The Devil's Pawn

I walked into Spanish, the last class of the day. I tugged at the bottom of my skirt uselessly, biting my lip as I took a seat in my normal spot.

Trenton walked in after me, meeting my eyes with a smirk.

“Hola Senorita” He said, taking a seat behind me once again.

“Hola.” I replied quietly.

He raised an eyebrow in surprise, leaning back slightly. “La falda me gusta.” [I like the
skirt]

“Sé que” [I know]

“Beunas tardes!” [good afternoon] the teacher said, grabbing our attention. She spoke in
Spanish quickly, talking about an upcoming test we should begin to study for. I felt my
attention slip away from the teacher as I felt my hair being tugged ever so slightly.

I leaned forward slightly, my hair falling out of Trenton’s fingers. I tried to focus on what
she was saying.

“Buscar un socio, y completer eldocumento” [Find a partner and complete the paper]
She instructed. As soon as I got a paper, I stood up, my eyes scanning the room for anyone
else to work with. I made eye contact with the girl in my first period class.

Trenton grabbed the back of my shirt, pulling me back to my seat. “Not so fast, Sweet
Cheeks. You’re my partner.”

“Trenton, stop!” I hissed at him, tugging out of his grip. He raised an eyebrow, surprised.
“This is quite annoying! Could you just let me work with someone else?”

“Go ahead.” He said “Take a pick at your other options.”

I shot him a confused look, glancing around at the others in my class. My smile fell as I
realized that all the potential people I could work with had paired up with someone else.

I turned back to Trenton, avoiding his eyes.

He smirked, sitting upright on the desk. “Cuál es la respuesta al primer problema?”
[what is the answer to the first problem?]

“Encuentra la respuesta por ti mismo” [find the answer yourself] I snapped at him,
scribbling down my answers on the work sheet.

Trenton peered over my shoulder, copying down my work. “Could you move your hand a
little to the left? Can’t see the rest.”

I shot him a look, “En español!” [In Spanish!]

He smirked, “No gracias” [No thank you]

I shot him a look.

“Now if you could move your hand…” He pushed my arm away, finishing the rest of
problem one. I sighed, realizing that this was pointless. He was going to continue to cheat
no matter how much I didn’t want him to.

He wouldn’t learn this way.

Nonetheless, I moved so that he could see more clearly, finishing the worksheet in no
time. Trenton continued to copy off of me, completely his messy paper only a few minutes
after me.

“Gracias.” He smirked, standing up to turn it in. He took mine off of my desk, dropping it
onto the teacher’s desk. She looked up, clearly surprised at how quickly Trenton had
finished. She glanced over to me and the confusion seemed to dissipate.

I was one of her top students.

Trenton walked back, sitting down. I sat sideways, watching him curiously.

“Erica told me how you have to change before you get home.” He said, drawing on the
desk with his pencil.

“That’s vandalism.” I mumbled.

“So?” He asked, not caring in the slightest.

I sighed, dropping the topic.

“This is what’s going to happen.” He said “You, me, Erica, and the boys are going to er..
the ‘bowling alley’ after this. You’re going to call your mom and tell her you’re staying at
Erica’s house.”

“My mother would never let me do that.” I said

“And why not?”

“She says I need two days warning if I’m going to do anything like that.” I said, feeling my
face heat up.

Trenton rolled his eyes, “Yeah, whatever. If Erica needs to talk to your mom, she will. But
you’re going.”

“And what am I doing afterwards?”

He shrugged, “You can just crash at mine.”

My eyes widened, face flushing “Uh… N-no thanks.”

“What? Never stayed at a dude’s house before?”

“It-it’s not that..”

“Then what’s with the red face, Sweet Cheeks?”

“I’m not staying at your house over night!”

“Then you can stay at Erica’s. I really don’t give two shits what you do.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but was interrupted when Trenton clamped his
hand over my lips. He laughed,

“Just stop, Tay, it’s all been arranged. All you have to do is follow the script.”

~*~

“Hey Mom, it’s Taylor.” I said weakly into the phone. I was in the car, squeezed between
Tanner and Fits. Erica sat in the passenger seat of Trenton’s car, fixing her make-up in the
mirror. She kept one eye on me as I spoke.

It was deadly silent.

“Hey Taylor, what did you call for?” Mom asked, sound slightly stressed.

“Uhh..” I swallowed, breathing in deeply “I know I’m not supposed to ask last minute, but
my friend Erica wants me to stay over at her house tonight. Can I?”

“Of course not. You know my rule, two day warning.”

“I know, and I’m sorry.” I apologized.

“Taylor…”

“Would you like to talk to her?” I asked, noticing how Erica held her hand out for the
phone.

“Sure. What did you say her name was again?” Mom asked. I could tell she wasn’t in the
mood to deal with a highschooler today though.

“Erica.”

“Put her on.”

I handed the phone over to Erica.

“Hello, Mrs. Thompson!” Erica said, sounding cheerily. She glanced at Trenton who
snickered at her voice. “I’m Erica, Taylor’s friend? I was just wondering if she could stay the
night. We have a project that was assigned today and I wanted to get a head start.”

There was a pause. I could hear my mother’s voice, but was unable to make out any
words.

“No, no of course not.” Erica paused before continuing “She can borrow some of my
clothes. My mother can wash her clothes over night, if it’s needed also. We’re very close in
sizes.”

I rolled my eyes.

We definitely were not that close.

