Rat Race

Briar sighed and smiled a loopy one as she leaned back against the rigid brick wall of the school. The blunt that dangled from her fingertips was almost at the end of its life and her brain cells were depleting at each huff. Briar liked the feeling. She needed it after finding out her AWOL parents would be unexpectedly gracing her with their presence.

And yet still… she felt something clawing in her gut and she sighed raggedly as she finished her smoke and readied herself to do what she had to do. She inhaled the bit of smoke left in the air and turning towards the door, she unexpectedly walked into something- someone.

She blearily looked up at the perpetrator, her sight sucky from her high. She could still tell who it was, though.

“Hey… Mrs. B…” she said to her art teacher. She frowned disapprovingly. She didn’t really like Briar that much. The bitch.

“Ms. Lombardi, shouldn’t you be in class?” Mrs. B tsked.

“Nah it’s my lunch time.” Briar smiled her classic I’m-totally-high smile. Her hand pressed against her stomach as she once again felt that feeling. It was messing with her high and she didn’t like it.

Mrs. B sniffed twice and her sharp, green eyes flickered to Briar’s under her rhinestone glasses. “Briar is that-“

Briar was getting crankier by the minute. “Excuse me, Mrs. B.” She pushed past the art teacher, her gasp barely heard, and quickly hustled into the building and on to the bathroom.

“Briar!” she heard a few minutes later, still hugging the toilet. “Briar!” the voice repeated. She heard the familiar clack of expensive heels against the bathroom floor before they stopped in front of the stall she was currently residing in. The sound of small fists pounding against the stall door suddenly filled the bathroom, the erratic beats echoing off the walls.

“Briar!” her best friend screeched. “Are you okay sweetie?” Briar only groaned, in annoyance, but Tabitha took it to mean something else. “Omigod- open this door right now or me and my peeps will bust this dirty door down and you’ll have to buy me new ones!” Briar knew she was bluffing- she would never scuff up her peep toes- but she decided to humor her anyways.

Still sitting on the floor, she scooted her butt the short way to the door and flipped the latch.
Tabitha stood there in all her mean girl glory, left hand on her hip, right hand poised perfectly at a right angle with a small black purse hanging from it.

“What are you doing on the floor?” Tabitha demanded, concern evaporating from her face.
“You do realize this is the school bathroom, right?” she looked around, disgusted.
Briar rolled her eyes and slowly stood up, towering over her friend by a half a foot. “No, I didn’t realize. Oh my… how did I get here?” she said, deadpanned, throwing her hands up. She brushed past Tabitha and went to the sink to wash her hands and rinse out her mouth. When she finished, she turned around to see Tabitha with her lips pursed and her eyes critically looking at her.

“Anyways,” she finally said, “I saw you run in here a few minutes ago. But now seeing you’re okay… I have some news!” her eyes glazed over with excitement and she clasped her hands, slowly walking towards Briar.

Briar sighed and turned back to the mirror, fluffing and lip-glossing to make sure she didn’t look like she’d just been throwing up.

“I just had a confrontation with Rosalynn Sinclair.” Tabitha went on. “She’s totally cracked, going on about how she’s richer than me.” She started pacing in an I’m-plotting-something-devious sort of way. She scoffed. “She just said that to cover up the fact that she’s a total slut. Plus, everyone knows no one is richer than Daddy.” She smiled in conviction.

Briar held back her snort, wondering if her best friend forgot her own parents’ career choices. Then she frowned and wondered what vendetta Tabitha had against Rosalynn and if she knew who she was messing with. Rosalynn was no one to mess with. Then Briar shrugged. It wasn’t her problem and she gave up trying to dig up Old Tabitha from under the entire socialite, prissy, mean girl that was New Tabitha.

So instead of telling her how ridiculous she was being and suggesting they leave the school early and travel to Briar’s mansion of a house and listen to her dad’s records- because Tabitha had a huge crush on him- Briar only smirked at her through the mirror and said sarcastically:

“I guess Rosalynn better watch out for what’s coming to her.”