Chapter 4

Virginia could always count on a call from Maxine at least every two weeks. When she was away in Boston Maxine never waited to update her on the latest in her life. It was approaching four months and she hadn’t received as much as a post card from her.

Of course, Virginia phoned Maxine right away after the three week mark hit and received her voicemail, “Hey, hey, party everyday. Leave a message and I’ll call you when I’m done.”

“Max, it’s me. I haven’t heard from you and I’m worried. Call me.” Virginia hung up the phone and it rang again immediately. Hoping that it was Maxine, she swooped it up again, but it was only Beverly letting Virginia know that her flight would be arriving in Garden Grove the day after finals.

Virginia missed the days when Maxine couldn’t wait to expel all her secrets. She wished that she was more enthusiastic about taking Maxine’s calls because now when Maxine wasn’t present she felt like all those times were taken for granted.

A month after Maxine’s departure Virginia took a job at local bar, Babes, as a cocktail waitress. Babes is a popular nightlife spot mostly known for its colorful drinks, lively dance crowd and attractive staff. It was a job Virginia received on a silver platter because of her long legs and well endowed chest.

She planned to go back to school in the fall and thought that she might as well keep herself busy while the time passed. It was a job that she knew she could make some quick cash without having much training or going through a vigorous interview process. The crowd was usually wealthy orange county types that gave big tips based on her looks.

Summer vacation had finally bestowed itself upon Garden Grove and with Beverly’s return so were many other familiar faces. On random Friday nights when Virginia was lucky enough to be stuck with a shift she would see people from her high school. Virginia would exchange fake smiles and “hello, what the heck at you up to nowadays?” doubting that they really cared what her life entailed.

She was glad that Beverly had returned to be her crutch. Beverly, of course, had gone through some changes herself in the past year. When Beverly left for art school in San Francisco to study fashion she tried to go back to the lifestyle that got her through high school, but after a series of dates she realized that she was starting to have a lack of interest in being attached. Beverly called her newly found existence of singledom her way of learning to be independent.

“I use to think that I always needed someone to guide me.” Beverly confessed over the phone one day during thanksgiving break. “I mean, it’s great to have a companion, you know? But you have to stand on your own two feet sometimes. Being alone is not always a bad thing.”

“Well, I’m proud of you.” Virginia told her. These words from Beverly inspired Virginia. It was soon after that Virginia started thinking about all the events that led up to her running away from herself. Boston was indeed an escape, but it never changed what happened.

All those years Virginia blamed Maxine for providing her with what she secretly called, the curse. Beverly, indeed, didn’t help her image. The only thing that saved Beverly from the curse was the fact that all her sexual partners were her steady boyfriends. Even though people saw this as fairly acceptable she was still widely known for being somewhat as a tease because of her nonchalant attitude about relationships and love. Regardless whether Maxine or Beverly contributed to Virginia’s promiscuous reputation, Virginia’s actions and decision said it all.

While Maxine saw sex as a method to make people weak and vulnerable, Virginia saw sex as means to find true love. She naively thought that if she gave the most intimate part of herself away they had not choice but to cherish that. Although time and time again this was proven to be wrong, Virginia continued to still believe that sex was the answer to true happiness. It was in Boston that Virginia realized the falseness in this theory and in the time span of one year she learned to be a little less trusting and a lot more cynical, yet love was still one of those things that is still entirely unknown to her.

Virginia had another theory; however, Beverly had loved and lost. Virginia always felt that that Camden had something to do with Beverly’s new independence. He was always a taboo subject, for Beverly seemed trapped and frozen in thought if he was even mentioned in conversation.

In the months before Beverly’s arrival Virginia saw Camden often at the house. He was still very good friends with South, although they ran in different social circles. Camden attended the same university with South only for the first semester. After realizing that he could no longer could afford the tuition he opted to go to a community college instead, while he concentrated on his new passion, photography. Sometimes when Virginia was downstairs flipping through the channel on the television Camden would keep her company and during casual conversation he would ask about Beverly. At first Virginia was defensive, but over several week she soon got over Camden’s high school antics and found that he no longer was much of the playboy he use to be.

“I heard Bev was coming home in a few weeks.” He stopped her one day while she heading out the door.

“Just forget about it, Camden.” She said trying to brush past him.

He looked down at Virginia with pleading eyes. “I still think about her sometimes.”

“I know.” Virginia smiled at him. She rested an hand on his chest as if to say that he has been forgiven for the mistake that he made back when he was seventeen.

“Do you think there ever could be more?” He inquired.

“I think,” Virginia paused, “I think that we should just leave it as it is. Camden, she’s moved on and I fear that if past emotions were to stir up that she couldn’t handle it.”

He understood and didn’t bring it up again.

The day Beverly came back she spent the night at Virginia’s house and they laid in bed well past midnight talking like they did when they were twelve. Then a quarter until 2 am when Virginia was just about to close her eyes Beverly turned to her and started talking about the day Virginia’s father had gotten his truck stolen from the front of the dry cleaners.

Virginia remembered that day. Her father had come home sad and while washing dishes he whined, “My poor truck.” The very next day her dad came home and told the whole family and outrageous story about how he saw the truck driving past his shop and without thinking he borrowed a car and started chasing the truck down the freeway. Of course, the thief eventually was frighten by her father’s aggression and left the truck in an empty parking lot, in which her father called the cops, who couldn’t believe his story either. This little flashback brought a tear to Virginia’s eye and before she started balling she heard the loud moaning of a girl in the very next room, enough to ruin the moment.