“Thank you very much” Erica said, putting extra happiness into her voice “It was
wonderful talking to you, Mrs. Thompson! Goodbye!”

She closed the phone, tossing it back to me.

“You’re good.” She said, her fake voice completely gone.

I raised my eyebrows, surprised that she managed to convince my mother so easily. I
knew I was going to be in trouble when I got home tomorrow.

“I told you it’d be easy.” Trenton said, angling the rear-view mirror so that I was in his
sight. I shot him a look, letting him know I didn’t want to hear this.

“Yeah, yeah.” I mumbled. “Why are we going to the bowling alley?”

Fits busted out into laughter as soon as I said those words. I frowned, glancing at
Tanner. He smirked at me, holding back his chuckles.

“We’re not really going to a bowling alley.” Tanner said.

I frowned, “But Trenton, you said…”

“I lied” Trenton said, enunciating on the second word.

“Then where are we really going?” I asked, growing slightly worried. These weren’t the
kind of kids I usually hung out with. I didn’t know what they had in mind for ‘fun’

I thought the bowling alley sounded pretty fun…

“We’re going to a friend’s.” Fits said.

“Who is it?”

“You don’t know him just yet.” Tanner said. I frowned, worry growing stronger.

“This isn’t like a stoner party is it?”

Erica laughed, “You’re so innocent, Taylor, I swear it’s the funniest thing.”

My eyes widened “It’s not… right?”

“Sweet Cheeks, you’re not ready for that kind of thing. We’re just going to a small… party
for a couple of hours.”

I felt my heart drop. A party? With alcohol? That’s what they thought was fun?

I had a different opinion. Sophomore year Elizabeth and I had gone to one of the football
player’s parties after a winning game. We walked out almost as soon as we walked in. The
music was deafeningly loud, the smell of beer was overwhelming, and there were well too
many people dancing in one spot.

It was not an enjoyable event.

Trenton seemed to notice my silence, turning the radio on. He turned the volume up,
popping in a CD that Erica had handed him.

I jumped when the music began, not liking the loudness.

This would not help his driving at all.

The bass was way too loud. The car vibrated as the bassist struck each chord loudly,
the drums pounding in my ear.

The singer had a deep voice and was clearly wearing it out with how hoarsely he was
speaking.

I had to admit, I was thankful he wasn’t screaming it.

Trenton pulled over on the curb outside of a house a few minutes later. Everyone piled
out, making me the last one. I closed the door behind myself, frowning.

This wasn’t anything like the memory I had of sophomore year. There were only four or
five cars parked out front and there wasn’t any screaming music.

Erica led the group into the house, not bothering to ring the doorbell. I frowned, finding
that a little bit rude of her, but followed nonetheless. Trenton stayed back slightly for me.

“This isn’t what I thought it would be…” I mumbled as we walked in.

There was music playing, similar to the kind Trenton had blaring in his car only a few
minutes before. A group of people sat around on furniture, laughing. I wrinkled my nose at
the stench.

Trenton slipped an arm around my waist, pulling me closer. “It’s not that kind of party.
This is… different.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as he led us into the living room.

Trenton sat down on a crowded couch. I bit my lip, looking for somewhere to sit. I felt an
arm wrap itself around my waist, pulling my body down.

I landed on Trenton’s lap uncomfortable, my face heating up.

Tanner wolf-whistled.

Trenton gave him the finger.

“Just in time, man.” A stranger said, walking over to us. He handed Trenton an
unlabeled can, offering me one too. I reached forward, before Trenton’s hand pulled my arm
back.

“You don’t want to take that, Sweet Cheeks.” He smirked, whispering in my ear.

My eyes widened.

Trenton chuckled, keeping one arm around my waist. He took a sip out of the can,
resting it on the arm of the couch.

“Trenton, what’s in the can?” I asked, turning around to face him.

“Some shit you wouldn’t like.” He frowned,

“Elaborate?” I prompted.

“Scotch.”

“Trenton! That’s illegal! You’re underage!”

He snorted, “You’re so full of it. Just calm down for once or I’ll force this down your
throat. Oh by the way, you’re our designated driver.”

“Is that why you forced me to come here?” I frowned, crossing my arms.

I didn’t approve of being dragged all the way over here if my only job was to drive four
drunken kids home.

“Nah.” He said, “I needed a chick.”

I gritted my teeth, growing angry quickly.

“Chill.” Trenton laughed, “You’re so tense.”

“I’m calling my mother to pick me up.” I said, trying to get off his lap. Trenton’s grip
around my waist tightened, preventing me from doing so. “Trenton, stop. I don’t want to be
here.”

“You’re never going to have any fun if that’s how you live.”

“I don’t want to drive four drunks home!”

“You’re not.” He rolled his eyes, “I was teasing you, Sweet Cheeks. It’s called a joke? I
can hold my liquor pretty well. The only drunk you have to worry about is Erica.”

She looked up at the sound of her name. “What do you want, Trent?”

“Nothing, go away.” He waved her off.

She turned her attention back to the boy in front of her.

I sighed, settling back awkwardly onto his lap. “What do we do now?”

“We drink. That’s all we came for.”

“I don’t approve of this.”

“I know.” He smirked in my ear. “Try some.”

“No thanks.”

“You need to learn to live a little.”

“No. Thanks.”

He shrugged, taking another sip. “More for me.”

I didn’t respond, crossing my arm and glaring off into space.

This was not what I had in mind of fun.