Wow, it's taken me forever to update. Sorry about that! All I can do is apologize. So once again, sorry..(bows head in shame and pouts.) Ugh, why must we have so much homework? I mean, all the teachers are like, "OGT's this...OGT's that...you'll need to know this for the OGT's...blah blah BLAH!" ARGHH (For those of you who don't know what OGT's are, they're Ohio Graduation Test. You have to take them in tenth grade, and if you don't pass all five parts, you don't get to graduate high school when you're a senior, even if you had a 4.0 all four years. Sucks for whoever fails. But, you get to retake whatever part you failed until you pass it. But still, the teachers annoy me! Grr!!!)
Yeah, I know I was mean to Veronica, what with making her get sick and all. But I was doing that to put emphasis on the hold that Trixie has on her, and all of the pressure she's feeling to force herself to stay in the shadows when what she really wants to do is show the world what she can do. Anyway, (raises sword gallantly) To the story! ONWARD! (sword is so heavy that it makes me fall over, and the sword lodges itself in the ground.) Uh...(laughs nervously, trying to pull up sword), Uh..go on without me, guys. I'll catch up in a minute.
lol, sorry, couldn't resist. But thanks for the reviews, and for the patience! It's greatly appreciated.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own, you don't sue. Deal? Let's shake on it. No, you shake with your HANDS! Good job.
"I can't believe it. Trixie and Veronica...against each other for Prom Queen!" Timmy shook his head as he rode in the passenger sieat of the car. Tootie had dropped everyone else off, and Tootie was heading towards their own homes.
"I know," Tootie said, "This isn't going to turn out nicely. I mean, just think about it. Veronica versus Trixie? Why not just place a person next to a serial killer, I'm sure they'd turn out better than Veronica will."
"What makes you think that?" Timmy ran a hand through his brown hair as Tootie tried not to give him a "don't-you-know-anything" look.
"Because," Tootie stated, "Veronica may be popular like Trixie, but when it comes down to it, Trixie always gets what she wants. No matter what. And Veronica...well, she's not emotionally stable. All Trixie has to do is pull one dirty trick -- a few seemfully innocent but truly hurtful words here, a little teasing there -- and Veronica will be done for. Trixie controls everyone, including her. Whether she likes it or not."
Timmy shivered at the insightful words. He didn't know what was more scary: that Tootie had actually figured this out, or that it was true.
"Well, let them work it out. They're thicker than steel. Sisters for life. You see them every day. Whatever happens, it won't do damage to their friendship for long." he smiled, "But I don't want to think about that. Let's talk about happier things. Like the prom itself."
"What about it?" Tootie said, pulling into her driveway. (Timmy insisted on walking home from her house, since he lived only a few houses down.)
"Well," he tried to come up with a creative way to ask as quickly as possible. Nothing. "Well, do you have a date?"
"I might." Tootie said, climbing out of the car. Timmy followed suit, but his mood was now down. M aybe? That meant yes! He tried keep the hurt expression off of his face. "Oh." he said, trying to appear to be happy for her, "And who's the lucky guy?"
"Wait a minute." she smirked at him, "I said I might. But I might not. But suppose I don't. What are you gonna do about it?"
He looked at her, following her onto her porch. "Well, I'd ask you to be my date." There was no doubt that the huge thing sprawling across her face was a smile. He made an effort to keep a serious face as he stared at her.
"Well, you're in luck." Tootie grinned slyly, "Because I don't have a date."
"Well, now you do." he couldn't resist the strong temptation to give his own smug smile. Just because it was a serious moment didn't mean he could let himself be one-upped in the smugness factor. As usual, Tootie took up the challenge.
Tootie gave him a long hard stare. "Alright. I'll go to prom with you."
Timmy lost the smug look and flat out grinned. "YES--I - I mean, yeah, that's cool." He flushed. What was with the sudden outburst? It was embarrassing. But he couldn't help it. She was so pretty when she was thinking things over. And during every other second of the day.
