The Devil's Pawn

The alarm clock startled me awake. I forced my eyes open, sitting straight up. The sun seemed in gently from the window.

I glanced at the clock next to me.

6:45.

“Crap!” I hissed, fumbling out of bed. How had I overslept? I must’ve hit snooze at least
twice to get this late into the morning.

I groaned, opening my closet and grabbing a pair of khaki pants. I pulled out a purple
crew neck shirt, slipping it on overtop the tank top I had worn to sleep. I slipped the pants on,
catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

Today was definitely not going to be a good hair day.

I pulled back the ends, pinning them with hopes of making it look semi decent. I fluffed
my hair, giving myself a once over before rushing off to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

I would have to skip breakfast today.

I spat out the toothpaste, opening a bottle of mouthwash. I pulled my phone out of my
pocket as a swished the wash around, glancing at the time.

6:57.

I spat the mouthwash out, cleaning off my mouth with the back of the hand towel.

I was so late!

I grabbed my backpack, slipping on flats. Mom stood in the living room, watching me
with a cup of coffee in her hands. I groaned, realizing I had forgotten my glasses upstairs.

I raced back up the stairs, grabbing them quickly.

“Did you wake up late?” Mom asked.

“Yes.” I said, trying not to let my annoyance at her question show through. Why else
would I have been rushing to get ready?

“Hurry up before you miss the bus.” She advised.

I bit my tongue to keep myself from responding.

I scrambled out the door, walking quickly up to the corner. The few people that normally
stood there were already there.

The warm wind blew my hair, making me realize the khaki pants were a bad idea. I was
definitely going to get too hot.

“Taylor!” A deep voice called.

I froze in my tracks, a trickle of worry running down my spine. I had entirely forgotten that
Trenton was going to give me a ride to school.

No, I simply had to pretend I didn’t hear him. Maybe he’d get the message and go away.
I moved forward briskly towards the bus stop.

I arrived at the bus stop with a few minutes to spare. I sighed, taking in a deep breath. It
still seemed crazy that I had awakened so late.

“Forget something?” Trenton called from behind me. I bit my lip, annoyed, turning
around to face him.

He leaned against his car, an eyebrow raised.

“Oh, hey Trenton.” I smiled innocently, giving a slight wave.

His eyes scanned my body disapprovingly. I bit my lip, looking away from him.

“Get in the car.” He said, moving away so that I had clear access to the passenger door.

“No thank you.” I said politely while trying to be stern, “I’ll take the bus.”

“Taylor, get in the car.” Trenton snapped. “I’ll cause a scene.”

My heart pounded in fear, “Fine! I’m coming.”

He smirked, watching me walk towards his car. I opened the passenger door roughly,
getting in. Trenton closed the door mockingly for me, walking around to the driver’s side. I
glanced out the window at the kids at the bus stop.

None of them dared look this way.

Trenton slammed his door shut, pulling the car around the corner.

It was silent for a few minutes before I decided to break it.

“Good morning.” I said as cheerfully as I could muster with my annoyance mixed in.

“Morning.” Trenton grunted.

I sighed, looking out the window.

Trenton pulled to a red light, his head turned my way. I looked at him, taking in his
appearance. His hair still didn’t seem as if it was brushed, the black ends poking out
randomly. The edges of his purple gauges peaked out from underneath the darkness, a
nice contrast in color. He wore blue basket ball shorts with a gray t-shirt with the sleeves
ripped off. A hemp necklace was tied tightly around his neck, a small glass bead hanging
from it. Some abstract shape was inside of it, but I couldn’t make out what.

It appeared that he had dressed for the weather.

“What are you wearing?” He asked in disgust.

I looked down at my outfit, blushing slightly, “Clothes?”

He rolled his eyes “You look like a cock block.”

“A what?”

“Cock block?” Trenton asked “You know what? Forget it. What size are you?”

“I-I don’t believe that’s any of your b-business” I stuttered, embarrassed.

Trenton pulled out his phone, “Fine then I’m going to have to guess.”

“W-what are you talking about?!”

He ignored me, the phone pressed against the ear closest to me. In the silence of the
car, I could make out faint rings coming from it.

“Hey, Erica, it’s Trent.” He said. I could hear Erica’s high pitched voice talking in between
Trenton as he spoke. “Yeah, I need a favor. I’m taking Tay to school and well…”

He looked over at me in disgust.

I felt my face heat up as I looked away, averting his eyes. Why did he need to tell Erica
about this? She was already judging of me.

