“You fucking Stud?”
Sex Piston had never been able to hide anything from her shrewd friend. “Yeah,” she admitted.
“He any good?” she asked with a smile.
“Yeah.” She smiled back. She was relieved Killyama wasn’t going to give her any shit.
“Damn.”
Sex Piston laughed, but it was caught short when their eyes were caught by a large group of girls to the side of the school building. There was an obvious meaning to the circle of students—they were hiding what was happening inside the circle from the teacher’s attention. The crowd parted briefly and Sex Piston recognized Keri as the one involved in fighting with another girl bigger than her.
“Killyama—” Before she could finish the sentence, Killyama was already getting out of the car and moving toward the girls. Meri was in the crowd, watching her sister. Sex Piston lips tightened at her actions, or lack thereof.
Finally, the slow line moved and she was able to inch forward. By the time she was at the head of the line, Killyama was waiting with the girls, giving the oblivious teacher a piece of her mind.
Keri and Meri climbed into the back seat, buckling their seatbelts quietly. Killyama got back in the front seat, slamming her car door.
“What was going on?” Sex Piston questioned Killyama while her eyes studied the girls’ reactions in the rearview mirror.
“Nothing,” both girls gave the same mutinous answer at the same time. Sex Piston pulled away from the school, turning in the direction of her home.
Silence filled the car as the girls stared out the window. Killyama threw her a glance, but Sex Piston shook her head.
When she pulled up to her house, the girls grabbed their backpacks and ran in while Sex Piston and Killyama were both slow to get out of the car.
“Did you find out the other girl’s name?” Sex Piston asked as she shut her car door.
“Brittany Staff,” Killyama answered grimly.
“She Allison’s kid?” Sex Piston recognized the last name.
“Yes,” Killyama confirmed.
The advantage to being the only hairdresser in town with any talent was that most of the rich bitches came to her shop. The very ones who had snubbed and made fun of her in high school clamored to make appointments with her.
When they got inside the house, Meri and Keri were already sitting at the table with their snack. Fat Louise was holding Star, watching with curious eyes as the girls remained silent. She turned to Sex Piston when she came into the kitchen.
She gave an imperceptible nod and then Fat Louise took the little girl out of the room. Before she left, though, she started to open her mouth to question Sex Piston, but Sex Piston shook her head, motioning again for her to leave.
Fat Louise finally left, leaving the girls and her alone with Killyama who went to the fridge to grab herself a beer before sitting at the table. Sex Piston took a seat across from the girls, opening the bottle of water that Killyama had set down for her.
“Why did you get in a fight, Keri?” Sex Piston questioned the sullen girl.
“It’s none of your business.” Keri’s smartass comment couldn’t hide the hurt in her eyes. Sex Piston’s eyes ran over the pretty girl.
Sighing, she leaned forward in her chair, her perfectly manicured red fingernail playing with the label on the water bottle. “When I was your age, I got in several fights atschool—”
“Is this where you tell me it happened to you to make me feel better?” the girl said rudely.
“This is where I tell you to shut the fuck up and lose your attitude,” Sex Piston returned her rudeness and one upped her.
The girls eyes almost bugged out of her head at her reply.
“I’m not able to make you feel better because you don’t want to feel better. Right now, you’re hurt and mad, but you’re also afraid.”
“I’m not scared,” Keri boasted.
“Then you’re stupid. You should be afraid. You should always be afraid when someone tries to hurt you.”
Sex Piston’s answer had the girl listening. Her attitude didn’t change, but her curiosity was aroused.
“Being afraid makes you smart, keeps you on your toes. Not being scared makes you dumb, and you’ll walk into their traps every fucking time.” Sex Piston took a drink of her water. “But you don’t want them to see that you’re afraid because if they do, they will tear you apart like a shark sensing blood in the water.”
The girls swallowed as Sex Piston talked.
“Who’s the boy?” Sex Piston asked.
The girls looked at each other before Keri answered, “Isaac.”
Sex Piston was willing to bet he was one of the kids in crowd.
Keri, being new to the school, would be considered an outsider, and her being pretty made the situation worse by arousing the other girls’ jealousy.
“They call me names and tell me not to talk to him,” Keri confessed.