You'll Be Fine

If you knew the campus, you knew Circle Coffeehouse. It was right in the middle of everything-- part coffee shop, part student museum. Reyna was seated in the corner, where barely anyone could see her. The circular mosaic on the floor and student art combined with the creepy Halloween decorations all became a big blur in her vision as she stared into nothing. She absentmindedly stirred the metal spoon in her coffee as she readied her nerves for tonight. It was all she wanted. It was all she ever thought about.

Two girls entered the shop, scanning the room. They smiled politely at the baristas and made their way to the very back.

“Earth to Reyna,” exclaimed Valerie, playfully slamming the table. Reyna jolted upright, clinging the spoon against her cup. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the spoon, seeing that her eyeliner had faded, but her red eye shadow still looked vibrant against her brown skin. It still matched the messy highlights of red scattered throughout her hair. Like Bambi went punk, as one of her teachers described it. She quickly took a napkin, patted down her t-shirt, and skater jeans.

“You really scared me,” she responded, after getting situated. Valerie and Kerry squished themselves into the bench across from her. Valerie looked stunning as always. She had a full face of makeup, a black-sleeked ponytail, and those fancy gold earrings that make people take you seriously. Kerry was her counterpart in silver jewelry. Today, she sported a perfectly hairsprayed donut bun and a blazer with shoulder pads. It was like looking at two perfectly engineered robots.

“So,” said Valerie, as they both placed their bags on the table in unison. Reyna’s heart jumped at the sight of the bags. It was unfair how close she was, and those bags sat in front of her, silently mocking. They both leaned in as Valerie continued to speak. “About tonight. The frat is throwing in a new location.”

“Very exclusive,” added Kerry, as she nodded seriously.

“It’s super discreet. You can only get in if you have a wristband,” whispered Valerie.

“Wow, you must be super close with the in crowd if you know all this,” whispered back Reyna.

“Honestly, it’s not a big deal to us. But we understand for people like you,” responded Kerry, smiling warmly at her. “You don’t really go out much because of your culture, right?”

“Mmhmm. Yes. My culture. If only I had met you two before, life would have been so different,” said Reyna.

“Don’t even stress. Now you’re with the in crowd. I actually really like other cultures. So diverse, right, Ker?”

“Yes, Val. Other cultures are so amazing,” Kerry strongly nodded in agreement.

“You’re basically one of us now. I’m gold, she’s silver, and you’ll be copper or something.”

“Wow. I can’t wait to be just like you. For tonight, should we get ready at my place?”

***

Reyna’s apartment rapidly began to resemble the chaos of a clearance sale. Clothes strewn everywhere, makeup palettes and brushes scattered into piles, buzzballs being passed around. Reyna checked her phone out of boredom every so often. Valerie, peering over her shoulder, gave her a friendly nudge, and prodded her about the guy she was texting.

“His name’s Brandon. He’s in one of my classes. There’s a text chain going around for homework answers.”

Valerie’s smile faltered for a second. She looked Reyna up and down, but went back to smiling supportively. “I know a Brandon in that class. He’s actually in the frat that’s throwing tonight.”

“There’s so many Brandons in that class. Who knows?” Reyna replied quickly.

“Come here, let me fix your costume really quickly. It looks a little off.”

The three girls finished and looked back at their reflections. Back at them stared a sexy Joan of Arc, a slutty Cinderella, and a slutty Tinkerbelle. Reyna readjusted her armor and held her breath as she watched the other two apply their lip gloss. She was astounded that she had gotten this far. An in with these two. That’s all she could have ever dreamed of. But how could she be surprised if she did everything right?

Valerie adjusted her tiara, handed her phone to to Kerry who was fussing with her wings, and said, “I need some good thirst traps.”

“Maybe your caption could be ‘If the shoe fits’,” Reyna said, chuckling to herself.

“What does that even mean?” Valerie said, rolling her eyes, and then striking a perfect pose.

