03 | 𝐺𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝐶𝑜𝑑𝑒

After my mom's lectures of disapproval and words of relief, I took a shower.

Stripping out of his all-so-comfortable hoodie and sweatpants, placing them on the bathroom tile and turning on the stream of water in a matter of seconds, I smelled horribly and felt bad for Victor. Luckily my mom didn't notice the black attire I showed up in, but Kayla did. Though I could hear her thoughts and questions whirling in her mind, she remained straight-faced and said we'll talk after my shower.

The beards of water pelted out of the shower-head and slithered over my bare skin. I tilted my head back, running the palms of my hands down my scalp and scrunched the dead-weight of my brunette hair, now looking much darker than how it usually did. I grabbed a loofa with a bit of my favorite smelling orange citrus body wash and that's when the hangover and memory of last night flipped in my stomach.

I felt nauseous. Even a little dizzy.

I quickly finished my shower so I wouldn't have to pass out in there and grabbed the towel on the toilet seat to dry off. I changed into my red and black checkered pajama pants and into a school spirit hoodie that I've somehow saved since the sixth grade. It was big and comfortable, and I didn't mind wearing Felix the Fox (our school mascot) with the bold white and orange outlined lettering, 'Fox Point High' with every detail about me. The state, Wyoming, as well as my classes' graduating year.

This year.

I haven't really fathomed it to be honest. I'm adding the last few final touches on some of my college applications that have later deadlines, but for the most part, I was on the right track. My school's guidance counselor believed that I'll be able to make it to my dream school, Vanderbilt University, if I kept my grades stabilized for the rest of the school year. I've always wanted to help people, going into the medical field seemed almost instinctual when people asked me what I wanted to do when I got older, ever since I was a kid, but of course things changed and now, I was definite, a nurse practitioner.

Going to nursing school wasn't the dream for everyone, but it's kinda just been something in the back of my mind. My dad used to be a surgeon and I think he would've been proud to know that I was following that similar path of medical-ness.

I didn't even get a second to walk out of the bathroom when I opened the door. Kayla appeared from the wall alongside it, startling me.

I squeezed the tips of my air with the towel as I walked into my room, grabbing a pony on the way in with Kayla's voice following me. "Tell me!" Kayla cried out after the door shut. "Who was that with you on the phone?"

My tone raised twelve octaves higher. "No one was with me on the phone... it was the TV?"

"You're such a terrible liar!" Kayla scolded and I flipped my head upside down, nausea trembling up my throat, but not enough to actually make me puke. I slipped on a stretchy elastic around my hair and tied it into a bun, straightening my posture and getting a halo of birds, stars, and spots around my head.

"Uh-" I groaned, "I'm dizzy." I walked to my headboard, then around to my queen bed, plopping myself on my usual side as Kayla followed suit with hers. We faced my lone window, because when I was twelve, the creative idea to be like a princess whose bed faced the window was my dream, which involved the back of the headboard to face the door, and somehow, I've just never gotten around to changing it, though I've always wanted to... but I was a people-watcher at heart, therefore I procrastinated the idea of making my bedroom look 'normal'.

"Spit it out!" Kayla demanded. "I heard a male sounding--oh my god!" she squealed, making a thrumming noise to erupt in my temple. "You lost your virginity, didn't you?" she pressed. "My friend ain't no virgin anymore! Let's get ice cream, Taco Bell, and I'll order a cake--"

"No!" I interjected, "But ice cream does sound good right now," I admitted with a chuckle.

"Alright, I'll drive, obviously. We'll get ice cream and you tell me all about this mystery boy," she praised, clapping her hands excitedly and beginning to jog towards the door. Her blonde curls bounced with every step, but I once again crushed her dreams.

"No," I called over the headboard disappointingly. She was out of my vision but I could imagine her shoulders slouching down. She wandered into my view with a faint pout along the thin line of her mouth. "You'd want to hear this when you're not driving, or holding ice cream," I explained softly. "I was with..."

