The Struggle For Love

Chapter 5

*Stacie's POV*
        “Here comes your snooty sis,” Marissa says groaning. Brittany is with a few of her friends like always. They’re waiting in front of the school for us. Marissa and I make it in time, so I don’t understand why they are waiting outside.
        “What took you so long? We’ve been waiting for you losers for the longest time,” Brittany says almost snarling. Her friends start to laugh.
        “We’re on time. What are you doing outside?” I ask in an upset tone.
        “You guys aren’t on time. You guys are late as usual.”
        “I hope you didn’t cut class again. If I hear you did…”
        “I didn’t,” Brittany says cutting me off. “Now, why don’t you be a good little slave and take me home,” Brittany says smirking. Her friends begin smirking, too.
        “Excuse me?” Marissa says irritated. “Why don’t you watch who you’re talking to! If I was your sister, I would leave you here to defend for yourself! You wouldn’t last one day! I bet your whole family would be celebrating that you weren’t around anymore! I would come over and give them a congratulations gift! Stacie would finally get her own room like she’s always wanted! You are such a sorry excuse for a sister! I don’t know why Stacie doesn’t treat you as badly as you treat her! You don’t deserve to have such a nice, caring sister like Stacie! If only Stacie wasn’t here right now, I would waste your sorry…”
        “Marissa!” I scream cutting her off. She groans before starting to scream again.
        “And about your friends! They are such skanky floozies! I bet every guy has been with them! By the time they get to high school, no guy is going to want them because of their reputation! With you being their friend, no guy is going to want you either! They’re going to figure that you’re just as dirty as these hoes! And you know what? They’re a sorry waste of space just like you! I can’t believe any of you were ever put on this Earth! We should just kill you off right now!” Marissa screams with her hands clenched and her face bright red.
        “Marissa, stop. That’s enough. I think they’ve heard enough. I’m sure they get it by now,” I say placing a hand on her shoulder, hoping to calm her down. She looks at me before looking back at them. She sighs noticing that some of Brittany’s friends are crying a little. Brittany is wide-eyed, not believing what she just heard.
        “I’m not taking it back. You know its true just as much as I do,” she states. I nod.
        “Even so, we still need to get going. Come on, Brittany. You’ll see your friends on Monday,” I state.
        “Why should I come with you? If I’m such a waste of space and such a horrible sister, I should just kill myself right now! Maybe I should just stay here and wait until I die of starvation or until an animal kills me off!” Brittany screams.
        “Oh my gosh! Brittany just shut up! We have to get Blythe, so stop being so overdramatic!” Marissa screams annoyed. Brittany glances at me as if saying, “Aren’t you going to stop her?” I shake my head.
        “Let’s go,” I state sternly. Brittany waves to her friends before swimming towards Blythe’s school. Marissa and I follow behind thankfully.
~
        We all sit in silence as we wait for Blythe to appear at her school. The secretary has already called her down, but she hasn’t appeared, yet. As we wait, Marissa glares at Brittany obviously furious with her while Brittany tries to avoid her death stare. Awkwardly, I just play with my fingers hoping for Blythe to show herself soon. The tension is growing too rapidly for me to bear. I even think the secretary can feel it. Finally, after ten minutes of agonizing stares both from Marissa and the secretary, Blythe appears. I quickly grab her hand, thank the secretary, and head out the door.
        “Why are you pulling me, Stacie? You’re starting to hurt me,” Blythe asks in pain.
        “Oh! I’m sorry, Blythe. I didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s just I needed to get out of your school. Marissa and Brittany are sort of mad at each other right now. I didn’t want the secretary to keep staring at them.” Blythe nods understandingly.
        “Oh, okay.” She glances behind to look at Marissa and Brittany. “Let’s get home before they start fighting,” she whispers. I nod.
        “Good idea.”
        “I’ll take Brittany’s hand, and you can take Marissa’s. That way they won’t hurt each other,” she says seriously. I chuckle. We grab their hands confusing them. We can’t help but laugh a little at their faces.
        All of us swim home as fast as we can. Surely, Marissa and I want to get to my house to get ready, but Blythe wants to get home in order to make sure they don’t start fighting. I don’t know why Brittany is speed-swimming along side us. Maybe it’s just to keep up with us. Maybe it’s to get away from Blythe quicker. Blythe is kind of talking her ear off behind us. Marissa is trying to hold in a laugh the whole time Blythe is talking. At least, I assume it’s because of Blythe. She always manages to clear the air whenever there is fighting or something else negative. I, on the other hand, am trying to listen and pay attention to what Blythe is saying. That’s what good sisters do. Blythe talks about her wonderful day at school, this new kid in her class named Elliot, and about how she can’t wait to go back to school tomorrow. Once she is all out of those topics, she begins asking Marissa questions.
