Work Text:
JUNE 2009
Jecka reaches for her phone, flipping it open to see a text from Nicole.
bitch u up yet?
Sent 5:15 AM
get ur ass here
Sent 5:17 AM
Jecka quickly types up a reply.
its 7 in the morning wtf do u want
She presses 'send', but instead of sending like it's fucking supposed to, '$0,00 CREDIT' is displayed on the screen like it's praying on her downfall.
She resists the urge to throw the stupid phone at the wall.
~
Nicole answers a few seconds after Jecka knocks on the door of her house.
"Took you long enough." The former deadpans, in that annoyingly apathetic tone she always uses.
Jecka is starting to think this girl could be apathetic even during the end of the damn world.
"Bitch, you called me over at seven in the morning!" Jecka walks past her into the house. "You should be glad I'm even here."
"What, do you want coffee now like an old person?" Nicole closes the door behind them.
"Fuck no. I'd rather take enough drugs to forget I'm alive."
"Go to Emily, she's been prescribed every single drug in existence. Pretty sure she'd be able to sell you something that'll work."
"Wouldn't that be weird, though? Just randomly hitting up someone we knew from high school."
"No, you're not a guy, it's different."
"What are you even going to show me, anyway? Something else from your mom's medicine cabinet?"
"Nope. Her fuckass psychiatrist cut her off after she took Ativan with wine and ended up in the hospital. Now she only gets the weak shit."
"Wow. Should've guessed your mom drinks fuckin' wine."
"People who drink wine are so fucking pathetic. Like they try so hard to seem classy but everyone knows it's 'cause they can't handle anything stronger than twelve percent."
"What did you want to show me, anyway?"
"It's right here."
Nicole pulls a grayscale printout out of the pocket of her jeans and holds it up like she's showing off a prize. "Get a load of these sluts."
Jecka frowns. "What the fuck is that? That can't be real."
"Yeah, that's 'cause it's as real as my grandma's breast implants. I took a picture of Kelly making out with her ex off of her MySpace, and I kept one of me and Ari."
"And you edited them together? I don't believe that you paid for Photoshop."
"Course I didn't. I stole a copy off some illegal website."
"Okay, cool. You have a fake photo of Ari and Kelly sucking face. What the hell are you planning to do with it?"
"Well, in two weeks, we're graduating, and we'll never have to see any of these motherfuckers again." Nicole's tone abruptly changes to that smug voice Jecka knows all too well. It's the one she uses whenever she's about to pull some wild shit.
Whether she actually pulls it off or not is irrelevant. This time, Jecka has a feeling that it's going to go horribly awry.
"Get to the point."
"And you know how the Straight Club burned Ari's house down?"
Kind of hard to forget watching a house burn down, dude. "Are you still pretending to date her?"
"I really fucking wish I wasn't."
"Okay, she's annoying. You don't have to tell me for the millionth time. What, you want to break up with her by pretending that she's cheating on you?"
"Better." The shadow of a smile flickers on Nicole's resting bitch face. "I want to make copies of these pictures and tape them all over the school on graduation day. Humiliate them on the day we're finally done with this hellhole. And the best part? They won't be able to do shit about it."
There's a pause before Jecka speaks again.
"And why the fuck do you want to do that?"
"It was Ari's fault for deciding to make such a big fucking deal about me rejecting her in the first place! If she just said nothing, my reputation would be intact, and I wouldn't have had the threat of being accused of a hate crime hanging over me for the last eight months!"
"Well what do you have against Kelly? If you go through with this, she'll end up as collateral!"
"I couldn't care less what happens to Kelly. Didn't she sleep with her cousin?"
"Okay, but why do I have to be involved?"
"Don't you have a printer at your house?"
"You don't?"
"My mom is the biggest fucking cheapskate alive, you think she'd willingly spend money on anything other than prescription pills and hair bleach?"
"Fair."
"So can I use your printer?"
"Fine. Whatever."
Nicole would probably find a way to use it anyway even if she refuses.
~
TWO WEEKS LATER
"Holy shit." Jecka says to herself as she walks into school that morning. "She really went all-out."
Every wall in the building has at least one of those Photoshopped pictures on it.
"Like what you see?" Says a voice behind her.
"What the fuck!" Jecka turns around. "Don't just sneak up on me like that!"
"Yeah, sorry dude."
"How much printer paper did you even use for this?"
"I dunno, like fifty pages."
"Fifty?! My dad's actually going to kill me."
"I had to make sure that everyone can see it."
Ari runs up to them just then, tears in her eyes and a crumpled copy of that picture in her hand.
"Nicole..." She says. "Where did you get this?"
"You left it in the corner of Hot Topic." Nicole deadpans.
"Nicole, we..." Ari struggles to find the words. "This isn't what it looks like, I swear!"
"What, were you actually cheating on me or something?"
"Damn right, bitch." Kelly comes out of nowhere.
"What the fuck, Kelly?"
"You think I didn't see the way you were treating Ari like shit? The least I could do was be a better girlfriend than you."
Ari buries her face in her hands. "Kelly, let's just leave..."
"Not until I chew this whore out, sweetie. It's what she deserves for abusing you like that!"
"Nice one, cousin-fucker." Nicole says, monotone as always.
Jecka has to pinch herself to make sure she's not dreaming. "Wait, so Ari was actually cheating on you?"
Nicole smiles. "This plan is going better than I thought it would."