Tootie leaned in towards him, and he felt surprised, but excited. She leaned in towards his ear and whispered, "But it's going to cost you." She placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned in so close that her lips nearly grazed his, but didn't. He was very tempted to give her a kiss, but was frozen in surprise, unable to do nothing but stand there, his stomach turned in slow circles.
Just kiss me already! he nearly said, but one swift movement, she had backed away, and opened her front door. The next thing he knew, she was about to shut it. "W-wait!" With an evil grin, Tootie triumphantly beamed. "I told you that going to the prom with me would come with a price. You led me on all those years, so I decided to lead you on for a minute. A dose of your own medicine. Of course, I don't know if it worked, but oh well. Now when we go to prom, we'll be even. Bye, Timmy!"
"B-b-b-but, wait! Tootie--"
"Bye, Timmy." Tootie said, her tone matching her smug smile. She shut the door.
Timmy stood there, dumbfounded. Tootie was getting better at being smug every day. She was a natural, he couldn't help but think. No, he thought, a mastermind. An evil mastermind. An evil mastermind who accused of leading her on...
"Tootie!" he hit the door, "Tootie, open up! What do you mean I led you on? I seriously have no idea! I'm so confused! Tooti--open the door. Open the door--Tootie, can you hear me? Hello- hey--hey! Come on...this isn't funny!"
But Tootie thought differently. She was sprawled on the sofa, laughing outrageously as she listened to him through the door. If I knew that tempting him with kisses would actually work, I would've pulled that one years ago!
Taylor walked through the mpty halls of the school. Everyone had gone home. He had stayed after for a drama club meeting. It had let out ten minutes ago. Now, he pushed open a door that led to the gym, where the girls were currently having a cheerleading practice.
"...with Dimmsdale, Cos we are raising hell! Yeah!"
The girls all cheered as they each slowly descended from the pyramid formation. Trixie, he noticed, had been on top. He deduced that she was the captain. He sat down, ready to wait until the end of the rehearsal, but Trixie, who had taken a swig from her water bottle, had spotted him, smiled, and declared that they could take a five minute break. She walked over to him and sat down so close to him that there was hardly any space between them, something that he was very aware of. Subtly, he attempted to move over a bit, to gain at least an inch of space. She hadn't noticed; she was flipping her hair at him in her usual flirty manner. "So," she said, "have you thought it over?"
"Yeah." Taylor said.
"Is that 'yeah' as in 'yeah, I've thought it over', or 'Yeah, I'd like to go to prom with you'?"
Taylor exhaled, pushing every ounce of air from his mouth. "Both." That was all she needed. She smiled, her white teeth shining.
"So, why did you want to ask me to prom? I mean, you don't even know me." Taylor pointed out.
"I knew your name, didn't I? So obviously I know you. Besides, I'm Trixie Tang. I know you better than you think." Slightly taken aback, Taylor only blinked at her. "And I'm asking you to prom because I want to. What's wrong with going after what you want?"
After a moment of staring at her in surprise, he realized that she was waiting for an answer. "Oh! Um, nothing, I guess--"
"Great." she shrugged as if to dismiss the whole thing altogether. "Anyway, my dress is going to be baby blue, so I want a white corsage. Not off-white, but pure white. And a white-diamond necklace would be nice." she stated as she got up to walk away to assemble the girls.
"Wait!" he called after her, and she turned around to face him, the smile still in place. "The corsage, fine. Understandable. But a bracelet? White gold? Real gold? I can't afford that!"
"Sure you can." she smiled at him and once again, that glint of some mysterious emotion shone in her eyes before she turned back. She swayed her hips a little more than usual, her raven hair moving in syncronization. For the second time that week, she had left him confused. And he --as he always did when he was confused -- grinned as he stood up to leave the school and walk home. Maybe she did know him better than he thought.
That very same afternoon, Veronica stood in Trixie's room. She had gone home with her best friend, and they had a spa afternoon. They had relaxed in the hot tub, and then in the sauna, all the while talking about boys, and the latest gossip. Veronica couldn't recall the last time she had spent time with her "sister" without being insulted. But it didn't matter. Even when Trixie insulted her, she never meant it. "I don't say it to hurt you. I say it to help you. I could never hurt you! You're like my sister." she would say.
