Amber Zucchero had always been quiet in high school. On the day of graduation, there was a big blow out for the seniors of the three high schools around: Lakewood Academy, Boston River Preparatory, and Blackpool Hall. Amber attended Blackpool Hall, which was a school for girls. Boston River was a boys' school, and Lakewood was for both boys and girls.
It had been difficult for Amber in school, because her boyfriend, Ben Radcliffe, didn't go to Boston River, but to Lakewood. Lakewood was known for its excellent cheerleading squad, which made Amber very jealous. While she was physically fit, she was always soft and never toned, like her jock boyfriend. She constantly wondered why they were even a couple. A year or so ago, she would have said that it was because they loved each other, but she wasn't so sure now.
At the blow out, her two best friends, Rose and Kitty, handed her a can of beer and told her to relax. Amber wanted to relax. All three girls had graduated within the top five and were set to go to Ivy League schools the following September. But something was eating at her that night, and it sure wasn't Ben. Ben had, in fact, eaten her a few times, but he was always upset when Amber asked him to.
"Can't you, like, use a vibrator, or something?" Ben had asked. "Now, give me a hand job."
Amber sometimes detested the way that Ben talked to her. But she hadn't been noticed until sophomore year, when they'd begun dating. Neither had Rose and Kitty, for that matter. But, they soon fell in with the jock crowd behind Amber and were soon dating Carson Webber and Harry Daniels respectively.
"You need to relax," said Rose, putting a hand on Amber's shoulder. "And where is Ben at?"
"I don't know," said Amber, taking a sip of beer. She never drank, but she knew that there would be something about tonight that she'd have to block out somehow.
"Well, he'd better come stand with you," said Kitty, tossing her pretty black hair and looking around. "Harry," she said, motioning him and Carson over to them. "Maybe they can tell us something," she said, turning back to Amber and Rose.
When the boys arrived, kissing their respective girlfriends on the cheek and offering them chips and dip from their plates, looked expectantly at all three of them.
"What's up?" Carson asked.
"Why did you call us over here?" Harry inquired.
Amber took another sip of beer. "Do you know where Ben is?"
"Well, we--" Harry began.
Carson cleared his throat loudly, with a look at Harry. "No," he said in a stage-fake voice. "No, we do not. We do not know where our friend Ben is tonight, at this moment."
"Man, Carson, I am tired of lying for him," Harry complained, putting his arm around Kitty and turning to Amber. "I'm really sorry, Amber. Ben has been cheating on you for the last six months."
Amber dropped her beer can, and beer went all over Carson. She ignored Carson's scream of protest and shook her head. "What do you mean, cheating on me?!" she cried. "Where is he, really? Tell me what is going on, Harry, please!"
"You'd better tell her," said Kitty, crossing her arms.
Harry sighed. "Okay. Ben's been screwing the head cheerleader, you know, Mandy Anderson?"
"She should be a junior!" Amber cried in disgust. "She's barely seventeen yet she managed to somehow skip a grade! We're all eighteen here! He could go to jail!"
"Not gonna happen," Carson said. "Remember? Mandy's daddy is the chief of police, and he loves Ben like a son."
"Oh, my God," Amber said, stepping three steps away from them. Then she turned toward a little cabin above the rocks, just next to the lighthouse on the beach. She made sure her sandals were buckled properly before going to the rocks and beginning to climb. She heard her friends shouting at her to come down, but she didn't listen. She climbed all the way to the top in under ten minutes, and thanked God there wasn't any reception here, as Carson would have probably called Ben by now.
Amber stepped up to the cabin door and opened it, before going inside and carefully shutting it behind her. She looked around the dark room and saw a little light under a door just a few feet away from her. Getting all of her courage, she advanced upon it, and threw the door open so that it crashed against the wall behind it.
"What the fuck?!" she screamed at Ben.
Ben's eyes looked freaked, like he knew he'd been caught in a lie. "Amber!" he cried, looking around. "This isn't what it looks like!"
"How Hollywood actor of you," Amber said sarcastically. "You're fucking Mandy, Ben! How could you?!"
Mandy looked away from Amber. "Geez, would you go away?"
"No, I will not go away, you slut! I want to talk to the son of a bitch next to you, who's been my boyfriend for two years!" She went up close to the bed and pulled out Ben, who stood naked in front of her. "Ben, why?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I don't know. Because I wanted to...?"
Amber reached out and slapped him in the face. "That's it!" she cried, narrowing her eyes at him. "We are over!" and she left Ben and Mandy alone in the cabin.
