Chapter 77: Be My Girlfriend

I took a swift step backward, my guard going up.

*Fuck! Does she smell Julian’s soap on me!?*

Grace held her hands together as she leaned away from me. “You like nice as you are too.”

“Yeah? You sure I shouldn’t Barbie myself up for this? What kind of party is this?”

“Just a pool party. Some music. Some drinks.” she put her finger to her shiny, pink lips in a cute fashion that grossed me out. “Then again, you’ll need a bikini.”

*Weirdo. Why is she being nice to me all of a sudden?* I squinted at her. I didn’t trust her, she was definitely up to something. But at the same time, what did I have to lose? Definitely not my sanity.

*Ha ha ha.*

“...It sounds like a good time… yeah, sure, whatever. I’ll grab mine.”

Swimming with other people definitely sounds more enjoyable than swimming by myself. The gardeners and maids will run on sight the moment they see me step outside. Being alone for the rest of the day didn’t sound enticing in the least. I was about to walk past Grace to go get my things but she spoke, well, piped up, before I passed her. “By the way, sister… do you mind not playing as my sister for this party?”

I looked over my shoulder back at her with bewilderment. “You want us to go as friends? Fuck, I know we don’t look anything alike but you can at least have my back in a crowd. Even if you do have a knife at my spine.”

Grace snorted. “Nonsense! I would never!”

*Fucking liar.*

“No, I just wanted…” she twirled her ashy blonde hair around her finger like high school girls do when talking to their crush. “Do you mind pretending to be my girlfriend?”

I was silent with eyes so wide I could feel them threatening to fall out of their sockets for five seconds straight before giving the pfft sound of shooting dramatic spit and then cackling as I had just joined a contest to see how could laugh more like a maniac. “Ha! You’re fucking funny. I’ll give you points for that.” a frown creased her pink lips as her eyes narrowed at me. The offended look on her face told me everything. “Wait, you’re fucking serious? Like, serious serious?? Fuck, Grace, you want your pretty boy brother to murder the both of us!?” that was one thing for sure. I knew Julian’s fuse would pop like a firework. And not the pretty kind.

Grace’s smile came back. The smile I’ve seen before. The smile of a snake showing off her jeweled eyes and captivating scales as her body coils and suffocates her prey. “Oh, dearest sister. Didn’t our brother leave you behind to go spend time with his friends?”

I flinched when Grace hit a sensitive spot. “...You’re a real piece of shit.” my olive-green gaze narrowed as I looked her up and down. If she was using that as a tactic to get me to agree with her, it was working. But the reason why she was doing this? I know damn well she doesn’t care about me in the least for that. “So who’re you trying to fuck over?”

“None of your business.” Grace’s sweet tone turned snotty in just a short sentence.

I rolled my eyes. *Fucking brat.*

“Alright, Ms. Pissy Pants. What do I get out of this?”

“Showing Julian what he has to lose? And~ Having a good time with civilized people~ The way your people have fun and the way the east-side does things are two completely different things. At least, so I assume. Am I correct on that assumption?” she put her finger to her lip with a curious tilt of her head as if she were expecting me to answer her question. I just stood there, arms crossed and impatiently tapping my foot while glaring at her.

“So, what do you say, sister?” she reached out her hand as if to make that old-school handshake of alliance, no matter how brief.

I stared her down a few seconds longer before a dirty smirk crossed my lips. “Pfft, ha. I must’ve really left an imprint on you for you to decide to use me as a girlfriend. Sure, whatever, Barbie. I’ll be your Ken. Until I’m finished having my fun.” I reached out and shook her hand with a firm grip. Our hands were around the same size with slender fingers but my palms were rough compared to hers which felt like she put lotion on them five times a day.

“Let get going,” she spoke as if she were in high society while picking up an expensive-looking purse.

*Fucking hell. I’m already regretting this.*

My short moment with my old friends still left a sting in my heart. I wish we didn’t have to part ways like that. All because of Julian… but at least now I’ll have something to distract me and I won’t have to burden my mother by worrying her. I went to my bedroom and grabbed my black bikini before following Grace to the door.

When we went into the garage and to her car, she went in the passenger’s seat and beckoned me to sit in the driver’s seat. “What are you doing? Come on! We’re going to be late.”

“Wha… what the fuck?” I look between her and the driver’s seat. “I don’t know where the fuck I’m going and you want me to drive??”

“I’ll tell you where to go, it’s no big deal. You have to be the one driving anyways in this relationship.”

*The fuck is that supposed to mean?!*

I let out an annoyed huff but got in anyway and snatched the keys out of her hand. A mean smirk crossed my lips as I looked at my stepsister in the corner of my eye. “Better buckle up, buttercup.”

She looked confused at first upto I revved up the engine and floored it. The tired made smoking, screeching sounds before flying out of the garage and she screamed bloody murder while I laughed my lungs out.

“YOU FUCKING MANIAC, SLOW DOWN!” this was the first time I heard her speak while screaming at the top of her lungs and cursing in such a way. Her scream sounded more high-pitched than a mouse.

“WHAT? MOW DOWN? IF YOU INSIST!” I jerked the steering wheel to the side and drove across a couple of yards along the sidewalks, leaving muddy tire tracks in the neighborhood’s ripped-up grass. A couple of the fancy asshats were sitting on their front porch and gawked when they witnessed their beloved neon yards shredded.

“OH MY GOD!” she screamed again in utter horror. We were in her car after all. And I bet everyoneeee on the east-side knew whose car this belonged to. “STOP! STOP!!!”

I stomped my foot on the brakes, almost making the car flip with another loud screech and a swing to the side. Grace sat there gasping for breath with her long, ashy blonde hair looking like a bird nest. Meanwhile, I sat beside her with the biggest grin.

“That was fun.”

“You’re fucking crazy! If you ruined my car, I–”

“You know I could just say ‘fuck you’ and fuck off back to the mansion, right? Hm. Then again, it depends on how badly you want me to be your girlfriend. Must be serious if you want the likes of me.”

Grace glared me down as if she had knives in her eyes pointing at my throat. Somehow I was able to keep myself from cackling at her again. She eventually turned her head sharply away from me while trying to fix her hair and crossed her legs. “Just take a right then a left and keep going down. It’s the house with the sign saying ‘pool party’. Not even you can miss that.”

I heaved a loud, dramatic sigh. “Drama Queen,” I grumbled before shifting gears and heading in the direction she told me to go. I drove relatively reasonably this time but I was still speeding past the limit. Grace knew there was no point in telling me to stop so she just ignored me. I could feel her ‘grudge aura’ coming off of her in waves.

*Girls…*

I eventually drove up to the sign she mentioned. It was a big white sign that had POOL PARTY scribbled on it in marker. I could already hear the blaring music on the other side of a wooden fence in the backyard.

*Oh boy… Let’s do this.*