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Beth arrived much earlier than she wanted. She went to bed late, busy with Annie and her own homework because even though it was only a few days of school, teachers gave them a lot of homework. Of course, they are in high school, but still. But despite staying up late, she woke up early and for some reason got the time wrong, so she hangs out in the empty parking lot.
School will start in twenty minutes, and she sits in the parking lot in the car, listening to music on headphones with her eyes closed and singing along with Beyonce. She doesn't hear the car door open and then close. And Beth screams in fright when a palm appears on her thigh. She turns to the right, and of course it's Rio who says loud:
“Hey-hey, babe, it's me.”
She takes the headphones out of her ears and yells at him:
“Rio. Are you an idiot? What are you doing here?” Everyone arrives ten minutes before school, even the teachers. “And take your hand away.” His hand is still on her hip and he removes it reluctantly.
“I came to school.”
“So early?” Beth asks doubtfully. She had already learned that Rio is usually late for class.
“I had some business early in the morning and I can ask you the same thing.”
Business that must be obviously illegal. And that doesn’t matter to her. It’s his own life. He can do whatever he wants to do.
“You can wait for the start of classes in your car.” Beth emphasises as she sees that his Cadillac is just parked next to her car. Of course he parked near her and she didn't even notice him.
“Na, I can spend time with you, it’s the best start of the day. And I read the school newspaper yesterday.” He answers, looking at her.
“And?” Oh yeah, her stupid interview. She doesn't even know if the newspaper really had such a column or not, but she gave an interview. Okay, it worked out pretty well. And the photo is good.
“Of course I didn't read the whole newspaper. Only an interview with you.” Rio has this usual smirk of his. “And I liked it. And you have cool Instagram photos. Especially the ones where you are in a bikini. You are ravishing.” He winks at her and bits his lower lip gazing at her chest.
Yes. Beth already knows about it. He followed her on Instagram and liked all of her photos. And she has almost five thousand photographs. She wonders how many hours he spent looking at them all? But she doesn't ask about it. She knows that it took a lot of time. She just tells him with a smile.
“Thank you.”
Why doesn’t he just leave and get back in his car after this exchange of pleasantries? But no, he decides to stay and say:
“You know, I'm going to be a photographer here, do you want to be my nude model?”
This is disgusting . Of course, it’s right to think so. And she thinks so. But the side of her mind that likes him laughs at this joke inside her mind, finding it cute. It's just some kind of split personality, to be honest. But if he wants to play with her, then she can do it too. Beth moves a little, so that their noses almost touch, and she looks him straight in the eyes and asks:
“Do you know what I want?” And her voice is a little hoarse and sexy. She looks at his lips, licks her own and then looks back in his eyes. His voice too low a little when he asks:
“What do you want?”
She licks her lips again, and then yells at him, not sexually at all:
“For you to fuck off.”
And at that moment someone knocks on the window. And they both look out the window. This is Mick, Rio's friend, who waves to him, hinting that he should get out. Rio mutters something in Spanish and then addresses her:
“See you, baby doll.”
And he finally gets out of the car. It's good that no one but Mick saw them. Especially Ruby.
~~O~~
Emily Soto is a model type: long legs, thin waist, doll face and full lips. Beth can admit that Emily is the most beautiful girl in school. That's what people say. But what does Beth personally think? That Emily can take second place, after her, of course. But it’s just thoughts that Beth won’t share with anybody else.
Emily is standing opposite her with a fake happy smile, catched her in the middle of the corridor, when Ruby and her go towards their classrooms. They don’t have a single object together, but their classrooms are located close to each other, so they go in the same direction.
Mary, who is Emily’s flunkey , stands beside Emily and then comes to them and gives Beth a sheet of paper.
“What is it?” Beth doesn't quite understand what's going on, taking the sheet of paper.
“This is an invitation to my party.” Emily answers her with an arrogant smile.
Party . Beth doesn't mind a party. Given the fact that today is Friday, the party won’t hurt her or disturb her schedule, so she can go. “Thanks. Ruby and I will come.” Beth also smiles as she opens the invitation with the address and time. But Emily says:
“She's not invited.”
And Beth looks at Ruby. Ruby stands next to her, looks at the books in her hands and seems to just want to disappear. Beth knows Ruby isn’t popular in school. She is from that caste of students who simply go unnoticed. But Beth notices Ruby. It's only been a few days since the beginning of the school year, but Beth knows for sure that she will be friends with Ruby until the very end of the year. Maybe even after they finish school.
“No, she is invited.” And tears an invitation in two parts under the surprised looks of all those who are watching this picture in the school corridor.
Emily purses her lips in displeasure. Of course she doesn't like that things are not going according to her plan. But people look at them, so she has no choice but to roll her eyes and tell Ruby:
“You can come too.” And with that she just leaves and Mary follows her like a puppy.
Yes, typical, every princess has a maid .
“Thank you, Beth.” Ruby whispers to her as they walk down the hallway towards their classrooms.
“You don't have to thank me for this.” Beth touches Ruby's forearm as they freeze between their classrooms. “The party will be boring without you.”
