For a Good Time Call… Lisa Cavalear farfetchedfeline@yahoo.com Word count: 2,566 It echoed through the hallway.  It buzzed from locker to locker.  It spread across bathroom stalls in garish red scrawls.  She didn't even make it to the door when they started chanting. ”Slut!” ”Whore!” ”He’s mine!” ”Skank!” “Stay away from my boyfriend!” "Pussy for rent?" “Or else…” We never hung out with her at lunch or after school.  Some of us had a few classes with her, but none of us dared to speak to her, fearing her disease was contagious, unless to warn her away from our boyfriends. ”Slut!” ”Slut!” For a good time call… Suzanne was the first one in our class to develop.  While the rest of the seventh grade class carefully chose lacy training bras with pink bows, high school boys stared at her as she walked to class. Baby doll tops that were cute on models, and embarrassingly too big for us barely contained Suzanne.  She was the only one in our class to bleach her hair.  Usually the first thing you noticed about her was the short plaid skirts and big boots.  I always saw the bright red lipstick and fire engine colored nails that always seemed to be chipped in the same place. When we were still in middle school, we were in the same pre algebra class.  I used to sit in the back of the class, where I could pass notes, gum and cigarettes without getting caught.  Suzanne sat a few seats in front of me.  Sometimes, if I was too tired to daydream during the lecture, or if I didn't need to open my compact and redo my lipstick, I would stare at her.  Her head was always cocked to the left, making the teased mass of yellow hair fall to one side.  It partially covered her face and she would flick it away from her eye, annoyed.  She did it throughout the class and every time she did, I would see an instant flash of bright red, like a comet or a streak she decided to put in her hair when we were still struggling with straightening gels and scrunch sprays.  Sometimes, I would watch her twirling a pen with an electric green pompon at the end. Sometimes, I would stare transfixed at the spiral of reds and greens that seemed to fuse until I spotted the pinkish white hole where the polish chipped.  I snapped back to the gossip that was my reality. I smiled to the bored girl who had long stopped taking notes. "Hey, Kim.  Guess what I heard last night." "Oooh, you have to tell me, Ashley!" "Suzanne gave both Bobby Zefferrelli and Tom Merrick hand jobs at the ice skating rink!" "I heard she was blowing the basketball team." We all played spin the bottle when we were in the seventh grade.  By then, Suzanne was probably a D cup.  It was enough to divert Tom Merrick's attention.  The beginning of the year, I had noticed that he'd grown taller than me.  I thought he had the prettiest green eyes and he always squinted a little when he smiled.  He all but batted his long lashes at Suzanne when the bottle pointed to her.  The kiss seemed a little too long, and when the lights dimmed down, they disappeared into the next room.  I was petrified and could only look toward the door, barely conscious of what they could possibly be doing. I remember Kim trying to soothe me, "I think you're much cuter than Suzanne.  Tom is only looking at her tits" I replied, "You know he's only with her because she puts out." Her eyes widened, "No!"   I giggled, "Tara told me she was fooling around with one of her older brother's friends at the park.  He told her all about it the next day." Emily joined in, "I hear that she's actually fucking Gary Nash?" "Baseball team, Gary Nash?" "The very same."  I heard that she wanted to train job the entire team." "Train job?"  I laughed, and hoped that my naiveté would not turn the course of ridicule to me. Kim replied, "She wants to drop to her knees and blow the team one after the other." I almost choked on my laughter, "Even Randy Michaels?"  He weighs a ton!" "Hey, cock, is cock to her.  She doesn't care." "What a tramp." "She is such a whore." "She'll fuck anything." "She’s already fucked everything." "That girl probably has herpes." What's that thing on her mouth, anyway?" "What a slut." Slut. That was how it started.  Her reputation grew worse as we entered our freshman year.  Our high school was far bigger than the confines of junior high, but instead of drowning out the sound, the expanded space made for better acoustics.  We were only freshmen, but seniors wanted to go out with her.  There could only be one reason why. "It's only because she puts out." I sat next to David in history class.  He was a sophomore with wide hazel eyes.  