The Con by Justine Elvira

the bed
covered in sweat. I cuddle in his arms, comforted by his warm
embrace and the smell of smoke and Jagger's deodorant. He kisses
the top of my head over and over again as one of his fingers trail
up and down my bare arm that's lying flat against his chest. We
don't speak. We don't have to. Both of us know the significance of
what just happened between us.
    I don't know when I finally fall asleep, but
I know it happens while Jagger softly hums a beautiful melody in my
ear. When I wake up the next morning I'm alone in the bed.
    Jagger is gone.

Chapter Six
     
    Three years later
     
    As I sit inside the gym in my high school
and listen to our class valedictorian give his speech about the
bright futures we all have ahead of us, I can't wait for this
ceremony to be over. Somehow I was able to get through the last
three years at this awful public school without suffering too much
damage, and thankfully I had Leah with me to get me through any
difficulties.
    Our graduating class of one hundred and
twelve students fills the floor of the gym as our family and loved
ones sit in the rusty old bleachers to watch us as we transition to
adulthood.
    It's all a bunch of crap. Most of us have
lived like adults for a long time now, coming from where we do, so
the speaker's words are just that, words. I look over to my left,
my eyes scanning the faces in the bleachers until I spot my sister,
Pearl, up at the top. After finishing her bachelor’s degree, Pearl
now commutes back and forth to Phoenix as she works on her
doctorate. She wants to be a pediatric doctor and I'm so proud of
her... and I'm also a little envious.
    Pearl should be the one we're here
celebrating. She worked her ass off to make enough money to support
us, and then went to school at night. She's actually doing
something with her life, while I'm just biding my time until I
figure out what I want to do next.
    I once had dreams and goals ahead of me. I
was attending one of the most prestigious Performing Arts schools
in the country, I was going to be a principal dancer at a dance
company in New York all while attending college and getting a
degree. Now I'm just an average student, graduating from an average
high school, who wastes her free time hanging in the trailer park
with other kids who have no ambition in life.
    Next to Pearl is my boyfriend, Dougy. He was
never my first choice, or even someone I thought of as an option in
the boyfriend department. After my night with Jagger I truly
believed I was starting a relationship with him, but that never
happened and I soon found out just how naive I was when it came to
him.
    I cried myself to sleep for months after we
slept together, while listening to Fifteen by Taylor Swift.
    I started dating Dougy a few months after
Angelo's party. I no longer had dance consuming my life so I
started hanging out with Leah more and the other kids in the
neighborhood. Dougy pursued me, constantly showering me with
attention, while Jagger acted as though I was a diseased animal on
the side of the road that he discarded and never wanted to see
again. He ignored me completely, while I was forced to watch him
flirt with other girls. After some time went by, and a lot of
crying in the privacy of my own room, I finally gave up on Jagger
and gave in to Dougy's attention, agreeing to go out with him and
hoping it would spark some interest or jealousy from Jagger.
    Okay, so maybe I didn't completely give up
on the idea of us.
    But my plan backfired because Jagger didn't
give a shit about what I did or who I was dating. That night I gave
him my virginity he was probably already planning his next
conquest.
    Dougy's dark brown eyes fall on mine and
then he smiles at me, his hand rising to give me a thumb up. He
dressed up for my graduation, wearing a dress shirt and tie. I'm
sure he's as bored as I am. School isn't really his scene. He
barely graduated two years ago and now he works at one of the
warehouses just outside of town. He works hard but earns