Within Time: Divine

RHIANNON

 

 

She was serious when she said I would go to school even if I was dead of alcohol poisoning.  She woke me up at six sharp for me to get myself ready.  At least it was Wednesday, the middle of the week.  The first thing I saw in the mirror and the first thing to cover up were my puffy eyes but I would do that after I took a shower so I began stripping out of my clothes.  I stared at myself in a six foot mirror on my bathroom wall just to make sure the beer from last night hadn’t given me a gut overnight. 

 

I hated asking for help but getting around the school wasn't going to be easy if I didn't.  I saw a circle of pretty good looking guys looking at me smiling so I walked towards them.

"Hey boys, I'm new here.  Can any of you show me the way to my classes?"

"How about all of us show you to your class?"

"Sounds great."

"What's your first class?" asked a buff guy with brown hair.

"French with Mrs. Chevalier?"

"I have that class."  Said a muscular guy with spiky blonde hair and green eyes.

"Me too."  Added a tall dark guy skinny but with muscle, he looked like a basketball player.  They both escorted me happily to French class and suggested me to sit beside them.  People were coming in and out and they were telling me about them.  A mocha skinned girl walked in and the guys immediately started calling her over.

"Kylie! Over here girl."  Kylie looked like she was disgusted of being in this class.  I wasn't too thrilled about it myself but I wasn't making such an ugly face about it.  Kylie wore dark blue skinny jeans, a white long sleeve shirt with a brown belt at her waist, brown boots and a brown scarf.  She was wearing warm tones of eye shadow and a bit of eyeliner on her top lid and just way too much lip gloss.  She walked to the back corner of the class where the two guys and I were sitting.  She twirled her straight hair staring at me like I wasn't supposed to be there.

"Who's that?" she gave a nod towards me.

"That's the new girl.  What's your name girl?"  Said the blonde boy

"Rhiannon."

"Well, Rhiannon, you're in my seat." She said

"So find another one."  I stared back fearless.

"Very funny.  Get up."  She demanded.

"Cat fight!!!" yelled the blonde guy.

"Devin shut up."  Kylie scolded.  "I told you to get up."

"Kylie, give the new girl a break sit, somewhere else today."  Said the dark guy.

"Carson, really?  Instead of defending me you're gonna let this white bitch sit in my seat?"

"If it makes you feel better about your ugly self, call me bitch all you want."  I looked up at her with my arms crossed.  Kylie looked like she wanted to kill me.  She took a step toward me but Carson stood up and held her back.

"Is your boyfriend holding you back or is he your excuse to not get your face smashed in?"  She started pushing on Carson and jumping all the while yelling for him to let her go and that she was going to teach me a lesson.  A chubby short lady with short black hair walked in and was shocked at seeing Kylie struggling against Carson.

"Kylie Barnes!  This is unbelievable it's the first day of school and you're making a scene in my class?  Go to the suspension room!  ."

“No! Not before I get this bitch!”

“Kylie!”

"I’m going!”  Kylie stared at me then turned and walked away.

I laughed hysterically as the teacher walked out of the room behind Kylie.  It was just the first day and I had already made an enemy who I would bother through out the year.

"Yo!  That was awesome!"  said Devin " No girl has stood up like that to that bitch!  Without meaning offense Carson."

"It's cool man, I'm tired of her taking me for granted.  Im done with her and her bullshit."

"I didn't stand up to her.  I was sitting all the time."  I laughed.

"Nice, you're a joker."

"So Carson, is she your girlfriend?"

"Ex, I'm done with her."

"I see she's much of a bitch" I stated.

"You ever watch those high school drama movies where there there's a queen bitch?"

"Yea, I have."

"That's her.  She doesn't care about anyone except for her and her damn purse dog."

"She has a purse dog, does she not realize were not in hollywood?"

"It's actually a yorkie.  She'll trash anyone and make their highschool years hell.”

"Well I know that if she tries that with me it’s going to backfire on her.  Now listen to me Carson, you're going to forget about Kylie.  I can treat you better than she can.  And you really have no choice, either you can forget about that bitch or I can make your senior year worse than hell."

"Hey!  No need for threats, you're a whole lot prettier than her."

"Good, now you must get the rest of your little friends to do the same thing.  Trust me I can be an entire universe worse than Kylie.  If she's the “queen bee” and I got her in trouble what do you think I'd do with you?"