“Ohmigod, what is that?” Beverly giggled, knowing full well what was going on.

“Oh, South! Yes, yes….oooooooo.” This was followed by a steady rhythm of his headboard clunking against the wall.

“Oh, don’t worry, Bev. After a few days of this, you won’t even notice it anymore.” Virginia burst into an uncontrollable laughter. If it were any other night she would be up pounding her fist on South’s door at this very moment, but tonight while sharing in the recollections with her best friend Virginia didn’t feel the slightest bit upset.

In July, Beverly told Virginia that she would be transferring to the University of Irvine. Virginia disagreed with decision and after several arguments about the issue Beverly convinced her to drop it by saying, “I don’t want anything more in the world than to be with my best friend, right now.”

Near the ending of summer and the anticipation of the new semester beginning Beverly became the fourth roommate, taking her parent’s master bedroom of which Virginia was too afraid too sleep in herself.

The two best friends were quite a popular item among South’s fraternity brothers. Upon several occasion Virginia overhead one or more of them say, “Dude, your roommates get hotter and hotter every time I see them. No wonder you don’t what to fucking move out.”

This was almost always followed by, “Dude, have you hit that shit or what?”

South was more modest about his answers than Virginia thought he would be. “It’s none of you business, man.” He smirked, alluring to the fact that he probably had slept with at least one of them.

Then they would all chime, “I like the cold one,” or “I like the flirty one,” or “I like the stripper.”

The cold one referred to Virginia. She had a reputation for snapping bitchy remarks at his fraternity brothers or outright ignoring them when they were in the house. Beverly and Brittany were always nice to them and Beverly couldn’t resist batting her eyelashes at a few of them for old time sake.

“Well you have to admit, Virg. They’re pretty freaking hot.” She would say after Virginia would look appalled that Beverly would even give them the time of day.

“Frat guys are just like older immature high school boys.” Virginia told her.

Beverly snickered, “Hello, Virg? College guys are just older immature high school boys,”

Realizing that Beverly had a point, Virginia laughed at herself. “Okay, yeah, whatever.”

The Sunday before the semester was to begin, Maxine finally phoned after several frantic ranting message from Virginia.

“Max, where the fuck have you been?” Virginia yelled into the phone.

“I’m in Miami.” Maxine said. “I met a guy.”

“Of course you did.” Virginia didn’t doubt that she met several men during her road trip. Virginia waited for Maxine to indulge in more information, but after a long pause she knew that Maxine was reluctant to continue. “How did you meet him?” She asked.

“He’s a club owner.” Maxine said. “I’m living in his beach house.” Another pause.

“What is it, Max? I know you want to tell me something.”

“He’s married.” Maxine admitted.

“What?!” Virginia screamed, “You have to fucking kidding me? I mean, I really hope you know that this relationship is not going anywhere.”

She heard Maxine huff in frustration on the other line. “This is why I didn’t want to say anything. This is why I didn’t want to call. You can be so negative.”

“What the hell do you want me to say?” Virginia lectured.

“I want you to tell me you’re glad I’m safe.”

Virginia calmed herself not wanting this conversation with Maxine make her not want to call again later. “When are you coming home?”
“I don’t think I want to…..ever.” Just like the day Maxine told Virginia that she was leaving she sounded apologetic and guilty

Chapter 3

Beverly wanted to come down as soon as she heard about their parent’s death, but Virginia convinced her to stay in San Francisco to finish up the semester claiming that they both couldn’t afford to drop out of school so late in the school year.

Virginia resented her older sister for dumping the latest responsibility of the house and bills over to her. Leaving for Boston was the best thing to ever happen to Virginia and it was just like Maxine to be so selfish and careless. She didn’t even stop to consider what Virginia wanted to do with her life. Virginia was newly twenty and this recent change in her life was making her quite apprehensive. Not to mention the fact that she was feeling claustrophobic with the fear that all her high school days would be relived.

South being in the house was a constant reminder of the judgment and ridicule that she had so desperately left behind. He had not changed since she saw him last before she left for Boston. She remembered the end of the summer bash at Scott’s house, one of the richest boys in school. It was the party of all parties to reunite the senior class for one last rendezvous before they headed separate ways to start their adult lives.

Of course, along with any gathering involving the senior class, many with a history that dated back to their elementary school days, there was drama. South was known as a chronic cheater, just like his father who is one of the top criminal lawyers in Los Angeles. The boys would gather around him and slap his shoulder, praising him as the ultimate playboy. Girls saw him as if he were a pair of the hottest Manolo Blaniks. There was only one of him and he was in high demand. This limited supply of South Hue actually caused a string of broken friendships.

One of which had been best friends since the second grade. Anna and Rebecca were famous for being in competition with one another. For being close childhood friends they seemed more like enemies. One would always be talking crap about the other or trying to steal the limelight by out shining the other. It finally became the last straw when Anna found out the Rebecca had been secretly dating South at the same time as her. At the party, after a couple of cocktails Rebecca accidentally admitted this little surprise to her best friend and confessed that she thought she was pregnant with his child. Anna was so enraged with Rebecca’s lack of respect for their friendship had pushed her into the nearby pool.

