Charlie's an "Angel"
"Charlotte! Are you ready for school yet? I have to go to the market to pick up dinner before I go to work!" I can hear my mamaw yelling up at me from the bottom of the stairs. I hadn't even rolled out of bed yet. I shoot a quick text to my friend Jayne asking if she can take me to school. I do not want to go to school looking like I walked through a tornado. My hair was a complete knotted mess and I had mascara and eyeliner smudged all over my face. I didn't get shit for sleep. I was up all night texting Jayne about my crush. Jayne's the only one who knows I'm head over heels for a boy who's taken by someone else.
My phone vibrates and crack my bedroom door a little so she could hear my voice from downstairs, "It's alright Mamaw. Jayne's giving me a ride to the college. I'll stop by the day-care center when I get out of classes." I close my door and I hear her leave. My mamaw is a sweet woman. She owns a day-care center for the lower class; she opened it up so poor families wont have to pay ridiculous prices for child care while they work or go to college. She's sweet, but a little naive sometimes.
I walk to my closet and grab a black and purple corseted strapless shirt and a pair of tight jeans, then I head into the bathroom. I turn on the hot water faucet so it warms up and I walk back into my bedroom to turn on the radio. Turning the volume all the way up, I walk back into the bathroom. I undress and brush my hair real quick before I get in the shower. The water coming from the spout was steaming hot as I step in and close the curtain behind me .
Within 20 minutes I'm done in the shower. I step out and wrap myself up in a towel and start drying off. My phone vibrates and I have a new text message from Ty. Tyler Trace, he's been my best friend since kindergarten and I have had the hugest crush on him since the summer before our freshman year. Our mothers were as close as we are growing up and Ty's mom became some-what of a substitute mom to me. She's actually the one who started calling me "Charlie" instead of Charlotte.
I open the message : hey you coming to school or what? you're late. I laugh to myself. Typical Tyler move, he always ask me if I'm coming to school if I am 10 minutes late. I text him back : waitin on jay to pick me up. I press send and quickly throw my hair up in a messy bun and I reach for my make-up bag. Pulling out my concealer and eyeliner I think about when Ty used to pick me up in his mom's old van and drive around everywhere. It was dark green, rusted and a total beater-vehicle, but Tyler and I share a lot of memories within it. We used to use it to go camping in the back yard growing up; we would have Tyler's dad fold in the back seats, set down an air-matress, and we would curl up in our (own) sleeping bags on top of it.
I smile to myself. Those were the good ol' days. When Ty got his license, his mom gave him the van and he kept it about two years before trading it in for a motorcycle our first year of college. That's when the rides stopped. I am too scared to sit on that damn thing with only Tyler to hold on to, especially when going at high speeds. Again, my phone vibrates, and again, it is a message from Ty. ok so then you will be here in like an hour, i take it?
Finally, I hear Jimmy, (Jay's boyfriend), driving up the gravel in his king-cab pick-up truck. I turn off the bathroom light and walk back into my room. I grab my purse and walk downstairs and lock the door behind me as I walk outside. Jayne hops out and lets me into the back seat. "Morning sunshine." She says, giving me a hug .
"So Charlie, did you bring it?" Jimmy asks. I reach into my purse and grab my Rx bottle. Adderal 500mg, the label reads. I take out three small blue, circle-shaped pills and hand them to Jimmy. Jayne opens the glove compartment and grabs a little plastic tray, a rolled up piece of paper, a lighter, and an old Wal-Mart Gift Card, then hands them to Jimmy. He places the pills in the tray and places the card on top of them, using the lighter to press down on it to crush the Addies. After the blue powder is equally separated between three lines, we each take turns snorting them. We sit, listening to music.
Ty texts me again : charlieee..?? Shit, I think, I forgot to text him back. i'm not sure yet. thinking bout skipping.. not sure if i want to or not, not feeling too hot. Ehh, it was a little white lie, but I was feeling better than that. My ADHD came in handy sometimes, whenever I wanted to speed. Which I was definately doing now. In less than five minutes he texts me back : you're always hott so stop being lazy and come to school. i'll skip with you tomorrow ;) we will go to the beach or something.
Hmm.
I contemplate this, do I want to skip today and do absolutely nothing but smoke marijuana with Jay and Jimmy, or do I want to skip tomorrow with my crush? What was up with the slightly flirty message? I wonder about this because he has a girlfriend. This dumb bimbo named Mary Harrold somehow got my best friend hooked on her fake-ass. I hate her more than anyone in the world. She only likes Ty because he has a motorcycle and he's popular. She's a stupid blonde bimbo who has to be the center of attention at all times.
