Megumi by the firelight - A Teen Romance, Part 5

The story so far:

Two of the eight girls who are spending the weekend at a slumber party have fallen in love with each other, while a love rival tries to disrupt the romance by posting nasty letters as posters. While things begin to unravel, the remaining characters are revealed in close, sometimes comical detail, as humor and teen angst abound. The girls have to find out which of the girls among their cozy group is the culprit. But can they do it before it all falls apart...?

It was mid morning. The bedroom was quiet. Downstairs somewhere in the house was the feint sound of music, and the five other girls were all laughing, eating and yelling over each other. All we ever did was eat! Here in the bedroom, there was nothing but the silent breathing and occasional moans or noises from Megumi and Debra. Megumi’s shirt was open, and she was spread-eagled on the blankets, with her boobs peeping out of her shirt in a cute sort of way, looking like a body pattern out of a Murder cop movie. She was murmuring in her sleep, and she was snuggled against a sleeping Debra, who lay face down and buck naked as the day she was born, on a pile of pillows and dozed, a picture of perfect human female engineering - apparently perfectly content after what had happened in the bed earlier. I looked at them, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I thought back on the weird and awesome things we three had done inside the sheets earlier. Debra’s inhibitions had left her, and so too did Megumi’s. Apparently West and East had kissed and Made Up, then banged the hell out of each other. Debra lost some clothing, mostly due to Megumi and I forming a sort of alliance and taking turns on the American blond. Debra had an amazing body. And I was the happiest 16 year old teen in England.

Part 1 - the arrival
Part 2 - settling in
Part 3 - disturbance
Part 4 - letters from...?

I showered and washed (even breaking out a new “Timotei” shampoo in celebration, as I wanted to smell amazing for these girls now) and dressed in my white tennis shorts and stripy blue-white T-shirt - and emerged to find Megumi awake. I sat on the bed and we both looked at Debra’s naked butt. Megumi ran her hand across it, and Debra moaned, and we smiled. I pulled the covers up over her and kissed her hair. Debra was a stunner.

“So how was it for you, Megumi?” I asked the Japanese girl. She was fastening her shirt, and smiling at me. She said she loved every second of it, then she crawled over Debra and leaned in and kissed me on the mouth.

“It’s my Birthday today, Cassy.” She was smiling as she said this, and she looked at the sleeping Debra. Wow, she had started off the celebrations with a bang. Literally. I wished her a happy birthday, and gave her a kiss. She asked if we could have a birthday dinner picnic outside in the garden, if the weather held up. I said sure, why not?

“I love girls, Cassy...” she said emphatically. We dressed and debated whether to wake Debra, when suddenly Megumi gave a yell.

“Cassy! Look!” I looked around to where she pointed, and we stared in amazement as a large sheet of paper lay on the carpet just inside the locked bedroom door.

We ran over and picked it up and read it. Megumi’s face clouded over. It was another note from the mystery letter writer. The note read:

“Why don’t you just leave, BITCH!”

It was done in the same neat printed writing as before. I unlocked the door and looked outside. The hallway was empty. I turned to Megumi, and told her to get dressed. “What are you doing, Cassy?” she asked me as I headed down stairs. I told her to wait for me.

I ran downstairs with the large sheet in my hand. As I passed a doorway a hiss made me turn. It was Ronda. Where the hell had she come from, I wondered. She looked at me and looked at the paper. Her expression was blank.

Who is who:

The eight girls were me - Cassy,Ronda (the supposed leader whenever we allowed her to lead), forceful and well-built, Penny (blond and very sweet and I had a crush on her), Wendy (black and pretty, a wee bit frail, but smart - I liked her), Marla (looked more 19 than 16, and built like a brick shit house), Avril (Irish red-head, green-eyed, had thick accent and coarse as hell, but straight talking honest, slight in appearance, yet punched (literally) above her weight - I liked her too). Then there was Debra (American, blond, smart, beautiful – looked like a girl from a beauty pageant, and last of all, Megumi, from Japan. The sweet young and enigmatic mystery girl, but how would the other girls react to the posters being written about her? And who was the real letter writer who was trying hard to unravel the romance in the house?

She asked what did the note say. I rounded on her. “You tell me, Ronda...” I spat and kept on moving to the kitchen with Ronda in tow. I interrupted Penny, Marla, Wendy and Avril.