“Or you could do something else,” she quickly offered. “I’m just gonna go touch up my makeup in my room.”

***

“She is so fucking weird,” whispered Valerie to Kerry.

Reyna, hearing her through the door, scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Bitch.” They were lucky she hadn’t punched them in the face at the coffee shop when they started talking about her culture.

She pulled up a password-protected document on her laptop, scrolled through news clippings, student schedules, and her own research. She stopped at the page labeled “Concealed Room Plans”. She planned for it to happen on Halloween. Poetic justice. She took a deep breath and ran through the plan one more time.

She brought up the newspaper clipping that started it all. The headline read, “Local student dead from overdrinking”. It was two years ago that it happened. She steadied her breath, controlling her anger as she read through the article again. Valerie and Kerry gave statements for that night. “She was our best friend.” “I can’t believe something like this would happen.” “We’re in complete shock and never expected this.” But only one story was published, and everyone moved on like it never even happened. (And Valerie's dad happened to become very invested in the newspaper after that night.)

Reyna didn’t know the girl who died, but she had met Valerie and Kerry before in one of her classes. She was at the same party watching them egg on their best friend for not being able to keep up with her drinks. Other people sympathized with them, but she could see them for what they really were. Reyna didn’t know the girl personally, but she knew people like Valerie and Kerry. Too many people. It made her sick to her stomach that they got to walk around the world with no consequences. Tonight, they would be the cautionary tales.

She continued to scroll through the document. She scanned the floor plans of the abandoned warehouse near the school where the frat was throwing. She had visited it enough that she could get through the place blindfolded. Brandon, who was in her class and whom Valerie obviously had a crush on, was in a frat with dwindling popularity. Reyna casually dropped the idea of the warehouse, knowing he would claim it as his own. The two idiots outside the door sounded like they were in a two-person cult, the way they talked about the party's exclusivity.

Reyna accessed her security cameras of the abandoned house and clicked through to see the room she had prepared. Everything seemed up to par, after all, it had taken her months to set everything up. She loaded up her gun and added the silencer to it. She looked in her mirror, redrawing the lines of her eyeliner to be just a little sharper. Just as she was about to open an envelope, she quickly slammed the drawer closed as she heard a noise behind her.

Valerie throttled into the room unannounced. She slinked her way to Reyna’s mirror, acting like she didn’t notice her hiding something. “Hurry up, bitch. Otherwise we’re gonna get the weird juice.”

“No way, I hate the weird juice.”

“You good?” Valerie asked, eyeing her with suspicion.

“Yeah, just this party is so special. Just a little anxious.”

“Oh my god, noooo. You’ll be fine. Just go and like help Kerry with her wing,” Valerie said as she scanned her face for imperfections.

***

The party had a decent-sized crowd. Clearly, the frat pulled out all the stops to regain its popularity. Halloween lights, the DJ was dressed up as an inflatable dinosaur, there were even cute photo ops, and people were getting skeleton leis.

There was a group of people just about to begin a game of flip cup. “Oooooh, shall we start some trouble, Ker,” asked Valerie as she walked towards the table.

“I’m already one step ahead of you,” replied Kerry.

Both had claimed a spot in the line. Reyna swallowed back her anger and followed. It looked like these two never learned their lesson. That would be dealt with soon enough. One of the new frat members, clearly still being hazed, stumbled and couldn’t flip a cup to save his life.

Valerie egged him on, “Can’t keep up, freshie??”

Kerry joined in and yelled, “I think he’s being a little bitch.”

Soon, they got the table to join in with them and forced him to start chugging a handle of vodka as punishment.

Reyna, pretending to stumble around, accidentally pushed someone, who crashed into the freshman, who dropped the handle. Everyone jumped back as glass flew everywhere. She ducked through the crowd and found the girls.

“Oh my god, what’s going on?”

“Obviously someone can’t handle their alcohol,” Valerie snorted at the confused freshman.

“It’s literally so embarrassing,” Kerry said.

