Price Check On Monogamy

“Oh my God, you look like a pixie!” Kip squealed, bouncing around, as always. I smiled; even though I was dreading actually going into school, the walk there hadn’t been terrible so far.

Tawny shot me a smile. “It does look pretty kick ass, Tigger. Lex did a good job.”

I laughed and jumped on Lexy, almost knocking both of us off our feet and into the lawn we were walking past. “Sexy Lexy did a sexy job!”

Lexy groaned, laughing. “Get off! And stop calling me that!”

These three have been my best friends since freshmen year. Well, actually, Lexy and me have been best friends since eighth grade; she’s a tiny little Asian girl with shoulder length black hair and dark brown eyes. Her thick rimmed glasses have been the source of jokes between the two of us for years-- she has terrible eye sight, and a hard time concentrating on things for too long. She’s really sweet, even though another ongoing joke between the two of us is that she won’t accept any of my marriage proposals; thus the nickname Sexy Lexy. She’s always got at least one ear bud in, usually playing alternative music. Her wardrobe basically only consists of band t-shirts, jeans pants, and jeans shorts with low cut converse shoes. Tawny got close to me over the summer before freshmen year, when we were dating brothers. She’s another tiny Asian girl, with straight, chin-length black hair with red streaks through it, and dark brown, almond shaped eyes, though usually, she wears blue coloured contacts. She’s usually drawing something; she’s an amazing artist. I think it’s always gone without saying that I treat her like my little sister instinctively, though she makes sure that I don’t do anything too ridiculous. It’s like a tag team relationship. Usually, she wears black Capri pants and band shirts, with a heavy black jacket, and high top converse shoes. Kip is just… Kip. Honestly, it’s hard to classify her. She’s got curly, waist long brown hair and light brown eyes, though the first thing you’ll probably notice about her is how short she is. Kip has yet to break five feet tall, and, considering we’re Juniours, we all doubt she ever will. She has a bad habit of complaining about everything; she can be ridiculously self centered, and very, very moody. When something’s wrong with Kip, she doesn’t tell you for about a day, when she refuses to talk to anyone, making us all believe she’s mad at us, then the next day, never stops bitching about what’s bothering her. Usually guy issues, which can get very, very irritating. She’s an extreme girl, which can be good and bad; typically, she wears rubber slippers, jeans shorts, and t-shirts with the sleeves rolled up. Right now, however, we were all wearing school uniforms; probably should have mentioned that beforehand, but I’ve always loved describing my friends to people.

The uniforms are pleated black, knee-length skirts, high socks, black tennis shoes, and black polo shirts. It’s irritating, but I guess that’s what we get for going to a prep school, right? Our school, Evergreen’s Academy, is one of the top ten schools in the nation; meaning, of course, that it’s ridiculously expensive and high class. It’s the typical rich kid scene; Kip’s parents are environmental scientists, Tawny’s dad is the CEO of a medical supply company and her mom is an archeologist, and Lexy’s parents are both architects. Everyone in the school is really well off, meaning that most of them are spoiled, irritating brats.

“Why did you cut it?” Kip buzzed excitedly. I laughed under my breath as Lexy and Tawny exchanged looks; honestly, it hadn’t taken much explaining to make them agree to not mention the bet to Kip. Group drama; meaning everyone was just sick of her constant bitching.

”So… lemme get this straight,” Tawny said, laying on the bed on her side, watching Lexy carefully snip away at my hair. “You’re going to pretend to date Tandem for six months.”

“Check.”

“You can’t tell anyone but us that it’s fake,” Lexy continued the questioning, measuring the two sides of my hair to make sure that they were even. “Meaning not even Kip can know.”

“Check.”

“And they’re going to pay you to do this.”

“Check.”

“But they’re blackmailing you, too,” Tawny said, choosing her words carefully. “How did they--“

“They don’t,” I cut her off hastily. “So yeah, you guys basically get the gist. Don’t tell Kip, alright?”

Tawny laughed, falling onto her back. “Can do. Just one more question.”

I raised an eyebrow at her just as Lexy put her scissors and gel down and handed me a mirror. I beamed into my reflection, standing to hug her. “Thanks, Lex,” I said happily. The new haircut had side-swept bands and a short, layered look in the back; Lexy had run gel through the sides to make it stick up slightly. I loved the look already. Turning to look at Tawny again, I asked, “Question?”

“Why did you feel the need to cut your hair?”

I shrugged. “The only thing he had to say to me after the entire stupid talk was that he liked my hair.

Lexy and Tawny had left my house laughing so hard that I was surprised my brother and sister hadn’t woken up, though I’m pretty glad they hadn’t. I wanted to see their faces when they saw my new haircut at school for the first time; they never bothered to wait for me to go to school with them, so instead I walked with Tawny, Kip, and Lexy.

“Dunno, Kip. For the hell of it.”

Kip laughed. “Yup, sounds like you. Anyway, what’s up with your stupid ass brother and sister? You never got to tell me why you were late to the mall on Saturday.”

Forcing a smile, I laughed and said, “Kip, you’ll never believe it. Like, seriously, it’s going to blow your friggin’ mind. Are you ready?”

