can do. The drug dog hit on Joan’s locker and there was more than just pot in it. From what I heard, Joan is in some serious trouble.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Now hurry up and finish. I saw that they still have some ice-cream sandwich bars left and I want to get one before they disappear again.”

“Go ahead and get yours, I can’t today. As soon as I’m done, I need to get some stuff taken care of before next period.”

“Okay, you sure you don’t want one?”

“Oh, I want one, I just don’t have time today is all. In fact, I need to run now. Ta.”

“See ya.”

I get up and put my try away and grab one of the last ice-cream sandwiches then head outside. Instead of sitting at the table as I usually do, I head over to the rear of the school where there’s some more trees.

Finding a quiet spot away from everyone, I drop my book bag and lower myself to the grass beneath a large oak. I lean back against the trunk and nibble on the ice-cream, alternating the ice-cream from hand to hand so I can lick the drippings from my fingers.

I’m engrossed watching some of the younger girls playing tag and am a bit startled when I hear someone come up from my side. Looking over, Justin gives me a half-wave and a quick smile.

“Hey there,” he says.

“Hey, Justin.” At his raised eyebrows at the spot next to me, I nod my head.

After settling himself, he says, “You make that look erotic.”

I raise my eyebrows at him and lick the last of the ice-cream from my fingers. “What do you want, Justin?”

“Oh, well I wanted to know if you got the flowers I sent to you.”

“I did. They’re very nice, thank you.”

I was not going to make this too easy for him and when I didn’t say anything more, Justin continued. “I really am sorry–for the way I acted I mean. After we talked, I thought about it and realized what a jerk I’d been. You’re a nice girl and I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did. I’d like to be a friend if that’s possible, but I’ll understand if you don’t want to be.”

I just sit there, not saying a word, looking at him and thinking things through. He seems genuine and all and I hope I’m not going to regret taking him up on his offer of friendship. When he starts to fidget and it looks like he’s going to get up and leave, I clear my throat.

“Justin, what you did really hurt, but more than that it pissed me off. You totally used me, that and I’m not sure I like being part of the lie you’re giving your family. That you’re lying to them is your business, but when you involve me, that makes it mine too. I don’t lie to my parents, Justin, and I’m not comfortable lying to yours.

“If we’re going to be friends, we, and by that I mean you, need to make it clear to everyone that we’re only friends: we’re not an item. Understand?”

Justin smiles in reply then says, “I’d like that, Alex. You’ve got a deal.”

At that point the warning bell for next period rings and he looks up in alarm. “Oh no, look at the time. I’ve got to get down to the field house. See ya later, Alex, and thanks again.”

With that he’s off at a run. Smiling at how well that turned out, I stand and brush the grass from my pants, then pick up my book bag and head off to the library.

* * *

“So that’s what they mean by genotype distribution,” I say to Blair. “Get it now?”

“Ugh, not really but maybe a bit more than before.”

Blair and I are in the library and I’m trying to help her with her biology. I’m not having a whole lot of success so far.

“Okay then, let’s try this by going at it from the other direction. You guys went over the Hardy-Weinberg principle didn’t you?”

“Not much, it’s in tonight’s reading. We’ll get into it more on Thursday.”

“Sounds like you’re going at it backwards to me. Well basically the Hardy-Weinberg principle states that both allele and genotype frequencies in a population remain constant, you know, they’re in equilibrium…”

We spend the next twenty minutes going over her biology until Blair pulls out a white lace handkerchief from her sleeve and starts to wave it in surrender while putting her head on the table.

Chuckling at her, I reach out and start fingering the lace.

“Say this is real nice, Blair. This is all hand work isn’t it?”

Looking up, Blair sees me admiring her handkerchief. “I think so. Rose gave it to me. It was her mother’s.”

“It’s beautiful. Say, I think you pretty much have the principle down. Want to come over to my house after school? We could do our homework then maybe go for a swim or something.”

“Oh, well I don’t know.”

I’m kind of disappointed and I think it shows because she adds, “You could come over to my house instead. You know if you want.”

“That’ll be great. Let me call my Mom and check with her.”

* * *

After school I meet up with Blair out front and we wait for her ride. While waiting we see Lindsey walk by giving the both of us the ol’ hairy eyeball.

“She’s like a dog with a bone,” I say.

“What’s that?” replies Blair.

“Lindsey, she blames me for Joan getting in trouble.”

“Yeah and the fact that I’m not one of her favorite people doesn’t help I’m sure. They’ve been trying to get me in trouble ever since I started here. This is the first time that one of them got caught and from what I gather, Joan is in some real big trouble. She’ll get out of it though, they all do. It’s like they’re the Teflon queens, nothing ever sticks to them, at least for long. This is one of the reasons I told you to stay away from me, now you’re a target for them too. Sorry.”

“Nothing for you to apologize for and as for me being a target I’m not worried, your friendship is worth the dirty looks.”

