The Wrong Side Of The Tracks (Leighton) (3 page)

Davis laughed, “
Maybe politics aren’t so tricky for you.  But, what about all the votes I lose because the people think I’m a slime ball and using my sister’s death to my advantage, and trying to weasel up some sympathy votes?  The last thing I want is to drag what happened to Sandra into the polls, it would be disrespectful to her.”   

Alex sighed, he was probably right.  But she really wanted this memorial, there were so many things she wanted to know
about her Aunt Sandra.

“
After the election we can have it though, right? You promise?”

Davis ruffled her hair as he was passing her to leave, “
I promise.  You should go visit your Grandma and help her plan it.  She would love an excuse to spend some time with you.  I hear every day how sad she is because she never sees her grandkids anymore.”

Alex smiled as she watched her father back out of the driveway, if only things were that simple with her mom.  Her parents were opposites of how they appeared.  If yo
u met them on the street you would think her father was scary and her mom was the laid-back sweet one, but it was completely backwards.  Her mother was uptight and strict, and her father was the laid-back easy-to-talk-to one.             

LVL

Alex could smell the smoke rising from her head as she pulled her ceramic straightener through the last chunk of her thick black hair.  She had so much hair she actually got cramps in her hands before she was done straightening it all. 

“Alexandra Leigh Raker! We were supposed to leave five minutes ago, LET’S GO!”

She
slipped her riding boots on over destroyed denim skinny jeans.  As she ran out of her bedroom she grabbed her make-up bag and her navy hoodie with ‘Leighton Prep’ embroidered across the front. 

Her Mom and Donovan were already in the SUV with the engine running when she ran out the front door. 
She climbed in the front seat and pulled down the visor, then began smearing smoky gray eye shadow on her already lined lids. 

She made eye cont
act with Donovan in the mirror and in a moment of weakness sympathized for him, he looked pale and queasy, like he was about to lose his Wheaties.

"Are you nervous?"

Normally he rambled on and on about football, but he had nothing to say this morning; he just nodded his head and looked out the window at the passing houses.

Last year he was on Junior Tackle so he didn't have to worry about
LVL.  Leighton High and Leighton Prep both had their Homecoming weekends the same weekend, and the football teams played each other.  First Peewee football (Donovan's team) faced off at noon, Junior Varsity was at four, and then the Leighton High and Leighton Prep teams played under the lights.  Throughout the day there was also a parade, fireworks, and vendors set up all up and down Main Street selling candy apples, cotton candy, hotdogs, nachos, and anything else you could possibly want.  Today was bigger than Halloween and New Year’s Eve combined.  The radio and news anchors referred to Leighton vs. Leighton as 'Doomsday' and the 'Leighton Civil War.'  It was basically a high-school version of the Army vs. Navy game. 

Last year Alex's parents made her spend the whole day at Mr. Raker's campaign booth passing out pamphlets and talking to old people about her grades and
extracurriculars, and that was not going to be the case this year.  She refused to get dressed this morning until her mother agreed to let her spend the day with her classmates.  They came to a mutual agreement, she would sit with Camryn and her friends but had to check in with her mother every couple hours, and answer whenever she called.

"ALEX!"  Camryn squealed over-enthusiastically as she ran towards Mrs. Raker's car before she even put the shifter into park.

Alexandra climbed out of the car and jumped into her arms as if they hadn't seen each other in months. During their bouncing giggling embrace Chloe stood a few feet to the side awkwardly, with a bored uninterested look on her face.

Alex shot her a dirty look over Camryn's shoulder.  She could leave now
.  Alex couldn't stand the fact that Chloe took her place as Camryn's sidekick this year.  They ate lunch together, went to the diner together, had all their classes together, and got in trouble together.  That was how she and Camryn were in eighth grade, and that was how they were supposed to be this year.  She knew deep down that personally she had nothing against Chloe, she was more irritated with the fact the Cam could replace her that easily, apparently their friendship wasn't as special to her as it had been to Alex.

The bleachers were already packed and the
Peewee football players hadn't even kicked off yet, which meant by tonight it was going to be standing room only when the Varsity played.  Cam led her up to a spot high in the bleachers where she had already clearly set up camp.  Nathaniel and about five other freshman boys sat guarding their blankets, bags, pom-poms and food. 

The first hour with her old friends was painful to say the least.  She felt like she was competing with Chloe for Camryn's
attention, and Camryn was oblivious because she was too busy competing with her for Nathaniel's attention.  The thing is, after years of crushing on him he finally seemed interested in her and she wasn't so sure she wanted his attention anymore.  He made her feel clammy and on edge, not full of butterflies and warm and fuzzy like she imagined it would feel.  Every muscle in her body hurt from sitting so rigid and perfectly. She was in constant fear that she had something on her teeth, a fat roll if she leaned back too much, or a hunchback if she sat forward too much.  And it seemed like the closer Nathaniel got to Alex, the ruder Camryn got to her.

"Would you like to go for a walk and get something to eat?" Nathaniel asked politely.  He looked the part of a
typical prep-school boy.  In the seventh grade he was dubbed the nickname "Archibald" because of his uncanny resemblance to 'Gossip Girls' Nate Archibald.  He smiled at her with his muscular jaw line and gleaming blue eyes. 

Before Alexandra could respon
d Camryn chirped in, "Awe hurry up guys, I'm about to tell everyone that hilarious story from my parent's lake-house last summer.  I'll wait for you guys to come back; I don't want Nathaniel to miss it."

