Only Fools - Chapter 6: Chapter 6

"You never actually explained why we're here," I say nervously, looking around the dark parking lot as Margot unlocks the door to the school. Naomi surprisingly didn't question me too much when I asked for the key once I told her that I needed it for cheer. I suppose being team captain has its perks.
"I didn't?"
"No. So what are we doing here?" I ask her, crossing my arms over my chest as I tow behind her, walking into the school.
"I guess you could call it revenge,"
"Revenge? I swear to god, Margot. If this is some evil plot, I don't want to be involved,"
"What?"
"I don't know. I barely know you so I can't exactly rule it out. For all I know, you could be an absolute psychopath who's going to murder me in this high school and then frame it on whoever you're trying to get revenge on,"
"Wow, you've figured out my entire evil plan. Whatever will I do?" Margot says sarcastically as she continues to walk through the halls. I follow close behind.
"Ok. So I may be exaggerating a little bit, but I would still like to know what we're doing here,"
"Alright. Well if you must know, we are getting revenge on my ex," Margot says as we suddenly stop in front of a cluster of lockers.
"I hope there's good reasoning for this outside of you 'just felt like it',"
"Well, if you count him cheating on me the entire time we were together as a good reason for revenge, then sure. It's a good reason,"
My eyes go wide as I just stare at her in awe. How could anyone ever cheat on her? Am I missing something?
"Well he's dumb," I blurt out.
"What?" Margot snaps around to look at me. I smile warily at her.
"I mean, you're one of the prettiest girls I've ever met," I explain, though I can't help but think about Ivy as the words escape my lips, "and I haven't even hung out with you that long, but I can tell that your personality isn't too terrible."
She raises an eyebrow at me as a smirk finds its way onto her lips.
"Besides, if he knew you at all, then he just had to be dumb to overlook the extremely high possibility that you would make him pay for what he did one way or another,"
"That.... is one thing you are not wrong about. That's for sure,"
I nod before focusing my attention on the lockers in front of us.
"So.... what's the plan?" I ask her. With a smirk, Margot slides off her backpack and crouches down to unzip it.
"Margot, what is all that?" I warily ask her.
"Let's just say that it was a huge mistake for him to tell me his worst fear and his locker combination," she replies with an evil smile as she begins to pull out various objects, all with one common symbol, a triangle with an eye at its center.
"The Illuminati?"
"Yeah. He's always been afraid that they might be watching him somehow. I don't really get it because why would an elite organization care about him specifically? But it's coming in handy now, so who cares?"
"So then, is there anything I have to do?"
"I don't want for him to recognize my handwriting and for it all to be ruined, so writing is officially your job. Congratulations,"
I nod as she puts in the combination to open her ex's locker.
"So. I was thinking that I would hang up a couple of themed items in his locker for him to find. While I do that, you're going to need to write him a letter, but don't worry. I already wrote down what it should say, so your real job is to just copy that,"
Margot continues to go on about the prank, but I begin to zone out as my thoughts begin to race about the situation at hand.
"Are you okay?" I suddenly ask her, cutting her off.
"What?"
"I mean, your boyfriend cheated on you and you couldn't have found out long ago if you're just doing this now. So-"
"Stop. I'm fine. Seriously. Yes, I liked him, but I was never 'in love' with him or anything. We dated for four months, and I was sad initially after the break up of course, but I'm not sure I ever truly did intend on being with him for much longer. It just took the break up for me to recognize my true feelings,"
"But if you realized that you never really liked him, then why go through all this trouble?"
"It's the principle of the whole thing. Cheating is terrible no matter what because it shows a lack of respect. If you don't have enough respect for someone to even tell them that you're feeling something for someone else or you just don't like them anymore, then you shouldn't be wasting their time,"
I don't respond, but just nod my head instead.
"You ready to get started then?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure. What do you need me to do?" I ask hesitantly as I glance around the empty hallways. It's then that the thoughts that had been swimming around the back of my mind decided to come to the forefront. What if someone catches us? What if we get in trouble? What if I lose my scholarship because of this?
"Hey, are you ok with this?" Margot suddenly asks me in a more hushed tone, paired with a concerned expression as she takes in my obvious fidgeting and worry.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I attempt to reassure both her and myself. I told her I would help her with this and I would be a jerk to not follow through. Then she wouldn't like me at all anymore and I would miss the shot of being friends with this girl who I'm genuinely starting to like. Not that it wouldn't make sense for her to not even want to be friends with me anyways. Dropping out on this would just be the icing on the cake for her to cut all ties.