“Thanks, Alex, I appreciate that. I hope you don’t learn to regret your decision. Oh, here’s Rose, let’s go.”

It turns out that Blair really doesn’t live that far from me. Her house is just a couple of miles away, right next to the country club.

When we get there, Blair takes me up to her room so we can do our homework.

“Oh wow, Blair, I like your room. This is so neat.”

“Thanks.”

Blair’s room looks like something from the faerie realm…a faerie realm designed by Tim Burton and the Addams Family. She has a beautiful canopy bed in black lacquer with black lace hanging down. Dark mirrors and pictures of magical creatures are on the wall. Everything is dark but not depressing as might be expected. It’s more like a magical world at night than anything else. The lights in her room don’t illuminate the entire space; instead they provide pools of light on her desk and bed, leaving the rest in relative darkness. The overall effect is cool and relaxing.

“We can work on the bed if you want. It’s big enough that we can spread out our work. If this is too dark for you, I can turn on more lights.”

“No, this is fine. There’s more than enough light on the bed.”

I take a seat on the bed and run my hand across the dark blue satin of her coverlet. Grabbing my book bag, I pull out my homework.

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to change.”

“Sure go ahead. You want to work on biology first?”

“Not really, why don’t we put it off until last? That way we can spend more time on it if needed.”

Blair starts unlacing herself from another corset dress. Once out of that, she pulls on a pair of black jeans and as she is lowering a black tank top over her head, she turns to face me. Once again I notice the piercings through her nipples and the thought makes me wince again.

“Whoa, what’s that?”

“What?”

“Lift your shirt.”

With her shirt bunched under her breasts, I lean forward and take a closer look at her belly.

“You’ve got a tattoo! Hey, wait a minute: you didn’t have that the other day. I know because I remember admiring your bellybutton ring. What is that?”

Blair steps closer and I see that she has a little black dragon tattooed around her navel. I look up at Blair waiting for her answer.

“Are you sure you just didn’t notice it?”

“Quite sure, when looking at your belly, it’s a little hard not to notice. Now give. That isn’t new, it looks like you’ve had it for awhile and it doesn’t look like a fake one either.”

I lean even closer to her, my face only inches from her stomach trying to see if it’s a fake tattoo.

“Okay, okay, it is fake. I wasn’t expecting to have to change my shirt in front of anyone yesterday and I hadn’t had time to put it on in the morning.”

“It looks so real, I mean like a permanent one.”

“Well it damn near is. I need to put it on with a special solvent and to remove it takes rubbing alcohol and a lot of elbow grease. A friend of mine makes them and you’re only one of two other people who now know it isn’t a real one so keep it to yourself okay?”

“Sure, why do you have it and who’s the other?”

“Tá­a Rose is the other and as to why, well first I like how body art looks, I just don’t like the permanency of a real tattoo; and second, it pisses my parents off.”

“Why do you want to piss your parents off?”

“Sometimes that’s the only time I get a reaction out of them. Anyway, let’s run downstairs before we start. I bet Tá­a has a snack ready for us and I’m hungry.”

When we get down to the kitchen, Blair is right: Rose is just setting out some food. Blair skips over to Rose and gives her a kiss on the cheek.

“Oh Tá­-Tá­, you made poppers, what did you stuff them with this time?”

“Sá­, a little this, a little that. That’s not all, you can have some gazpacho to go with them and we also have fresh lemonade. Come on girls, come sit.”

We both sit on the stools at the counter and Rose puts the tray of poppers between us then sets a small bowl of gazpacho in front of each of us.

“Thank you Ma’am,” I say.

“Oh, not ma’am, you may call me Rose or even Tá­a if you’d like. Enjoy.”

Blair and I both grab one of the stuffed peppers and pop them in our mouths. The flavor of the pepper and the cheese explodes and I can’t help but make yummy sounds.

“Rose, this is really good.” And I pop another into my mouth. This one wasn’t stuffed with cheese; somehow Rose managed to stuff this one with molten lava, really tasty molten lava.

Immediately my forehead breaks out in a sweat and my eyes start to water. I desperately take a swallow of my lemonade.

“Oh my god, what was in that one?” I fan my mouth and take another swallow of my drink.

“That one must have been one of the ones with the spiced pork and green chilies,” replies Rose.

“It’s great, it’s hot, but it tastes really good.” To emphasize my point, I take another and bite into it. Fortunately this is another cheese one.

Rose gives me a smile and Blair chuckles at my discomfort as she pops another in her mouth too. Instead of a fourth popper, I try the gazpacho and am again surprised at the delightful flavors from this refreshing cold soup.

Once we’re done with our snack, we take our lemonade up to Blair’s room and start our homework.

We finish up with all our homework except Blair’s biology. We stretch out on her bed, side by side with her biology book propped up in front of us going over her assignment. When we’re finally done I turn to Blair while she finishes up writing her notes.