"Hopefully pleasurable things."  Devin answered.  I smiled thinking about the possibilities of that.

"That could be a reward or it could be your punishment."  He seemed confused about it but as long as I knew what I was doing everything was fine.

"The more the merrier." I added.

"I'm back class.  Bienvenue.  I think I know most of you.  Let's call role."  Said Mrs. Chevalier as she walked back in.  She was a very jolly lady.

"Taylor Kaylette..."

"Here."

"Micah ..."

"Ici proffeseus..."  I didn't like that guy he seemed like a teacher's pet and teacher's pets were the best people to mess with. 

"Yes, I know you're here Micah."

"Oh and look here, we have a new student this year.  Rhiannon Lefebvre."

"Right here."  I raised my hand.  Everybody began talking in low voices and I honestly couldn't care less what they thought about me. 

"Mackenzie Lance..."  she continued.

 

Mrs. Chevalier passed out papers that had to do with emergency contacts and personal stuff.  We were done with all of that five minutes before the bell rang which gave her time to make a speech about what we would be doing tomorrow.

"Tomorrow, we will be starting a warm up project.  You will be assigned a partner with whom you will be completing the project.  And let me tell you beforehand that no you cannot change partners."  The bell rang, everyone stood up and left the room.  In the hallway I was accompanied by Devin and Carson hogging up my schedule paper.

"You have gym up next? No way!  I do too!"  Devin was extremely excited.

"I got Algebra."  Carson looked down with a frustrated expression.

"Yo take care of her were going to introduce her to everyone during lunch."

"Kylie ain't gonna like that." Devin said.

"Man, who gives a fuck about Kylie she's a carpenter's dream."

"What's a carpenter's dream?"  I asked confused.

"Flat as a board and easy to nail."  Our howls of laughter caught everyone's attention but we didn't care.

"This is my stop."  said Carson stopping outside a class.

"See you later."  I said, he nodded and walked into the class.  Devin led me out of the building and for a second I wondered where we were going.  We walked through a courtyard filled with picnic tables from where you could see the football field.  After walking through a couple of buildings I saw one separate building taller than the rest.

"That right there is the new gym.  It was constructed a couple years ago because the old one is small."

"So there's two gyms in this dumpster?"

Devin gave me a weird look and answered "Yea there's two.  Was your old school better than this?"

"So much more."

"Where exactly do you come from?"

"New York."

"That's why."

"I used to live here, but I moved up to New York when I had just started seventh grade."

"Why did you move?"

"uh….It's my birthplace, I wanted to check it out."  We walked into the building and he checked my schedule to check which out of the four gym teachers I had.  Mrs. Kingsley who was the same teacher he had.  I knew Devin was going to get annoying after a while.  We walked in to the gym all the way to the back where Mrs. Kingsley’s class was waiting.  Devin found a couple more friends who he presented me to.  Jaylin Porter and Diedrick Rosenthal; Rick for short.

Jaylin was very pretty and slim.  She stared at me with her arms crossed.  It seemed as if every girl in this school wanted to kill me so far.  Jaylin had long blonde hair, blue eyes and was probably almost six feet tall.  Rick on the other hand was about the same height as Jaylin with choppy brown hair.

"What's your name?"  asked Jaylin.

"Rhiannon."

"You can call me Jay."  she smiled which made me wonder what she was up to.  "That's Rick, he's a German exchange student, he's replacing my brother for this year."

"You must be happy."  I concluded.

"I actually am, my brother is the biggest jackass of all."  She was definitely not the girl I had seen as soon as I came in.  She looked very alert and on the defensive side but the way she was telling me her life right away after just five minutes of knowing me made me think she wasn't so smart and she would be the easiest to slip under my sleeve.

"Wassup man!  Where have you been?"  Devin yelled behind me.  I turned around and saw a tall guy with dark curls and brown eyes and I couldn’t help but stare in shock.  Could it be?  Was it him?

"Look man I got a pretty little thing to show you."  He stared at me trying to figure out where he had seen me.

"Those blue eyes, the dark hair and those plump lips...." He said sounding mesmerized

"Paul?" I breathed.

"Rhiannon?"  he smiled hugely.  He came towards me and gave me a huge hug lifting me off the ground and giving me a twirl.  "I missed you so much.  Where have you been?"  He asked as he put me down.

