The Devil's Pawn

“Taylor!”

“Psst, Taylor!”

“Get your ass up, Taylor!”

Something hard hit my head, “Taylor! Wake up!”

I groaned softly, pushing my upper body up. My eyes struggled to open as I
mumbled something incoherent to the owner of the annoying voice. Whoever it was had
waked me up, and it was far too early on a school night for that.

“What do you want?” I groaned.

“Get up!” The female voice hissed once more.

I stumbled out of bed, rubbing my eyes. Slowly, I pried them open enough to glance
at the alarm clock next to my bed.

2:13 in the morning.

“Erica?” I asked, standing by my window. Her head poked above it. Her fingers were
curled around the edge tightly.

“Yeah, pull me in!”

Quickly, I forced myself to fully wake up, opening the window more. I grabbed her
upper arms, tugging her in. She stumbled onto my desk sloppily. A few papers slid to the
floor, but the noise level was kept to a minimum.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered, now fully awake.

Erica straightened up, climbing off of my desk. She adjusted her clothing and fixed
her hair quickly. She was wearing the same clothes she would wear to school. Shorts and a
tank top. I stood in my PJ’s, feeling ridiculous.

“Get dressed in regular clothing.”

“What? Why?”

“We’re going dress shopping.”

“It’s 2 in the morning!”

“So? I know a place.”

“I don’t even know if I’m going to prom!” While my voice was hushed, my words
were coming out frantically.

“You are.”

I shook my head, rubbing my eyes. Erica moved over to my closet, opening the door
slowly to keep the noise level to a minimum. She began to ruffle through it.

“You can’t be here, Erica.” I said softly, “It’s two in the morning, and I’m still in
trouble. I don’t mean to be rude but…”

“As soon as you get changed, we’ll be leaving.”

“‘We’?”

She tossed me a shirt and shorts. “Put those on.”

I quickly obeyed, slipping my PJ’s off and exchanging them for the clothes she had
picked out, “How long will we be out? We have school tomorrow…”

“Relax. We’ll be gone an hour tops.”
“An hour?!”

She nodded. “Can we leave from your front door, or do I have to find a way to
maneuver us back down your house?”

I had long since learned that Erica always got her way. With a reluctant sigh, I
closed my window, walking towards my downstairs. A finger to the lips gave her the
message of silence. She nodded, standing on tip-toes.

Fear and rebellion pulsed through my system as we swiftly moved down the stairs.
I grabbed a set of keys silently out of my mother’s wallet, turning her phone on silent. Erica
motioned towards the door, opening it.

We were careful to close it slowly to minimize the noise level. I slipped the key into
the hole, locking it behind me.

Erica’s car was parked against my curb. We moved through the grass to shorten
the distance. Across the road, I could see Trenton’s house sitting dark in the night. I bit my
lip. Temptation coursed through me to give him a little visit.

Erica started up her car.

I slipped into the passenger seat, barely buckled when she pulled away from the
curb, heading down my street.

I sighed, leaning back in the seat. Sleep rolled over me. I struggled to keep myself
awake. “What is going to be open at two in the morning?”
Erica took a hand off of the wheel, “My aunt’s friend runs a dress shop. I asked her if
we could just take a look.”

“Who would let two teenagers obviously in school into a shop at two in the
morning?”

Erica smirked, “My aunt’s friend has a son two years younger than us. I may have
made a deal with him to do this. You so owe me, Taylor.”

I raised an eyebrow, “She doesn’t know we’re going to be in there?!”

“It’s fine. She knows me well enough.”

“But she doesn’t know me!”

“Relax.” Erica laughed “You worry too much, Taylor. You need to just… let me
handle this, alright?”

I sighed, rubbing my eyes, “Alright. But only an hour tops. We both have school
tomorrow and it’s going to be hell.”

“Ditch with me.”

“You didn’t go yesterday!”

“What’s your point?”

“Erica!”

She giggled, shaking her head, “I didn’t go yesterday because I was doing you a
favor. That, and I figured you and Trenton would like some alone time.”

My face lit up slightly as I looked out the window without responding.

Erica turned the radio on with a smug smirk. She lowered the windows slightly, but
kept the music volume quiet. It seemed neither of us wanted loud noises at the moment.

She drove us into the capital, which was roughly ten minutes away. I found myself
forcing my eyes awake. Erica seemed unfazed by slumber. The streets were bare as we
drove slowly down the road. She turned down a few blocks before pulling off to the curb in
front of a small shop.

A boy stood outside of it. His head was tilted down, concealed by a hood. His hands
were tucked into his pockets.

