Hallows: Eulalie

The Candy Man

Claire De Lune- Debussy

Ashley:

I've never been this emotionally and physically exhausted in my life and it's only my first day working for her. My dorm room floor is covered in shopping bags and boxes. Kelly, Tamara, and I are lying on my bed looking up at the ceiling. I badly want to have a ceiling fan installed. The first couple of weeks here were hell because I'm so used to the fan running in my room all day. The stillness in the room makes me anxious at times. Kelly's phone rings. She sits up and answers it.

"What now?" she barks into the phone. "What? Really? He said that? Yeah, fine. I'll go see the stables. I don't know if there are heaters in there, David. f*****g Liquorish. Yeah, okay. Thank you. Maybe suck his d**k as well as you did today to convince him to do more s**t like this. I don't care, David. f**k off," she hangs up and turns to look at Tamara. "Motherfucker got Dante to move into the dorms. Liquorish and all,"

"Shut up," Tamara laughs. "Nice. Now we don't have to worry about him and James getting shot up on their way to the house anymore,"

"Dante doesn't live here?" I laugh. They both look at me.

"No, did you think he did?" Kelly asks me.

"Yeah, he's always here,"

"That's just Dante doing whatever he wants," Tam shrugs.

"He just got a hundred times creepier," I shake my head and get up to put what they bought away.

"Why?" Kels asks as she starts to take things out of the bags for me.

"I stay up really late. In the music building. He's always there," I shrug. The two of them exchange glances like this is the first they hear of it.

"How late?" Kels demands.

"Late. Sometimes all night. I'll just come back here to shower and get ready for class,"

"And he's just there with you?"

"No, not with me. He's just there. In his little dark corner in the back of the theatre. I've never said a word to him and he's never said a word to me. He sleeps most of the time anyway."

"Sleeps?" she smiles. "That's good. Fucker never sleeps."

"Why don't you sleep?" Tamara asks.

"Busy body," I shrug. "I've always been like that. I take little naps throughout the day. Drove my mom crazy when I was little. That lady can sleep all day. It's why I don't have siblings."

"Why would you assume that?" Tamara laughs.

"Assume?" I scoff. "My mom has a f*****g mouth on her. Get a couple of shots in her and she'll tell how you're gonna die. Mexican women don't hold their tongues. Not even for their babies. She says I should be honored to have been brought into the world by Maria De Jesus Campos Villanueva,"

"You're joking," Kelly laughs. "Arm gestures and all?"

"Arm gestures and all," I confirm. "Six more shots and she tells me she wishes she could lay the world at my feet,"

"Aww," they both coo.

"Do you guys mind if I play some music?" I ask.

"Do you have the new S.C. CD?" Tamara asks.

"What's that?" I ask, going for my leather C.D. case under my bed.

"A C.D. or S.C.?" she laughs.

"S.C. you ass hole," I glare at her. They both laugh.

"Satan Couture," she answers.

"Okay, I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but I had never heard of them until I got my phone yesterday at the Boost Mobile store on Lively,"

"Shut the f**k up," Kelly turns away from my closet to look at me. "S.C. is one of the most popular rock bands since Nirvana,"

"I don't listen to that," I shrug.

"What the f**k do you listen to then?"

"Uh, not that," I shrug, taking a mixed C.D. out of the case. I put it into my tiny jukebox and start it up. "Where I come from we listen to R&B. s**t that keeps the violence in our souls at bay. Turns it into s*x or something a little more productive like cleaning and organizing s**t,"

"Oh, my god. Mario," Tamara jumps up. "This s**t is wasted on kills for brains over there, but I love him," and she starts singing along to Let Me Love You. Kelly looks over at me and rolls her eyes. "Thank you,"

"You're welcome," I laugh as she looms over my little radio. She swings her hips from side to side holding her arms over her head as she sings.

"I'm not mad because that's hot as hell," Kelly smirks as Tam moves around my room.

It takes us very little time to put everything away. Kelly excuses herself and says she's going to see if there are heaters in the horse stables for Dante's horse. I offer to go with her but she says the school is their "domain" and that the buddy rule is only going to apply to me for now because of Aubrey and Tiffany.