“Here’s a question ladies...” I shouted, silencing them all. They looked at the note. Avril muttered “...oh f**k...”

“Which of you wrote this? Who left this kitchen in the last while?...”

They looked back at me. They were non-plussed. Wendy stood up from her seat, shoving some magazines aside. “Cassy – it wasn’t us, we have all been here...all the time...”

“No we weren’t...” Ronda suddenly said. “ Some of us left to use the washroom..” Which one I asked, as there was a downstairs and several upstairs washrooms. It was a huge house. And beginning to look like a great place for mystery letter writers to conceal themselves and hide. Apparently three girls had left to use the downstairs bathroom. And they were Avril, Ronda and Marla. H’mm. Curious. This was now starting to really cheese me off.

“Someone here is a letter writer and wrote this piece of racist crap!....” and I threw the paper on the table and they all read it. “Wow, that is so frickin’ childish...” said Avril, laughing. She saw my expression and stopped laughing. “Okay, I mean it’s bad and we obviously have to kill the sh*t out of whoever wrote it...” She looked at the other girls.” I’m just sayin’...”

Penny looked at the note. She looked around at Marla and asked her did she write the note. Marla’s poker face was pretty impressive, if it was a poker face. She said no, she had just used the washroom and was only gone a moment. But she looked at me quickly in that briefest moment and there was something in her face that was...I don’t know...something just strange about her blankness. I suddenly realised with a dry hollowness in my throat that there was an awful lot I didn’t know about Marla.

“Cassy...” It was Ronda’s voice. I looked at her. She looked at me with a faint smile. “What is this big deal with you and that kid...?” I rudely cut her off. “Her name is Megumi...” I said coldly. Ronda looked at me carefully. She looked like she was about to say something – then smiled brilliantly at me and turned away. She turned away. So damn casually. What the hell was going on here?

“Avril, did you notice anything unusual down here, did you see anyone go upstairs?” I asked Avril. Avril ran her hand through her short orange hair, and she thought carefully.

“Honestly, Cassy...no. Not really. I took a leak a few minutes ago. And to tell you the truth...” she looked at me. “I am not sure I’m happy about all this “Inquisition” lark goin’ round, Cassy... y’know...”

I looked at Avril. “Avril...” I said taking a step towards the Irish girl. “Go F**k yourself...!”

Avril took a step back and Wendy and Penny jumped out of their seats. “Cassy take it easy...”, began Wendy. I cut her off with a snarl.

“Someone in this house is writing these notes and some ....BITCH in this house knows something, and is .....” I swung round at Marla and caught her in mid silent stare at Ronda.

“...COVERING UP for someone.....” I looked at Marla and Ronda. I just stood there, feeling a huge swell of anger building up inside me. This was really bugging me now. And what was the deal with Ronda and Marla being so close and cosy and standing there and saying nothing? And Avril coming over all flippant. It wasn’t like her. I had always thought I knew my friends.

“Cassy relax, for chrissakes, it’s some prank note...someone is winding you up....” interjected Avril.

“Avril, if I don’t know who my friends are anymore...I can’t stay here...” I said flatly.

“Cassy, you always want to be the boss here...just for once...admit that you are just pissed off that this is my house, and you can’t be the boss of anyone here now.....” This was Ronda speaking now. And when she finished speaking there was a dead silence. They were all looking at me. I looked at her, making her think she had just scored a goal at a football match.

“Ronda....dearest Ronda....” I said icily, eyeing the smiling girl with the smug look all over her face.

“I love being Number Two to your Number one...you know why...? You know why...ladies?” I turned to them all, but facing Marla directly.

“The thing about being Number Two....”Here I fixed my eyes on Marla, she looked back unblinkingly.

“...is that when Number One gets hit by all the bullets and flack in the arguments....and believe me, there are many arguments...” I looked at them each, looking for any signs of anything that faintly resembled resentment or sarcasm.

“...the Number Two gets to use Number One as a shield to take all the CRAP and avoid getting hurt herself...because being number Two is a lot safer than being Number One.”