It was a very suspicious scene.

Erica turned the engine off and climbed out of the car. I followed quickly,
straightening the edge of my shirt. The wind blew slightly, playing with my hair. I tucked a few strands behind my ear as we walked over to where the boy stood.

“Erica.” He said. He looked up slightly. His eyes were hidden by dark sunglasses.
Quickly, he held out an outstretched hand. Erica collected whatever was in it, leaning over to
kiss his cheek. He cleared his throat.

“Shut up, Tony. I already fulfilled my half of the deal.” She rolled her eyes moving
around. Erica curled her fingers around my wrist tightly as she moved, taking me with her. I caught one last lingering look at the boy before we disappeared around the side of the building.

“Don’t talk to Tony.” She said. Erica pulled out a silvery key, slipping it into the knob
of a door on the side of the building. “He tries to fuck anything that moves. Sweet kid, but
really annoying after a while.”

I frowned, “I wouldn’t let him—”

“Just don’t talk to him.” She opened the door, walking in a flipping on a light switch,
“Close the door behind you.”

I obeyed quietly.

The lights only lit up the back part of the shop. I couldn’t see the windows of the
front from here. All around us, dresses hung from racks packed together. My eyes moved
slowly around the room, taking in the number of different colors everywhere. In the center of
the room stood a platform raised roughly half a foot off of the ground. In every open space, a
mirror was placed on the wall providing nearly a complete view of myself.

“Here.” Erica had already grabbed a dress off of the rack, handing it over to me. I
took it into my arms, looking at her confused.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Change into it.”

“Where?”

“Here. We’re both girls.” She shrugged casually. “You just changed in front of me
earlier, I don’t see what the big deal was.”

I bit my lip, shaking my head softly. I stripped off my clothes, slipping into the dress,
“How do you know what size I am anyways?”

“We’re about the same size. I’m going off of that.” She said, preoccupied by a row of
dresses in my right.

I nodded, “Alright. How’s this?”

She turned around, eyes moving down. I stepped in front of a mirror. The dress was
pink and strapless. It clung to my upper torso tightly, flowing out in gentle layers at the
bottom. The edges brushed the bottom of the ground. A floral look patterned the waist of the
dress neatly. I tugged the top up a bit to keep myself covered.

Erica pursed her lips, “It’s not bad, but I’m sure we can do better. I need you to strip
and try this one on.”

I obliged, trading the pink for a light blue one. The new dress was much more
revealing than the previous one had been. It was strapless once more with a silver ribbon
running just underneath the breasts. In the front, the edge of the dress stopped around mid
thighs, ruffling out. It trailed out longer in the back, flowing to around mid-calf. Ruffles flowed
from the bottom half of the dress, giving it a Spanish feel to it.

“I don’t like this one.” I made a face, quickly pulling it off of me.

She sighed, tossing me another one to wear.

As the hour progressed, we managed to go through six more different dresses. Any
that I liked, Erica found a flaw in it. Any that she liked were too uncomfortable for me to wear
to prom. I knew that whatever she approved of, so would Trenton, but I wanted to feel
beautiful myself. It was evident as we moved through the morning that Erica was growing
frustrated with me.

I tried on an array of different colored dresses. I must’ve touched every color of the
rainbow by the end of it. Some dresses had ruffles; some accentuated every curve of my
body. Some dresses had no back while others revealed almost skin aside from sleeves.

“How about this one?” I asked close to three, stepping in front of the mirror.

Sleep must’ve overcome both of us because after a few seconds of studying me,
forcing me to spin in my spot and model for her, Erica nodded tiredly. She was slumped against the wall now, rubbing her eyes to stay open.

“Looks pretty good. I still like the green one earlier, but this isn’t bad at all.” She

yawned slightly as she spoke.

I stepped in front of the mirror, admiring myself.

The dress was a deep purple with a sequined halter top holding it up. The thin
straps led down to a strip of purple fabric that covered my breasts. The fabric holed slightly
underneath to expose skin on the sides, forming diamond shapes on the side.

A sequined belt to match the halter enclosed on my torso then, fitting the dress
tightly to me. The bottom flowed out evenly around my legs. A long slit was cut up the side
that exposed my right leg to the world. The slit stopped only a few inches above my panties.

The dress didn’t reveal much, but I felt promiscuous wearing it.

I smiled, modeling in front of the mirror, “I really like this one. How much is it,
Erica?”

“Price?” She asked, “Don’t worry about it. Friend discount.”