"She really likes you," Tamara says, after a while. "It's weird because that b***h hates everyone. She only tolerates me because of Reuben."

"Are you guys like an item or something?" I ask.

"Or something," she scoffs. "He's great. Sometimes. I mean, when we're alone together, he has a lot on his mind. His dad died a couple of years ago and it's up to him to run the Whitmore Estate, but he's losing ground and I kind of have to pick up the slack. The others try to ground him but he's fickle," she shrugs. "Always fighting. I think all the Hellbourne Elites are like that.

"Out of all of them, I think Dante is the calmest and that says a lot because he's the worst of them. Our families are just so entangled in one another and I love him but there's only so much a person can take, you know? I just-" she shakes her head. "I just wish things were simpler,"

"I'm sorry to hear that. You know, I kind of always thought things were a certain way. You grow up and fall in love. Have a couple of kids and the cycle continues. I mean that's how it is for us, I guess. One thing I always loved about my parents was how they get along. It's how I like to remember them. Dancing in the kitchen, laughing, and being f*****g weird. It makes all the ugly s**t go down easier. You gotta pick the poison that suits you, Tam."

"That's the thing, isn't it, Ashley? They're all f*****g poison. They're going to kill us one way or another. Might as well pick the one with the biggest d**k and fattest wallet," she drops on my bed and laughs. "It must be easier to only have your body and soul to offer. When you have got the world on a string, everybody is pawing at it. It's hard to tell if the claws caught on it are there for you or for what the string is worth. It's hard to tell if the string is all you're worth,"

"How other people put value on your person is irrelevant to the value you give yourself. I don't have a string worth half a piece of s**t for anyone to paw at, but look at where I am. The tuition here is twenty-five thousand a year. Dante paid two hundred thousand to give me up as a gift to Kelly.

"One day, I'm going to be sitting in Italy playing for the greatest orchestra in the world and all of this is going to be nothing but a f*****g memory. You're what you want to be, Tamara. You just have to make that decision for yourself. Do you want to be the string or do you want to be the one holding the string? The person holding the string has the option of taking it back. You're fifteen. I think we have more than enough time to pretend to be both."

"Is that what you're doing?" she smiles. "Pretending to be the string?"

"Well, I'm more like a ribbon. You can use me to tie your hair back. Hold your dress together. Decorate something with a pretty bow. Tie up your wrists really kinky-like. I've got a lot of really good uses," I laugh.

"I like you," she grins. "I liked you from the moment I first heard you play at the high school. I think I was twelve,"

"The Halloween show?" I laugh.

"Yeah, you played that scary vampire song,"

"It's called the Toccatta. It's actually really tough to play. I can't believe you've seen me play before," I feel my face burn up.

"We all have," she shrugs. "I was there with Danny, David, Kelly, Rudy, and Tony. It was pretty cool. The play was the f*****g worst but your music kind of saved the whole thing."

"Do you think I'm in danger?" I ask her. She looks up at me. "Being here, I mean?"

"Yeah," she nods. "It sounds shitty, but the reality is that we don't like it when nobodies show up out of the blue to steal our s**t. Aubrey and Tiff are the richest girls in school. The only person who has more money than them is Dante. You came out of nowhere and you stole the only thing that made Tiffany stand out. And now, you have Dante's attention. Attention that has been on Aubrey for the last two years,"

"He hates me," I shake my head. "And he scares the f**k out of me. I don't want his attention."

"Well, you've got it. His and Kelly's. I honestly have no idea what their deal is, but they're really f*****g close. It might not be like that, but it won't matter to Aubrey. She's going to come after you hard. Kelly just broke up with Carter Kennedy. When he finds out you've got her attention, things will get even worse for you."

"Who the f**k is Carter Kennedy?" I laugh.

"Tiffany's twin brother. He's on a hunting vacation with their dad but he'll be back by Monday. He doesn't hold back the way his sister does. Dante calls him the Candy Man. Real f*****g sick, that one. Just like his daddy. Carson Kennedy,"