Charlotte stared at the brand new blue dress in her closet that her father bought her specifically for the Duke interview. Not only did she really didn't want to go to Duke at all, but she also hated the "Duke dress". She'd never told her father, but the main reason she wanted to go to NC State is because it was the college her and her younger brother had agreed to go to together before he passed away. Charlotte's older brother had went to Duke, much like Ric, and Ric's father, and Ric's uncles, and Ric's grandfather, and Ric's great uncles, and Ric's great grandmother, and Ric's great great uncles. The family's history with the school went back to way before the school was even named Duke.
Becky's name popped up on her phone screen, as the phone vibrated.
Charlotte immediately answered.
"Hello?"
"Hey Charlotte, I already know what you're going to say, but there's an emergency band meeting at AJ's house at 4:30, and The Boss specifically stressed that we need you there."
"Hold on." Charlotte said.
She stuck her head out of the room.
"Hey Dad!?"
"Yeah!?"
"What time is the Duke guy coming!?"
"5 o'clock!"
"Okay, thanks!... Is it gonna be longer than 30 minutes?"
"I have no idea." Becky said, truthfully.
Charlotte looked at the dress, cringing.
"Sure, I'll be there."
"Really!?"
"Yeah."
"That's great! Talk to you later."
"Alright, bye."
Becky rapidly began dialing on her phone.
"Hello?" Sasha answered, quickly.
"She said she'll be there."
"...really?"
"I know, right!?"
"Uh... okay, great. See you guys then."
"Bye."
"Who was that?" Vince asked, laying in the bed next to Sasha.
"That was the drummer of my band."
"You're in a band?"
"Yes."
"You never told me that."
"It never came up I guess?" Sasha shrugged.
"I'd love to go see one of your shows."
Sasha took a deep uncomfortable sigh.
"I'm not sure about that, b-babe." Sasha stuttered.
"Why not?"
"I'm not sure everyone would... understand or approve of our relationship, Vince."
"Why? You just turned 18."
"It's just... I don't know. I'd rather have this be a secret."
Vince looked a bit confused.
"But Sasha... I love you." he said, putting his hand on the side of her face.
Sasha instinctively smacked Vince's arm down, and Vince looked at her in confusion.
"I... I have to go, I'll be back." Sasha said, rushing out of the room.
Vince sighed.
"Hello?" Bayley asked.
"Please tell me you're home right now." Sasha said, walking out of Vince's front door, and nearly jumping into her car.
"Becky is, I'm at wor-"
Sasha immediately hung up and began calling Becky.
"Hey, Boss, what's up?"
"I'm coming over, I need somewhere to hang out until the meeting."
"Um, okay cool, the door's unlocked."
"Thank you, bye."
"Bye."
"You guys are fucking retarded." Seth's voice said, coming out of Roman's phone. It was on speaker.
Roman was in the passenger seat while Dean drove.
"I'm not turning down money like this, bro." Roman responded. Dean remained silent.
"When you two end up in jail or getting shot, don't come crying to me."
"Shouldn't you be filling out job applications?" Dean asked. Roman chuckled a bit.
"$3500 with no rent or bills should hold me over for the time being." Seth said.
"Where we headed to?" Roman asked,.
"Long Island."
"That's over an hour."
"That's also $2,000 off top."
Roman simply nodded.
"$2,000?" Seth asked.
"Mind your business, Seth." Dean said, grabbing Roman's phone and hanging up.
"And now I live in a house with him, and it's like I can't get away. It was already bad at first but now he's getting weird and clingy and he tells me he loves me and I really don't wanna be there anymore." Sasha said, starting to tear up.
"You need to tell your parents." Becky said.
Sasha shook her head no.
"Why not?"
"I'm not going back there."
"...you could stay here, if you don't mind sleeping on the couch..."
"No thank you."
"...I'm sure Charlotte's house has a guest room or something."
"I just need to get as much money from Vince as possible and start saving it, then leave him, then find an apartment for me and my mother."
"I really don't think that's a good idea. What if he gets mad and tries to hurt you?" Becky asked.
"I would kill him." Sasha shrugged, casually.
"What time is it?"
"Like 4:15. Is Bayley off yet?"
"Bayley gets off literally at 4:30."