“Let’s just go to the bathroom and get cleaned up,” Reyna said.

Kerry kept rambling, “Like it’s basically our duty to shame them into drinking more. Otherwise they’re not gonna survive in the real world. How do you think I got this far?”

“It’s all about status and reputation. And that starts at parties,” said Valerie in a slurred tone.

“I’m just being SUCH a good person,” exclaimed Kerry in tears.

Reyna stayed focused as she navigated through the different hallways, making sure no one would follow them. “Look! There’s the bathroom,” she said, shoving them into the room.

***

Kerry felt her way through the darkness. “If this is the bathroom, where’s the toilet?”

Reyna kept the lights dim. She enjoyed a little dramatic effect. Why not? The walls were plastered with the same newspaper clipping from that night. Not that they had noticed just yet.

Val stumbled towards Reyna. “You know, you’ve been acting weird all night. Is there something you want to tell us?”

“Just a little tired.”

“What about this?” Valerie said, pulling out the envelope she had tried opening before in her room. It was a transfer acceptance letter. She rolled her eyes at how irritatingly nosy Val was. So unabashedly mannerless. After this night, Reyna was gonna lie low for the semester. She’d put all this behind her and start a new life at a new school.

“None of your business.”

“Really, because I—“

Reyna smacked Valerie in the face. She watched her stumble backwards into a chair.

Kerry, gaining consciousness, had finally picked up on the newspaper wall. “I remember this,” she whispered to herself.

“Do you remember her,” Reyna demanded, letting the aggression sharpen her voice.

“Like it’s just so sad that she was so fragile and she became a cautionary tale. Also, where’s the toilet paper?” Kerry asked, dabbing her tears.

“Do you two remember what you did to her,” she said, voice growing louder.

“Like we didn’t even do anything. That just goes to show people never really listened to us,” Valerie responded in a bored tone.

Kerry nodded and said, “And like, if you’re not comfortable drinking, just don’t drink. Like, you need to know your limits.”

Reyna was reeling back her rage and asked in a steadied, lowered voice, “Do you two not feel any remorse for her? You two are the reason she’s dead.”

Val snorted and said, “Please. She’s the reason she’s dead. If we were her friends, why would we ever do something like that?”

“You know what, if you feel nothing, that’s fine." She pulled out a gun and pointed it straight at her forehead. "Soon, you’ll be nothing. Just like that poor girl.” She waited for their responses. Truth be told, she didn’t know if she could go through with shooting them. But it had been too late. All the poison she had been injecting into their lip gloss and swapping out of their purses would kill them soon enough. This was just to speed up the process. And to see them beg.

All she had to do was pull the trigger, but then the gun flew out of her hands and floated in the middle of the room. The newspaper clippings started to turn upside down on their own. Reyna knew this room. She designed this room. The flickering lights, secret storage, security locks. Someone had gotten in, someone much smarter. Who? Why? She was not in control.

“It’s a ghost,” Kerry gasped.

Reyna rolled her eyes. Cruel and stupid. Did this girl have anything good to offer the world?

“Are you messing with me?” she stepped to Val, ready to slap her again.

Val looked past her, wide-eyed, frozen with fear, pee running down her legs.

Reyna looked back at the same wall. Her stomach dropped. She inched closer to the girls. The blood dripping from the walls wrote out, “It’s too late”.

Some type of sick joke this was. The gun had disappeared. Reyna, who thought she had overplanned for tonight, clearly was thrown a curveball. She patted against the walls, looking for the button to unlock one of the side doors.

But another girl had already entered and let out a bloodcurdling scream.

***

EMTs walked through the house with cots and body bags. The girls were crying and sobbing into each other's arms. Reyna, still frozen in place, mustered every bit of strength to see what was going on. She watched in confusion as she saw them lift up Valerie and Kerry’s bodies being zipped up. Had she finished the job?

She turned ice cold as she watched her own body be carried out of the room.