When she’s done she turns towards me and sees me looking at her.

“What?”

“Well I figured out something else.”

“What’s that?”

“That’s not a wig you’re wearing.”

“You thought it was a wig?”

“Well it’s a very vibrant shade of purple and you must have had it colored fairly recently because it’s solid from roots to tips. The thought did cross my mind that it might be a wig.”

“Nope, it’s all me.”

“Whoever did it for you did a great job. It goes so well with your skin tone. I’ve never seen anyone as pale as you. How do you keep your skin so white?”

“As you may have noticed, I tend to keep covered up. That and I use a lot of lotion with a heavy SPF in it. It not only keeps the UV at bay, it has the added benefit of keeping my skin really soft.”

Blair rubs her arm against mine to emphasize her point and I’m impressed at the softness of her skin. Running my fingers along her arm I say, “Wow, and I thought my skin was soft. Yours makes mine feel like sandpaper.”

Rolling over onto my back I stretch across her bed and say, “You’re a funny girl, Blair.”

“How so?”

“You’re a mass of contradictions: from the way you present yourself to the way you really are, to the way you dress and look. I just want you to know that I’m really glad we’re friends. I like your sense of humor, your quick intelligence, even how you dress and look. I like your dark purple hair and how your almost white skin sets it and your black lipstick and nail polish off. You’re a unique girl and I really like you. I just thought you should know that.”

Blair’s eyes start to water and she reaches over and hugs me.

“Thank you, Alex. I really appreciate that. I’m glad we’re friends, more than I can say. Oh and the lipstick isn’t black.”

I pull back a bit and give her lips a closer look.

“It looks black to me.”

Blair gives me a sideways look then takes my hand and pulls my arm towards her. She kisses the inside of my wrist and says, “Take a closer look.” She then sits up and hops off the bed.

Looking closer at my wrist I see that the mark from her kiss isn’t black, it’s a real dark purple.

Blair is putting her boots on and I realize that it’s time to go. Gathering up my books and homework I ask Blair, “So tell me, what color is your hair?”

Blair looks at me from over her shoulder and with a half smile and a bit of laughter in her eyes says, “Purple.”

“No, silly, what’s your natural hair color?”

With a larger smile she says, “Purple,” then rushes out of the room.

Growling at her retreating back, I grab my book bag and follow after.

* * *

The next two days are much the same. Blair and I hang out more and more–especially since Chelsea has been out sick. I try to avoid Lindsey and the evil eye she keeps giving me.

After school we’ve been going over to Blair’s house to do our homework and hang out.

“Okay, now who’s this?” I ask Blair. We’re in her room and she’s introducing me to the type of music she listens to.

“Epica. This song is called Solitary Ground.”

“Nice, I like them. Her voice is really nice.”

“Some of their stuff gets a bit harder but most isn’t. If you like this you might like this one.” Blair switches to another song.

“This is Kamelot’s The Haunting. Simone Simons, who’s the singer in Epica, sings on this one too.”

After the song plays I say, “Yeah, that one was good too. I’ve never heard of some of these artists.”

“Well I kinda like the off beat bands, alternative punk and indie stuff.”

“Never fitting into one category?”

Smiling Blair replies, “Never, oh, you might like them; they’re Florence and The Machine.”

We listen to the music as she changes her nail polish to a deep red and I continue to flip through her CDs. Coming across one that I recently bought I pull it out and say, “Intuition?”

Smiling, Blair replies, “Like I said, I like all types and she’s really good.”

“No argument from me. Glad to see you have at least one thing I’ve heard before.”

“Oh that’s nothing; sometime I’ll show you what I’ve bought online.”

“Cool.”

“Say, Alex, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Well, it really isn’t any of my business, but how serious are you with Justin?”

“Not at all. Why?”

“Are you sure? What I mean is, the word around school is you two are an item and you two have been spending more time around each other.”

“Yeah, but we’re just friends. Why do you ask?”

“I just don’t want to see you get hurt is all if you really are serious about him. He’s gay you know.”

“Oh? How can you be so sure?”

“I’ve seen him and his boyfriend together: they’re most definitely gay.”

“Hmm, yeah I know. Believe me, we’re just friends, that’s all.”

“Okay. Um, I take it that it doesn’t bother you then, gays I mean.”

“Lord no.”

<Sigh>

“It doesn’t bother you does it?”

“Not at all. Besides, I’m the last person to hold being different against someone.”

“Blast, it’s almost time to leave. Say, did you find out if you could come to my fashion show?”

“No dang it, I can’t. Mummy and Daddy will be here doing some ‘event’ and my presence is required. Don’t know why, I’ll just spend all my time either here in my room or helping Tia in the kitchen.”

“That’s too bad. Well, maybe next time. It’d be nice to have a friendly face around.”