"We're gonna be late then." Sasha sighed, grabbing her car keys, and walking out the door as Becky followed.
"Have you heard from 'Trust Fund'?" Becky smirked, looking back at Dana, who was in the backseat behind her.
"Nope, she's not answering me right now."
"Me either."
"She better show up... and Bayley better hurry up." Sasha said, impatiently, as Bayley entered the car.
Sasha took off, leaving Bayley with barely enough time to close the door.
"In a hurry?" Bayley asked.
"AJ told us to be at her house at 4:30. It's 4:30, and here we are, in the Dairy Queen parking lot."
Bayley said nothing, sensing Sasha's attitude.
"So where is everyone else?" AJ asked.
She was sitting at the table in her living room, across from Charlotte.
"Um... I'm not sure, they just told me to be here at 4:30. My phone's dead." she shrugged.
"...who's idea was the CD thing?"
"...mine." Charlotte sighed.
"Don't do that ever again."
"I won't. I'm sorry."
"Why wasn't The Boss with you guys?"
"She's... she's a bit of a character."
Just then, a loud knock at the door was heard.
"Come in!" AJ shouted.
The door wildly flung open, as Sasha ran in.
"I'm so sorry we're late, it wasn't my fa-..." Sasha trailed off, seeing Charlotte sitting at the table, as Bayley, Becky, and Dana walked in behind her.
They made eye contact for about 2 seconds before Sasha immediately looked away.
"It's fine, just sit down." AJ chuckled.
The rest of the girls joined AJ and Charlotte at the table.
Becky smiled at Charlotte, who weakly smiled back.
"I wanted to talk to you guys about the Bronx vs Manhattan event that I'm co-hosting with Kaitlyn."
"Right." Sasha nodded.
"As I already told The Boss, there'll be 5 events. A country music competition, an R&B competition, a rap battle, a pop competition, and a battle of the bands between you guys and those East Coast Movement bitches that burned your instruments."
The girls all smiled.
"I already have new instruments for you guys, and Kaitlyn already agreed to the event, we're just scheduling at this point. She's already chosen John Cena for the rap battle and some kid named Heath Slater for the country music competition. Do you guys know any young artists available from around here?"
"My friend Alexa isn't the best singer, but she did a country song with a producer around here like last year." Sasha shrugged.
"I don't think Xavier's ever been in a rap battle, but his wordplay is pretty clever, I'm sure he'd be down to try." Becky said.
"Boss, what school did you go to?" Bayley asked.
"Foley."
"That makes so much sense." Charlotte said.
Sasha lowered her eyebrows.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That explains why you're our age and in our town and Bayley and I have never met you until 2 weeks ago."
"Wait, you guys aren't friends?" AJ asked, seeming a bit shocked.
"No." Charlotte and Sasha said in unison.
"Then how'd you all meet?"
"Well, I met Charlotte at a summer camp when I was 7 and she was 9." Dana began.
"Charlotte and I both went to Hogan Elementary, Backlund Middle, and Austin High school-"
"The preppy white people schools." Sasha added, cutting Bayley off.
Charlotte rolled her eyes.
"My mom met this guy from Ireland online through some dating app, he moved here 2 months ago and brought his daughter along with him." Bayley said, pointing at Becky as AJ chuckled.
"Then he proposed to her and we moved into their house 2 weeks ago." Becky shrugged.
"I still don't see how The Boss works into this equation."
"Funny story actually-" Charlotte began, as Becky smirked a bit. Bayley and Dana looked back and forth between Sasha and Charlotte.
"We kinda ran into each other, and found out that we both were interested in performing at that open mic you saw us at, then formed a band." Sasha said, with a fake smile.
"She tried to steal my guita-"
"And I might've borrowed her guitar without her permission."
"...wow... you guys have... AMAZING chemistry for a group of 17 year olds that just met each other weeks ago."
"I'm 16 actuall-
"Anyway, I was asking if you went to Foley because didn't that girl that went on The Voice go to Foley?" Bayley asked, completely cutting Dana off.
"Carmella? Yeah."
"Do you know her?"
"Yeah, she'd be great for the R&B slot, I'll hit her up about it."
"Perfect. Now all we have to do is find a pop singer. You guys will be representing ME, so you guys are going to be perfect. We'll do 3 rehearsals a week, and we-"
"What time is it?" Charlotte asked.