“Look, just bring something for her to wear. She’s in tan pants and a purple shirt.”

Erica spoke for a minute. Trenton leaned over as we stopped at another red light,
looking at my shoes.

“I don’t know, they’re black, but they’re not sneakers.” There was a pause. “Yeah, sort
of.”

There was a longer pause before Trenton spoke again.

“Alright, see you. Thanks, bye.” He closed the phone, stuffing it back in his pocket.

“Can I ask what that just was?” I asked

He smirked at me, “Nope.”

I sighed, rolling my eyes, “You can be really annoying a lot.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“Don’t be proud of it!”

He laughed, pulling into the school parking lot. Trenton drove around the back,
searching for a spot. I pointed out a few, which Trenton ignored.

He found one in the last spot of the row we were in. I groaned at the long walk we had to
take to get into the school.

“Why couldn’t you have picked one of the closer spots?” I groaned, getting out of the car.
I grabbed my bag, slinging it over my shoulder.

Trenton smirked “I want to make you walk the farthest.”

“You’re such a jerk.”

“Jerk?” He laughed, “Is that really the worst you have?”

“How about arrogant, rude, annoying, pest!” I hissed.

Trenton wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me against him. “Pest? Jeesh,
Sweet Cheeks, you’re so innocent.”

“Please don’t call me that.” I grumbled, crossing my arms and pulling away from him
“It’s degrading and annoying.”

“Sweet Cheeks?” Trenton smirked, “I have no intention of giving that up any time soon,
Tay.”

“It’s Taylor.” I corrected

“I know.”

I sighed, walking silently next to him. Trenton didn’t start any more conversation
between us, letting the silence fill us as we walked. The wind picked up a little, giving off a
slight breeze. I was thankful for that for the pants were beginning to get a little hot.

And to think it was only morning.

We arrived at the doors a few minutes later.

An annoyed Erica stood there with a duffle bag stuffed with something. Her eyes
scanned me over, growing disgust to her evident annoyed face. She met Trenton’s eyes with
a raised eyebrow.

“I didn’t realize you weren’t exaggerating.” She said

“What?” I asked confused.

Erica met my eyes “You’re outfit. Come here Thompson, we need to have a little chat.”

She turned around, leading the way into the building. I glanced back briefly at Trenton,
but he was distracted by something else. I turned back to Erica, following her down the
hallways.

She led us into a bathroom.

Erica set the duffle bag on the counter of the sink, pulling things out. “Alright Taylor,
because you look like shit, and me being my wonderful self, you’re going to borrow some of
my clothes so you don’t look so… pathetic.”

“Do I really look that bad?” I frowned, glancing down at my outfit.

“Yup.” She said not looking at me. She pulled the last of the clothing out, shoving it into
my arms. “Go into the stall and change. I want your old clothes in this bag in three minutes.”

My eyes widened, but nonetheless I did what she said.

Locking the stall behind me, I pulled my purple shirt over my head, replacing it with a
black tank top. I tugged it down, not liking how low cut the neckline was. I pulled it up a little
to a more appropriate level.

I slipped out of my pants, thankful that whatever Erica had packed was going to be
cooler to wear. I wouldn’t be so sweaty in them.

I put my legs through the whole, realizing she had packed in a skirt for me. I pulled it up
my legs, buttoning it lower than I would normally have liked. It was fairly short, much shorter
than I was used to. I was sure it broke all school dress codes.

I tugged down on the skirt, trying to lower it to at least mid thigh. It was a jean skirt that
was incredibly tight around the legs, but surprisingly fit well enough for me.

I reached down for my clothes, realizing that I couldn’t do this in the hallway or people
would get a clear vision of something that was supposed to be kept hidden.

“Erica… I don’t know if I can wear this.” I bit my lip, not entirely comfortable in it.

“Just do it.” She snapped.

I knew better than to get on her bad side.

I unlocked the stall, walking out hesitantly. She took my clothes from my hand, eyes
scanning my body.

Erica walked over, tugging the end of my shirt. The neck line lowered back to the
obnoxiously low position it had been previously.

“This shirt is designed to flash some cleavage.” She mumbled, taking the pins out of my
hair. She ran her fingers through it, messing around with it again.

“I think the skirt’s too small…”

Her eyes lowered to the skirt, examining it “Nah, it fits.”

“No, it’s too short.”

“It’s meant for that.”

I bit my lip. “I don’t really wear this kind of clothing…”

“There’s a first for everything.” She stood back, taking me in. “Have you ever put eyeliner
on? Cause you’re about to.”

