Drop Dead Bitches

Chapter 10: The Thanks
“Caitlyn, why aren’t I doing the scorpion double down anymore? That was my thing. I pitched in that idea and have been working all month on perfecting that,” Theresa asked, frustrated.
“Well, after the past three incidents in less than a month I thought it best for you and the team if you didn’t do it. I mean, you just suffered a concussion. The last thing you need is to fall again,” she responded.
“You can’t do this!” she cried. “Who’s going to take my place?! No other girl in our team besides you, Christina, and me know how to do it and at this time, it’s too late to replace me.”
“Stacy is taking your place.”
“What?!” she exclaimed and glared at Stacy who was already getting prepared to learn the stunt. “Caitlyn, please!” she begged. “I doubt she can perfect it by the Thanksgiving parade.”
“Let me think about it.”
“Really?!”
“No.” Caitlyn spun around and walked toward Stacy. “Good job! No one has ever picked up on this so fast. You’re a natural!”

“Here you go, sweetie,” Derek said, handing a little girl her strawberry frozen yogurt with fruity pebbles sprinkled on top.
“Thank you,” the little girl said with a lisp and flashed a wide toothy smile before she skipped away to her mother.
“That was adorable,” Alexis said, smiling.
“Oh, hey! What’re you doing here?”
“Just wanted to say hi and grab a piña colada yogurt!”
“I knew you’d like that,” he said, grabbing a cup and walking over to the yogurt machine.
“So how’s your nose? You never did tell me what happened.”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” he said with fake indifference.
“But how’d it happen?” she asked, getting more and more curious every time Derek dodged the question.
Derek thought for a moment and turned to face Alexis, handing her the yogurt. “I got jumped.”
“By who?!” she asked, shocked.
“By a couple guys from my past. No big deal.”
She looked around and leaned in. “Derek, are you still in debt?” she asked.
He scoffed. “No, of course not. They were just a bunch of jerks. Anyways, do you want any toppings?” he asked, quickly changing topics.
“No, it’s fine. I have to head out anyways.”
“Where’re you off to?”
“I’m meeting Colin at the library. He wants to talk.”
Derek gulped. “About what?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me but I guess it’s important. See you tomorrow!”
He waved and forced a smile as he watched her leave the shop.

Colin sat at a table near the window. His leg bounced anxiously as he looked out, waiting for Alexis’s arrival. He thought about how he was going to tell Alexis; the right words to say.
Then he spotted Alexis turn the corner and head toward the door downstairs, opening it and walking through. He panicked, still not knowing how to put his words. He wanted to tell Alexis and felt it was the right thing to do…. Right?
“Hey!” he said, as she walked up to the chair in front of him.
“Hello,” she responded with a smile, taking a bite of frozen yogurt.
He smiled awkwardly at her and looked back at the window.
After a minute, she finally decided to break the silence. “So what did you want to talk about?”
“I want you back,” he said instantly.
Alexis stared at him, confused. “What?” she laughed.
“Alexis, I want to be with you.”
“But you and Theresa….”
“Theresa and I broke up. It wasn’t… working out. I know this is sudden but I’ve been feeling this way for a while now.”
“Colin, I can’t.”
He went silent for a moment and looked down. “It’s because of Derek, right? You still like him.”
“It’s not because of Derek. The both of us agreed we’d remain friends.”
“Then what is it?” he pressed.
“It’s…. I have to go,” she said, gathering her things.
“Don’t go,” Colin begged.
“I’m sorry, I’ll see you at school.”
“Alexis, wait!” he called after her.
“Shh!” a couple people hissed.

“I can’t believe she replaced you with Stacy,” Amy said in disgust as she helped Theresa put on her make up for the parade.
“You aren’t going to stand for this, are you?” Melanie asked, adding finishing touches on Theresa’s hair.
“What am I supposed to do?!” she asked. “Caitlyn is captain so she makes the calls. What’s done is done and it’s too late to try to regain my spot anyways.”
“Who said anything about regaining it?” Christina asked. “I have one word for you… sabotage.”
The corners of Theresa’s mouth lifted in an evil grin. “Get ready girls. This is going to be a very interesting parade,” she said and shot a glance through the mirror at Caitlyn and Stacy. “Amy! Enough! You may like your make up like this but I’m not planning on looking like a cheap two cent slut when I reign this bitch.”

