Marilese flipped her unnatural, curly, blonde hair over her shoulder and sauntered towards where I stood with Victoria.

“Hi baby there you are!” She smiled wrapping her arms around my neck. “I was worried you were going to be late again”

“Marilese get off of me” I rolled my eyes and shrugged her arms off.

“Fine.” She snarled, turning her gaze towards the brunette before me “Who’s that?”

“She’s my new neighbor. Her name is-” I tried to introduce her, but she cut me off instead.

“Victoria” She said politely. That wasn’t going to make her act nicer. “My name’s Victoria, it’s wonderful to meet you”

“Marilese” she scowled ”Right, so anyway” her head turned back to me and made little circles on my chest with her fingers. ”How about grabbing some lunch together today? I wanted to talk about some things”

“I don’t think so, I’m going to take Vicky somewhere.” I smiled down at her. ” Can’t have her spending her first day all alone” I wrapped my arm over her shoulders and shook her a little.

“Oh my god Mike she’s gonna kill me” she whispered intensely while she shut the car door. I have a loud laugh and walked with her.

“Don’t even pay attention to her, she’ll forget all about it by second period. Let me see your schedule” my hand grabbed at the paper she held between her fingers. We had already walked through the crowds of people. “Vicky, we have every class together except two” my smile got wider. I’m going to be spending all day with her.

“Oh thank god. I won’t be alone the whole time”

I spotted my two best friends Casey and Alex when we got into the commons of the school. They were too busy staring at a group of girls on the other side of the hall to notice Victoria and I approaching them.

“These are my friends, Casey” I motioned to the him before turning to face Alex ” And Loverboy”

“My name is Alex” He said and rolled his eyes at me. I watched as Victoria’s eyes roamed over Alex. Of course.

“Alex, she has first period Algebra with you” I said “I have to go to gym I can’t be late. Meet me here to go get lunch later okay hun?”

“Alright, bye Mike” She smiled as a blush crept up onto her cheeks.

Casey and I walked to the gym in silence, but I knew there was something on his mind. He was never quiet. “Dude what’s with you?” I questioned him while we changed.

“That girl..” He laughed and shook his head. I felt my face get hot and my jaw went hard.

“Yeah? What about her?” I said nonchalantly. I had no reason to be reacting the way I was about to.

“She- I don’t know man. She’s something else. Did you see her right sleeve? It’s Tim Burton.”

I hadn’t noticed her right sleeve. I didn’t even look at it. I just knew she had both her arms covered. The only tattoo I’d paid any attention to was the one on her chest. Go figure.

“I didn’t really get a close look at those. I saw the one on her chest though.” I shrugged.

“Yeah, but with that chest how could you NOT.” Casey laughed and passed the basketball to me after getting it from the bin. Marilese didn’t seem too fond of her.”

“Marilese doesn’t have to be fucking fond of her.” I grumbled and shot the ball. “Marilese is my EX girlfriend. I don’t understand why everyone seems to think she has a say in everything I do.”

“Because she usually does.” Casey laughed.

“Shut up bitch.” I laughed and smacked the ball from his hands.

~

When the bell for fifth period rang I ran out of the history room and to the commons where Victoria waited facing the opposite direction. I walked up behind her and covered her eyes with my hands.

“Guess who”

“Well I really hope it’s Mike because if it’s not I’m going to get really freaked out.” I laughed and grabbed her hand, pulling her out the door and towards the car. “So does the offer of my smoking in your car still stand?”

“Of course!” I laughed.

“You’ll have to pay a price though”

"What exactly would that price be Mr. Fuentes?” “I get to pick what we get for lunch” I opened the door while she lot her cigarette and got in.

~

“Okay so what’s your full name?” I asked her while we ate at the sushi place in the middle of town.

“Victoria Leigh Giorianni” She pushed her plate towards me and bit her bottom lip again. That was a habit that was going to drive me crazy. “but I don’t like the Leigh part so I always tell people it’s Alexandria.”

I picked at the left over food from her plate while she spoke.

“I think Leigh is pretty.” I shrugged and popped a California roll into my mouth.

“It is not. My mom wanted to name me Emma Leigh Giorriani. THAT would have been awful.” She giggled and the waitress placed the bill down between us. Her hand threw a twenty on top of it quickly.

“Nope!” I said and shoved the money back into her small hands.

“Mike no I’m not-“

“Right! you’re not paying!” “Michael!” She groaned as I dragged her to the car

“Victoriaaaaa” I mimicked her

"You’re a poophead!” She huffed sitting in the passenger seat.

“No I’m a gentleman” She grinned when I got back into the car with her. ”And I’m handsome on top of that”

“Just take me back to school!” She giggled.

~

“Michael Michael Michael!” A small voice rang in my ears, waking me up.

“Wha?..” I mumbled and looked around with my eyes half open.

