Hallows: Eulalie

Shh. It's For Liquorish

Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dogg- Still D.R.E.

Ashley:

I have bruises and scratches all over my body. I feel a little sore and I'm a little nervous about taking the guys to the Southside with me. Not to mention that this is the first time I come out here since I transferred to the Academy. I'm no longer who I used to be and it sounds like my position has been taken already.

I'm not naive enough to think that no one was going to take the position. They tried while I was still walking through the halls of Hellourne High. I'm just a visitor now. That hurts. I put so much time and energy into this and then I gave it up like it meant nothing. I told myself it meant nothing and that I was moving on, but the truth is that this part of the world is moving on without me and I hate it.

"You look nervous," David offers me a red Jolly Rancher. I smile at him and take it.

"I think I'm still processing what happened back there," I admit. I somehow ended up in the back seat of a Tahoe between David and Dante. I open the candy and toss it up to catch it in my mouth.

"Is that your first time? I thought you'd played for crowds before,"

"I've played for high school normies as Kels likes to put it," I laugh. "The most people I played for before were maybe like fifty people. I had no idea what was going to happen back there,"

"You did great," Dante says. There's angry rock music playing and it's giving me a headache. "It was the school's fault for only putting one security guard by the stage. The next couple of weeks are going to be a little crazy for you. Someone is going to want to get you into a studio as soon as possible,"

"Seriously?" I look between them.

"Yup, we need to get you some people," Rudy says from the front seat. "Agent, publicist, lawyers, the whole nine yards, baby face. Who would have thought that little scrappy dappy doo here was the Mozart of the Southside?"

"Hmm, I'd prefer Krzysztof Penderecki to Mozart. I mean sure everyone knows who Mozart is but Penderecki gave me nightmares when I first discovered him, and if I don't give some poor little girl nightmares when she accidentally discovers me after I die, what am I even doing?"

"What are you even doing?" David laughs and the others join in.

"My best, David," I sigh.

"I think you can do better," Dante says. "That was good but it wasn't your best."

"That's what I'm talking about. This guy gets it," I look over at him. "What I meant was I'm doing my best now. But there's still hella room for improvement,"

"Hella," Dante repeats. I bite back the urge to punch him because even if he's doing it to help me out like he did earlier tonight, I know he's genuinely doing it to f**k with me.

"You're going to keep doing that?"

"Forever, yes," he smirks. "It's my new favorite game,"

"You're never going to leave me alone again, are you?" I sneer.

"Nope," he grins.

"What is happening?" David laughs.

"Earlier tonight, when I went to tell Ashley that I had spotted her mom, she was freaking out. I tried to say something nice to her and she told me off and requested I verbally abuse her," he explains.

"What?" I turn all the way in my seat.

"You said, say something mean to me, please," he huffs.

"Dante, I'm gonna f*****g punch you,"

"Okay, okay," he sits up and smiles. "I saw your mom. I was gonna tell you but you were freaking out and the other thing felt less important. That and I was having fun."

"I called the front desk but there was no answer," I fall back into the seat. "Thanks. That was uncharacteristically nice of you. Is this why everyone likes you as much as they do?"

"See, you are starting to understand," David chuckles.

"David, you are a strong brave man and I seriously have a little more respect for you," I compliment him.

"Amen," Kelly and Rudy laugh.

"f**k you, guys," Dante grunts.

"Thanks, man. Seriously, though. No one has ever come through like that for me,"

I pull my phone down and scroll to the name I've been thinking about texting all day today and send the invite. I'm obviously not dumb enough to invite her to the same party we're going to, but I've brought her around enough for the girls to know to entertain her even if I'm not there. I'll sneak off for a bit and come back. I think I know who my accomplice might be too. David isn't going to open his mouth should Dante suspect foul play. Not like Kelly. Miss, I've never lied to him before.

"It's not that big a deal," he shrugs.

"If you say so,"

"Holy s**t, is that what all the girls are going to be wearing?" Kelly points at a group of girls piling out of a Honda Hatchback.

"You are my new best friend," Rudy says as they all watch them run across the street.

