Quicksand

The next day at school I was feeling quite melancholic.
My bout of homesickness hadn’t subsided and, although Demitri and Theo were doing all they could, it was the little things I missed the most. I missed walking home from school with Parker, I missed the way my house smelt and I missed eating TV dinners with my mother.
Sitting in the courtyard with Theo and Demitri’s friends wasn’t exactly comforting my homesickness, either. Crash was being loud an obnoxious, and while Theo and Kathryn were busy having their third fight of the day, Demitri was shooting me worried glances while trying to maintain a conversation with the other two boys that sat with them.
“Oh- there you are,” one of the other boys said with a smile at a beautiful, blonde girl who was rushing towards them.
“I know, I know,” she panted, out of breath. “Very late,”
“Mary-Ellen, this is Beth,” Demitri introduced as the girl herself flashed me a gorgeous smile. “Beth, you’ll like her because she’s not a rich bitch, like us,”
I shot the girl a questioning look to which she nodded.
“I’m on a scholarship,” she rolled her eyes.
I immediately warmed up to this girl. “So, you’re not rich?”
“No, I live on the other, dodgier side of town,” she smiled, running a hand through her blonde curls. “I’m only here because I’m super smart,”
“It’s true, she’s the biggest nerd here,” Demitri grinned.
“Only because I’m the only one here not inheriting a legacy when I finish school,” she joked, sitting beside me with a soft smile. “How’s it been?” she asked me, keeping her voice low so the others wouldn’t hear.
“I’ve been struggling,” I said back, under my breath.
“I understand, I do, really,” she said sympathetically. “When I first came here, I was so overwhelmed by everything, it’s quite remarkable and drastic making such a huge change,”
I nodded; finally there was somebody who understood what I was going through.
“It gets better, I promise,” she said with a smile. “Once you learn to block out all the self-righteous ingrates and focus on the people who matter,”
I let myself smile for the first time that day as Mary-Ellen linked her arm with mine. I saw Demitri and Theo exchange a glance of relief and even started to hate this place a little less.

That day I had discovered I had more classes than I knew with Mary-Ellen, whose absence yesterday was explained due to illness. She sat with me in majority of my classes and was very excited to talk to someone who knew where she was from and what it was like.
“Do you and Kathryn get along okay?” I asked softly, hoping the teacher wouldn’t notice.
Mary-Ellen gave a half-shrug. “We don’t hate each other, we pretty much stay out of each other’s way. I mean, she’s only there because of Theo and I’m only there because of Jordan,”
Jordan, I had learnt, was one of the other boys who sat in the group of friends and was also Mary-Ellen’s boyfriend. He was very skinny and had a concealed tongue piercing which I also only discovered today, although he didn’t talk much, he seemed quite friendly and also quite spiteful towards Crash, which made me like him.
“I mean, Kathryn isn’t exactly friendly,” Mary-Ellen giggled. “I could never talk to her about home, only because well, for starters I don’t think she’d care too much about my home life,”
So far, Kathryn hadn’t exactly spoken to me. I got the distinct impression that I was quite beneath her, status wise, and was therefore not in that group of “privileged” people with whom she spoke to. Based on Demitri’s reaction to her, I wasn’t too disappointed; she did seem like quite a bitch.
“Yeah, Kathryn doesn’t seem to like me too much,” I mumbled, doodling on the corner of my page.
“That’s only because she saw you as a threat when you first arrived,” Mary-Ellen scoffed. “She didn’t know you were Theo’s twin,”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” I said, sighing.
The chime of bells rang overhead signalling the end of class, I packed up my books and waited for Mary-Ellen to pack away her things. Glancing towards the door, I noticed Mary-Ellen’s boyfriend, Jordan, and Demitri leaning against the doorframe. Demitri wiggled his fingers at me and I grinned.
“What are you doing here?” I asked with a smile.
“Jordan and I just had Drama Theory,” Demitri said nudging Jordan who wrapped his arms around Mary-Ellen. “We thought we’d walk you lovely ladies to your next class,”
I smiled and noticed Mary-Ellen raise her eyebrows at Demitri and I. Jordan and Mary-Ellen lagged behind as Demitri nudged me with his hip.
“You and Melon are getting chummy,” he said with a smirk. “I’ve got to say, I’m glad you’ve found a friend,”
I gave him a hurt, confused look. “You’re not my friend?”
Demitri gave me an exasperated look. “Theo and I both agree that the ratio of male to female friends you have is quite unhealthy,”
I gave Demitri a look that questioned his sanity. “You know Parker’s gay, right? So he’s pretty much a girl,” I giggled. “Then that leaves my brother and you, and if you don’t want to be friends with me all you have to do is say-,”
I was cut off by Demitri throwing his hand over my mouth to shut me up. “Shut up, loser,”
I licked his hand so he’d remove it, while he was groaning in disgust I took the opportunity to speak. “Fine, I’ll make more girl friends,” I said with a sneer. “Although it would help if the girls here were even moderately friendly,”
“Yeah I know,” Demitri said with a sympathetic shrug. “But you’re lovely so people should warm up to you,”
I pouted in his direction and he stuck his tongue out at me, falling into step beside me. It felt good to be friends with Demitri, at first I was worried he was only my friend due to his tight-knit bond with Theo. However, the way he acted around me proved that he was quickly becoming my friend, too.
“So, Theo and I were thinking,” he said slyly. “Maybe it’d be good if Parker could visit for a weekend?”
I stopped dead in my tracks, my jaw agape. “Oh my God!” I shrieked. “Are you joking?”
Demitri looked confused at my sudden outburst. “No?”
With tears of happiness dotting my eyes, I squealed and leapt into Demitri’s arms, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck. I felt him chuckle and squeeze my waist gently before we heard whispering coming from behind us.
“Theo won’t like this one bit,” Jordan said with a smirk.
Demitri flipped him off absently, I was too excited at the thought of seeing Parker to even care.
“Thank you so much Demitri,” I breathed.
“It was Theo’s idea, after the other night,” he trailed off, referring to my mediocre tantrum.
“Still, you have no idea how much this means to me,” I beamed, practically vibrating.
“Okay love, go to class and try to pay attention,” Demitri teased as I realized we were now standing outside the door to my classroom.
I grinned and bounced into the class that I shared with Mary-Ellen once again, however this time she was super glued to Jordan’s hip.
I barely paid any attention.