Two weeks later, Amber was home alone. Her father had surprised her mother with a trip to the Caribbean, and her brother Andy was with their grandmother, so she had the house to herself. She'd told her parents about the break up, and how a week home alone would be the perfect thing to take her mind off of it. She'd sleep in, stay up late, and try to laugh at normal, every day things.
Then, one day, she received a knock at the door. Careful to look through the peephole before opening the door, she saw Mandy standing outside on the porch. Surprised, Amber opened the door.
"Mandy?" she asked.
Mandy looked up, her green eyes taking in Amber's blue ones. "Hi," she said, lowering her eyes again. "Can I come in?"
"Yes, of course," Amber said, stepping back.
Mandy entered the house and Amber shut the door behind her. "I broke things off with Ben," she said, going into the living room.
"Oh," Amber said. "Do you want something to drink?"
Mandy shook her head. "Did you hear me?" she asked. "I said that I broke up with Ben...? I did it as a birthday present to myself."
"Oh, you're eighteen now?" Amber asked as they both sat down. "Wow, that's great. Congrats," she said.
Mandy sighed. "I've got to tell you the real reason why I broke up with him," she said.
"Let me guess," Amber said, and Mandy shrugged. "Um, you either like somebody else, or you realized the error of your ways in taking him from me and hope now to give him back?"
"You don't love Ben, Amber," Mandy said.
Amber blinked. "Excuse me?"
"And besides, you were right about the first part of your analogy. I do like somebody else."
"Oh," Amber said. "Who?"
Mandy rolled her eyes. "God, you are so clueless sometimes!" she said, and giggled. "Here. Let me show you."
"You have a picture on your phone?" Amber asked.
Mandy shook her head. "Not last time I checked." Then she scooted across the couch and was nose to nose with Amber. "I'll show you," she whispered, and opened her mouth, meeting it with Amber's. Just as her tongue managed to creep through the older girls' lips, Amber suddenly and unexpectedly pulled away.
"What the hell are you doing?!" she cried.
Mandy blinked. "I was showing you," she said, putting her hand onto Amber's knee. "I'm in love with you."
"No, no you're not," Amber said, getting to her feet. "I think you should go now. Right now," she said, and pointed to the door.
Mandy got to her feet as well. "All right," she said, dejected. She walked to the door and didn't look back as she shut it behind her.
Amber slowly brought her fingers to her lips. She ran her index finger over both of them. Then she stuck her tongue out and licked them. Mandy had been wearing a cinnamon-flavored lip gloss, which had contradicted with Amber's sugary bubblegum one. Slowly, Amber sank to the floor and put her head into her hands to think. Nobody had ever kissed her like that before, that was for sure.
Three days later, Amber couldn't take it anymore. She logged on to her favorite social networking site and managed to find Mandy's number. She called it, and waited desperately for an answer.
"Hello?" came Mandy's voice.
Amber let out a sigh of relief. "Mandy, it's Amber."
"Oh. Hi."
"Hi. I was wondering if you could come over?"
Mandy sounded interested. "Okay. When?"
"Are you busy later today?" Amber asked.
"No, I'm not."
"Great. Come around seven, okay?"
"Okay."
Amber smiled. "Thanks," she said. "See you later."
Amber stepped out of the steaming shower at approximately six-fifteen. She sat in front of the mirror and blow dried her hair so as if hung shiny and loose around her pretty face. Then she rubbed her body all over with her vanilla lotion, and set to work at painting her fingernails and toenails a brilliant scarlet.
By that time, it was after six-thirty. Then Amber went into her bedroom and took ten minutes deciding just exactly which lingerie outfit to wear. She wanted to impress Mandy with her natural Double-D breasts, and her black silk trimmed with red ribbon seemed perfect. It was a beautiful piece, strapless, ruffly, and it had those thin stockings that attached to it. Her shapely legs always looked hot.
Then she decided to go barefoot and forget the stockings, and it was hot out, and she'd need to show off her toenail polish. She put on the sexy attire and the matching silk black robe and chose a Chanel perfume. She'd just lightly sprayed her neck, back of her ears, her wrists, and between her soft breasts as the doorbell rang.
Making sure that her robe was tied correctly, Amber made her way downstairs. She was thankful that she'd bought red roses to put over every surface of her bedroom, and those candles that didn't require matches for her bedside table. She checked the door's peephole, and saw Mandy standing there in a pretty, sleeveless blue dress.
Opening the door a crack, Amber whispered, "Shut your eyes."
Mandy smirked but did as she was told.
"Give me your hand," Amber said.