When he laughed, he would lower his head slightly, and his shaggy brown bangs would fall over his forehead.       I fell in love.  I'd do anything to make him laugh, to see the laugh lines at his eyes. I would do anything to make him love me. Not her. “Hey, David. You know there's a party at Tara's, right?" "Oh, yeah.  I think I heard about it. What's it to you, freshman?"  He laughed.  That was his name for me.  Freshman.  He never called anyone else that. "Well, if you heard all about it, are you going? Or are you big for freshman.” He laughed again, “Oh, I think I’ll go anyway, Ashley.” I blushed.  I don’t remember him ever calling me by my real name before. I felt special.  I dropped my eyes and half mumbled,  “Really.  Do you want to go with me?” ”That’s sweet.  I think you’re really nice, Ashley, but I’m going with Suzanne.  You know her, right?” All too well.  I nodded, dumb. She went too far this time. I confronted Suzanne smoking a cigarette in the parking lot.  I pushed her.  I wanted to grind that face into the pavement so that no one would want her even in a dark alley. “You no good slut!  Stay the fuck away from David!” “Well, he’s mine now.”  She regained her footing and spit out her gum at me. I pushed her again.  This time she fell down.  I started to pull her hair, unaware of the shouts beginning to surround us. “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Eventually, a security guard pulled us apart.  I spit out blood from where she punched me.  I had a sharp pain in my jaw.   “What was this about?”  The assistant principal asked us.   Suzanne pouted, "She pushed me." I replied, "She pushed me back.  She tried to pull my hair." Suzanne jumped up suddenly, "That bitch is a fucking little liar.  She and her friends were always picking on me.  It isn't fair!"    "That's not true.  She attacked me!” I protested. “That’s enough!" he boomed.  "I don't care who started it, I will not have fighting on school grounds.   You're both suspended until Monday." He turned away to call our parents to pick us up.  We were left to glare at one another.  She laughed under her breath, "You're nothing but a liar and David will know all about the real you." She had gone too far this time.  My father picked me up from school and promptly grounded me.  I never hated her more.  I would have done anything to get even with her at that moment. After dinner that night, I climbed out my bedroom window and stole across the street to Kim's house.  "I can't believe that bitch.  She attacked me.  She stole away the guy she knew I liked, started a fight with me and I'm the one who got in trouble.  I can't go to the party tonight thanks to her.  She's just going to tell lies about me.  It isn't fair." “Well, I won't go if you can't.  I really don't want to see Suzanne hop from guy to guy all night.  She wasn't even invited!" I pouted.  "I know.  But David was-and he asked out Suzanne." Kim smiled and dialed Tara's number. We huddled close to the receiver.  Tara snorted, "I heard Ashley can't go to the party tonight!  What the fuck?" I huffed, "No shit!  Suzanne attacked me, but we both got suspended.  My dad grounded me.  I had to sneak out to Kim's house." "Well, don't worry.  I'll try to keep her off of David.  It won't take much to get her on some other guy's prick." I knew that when we hung up it would take more.  Kim smiled and fished around under her fluffy pink bed.  She tossed out a few stuffed dogs before she unearthed a small book. "Spells?" I asked. "Hey, you said you were willing to try anything, Ash?" I leafed through.  "Hey, there's a love spell here." Kim smiled.  "Didn't Suzanne say she was going to tell David all about you at the party?" "Yeah.  She said it when Mr. Lefkowicz was calling my dad." "Well, there is a spell here that will keep her from talking.  Stop her mouth, it says." It wouldn't hurt to try. "Do we need to be in a circle?" "I don't know." We giggled a little and sat facing each other.  We turned off all of her lights except her closet light.   When I leaned over closed the closet door, it created a small ribbon of white in the darkness.  We took each other’s hands and opened the page, now dog-eared. Kim let go of my hand to retrieve a small crystal from her pocket.  I muffled my laughter as we began to chant in unison. "You can't laugh! It won't work." We stared into one another's eyes.  Soon, our eyes glazed over and the only thing that existed was the words on the page.  Stop her mouth.  Bind her.  Stop her mouth.  We chanted as though in a trance ourselves and we were.  