They all looked at me in silence. And shock. Avril’s face had the “Oh shit” look on it, Wendy was just stunned, while Penny’s mouth was half open which gave her a kind of comical expression. I can honestly say my friends had never heard me talk to them quite like that before. And I knew Ronda was the assumed leader, but only because we let her, since she could be a pain in the ass at times.

Ronda was looking quite annoyed. The calm and smiling demeanor was gone and now there on her face was the expression I was used to seeing, the angry Ronda who hated being not in charge. I looked at them all coldly, and suppressing an urge to want to turn and suddenly run back and hug them all, I silently walked out of the kitchen, ripping the sheet and throwing it in the bin on my way out. The expression on Marla’s face had been also quite interesting. She was the silent type. But she had a look I had never seen there before. Like she knew I had been reading her mind.

As I reached the stairs, Penny caught up with me. “Cassy, I’m still your friend. And Megumi’s...I swear on my life I am not a letter writer...and Cassy...” She grabbed my arm. She had a slight tremble in her voice. “I ..don’t agree with Avril...and it wasn’t Wendy who wrote it, cos we never left each other alone....we’re....kind of...” She suddenly smiled briefly. My heart leapt. “Oh wow, Penny! You and Wendy are ....” I began and looked at her waiting for her to complete my sentence. “ We just had some kisses and cuddles but it was....” she said smiling even more now. “Wendy is so sweet, Cassy....are ...are you annoyed at me for liking her?”

“Triple Holy Mother of Everything, no Penny! I am not angry...!” I was delighted and I hugged her and she hugged me back and it was old Penny again. God, I really liked her. Something was bugging the hell out of me at the back of my mind, and for some reason my brain refused to work right. We smiled at each other and I tore up the stairs and ran back to the bedroom.

When I arrived in the room, Megumi and Debra were fully clothed and sitting on the bed, hunched over something, and they were laughing and I could hear music. Figuring they were listening to a CD payer or something, I used the bathroom and refreshed myself. Throwing water in my face I looked at myself in the mirror.

“Cassy, don’t be a bitch....” I said to my reflection. “It’s beneath you....and remember these are your friends...”

It could have been my Grandfather’s voice in my mind – or was it mine? I wasn’t sure. I dried my face and leaned into the mirror. This was the real me looking back. Well, it better be the real me, I thought. I closed my eyes, and waited for the first person to come into my mind. It was Penny. Then Debra, then Megumi. In my mind, I could see my Grandfather standing behind them, but looking sternly at me.

I suddenly realised the love letter Penny had written to me from earlier, from “Miss Enthusiasm”...I smiled. Good old Penny. I still loved her.

I opened my eyes. The tap was running. I turned it off and went outside.

“That is awesome, Megumi!” Debra was hunched over the duvet, and Megumi looked up from whatever it was and motioned me over to the bed. I went and looked. I stared in amazement. “Triple Holy....”

“You like my Powerbook, Cassy?” she asked, in a slightly showy-offy voice but coy with it and friendly too. I sat on the bed. It was a laptop, the most coolest laptop on earth. An Apple Powerbook. My Grandad had one and it was expensive.

“Please tell me that is not the Wall Street version of the Powerbook or I will go nuts...” I said, feeling dumbstruck. Debra looked comically at me. “Michael Douglas all the way...” she smiled. I jumped on the bed and leapt in the air with a yell, and they fell around laughing but the laptop bounced in the air, and we all calmed down, laughing.

I asked Megumi how come she didn’t let on that she had a Powerbook in her bag? She said she never had the chance to try it out, but she and Debra just suddenly got talking about Computers, and we were all computer freaks in our school. “It’s my father’s Macintosh, Cassy. He let me have it for the weekend so I can check my emails...” She told me. Debra interrupted. “Uh question? How does it access email with no connections, you need a phone line or cable...” Debra’s voice faded as Megumi reached into her backpack and pulled out a small plastic thing and pulled up a small antenna. I gasped.

“Uh Megumi...can I marry you by any chance?....” I asked her with a laugh. We all laughed at the sight of this small device, with the word “Nokia” on it. It was a mobile phone. None of the girls I knew had a mobile phone. Well we were teens, and mobiles were so damn expensive here in the year 2000. Megumi connected a cable into the phone and another into the Macintosh and opened a comms application. The music in the background had been the CD player playing a song by Chris Rea. I loved his music.