"f**k, those are the BPLs. Make sure you don't have anything of value in your pockets," I warn them.

"What the f**k is a BPL?" Dante asks.

"f**k around and find out," I laugh.

Kelly parks the car and we all get out. I pinch my lower lip and let out a loud ear-piercing whistle. Everyone standing outside of Scrappy Torres's house turns around to look in our direction. Some of the girls that got out of the Honda start getting excited and whistle a similar call to inform the people inside. It's not long before Alice and her girls come out to greet us.

"You came back," she screams and bounces across the street.

"f**k me," David mumbles behind me. "I want one,"

"I called dibs on this one, so hands off. You can have the rest of them. Make yourselves at home, guys. Drinks are on me,"

Alice jumps into my arms. She's wearing a little white mini-skirt with a neon pink tube top that does nothing to attempt modesty. Her pretty golden hair is up in two pigtails wrapped in matching pink bows. She got pink highlights and glitter strips everywhere, channeling her inner Spice Girl.

"I knew you were going to come back to see me," she rubs her chest against mine. I reach for her hair and smile.

"You got highlights,"

"Do you like them?"

"I love them. You look so cute," I compliment her. I can see her blushing under all the makeup she's wearing.

"Are these your new friends?" she asks looking over my shoulder.

"Mhm, they're cool. I brought them so they keep your little homegirls away."

"Yeah? You and me time?" she squeaks excitedly.

"Me and you time," I nod. She lets out an excited giggle and spins around. She signals the other girls and they all cross over.

"What's going on?" Anthony and the others join us.

"Go-Go girls," Kelly laughs. "I've always wanted a f*****g Go-Go girl,"

The girls all lead us inside. Before Alice can lead me away, Dante grabs my arm. I look up at him.

"Don't go too far," he warns me. I salute him as two of the girls take his hands and pull him toward the barrels of beer in the backyard. I grab David's arm when he walks past me.

"You're going to get me in trouble aren't you?" he laughs looking back at me.

"Not if we don't get caught," I shrug. "Meet me at the front at twelve-thirty,"

"All right, but we better not get caught," he grins.

I picked the party I know would be the friendliest as their first experience. Gangster rap and Regeton is blasting out of the Dj's speakers. There are pretty lights and smoke machines. Beer pong and fighting rings in the back dirt patches past the backyard's dance floor. Some of the guys have little circles where they're playing dice and blackjack on makeshift tables they put together with old pieces of plywood and water barrels they found lying around.

Scrappy Torres is the school's party boy. His dad is the c**k fighting king. So, when Scrappy has a party, everyone is on their best behavior. There is zero chance of this party getting raided and I'm one hundred percent sure that the guys are going to fit right in. Girls, drugs, gambling, and violence are just some of their personality traits.

Alice hands me a Modelo Especial and pulls me with her toward the fighting rings. On the right side, there are two girls wearing boxing gloves pacing around one another as one of the Go-Go girls takes bets. On left, the boys are just being boys. Barehanded and shirtless. While the girls are a little more organized and clean, the boys go all out. Tap-out or knockout are the only rules.

Alice is not a girl of many words. That's one thing I always liked about her. What I hate is her constant need to be touching me, but after what happened today when the reporters and the people were grabbing at me trying to get my attention. I kind of want her to take that ugly feeling away. I need her to touch my hair and stroke my arms the way she always does and she's not disappointing in the slightest.

Even without her sexy white Go-Go boots, Alice is a lot taller than me. So, I can stand here while she tries to get away with as much as she can. I smile at her when she giggles as she trails kisses down my neck. She has one hand under my tank top while she twirls my curls with the other.

I search the crowd to see the guys and Kelly are going around like kids at a theme park. Dante is on the dance floor with the two girls that pulled him away. He has his hands all over them. I'm not sure why it kind of rubs me off the wrong way. I look over to see the two guys in the ring are fighting. Kelly and Anthony are both watching with interest.

"Are the fights open tonight?" I ask, Alice. She leans over to look at me.

"No fighting tonight," she shakes her head.