Everyone on the bleachers jumped up and started stom
ping and whooping while one of Leighton Prep's peewee players went for a forty-yard touchdown.  Alexandra didn't stand, she looked at Camryn, hurt and confused. Camryn smiled back, and for the first time Alex seen right through her fake white smile and shiny lip-gloss.  Her best friend had turned into a mean, scheming, back-stabbing bitch.  Alexandra thought about all the fun they had the last few years; especially last summer, and Fourth of July at the Rollins' lake-house.  Mrs. Rollins being the uber cool and hip mother she is bought the two of them a six pack of wine coolers.  Alex had never drank before, so after one and a half coolers she fell down the stairs.  She laid at the bottom of the Rollins' banister laughing so hard at herself she wet her pants and passed out.  The next morning she sat in front of the toilet crying and vomiting, embarrassed and physically ill, and made Camryn promise to never tell a soul what happened.  Being the bestie she was Camryn rubbed her back, held her hair, and pinky swore.  Was she really blackmailing Alex with it right now?  Camryn obviously had her sights set on Nathaniel, and she made it very clear if Alex even thought about hooking up with him she was spilling her embarrassing secret.

Alex nervously raked her finger
s through her long straight black hair.  After everyone took their seats again, she announced, "I got to go check in with my Mom, she's being a psycho."

She smiled at Nathaniel sweetly, "I'll be right back."

Alex stood and started descending down from their nose-bleed seats.

Camryn called after her, "Boo! Hurry up! Love you!"  Alex rolled her eyes.  Really?  When you love someone you don't throw them under a bus for some preppy boy who looked like every other boy at their school.  How did Nathaniel become s
o god-like?  There was nothing unique about him; if you threw him in a line-up with ten other freshman boys she wasn't even sure she could pick him out.

Keri Raker was leaning against the fence behind Donavon's team-bench, talking to some of the parents a
nd snapping photographs with her digital camera. 

Her face lit up when she seen Alex, "Did you see the boys' touchdown?"

Alex nodded and looked across the field, not making eye contact.

Mrs. Raker draped her arm over her shoulder and talked quietly in her
ear.  "Alex, don't waste your energy being mad at me today.  This is supposed to be one of your most exciting days of high-school.  It’s your first LVL as a high-school student.  You should be with your friends painting each other’s faces, and making up cheers, and ..."

Alex cut her off, "
Mom thanks.  I'm fine I just came down to go to the bathroom.  We're cool."

The irony was too much to handle.  Her Mom was being nice, and telling her to go have fun with her friends.  If only she knew she had no real fri
ends here.  She was out of the freshman loop, not allowed in the sophomore loop, and the only person who seemed to sincerely want her here was Nathaniel, and she could care less.  And it was probably safe to say her "bestie" would have preferred if she stayed home.

"Owe!"  Alex was lost in her thoughts, and walked straight into someone.  She stepped back, flustered and
embarrassed.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. 

She waited to be sworn at and braced herself for a harsh comment about watching where she was going, but to her surprise the girl just smiled at her.  She brushed her wild curly brown hair off her face revealing a flawless tan and sparkly green eyes.

"It's fine.  I love your boots!"

Alexandra looked at her suspiciously.  Was she serious?  Her Mom hated her riding boots, she said she looked like she just hopped off a Harley, and every time she wore them Cam reminded her how ‘played out’ they were. 

The strange girl leaned forward with a
mischievous smile, "Do you have a lighter?" she whispered.

Alex nod
ded, and fished around inside her Marc Jacob’s purse and pulled out a hot pink Bic she had scarfed from her mom's junk drawer.  When she had taken it a few weeks ago, she honestly had no clue why.  It just made her feel bad-ass to carry a lighter in her purse.

The girl's face lit up and she grabbed Alex's arm and lead her through the crowd
in front of the concession stand and down Main Street.  Alex looked down and noticed her beaded bracelets and colorful rings.  They ducked behind one of the large tents set up selling weird Indian dream catchers and overpriced posters in picture frames.  She sat down in the grass and gestured for Alex to join her.

"I'm Kenzie, what's your name?"

"Alexandra."

She pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her fringed tan shoulder b
ag, and lit herself one. 

"Would you care for a cigarette Alexandra?" she asked in a heavy phony
British accent.  They both giggled as Alex took a long cigarette out of the box.  She lit it the same as she seen Kenzie do, careful to not reveal that she had never smoked before.  She took a tiny drag without inhaling; to make sure she didn't cough and blow her cover.  She stared at her long manicured nails wrapped around the filter, it tasted gross but she felt so cool and grown-up holding it.

"Why were you
by yourself?"

Alex looked up, "Huh?"

Kenzie let out a puff of smoke, "When you walked into me you were by yourself.  You weren't with anyone?"

"Ohhh.  I was sitting in the bleachers with my friends.  I just walked down to get a drink," she lied.  She didn'
t feel like explaining the day's course of socially tragic events.

"I hope they're not sending out a search party."

"I doubt that."

"What do you mean?"

Alexandra changed the subject, "So you go to Leighton High?"

"I live in The Boxes, so yeah. 
I just started tenth grade."

Just Alex's luck.  Her first sophomore friend and she didn't even go to Leighton
Prep; on top of that she lived in The Boxes.  She was intrigued though; she wanted to ask her about the boy in the woods but couldn't muster up the courage. Instead she asked, "Why were you alone?"

"My friends aren't here.  No one from my school really comes until later during the Varsity game. 
I just wanted to check out the vendors.  Look, I got a new ring!"  She stretched out her hand and wiggled one of her ringed fingers in Alex's face.

Alex laughed, "Nice." 

Kenzie stood and brushed herself off, then offered Alex her hand to pull her up.