Although entertaining to watch, Virginia found it ridiculous.

“You would think that since he’s hooked up with half the girls in school that they would know better.” Virginia told Beverly as she sipped her beverage. Scott had handed it to her as she walked in the door and it was more vodka than orange juice.

“While we see man whore they see hot and charming.” Beverly waved at someone from across the room.

“Conceited asshole totally outweighs hot and charming.”

Beverly nodded in agreement, “Totally.” Beverly was once a big fan of South’s handsome good looks and ability to use his words to make a girl feel like she was a diamond in the rough. This soon faded when South had made a manly bet with his friend Camden to see if he could land Beverly in the sack. At the time Beverly had a boyfriend, but by nature she was not a cheater. She use to say that her and Camden had an undeniable mutual attraction, one that she could no longer resist. Although she knew that he was commonly associated with the most uncommitted bachelor in school, she still took a chance on him. Beverly was proud that she had an uncanny ability to remain good friends with all her past exes. It was the reason she escaped a broken heart on so many occasions because the relationships always ended with “no hard feelings.”

The day that Beverly heard about the bet she was overwhelmed with a mixture of anger and hurt. For weeks after that she was still moping around her house over Camden, too proud to get back together with him, but too in love with him to get over it. At this particular bash, Beverly was holding a new record of a month without so much as a date.

A week before Virginia left for Boston, she had run into Camden at the mall and when he found out that Beverly had already left for San Francisco, he looked saddened by the news that he had missed out on fully being able to love her.

This fiasco added to the long list of why Virginia despised South.

South currently attended the University of Irvine, only a twenty minute drive away, and upon his acceptation into the school he pledged for the most prestigious fraternity there, Zeta Epsilon. This only gave South access to more women to prey on and he was consistently showing off his studly ways by inviting them over to the house.

“I just don’t get why you don’t go live with your jackass frat brothers.” Virginia complained as she was picking up one of his sweaters off the living room floor.

South smiled at her. An adorable smile that usually won many hearts in which no longer had an effect on Virginia since their freshman year. “I would miss you too much.” He teased.

“Isn’t your dad like a famous lawyer or something? You can afford to live anywhere else.” Virginia threw the sweater at him in annoyance.

South’s smugness immediately disappeared. “I’ve disassociated myself from him.” He pulled the sweater off his head and before Virginia could inquire more about the reason why he said, “You’re being such a grouchy nag. I have a lease signed with Maxine. You couldn’t kick me out if you wanted to.”

She was legally not the landlord and this made her boil inside because she had a tenant that she not only hate, but couldn’t get rid of.

Later on, Virginia found out through Brittany that South’s father had finally divorced his mother after years of unfaithfulness and married a girl South use to be involved with. Mrs. Hue was left with nothing and forced to move out of their lavish home into a small loft outside of town. South could not stand for the way Mr. Hue had treated her and decided that he would give up his privilege life to be with the woman that was there for him all those years when his father had abandoned them for sex.

“How do you know all this?” Virginia asked.

“Oh, Zeta Epsilon are frequent visitors at the club.” Brittany said coyly. Brittany was not at all shy about being a stripper. The day she moved in, Maxine had briskly mentioned that Brittany worked at a nightclub and during casual conversation Brittany was surprised that Virginia hadn’t know that she was a exotic dancer.

Hours later Virginia was scolding Maxine about her choice in tenants. Virginia right then and there had decided that Brittany was probably a wild party girl who would bring men, drugs and trouble to their house.

Maxine looked at Virginia in disbelief. “You are just like other people.”

“What the fuck do you mean by that?”

“You’re a judgmental asshole.”

Virginia stepped back as if Maxine had just thrown a dart at her. The very next day she decided to get to know Brittany a little bit better.

It turned out that Brittany had moved to Los Angeles from a very small town in Texas to become a professional dancer. “Like in the music videos, ya know?” Brittany sighed. The industry was rough and Brittany wasn’t getting enough gigs to live on so when she saw an ad for a dancer that could make $1,000 dollars a week she decided to go audition for it. It wasn’t her dream to take her clothes off for money, but she thought it would be okay for the time being.

A year later, Brittany decided that she wanted to go back to school to become a doctor, just in case her dancing career fell through. She kept her job at the club in order to pay for tuition. She was proud that when she would finish in ten years that she wouldn’t be in debt.

After Virginia got pass what was on the outside, Brittany and her became fast friends.

As Virginia and Brittany seemed to get closer, South and Virginia only became more hostile, almost violent towards one another. Weekend after weekend, girls with hangovers would trickle down from South’s bedroom and Virginia would gripe about how they had no self-respect and how disgusted she was that South treated them like toys.

“You should know a thing or two about that.” South said one day.

“Why?” Virginia questioned.

“It’s not like you were the most innocent girl at our high school, Virgin.” He reminded her.

Virginia threw a pillow at him from the couch. “You don’t know shit about me.”

“I know a lot of shit about you.” South smirked, “Details and all.”

“You’re a fucking jerk.”

“You’re a slut.”

“I fucking hate you.”

“Good.”

“Fine!”

Virginia gritted her teeth in anger. Every time he called her “Virgin” she felt like he was mocking her for her past errors with boys and the promiscuous reputation that followed. The double standard was what made her hate him most. He was not a boy without misconduct. In fact, every chance he got he would charm girls exactly like her into sexcapades with him. She couldn’t understand how he could be rewarded for the same behavior that she was known for.