Mary hates, hates, HATES that Tyler and I are so close; she makes sure to let me know that when Tyler isn't around. Of course when he is she talks to me like we are the best of friends though and it pisses me off. It's pathetic. I shake my head at the thought of her. I reply to him : be right there (: and lets go up to your camp instead of the beach all day. have a fire and maybe some s'mores for lunch.
"Hey Jay, I have a huge test today, so do you want to chill after I get out of school?" Jayne turns around and looks at me, "We work this afternoon, so maybe we will swing by later and smoke one when we get out." "Okay." I say, and like that we leave. I'm at the community college sitting next to Ty in math class in less than 10 minutes. My heart is pounding so fast and it feels like in no time at all I was on my way to the cafe down the road for lunch .
It's almost as if I don't even remember walking to second and third period. I walk up to the salad bar and prepare a ceasar salad and grab a fork and napkin before walking to the table I normally sit at with Tyler and a few people we go to school with. Mary is already sitting there, all alone. I slow my pace and when I get to the table I sit down without saying a word to her, thinking to myself that I should've waited for Ty at the english building. He had to ask the professor for the notes for tomorrows class. She looks all pissy when she sees me.
"If you think you are going to go anywhere alone with my boyfriend, you better think again, you ugly skank." I look at her hands, confirming my suspicion that Mary had Tyler's phone. Now I'm pissed off, I do not put up with that shit. I tear his phone out of her hands.
"What did you do take this out of his saddlebag to his motorcycle?!" I accuse, gesturing to the phone in my hand. She glares at me and says nothing and takes the phone back. "How dare you! You think you can call me a skank and violate Tyler's privacy? You're a fucking bitch and Tyler deserves better than you." I rip the phone out of her well-manicured fingers and I go to swing at her...
Just for Tyler to catch my fist, I hadn't realized he had walked over. "Woah, man! What's this all about? What are you doing Charlie!?" I lower my fist, but he doesn't let go. He knows me so well, I think to myself, suppressing a smile. I open my mouth to respond to him, but I the bimbo cuts me off, in a bitchy ass tone.
"Baaaaaby she tried to hit me because I told her I wanted to come with you guys tomorrow. She said I couldn't and I told her I was gunna ask you. That's when she tried to hit me." She pouts.
"That's not true!" I say, though in my head I was screaming and tearing her fake platnum-blonde hair out. Tyler looks at me, puzzled.
I make eye contact with him, waiting for him to say something. He looks at his girlfriend, "Well, that sounds a little far fetched, Mary. I can't see her trying to hit you over having alone time with me. We are just buds, baby. I've told you that. She's like one of the guys to me. We grew up as neighbors and our parents are best friends. If it makes you feels better though, you can tag along tomorrow with us."
Fury fumes inside of me. I just wanted to reach over the table and strangle her with her pearl necklace. Tyler sits down next to her and I shake my head as I hand him his phone. "She's lying Ty. I wanted to hit her because she called me a skank and went through your phone. She's probably just jealous because you said I was hott and you sent a winking face to me. She's nothing but a dumb bitch and you deserve better."
I stand up, leaving my tray and walk away. I needed to get out of here. Not to avoid the probable argument about to happen, but just because I felt like I could not keep myself from hitting her a moment longer. She's a fucking liar and I hate liars, I think to myself. My heart was pounding from the adderal and adrenaline and it was all I could do to refrain from beating the shit out of her and smaking Ty across the face for being with her.
I shoot a text to Jay : todays lame classes are boring nd i wanna smack a bitch . come get me and smu! I needed to get high to calm down. I walk out the doors to the back parking lot and sit on the steps, waiting for Jayne to text me back. Please come get me, I plead inside my head.
I needed to get out of there and I don't have a license. My mamaw didn't let me get one. She's too paranoid. I love her to death, but I was planning on taking the permit test when I turn 21 because that means I wont have to log hours or go through drivers ed. Jimmy and Jayne have taught me how to drive, so the day I get my permit I'll send out for a license test. I hear the door open behind me; shit, I think to myself. I turn around expecting to see the owner , but it's just Tyler.
"Waiting for a ride or just thinking?" he asks as he sits down beside me. "A little of both. Why'd you come after me? Jayne could be here any minute, so if you're planning on bitching me out make it short and sweet." I hated how harsh that came out the second I saw him frown at me.
"Charlie, I wasn't going to yell at you. I was coming to apologize for Mary's actions. She's just insecure because you're my best friend. Mary feels like she has to compete for my attention." I shake my head at him.
"Ty. Just stop. I don't want to listen to you defend her for being an intrusive asshole. You can say what you want but she's totally different when you're not around. Honestly it is at the point where you're going to have to make a decision because I refuse to have to put up with her.." With that I stand up and check my phone.