I looked at the laptop and for the hundredth time in my life – it was love at first sight. I watched as Megumi opened her browser and went into yahoo and logged into her email and saw some emails sent to her. I so wanted a laptop. Oh God it was beautiful!

“Uh Debra...about the ...er...uh...” She looked at me then at Megumi.

“Oh yes, the letter writer...yes, Megumi brought me up to speed. Uh I didn’t write it, baby...”

I laughed and was caught off guard by her wink as she said the word baby, and she kind of shimmied her breasts as she said the word baby. God, in that T-shirt Debra was hot, and she knew I loved those ample breasts.

“Cassy...” Megumi interrupted me. “It is okay...please don’t worry...”

“But Megumi I just had a row with everyone down....uh...” I began to explain my altercation with the girls down stairs, but Megumi leaned over the Macintosh and kissed me on the lips. Wow, I loved her kisses. Debra suddenly leaned into me and kissed me and then Megumi kissed Debra. Wow.....I was in Girl Heaven. Then we were all kissing each other. My blood was starting to warm up....and I never saw the door open oh so quietly and see Marla standing in the doorway. Megumi saw her and broke lip contact and we all turned and looked at Marla. She just stood there, in the doorway - looking back in at us.

Marla looked like a kid outside the candy store looking in at all the candy. She was gobsmacked, at the sight of us three girls kissing, and then she spotted the Macintosh.

“Jesus wept ...” she stuttered...and I got up off the bed and walked to the door.

She looked at me, and those normally dull and blank eyes of hers now were sparkling with light and other things.

“Hya Marla,” I said cheerily. “It must be nice being the new Number Two, Marla. You can have the job...we girlies have something more...” I looked back at Megumi and Debra.”....interesting to play with....” And she still had that look of awe as I slowly closed the door on her.

I knew about thirty seconds after the door was closed that everyone in the house knew about us three and the Apple Wall Street Powerbook with its awesome kick-ass mobile phone internet. Something like this being discovered by my friends in this house like this was going to be big news. Bigger than Indiana Jones finding a bunch of Three lesbian girls all kissing the faces off each other in the Temple of Lesbos! I chuckled to myself and sat down and told the girls I had a plan. I asked would they like to play along. The letter thing needed sorting and I was tired of it being an issue. Debra looked at Megumi and asked her did she really mind the letter writing thing. Megumi frowned and blew the hair out of her eyes and she gave a strange answer.

“It was hurtful...but with you both, I don’t feel alone or by myself any more. I am able to bear it more, knowing you are with me... to ....” Her voice trailed off. I gave her a kiss and hugged her. Debra hugged her too. We knew what Megumi meant.

Debra looked at me. “I get you now, Cassy,” she said with a smile. “I see how your mind works. You’re pretty frickin awesome. You really stand by your woman...” I loved her saying this to me. I felt a golden warm sensation in the pit of my tummy and down in my toes. I was liking Debra more and more by the second.

“I think the American and British side should gang together and overthrow the hording krauts...re-take the base...” Debra said with a chuckle. We laughed Megumi asked were we talking about the past old wars again. Debra smiled and said, no – this was an all-new war.

“You’re not in this Cliché, Megumi..” she chuckled.

“Yeah Megumi, you were in the last one...” I said in a consolatory tone to Megumi, who nodded slowly.

“Of course, these are your friends, Cassy.” Debra added, after a moment. She was right. I had to get everyone on Megumi’s side before the letter writer did more damage. I could feel the rift in the house already between some of the girls. And behind it all I could smell a familiar rat. But proving who it was - would be tricky.

“Marla, she is close to Ronda...” Debra said, a split second before I thought of it. Marla. Of course!

Leaving Debra and Megumi in my bedroom, I left and sauntered nonchalantly down the landing, past some of the doors and headed towards Marla’s room. A hiss made me turn, and I found Penny in her own doorway. She beckoned me into her room. I went in, and found Wendy lying on the bed, curled up in a ball. She was moaning. I asked what was the matter?

“She‘s not well, Cassy. Wendy has a sore tummy. We think it was the food.”

“It’s everything in this house...” groaned Wendy. “It’s the arguments, the yelling... the picking sides...I’m sick from it.”

Wendy turned over and I could see she had been crying I sat on the bed beside her, and brushed strands of her braided hair out of her pretty face. I swallowed hard.