The sliver of light became bigger and bigger until white engulfed us both.  After the third incantation, the tension broke.   We blinked our eyes in unison and began to breathe at a normal pace.  The ringing phone broke the dead silence that surrounded us. I held my breath thinking that it was my dad calling and I was busted again.  It was only Tara.  "Guess what!  Suzanne isn't at the party two minutes when she starts having a gagging fit.  The bitch is running outside and puking her guts out.  I bet she was drunk before she got there." Kim's eyes lit up.  "Maybe she was choking on Gary Michael's cum!"  She hung up, gleeful.  "It worked!   She left the party two minutes after she got there.  She puked her guts out before she said anything at the party.  If she got sick beforehand, what could she say to David?" We broke out laughing.  We couldn't help it. I quickly checked my watch.  "Shit! I got to get back to my room.  I'll see you at school tomorrow!"  I slink out her window and sprint back to my room, careful not to wake my parents. If we tried hard enough, we could make Suzanne puke cum or whatever else she ate before she could spew lies about me.  What could we do to her if we really concentrated? I slept restlessly that night.  Over and over again, I felt the same knives ripping my body to shreds.  I screamed, but a force raised my body to a black sky.  The whirlwind that whipped my body around was the same one that slashed my face, my legs over and over again until I was literally pieces thrown at the sky. I woke up.  I thought I was screaming, but the only thing I did was rush my hand to my heart to see if I were still whole.  Without thinking, I picked up the phone; my breath in my throat, praying the sound would not wake my parents upstairs.          "Hello?" I whispered, anxious.      “I had this really intense dream where I was caught in a whirlwind and shredded.  There might be a spell for it." "Meet me outside." Again, breathless, I snuck out of my bedroom window.  Kim clutched the book to her chest.  "There is a spell that causes cuts on the body." "I had that dream too, Kim.  We had that dream for a reason and we can cast a spell for it.  We have to cast this spell on Suzanne and stop her once and for all." "I have the book." "We know what we have to do" This time there was no sliver of light to protect us.  We chanted in the darkness.  I could not see Kim's eyes glaze over, but I knew that as we concentrated, she felt no emotion.  The wind began to kick up.   Branches fell from the trees that hid us and mailboxes fell over.   We danced and screamed in the darkness, daring anyone to come outside and catch us, our voices drowned in the storm.  We could almost feel our bodies being lifted and torn apart in the torrent. I woke up the next morning. My hair was matted around my face and twisted around a few twigs.  I smiled as I snuck into the shower.  It took me almost an hour, but I managed to remove every trace of dirt and slime from my body.  I wonder if Suzanne even bothered to try and do the same. The school day was a daze.  Last night's storm caused a small stream of bitching about the power outage while Tara and a few others were watching a horror movie.  You and Kim really missed out, she laughed.  Kim and I looked at each other knowingly.   Surprisingly, Suzanne came to school today.  She looked a little pale, but flicking her bleached hair and swinging the hips barely covered by her short skirt, she snapped her gum as the boys screamed catcalls and requests for blowjobs. She smiled her red lipsticked smile, reveling in the attention. Kim and I met after school.  Suzanne was alone in the parking lot smoking a cigarette.  "Slut!"  We screamed at her.  She turned around and screamed, "Why don't you come up to me and say it, you bitch?" Kim smiled, "Hey, why don't we talk about this behind the school."  The wind started to kick up again lifting our hair and her skirt.  Her cigarette blew out and she cussed and stomped over to us. She threw a punch when we reached our destination.  "Why are you two always picking on me?" she screamed as the punch landed on the side of Kim's head.  We grabbed her hair in unison and dragged her to the fields. As the winds grew stronger, we chanted.  And chanted.  "What is happening to me?  Why are you hurting me?" she screamed over and over again as we chanted.   Cut her Cut her Stop her mouth Stop her slutty ways Slut Twat Easy Drop the knives. Drop the body lying limp and silent on the ground.  The wind died down as we stared at the bloody and sad remains. Slut Slut Now, there was nothing.