Becky pulled her phone out.
"5:15."
"OH MY GOD, I HAVE TO GO!" Charlotte exclaimed, standing up from the table.
Everyone else looked confused, as Charlotte ran out of the front door.
"What was that about?" AJ asked.
"I don't know, she did ask if this meeting would be longer than a half hour." Becky shrugged.
"Probably some dumb college shit." Sasha said, crossing her arms.
"You told me to be here at 4:45." Seth said, sitting in the car, outside of AJ's house, as Charlotte got in, closing the door.
"Because my Duke interview was scheduled for 5."
"It's 5:16."
"I know! Drive!" Charlotte yelled, as Seth started the car.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Roman yelled, as he and Dean ran back to their car, hearing gun shots in the distance.
"GOD DAMMIT!" Dean said, starting the car, and driving off as fast as he could.
"WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED!?"
"WE GOT ROBBED, THAT'S WHAT JUST HAPPENED!"
"PEOPLE DO THAT!?"
"YES, PEOPLE DO THAT!"
"DUDE WE JUST LOST OVER $2,000 WORTH OF COCAINE!"
"I KNOW, I WAS THERE ROMAN!" Dean said, dialing on his phone.
"Man, fuck this, take me home."
"We're not going back home until we sort this out."
"WHAT!?"
"Hello? Del Rio, bad news, we showed up, gave him the shit, and they started shooting at us... yes, I know, we're never supposed to give them the shit first but... it's gone, they already have it... what do you mean get it back?... We don't have a gun... what the fuck?" Dean asked, hanging up.
"What did he say?"
"He told me to get it back and when I told him we can't he started cussing in Spanish and hung up." Dean said, beginning to drive again.
"Are we fucked?"
"Not we."
Charlotte ran through the front door of her house, to see Ric, sitting on the couch.
"Where's the guy!?" Charlotte exclaimed.
"Three things. 1, it was a woman. 2, she left because you're 30 minutes late. And 3, I called you 30 times."
"My phone's dead, I'm so sorry, Dad."
"You did this on purpose." Ric said.
Charlotte's eyes got huge.
"What!? No! I would never-"
"You sat down here and waited an entire fucking hour just to be on time for your NC State interview!"
"Dad! I swear I didn't miss it on purpose!"
"...I'm very disappointed in y-"
"Don't say that!" Charlotte yelled, shakily, starting to tear up.
Ric sighed.
"I've been trying my hardest to make you proud my whole fucking life don't you DARE say that to me!"
"Well you didn't make me proud today."
"Fuck you!" Charlotte snapped.
"Excuse me!?"
"I don't want to go to Duke! David didn't want to go to fucking Duke! No one cares about this stupid family tradition but you! I got accepted by 4 of the best colleges in the entire country and that still isn't good enough for you! So yes, fuck you!"
"Okay." Ric nodded.
"And you-"
"Get out."
Charlotte froze.
"...what?"
"Get out of my house, Charlotte."
"What!? You can't kick me out!"
"Why can't I?"
"...where am I supposed to go?"
"With your mother."
"How am I supposed to get to North Carolina by myself?"
"You can't."
"...then you can't kick me out because I don't have anywhere to go!"
"Find somewhere. Bye."
"This is ridiculous." Charlotte said, walking towards the staircase.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm grabbing my stuff."
"You don't have any stuff." Ric said, standing in-between her and the staircase.
"What do you mean?"
"You've never worked a day in your life, you've never spent a dime that doesn't belong to me, I've bought everything you own, including the clothes on your back, you don't have any stuff, Charlotte."
"...I earned $60 to buy a guitar without you."
Ric sarcastically clapped.
"Move." Charlotte said, shoving him out of the way and storming out of the house.
"Hey."
"What's up?" Seth asked, driving home.
His phone call with Charlotte was on speaker.
"Can you come back and get me?"
"Uh, sure, why?"
"I just got kicked out of the house."
"What!? Why!?"
"Because I missed the Duke interview and I cussed my Dad out. Can I stay at your house tonight?"
"Uh... my parents probably wouldn't let me have a girl spend the night."
"Don't ask them."
"...uh... okay."
Becky and Naomi sat on the train, at around 10PM.