"You don't have to be a part of this whole thing if you don't want to," Margot tells me. I shake my head in response.
"No, seriously. I'm fine,"
"If you say so...."
"I do say so,"
Margot just raises her hands up in surrender before she reaches down into her backpack and proceeds to pull out the various objects before handing me a piece of parchment with a dark red pen.
"Here. I have it typed out on my phone for you to write," she says as she taps away on her phone before setting it down on the ground and sliding it over to me.
Glancing down at her phone, I nearly laugh.
'Dearest Xavier,
We have been watching you.'
"Did you do research for this?" I ask her incredulously.
"Did you think I was going to half ass it?"
"Alright. Valid point," I say as I continue to read.
'You don't see us. We hide in the shadows, in plain sight, in front of your very own eyes. We are everywhere. In signs. In advertisements. Right behind you. Be mindful of those around you. For you never know if they're watching too. However, you must be wondering why we are taking such interest in you. Well, you already know that. We know that you do.
Sincerely,
The Illuminati'
"This is definitely not what the Illuminati is or does,"
"Oh no. They actually believe in using money for good causes and shit like that, or that's what I found when I researched it. Xavier was just too fearful that they're always watching him to ever look it up. They call it irrational fear for a reason, I guess,"
"You're surely right there," I say as I uncap the pen and begin to copy down her letter. Margot just nods as she begins to pull various premade signs, a few candles, and a couple books, all commonly bearing the classic triangle.
"You really go all out," I remark.
"Just keep writing,"
"Sorry, I was just trying to make conversation. Be friendly? Never mind. You clearly wouldn't know,"
"Aspen, I'm seriously not trying to be rude. I just really want to get this over with. That's all," Margot explains as she stops what she's doing to look over at me. Wow. That was just like you, Aspen. Push away someone before you can even consider them a friend.
"No. I know. I'm sorry too. I just talk when I'm nervous and...."
"Wow. We've already had our first fight. We're on our way to becoming one of those old married couples," Margot jokes as she sends a wink in my direction. I chuckle as I shake my head.
"Actually, I'm pretty sure that our first fight occurred in that very bathroom just a couple days ago," I say as I gesture to the restroom behind me.
"Oh, the bathroom where you tried to hold me hostage,"
"That's the one,"
"And in case you were worried, because I can tell that you were, the stains came out of my uniform. So now I don't have to sue you for everything you own,"
"Everything I own?"
"Well of course. You destroyed my property and then proceeded to kidnap me and hold me hostage for a period of time,"
"And yet you still have my sweatshirt,"
"Oh, shit. That may be a problem,"
"And then you did the same thing to me literally that night,"
"And there goes my plan. God damnit,"
"So, when am I going to get my sweatshirt back?"
"Whenever I get mine back,"
"Hey, I gave you mine first, so I should get it back first!"
"Yeah, by a few hours. I hardly think that counts for anything,"
"Whatever. It counts for something,"
"Sure it does,"
I huff and continue to work on the letter, but as I glance up at Margot and notice that she's still looking over at me, I can't help but let a small smile escape onto my face.
It doesn't take me long to finish up the letter, and Margot finishes the locker soon after that. As we step away from the locker and admire our work, I can't help the feeling of pride as it swells up into my chest, even if I was just a minimal part of the operation. The locker looks almost normal, but the fact that it's so slightly off makes it even more creepy. The note is delicately placed directly in front of the stacks of books. A single candle sits on either side of the note. Mixed in the stack of books, are the Illuminati ones, nearly able to blend in completely if it weren't for the obvious titles and symbols. The signs, however, are not visible at all, that is until the books are taken out. Taped up to the very back of the locker, the premade signs were Margot's last installment that truly tied the entire piece together.
"I did good," Margot says with a smile of approval. I clear my throat before raising my eyebrow at her.
"What? You barely did anything. This is still an 'I' thing,"
I just clear my throat again and shoot her the same look.
"Fine. I did good with minimal help from you,"
Well that's slightly better.
"Alright. Well, if we're done, then I'm going to head out,"
"Why? You got somewhere to be, Penny?"
"Please don't call me that," I say with a tired sigh.
"I was just testing it out, and it definitely failed,"
"But, actually yeah. I do have somewhere to be. There's a party tonight that Tori is expecting me to be at," I say as I begin to walk down the hall. I hear the locker slam, followed by footsteps until Margot appears beside me.