"I moved up to New York and I decided to come back down here a few weeks ago."

"Wait you two know each other?" Devin asked.

"Yes."  Paul simply said and kept staring at me "I never thought I would see those beautiful blue eyes again."

"Yo, you might wanna watch what you're saying.  Your girl's coming."

"You have a girl?"  I asked.  He nodded and moved to the side so that I could see his girlfriend walking into the gym behind.  "Of course, a brunette with green eyes who has had a crush on you since the eighth grade.  Figures."  I tilted my head at the sight of destiny's fading smile when she saw me.

"What's wrong Destiny?  Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Of course.  Never thought I'd see you again."  She gave me what seemed like a hypocritical smile.  I remember she would mimick my every move trying to be like me and sometimes even better, but now that we were both grown up it was more of a competition to be the best.  She had somehow morphed into a beautiful girl, I didn't know if others thought of her as prettier than me but what counted with boys was sexyness and I had more of that than her.

"So, Destiny I see you finally got the guts to tell Paul how you felt."  She gave me a shy smile and they both looked into each other's eyes.

"Actually Rhiannon, he was the one who asked me out."

"What?"  I blurted out suprised.  I would have never in a million years have thought that he would like her. 

"Well, we started talking more since you left and I became interested in her.  She listened to everything I had to say… even if all of it was about you.  And I asked her to be my girlfriend in the beginning of sophomore year."  Paul said.

"So it's been two years?"  I asked unintentionally jealous.

"Almost, it's on September the tenth."  Said Destiny correcting me.

"On your birthday?"

"You remember?"

"We were best friends at one point remember?"  I reminded her.

"Yea, I remember.  Anyway, it was like a movie scene; very romantic."  She gushed.  Mrs. Kingsley came by and rounded up everyone for her speech about gym class.

"I'll tell you the rest after she's done."

 Mrs. Kingsley passed out sheets about emergency numbers and health issues that we were to fill out and return the next day.  She concluded her speech within five minutes and I was left to talk with Destiny again. 

"Wow what is wrong with that teacher?  She needs some make up."  Destiny stared at me like she was shocked at what I had just said.

"That was my mom you were just talking about." Said a deep voice behind me.  I turned around and saw a brown spiky haired nerd from my first block staring at me from behind his glasses.  He interrupted me as I opened my mouth to talk "And now you're going to pretend you're sorry you said that?"

"Actually no, I'm not going to pretend I'm sorry when I'm really not.  I call'em like I see'm.  That woman works too much, she needs a makeover."

"Well thank you for caring so much about her, maybe next time you can go up to her face and tell her."  I looked at him slightly puckering my lips thinking about that.

"You know what?  I think I will do that."  I turned around and walked to the door where Mrs. Kingsley was beside the gym's double doors intently reading a paper on her clipboard with a pen getting ready to mark on it.

"Mrs. Kingsley."

"Yes, honey."  She looked up from her clipboard just long enough to see who was talking to her, then put her head back down.

"Your son told me that if I have something to say about you I should say it straight up to you.  So I'll be honest and let you know that I think you need a make over.  They are working you too hard and you seem like you don't have anytime for your self."  She stared at me shocked at what I had just said.  She lowered her clipboard and put her pen behind her ear.

"Well, I don't see how your opinion of me would affect me in any way however I do see how my opinion of you would affect you.  It is up to me whether you pass this class or not."

"I could care less whether I passed this class or not.  To me it's just another bullshit class to waste time."  I shrugged.  She gave me a glance and marched out through the double doors into the gym lobby.

I quickly followed her "We can be at war this entire semester or we can go about this the peaceful way.  It's up to you."  I leaned against a wall.  She turned around and faced me.

"Ill let you decide about that."  She walked away.  I had a feeling this would be war against her and her son.  I returned to the gym to talk to Destiny.  Micah stared at me in wonder.

"What happened?"  He asked.

"I told her."

"What did she say?"

"Not much."

"What did she..."

"Go ask her."  I interrupted.  He rolled his blue eyes at me and walked off.

"What happened?"  this time Destiny asked.

"Nothing."