Once the bell rang for lunch, I walked beside Mary-Ellen and Jordan who were making an attempt to include me in their conversation but failing. I spied the sturdy figure of my brother and ran ahead, leaping onto his back unexpectedly.
“You are, without a doubt, the best brother ever!” I screamed into his ear.
“Jesus mother-effing Christ, Beth!” Theo hollered while the others around us laughed.
I planted a firm kiss on his cheek while he looked disgruntled at being treated like a two year old.
“What did I do to deserve this kind of treatment?” he joked.
“You know what you did,” I breathed, climbing off his back. “Demitri told me about your plan to invite Parker over,”
Theo glanced at Demitri who beamed at him.
“It was an idea I had mulling around the ol’ noggin,” Theo said with a grin. “Would he be down for spending a weekend here?”
“Yes!” I shrieked.
“Wait,” Kathryn got up from where she had been sitting quietly for almost two minutes, now. “Who is this?”
“My best friend,” I beamed, too happy to pick a fight with her.
“Not that it’s any of your business,” Demitri mumbled under his breath, Theo subtly elbowed him in the ribs.
“I’m going to go call him now,” I said with glee, exiting the cafeteria to the outdoors courtyard, which only had a few people milling around due to the cold weather.
I calculated that Parker would either have a study period or lunch at this time, reaching into my bag I pulled out my new top of the line model phone that Theo insisted I purchase during our shopping trip. Scrolling down until I reached his number, I clicked on it as it rang.
Once.
Twice.
“Well if it isn’t the richest person on my contacts list,” Parker greeted, having invested in caller ID.
“Hey gorgeous,” I purred with a grin.
“How are you, slut?” Parker asked.
“Ecstatic,” I breathed. “I just spoke to Demitri and Theo and they thought it would be a good idea if you visited for the weekend,” I practically screamed down the phone.
There was silence on Parker’s side until I heard laughter. “Are you kidding me?!” he shouted. “That would be amazing!”
“I know!’ I screamed back.
“Is it okay with your Dad though?”
“Who cares, the house is so big he wouldn’t even notice,” I squealed. “Oh Park, I’m so excited, I’ve missed you so much,”
“I know Bethy,” he said softly. “I’ve missed you, too,”
“How’s it been without me?” I asked.
“Urgh, you wouldn’t believe,” Parker scoffed.
Parker and I spoke for another half an hour, not being aware of the time until two hands squeezed my waist, causing me to jump in shock. I whirled around to find Demitri with a wolfish smile on his face.
“Demitri! You scared the crap out of me,” I snapped.
On the other end of the phone I heard Parker chuckle. “Demitri, hey? Is he bangable?”
I flushed a deep scarlet, knowing Demitri couldn’t hear.
“We have class now Beth,” he said.
“Yeah you do,” Parker moaned on the other line.
“Finish the call, Theo and I will be waiting for you outside,”
“Bethy’s been a bad girl,”
“Okay,” I said, although my face was scarlet.
Demitri frowned. “Are you okay?” he asked and I nodded furiously, he raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “What you and Parker talk about, I’ll never know,”
Once Demitri was far enough away I started hurling abuse at Parker.
“Just wait until I get there, I was assess whether or not he’s into you,”
“Go to hell,” I joked with a smile, hanging up the phone, becoming more and more eager to see my best friend again.