What ate her up most was the fact that she didn’t ask to be the school slut, while South accepted his own reputation with a great amount of pride. Boys like South haunted Virginia all throughout high school. It seemed they all wanted a piece of her and although she never gave many of them the pleasure, no one looked beyond the image that they had created for her.

It wasn’t enough that it was acceptable for South to be the school playboy, he had to flaunt his sexual prowess. His arrogance only suffocated Virginia and this only resolution was to get into bickering matches with him about how disgusted she was that he measured what sort of a man he was by how many women he slept with, but deep down she was only jealous that she couldn’t be proud of what she had become.

Chapter 2

Needless to say, Virginia couldn’t wait to escape her hometown away from the world where only your social standing mattered. Although Virginia remained fairly popular due to her position as a varsity cheerleader she had long ago deemed everyone on her squad fickle and fake. One minute they were smiling in her face and the next they were sneezing slut.

The only girl on the squad that was the exception was her best friend Beverly, who in her own right had the title of the more flirtatious girl in school. From the moment Virginia met Beverly in the sixth grade she had always been voluptuous and well endowed, but unlike Maxine, Beverly didn’t flaunt it and use it as a way to gain attention. However, Beverly had her own share of boyfriends. She was what you would consider a boy-crazed serial monogamous. One of those girls that was so scared of being alone that she always had a plan b around the corner.

The first semester of her senior year Virginia decided she was taking an official oath to take a sabbatical from dating. After a terrible junior year, she felt her reputation and as well her behavior had spun out of control.

Junior year started off as a turning point. Maxine had just graduated and it would be Virginia’s official year as the only Lee sister at Gateway High. She was positive that with Maxine gone Virginia could clean up her reputation. After all, Maxine was not there any longer to undermine everything Virginia did to debunk people’s perception of her.

Of course, just like the years that preceded it boys gravitated towards Virginia and before she knew it she was once again the favorite topic of the school’s rumor mill. It was quite different from last year, where the boys did most of the gossiping. After the Lindsay incident, all the boys seemed to think that Virginia had slept with Leo. He didn’t deny it either. In fact, he elaborated on what type of a moaner she was and on how her body sparkled naked. This little bit of information, whether true or not, made every single boy in her school scramble for a piece of the action. Out of all the dates Virginia turned down, the ones that she accepted left a bitterness in her mouth because the very next day she would hear about the lacy underwear that she never owed or the tattoo hidden in her inner thigh that she didn’t have. For the rest of the day, she would get leered and winked at, almost making her feel naked and soulless.

“You’re trying too hard to be something that you’re not.” Maxine use to say to her.

“I’m certainly not a slut, Max.” Virginia said profusely. No matter how many times Virginia confessed about how bothered she was about the rumors, Maxine still never seemed to understand.

“I didn’t say you were.”

“What are you saying?” Virginia clamored.

“Do you think I’m a slut?”

Virginia paused. She almost wanted to say yes.

Her answer didn’t matter anyhow. Maxine just rushed on. “I just think that worrying about what those pricks think about us is a waste of time. They are so absorbed in trying to be popular and liked they don’t even know who they are.”

Virginia couldn’t confess to Maxine that she was positive that she didn’t know who the real Virginia was either.

When Virginia relayed this conversation to Beverly she was surprised by how much she agreed with Maxine. “She’s right, you know? Who really cares what the fuck they think?”

Virginia was still skeptical, but as Beverly continued she seemed to make all the sense.

“Look. If you really want to talk to a guy, go out with a guy, flirt with a guy that is totally your prerogative. Don’t let what they say or do suck all the joy out living your life, you know?”

From that moment on Virginia finally understood why Maxine gave into her every whim. She pushed herself to ignore all the snickers and allowed herself to laugh, lavish and enjoy the company of whomever she was with. It was easy to let the current carry her, rather than constantly fight it.

There were times though that Virginia felt like she trusted the current too much. Almost immediately after she had done something that Maxine would consider spontaneous and passionate Virginia would question whether that was what she really wanted. It was as if her actions where moaning “yes, yes, yes”, but her mind was saying, “no, stop.” She had been pushed up on a riverbank and now she was stuck.

Other times Virginia noticed that not paying attention to the changing tides of high school actually made her feel more free and rebellious. Nearing the end of junior year, a trend started to arise. The girls had finally received wind of Virginia’s erratic behavior and the cards switched from the boys to the girls. When Virginia thought that that lies of the boys were devastating she was wrong. The girls where downright vicious and had no remorse for anything they said. Just like Lindsay, they weren’t afraid to say, “slut” to her face. Virginia became vengeful and deliberately flirted with boyfriend’s of certain girls whom she knew caused her the most anguish. This would disturb most the girls, worried that their boyfriends were more interested in Virginia’s curvy figure and drowning gray eyes.

One afternoon, a week before the end of the school year she witnessed the break-up of one of the most prominent couples in school. The girl was, Cynthia, captain of her cheerleading squad and a total bitch. Although Virginia should be thrilled that she had caused their split, she felt thoroughly unsatisfied. Despite the fact that she was flattered that Cynthia, who had drilled her so hard on several occasions during practice that Virginia ended up throwing up her lunch, was jealous of her, Virginia couldn’t deny that Cynthia loved John. Virginia could have potentially ruined the best thing that has ever happened to them and this cause Virginia to come to the realization that her actions in the past year had done more harm than good.