"You were just at a party last weekend,"
"That would be a correct statement. Great job,"
"Do you really want to be going to all of these parties? I mean, aren't they all the same after a while?"
"Sure. But they all have alcohol, so I'm not really complaining,"
"Oh, so you're one of those girls,"
"One of what girls?"
"The ones who think that they need to get drunk to have a good time,"
Getting drunk is the only way I can have a good time anymore. I can forget about her and I can forget about the judgement from others that I'm so afraid of. People wouldn't like me if they saw the real me. The me that isn't drunk or faking their smile. The me that's actually shaking when they get put in a group setting and has a thousand thoughts in her head all at once, telling her that she isn't good enough.
"It is seriously none of your business as to why I drink,"
"Oh. She suddenly gets defensive. That means there's more to it than she wants me to know,"
"That is not what that means,"
It's definitely what that means. Shit.
"Then why are you getting defensive?"
"I don't.... I just...."
"Take your time,"
"Ugh! You're insufferable!" I exclaim as I begin to walk faster and force open the door to exit the school. As I step outside, I begin to slow down, shaking my head.
"Hey," Margot says as I feel her hand on my shoulder spinning me around.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push you. You just interest me a lot and sometimes I don't know when to stop," she softly explains to me.
"I interest you?"
"Is that all you got from that?" Margot asks with a chuckle escaping her lips.
"No, no. I mean, you're forgiven. But why do I interest you?"
"I say this in the least cheesy way possible, trust me. But you're not like other girls,"
Immediately as the words reach my ears, I snort. Margot cringes, and a smile slides onto my face.
"I. Wow. That sounded. That sounded so bad. I didn't expect it to be that bad," Margot rambles on. I just tilt my head as the smile on my face grows.
"I don't know you that well yet, but I have a feeling that there's way more to you than you let on. And sure, that's true for everyone really. But with you it's different. You do whatever is in your power to prevent others from seeing it,"
"What do you mean?" I ask rather cautiously.
"You let rumors run around about you at school and don't confirm or deny anything. You get defensive easily, which only shows that you're trying to keep something hidden. You go to parties most likely every weekend in order to get wasted, and if it isn't to have fun, it's to forget about something,"
"Wow. You've been studying me a lot then, I see," I try to keep my smile up as I joke with her.
"Don't flatter yourself,"
I just raise my hands in surrender as I turn away from her and begin walking to my car.
"Wait!" Margot suddenly calls out to me. With an eyebrow raised, I spin back around to see what she wants.
"I don't have your number and I figured if we're going to make any plans for studying, I may need it," Margot says as she holds her phone out to me.
"Well, golly. Now she's asking for my number?"
Margot just rolls her eyes at me and motions for me to hurry up. With a smile, I hand her phone back and she frowns as she looks down at it.
"Aspen 'not like other girls' Grayson, seriously?"
I just shrug in response before turning around and walking to my car.
"Bye, Margot,"
"Bye, Aspen Grayson,"
As I get in my car and begin the drive to the address that Tori sent to me, I can't help but to reflect on Margot's words.
There's more to me than I let on. While I usually party to forget Ivy, she's not the only thing that I need to forget.
As I arrive at the party, I contemplate on actually going inside. I did tell Tori that I would be here, but by now she's probably so wasted that she won't even notice. I'll just tell her that I was there and that she just doesn't remember. She won't know the difference.
Letting out a sigh, I put my car back in gear and drive away.
I can deal with everything on my own. I should be stronger than this.
Pulling into my driveway, I can't help but to notice that my dad is actually home. Working in parking lot maintenance, his hours revolve around when people won't be using the parking lot he's meant to stripe, resulting in work days starting and even ending in early morning hours.
Walking through the front door, I immediately recognize the stench of alcohol wafting through the house. As I walk into the living room, I immediately notice my father, passed out on the couch with a bottle of beer loosely clenched in his right hand's grasp.
Letting out a sigh, I walk over to his miserable form.
"You miss mom too, don't you?" I say as I pull the blanket off from the top of the couch and lightly drape it over him.
"She's the one who decided to walk out on us, and yet we can't help but still miss her.... How pathetic,"
I gently tug the alcohol from his grasp before turning around and walking away. However, just as I reach the far end of the living room, I take a drink of the liquid and then turn around to look at my father, sleeping peacefully and unknowingly on the couch.
"Like father, like daughter. Some things you just can't change," I say as I glance down back at the bottle before grasping it tighter and heading out of the living room and up the stairs to my room.