Gregory Girls Gone Wild - Chapter 2: Chapter 2

In Gregory College's mathematics building, Rainey Dumar was attempting the difficult task of making herself look approachable. Normally, she'd sit outside by the truck while her boss, Ethan Kankle, did the talking with the students and the passing of the water bottles.
Today, she was determined to give out water herself, because there was no way in hell she was going to lose to Danika Reddy.
Danika stood on the opposite side of the room, passing out water bottles with intense, triumphant focus.
"See Rainey, you gotta lure them in with your eyes. Make them want to come to you," Danika grinned.
Rainey rolled her eyes.
"Hey, my line's shorter!" Rainey yelled. "Come over here!"
A wave of students shifted to Rainey's side of the room.
Rainey and Danika were competing against each other on who could give out the most water bottles at each station. It was a stupid game, Rainey sometimes chided herself for participating, but Danika had a way for getting under her skin.
"If you wait in her line, you're going to have to pay," Danika yelled. "My water's free!"
The wave of students, confused, dawdled back to Danika's side.
"That's a lie!" Rainey exclaimed. "Cheater!"
This had been the routine for the past few days, since Danika had joined the team. She had returned for her second day of work, an hour early, and had already stocked the truck full of water, ready to roll.
"Hey, Rainey!" Danika had said, on her second day. "I finished the morning prep!"
Rainey had already decided, after yesterday's events, that it was best to steer clear of Danika and her outrageous morning perkiness. Rainey worked better alone, and without distractions—so, she ignored the sophomore's call for attention.
"Hey, Rainey," Danika had prodded again.
Rainey was in a particularly bad mood too, because she had been fighting with her roommate all morning. Rainey and her roommate didn't get along at the moment.
"What's your name again?" Rainey had asked Danika, politely detached.
Danika had cocked her head. "Oh, yeah?" She rose an eyebrow. "Well, let's see if you forget it after today."
True to her word, for the rest of the day, Danika had done her best to one-up Rainey in every way possible, from carrying boxes to passing out water bottles, to checking off the report and to even driving. It was like she was trying to drive Rainey wild.
"I thought bosses were supposed to be better than the employees?" Danika had said, tongue in cheek.
Rainey, hot and bothered, had begun to feel pretty pissed. She had a competitive spirit, and Danika had brought it out to its roaring full.
"Girls," Ethan Kankle had said, exasperated. "It's not a race."
"Shut up," they both told him, and hastened to pick up another load.
"You're in my way," Rainey said, as Danika struggled with a box.
"Nah, I'm just picking up your slack," Danika grinned.
Maybe from Danika's side, it was all in fun, but Rainey was beginning to get really irritated.
"What happened to Ethan having to do all your heavy work?" Rainey mocked.
"I was capable of handling it on my own," Danika said, sighing dramatically. "But if someone offers to do your work for you, you let them. It's called being smart. I can guess that's a difficult concept for you to understand."
She laughed, good-naturedly.
Rainey didn't talk to her for the rest of the work day.
It wasn't like Rainey thought a lot about Danika. As soon as work ended, Rainey headed to her next job, as a cashier, and Danika became a distant, annoyed thought in her head, until the next work day where they'd be forced to butt heads again.
One Thursday—it had been nearly a week since Danika first started—Danika rolled into the parking lot, and opened the trunk of her yellow buggy. Literally, everything fell from the back, from colorful hats to random furniture props and even a wooden leg.
Rainey watched, speechless, as Danika muttered an apology and began stuffing the items back into her car.
"What do you use all that for?" Rainey asked in disbelief.
"It's for my theater play," Danika said. "We're performing Beauty and the Beast, and I'm in charge of set design and costumes and all the artsy stuff like that. It's pretty great. You should come to our opening night, I'll grab you a ticket."
Rainey raised an eyebrow.
"What?" Danika said defensively.
"Nothing," Rainey said. "I just have no idea why you'd invite me."
"Well, we're friends aren't we?" Danika said.
Rainey spluttered. "What? When did that happen?"
"Shut up," Danika said, sounding amused. Then she stopped at the expression on Rainey's face. "Woah, are you serious? I thought we've been friends this entire time."
"What gave you that idea?" Rainey said, indignant. "The constant competition? The insults?"
"That's just how I treat my friends, Ran-Ran," Danika said.
"Who the hell is Ran-Ran?" Rainey said, outraged.
Danika threw her head back and laughed. She wore tight jeans that showcased her long legs, and exchanged her dangling earrings for black studs that complemented her tan, shining skin. She had a playful expression on her face, but she never seemed to take anything seriously ever, which pissed Rainey off to the nth degree.
"Hurry up," Rainey said, crossly. "I need help loading these boxes."
