Ultraviolet Teenage Riot

Everyone had heard about the Gomez brothers.

They were high school royalty. The crownless kings. They walked the corridors like they owned the place, handing out cheeky winks to the prettier girls and disgusted looks to the less pretty one’s. All of those girls wanted to be on a Gomez arm, and not many of them ever got to be there.

Truth be told, the Gomez brothers had a strange way of selecting the girls that were good enough to be their girlfriend. It was some sort of sick initiation. The boys each picked two or three girls each and posted lists in the chosen girls’ lockers. The lists gave out instructions of tasks to do, often humiliating, and if the girls completed these tasks then they were worthy of being a Gomez girlfriend, and if not, they were kicked to the kerb. Left at the bottom of the social pyramid.

Almost all the girls in the school would do anything to just receive one of those lists. To be noticed and desired by Stephen or John seemed to be the most lusted after thing amongst them. Girls who had long term boyfriends wanted them, sometimes boys were ditched for a four month fling with one of the brothers. The girls adored them, and the boys hated them. They loathed the two perfect boys who drifted through the school, dictating who did what and who was worthy of being in their circle. The boys branded them pathetic and worthless. The Gomez’s had few male friends, mainly in the form of their minions Brian Dales and Josh Montgomery. Those two were the idiots. They followed John and Stephen around, picking up after them and clearing up the girly mess they often left in their wake.

It was the first day back after Christmas. The sky was still a bright blue and the sun shone, casting it’s yellow glare across the courtyard, blinding students through windows. It started off a fairly calm day. Everything appeared to be normal, the Gomez brothers ruled the school, their minions skulking behind them. The teachers were piling on the homework, the girls bitched about who had slept with who over the break and everyone showed off expensive Christmas gifts. It was normality.

Flo Ripley was anything but normal. As much as she loved the calm before the storm on the first day back, she had rushed in like a hurricane. She had pushed past Stephen and John in a silver and dark haired blur, hurrying to get to her locker before the bell rung for history.

It was her blur, her lack of normality that attracted both of the Gomez brothers. Neither of them commented on her. They never discussed girls with one another. Never organising who would receive one of their precious lists. No, with them everything seemed to slot into place. John usually went for the lighter girls, the one’s with blue eyes and peroxide hair, whereas Stephen went for the darker girls, the more intellectual types. The smart and beautiful. Neither of them went for the same, until Flo Ripley had hurried past them on that fateful morning.

And so the day carried on. Lists were formed and delivered. And by the end of the day, Flo was ready to go home and drop back into her bed. She wanted nothing more than to hibernate forever. To sleep her way through school and still get into the college she wanted to.

“Sooooo, word on the street is the Gomez brothers handed out their lists,” Abbey Bridges grinned at her best friend. “I didn’t get one though.”

Flo rolled her eyes. “Why do you even want one? They make girls do stupid things and humiliate themselves, for what? A possible three month thing with them.”

“So? They could be good three months, and no one’s died from doing anything on the lists. C’mon, seriously Flo, if you could pick one to date, which one would you pick?”

“Neither of them!”

Abbey rolled her eyes. “You’re blind.”

Scowling, Flo came to stop at her locker, pulling it open at full force. The chemistry books in her arms were becoming unbearably heavy, she was desperate to off load them into her locker. But two sheets of folded paper blocked her path. She picked them both up and dumped the heavy books inside.

Abbey gasped. “Oh. My. God. You got a Gomez list!” She squealed as the words left her mouth. She jumped up and down and clapped excitedly.

Flo shrugged, hoping Abbey was wrong. She opened the first sheet of paper, and of course she was met with the messy scrawl of John Gomez. His list was short, simple, three items on it. The first was attending some party at his house. She nodded, handing the paper to the over excited Abbey, unfolding the next. Stephen’s list was longer, much more humiliating.

“Run across the school field in my underwear?” She raised her eyebrows, screwing the paper up into a ball, ready to throw it amongst the crowd of teenagers all fighting to leave the school. That was until Abbey grabbed the paper ball from her hand and smoothed it out against the row of lockers. Her blue eyes scanned the list, widening at the more inappropriate words tainting the crumpled page.

“Ew. Stephen Gomez is officially disgusting,” she wrinkled her nose to signify her disgust in the boy she had once put on a pedestal.

Flo raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know what to think. One list is long, full of humiliating things, the other is too simple. And why have I gotten one from both of them? No one’s ever gotten that before, right?”

Abbey shrugged. “You must be special then,” she reached for John’s list, plucking it from Flo’s gentle grasp. Her eyes scanned the short list, resting on the first item. “Are you going to go to this party?”

A heavy sigh escaped Flo’s lips. For the first time in her life she was unsure. She had drifted through school being a normal girl. She wasn’t in the with popular crowd, nor was she at the bottom of the social food chain. She had friends to get her through, and she despised certain people for one reason or another. She was caught in the middle of the high school battlefield, but the Gomez brothers seemed set on securing her at the top with them. Even if deep down, she didn’t care for that. She didn’t strive for attention and she certainly didn’t welcome any sort of rumours about her. Rumours circulated about the popular kids, about the Gomez brothers and their clan. Rumours weren’t Flo Ripley’s thing. And neither were the Gomez brothers. So, fixing an equation in her mind, a smile danced across Flo’s lips and she nodded, taking the two lists from Abbey. “Yeah. And you’re coming with me.”