~*~

This had to be the worst day. I felt foolish, embarrassed, and undignified. Everywhere I
walked, I felt like the skirt was riding up. I was constantly tugging it down to cover my butt. I
found that people were looking at my judgingly. I refused to meet their eyes, not comfortable
in the new look I was strutting.

Elizabeth made no comment when she saw me, but it was clear she didn’t like the new
look. I wasn’t going to tell her that Erica had convince-forced-me to do this. She didn’t like
Erica and she would definitely have some rude comments about her that I didn’t care for.

I kept my books clutched tightly to my chest, leaving my Calc room. I hurried off to my
locker, my attention focused on the ground before me.

Elizabeth met me in the lunch line at the cafeteria, biting her lip.

“Hey Elizabeth.” I said, grabbed a tray as the line slowly progressed.

“Taylor…” Her eyes moved down my body, taking in my new appearance “Why are you
dressed like that?”

“I was wondering when you’d ask…” I sighed, “It’s ah… a new look.”

I was absolutely not going to tell her where I actually got it from.

Elizabeth made a face, “I don’t like it.”

“It’s… a little uncomfortable” I bit my lip, loading my tray with a salad.

She shrugged, “Listen, so I’m sitting with Brett again today.”

“Elizabeth—”

“Hold on,” She cut me off, laughing “He said it was cool for you to sit with us too.”

“That’s not what I was going to…” I trailed off. She wasn’t listening.

“So are you going to sit with me and Brett?” Elizabeth asked, “I mean, it’s better than
sitting at the other table alone right?”

“Well actually—”

“Uh, hello.” Erica’s hand gripped Elizabeth’s shoulder tightly, grabbing our attention.
She forced a smile on, “Taylor’s sitting with me today.”

Elizabeth glanced at me “Are you really?”

“I—”

“Yeah she is, Princess.” Erica’s smile disappeared. She removed her hand from
Elizabeth’s shoulder, wrapping it around my shoulders. “So why don’t you run off and go play
with your calculator or something.”

“Excuse me?” Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed.

“It’s ok, Elizabeth.” I said, trying to be the mediator “I sat with Erica yesterday. You can go
sit with Brett today, it’s fine. I promise!”

Elizabeth met my eyes, “Are you sure?”

“She’s sure.” Erica answered for me. “Come on, Tay.”

Erica grabbed my wrist, pulling me out of line. My eyes widened, “But I have to pay!”

She smirked at me, “You can later. Let’s go.”

She gave a slight tug, leading me in the direction back to the table. I led her drag me
there with my stolen food.

Suddenly, I didn’t feel like eating any more.

We were the only ones at the table once again, but a few backpacks rested on the
seats. Erica took up the spot she had from yesterday, letting me sit across from her.

I hoped that I wouldn’t be the only one again.

She grabbed one of my cucumbers, plopping it in her mouth. “Aren’t you glad that I gave
you clothes to wear?”

I bit my lip, “I guess… I just wish they were a little less revealing.”

She rolled her eyes, “You’re such a goody-two shoes.”

I felt my face flush “I-I’m sorry?”

“Don’t be.”

“Hey, Erica” I said cautiously, “I’m going to need to change back into my other clothes
before I go home. This was nice, but my mother would kill me if she saw me like this.”

She nodded, “Good because I don’t want you keeping my skirt. I like that one.”

“Hey girls” Trenton said, coming up behind me. I turned my head, watching as he took a
seat next to me.

“Hey Trenton.” Erica said, “Where are the other two?”

He shrugged, taking one of my carrots “Hell if I know.”

“We still on for tonight?” She asked.

Trenton smirked, “Of course. Tay, you’re still going.”

“W-what?” My eyes widened, “I never asked my mother though!”

“Ask her when you get home?” Erica said as if it was the most obvious answer in the
world.

“I—”

“Finally!” Erica said, ignoring me. She looked away from me at the two boys now
approaching the table with food. As the boys got comfortable, I felt Trenton’s arm snake it’s
way around my waist. I bit my lip, stiffening up.

He pulled me closer to him, whispering in my ear “You’re going tonight whether I have to
drag you or not. Be ready at 6:30. I’ll call you then. Got it?”

I bit my lip, “Alright…”

Trenton grinned, removing his hand. I relaxed, letting out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d
been holding. He rolled his eyes, keeping our bodies close together.

“Oh and Taylor?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re definitely wearing skirts more often.”

I groaned.