Today was the first time in a long time where they had been able to hang out without Veronica having to hear those words, because Trixie had only said mean things about other people. And now, she stood in Trixie's large room in her bikini, examining herself in the full length mirror. She now felt positive that Trixie would never say anything hurtful to her again. "Hey, Trix?"
"Hmm?" Trixie said from her lounge chair in front of a large tanning light.
"Is my butt really that big?"
Trixie lowered her Versace sunglasses and glanced at the blonde. "Well...yeah." Veronica blanched and whipped her head in Trixie's direction.
"W-what?"
"Don't take it personally. It's just that--you know... a few short sessions on the treadmill will sort it all out. Don't even worry about it."
But how could she not worry? She turned back to look at herself in the mirror. She placed her hands on her tiny rear, unable to see that there wasn't anything wrong with her. All she could see was her "enormous" posterior.
"Hey, you know what worked for me?" Trixie said. "I just stopped eating for about a week and a half. It worked. I lost the last of my baby fat that way."
"What?" Veronica broke her gaze with the mirror and stared at Trixie in alarm. "WHAT? You starved yourself? B-But that's dangerous, Trix!"
"Ok, first off, I didn't starve myself. I was fasting. And secondly, it's not dangerous. That's just a lie that the health teacher tells us so we won't become skinnier. I mean, take one look at her, and it's obvious that the old lady is jealous. She's as big as a house!" Veronica couldn't exactly disagree with the last statement. But still, it sounded like risky business to her.
"And come on, it was obvious that she was lying." Trixie continued, "Look at me! I lost a bit of flab, but I'm not all skin and bones. I'm not a skeleton like all those girls she showed us in that document. I still have meat on my bones."
Trixie's words were slowly lowering the red flags raising in Veronica's head like an operator shutting off a security system. She was right. And as long as she knew when to eat, it'd be fine. Trixie would be there to help her.
"But don't do it if you don't want to." Trixie said, finally rising, and turning off the tanning light. She slipped a robe on and beckoned for Veronica to do the same. She pushed a little button on the wall before turning on the large screen t.v. The movie "13 going on 30" came on. "The butler will be up with out dinner in a minute." Trixie said before settling onto a chintz lounge chair. Veronica did the same, trying hard to focus on the movie. But all she could think about was how "large" her bottom was. And when she finally was able to focus on the movie, all she could think about was how small the girl's butt was. Why can't I look like that? she thought, not realizing that she did.
The butler came up with a rolling tray. He set up a dining table for each of them, and gave them each a plateful of Chef salad with creamy italian dressing, and glasses of wine before leaving them to their movie. Trixie dug into her salad, but all Veronica could do was stare at hers anxiously. She looked from her salad to Trixie and back again and again. Finally, she spoke. "Trixie?"
"Yeah?"
Veronica turned the wine glass in circles on the tray, watching the wine rise, fall, and ripple. The light from the t.v. was shining through the glass, and making the rich red liquid seem richer in color. It was a bright, vibrant red. Like fresh blood. She had a feeling a lot of blood would be rushing to her head over the next week. "If...if I decide to...'fast'...will you help me?"
Trixie put down her fork and for the first time in a while, stared her straight in the eye. "I'll remind you constantly, and I'll smack any food you pick up to the floor, ok? Just remember to drink a lot of water. But I'll help you out."
"Ok." Veronica smiled. She pushed her salad aside, feeling thrilled. She was excited because after this was over, Trixie would have nothing to criticize her over. And she was excited because Trixie was promising to help.
Trixie smiled at her and raised her fork. "Let the fasting begin." Veronica smiled back. A small part of her was wondering why she was even trying to act as if everythin was alright between her and Trixie. But something had convinced her that the fault lay in her own self. She was determined to fix it, though a part of her just wanted to let it rot. With a smile, she picked up her glass of wine and downed it all in one gulp, letting herself forget about the huge sacrifice she was going to make, about how the sacrifice wasn't for her, but for Trixie's approval...