Virginia had been celibate from any kind of romantic interaction with boys six months into her senior year.

“I don’t get the point of it.” Beverly would complain, “It’s your senior year and your being such a conservative prude.”

“There’s more to high school than cute boys, Bev.” Virginia reassured her.

“Like getting into colleges a half an earth away?” Beverly was also upset by the news that Virginia would not be attending a school in California; instead Virginia opted to move as far away as possible. All her applications were to schools on the East Coast.

Virginia ignored her and continued reading from her history textbook.

“What are you trying to prove?”

Virginia shrugged. “I just don’t want to be around people who bring out the worse in me.” Virginia really meant that she no longer wanted to conform to a perception of who she was. She wanted to discover herself.

The oath of celibacy didn’t stop the girls from being as nasty as always. If they caught her even speaking to a guy she could see them huddling up to whisper about her. “Ugh, what do they see in her?” One would say, “She’s such a whore.” The other chimed in.

“They’re just jealous of you.” Beverly told her during stretches at afternoon practice.

Virginia gave Beverly a sarcastic smile. “I’m sure they all wish they were the slut of Gateway High too.”

“Oh please.” Beverly rolled her eyes. She lowered her voice so the girls stretching behind them couldn’t hear her. “They all have slept with just as many guys than you and I combined. We’re just more open about it.”

It was Virginia’s turn to roll her eyes. “No one has even dreamed about calling you a slut.” Virginia didn’t understand how Beverly did it. She was already on her third boyfriend this year.

“It’s just something girls say when they are intimated by each other. It’s their way of breaking you down.”

If that were the case, they succeeded because as soon as Virginia graduated she didn’t wait to pack her bags and attend college in Boston.

Chapter 1

In high school Virginia was known as being the school slut. It was a reputation that preceded Maxine, who was three years older than her.

Maxine seemed to embrace the label so carelessly and over the years Virginia found herself envious of it because when the rumor mills flowed with talk about her she let the label define her. Other times Virginia felt enraged by Maxine. Her flirtatious personality made men so willing to fall at her feet and she adored the attention. She made her life seem so glamorous and fun, but in actuality Virginia questioned whether it was Maxine calling the shots or if the men did.

Maxine lived her life in what Virginia liked to think as spurts of happiness. Similar to a rollercoaster, her emotions peaked and dropped constantly in big never ending circles. She loved the thrill of the chase, the moments of desire and the consumption of passion. Those high moments of her life only lasted two weeks at a time. Eventually she would run out of tickets and have to buy more to get on the ride again only to find she was sitting next to a person completely different from the last.

One of Maxine's favorite past times was to crawl in Virginia's bed in the middle of the night and gush about her latest and greatest. She described every detail about her "something new" down to the last drop of sweat that rolled off his body during their tryst in the bedroom.

When Maxine was sixteen she had a crush on Jorge, a teaching intern, in her world history class. Jorge was a new graduate of the local college and he was what Maxine described as “full of possibilities.”

Some time during her one year relationship with her boyfriend, Jared, Maxine realized that she was bored. Jared was well-liked, popular, cute and rich. He was a catch, according to high school standards, where only status, impressions and appearances seemed to matter.

“You’re so lucky.” Her friends would crowd her locker almost immediately after Jared left for his first class every morning.

“What do you mean?” Maxine replied. At first this was Maxine’s way of being humble, but after six months of the same old routine she really wanted to know what the big deal was.

The answer was a little bit different everyday. “You are like soul mates.”

“You are like the couple to be…the ultimate couple.”

“You are totally gonna be like high school sweethearts.”

This was all fine and dandy, but Maxine daydreamed about the spark that Jared never seemed to give.

Then Jorge came along and Maxine noticed a shimmer in his eye when he smiled at her. Maxine always knew that she was beautiful, but whenever she felt Jorge’s eyes bestowed her she felt vigorous, flirtatious….sexual. He had big hands. They were tan and strong and all Maxine wanted to do was touch them. When Jorge would come by to place her last graded essay on her desk she would take the chance to touch his hand lightly as if to ask him a question. He would look down at her and smile with that twinkle and then she would think of what it would be like to have those hands on her.

This scenario went on for months, until Maxine saw Jorge at a bookstore. She was suppose to be picking up a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird for her literature class, but was flipping through the magazines instead. She was just about to pick-up a copy of the latest prom special and saw Jorge standing in the cooking section.

“It’s nice to see you interested in something outside of dead people.” Maxine cooed sneaking up behind him.

“I’m a man of many talents.” He laughed wholeheartedly.

Maxine peered over his shoulder. She saw his big hands turning the pages of a sushi book. “It’s only a talent if your food actually is edible.”

“You probably won’t die from it.” He said, warningly, “but food poisoning might be in order.”

He looked over at her and Maxine felt a rush of boldness. She placed her hand inside his book, between his big strong hands. “Maybe…you could teach me something.”

This smile that he dealt her wasn’t at all like the others. He seemed almost as daring as her. “Perhaps, I can.”

That evening right before dinner Maxine sauntered into Virginia’s room. She sat down on Virginia’s bed, her legs swinging back and forth. Virginia looked up from her homework and raised a questioning eyebrow.