"You mind helping?" Danika asked. "It'd be faster."
Rainey, irritated, helped Danika shovel the props back into her yellow buggy. She missed the days of delivering water alone.
The two girls got to work on the water bottles. By the time they finished loading, Ethan, their boss, had arrived on site.
"Morning, ladies," he said.
"Morning, Ethan," they said in unison.
Rainey noticed the way Danika and Ethan avoided eye contact. Once they were inside the truck, with Ethan driving in the front, Rainey thought she might as well pop a question.
"Hey, you and Ethan go on a date?" she asked.
Danika looked up, startled. She had been texting, but at Rainey's voice she tucked her phone away and crawled toward where Rainey sat, plopping a seat right next to her.
"No," Danika smiled. She was always smiling, Rainey thought, annoyed.
"Personal space, ever heard of it?" Rainey said.
"No."
Rainey looked the other way. She wondered why Danika always smelled like a feast, like a magnificent, mouth-watering candy shop, or a carnival candy table on the last day. She sniffed once, twice.
"No, me and Ethan have been weird ever since he asked me on a date the first day, you know the one where we made that bet?" Danika said. "It's no big deal. I'm seeing this other guy from my philosophy class. His name's Ryan and– "
"I don't really need your life story," Rainey interrupted.
"But you're the one that asked me about Ethan!" Danika protested.
"Don't really care anymore," Rainey said indifferently.
Danika eyed her. "You seeing anyone?"
"None of your business."
Danika kind of nudged her in the shoulder, and Rainey turned to her slowly, angrily. They stared at each other, Rainey's green, annoyed eyes glaring at Danika's confused, brown ones.
Once the truck stopped, the two girls didn't speak; they went to work madly, heaving the boxes and passing out water bottles, almost maniacally, and always side by side.
What made the morning worse was Ethan's interjections about what he did last night.
"I had the worst time," Ethan moaned when they were in the dormitory. Students were milling around them.
"I went over to this girl's house last night and we drank and made out until her boyfriend came over. Apparently, their relationship wasn't open."
"Hm," Rainey grunted, as she carried more boxes up and down a flight of stairs.
"And then I offered to let him join us and he threw me out of the girl's apartment," Ethan said loudly. "Can you believe that?"
"What a bummer," Danika huffed as she wiped her forehead sweat onto her shirt. "He should have at least offered you a drink."
Rainey couldn't help it. "Gotta be sarcastic all the time, huh?"
Danika turned around to look at her. Rainey was a bit unnerved at the unrecognizable flicker in the younger girl's eyes.
They stood like that, a foot apart, sparks sizzling with something unspoken.
"Hey," Ethan said uneasily. "You girls okay? Seems like you've been at each other's throats quite a lot recently." He grinned. "Cat fight?"
Danika turned away first, breaking the moment.
"Just a little healthy competition." Danika said cheerfully. "Rainey's just a little jealous that I'm stronger than her."
Rainey bristled. "As if."
They continued unloading boxes, in armored silence. Ethan, shaking his head, just muttered, "This is why girls can't get along."
They were delivering boxes so fast in fact that Ethan, despite himself, was impressed.
"By this rate, we're going to be done two hours early!" Ethan said at one point. "Let's make a final stop at the gym and call it a day!"
The girls cheered, the mood lightening instantly. Rainey was thinking about the free time she would have in between her next job, and decided for a small sprinkle cone to get as a reward.
As they unloaded the boxes once again at the gym, Ethan began to frown. It was a small frown at first, gradually getting larger and looser until the truck was empty of all the boxes. He beckoned Danika and Rainey to the back of the truck.
"We're missing a box," Ethan said, his arms crossed.
"What?" Rainey said, dumbfounded.
"Yeah we should be delivering twelve cartons to the gym and we only have eleven," he said, going through the sheet of paper clipped onto his board.
"There must be a mistake," Danika said. "That's all the cartons we have."
"No, I'm sure," Ethan said, gritting his teeth. "I have an unmarked box unaccounted for. You two must have left one at the other stations. Awesome. Who asked you two to deliver water like crazy? We weren't rushing for time here, Christ! Well, I hate to do it but—I guess I'll have to dock off money from your paychecks."
Danika and Rainey exploded at him.
"That's not fair!"
"We don't even know if it was us or if we were given the wrong number of boxes!"
"There's nothing I can do," Ethan shook his head. "Let's just call it a day."
Rainey was incredibly pissed. She was surprised and pleased, however, that Danika looked angry too. It wasn't fair, not one bit; they had worked too hard today to get docked for one measly package. And Rainey's expenses were piling up. She desperately needed the money. Didn't she always need money, damn it?
"I'll check out the other water station," Rainey announced. "We have two hours, right? I'll take my bike."