But the bell interrupts them. And they go to their classrooms.
~~O~~
“She used to date Rio, you know. So be careful with her.” Ruby tells over the lunch.
Of course, she immediately realizes that this is about Emily. The two hottest people in school are bound to date each other. No, she doesn't think Emily is hot. But Rio is hot. She looks over to where Rio is sitting with his “gang”, and also Paola is with them. Paola, that girl on the first day who kissed his cheek and Rio ruffled her hair. Paola Mendoza, his twin sister.
“What? It doesn't concern me.” And she looks back at her lunch: salad, chicken roll and juice. Only the juice looks fine. But this is a free school, and with a free school comes cheap and not appetizing food.
“The whole school knows he tries to impress you.” Ruby makes this face, moves eyebrows up and down. And Beth covers her face with her palms.
“He doesn't try this. He's just a jerk who wants to have some fun with a new girl aka me.” She moans. “And how long did they date?”
Betn shouldn't be interested in that. Still she looks at Ruby, waiting for an answer.
“For a couple of months last year.” A couple of months doesn't sound serious. “But they broke up. She tells everyone that it was her decision, but Rio is silent on this score. In any case, she wants to be with him and he doesn’t want that.”
She is relieved that he doesn’t want to get back with Emily. No, not that she is relieved. The part of her that likes him is relieved.
“It’s not strange. Her father is the leader of the gang and Rio is in a rival gang.” Ruby whispers to her and waits for an answer, but Beth returns to her chicken roll.
It’s still not her concern. And rival gangs are definitely not the thing she wants to be involved in. But Ruby doesn’t stop, as she continues:
“Emily is the most popular girl in this school. She will receive the title of Queen of the School. Well, unless of course you want to get this title, because you are the only one in this school who can compete with it.”
That snaps her attention to Ruby. She didn’t think about it but it can be fun to do this.
“Don't give me ideas, Ruby. Especially considering that Rio will receive the title of King. And you advised to stay away from him.”
“It’s just stupid titles, Beth.” Ruby laughs and transfers the topic to the chemistry test she will have next week.
But Ruby gave her an idea.
~~O~~
They came with Ruby together, but Ruby left her alone, went somewhere and she has been gone for like forever, leaving her all alone. And Beth cannot find Ruby in the dancing and drinking crowd. But everything is the same, the party is like a party, only poorer, no pool in the backyard, inflatable pool doesn’t count, and alcohol is cheap. But she takes a bottle of beer for decency. It tastes like donkey urine, to be honest. But unfortunately she cannot find anything other than beer.
Rio finds her in the backyard, where she is sitting on a deck chair with a beer in hand, in the most secluded corner of the backyard.
“Having fun, I assume.” He jokes, flopping down on a deck chair next to her.
Beth nods. She doesn’t want to tell him that she is all alone and this loneliness right now bothers her. But she chose this loneliness herself. Her peers approached her, and invited her to their company, invited her to dance, or to play. She danced a little, played a little and then went away.
And Beth knew he was invited to this party. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent her voice message on Instagram, telling in his hoarse voice that they will definitely kiss today.
They won’t.
“Came with your lady friend or all by yourself?”
“Ruby gave me a lift.” She takes a sip of a beer while he lits up a cigaret and makes a puff
“How do you plan to get home?” He hands her a cigarette, but she shakes her head in denial.
“With Ruby of course.” Unless she found Ruby, of course, because Ruby had disappeared. Then she will call a taxi.
“Ruby, who forgot about you because she's flirting with Hill now?” Rio smirks and makes a puff into her face. She is speechless, really. Beth didn't even know that Ruby liked someone. And Rio reads her mind it seems as he tells her:
“Yes. She likes him. He likes her. But they try to avoid each other. Don't you find this story vaguely familiar, except the man doesn't try to avoid the girl? ” He hints on them, on him and her. He's such a jerk, to be honest. She takes another sip of her beer. Well, if Ruby dumped her for a boyfriend, why can't Beth do it? She should stay away from him, she knows it, okay, but he's the only guy at this party that's fun to be with, if forget he's a jerk.
Beth grins.
“If you mean us , then this story is missing one variable, Mendoza.”
“And what is it?” He looks at her.
“I don’t like you.” And when she says that his eyes stop sparkling the way she likes. But when she says: “But today I want to have fun like there is no tomorrow, and I want you to be my partner in crime.” His eyes sparkle again and he gets from the deck chair real fast.
“When do we start?” Rio offers her his hand and she takes it pretty quick and eager.
“Right now.”
Maybe she does the wrong thing. But the wrong things are the coolest one, right?
~~O~~
And it's cool. The beer doesn't taste so disgusting anymore when she's drinking what seems like a 100 bottle. Music with Latin notes forces her to dance, because her body simply moves to the beat of the music, and she can dance nicely, so she moves her body to the beat.
And if she wants to impress Rio with her dances, then she succeeds, because he presses into her, and she allows him to cuddle up to her. She allows him to lead in the dance and allows him to cuddle too close to her and she would not allow it at another time. But that closeness and his big hands on her hips and belly are just for today.