"Ok.  I'm not going to ask cause then you get moody.  So instead I'll just keep telling you about how Paul asked me out."  I wondered if my mind was playing tricks on me or was she actually trying to make me jealous that she got the eye candy every girl fought about in middle school and is probably still the most sought out boy with me being that exception.  He had changed too much for my likings.  Back in middle school he was gaining muscle and his jaw became squared and now I see him a handsome tall man with the muscle of an average guy, unlike his friends who were bulky with muscle.  "The day before my birthday he told me that he had a very special gift for me.  I was really hoping he would ask me to be his girlfriend but I convinced myself that not even beyond my wildest dreams would that happen.  So on the actual day of my birthday I went home and got all dolled up and then I left with him.  He took me to a fancy place.  It wasn't a restaurant, it was more of a garden with a fancy table and dinner for two.  We had our dinner while the butterflies in my stomach were wildly flailing around.  After dinner he asked me to please not throw up on him and we both stood up and..." Her eyes were shining brightly with joy which made me want to throw up and I felt the need to stop her.

"Can we go to the bathroom?"

"Sure."  She smiled "so we both stood up and some random person comes out through the bushes in a tux and he gives Paul a dozen roses.  He gave them to me and said 'these twelve roses represent all the months that I have been building up the courage to do this and well he asked me if I would be his girlfriend. I said yes and he gave me the best kiss no other girl has ever experienced and...."  I tuned her out.  Through all these years she hasn't yet learned to not talk too much.  I ignored her the rest of the class as she told me about how her dog Keeser died of cancer and something about her parents divorcing.

I was grateful when the bell for the next class rang.  My bad luck gave me Geometry class along with Destiny.  I look back five years ago and wondered if she really talked this much back then and if she did how the hell did I deal with it?  At lunch I met many people; friends of the guys I had met in the morning as well as Destiny's.  Fourth block was a bit better.  Although History was never my favorite subject it was better than any type of math and better than having Destiny beside me.

The bell for dismisal rang and I made my way to my car.  I shuffled through my purse looking for my car keys and when I got them and looked up I saw Mark standing beside my car.  He smiled and I found this just flat out creepy.

"Hey Rhiannon."

"What are you doing here?"  My voice was shaking as I looked around to see if Paul wasn't around.

"Just came to offer you another job.  If you're interested."

"Depends.  What Kind of job?"  I kept my distance but he walked a few steps towards me.

"Modeling.  You'll be advertising a boutique.  Your picture will be up on billboards around the entire state."

"Sounds good.  When?"

"How about we meet up tomorrow and discuss that with the person who wants your work?"

I nodded. "Sounds good."

"I'll pick you up tomorrow at four?"

“How about I go with Richard instead?”

“Suit yourself.”  He nodded and smiled as he looked behind me.

“My favorite son!”  He extended his arms out and hugged Paul.

“I told you favoritisms aren’t good dad.”

“I know…” said mark and looked at me “but you know I’m stubborn.”

“Dad have you met Rhiannon?  She’s the most beautiful girl in school.”

“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her, in fact we work together.”

“Oh is this… the model you’ve been telling me about?”

“Yes…beautiful isn’t she?”

“Dad….” Paul muttered something in his dad’s ear and I stood there giving a shy smile like an idiot.  They separated staring at each other until Mark cracked a smile and said “I’ll see you at home.”

“Rhiannon, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Have you… this is awkward... have you had… sex... with my father?”

I busted out with laughter especially as I saw his face of horror “Paul what’s wrong with you?  You’re gross…he’s old.”  His face showed relief.

“Can you stay away from him as much as you can?  When he wants a girl he will not stop bugging until he gets her.”

“Oh…don’t worry it disgusts me just to think that you came out of there!”  He laughed.

“Ok it does sound gross when you put it like that Rhiannon.”

“Don’t worry about it Paul.  I’m not in the least bit interested in your dad.”

“Paul?” said a sweet voice.  Paul moved to the right and there was Destiny.  “Ready to go?”  Paul nodded and turned back to look at me.

“I have to go.”

“You’re so whipped Paul Christenton.”  He smiled and walked away towards destiny.  Destiny turned to look at me giving me a small grin that I didn’t like in the slightest bit.  They walked away toward Paul’s car holding each other’s hands only now Destiny wrapped her free arm around his arm and snuggled her face against it as well.  I imagined Destiny as a little puppy loyally following her master and in a way it made me laugh.