Chapter Five – Trish

“Trish! What the hell happened here?” My mother stood, astonished at the sight of my bedroom.

I didn’t look up from my notebook. “I got a little mad.”

She grabbed the notebook, closing it and throwing it across the room. “Great! Now you can clean it. You aren’t stepping foot out of this room until it’s clean.” She crossed her arms in front of her, acting like she had actually made a point.

I scoffed, rolling onto my back and resting my head on my hands, behind my head. “I will, when I’m not mad.”

Mom shook her head. “No. You’ll do it now.” Her voice was strangely calm, given how mad she was only a few moments ago. However, her calmness was actually kind of pissing me off as well.

“Can you please just go away?” I sat up, gesturing toward my door, angrily. “I told you I will do it! Leave me alone!”

Mom was taken aback. I get it. I had never really yelled at her like that. I even surprised myself. Guess I really was still pissed off.

“I think…” she started, hesitantly, “maybe you need to see a professional.”

I glared at her. “Seriously?”

She sat on my bed. “Yes, seriously.” She frowned. “I can see you’ve been struggling the last few days, and I just don’t like seeing you like this.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m fine. Eva is just being a little bitch lately. Ever since she turned eighteen, it’s like she’s obsessed with finding a soulmate.”

Mom chuckled, but when I shot her another glare, she promptly stopped. “Is that what this is about? Soulmates?”

I grumbled, rolling away from her. “Don’t give me this lecture.”

She stood up, and I could hear the amused smile in her voice. “Well, you know how I feel about it. Once you find your soul-”

“Yeah, yeah, okay, I know!” I snapped. In a mocking tone, I continued, “once I find my soulmate, I’ll see.” I sat up, my persistent glare back in my eyes. “When will people realize I’m not like everyone else? I don’t want a soulmate! I don’t want love! I don’t even want to age!”

Mom stepped back, her lips pursed. I knew she wanted to challenge that, but instead, she walked toward my door. “I want this room to be clean by the end of the day.”

I flicked my hand in a “shoo” motion, and she shut the door. I flopped back down on my bed. I was so tired of the same old lecture, with no one ever understanding that I wasn’t the “lovey” kind of girl. I was better off, and honestly, everyone around me was just pissing me off.

I must have fallen asleep for a bit, because I was awakened by my phone ringing. Groggily, I gazed at it. It was Ryan. I answered, but didn’t say anything.

“Trish?” I heard, after a few seconds.

“Mhm…”

“Hey! Tusk is having a party next week, and we were wondering if you wanted to come.”

I furrowed my brow. “Will Eva be there?”

Ryan laughed. “Of course! We figured we could let bygones be bygones, right?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, maybe you guys can. But whatever, I’ll be there.”

Ryan cheered. “Awesome! I’ll give you more details when we know more.”

“Mhm.” I hung up. Why did they want me there? Why did I even agree to go? My eyes swept over my messy room, and finally, I picked myself up to clean it.

The week went by slowly. Eva and I managed to at least act like everything was okay, and Ryan seemed pleased. Tusk was…different. Very different. One word responses, side glances. Honestly, I wanted to deck him a few times, but I had to be on my best behavior, after all. 

As the night of the party arrived, I found my best outfit for the occasion. After all, a girl had to look good for her last hurrah before we all forgot about each other, right? I actually felt a bit nervous walking up to Tusks’ house. Like, he had been pretty weird toward me, and part of me thought this was a setup of some kind. Like all three of them had a trick up their sleeve. I padded around cautiously, until Ryan came up and hugged me.

“Hey! Glad you actually came!” He shouted over the music.

‘I’m not,’ I thought, slowly creeping out of his embrace. “Yeah, thanks.”

He smiled sadly. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’m fine!” I put on my best, cheerful smile, but even I wasn’t feeling it.

Eva bounced over, dancing to the music. “Hey!” She waved, as if I hadn’t seen her just pop up beside Ryan. “I’m sorry for everything, by the way.”

This took me by surprise. She was sorry? “Uh, yeah. It’s cool, I guess.” I paused. “I’m sorry too.” I wasn’t exactly sure if I meant that, but hey, at least I said it. Right? “So, uh, let’s party?”

Ryan laughed and led us into the living room. Tusk greeted us. “Hey. Parents went on a trip to give us space. So let’s go! Just, they requested we not go too crazy.”

I couldn’t help but smile. Dude had probably the coolest parents on the planet. However, I noticed quickly that Tusk wasn’t returning my smile. He was just, sort of, staring at me. It was awkward. I cleared my throat and walked away from them without a word, grabbing a can of soda from the pristine coffee table in Tusk’s pristine home.

“I thought this party was going to be like, up on the cliff or something.”

When I looked up, a guy from our school was smiling at me. His name was Ron, and we had only just passed in the hallway.

“Yeah,” I said softly, taking a sip of my soda. “But, I mean, Tusk is pretty flaky like that. He plans one thing and completely flips it on its ass.”

Ron laughed. Like, laughed with his whole chest. “Hey, it’s cool. I think the smaller area allowed me to run into you.”

I didn’t like where this was heading. I scoffed a bit. “Like you haven’t run into me in the halls for the last four years? Why talk to me now?”

He smirked, flirtatiously. “I didn’t have the guts to say anything till now. But hey, YOLO, right? We are one week away from graduating, so why not shoot my shot?”

I shot him a glare. “Sorry, I don’t know what kind of shot you’re trying to shoot, Ron, but I’m not looking for a relationship. Like…at all.”

He put his hands up in surrender. “Okay, alright. That’s cool. Maybe we can just chat as friends then. I’m down with that.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, okay, that’s…something.”

He laughed softly, leaning against a tall table by the wall. “Can friends dance?”

I took a sip of my drink to hide my disgust. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Hey, it’s better than no.” He gave me a cheeky grin. “But I won’t push.”

“Better not,” I murmured. Thankfully, he didn’t hear me. I watched as Tusk and another girl, Manda, moved to a less crowded area that some people were using as a dance floor. I grumbled into the can. This ‘party’ was really just a way for people to find someone that may or may not be their precious ‘soulmate’, wasn’t it? I had no business being here. “I, uh…” I glanced around, nervously. “I have to use the bathroom.” Setting my can down, I headed off to the back part of the house; a part no one else had migrated to, thankfully. Keeping the lights off, I sat in silence.

Thoughts swirled in my head, telling me that this was the whole plot. Tusk hated me now, and didn’t even try to hide it. Yet, he invited me to this stupid party, where there were people just itching to find their soulmates. What if one of them was my soulmate? What if I got pulled into this madness? Or worse, what if my parents were right, and my whole idea about the subject would change once I found the one?

I couldn’t chance it. However, as I got up to leave the party, a thought crossed my mind. Why not? I mean, if Ron ended up being my soulmate, then I could just ghost him, right? Didn’t mean I couldn’t have a little fun in the process. Of course, fun in my own way. I smirked and came back out into the living room, grabbing my can and looking up at Ron.

“Sorry about that.” I said with a smile. “I’ll take you up on that dance now.”

“Hey, hey!” He cheered. “Use the bathroom and you come out with a clearer head?”

“Something like that.” I agreed with a quiet laugh.

Let the fun begin…

Chapter Six Coming Soon!