Jen burst into Christina's room without a least bit of forewarning or hesitation. The ice princess was lying on her stomach on her overly stuffed frilly bed staring at an art history textbook with a blue highlighter between her French manicured fingers. Yanked from her cozy sanctuary, Christina's look of surprise quickly melted into a seething glare of contempt. No mortal man has ever survived this mixture of annoyance and irritation.
"Who the fuck do you think you are," she said icily, sitting up and putting her delicate manicured hands on her hips. "Did your white-trash parents tell you it was alright to just waltz into another person's room like you're the fucking queen of Sheba?"
The white hot venom pouring out of her face, coupled with her beautiful features screwed up into a glare that would put Medusa to shame nearly stopped Jen in her tracts. She took a deep breath and steadied herself, and then smiled her best kindergarten-you've-not-been-playing-well-with-the-others smile. Christina didn't know that her housemates were skilled in the black arts of witchcraft, nor did she know about the spell they had just place on her.
"Now Christina," Jen said, trying to hid the fear in her voice, "I just wanted to see if you wanted to join me and the girls in the living room for a drink?"
"How about this, Jen." Christina seethed. "How about you tell your fucking airhead friends to leave me the fuck alone and get the hell out of my room before I call the land lord?"
Christina was standing now and easily stood a good 4 inches taller than her retreating roommate. As she towered over her and waved her highlighter like a switch-blade, she brushed aside her long straight blond mane and looked every bit as menacing as the best of the Disney super villainess. To make matters worse, Christina had the body that all these over-privileged daddy s dΓ©butantes seem to have; long, well muscled legs, washboard abs (thanks mostly to genetics and at least two hours in the gym a day), and perky chest that seemed to defy gravity.
"Look, Chris," Jen said, her voice beginning to waver a bit as she backed up a couple of steps. "I just wanted to know if you wanted to come out and see what the rest of the house looked like. You board yourself up in here all day long and you never even look at the rest of us anymore. The only time I've even talked to you in the last week was when your Porsche was blocking the driveway and I was late for class."
"Look, sweetie," Christina fumed, her annoyance growing by the second. "I don't care if you are bleeding to death and you need a ride to the hospital, the next time you come in here without knocking, I'll call my father and have you evicted."
Jen took another deep breath. The only way to tell if the spell had any effect on her was too start giving suggestions. It s now or never, so she might as well start off small.
"Why don't you stand up on one leg, Christina?"
"What?" Christina was monetarily caught off guard by the randomness of Jen's question, but quickly regained her balance. " What the hell are you talking about? Why the hell would I do that?"
Jen's heart sunk into her stomach at the realization that her spell didn't seem to work at all. She was about to give up on the whole endeavor and run for safety and pray that she still had a roof over her head in the morning. Then she remembered the trigger word. She looked down at the floor and fumbled with her hands.
"Christina, are you sure you don't want to?"
"Yes, I'm sure, you stupid bitch," Christina said the blood raising in her face. "Look, I don't have time for any more of your stupid shit."
Even as she began her rant, Christina's right foot slowly started to rise off the floor until her knee bent at a 90-degree angle. Looking like a pink lawn flamingo, she continued to lay into Jen, telling her to leave her alone and lock the door as she left. Jen couldn't believe it, as Christina continued her little lecture; she stood there with one of her cheerleader's Keds raised off the floor. She doesn't even realize that she s doing it.
"And another thing, you tell your stupid boyfriend."
"Excuse me, your highness," Jen said, her confidence growing at the absurd sight of the prom queen yelling at her and looking like an unbalanced stork. "Why are you standing like that if you don't want to?"
Christina's eyes shot down her body in utter bewilderment. She was indeed standing on one foot. Angry and confused, she looked back at Jen like a cranky baby awakened from a dream. Dazed, she attempted to push her leg back down to the floor but her muscles were tight as steel cable and her stance did not change a bit.
"What-what the hell is going on?" Christina mumbled, now pushing her thigh with both hands, trying to get her leg down to its normal position. "You get the hell out of her now Jen."