I frowned slightly, still admiring my presence in the mirror, “I can’t let you pay for
something like this. It’s got to be ridiculously expensive. I don’t want to do that to you.”

“Relax.” Erica stood up walking behind me. “You look great in that. And it’s the only
one we’ve both agreed on enough. You’re getting it.”

“At least let me pay half…”

She shook her head, tossing me my shorts.

I sighed, getting out of the dress reluctantly. I wanted the dress desperately, but I
wasn’t an idiot. I knew that the prices of nice clothing would be incredibly expensive. In a
small shop like this one, the prices of the dresses would increase more than they would
had I gone to a department store. Even if Erica had relations to the owner of the store, I
couldn’t take the dress for free.

I owed her something.

Erica put the dress into a dry cleaning bag, folding it over an arm. She reached into
her pocket, pulling out the silver key. I walked out first, waiting in the alley way for her to lock
up. She turned the lights off before she left.

As we headed back to the car, I took the dress from her gratefully.

The boy from before Tony leaned against Erica’s car now. He was in the same
position from when I had first seen him. He held out a hand expectantly.

Erica dropped the silver key into his palm.

Tony grabbed her wrist, pulling her against him. He smirked, his eyes still
concealed by the dark sunglasses.

“Tony, get off.” Erica growled, pushing against his chest.

“Don’t a get a little something for helping you out?” He asked playfully, his hand wrapping around her waist.

He seemed oblivious to my standing there.

“No. I gave you that last night. Get your hand off.” Erica growled, ripping it away. She
pulled back, straightening herself.

I raised an eyebrow curiously.

“Don’t say anything.” She hissed, unlocking her car.

“I wasn’t going to.” I held back a smile as I set the dress into the backseat of her
car. Erica turned the engine on, along with the radio.

As I stepped into the passenger seat of the car, I glanced back at the boy Tony
briefly. He smirked at me.

I hurried into the car.

“What did you mean by ‘I gave you that la—’”

“Didn’t I say not to say anything?”

I laughed, “I’m asking a question.”

“What’s your point?”

“Did you… uh… Did you two…”

She glanced over at me briefly, giving me an exasperated look, “Yes. We did. It’s
like I said, he tries to fuck anything that moves. I figured that he wouldn’t mind doing a little
deal with me in that case.”

“You slept with him so that I could get a prom dress?!” I asked, shocked. I wasn’t
sure whether to be thankful she did that or disgusted.

She shrugged.

“That’s not a yes or a no.”

“Yes, I did.”

I blinked, silent for a moment.

“Thanks.” I mumbled after a few seconds. It couldn’t hurt to thank her for what she
did for me tonight.

She giggled slightly as we drove down the empty street. Once again, we were the
only car on the road, “It’s not a problem. He wasn’t that bad, really.”

I made a face, “You can keep that fact to yourself.”

She giggled.

The ride back home was a quiet one. Erica turned the radio back on, allowing the
music to fill the silence. She left the windows cracked. The air rushed in, blowing my hair
gently in the wind. I pulled most of it off to the side, trying to stop it.

She pulled off to my curb in front of my house quietly. I glanced hesitantly into the
windows noting how nothing was lit up.

Hopefully that meant my mother hadn’t discovered my absence.

“Thanks for tonight.” I smiled, reaching over and giving her a hug before I left the
car. Erica returned the hug.

“It was my pleasure.”

“Can I ask that you keep the dress until Prom night?”

She smiled slightly, clearly weighed down by slumber, “I was assuming that I was
going to have to do that. Your mom would kill you if she found a fancy dress in your closet.”

I smiled weakly, “She really would. I hope she’s still asleep.”

Erica raised her eyebrows, “For your sake, so do I.”

“Alright.” I rested a hand on the handle of the door, “If I don’t show up to school
tomorrow, she wasn’t asleep.”

Erica laughed, pushing my shoulder playfully. “I’m sure she’s still asleep. There
wasn’t anything to wake her up, was there?”

I shrugged, “Knowing my luck, there was.”

She rolled her eyes.

Quietly, I opened the car door, stepping out. I closed the door as soundlessly as
possible, making my way through the lawn. Paranoia flooded through me as my heartbeat
sped up the closer I got to the house.

Erica’s car pulled away from the curb once I was at the door.

Quickly, I pulled my key out, unlocking the door. I cracked it open, forcing myself into
the smallest space possible.

As soon as I collapsed on my bed in a tired heap of exhaustion, I realized I had
gotten away with sneaking out at night.

A smile lit up my face before I fell asleep.

**************