Although Maxine had many friends she would always say that they were nothing like the bond she felt with her own sister. Virginia remembered a particular incident when they were children at the grocery store with their mother. Maxine begged forever for mother to buy her a pink princess purse that she saw in the toy section. Maxine was already on punishment from a week before when she stole the neighbor’s cat and mother found out that Maxine had been hiding the creature in her room for the past week.

Mother looked outraged at Maxine’s lack of concern for her crime. “How dare you even ask, Max? You know that you’re grounded.”

“Can I have it after I’m done?” Maxine pushed.

“We’ll see.” Mother replied.

Maxine hated that expression. It was something that Mom obviously copied from Dad. Maxine knew that when daddy said, “We’ll see.” It meant, “No.” Maxine was not a big fan of false hope.

When they arrived home that night Maxine pulled Virginia into her bedroom. “You are my confident.” She just learned that word from one of the older kids down the block and was intrigued that you could have multiple words that all mean the same thing. She had a theory that their were secret words that adults used to make sure children didn’t understand them and was determined to learn this so called adult language.

Virginia wasn’t even sure what it meant, but forgot to ask as soon as Maxine pulled out that pink purse from her jacket pocket.

As they got older Maxine and Virginia grew somewhat apart. Especially when Maxine entered her freshman year of high school and Virginia was still only in the sixth grade. Maxine was going through her teenage years, something that Virginia couldn’t possibly understand until she got there herself. They only reconnected when Maxine had something to be said that she could not tell anyone else.

“The TA for Mr. Hendrick’s class….” Maxine paused.

“Mr. Casa?” Virginia asked.

“Jorge.” Maxine corrected.

“Uh...huh.”

Virginia sat up on her bed, crossed her leg Indian style under her and prepared herself for Maxine’s news. Maxine’s decisions weren’t always sound, but you can’t say that they were ever anything to yawn about.

“I saw him today and he invited me back to his place.” She confessed.

Virginia shrugged, “Yeah….so?”

“Welllllll…..” Maxine liked to draw stories out. She wanted to people to hang on every word and found it funny when they leaned in to watch them fall out of her mouth.

Virginia never had much patience for this. She explained to Maxine several times that it didn’t make her story any more interesting just because she wanted to make a novel out of it.

Maxine looked up at her sister and on cue she recognized Virginia’s annoyance. She smiled and went straight to the point just like Virginia wanted. “I slept with him.” Maxine blurted.

Virginia’s jaw dropped. Maxine had done some outrageous things, but her relationship with Jared was always so stable. Virginia actually found Jared comforting because she knew that he kept Maxine grounded.

“It was like nothing I’ve ever felt before.” Maxine continued, “It was like the ground moved.”

Virginia followed this by a look of disapproval. “What about Jared?”

Maxine didn’t seem the least bit guilty. “Jared is so domesticated. He’s just a boy.” She lowered her voice to barely a whisper, “plus he’s never done or has made me felt what Jorge has.”

Virginia was speechless. This wasn’t at all like the time Maxine had confessed to losing her virginity to Jared. During that moment Virginia was so curious about sex, she was hanging on Maxine’s every word and bombarded her with questions about what it was like. This time Virginia shook her head not wanting to know the details.

Maxine didn’t notice and went on to talk about how Jorge immediately kissed her as they got in the door to his apartment and how she felt all fiery inside. She pointed out every spot on her body that Jorge’s hand grazed. “And then….something amazing happened.” Maxine exclaimed, “I felt all this passion build up at the pit of stomach and it just turned into like…this huge knot and all of a sudden I felt like this incredible release….it was like….I was being shot of a cannon.”

Virginia didn’t know what the hell Maxine was describing, but it couldn’t have been anything greater than making love to her love Jared, could it? “He took advantage of you, Max.” Virginia told her.

It was Maxine’s turn to be surprised. “No, he didn’t.”

“He’s almost ten years older than you. Of course, he did. That’s what college guys do.”

“He’s graduated.” Maxine corrected again.

Virginia frowned. “That’s even worse.”

“Oh, what do you know? You’re still a virgin.” Maxine rolled her eyes, ready to dust off any advice that Virginia could give her.

Ever since, Maxine seemed obviously aware of her own sexuality. Sex empowered her because she felt that it was the only way to make a man quiver. She dumped Jared soon after, to the shock of many girls in her class, and started seeking men who gave her that spark that she was looking for.

The students whispered about Maxine's escapades, but Maxine took no notice. She continued to clutch pillows and roll around in Virginia's bed in fits of giggles like clockwork every other week. Her escapades made her feel like she was alive. "It's like having wings." She would say when she felt the highest of high. People saw this activity as rebellious and reckless, but Maxine saw it as an adventure.

Virginia was never nearly as boy crazy as Maxine, but the boys seemed to think she was. During Virginia's freshmen year the boys would flock to her trying to claim their territory. It was partly due to Virginia's silky black hair, gray mysterious eyes and angelic skin, but mostly it was because they expected Virginia to give into her lust as easily as Maxine had.

Virginia was careful to not follow in Maxine’s footsteps.

Mother always told Maxine, “It’s not ladylike or respectful to have so many boyfriends. Who will want to marry you after they know you’ve been with so many other people?”