"I don't understand, Chris," Jen said, as smug as ever. "You said you don't want to stand on one foot, but there you are standing like a god damn jack knife. Why don't you put your foot down?"
"Fuck, you, you little bitch. " Christina shot back, angry to the point of blowing a gasket. "I can put my leg down-if I want to." Christina's leg began to tremble as she again tried to push it down to the floor. She lost her balance and pitched over, falling to the carpet at an odd angle. Her short skirt rode up her hips, giving Jen a clear view of her white lacy panties. She squirmed around on the floor, her knee still bent at the same bizarre angle, trying, without success, to push her skirt back down over her hips.
Jen watched with amusement as the girl with the six figure expense account who ordered coffee directly from Sweden every morning squirmed around on the floor at her feet, cursing and trying to hide her modesty. "Alright Chris, I'm sure you want to put your foot back down."
Instantaneously, Christina's foot shot back down next to her other. She sat straight up with wide eyes and smoothed her skirt down over her thighs.
"What the hell is going on, what are you doing to me?" Christina whimpered, half shamed. She was now as angry as a pit bull on a short leash.
"Why don't you come into the living room and I'll explain it all."
"Why don't you go blow the rest of the rugby team?"
Jen laughed at her housemate s guile despite her position. The next few hours are going to be a ton of fun, she thought. Christina stood up and was staring to turn around before Jen's words made her quickly spin around.
"Are you sure you don't want to come out to the living room?"
"Yes, I'm fucking sure, Christina said, her legs already heading toward her bedroom door. "I think its time for you to get the hell out of my room." Christina said this as she briskly walked past Jen and out of her room. Her voice trailed off as she realized that her legs had a mind of their own and that even the force of her stubborn will was not going to stop her from heading toward the living room. Her hands clawed at the doorframe, trying to stop her progress, but couldn't find a finger. Jen raised her fists quickly in triumph and scurried off behind her, closing the door carefully behind her and nodding at the "stay the hell out!" message on her dry erase board.
In the living room, Christina was met by her other two roommates, Andrea and Michelle, both of whom Christina also thought of as white trash morons. The two girls were seated on the white sofa in front of a wooden kitchen chair. Both Andrea and Michelle had full glasses of red Merlot and both were dressed for bed, wearing sleepwear reserved for slumber parties. The drapes were drawn and several candles were lit, giving the room a warm semi-dark glow.
Michelle's face lit up as Christina strode into the room. In school on an academic scholarship she had always been intimidated by her beautiful housemate, especially when Christina made her conscious of both her own wealth and Michelle's lack of spending money. She wasn't sure what to expect when Christina came striding into the room in an utter rage, her cheeks rosy and her fist clenched.
"I take it its working," asked Michelle, dressed in silky cream pajamas with coral buttons and wispy elastic sleeper pants.
"What are you talking about, you stupid idiot?" Christina screamed and her two roommates, recoiled in horror. "If the two of you are both in on this, too&I swear to god you will both be out on your asses when my father finds out."
Michelle gulped and began to start picturing moving day, as Christina's father would no doubt evict them and watch with a huge grin on his smug face when they were delivered to student\low income housing. She was relieved when Jen came into the room with a huge Cheshire Cat grin on her face.
"Yeah, it s working, all right," Jen said with a giggle. "Go ahead and give it a try. The spell is working perfectly. I don't even think she is conscious of her actions."
Andrea and Michelle looked at each other quickly and then back expectantly at Christina, who looked like an angry cartoon character whose feet were glued to the floor. She kept trying to move away from her stance in the center of the room, but her feet were frozen in place. It was Andrea who first tested the waters as Jen joined them on the couch. She looked right at Christina, who looked even madder than she had when she first strode in.
"All right, Christina, why don't you have a seat in that chair in front of us?" Andrea said, motioning to the bar stool.
"Why don't you all go fuck yourselves," Christina said in a low tone, dripping with acid. "I've got studying to do and not any more time for this shit."