        “What’s your favorite color?” Blythe asks.
        “It’s orange silly,” Marissa says chuckling.
        “I like red. It’s cool and reminds me of fire. I think it’s the best color in the whole wide world,” Blythe says grinning from ear to ear.
        “Really? I thought orange was,” Marissa says pouting.
        “No, red is,” Blythe objects shaking her head.
        “If you say it is, then it must be,” Marissa says shrugging symbolizing she gives up. Blythe begins smiling as she realizes she has won. Marissa laughs.
        “Who do you like better: girls or boys?” Blythe asks her.
        “Girls, of course!”
        “Good. Girls are better. They’re smarter and prettier and better at everything they do. Boys are just dumb and ugly.” Marissa and I laugh.
        “So, Avery is dumb and ugly, then?” I ask amused.
        “No…”
        “I thought you said boys are?”
        “I did, but Avery is different. We taught him to be smart, and he’s cute because we’re cute,” Blythe says smiling to back up her argument.
        “Oh, I see,” I say trying to hold in a laugh. Luckily, we arrive at my house just in time as it is about to blurt out. Blythe and Brittany race inside before I even get to blink my eyes.
        “I guess they were in a rush,” Marissa says chuckling.
        “I guess so…”
        “Now, we have thirty minutes, so let’s hurry,” Marissa urges.
        “Don’t you mean you have thirty minutes?” Marissa begins to grin a huge grin. “Marissa… what are you planning?”
        “I’m doing your make-up,” she says excitedly. I sigh. I knew she was planning something, and that was something I hoped she wasn’t thinking about.
        “But I just want it to look natural,” I say protesting.
        “Oh, shush. I’ll make you look even more beautiful if it’s even possible. Now, come on. We’ve got some work to do,” she says pushing me into my house. She guides me into my room and sits me on my bed. As she looks through her bag, I twiddle with my fingers in anticipation. Marissa plops a bunch of things on my bed beside me. I stare probably wide-eyed at all the things she expects to put on my face. I am about to say something when she places a fingers to my lips shushing me. I sigh in defeat before allowing her to paint my face.
        Twenty five minutes later, Marissa and I are both ready. I’m shocked she was actually able to get us both ready in such a short time. She was able to brush my hair, put make-up on me, and do the same for her. I’ve tried several times to look at myself in a mirror to ease my worrying, but Marissa wouldn’t let me. As soon as she turns away, I will take the chance to look.
        “Are you ready?” she asks me obviously excited.
        “As ready as I’ll ever be,” I say shrugging my shoulders.
        “Good. Now, come with me,” she says guiding me to my bathroom. I swim ahead of her unknowing what she is about to do. I thought we were leaving. If we don’t leave now, we’re going to be late. “Look,“ she says as she pushes me in the tiny room. I glance at the beautiful creature before me. At first, I wondered who it could be before realizing it’s me.
        Marissa did as I told her. She made me look natural. Everything is so beautiful, but my eyes are the first things to catch my sight. They have always been my favorite feature. They’re practically popping out of my head with beauty. Those lips of mine are the next thing to catch my eye. They look so plush and attractive. My skin… My skin looks flawless. Usually, I will put concealer or foundation on before going to school, but I didn’t even feel Marissa touch my skin. I swear she has worked wonders for me. Did I talk about my hair? It looks even more curlier than normal, and that’s saying something. My hair is usually extremely curly, but somehow she managed to add twice it’s curliness to it. Finally, I get to see what Marissa’s blue bra looks like on me. I have to admit, her bra looks very slimming and looks as if it was made for me. Also, it goes great with my bright purple tail.
        “You like?” Marissa asks smiling.
        “Like? No,” I state trying to show no emotion. I see a frown appear on her once proud face. “I love!” I scream in amazement. Marissa instantly grins showing she is proud once again.
        “Really?”
        “Yeah! I look…” I begin to say looking for the correct word.
        “Beautiful?” I nod grinning.
        “Thanks, Marissa. You’re the best friend I could ever hope for.”
        “No problem. Now, those boys are going to be drooling over us,” she says smirking. I look at her confused before realizing I never paid attention to what she looks like. It shows what a great friend I am.