"Not for me," I tip her chin. "You and I are going somewhere later with my friend David,"

"Oh," she nods. "Yeah, you just gotta tell Lil Scrappy,"

"Where's her brother?"

"You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"The BPLs pissed off the Goodwills over in the Eastside. He got busted in a driveby. The funeral was last week. Like eight people died."

"f**k," I whisper to myself.

"Hey," she makes me look over at her. "It happens. You getting soft over there at the Academy?"

"Soft? Me?" I laugh and shrug her off. "Let me check on my friends. Take a walk,"

"Mmm," she complains, but walks off anyway. I go over to Kelly who is watching the violence unfold in front of her. She has a wild gleam in her eyes.

"Having fun?" I ask her.

"Why didn't you bring me here sooner?" she bumps me.

"Yeah, Villanueva. You've been holding out on us bro," Anthony laughs.

"Do you guys want to try?" I ask. They all look over at me and smile.

"Seriously?" Anthony says excitedly. "What are the rules?"

"Two rules. Tap out or knock out."

"Yes," Anthony nods.

"Can I play here too?" Kelly asks.

"Sorry, you'll have to play over there with the girls," I point at them.

"Aww, that's wack," she brushes me off.

"Ashley," Scrappy's sister comes over to us. "Alley Cat over there says you want to fight tonight?"

"Not me, sweetie. These are my friends," I point at Anthony and Kelly.

"You want to put rich white kids in the ring with our guys?" she laughs. "I missed you, you f*****g crazy b***h," she comes over to me and wraps her arms around me. I return the hug this once.

"I'm sorry about Scraps. Alley Cat just told me,"

"Yeah, southside," she shrugs. "If one of your guys gets killed tonight, that's on you,"

"I think they can handle their own," I nod.

"s**t, we'll see. If the c***k wants in, she's gotta go with the moras," she points to the right side.

"Hard pass. Tony and Rudy want to go," Kelly turns her attention back to the guys in the ring.

"Who you want to pair them with?" Lil Scrappy asks.

"Who do you have?" she holds up the clipboard to show me the names and hands me a pencil. I write down their names next to the guys who I think they can take. "No, really?" she laughs. "You dropping money on that?"

"You are," Kelly informs me.

"I am," I shrug.

"Entry starts at two,"

"Thousand?" Kelly asks. Lil Scrappy laughs.

"She serious?"

"Yeah," I nod. "No, two hundred dollars."

"Aww, that's wack," she repeats. "All right, two hundred,"

The guys both laugh. Word spreads quickly when Kelly hands her the four hundred dollars. They're going to be the last two matches, which gives me enough time to sneak away with David and come back before the second match is over. I'm a little sad I'm going to miss it, but I am one hundred percent sure I'm going to be able to find them on YouTube and MySpace by tomorrow.

Around midnight, Alice gets a little handsy and finally sits me down so she can shove her tongue down my throat. There's a group around us watching as she gets into my jacket. I laugh stopping her from pushing my top over my breasts and the guys all boo me.

"We can go through the house," she mumbles against my lips.

"You're my favorite Go-Go girl. You know that?" I ask her. She laughs and pulls me up to take me inside. We both laugh as the guys that had been watching boo us.

As soon as we go out the front door, I find David smoking a cigarette in front of the house. I whistle loud enough for him to hear me over the music. I wave him over. He looks around and walks towards us. Alice gives me the keys to her Saturn.

"What are we doing, Ash?" he asks as soon as we're in the car.

"We're going to help Liquorish get that first-place ribbon tomorrow. You in?" I ask him.

"If he finds out we did this, he's gonna be pissed," he grins.

"So, don't tell him. It's between us two,"

"Yeah, dude. Shh. It's for Liquorish," Alice laughs. "Not the black kind, right? That one is nasty."

"Liquorish is a horse, baby. And we want her to win a show tomorrow," I smile at her.

"Oooh," she nods. "You rich fuckers are into that s**t? How cute?"

"She's insanely hot, Villanueva," David shakes his head. "I swear you're just like him,"