First Wall To Fall Down

After this, it was time to talk with Amber's dad - the guy who basically was the group's infinite wealth trust fund and somehow raised his daughter to be the best version of a trust fund kid could be. Seriously, without Amber, I'd probably still be doing my X-Change ID and still finishing my wardrobe with hand-me-downs and a bit of thrift shop flair. Not that I hate thrift shops, it's just that is what can be afforded with the house budget, and I don't like fast fashion.

And oh boy, I never expected him to look like Big Daddy from Princess and the Frog, but now it makes a whole lot more sense why Amber is the way she is. The guy looked shady enough - but was... Shady enough. Treats Amber like a golden goose and like a porcelain doll, yet reluctantly lets her do her own things, the dynamic is worth your time? Uhm, maybe another time. But Mr. Vanderbilt here (yes, Amber had a rich surname too, which is obvious if you think for a second) was interested in helping me. He saw me as a case for his lawyer contacts to get some fame? Yeah - but it was better than anything else so far - so once again, I was indebted to Amber and her family.

Velma wanted to work with us as purely revenge - seeing as Kyle had actively confirmed my theory of pink pilling his enemies and even who he just thought "would turn out the hottest". His minions in Trent and Gary seemed to get scraps or not get involved at all through Velma's info, so I decided that I needed to hit up his cronies.

Was that a bad idea? Yes. But honestly, everybody was sick and tired of Kyle.

So yeah, it was time to find Gary and Trent, to work out some semblance of a deal with them - and honestly, I went alone. The others had classes at the moment when I didn't and it was so much easier for me to do so.

Rat one and rat 2, as I liked to call them in my head, were not that difficult to spot or get ahold of surprisingly, and this felt convenient. Like, what do you mean the guys I needed to talk to were just finishing up their pratice AWAY from Kyle? Their clique walked one next to the other like a zombie horde - it didn't make any sense. But I had to check it out anyway, because if they didn't become part of the plan, it would de-rail us a little bit.

The bleachers were emptier than usual, with not many people being around - especially it looked like the football team didn't have that much of a bench. Like dear God, some of the guys I never thought would see any sort of play were actively training and putting on training reserved for the starting line-up. Coach must be having the worst time having to manage "player injuries", and having to accomodate to Kyle being the school's resident star. That might be a nightmare in itself.

"Trent? Gary? Have a minute to speak?"

The duo looked at me like I was some sort of alien, especially for being in a place where I drew in eyes as the "patient zero" of what was happening through the campus. And the looks they gave me showed how they viewed me in relation to everything that these past months have been. Trent had an easy eye - liked what he saw on me, being a short red leather jacket, mixed in with a flimsy needlework shirt underneath - and said eye was probably eyeying the cleavage I unfortunately had when dealing with these types of shirts. Gary was more of a known legs guy, but he looked less, his eyes scanned me down to the sneakers, passing by the clearly-these-are-not-from-the-90s pants that I got from my mom. And he fucking stared for a long time too.

"Yeah, I think we got a minute to speak... Sanji?"

"Marina."

"Oh right, my bad - too many new students around, right?"

"And you guys are the welcome committee? Makes sense why only there are new girls flooding the hallways. Did you know that the queue lines for the women's bathroom have been longer?"

"What are you implying?"

"That we need to talk."

Hook, line and sinker. They agreed to it instantly, with Gary wanting a shower because he's obsessed over his hygiene and I can get behind a shower like that - I am brazilian after all. I still waited by the bleachers with a slightly annoyed Trent answering a couple of rather desperate girls on where to find Kyle. Looks like he skipped class to stay back home with a few other friends. The disdain when speaking that word was not lost on me, Kyle skipped class to either have sex or have been neglecting his most loyal minions for more guillible minions.

Either way, he was high off of his power trip.

"Velma confirmed my theory that I wasn't the last. So, how many "new students are around"? I had the displeasure of people knowing who I was previously."

"Honestly, I thought you were the only one. Kyle finished that package he used on you with others. That Velma chick was the last one on that package."

"A party package has like, 8 or 9 pills?"

"12 actually. He explained the mumbo jumbo, but those pills are meant to be party stuff - so each one of the pills lasts for a while with potential to be extended for more."

"That still doesn't explain why 50% of all the senior classes are girls now."

"He didn't stop there, obviously."

My conversation with Trent ended somewhat quickly when Gary came out of the shower - shirtless, possibly to try and tease me, until he realized that and scurried back to get his shirt. These two morons deserved to be Kyle's cohorts! Urgh.

We walked out of the bleachers and into the back of the school, intending to get to the parking lot, where they would inevitably go and try to offer me a ride, and as much as these two were a lesser evil than Kyle, they were complicit in it. Think of what I am doing as X-Change Vigilantism.

"So, how's it been being a chick? Do girls really have more fun, eh?"

"I am not going to answer that question."

"C'mon! You've been using the girl's locker room for more than a month! Tell us!"

"Because a certain someone exposed me in a weird manner, I am only allowed to use it after all the girls are out."

The walk was short, due to their intense knowledge of the school's layout that was borderline insane, I didn't know that half of these shortcuts existed - and this would actually come to be valuable enough later.

"Well guys, I actually want to ask you this... What do you guys think of Kyle? As like, a friend?"

"He sucks actually, but he gives us stuff - he isn't aware I don't exactly like him now, he was way cooler when our only worry was CoD and making Youtube videos."

"You guys did Youtube?"

"Yeah, until he slowly phased us out of the channel for some stupid mofos from Miami."

"I mirror Trent's sentiment, that guy is no good now. Was fun in the past."

"So, would you guys be up for a little mischief? He has a history of being self-absorbed and sabotaging you guys' friendship? Thing?"

"You want us to help you do what exactly?"

I am not going to tell you what they agreed to do now. Or what I proposed to them if they agreed, because that makes it for a more dramatic re-telling, but because I am a generous narrator, I'll let you know that we all got out of there with a handshake.

Even if I found Trent's hand to be clammy and surprised that Gary actually commits to a skincare routine.

But now, there was only so much time until prom, I needed one final sacrifice to do. The girls think I can do better with another plan, but Phil's idea won't go to waste!

Man, fuck this guy honestly. But the final piece of this long quest is now finally in sight - it's time for... Shopping. Oh God.