Their mother was very tied to traditional and religious Asian customs, one of the things that Maxine fought with her about constantly.

“Nowadays, mom, no one cares about that anymore.” Maxine pointed out.

Virginia was quite opposite from Maxine’s liberalism. Virginia believed in white picket fences and fairy tale romances. Wasn’t it every little girl’s dream to meet a prince, fall madly in love and spend the rest of your life with him? If her mother’s words were true, Virginia wanted to make sure she was qualified.

Virginia gave her virginity away to the star player and the captain of the high school basketball team, Tommy. She dated him for over six months in her sophomore year and only let him get as far as second base. He pressured her more and more the longer they dated, but she was convinced that he would value her more the longer he waited for her. Three months before senior ball, Virginia decided that would be night she would give into Tommy’s desires. It would be perfect. She would look stunning in her gown, they would dance the night away and end the night in the most intimate of settings.

Now, that Virginia looked back on it. She laughed at how cliché the thought was. Of course, when the night arrived it was nothing like she imagined it would be. Tommy certainly didn’t make the ground shake like Maxine described it should be like. Virginia didn’t really expect it to since the whole event from the time they entered their hotel room to the time Tommy groaned on top of her was a duration of ten minutes. No man, under those circumstances could make even a murmur.

Virginia wasn’t the only girl that gave her virginity away to Tommy. A week after, he broke up with her for a freshman on her cheerleading squad and continued this cycle until he graduated five months later.

During those five months began the downfall of Virginia’s reputation. Leo, Tommy’s best friend, asked her out the second he broke up with his girlfriend, Lindsay of two years. Virginia had always thought he was cute and she even sometimes playfully flirted with him, but it was never in her intentions to take it any further than that. However, Virginia saw this was a great opportunity to make Tommy see what he had given up and to prove that she wasn’t the least bit upset by his betrayal.

At the time Virginia didn’t realize what a mistake this was. The cardinal rule to stay away from your exes best friend was never relinquished to her, a lesson that Virginia had to learn the hard way.

A few days after, Lindsay got wind of Virginia’s date with Leo and leisurely waited for Virginia at her locker.

“Stay away from my boyfriend.” She warned.

“We’re not even together.” Virginia informed her.

“You’re about to get you grubby little hands all over him.”

Virginia scrunched her face in confusion. “I thought you were broken up.”

“We’re on a break!” She exclaimed.

This only made her more confused. “What’s the difference?”

Lindsay was certainly annoyed. As president of the senior class she was use to barking demands and was certainly not thrilled that Virginia wasn’t meekly agreeing with her. “You’re a slut.” She said.

Virginia gasped. She knew that there were whispers about her slowly making its way to each individual person at school. She had already decided yesterday that she would tell Leo that she could not go out with him because of the circumstances and she was sure that once she did that the subject of her and Leo would fade away just like so many other things did in high school.

“…just like your sister.” Lindsay added.

This moment was the moment Virginia feared most. Being the topic of gossip is one thing, but when Lindsay voiced those four letter words out loud to her face the ridicule felt so much more real.

Even after Lindsay walked away the word never seemed to leave Virginia alone.

Epilogue

The day Virginia received the phone call about her parent’s death she was in the library at Boston University trying to find a book about child prostitution for an essay she was writing for her Sociology class.

When her phone vibrated in her jacket pocket, Virginia pulled it out only to see Maxine’s, her sister, name flash on her screen. Virginia almost didn’t pick it up. Maxine was notorious for calling her during odd hours to talk about her sex life and over the years Virginia was oddly growing weary of it.

“Max, I’m busy.” Virginia whispered into the phone, sounding as urgent as possible so Maxine wouldn’t keep her long.

“Virg,” Maxine sobbed, “Something terrible has happened.”

Virginia huffed, annoyed. She only had thirty minutes until her next class and this was not the day for her to indulge in Maxine’s antics, especially if it was over a Zack, the only man that could bring Maxine to tears.

Maxine could already hear the impatience in Virginia’s voice and promptly halted her crying and screeched into the phone, “Listen to me.” She paused, waiting for Virginia to realize the importance of this conversation.

“Okay.” Virginia replied, calmly.

Once she knew the Virginia was ready to pay full attention to her news, Maxine allowed herself to continue her sobbing. “You need to come home. Last night, mom and dad were at the shop,” she gulped, “…and this man came in….molding…a jun…and he wantedfoney…endsotten.” She was sobbing so hard now that her words were almost unrecognizable.

“Max, you need to calm down. I don’t know what the fuck you’re saying.”

“They’re dead.” Maxine shouted.

“Whose dead?” Virginia gasped.

“He just came in….came and shot them.”

“Who?” Virginia clutched the phone tightly, biting the bottom of her lip nervously.

“Mom and Dad.” She let out a wail like when they were little kids at the store when she really wanted a toy.

Virginia dropped to the ground in devastation. Only yesterday her mother had called her claiming that she had a dream about her. At the time Virginia was getting prepared to walk out the door to her part-time job at a nearby café. Virginia quickly rushed her mother off the phone, assuring her that everything was fine. Virginia’s mother was a traditionalist at heart. She believed deeply in karma and signs. Was the dream a sign? Was something trying to tell her mother that she needed to have one last conversation with her youngest daughter?

