6. sierra

It was one of those rare days where I was glad for Justin’s eccentric personality. With his everyday irritatingly loud voice and uncanny ability to talk non-stop for a whole half hour, he managed to make me forget about Anthony and Tommy Hayford. Well, almost.

As much as I had pushed the events to the back of my head, they had still managed to seep themselves back into the recesses of my mind, itching me, forcing me to have that little voice that whispered and recounted what had happened. I needed sugar. Lots and lots of sugar. Maybe some coffee too.

“So I’m turning eighteen tonight,” Justin was babbling one of his epic, improvised speeches, “Or maybe I’ve already turned eighteen. I wouldn’t know because I don’t actually know what time I came out of my mum’s va—what time I was born,” Justin quickly and sheepishly corrected himself as he noticed a few people’s heads turn in alarm as we stepped through the hallway.

He was walking backwards, facing us so he was absolutely sure that we were looking at and paying attention to him, “This party is gonna be a blast isn’t it. I’ve always dreamed of being able to watch R-rated movies, with all that... you know.”
“That’s great Justin,” Christian nodded, slightly glazing over like Carol and I, “Now how about we all get ourselves prettied up so we can seduce sexy men.”
Carol quirked an eyebrow, “I’m really beginning to question your sexuality.”
He laughed nervously as Justin looped an arm around both their shoulders, leaving me on the side and completely out of the picture, “Whoever we seduce doesn’t matter, right?” he grinned cheerily, “What matters is that we look seductive and awesome.”

He returned to his usual position in the front, ardently leading the way to nowhere in particular. I cleared my throat.

Justin spun on one foot and opened his arms, “Yes, my darling Ashley, what is your question?”
I offered him a weird look, “Where exactly are we going?”
He gesticulated, “Well, that is all up to you, dearest. We may go to any place that is capable of making you so gorgeous that even the devils of hell cannot match up to you.”
“I’m sorry, but could you speak in a language that I can understand?”
“Anywhere you want,” he said quickly, slightly put off that I wasn’t able to comprehend his intricate sentence structure.
“Manicure!” Carol shrieked, rushing to the doorway of a fragrant store, “Oh, god, I’m absolutely dying here with my chipped nail. You guys can go ahead; it’s a must that I get my nails done. I’ll meet you guys at the food court later, yeah? Great! Love ya, bye!” she chirped as she excitedly stepped into the shop without waiting for an answer.

Thank God it was Justin and Christian; if it were two guys I hadn’t been hanging out with for the past five, six years, I’d be in the most awkward situation possible. Now Justin swung his arms around our shoulders; his arm rested uncomfortably on my short stature, and after a while he gave up.

“No offence, Ash, but you’re kinda short,” he grumbled disappointedly, “I mean from far away, damn, you’re tall. But close up you’re a rabbit, or maybe even a mouse."

I scowled at him, unappreciative of the fact that he compared me to animals.

“A very cute mouse,” Christian noticed my expression, while Justin remained completely oblivious as he basked in his own pride and glory.

“Anything you want, Ashley, my darling?” Justin asked, bowing in front of me, and walking backwards at the same time, “Yes! I want jeans! Let’s goooooo!”

He yelled the words as he spread his arms out, mimicking an aeroplane, and half-ran in a zigzag down the corridor towards the nearest shop.

“I don’t know him,” I told a man standing next to us. Christian shook his head and he grabbed my wrist and dragged me along as he briskly walked to catch up with him.

The shop we entered was freakishly gothic, with salespeople who wore black from head to toe, nose rings, unnecessarily attention-grabbing haircuts and tongues piercings. The clothes there seemed to be designed solely for people with weird haircuts, depraved expressions and no ass. I looked, and felt too much like a fish out of water in there for my liking, and was pretty sure Christian was feeling the same.

“Hey, Ash!” Justin called, “This will look awesome on you!” he dangled a very revealing top in front of my nose. My mouth fell open.
I closed it, “You know, I think I’m fine with the t-shirts in my wardrobe.”
“And I went through the trouble of finding it as well,” Justin gave me a disappointed pout.
“That look won’t work on me,” I sighed, turning to Christian, “Anything you want from here?”
“Not really, we just came here ‘cause he did,” Christian jerked his head in Justin’s general direction.
“You know, I find it a little awkward shopping with you guys,” I tugged at my sleeve nervously.
“What was that, Ash?” Justin called out from deep within the shop, “I thought you loved us, and now that you don’t, I don’t think I can live anymore!” he emerged from behind a messy rack of clothes on sale with a solemn expression on his face, “Oh, spare me this pain. Spear me with a toothbrush, and I’ll die peacefully, but only if you do it.”

