The Ugly Truth

The minute my mom dropped me off, a few blocks away from Caroline’s house, of course, my stomach did a huge flop.

I was nervous, for some reason. It felt like I was going to an SAT instead of a party. Parties are supposed to be fun. But why did I feel so anxious?

Loud music came from within the house, slightly droned by the walls but audible nonetheless. There were some people randomly hanging out on the immense front lawn, most with red plastic cups in their hands.

I walked up the extended path up to Caroline’s house as quickly as I could. People stared at me as I passed but I just concentrated on moving forward.

Her house was amazing. I knew she was well-off, but not that much. She really did have everything a girl could want.

I considered ringing the bell, because it just felt wrong trudging into someone’s house like that, but I realized I’d look like an idiot.

It was a jungle in there. The majority of the people there were standing around, slightly swaying to the music, drinking and chatting with a few people. Of course, there were also the crazy dancers, the wallflowers, the wild guys who eventually broke a vase…

I didn’t know what to do. Where in all this did I belong? I just stood in a corner, pretending to be looking at something on my phone, till Caroline rescued me from my dilemma.

“Lindsay! You came!” she exclaimed, enveloping me in a tight hug.

She looked wonderful. Her blonde hair was perfectly straight, which made me wish I hadn’t just left mine wavy. A strapless navy minidress showed off her petite figure, and she wore a pair of sky high heels that matched perfectly.

“Come up to my room and leave your bag, if you want.”

I followed her through the thick crowd and climbed a good set of stairs until we finally reached the door to her room. She pulled out a key.

“Just in case, I always keep my room locked. You never know how out of control the party’s going to get, right?” she smiled.

“Right…”

“You can just leave it on my bed or something.”

I walked into her room, amazed at how big it was. My whole house probably fit in her bedroom.

“You know what?” she asked, plopping down on her pink bedspread and patting the spot next to her.

I approached her and gently sat down, so as to not disrupt the perfection of the room. She put an arm around me and smiled.

“What?”

“Do you remember not too long ago you and your little friend Riley kind of, I don’t know, mocked me at your house?”

Suddenly her voice nor her eyes were as soft and kind as before.

“Hey, Caroline, I’m-”

“Save it. I’m sure you remember that I said I would get revenge.”

What was happening? Suddenly the pleasant blonde girl had disappeared and in her place was a ravenous monster, ready to devour poor little me.

“I thought you had changed your mind and that we were finally getting along,” I tried innocently.

Caroline laughed in a cruel and harsh way.

“And you really believed that? You thought that after all these years I would be nice to you just because? Lindsay, you really are even more naïve than I could have ever thought.”

I just stared at her, dumbstruck. My whole body was frozen. What are you supposed to do in a situation like that?

“Now,” she continued, gripping my shoulder tighter, “let’s talk about what you’re going to do.”

“What I’m going to do?”

“Yes. I’m going to give you a series of things I want you to do. And you’re going to do them.”

“Why should I do them?”

“Because,” she said, smiling slowly, “I have something that could destroy you. Don’t you remember that day in the mall?”

Oh, no.

“Well, I conveniently have a picture of you in your underwear. You wouldn’t want that going around, now would you?”

OH, NO. This was worse than any horrible nightmare I could have had. These type of things didn’t happen in real life. They were supposed to only happen in movies and I was supposed to be one of the people laughing in the audience, not the despaired protagonist.

“But, how-”

“It doesn’t matter how I have it. I just do. And, let me tell you you are definitely not at your best, but then again, I don’t think you have a best.”

I stood up, releasing myself from her grasp.

“Where do you think you’re going? You have to do exactly as I say, remember?”

This was going to be hell. I was officially Caroline’s slave.

“Now, go back to the party and have fun. I’ll tell you your task soon enough.”

Before returning downstairs, I grabbed my purse from her bed. No way was I trusting her even just a little.

Caroline smirked and waved at me as I stomped out of her room.

She had sworn she’d get her revenge, and she was getting it alright.