Victoria went over for the seventeenth time that morning over her bland, watery eggs what had happened between her and Lola two weeks before. Now she was swamped with finals; she cursed herself for taking on the required seven classes, plus the three classes at the local community college. She had taken three classes at the community college ever quarter for the past year and nine months in order to get her pre-requisites out of the way in order to qualify as a junior and not a freshman upon first entering college.
Now, on one of her last Saturdays before high school let out, she had nothing to do. With all of her college finals finished, having aced all of them, any self-respecting high school senior would be cramming for their more important finals. However, with a week and a half left, three of her seven classes had already been taken up by two essays and one oral report...oddly for Lola's class, making her think about eating her pussy the whole time. She had picked a spot on the white washed wall and kept her eyes glued to it.
"Tori?" asked Mom, breaking her reverie of her future. "Could you please pass the OJ if you're not having any?"
"If you knew me at all, you'd know that I despise OJ," Victoria snapped back at Murphy, handing her the carton. "He should not have been acquitted. He clearly killed Nicole. Have you ever seen that footage of his verdict? Fucking smug look on his face..."
Murphy looked at her oldest daughter, shocked at the outburst. Looking at Gloria, they nodded to each other and asked Justine to leave the table. Justine complied, of course, because she was the perfect child.
"Sweetheart, we really have to talk to you," Gloria began.
Victoria rolled her eyes. "Right. The word 'fucking' is not appropriate. I'm sorry. I'll go apologize to Justine and then I'll get out of here. You only have time for your real daughter anyhow," she said, getting to her feet.
"Victoria Alexandra Spezia-James, sit your butt down while we're talking to you," Murphy said, and Victoria instantly sat down again, cursing her childhood loyalty.
"Yes, Mom..."
"Apologize to Mama," Murphy said.
"Sorry, Mama..."
"Now," Murphy said, wiping her face with her napkin and setting it down, "I got a call from Grandma and Grams the other day. With the new case getting its verdict, I had to be on-hand to the client constantly..."
"The point. I don't want you wasting your precious time on me," Victoria said, contemplating if whether or not her inedible eggs would be better with ketchup.
"They said that you saw Richard Norwood," said Gloria, putting on her principal's voice.
Victoria felt herself whiten. She really thought that Grandma and Grams would've kept this visit under wraps, but apparently she was mistaken. "Did they now?"
"Now we know you're over eighteen, so we had no right to stop you," Murphy put in. "I just want you to appreciate how potentially dangerous that situation was, going to a prison, that you put yourself in..."
Victoria nodded. "I know. Norwood has some mental problems."
Gloria sighed. "He's a convicted serial killer, sex offender, and child molester, Victoria. His problems are beyond just mental ones."
Victoria spread her hands. "What do you want me to say? What do you expect from me? I work my ass off in school so you'll stay off my back, which you've done since freshman year and then some. I decided ever since about a year of Justine's diagnosis that I wanted as far away from here as possible."
"Why would you want that, love?" asked Murphy, confused.
"You have got to be kidding me," she said, looking between her mothers. "This right here, what we're doing right now, never happens because you're either working at your offices, here at home, or seeing to Justine."
"That's not--" Gloria began.
"And don't you dare tell me that's not true!" Victoria said, feeling the tears come. "You don't even know anything about me because of your precious jobs and your real daughter..."
"Now that's uncalled for," Murphy said, shaking her head. "You are our real daughter, Victoria."
"No, I'm not. I'll always be your adopted daughter that you'll never love like you love Justine." She got to her feet, shaking her head. "In fact, I'm probably keeping you from her. Your real daughter is probably eavesdropping right now, anyhow. I'll be out of here as soon as finals are over, anyhow. That apartment in Bellingham was probably a bribe anyway, but it's a beautiful bribe and a wonderful escape. You can convert my bedroom into something for your real daughter as soon as I'm gone," Victoria said, turning away to hide her tears.
"Victoria sit down!" Murphy said firmly, and Victoria sat, keeping her eyes lowered so as they couldn't see her face. "How could you say that we don't know anything about your life? Prom is tonight. Aren't you excited to go with Miles? You've been talking about it since September..."
Victoria sighed. "Yeah, I'm not gonna go to that, especially with someone straight..."
Gloria looked at Murphy before turning back to Victoria. "Um, honey? Is there something important that you wanted to tell us?"
Victoria shook her head. "I don't want to tell either of you anything. You lost that right as soon as you successfully forgot about me."
Gloria slammed her fist down upon the breakfast table, something very out of character for her. "This attitude of yours is unacceptable, Victoria. Either tell us what's going on with you, or you're grounded."
"Um, love, she's eighteen," Murphy said gently, touching Gloria's arm.
Gloria sighed. "Just please answer me, Victoria. Please."
Victoria looked at them full in the face at that moment. She had considered looking down or looking away, but she just wanted to get it over with. "Fine, you want the truth? I'm gay. I'm a lesbian, and I broke up with Miles because it was wrong to lead him on. I would appreciate it if I could go to my room now, please..."
Without hesitation this time, Victoria got to her feet quickly and walked down the hall. Justine was standing there, her eyes wide. Victoria glared at her.
"If you weren't sick I'd..." She shook her head, realizing that it wasn't worth it and walked upstairs to her room and slammed and locked the door behind her. She threw herself onto her bed and began to sob.
Miles had messaged her about an hour after that and informed her that he still had their prom tickets. Since he hadn't asked anyone else, he asked if they could go as friends. Wanting more than anything to get out of there, Victoria quickly accepted.
She had gotten the dress and the shoes about a month before the break up, so she had everything she needed for the evening. She readied herself quickly and, at seven-fifteen, Miles arrived to pick her up.
Murphy and Gloria had, unsurprisingly, taken Justine to something for the night, so no prom photographs were taken. Victoria got into the limo and sat beside Miles, grateful that he only held her hand. They arrived at the dance at a nightclub Downtown, posing for a picture outside before heading inside into the flashing disco lights, where the hit of the summer, some new Taylor Swift song or something, was pumping over the giant speakers.
Beth Henry, who had long harbored a crush on Miles, casually asked him to dance, and Victoria encouraged him to go for it. Victoria then spotted the stereotypical punch bowl and filled a red plastic cup with it, sipping it slowly as she looked around the room. Of course, of course, Lola was one of the chaperones, looking beyond gorgeous in a mermaid dark green dress which was finished in black lace.
"Great dance," Lola said quietly.
Victoria nodded. "Yeah."
"How are you?"
"Fine."
"Why is your date dancing with Beth Henry?" asked Lola.
Victoria shrugged. "Because he wants to," she replied as an 90's song, "Hey Ho, Let's Go" by the Ramones just finished on the speakers.
"Hungry Eyes" by Eric Carmen stared up then.
"I love this song," Victoria and Lola said at the same time.