As soon as she hung up the phone with Maxine Virginia rushed back to her dorm room to pack a bag to return home. Waverly, her dorm mate, looked up questioningly at Virginia who seemed more frantic than usual. “What’s wrong?”

“I…I….” Her mind was reeling with disbelief, “My parents…..”

Waverly looked up at her patiently, urging her to continue.

Virginia swallowed, “Max, just called….and….” As the news started settling in the pit of her stomach, Virginia felt her lips start to quiver, “….they died yesterday.” Virginia let out an uncontrollable howl and fell onto her bed soaking her pillow instantaneously.

Waverly quickly ran over to her side. Her mouth still gaped open from shock. Virginia sat up to face her and blubbered something about having to pack and go home to be with her sister.

Waverly rapidly grabbed Virginia’s overnight duffle bag from her closet and started stuffing it full of random clothes from her dresser. She carried Virginia out the door and drove her to the airport, where she immediately purchased a ticket for Virginia, back to California. Virginia hugged Waverly at the gate, grateful that she was there when Virginia didn’t think she could coherently make the arrangements of her flight on her own.

During the flight home Virginia thought about how regretful she was for staying away from her hometown for a year, not even bothering to visit during Christmas Break. She wished she didn’t let the reason that drove her away keep her away. She wasted such valuable time with her parents. She thought about never being able to sit at the kitchen counter with her father again while he talked about his business sense. He was always feeding her the importance of saving a dollar, which Virginia had never been any good at. She started crying again after thinking about how much she would miss her mother’s cooking, it was never really great, but she would miss it all the same.

__________________________________

A week after her parent’s funeral they still hadn’t found the man who killed their parents. Since the investigation wasn’t going anywhere fast, the police turned to the media for help.

Maxine was lying on the couch the night they showed the tape of their parent’s shooting for the first time. Virginia looked up from her magazine when she heard Maxine gasp. Then she saw it, a man wearing black swinging his gun back and forth, shouting and mere seconds later, two quick burst. BANG. BANG. Virginia jumped, as if he were in the room with her and as her parents hit the ground Maxine threw the remote in a fit of sorrow and anger. Their parent’s tragic death couldn’t be more real than at that very moment.

Later that week, Virginia received a call from her father’s attorney. Of course, their parents had left all their assets to their two daughters and the attorney wanted to collaborate with the two girls on what they wanted to do with the worldly possessions they inherited.

The first order of business was what would become of their parent’s dry cleaning business. Their father took a risk when he dumped all his savings into opening it, but it had succeeded in creating a comfortable living for his family. Virginia knew that the business represented a huge achievement for their father, but as soon as Maxine stepped foot in the store front for the first time after their death she wanted to be rid of it.

“We should think more about this, Max.” Virginia didn’t want to give up on the shop that her father and mother spent so much time and dedication on.

“Are you serious?”

“Dad would’ve wanted us to keep it open. He built this place from nothing.” Virginia reminded her.

Maxine stepped behind the counter and pointed at the floor. At the exact spot that she had seen their father fall on the video. “I don’t want to be reminded every day that my parent’s were shot here!”

This one sentence alone convinced Virginia to give it up.

The sell of the store and their parent’s saving added up to lofty inheritance. Virginia remembered her father’s words and opted to keep most of it in a savings account.

Maxine was adamant, however, about keeping the house. She claimed that it was the only place with good memories of their mother and father. So it was a surprise when Virginia found an ad in the local paper that listed the rooms in the house up for rent.

“What is this?” Virginia asked pointing at the small box with their address and phone number listed in it.

Maxine snatched the paper from her, “It’ll help us pay the mortgage.”

“Did you forget that mom and dad left us with quite a bit of money?”

Maxine looked up remorsefully at her sister. “I mean, it will help you pay the mortgage.”

Virginia looked at her curiously.

“I’m leaving.” Maxine confessed.

“Whatever.” Virginia said, not believing her. Maxine had never dared to leave Garden Grove. She loved being in the city that was nearby everything including the happiest place on earth. She was only small drive from the beach and if she ever wanted to wild night out she was only minutes away from the hottest city in California.

A few weeks later, Virginia was introduced to a new roommate named Brittany. She was a college student and a stripper. A couple days after that Virginia walked in to see South Hu, a guy from her high school, leisurely unpacking a box in her living room.

“Hey Viiiiiigin.” He greeted. It was a nickname that he had called her all throughout high school.

She hated it. He knew that she wasn’t a virgin, far from it and yet he insisted on calling her that just to get under her skin. “I can’t believe she rented a room out to you.” Virginia scoffed. South was equally her counterpart and that made him her worse enemy. She secretly resented how he could do everything she could do without the negativity. He was the school stud and she was the school slut.

“You just say that because you missed me.” He teased.

Virginia looked disgusted and started up the stairs to take her frustration out on Maxine. Halfway up, Maxine rushed passed her with a black duffel bag slung across her shoulder. Virginia followed, “where are you going?”

Maxine sauntered out the front door where a man in a leather jacket was anxiously awaiting her on a motorcycle with flames.

“Remember the day you went away to college?” Maxine asked.

Virginia nodded.

“I never understood why you were trying so hard to escape.” Maxine stepped in for a hug. With her arms wrapped around Virginia tightly she whispered, “Now, I do.”

With a wisp of her hair Maxine got on the bike and disappeared into the sunset with a man named Sin.