“The only thing I don’t like about California is how Autumn isn’t a prominent season,” Alexis said. “Autumn is supposed to be the time of year where the leaves change colors ranging from purple to gold. Where you can wear cream colored knit hats and cute coats. Where you can go to Starbucks and order a pumpkin spice latte and not feel out of place because you live in California where Autumn just doesn’t take place.”
Derek chuckled as they waited for the parade to start. “I don’t know what to say to that. I thought you love California? Where else would you want to be?”
“I do love California but sometimes I feel like this isn’t where I fit in. I’m just excited to move to New York when I get into Juilliard. The east coast is best known for it’s Autumn season.”
“Juilliard?!”
“Is that surprising?”
“Are you a dancer? Musician? Actress?”
“Singer,” she said and smiled.
“You sing?”
She laughed. “Yes I do.”
“Throw a tune.”
“The parade is starting!” she cheered as the Newport Harbor High School band turned the corner and started playing.
Throughout the closed street, music played from the band as floats went by, inflated turkeys, dancers, banners that promoted clubs, and last but not least, the Newport Harbor cheer team.
At the very front was Caitlyn who led the team, smiling widely as she directed the team on what to do.
“Newport Harbor cheer!” the team cheered and got into position as the techno mix-up music started to play.
From the corner of Alexis’s eye she watched as Derek kept his eyes on Caitlyn. Strangely, she felt a wave of jealous roll over her. She hated the way jealousy felt because it showed that it’s possible for other people to be better than her. Flipping her hair, she straightened herself, keeping her dignity and pride. She was Alexis Wilson, she reminded herself. She could do anything.
“Whoa!” Derek exclaimed, his eyes still on Caitlyn as she popped into the air by three girls.
“I’m going to grab a latte,” Alexis said, annoyed.
Derek nodded his head, his eyes still on the blonde cheerleader who smiled widely at the crowd as she bent her leg upwards.
Alexis rolled her eyes and left. She headed towards Starbucks but the sound of the crowd gasping in horror stopped her. She turned around and saw everyone trying to get a closer look of what was happening.
“My leg!” she heard a girl cry.
Alexis rushed back to the crowd. “Move!” she yelled as people got out of her way. She eventually made her way back to the front where she stood with Derek who was now on the road along huddled around Caitlyn who laid on the ground, clutching her leg.
“I think it’s broken,” she cried.
“An ambulance is on it’s way,” a policeman said.
Alexis spotted Theresa who stood off to the side along with four other girls from the team. Theresa’s face was red with anger as she made hand gestures and at one of the girls that was beneath Caitlyn when she was doing the stunt.
She couldn’t clearly hear what Theresa was saying but she was able to catch a couple names and words. With realization, she put it all together.
“Stacy not Caitlyn,” Theresa had said.

Thanksgiving. The time of year where back in the Jurassic days, a bunch of people from a place where they had cute jewelry and a bunch of people from a place with couture got together and decided to overload on carbs and calories. Yum.
But it’s also the time of year to be thankful for what you have. To be content and want nothing more to simply be surrounded with people that love you and will always be there for you no matter how screwed up, selfish, or a bitch you are. These people are your family.
Some of us like the DuPaul’s are the ideal American family. White, rich, and perfect. Although they have to spend Thanksgiving in the hospital while Caitlyn gets her leg checked, they do it as a family. They’re always there for each other and are around when needed unlike some families.
Like the Santos’s. Their maid Barbara had cooked dinner for Theresa and her sister Tamara who made the best out of what they had. The sisters sat in front of the TV watching comedy movies, laughing as they ate their dinner. Since their parents were always out and about working either on business trips or vacations, they were the only family they had. Including Barbara who had been with them since birth. Even though they weren’t the perfect family, they made the best of what they had. Fortunate for them, they weren’t the ones who had it worst.
Ryan Washington cooked himself dinner for one in his quiet home. This was his first Thanksgiving on his own and coming from a family that was all about family and from the South where everyone was close knit, he felt absolutely lonely. Throughout dinner, he kept his phone near him waiting for a phone call from any family member but the phone hadn’t rung once.
Then there was the Wilson’s. It wasn’t a surprise that they would have a large family gathering where everyone was all together under one roof from great uncles to cousins. The superior family kept their heads held high even as they ate their dinner. This façade had been put on long enough that they had all begun to believe that they really were happy but that didn’t stop the Wilson parents from knowing the truth. That their family was shattered.
Shattered or not, the De Luca’s knew exactly how to be thankful for what they had. It was a lesson well learned that summer and they would make sure that they would never slip again. Even though their past haunted the family immensely, they all decided to put the past in the past and be happy with how things were now. They were all together alive, healthy, and since summer, filthy rich.
What am I thankful for, you may ask? I’m thankful for the people who shaped me into what I am today. The people that molded me and taught me lessons in life. Never take anything from anyone and when life calls for it, be the bitch.