“I’m at your window! Come here!”

This time I recognized the voice to be Victoria’s. I glanced at the clock, which showed the time as 3:27.

“Its three thirty. Go back to sleep.” I shoved my face back into the pillow while I spoke.

“I can’t sleep…” her voice got small. “It’s fine I think I’m just gonna go for a walk. Goodnight Mikey.” she mumbled and I heard her footsteps fade away.

I laid in bed for a few mire minutes, hoping she would come back so I could tell her to come inside. When she didn’t I started to worry. I got out of bed and pulled a sweater on then put on a pair of sneakers before climbing out my bedroom window. I’ve known this girl for five months and I’m out looking for her at three thirty in the morning.

“Vicky?” I half whispered half shouted while I walked down the street. In the distance I could her swing set chains squeaking and I knew she was at the park. A minute later I was walking up to the swing set quietly while she swayed on it at a slow pace. “Hey.” I said once I was close enough. She nearly jumped out of her own skin when I spoke.

“What are you doing here?” Her voice was hoarse, like she had been crying.

“I was worried about you.” my answer flowed from my lips as I sat on the swing beside her. He hair fell over her face while she looked down to the ground.

“What’s wrong Little One?”

“Nothing.” she looked up and smiled at me but I could still see how puffy her eyes were in the moonlight.

“Vicky don’t lie-“

“No. I’m not lying. This is no ones problem but my own and you especially don’t need to be listening to me whine.” her voice cracked at the end of the sentence.

“Hey, shhh, its okay” I mumbled while I got up and kneeled in front of her, reaching up and swiping tears from her cheeks with my thumbs.

“No it’s not okay. I fucking hate feeling like this. My moms coming to stay with us for a week to see my brothers but I don’t wanna see her. I hate her. She left us and I don’t wanna see her.” she cried. “I was thinking about it all night and I finally fell asleep but then I had a dream that she came and ignored me the whole time because she didn’t love me and I freaked out. I don’t want to see her Mike.”

“Calm down honey, you’re gonna give yourself a panic attack.” I warned while I hugged her close to me. I’d only seen her do it twice but it wasn’t a pretty thing. She starts crying hysterically and she can’t breathe, then it gets worse because she gets frustrated over how stupid whatever set her off was.

“I know, I know.” she took a deep breathe then hiccuped.

“Nooooo” she laughed then hiccuped again. “Come on, let’s have a sleep over.” I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled.

“Your mom won’t get mad?” she raised her eyebrows skeptically while she rose from the swing.

“Nah, Vic has his friends sleep over all the time, she won’t even notice” She smiled weakly as I spoke.

“Hey, it’s okay. Come on, I’ll give you a pair of shorts and my pantera shirt so you dont sleep in jeans.”

We walked back to my house in silence. Halfway there, Victoria slipped her hand into mine slowly, as if she was afraid I would pull away. I wove my fingers between hers, letting her know I wasn’t going anywhere. We crawled back through the window and I gave her my clothes as I had promised.

“Where do you want me to sleep?” She said after she had come back from the bathroom where she went to change.

“I-oh-you could just sleep in the bed with me unless-“ “No, the bed’s fine.” She gave a small smile and stayed where she was.

“Do you have a specific side or?…”

“I usually just spread out but when Marilese is here she takes the side by the wall so I guess that’s your best bet if you don’t wanna fall off the bed.” I laughed awkwardly and ran a hand through my hair.

Her smile faltered a bit when I mentioned Marilese’s name but she climbed into the bed none the less. She knew we had started talking again but she didn’t let it show that it bothered her. Whenever someone talked about Marilese in front of her, Victoria’s Smile would turn to a scowl. She didn’t like her and Marilese didn’t deserve her friendship. They were the opposites of each other. We both laid in my bed quietly until Victoria said something that made me feel awful.

“Why do you think my mom hates my brothers and I so much?” She whispered. I turned and faced her as she gazed at the ceiling. “I try to figure out what we could have done to her that made her not want us, maybe there’s something wring with me or-“

“Stop.” I said turning her face to mine with my hand. “Theres nothing wrong with you. She’s the one that has something wrong with her. She has this beautiful daughter who’s so brilliant and so funny and she doesn’t even know. She doesn’t get to see the wonderful smile I do or the incredible laugh I get to hear everyday.” I smiled and tucked a strand of hair away from her face. “She doesn’t know you the way I do. She doesn’t know my best friend.”

“You’re my best friend too Mike.” she grinned.

“Now, it’s four thirty in the morning. Let’s go to sleep and I’ll make you breakfast when we wake up tomorrow night.” I laughed.

“Alright.” she giggled ad curled up to my side. “Goodnight Mike.”

“Goodmorning Victoria. Sweet dreams bubby.” I laughed again before falling asleep with my arms around my best friend.

Notes

Romeo Lacoste is on Best Ink this season watch dat