She lowered her chin expectantly, but refused to say anything. I had to tell her, it was just how I was going to tell her which became the issue. I could see the impatient look in her navy blue eyes. I didn't know how to exactly tell her that I spent the night with her crush, then he asked me if I wanted to have sex with him, then he drove me home, gave me his clothes, Advil, shit--this could look really bad if I don't word it right and I'm probably not gonna live it down for months. That didn't matter though, due to best friend and girl code, you tell them everything.

"Victor Vislocky--"

Yep, there was the ear piercing scream that I was preparing myself for. She jumped up and down for a good few seconds mid-squeal, then dove onto the bed, criss-crossing her legs and enlarging her eyes. "Tell. Me. Everything."

Wait, she doesn't seem mad?

"Well, there's nothing really to really tell--"

"Are you outta your mind?" she pressed eagerly. "Oh my God, did you make-out with him? I know he's my crush and I would literally kill you if you made-out with him, but I wouldn't be too mad because you know, he's an angel and everyone in this world needs a little heaven. Is he a good kisser? I heard he's a fucking amazing kisser? Oh, I wonder how he feels inside--"

"Okay!" I interrupted hastily before she described a porno to me. "I didn't kiss him, we didn't do anything--"

"Oh my God!" she worshipped, "the clothes! Those are his clothes, aren't they? Do they smell like him--" Before I could agree in a somewhat giddy manner, she pounced off the bed and grabbed onto the pile of clothes that I put on the floor for the time being. He said I could give them back to him whenever, which I was okay with. She lifted the hoodie up and smelt it.

"You're weird," I muttered, but I didn't want to admit that I liked the smell of it too, and unfortunately, I did the same thing.

"I know," she refuted, tossing the hoodie back onto the pants. "It smells like him though, don't ask how I know that, but it's amazing. Urgh, I don't understand," she grumbled, walking shyly back to the bed. "He sleeps with literally every girl, but at the same time, he doesn't. Why can't he notice me?" she asked solemnly.

"See!" I exaggerated. "Now you know how I feel with Liv--"

"No one calls him that," she murmured with her mind concentrated on other things. "Wait! How about we text Jay and tell him to come pick us up for ice cream and we'll ask him about his thoughts on--"

Jay was kind of introduced before, but lemme introduce Jaydon Bach... again. Schizophrenic class clown, with a compassion for people like no other. He's incredibly smart, helps people whenever he can, class president, and a person you trust with secrets.

I agreed with Kayla's plan happily, but as we got ready, I thought about everything unable to believe that it was an outcome of one of Sullivan's parties. Victor Vislocky was nothing like I thought, in fact, I've never talked to him in my life. He's considerate, kind, and cared about me despite not knowing my name. I wondered why he was so concerned in the first place, but then it hit me---Wilson!

I forgot about that dick.

Lemme introduce Wilson Parker, certified pick-me boy with a oh-so-pleasant-attitude. He has dirty blond hair and a punchable smug look. He's known for taking advantage of girls when they were drunk or high and obviously I was in that state the night before. I wondered if I would, if my drunk self would lose it all away to someone I barely talked to just because I was ready.

That's why part of me was scared to know the other outcome that could've come out of me waking up in Victor Vislocky's bed--what if I lost my virginity drunk? Or worse, to my best friend's crush?

When I looked back up to meet her eyes and smile, I nodded and agreed, we'll have to tell the boring story all over again.

♡♡♡

Ice cream in hand, sitting on one of the benches outside of the ice cream parlor was when I saw the glint of curiosity in his eyes. "Honestly, you have connections to her crush and you have connections to her crush," he summed up, "Double date, and I'm the fifth wheel."

"Not happening," I laughed, shaking my head. "That's the last time I get drunk. I do not want to wake up in somebody else's bed, and imagine me eating this ice cream, but more depressingly because something actually could've happened," I explained to them, raising the spoon and licking my cookies and cream off the plastic. The cold river slid down my throat then shot to my head.

Brain freeze.

Jay shrugged, careless, but added, "True, and I'm surprised he isn't like Wilson in a few ways. I never really became good friends with him, but I didn't exactly trust him either--"

"He's a fucking hot bad boy who smokes and breaks into fights every other day," Kayla complimented with a lustful look in her eyes. "He's so protective and--"

"Athletic, and strong, and kind-hearted--" I rambled wistfully, "God, I'm in love with Liv."