"If the party isn't till midnight, why'd you want to leave so early?" Becky asked.
"The party is in Queens."
"Oh my god that's a 2 hour train ride!"
"Hope your phone's nice and charged." Naomi said.
"...you made a portrait of me."
"It was funny the first couple times Finn said it, but now it's just annoying."
Becky chuckled, shaking her head.
"Del Rio said I owe him $2,000. The good news is I have that. The bad news is, I have to give him that." Dean said, into his phone.
He was laying on his bed with his feet in the air, staring up at his ankle monitor.
"You know, that 7AM-7PM time restriction is gonna be pretty hard to meet when you're laying dead in the street somewhere." Roman responded, still shaken up from earlier.
"Yeah, whatever, have you talked to Seth?"
"No, he's probably fucking Charlotte right now."
"She doesn't seem like that type of girl."
"It was a joke." Roman laughed.
"Oh... I'm gonna call him, see if he's still being a little bitch."
"Well I'll tell you this right now, I'm joining the little bitch club officially after today, I'm never selling drugs again in my life."
"Wow, pussy, if I quit the first time I almost got shot in the face, I wouldn't have this box on my ankle."
"That would be a good thing."
Just then, Dean heard a beep.
"What was that?"
"Seth's calling me." Roman said, a bit confused.
"Put him on 3-way."
"Hello?" Roman asked, hearing what sounded like kissing noises.
"Fuck!" they heard Seth groan, under his breath.
"Hello?" Roman asked.
"Seth..." they heard Charlotte moan, quietly.
"Bro what the fuck!?" Roman exclaimed.
"Shhhhh!" Dean laughed.
"You know I'm a virgin, right?" they heard Charlotte whisper.
"Be gentle on her Seth!" Dean yelled, as Roman began laughing.
"Do you hear something?" Charlotte asked.
"Dammit." Dean said, as Roman began laughing even harder.
"Like what?" they heard Seth respond.
"Like talking and laughing?"
"Oh uh... I accidentally opened YouTube on my phone." they heard Seth say, before Seth hung up.
Dean and Roman began fully laughing.
"My boy Seth went from the friend zone to- he just texted me!" Roman laughed.
"What'd he say?"
"He said 'if you mention this to Charlotte I'll kill you'."
"Tell him Dean said be gentle."
Roman began laughing again.
It was about 2AM. Becky sat next to Naomi on a psychedelic looking couch. She'd gathered that the party was basically full of different artists and people who enjoyed the arts, and that a large majority of the party goers were gay guys. She had recently started to feel like she was in a bit of a dream state, and everything around her seemed surreal.
"I think I'm gonna go get some punch." Becky said, beginning to stand up.
"Don't." Naomi said, flatly.
"Why?"
"Do you do drugs?"
"No."
"Then don't."
Becky looked deeply concerned, staring at the punch bowl she had already gotten two cups full of punch out of.
She sat back down.
"Um... this party has been really fun." Becky said.
"I'm glad you liked it... did you like my portrait of you?"
Becky smirked a bit.
"...so you admit it's of me!?"
"You're not stupid." Naomi shrugged.
"It's actually really good... why'd you make a portr-"
Becky was immediately cut off, by a kiss on the lips from Naomi.
After about 10 seconds, Naomi broke the kiss.
"That's why made a portrait of you."
"...oh... okay then..." Becky said, still in disbelief, her thoughts racing.
"Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine, I just... I wasn't expecting that."
"Sorry. I just... I didn't know how to say it, so I figured that would get my point across." Naomi said, embarrassed.
"It... it did, it definitely did."
Naomi simply nodded, and they sat in silence for a little while.
"It's getting late, we should leave." Naomi said.
"Yeah... what's in the punch exactly?"
"I'm not sure why?"
"Cause, I had some earlier, and everything feels weird, and I feel like you just admitted you painted a portrait of me, then you kissed me, and I'm not sure if I'm hallucinating or you actually did that."
"Nope, I did both of those things."
"Oh, okay... well... 2 things... 1, I have a boyfriend, just so you know."
"I... I'm so sorry, I had no idea." Naomi said.
"And 2... don't tell my boyfriend about this." Becky said, before kissing Naomi, who gasped a bit, before kissing back.