“Dammit, Tiger, just tell me!” Lexy and Tawny suppressed grins behind Kip, watching to see how I was going to explain this one.

“I’m dating Tandem Blake.” The words already tasted like grit on my tongue. How the hell was I supposed to pull this off?

Kip’s jaw dropped, and her eyes got huge. “Tandem… BLAKE?!”

“Kip, there’s no other Tandem in the school,” Lexy pointed out. Kip completely ignored her.

“Holy shit! That’s amazing! Oh my God, Tiger, he’s hot. Like, drop dead fucking sexy. Holy crap, I’m so happy for you!”

I laughed to cover the gagging sound I almost made out of my completely immature need to remind myself that Kip had always thought that Tandem was hot. It was something that used to irritate the hell out of me, especially when she came over at the same time as him.

Walking up the front steps to school, Kip was still babbling on and on about how hot she found Tandem, and how lucky I was. Probably sensing my obvious distress, Lexy said, “Kip, is Tandem hotter than Justin?”

Kip shut up instantly. Justin is Kip’s insanely jealous freshman boyfriend; seeing as the first hall in the school was almost completely made up of freshman homerooms and Justin could walk up to us at any time, Lexy had just reminded Kip that the last time she’d given Justin a reason to feel jealous, he’d punched a locker and broken his hand.

“Of course not,” Kip snapped. “Justin’s way hotter. Sorry, Tiger, but you still only hold the second hottest guy in school.” Winking at me, she laughed and opened her mouth to continue-- then shut it.

“Hey, babe.”

I plastered a fake smile onto my face and turned around as casually as I could without screaming at Tandem to back the hell away from me. Jesus, the man had no sense of personal space; he was literally right behind me, his arms around my shoulders pulling me back into him for a semi-hug. The look in his eyes as he skimmed my face and my new haircut made my fake smile ease into a real one; yep, exactly the sort of look I wanted. Complete and total bewilderment.

“Hey,” I said quietly. “Are you alright?”

His smile flickered back into place, tightening his arm around me, a look of… mischief in his eyes. That look was completely unacceptable and totally unnerved me. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for caring, baby.”

The look in his eyes got brighter, until a very loud voice from behind me shouted, “Holy SHIT, Tiger and Tandem?”

I groaned audibly, turning and pulling away from Tandem, to see Michael Greens. The little prick has been aiming to make my life hell since we met in fourth grade; he looked like a weasel, with sharp features, beady black eyes, a thin mouth, and spiky brown hair. “Go get stuffed, Greens,” I snapped.

He laughed, falling back into his usual crowd of friends. As far as rich kids go, Michael Greens was at the top of the pack. His father was on the Senate, and he liked to flaunt money to keep his friends.

“So Tandem, you lose a bet?” Greens asked, still laughing.

The irony of the statement killed me; I would have either laughed or tackled him to the ground if Tandem hadn’t said smoothly, “No, actually, just wanted a new chick. You really want to challenge me, Greens?”

Michael paled slightly, his nose twitching. Even if Michael was richest, Tandem was, by far, way more liked, and almost ranked with Michael, as far as money went. “He’s dating you because you’re a pretty hot little bitch,” Greens sneered at me, walking away. “Tandem, do me a favour; screw her and leave her crying.”

I stood, stunned, jaw hanging open. Of all the things for Michael Greens to say to me, or about me, for that matter, I had never heard anything like that. He’d always done his best to make me feel as hated and uncomfortable as possible, but he had never been that… crude. I didn’t even know what to say in response.

Tandem, however, did. Walking over to Michael calmly, his arm still around me, Tandem grabbed Michael’s shoulder from behind and slammed him into a locker wall. “Watch your mouth, kid, or I’ll break it.”

Michael stared up at Tandem through huge eyes, mouth opening and closing like a fish pulled out of water, looking desperately for something to say. Deciding to just nod furiously and dart away as soon as Tandem let him go, Michael was scrambling out of the area faster than I’ve ever seen him move.

Well, that was weird.

I stared at Tandem, eyes wide, looking for something to say. When he looked back at me, for a second, I almost thought there was a hint of actual care in his eyes; it was… touching. It almost made me respect him. Then it was gone, replaced by that damned confident smirk that made me want to punch him. “No one talks to my girl like that.” Pulling my chin up and bending over, he kissed me; a bit roughly, but I have to admit… he was a good kisser. Pulling away and winking at me, Tandem sauntered off to his first class, and I realized for the first time just how many people were standing around in the hallways watching us.

“Tiger--“

“Hey, Tiger--“

“Oh my God, you lucky bitch--“

Scratch that. I don’t respect the stupid bastard at all. Face blazing red, I stomped huffily over to Tawny, Kip, and Lexy, refusing to speak until we were safely seated in History. Even Mr. Decker’s voice droning on about the Ancient Egyptians couldn’t get me to calm down.

Mint. He tasted like mint gum.

“Are you okay?” I turned to see Tawny looking at me, concern written all over her face.

“Yeah,” I mumbled. “I just… I don’t know. I fucking hate him.”

Tawny sat back slowly, saying, almost inaudibly, “Tigger, you look like you’re about to cry.”