She was referring to her motorcycle that she had parked in the nearby student parking garage. A gorgeous black Harley Davidson she had repaired—her fucking baby, her prized possession.
"I don't know..." Ethan said, stretching. "That means I'll have to wait by the truck for two hours."
"If you're going to take money away from our paycheck," Danika said testily. "Then we deserve a chance to go look for the missing box."
Rainey stared. Ethan nervously gulped. They had never seen Danika pissed before. Maybe it was the way Danika was scowling, or towering over them with her arms crossed over her chest, but Ethan squeaked out a 'fine, go ahead...it's just one box, Jesus' and Rainey wasted no time in hurrying towards the student parking lot.
It didn't take long to spot Danika trailing behind her. Rainey stopped at the entrance to the garage, Danika almost bumping into her.
"What's up?" Danika asked.
"Why are you following me?" Rainey asked, a little carefully. She was unsure how to handle a serious looking Danika.
Danika sighed. "Well, I'm coming with. Since it's a 50/50 chance on who misplaced the missing box, it's only fair that I do half the work in finding it."
"No way," Rainey said immediately.
"Hey, I don't care about your problem with me, okay Rainey?" Danika said. She stepped closer.
Fuck, Rainey thought, why the fuck was this idiot so tall?
"There's no way in hell I'm staying behind with Ethan," Danika said. "It's my paycheck too. I'm helping whether you want it or not." Her brown eyes bored into Rainey's face.
Rainey bit the side of her mouth. Why the hell wasn't Danika budging, and why the hell was she feeling kind of intimidated? She spun around and headed to her motorcycle, feeling Danika's silent, trailing gaze behind her.
When reaching the motorcycle however, Rainey had to hide a grin at Danika's shocked face.
"You drive this?" Danika spluttered. She walked around the bike, looking mighty impressed.
Rainey nodded. Danika suddenly gave her a bashful, uncertain smile.
"This is way too cool for you," Danika said, shaking her head. "Can two people really fit on this thing?"
"Scared?" Rainey teased, before she could stop herself.
"Yes," Danika said immediately. "But I'm still coming."
Rainey shrugged. She was still irritated that Danika had invited herself but she couldn't help but feel slightly relieved that the normal, bantering Danika was back.
"Want my helmet?" Rainey asked, getting on her bike. She suddenly realized Danika would have to be sitting behind her, pressed against her back. She had no idea why that thought was making her feel anxious.
"No, you got to wear it."
"How come?" Rainey asked. "C'mon, I insist."
Danika settled behind Rainey, unsteady. "Woah. I'm just going to grab you like this." She leaned in and wrapped her arms around Rainey's torso. "Okay, imagine if we crashed and you died instead of me? How embarrassing would that be for you, the idiot who didn't wear a helmet on their own motorcycle? I'd rather spare you the horror."
Rainey snorted. She ran a hand across her cropped hair. After kicking the gear, the motorcycle roared as they sped out into the open street.
Danika tightened her hold, panicking. "Holy crap!" she yelled. "This is wild!"
Rainey bit back a laugh. Danika's childish enthusiasm was infectious.
So back to the first stop, Rainey thought. To the mathematics building, which was across campus.
Rainey took a left and entered a busy intersection. The wind whistled in her ears, as they shot down the street, past the restaurants and shops, and students walking with friends and just enjoying college life. Rainey stopped at the red light and Danika loosened her hold.
"Holy crap!" Danika yelled again. "This is way too cool for you!"
This time, Rainey did laugh. It got muffled in her red and black helmet but she felt Danika stir behind her, in surprise.
This day's not so bad, Rainey thought. That was until, the pedestrian light turned green and she saw who was crossing the intersection.
"Crap," Rainey said, out loud.
Danika stiffened in surprise.
"Rainey," Danika said suddenly. "Rainey, oh my god."
"Crap," Rainey said again. The girl on the street turned around.
"Dude, that girl–" Danika exclaimed. "She looks exactly like you!"
The girl on the street who looked exactly like Rainey, seemed mildly surprised at seeing Rainey then absolutely stunned as her gaze flickered to Danika, who was practically snuggling in the back.
The light turned green and Rainey, panicking, floored the acceleration.
Danika grunted behind. "Rainey, did you know her? She's like your clone!"
"Of course, I do, you idiot!" Rainey shouted back. "She's my roommate—my twin sister."
Her sister had had a knowing look on her face, Rainey thought. She had definitely got the wrong idea about her and Danika.
But how she was going to explain to her nosy sister, of whom she was not on talking terms with, about why a pretty girl that she didn't even like was riding behind her on her prized bike, that she had no idea.
Not looking forward to that confrontation, Rainey hit fifty miles per hour, and Danika yelled again.