And his gang is funny, or maybe she thinks so because of the beer she has drunk, she laughs at their jokes, cuddles herself against Rio on a squeezed couch, and then pulls his hand into the backyard to breathe some air.
And she hears police sirens too close to home. And she doesn't need trouble with the police. In addition, she is drunk, staggers slightly and clings to Rio so as not to fall.
“Are those Police sirens?” Beth asks slurred. “I don’t want to be arrested.” And she looks at Rio with big eyes. For some reason he doubles in front of her eyes and she blinks. Everything is getting back to normal.
“So we'd better leave.”
And he leads her towards the street, but she freezes and says:
“I can't leave Ruby alone.”
“I don't think Ruby cares about you now. She's with Hill. And he knows what to do in such a situation. So come on, move you pretty ass.” And she really saw Ruby, who was enjoying not even the party, but just talking with Hill in the kitchen. They were billing and cooing like doves and Ruby didn't notice her when Beth grabbed a plate with salted nuts.
“How do you like school so far?” Rio leads her to the car, holding her by the waist.
“Everything is normal I suppose.” She bits her lip. “Not like my previous school, of course. This is dog shit, not school actually.” And Beth giggles. It’s been just a couple of days, maybe she will change her mind, or maybe not.
“Sorry baby, you have to get used to this.” Rio helps her into the car, in his jet black Cadillac, and she is surrounded by Rio’s smell. It’s nice and welcoming, and she closes her eyes, feeling too warm and a little bit dizzy.
Beth tells him her address and he drives them almost in silence, only music from the radio playing and he hums, singing along. He has a nice voice, low and husky, and it makes her want this voice to lull her into sleep in her bed.
It won’t happen.
“My lady, we arrived.” Rio breaks silence when the car stops. And it’s her house, lights are off, everybody is sleeping. Beth opens the door, gets out of the car, and he walks over to her and leads her home. They freeze on the porch of her house, face to face. She holds him by the lapels of his leather jacket and whispers:
“One year and I will leave this place and this city.” She confesses to him, although it was in her interview. He probably never wanted to leave. But she never wanted to settle in one place. She wants to see the whole world.
“Why do you want to run away?”
Beth doesn’t want to answer him. And she doesn’t know why she leans into him with her chin lifted up. He isn’t that tall like Dean but she finds his height perfect for her. It’s a beer talking of course. And she told Rio that she wanted to have fun like there is no tomorrow.
And Rio wants her too, from the first day he saw her. This is just entertainment for him, another victory that he will boast to his gang.
And what is it to her? If he kisses her now, he will steal her first kiss. And wouldn't it be nice if it was he who did it? She bites her lower lip, even to the point of blood. Rio just asks, looking at her lips:
“Yeah?” And she nods.
And when his mouth touched her, it’s like her whole body stops working, and then it starts working in accelerated mode, she feels the pulse in her ears, her senses are heightened to the limit, but only focused on Rio: on his amazingly soft lips, on the roughness of his leather jacket and how his heart beats quickly under her palm, and how he squeezes the fabric of her dress in his palms when he kisses her.
It’s perfect. And when they drift apart, she shivers, her lips are suddenly cold, and he runs his fingers through her hair.
“I told you we were going to kiss.” Rio smiles smug. And she backs away from him. Of course, it’s just entertainment for him, a way to assert himself even more. She brushes off:
“It means nothing.” Just her first kiss that was amazing.
“Are you sure?” His smile disappears as if he is upset by her words. She shrugs and turns away to quietly open the door:
“Yes. We won’t think about it or talk about it. And goodbye.”
Beth doesn’t even look at him, disappears behind the door and closes it, and then presses heavily against her and sits on the floor, because her legs don’t support her. Yeah, of course. Of course she will think about it.
His car pulls away from her house four minutes later. And what did he do for so long?
~~O~~
She falls asleep looking at his Instagram photos.
Ruby and her agreed to prepare for the chemistry test on Saturday, so Beth immediately asks her from the doorway when Ruby comes to her house:
“Did you manage to get away from the police?” she whispers it, because parents and Annie are home.
“Police?” Ruby asks her, looking too surprised. And now Beth doesn't really understand what's going on.
“We heard the police sirens and left the party.” Beth explains, still whispering, leading Ruby in her room. And when they are in Beth’s room, Ruby says:
“So, firstly, who are we ? And secondly, there was no police.” And sits down in a chair.
Shit. But Beth doesn't know if he knew that the police would not come to this house. Perhaps then they wouldn’t have kissed if she had stayed at the party. Does she regret it? No.
“Oh no, that was Mendoza, right? What were you doing all alone?”
“Nothing. He took me home and that's it.” And Beth turns from Ruby to take her notebook.
“And?” Ruby prunes.
“And nothing more. And don't ask me questions if you don't want me to ask you about Hill and you.”
And Ruby falls silent, and they talk only about lessons even Beth wants to know more about Ruby and Hill, and Ruby obviously wants to know more about Rio and her.