The week flew past in a dramatic blur. Word had gotten out that John and Stephen had only handed one list out each. No one knew who those lists belonged to. Girls made up random stories about them being the chosen one, they had the list pinned to their bedroom wall at home. They created false tasks from the lists, most of them were a lot tamer than the things on Stephen’s list, but Flo chose to stay quiet. She didn’t crave the attention those girls were receiving. The thought of being the ‘chosen one’ just reminded her of Harry Potter, and she certainly didn’t have a lightning bolt scar nor some crazed wizard hell bent on revenge after her. The lists simply stayed in her locker. She wasn’t about to confront either of the Gomez’s nor was she going to actually do any of the tasks handed to her. The only thing she was going to do was show up at the party and set her plan into motion.

So Friday night was the night. The parents had been shooed out of the front door, their coats thrown out after them. The living room was cleared of all valuable and breakable items, bedroom doors were locked, music was blasted and drinks were poured. It was the first Gomez brothers house party of the year, and at least half the school had turned up. People were packed into the kitchen, fighting over cheap liquor and downing lethal shots. The front garden was full of stragglers who had either been kicked out by some popular football player, or were throwing up into the lush green grass after too much alcohol.

Flo grinned at Abbey, as she stepped over a spotty boy lying passed out on the grass. Snores emitted his limp body. Abbey kicked him gently with the toe of her six inch killer heels. The kid groaned and his eyes fluttered open slightly, trying to see up Abbey’s tiny skirt. She scoffed and followed Flo into the house. The music was cranked up to deafening, the floorboard beneath them vibrating.

Stephen Gomez spotted them first and came staggering over, a glass bottle of beer clasped in his hand. A sloppy grin adorned his face and he threw his arm around Flo’s slender shoulders. “You thought about my list?” He slurred, steering her away from Abbey.

She nodded, sending him a sweet smile. She reached into the pocket of her overly tight skinny jeans, pulling out the crumpled list that Stephen had so carefully planned out for her. “I thought about it. I thought about it a lot,” she unfolded the piece of paper, “but I could never do things like running across the field in my underwear, or get off with my female best friend.”

Stephen pouted, “and I thought you had more guts than that.”

“Oh I’ve got guts, babe. Just not when it comes to pathetic little boys like you and your brother.” She pressed a swift, soft kiss to his dry lips, ripping up his list, throwing it up in the air, allowing the crumpled confetti to fall around him.

Flo wriggled out of his loose grasp and went off to find the younger brother and put him in his place. She headed for the living room, where she found him surrounded by gaggling girls, all of whom were giggling as he attempted to dance to the techno music blasting through the expensive speakers. He spotted her and sent her a slow smile, pushing his way through his group of loyal followers to reach her.

“You got my list then?” He asked, loudly, catching the attention of all the girls around. Gasps echoed around them, drowning out the sounds of synthesizers and a robotic voice drifting through the speakers. Murmurs and whispers followed, Flo receiving envious glares and dirty looks.

Blissfully ignorant to the bitchy reality of girl world, John slipped his arms around Flo’s waist, pulling her closer to him. “So you’ve done the first thing. Just showing up, that’s all I wanted.”

“But John! I showed up!” A short red head glowered at him, folding her arms and pouting.

He simply brushed her off, his attention firmly on Flo. She shrugged, turning away slightly, focusing her gaze on Josh Montgomery, sitting patiently, drink in hand, looking fairly bored. “I showed up, not necessarily because you summoned me here though.”

“Well why else would you be here?”

“Oh I don’t know. To reject your pathetic ass, maybe?” Her tone came out harsh, ice cold. Everyone paying attention to them gasped. Each girl feeling the stab of pain John felt at the thought of not getting what he wanted for once in his life.

“You know John, I’ve never thought much of you or your brother. You have this pathetic list system, I mean, you select the chosen girls and give them these humiliating tasks. Who do you think you are seriously? You don’t rule high school, and these girls,” she motioned to the circle surrounding them, “they’re nothing to you, are they? Just a few casual flings, before you leave them used and abused at the side of the road.”

John opened his mouth to retort. For the first time in his entire life he was being put in his place. His high school crown was slipping, and it was all because of one girl. One mistake he had foolishly made. He shook his head as Flo wriggled out of his grasp.

She walked over to where Josh was sitting, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his for a moment, before pulling away. “Wanna get out of here?”

He nodded quickly, discarding his beer and jumping to his feet. He followed Flo towards the front door.

“Wait!” A blonde girl called. “Who got Stephen’s list?”

Flo turned back with a smirk dancing across her lips. “I did.”

It was then Stephen and John were knocked off their high school thrones, their crowns stolen before their eyes. All because they went after the only girl who wouldn't fall at their feet and complete their lists.