October's story
3rd person
Never get drunk.
Her teachers had always drilled into her that the yardstick of success was passing exams, but these days success was getting out of bed, combing her ruffled hair and going to lessons. Once in the English lesson, she would observe the fawning and sycophantic teacher’s pets brown nose their way to deferential deceit. In her head, she was in fits of giggles as she scribbled madly down the notes from the lesson that the teacher had whisked off.
They looked like runes, she was still a bit dizzy from those cocktails. This morning she was nursing a rather painful hangover, and she wasn’t exactly tickled pink to be learning the finer details of the dusty tome they were studying. She ran her tongue around the furred enamel of her unbrushed teeth.
Her breath stank like tidal waste, flies almost buzzing round her head. She’d spat on the way to school, flopped down on the chair, all at sea, head dizzy and ashen-faced. She was non-plussed to be here and her eyes were fuzzy and hazy.
She tried to snap out of her vagaries. It wasn’t like her to cluck-around, but she was so fed up with school that with a friend they’d raided her father’s drinks cabinet and now she was in a bit of a predicament. Her stomach was churning and she’d have to be careful not to retch on her outfit.
She felt that her studies were unravelling around her, like the hem on an old pair of jeans. She should have chickened-out when it came to the second bottle of whisky, but buoyant with drink, they’d soothed their woes, dipping their lips into glass after glass before finally hurling their angst at the moon. They’d drained the first bottle before midnight, and then they’d tackled the second
They’d hit the hay at goodness only knows when, rather worse for wear and her friend had slept in the bath!
She was rather startled at herself, these binges were what the lesser girls indulged in. She’d seen their bloated faces, seen them mingling together, holding on to each other, cuddling drastically after a drinking session, complaining of their plight. That wasn’t her trip.
A wry thought came to her as she realized that she’d become like them, a bawdy stinker. Her dad would have a coronary if he found out about the missing whisky. She’d have to find a student in upper 6th to buy her a bottle.
Mike! He was a real muggings.
The next day she made the momentous decisions. She’d have to look stunning in that strapless outfit, and forget about the niceties.
Dolled up yet prissy. Shed got ready that morning, slapping on the war paint. She headed down the gangway that connected the classes, and saw Mike. He was slimy, signet ring and all, even with impaired vision you wouldn’t want to be inflicted with him. She prayed for a reprieve, looking at his chubby body, a living blob.
He looked and smelled as if he lived in the shanties, rambling on about his latest hobby, trains. Her stomach began to subdue and she explained and cajoled Mike into the plan. It would slaughter her reputation, and now, standing on the landing, the whole school seemed to crowd in on her. She searched in her handbag for the money, fidgeting against the serrated keys and almost slashing her outfit as she dipped in her purse to find the money for this seemingly unworkable solution. Her father’s credit card… Yes!
Mike agreed to buy the whiskey as she proffered her dad’s card. He was blissful, but the billing would be hard. She was mollified, but Mike wanted her to go on a date with him in exchange. He was going to try to bask in the moment of glory. Imagine! A hard working student even being in the same room as him.
She was at the portals of hell. Her life was on a rollercoaster and she pondered how to wing this situation. She couldn’t chicken out. She pined for the student that she once was, serious, hardworking, hovering at the edge of A-grades. Why had she agreed to get drunk with that girl? What a wretched situation. Perhaps she was besotted with her, with the freedom or perhaps she was crying wolf.
She agreed to the date, but on her terms. It would be on Halloween night, at the cinema, to see a horror movie. Like that she could go in disguise and no one would recognize her.
Lunch break came. Mike and her slipped out through the hole in the hedge and headed to the off -license. Bought the drinks and sneaked back to her house, hoping to replace the stolen bottles. They open the door to her house and tiptoed into the kitchen. Mike broke the salt-cellars as they headed through the kitchen and they’d started to argue, too busy to see that they startled her dad, who was waiting for his lunch to go “ping” in the microwave.
“THIS is going to take some explaining”, she thought, as she stood in front of her dad, in her best strapless dress, looking like a top model, holding two bottles of strong liquor, (bought with daddy’s stolen credit card!) with the ugliest boy in school. And that’s what her father thought too as he…….
Tune in next month to find out what happens next.