"You gotta stop doing that," scolded Jay with a few shakes of his head. "I keep thinking you're talking about Olivia Marshall in our grade. Is this your way of trying to come out to us? We support you," he asserted with a grin.

I rolled my eyes. "It's Sullivan Corbett who has stolen my heart, not a girl," I confirmed, but before any more exchange could be made, Jaydon tensed and his eyes drilled into a figure behind Kayla and me, we spun our backs around and craned our necks, but nothing was there.

These were some of the more difficult things that came along with befriending someone who had a mental illness like schizophrenia. He believed astronomical things and could hallucinate at any moment. If anything, he could've seen a giant man-eating octopus behind us and he'd whole-heartedly believe it was happening.

"So," began Kayla after all their attention was removed from whatever was behind her and I. "How was your night at the party?"

"Pretty fucking awesome," he boasted happily, the smile widening on his lips.

After a few more conversations, I asked in a fake enthusiasm like Dora The Explorer would, "Are you guys excited for the class assignment Monday?"

Mrs. Allen was going to go over our new class assignment which nobody was looking forward to. Allegedly, it was thirty percent of our grade, and a partner-based one. I only hoped we got to choose our partners, but I had a gut feeling that we couldn't. Mrs. Allen, our English teacher, taught my favorite class, period nine. She was a friendly face too, strict, but a great balance between either one.

There were a lot of good people in that class also. Including Kayla, Jay, Liv, and Victor. Of course, there were a few others, like some of our acquaintance-friends, like Olivia Marshall, and enemies, like Wilson Parker.

"Absolutely not," Kayla groaned with a clump of ice cream in her mouth. "It's pathetic, stupid, and let's hope either one of us get partnered together," she finished.

"Agreed!" Jaydon crooned.

"We do need more friends though." I gestured a hand to more than half of the bench we sat at, all vacant space for no one to occupy. The pool of sunlight occupying.

"Everybody knows you two are best friends," Jay added matter of factly, causing both Kayla and I to grimace with an eye roll. "I swear, if you two ever got into a fight, the whole school would know about it, mark my words--"

"Let's hope not!" Kayla cried out with a smile.

"Yeah!" I said "I don't want to get into a fight anytime soon, or at all."

Jay stifled a laugh, but acknowledged it nonetheless. "Do you guys want to take a walk to the park range?" he suggested.

"I should probably call my mom," Kayla advised, standing up and going to stand off to the side, squinting her eyes on the device as the sun defied its rays to create a perfected glare over the screen.

Jay turned to me. "What about you?"

I glanced at my phone and I knew my mom would be okay with it, but I still thought I should call. She was still upset about the whole 'not telling her where I stayed the night' thing and I didn't blame her. I was seventeen, no license, and I was best friendless when Kayla got back to my house. Kayla was probably really drunk, but my mom never cared about that. She just wanted us to be responsible, and if I wasn't, then I couldn't have fun at a party, and I've always respected that.

"Sounds good," Kayla hummed after hanging up. I quickly texted my mom rather than called and I got the 'ok' too.

"Same," I smiled.

"Good, Sully says he can come too," Jay casually responded, causing my heart to quicken against my chest. I've never really hung out with Sully after school, but I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"What?" Kayla rebuked angrily. "You better be joking!" Her words were cut short when Jay flipped his phone screen to reveal the series of text messages, including the part where Sullivan said he'd be ready to go in five. "I will murder you!" she yelled, beginning to slip off one of her Converse and raise it into the air as Jay recoiled.

"I'm sorry!" he surrendered with laughter. "I hate being the only guy with you two freaks, so I did what any guy would do!" he reasoned, "I invited my best friend!"

"You're friends with the whole Goddamn school!" Kayla ridiculed, "anyone else would do! Ain't I right, Riyah?" She turned to me, towering over his turtle-shelled figure with a threatening shoe hovering above his mop of dark brown hair.

"Girl code!" I crooned, squirming excitedly in my spot on the bench, my smile as wide as the length from California to New York. "You have to be happy for me."

He may actually just learn my name today... maybe?

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