Christian shook his head, “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“Am I really friends with you?” I cocked an eyebrow.
“Ah, but my darling Ashley, the real question is, are you friends, with this?” he thrust another skin-baring top in front of my face and I could see him grinning cheesily behind the ripped and dangerously thin fabric.
“No,” I looked around anxiously, only to be greeted with the attention of several pairs of heavily eyeliner-ed eyes, “You know what, Just?”
“Yes?” he took the top away from my face, his childish eyes sparkling with excitement, “You figured out that you want something?”
“Yes. I would like to buy a new bus pass. I’ve run out of rides.”

Justin carelessly tossed the top high backwards over his head and linked arms with me again, “Then let’s go!” and marched past the curious customers, out of the shop, with Christian following behind as meekly and nonchalantly as possible.

“Is it just me, or is he... high?” Christian whispered into my ear as I was tugged toward the newsagent via Justin’s arm that was linked with mine.
“Yeah,” I said, “But my question is... on what? Is it orange juice, or... that?”

Christian shook his head, “We should have a serious talk to him about that, but preferably not now.”

“Here we are!” Justin said cheerfully, kneeling on the ground and bowing gracefully, “It’s an honour to be able to do you service.”

I patted him on the head, “Just hope you’re not high on drugs,” I said half-jokingly, giving him what I hoped was a meaningful look.

He stood up and looked away; the cheerful demeanour had completely vanished, “What I do is none of your business. Hurry up and buy your bus pass.”

I walked into the shop feeling a small twinge of guilt and requested a pass.

“Concession? No concession?” the cashier asked as he browsed through the variously coloured tickets.
“Yes, for students,” I said, looking around, taking in the colour-coded pen arrangement, neat stacks of books, and newspapers.

One particular headline caught my eye; I was only too familiar with the subject.

I quickly paid for the ticket and looked outside. Justin and Christian were nowhere to be seen. I shrugged the matter off and decided that my curiosity was more important than finding them. After all, we were meeting up at the food court later and I wasn’t exactly on the best terms with Justin. I snatched the newspaper and scanned the article. There was a picture of a gorgeous blonde; truly a terrible fact that she had died so tragically.

A teenage girl, Sierra Milton, was found dead on the street in front of her apartment after allegedly jumping off her twenty-sixth floor balcony. Reports show that Sierra had been on hallucinogens at the time of death. However, police and detectives are being led into another mind-twisting case as further investigations have shown that a person may have been in the room with her at the time of her death...

-

Sierra examined herself in the mirror. Yes. She had grown to become a very beautiful girl—one with an angelic beauty that would have stopped most people on the street. Her guest would be shocked; he hadn’t seen her in years, and the last time he had seen her, he had hated her with a passion. It was a shame too, since she had had a crush on him at the time.

It was cold, but she had decided to go all the way. She was only wearing a teasing denim micro skirt, and a button-down shirt, with the thought of her guest ogling at her enticingly playing joyfully in her mind.

She wanted him to kiss her, touch her. Today would be the day.

She ruffled her blonde hair and pouted at the mirror after applying a fresh coat of lipstick. Oh, was she looking forward to this reunion. She’ll show him what a lady she had become, and he would regret ever hating her in the past.

Everything in her apartment was perfect. All clothes, blankets and even underwear were folded. There was nothing else she could do to appear more impressive than she already did.

Her heart started beating faster when she heard a knock on the door. No. Calm down.
She snatched a slip of plastic and put a small square of what appeared to be blotter paper into her mouth. Excitement started to bubble in her stomach.

When she opened the door, it was her that received the shock. Standing in front of her was an absolutely to-die-for teenager. His hair was shiny, and looked so soft it took all her will to not throw herself onto him and start running her hands through it. The adorable boy she knew before had blossomed into a beautiful rose.
“Hello, Sierra,” he with a voice and smile that made her knees wobble. She had forgotten all about flirting and burned with lust.

Before she knew it, the door had been slammed shut and her lips were crushed against his. His hand easily slid up her skirt and touched white skin beneath. She hissed slightly at the contact that set her skin on fire. As thought of before, his hair was irresistibly soft and she touched it over and over again. She straddled him and held him as close to her as possible, his hard chest pressed pleasingly against her own soft one, all the while not knowing where he was taking her.

One would think that at this moment, they would be making their way to her bed. But the boy had other intentions. He had taken them both onto the balcony.

Yes, she was beautiful. But she did not deserve to live.

Her hazel eyes stared at him with burning desire and she kissed him again, desperation evident in her actions. He pried her legs off of his hips and tilted her ever so slowly over the balcony edge.

Sierra was still longing for another kiss as she plummeted down twenty six floors to her death.