“I know, Wendy,” I said quietly. “We’re all tired of it, and we all want it to go away. We are worried these letters are ruining everything...”

There was a knock at the door. Penny opened it and to all our surprise, Avril stood there with her coat and her backpack. Wow. She was ready to leave.

She looked at me in silence. “Where are you off to?” I asked.

“I’m leaving. I’m tired of this sh*tty house and the fighting, and the rows.” Penny pulled her into the room and closed the door before Avril could protest. Avril looked at me in silence.

“Avril, I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier. I was angry. I thought you were ganging up against me. It’s the notes being left to Megumi. It’s getting me down, Avril.” I said finally breaking the awkward silence. She dropped her bag on the floor. “I know, Cassy...” she replied.

“I don’t hate you, I’m just thinking of that Japanese girl in there...” I said.

“In there with you and Debra...” There was a faint hint in her comeback. They all smiled.

“H’mm, good news travels fast, I see, ladies...” I smiled back. We all laughed.

“Did you three really all snog in there? Marla spun the most ridiculous...”

“Yes we did, Penny” I answered, when Penny asked that question. Wendy sat up.

“Has she really got a Macintosh Powerbook in there?” She asked, suddenly perking up.

“Yes, and it’s quite amazing...” I said smiling.

“Geeezzzz, how do you get all the good ones?” Asked Avril, sitting on the bed, and heaving a sigh. Penny gave her a good-natured thump on the arm.

“Avril there’s three really great ones in here. All old friends of mine...” I answered back. We all looked at each other. Avril was picking at a strap on her backpack.

“I remember we had that backpack that time when we were chased through that shopping mall, and that fat security guy chasing after us...remember that?” I said suddenly. It was a thing that happened months ago, after school.

Avril burst into a smile at my saying this. “Yeah, the bleedin’ bag burst and all me gear flew all over the place. Jazuz! We were nearly caught...”

“But you got us out of there, and we grabbed the bar of that bus, and you grabbed me and pulled me on the platform just in time....that was awesome...” I sighed, thinking back to this moment from a few months ago to one afternoon after school. Penny was watching me unblinkingly.

Avril looked at me, and I could see her looking hard at me. “Why are we fighting, so?...”

I walked round to her and she stood up, and we hugged. It was hard to hug her through her big coat. This red-headed Irish girl Avril and I had some serious history together. She was my friend.

“We’re not fighting. Friends don’t fight because friends don’t hate...” I said. We all four of us hugged. Wendy smiled. “This is more like it...the girls I know from school....” she smiled, and we laughed.

“So what the f**k am I doing with this heavy coat on me...?” Avril threw her coat on the bed. We laughed again.

“I’m heading to Marla’s room...” I told them. Avril and Penny offered to come with me. I told them I’d be okay, and said to look after Wendy Darling. It was a nickname I used for her sometimes, as I was a fan of Peter Pan, and loved the Wendy character in it. Wendy smiled at me and she seemed visibly better.

“Be careful, Cassy." Avril sounded cautious as she sat beside the girls on the bed now.
"Marla is a silent type, we don’t know much about her, and she’s Huge!”

“Yes, thanks for that cheerful appraisal of my situation, Avril baby...” I said trying to cheer her up. “Marla and Ronda are tight. I’m going into the Lion’s Den here, I think...”

And with that, I was gone. I snuck down to Marla’s door and knocked softly....

“Marla, are you there...oh!” The door opened and there stood Marla. Tall, looking like a girl of nineteen more than a sixteen year old, her hair brushed back from her forehead giving her face a huge appearance. I asked her could I come in for a second.

She hesitated and seemed to be looking at me hard. She could have said anything. She looked at me. Just looked. It was weird. Then the opened the door, (her arm was thick and I could tell she was one seriously large girl...built like a shit brick house) ...and she let me in. I walked into her small narrow bedroom with a trembling heart...this was the Lion’s Den, where Marla and Ronda stayed and hatched...what did they hatch...I didn’t know...and I was not sure what to expect. The door closed behind me.

To be continued.
Part 6 is here.

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Chapter extract from a forthcoming book by Cassy Mantis. All text copyright (c) 2010 - 2016 Cassy Mantis. All rights reserved.