I studied all day Monday, to catch up on my readings from the weekend, and by Tuesday, I was ready to take on the world and my midterms. But, as I put on my sweatpants and a hoodie to catch my 8 AM, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I didn’t look right somehow; I didn’t look like myself anymore. I mean I looked like me, but not how I could look. The club had showed me that. Things could be different for me.

I wanted to be in the corset and ruffled panties with a pair of high heels and deep red lipstick. It made me feel confident and beautiful. But, when I walked into my class in my sweatpants, I just felt like every other girl that was taking the test. Though looking at some of their hair, I could see I fared better than others, and one girl actually look like she pulled some out. I felt sorry for her. I was still definitely concerned about my grades, but considering I was waiting for cops show up at any moment, I had bigger fish to fry. But I kept my head down, and did my work the rest of the week, soaring through my midterms and feeling good about myself by the time Thursday rolled around. I had a final Friday morning, but it was an essay, and I decided to turn it in early, in case I was occupied for the entire night once again. I prayed that this time it wouldn't be with a murder.

I had been watching the news all week; his wife had definitely been behind it. She was splashed across every news headline. They claimed that she knew about his multiple mistresses, and how he never paid any attention to her anymore. Apparently, they'd been living in separate homes for over a year. I just felt bad for the children; they were all adults, but having their names smeared in the tabloids wasn't fair to them. Their mother had gone off her rocker, and honestly, to me, it had seemed like their father was just a lonely old man. The kids didn't seem like people that deserved this kind of attention.

On Thursday afternoon, I watched them parade the wife around in handcuffs in front of the precinct. I heard Alexis come in, as I sat on the couch, glued to the TV. But I tore myself away to focus on her. She had been a bit more stressed out than I was about midterms. It was surprising because her grades were usually really good. When she got home, I understood why she was so worried.

She flopped down on the couch next to me, looking completely exhausted. She put her hand over her eyes, and shook her head in frustration. “What's going on with you? I mean midterms weren’t really that bad.” Honestly, they hadn't been as difficult as I was expecting.

She pulled her hand away from her face. “My dad is coming to visit. He thinks that I don't focus enough on school, and he wants to make sure that I'm not partying all the time.”

“Oh.” Alexis's relationship with her father was a bit strained. When her mother took her on shopping trips in all the famous cities in the world, her dad paid for it. But he never came along, always too wrapped up in the business world to take time to see his own daughter. And any time he did come, it was just to tell Alexis that she wasn't doing a good enough job. It always riled me up, though I never said anything to her about it.

“I don't understand why he doesn't think I'm doing a good enough job. I mean, I made the Dean's List last semester. Just because I am hanging out with some guys, and going to some nightclubs doesn't mean I can't keep my head on straight. Right?”

I nodded. “Of course you're right. Your grades are fine, I’m sure. When was the last time you saw him?”

She shrugged. “Maybe Christmas? I don't really remember. Oh God, that's terrible too.”

“What's terrible?”

“That I can't remember the last time I saw him. Like, I think he was there for Christmas Eve, but my mom had a huge party, so I don't even remember if I saw him. Oh, Calla, what do I do?”

I looked around our apartment, and I knew exactly what we needed to do. “The first thing that we’re going to do is hide all the booze.” I pointed to the top of our cabinets, where we had at least ten bottles of liquor, and a few other bottles of wine that had been given to us as gifts.

She made a face. “Yeah, I guess that would be a good idea. And, then, I'm also going to have to hide my lingerie that’s hung in the back of my closet in the trunk.” The trunk. It was where we hid everything we were embarrassed about when someone important was coming over. Sex toys, condoms, porn, and any lingerie that we had. The trunk was infamous. We never actually told guys about it, but somehow they already knew. I think it was just that type of talk that happened in the gym when guys were showering together or doing something else equally manly. Not that a bunch of straight guys in the shower was that manly.

“I will vacuum and dust before work tonight. I'm sure it'll be fine. How long is he staying?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I mean he’ll probably just come for dinner tonight, and then stay for his meeting in the morning. I doubt he’ll stay any longer than that. It would definitely fill his quota for family time for the year. Wait. Did you just say that you have to work tonight? But it's Thursday.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I'm on tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday. Though I'm not really sure how it works. If I get a date tonight, then would I see someone else tomorrow? It seems kind of weird to me.”

She shook her head. “It's all weird to me.”

She decided not to press any further, and stood up, moving over to the kitchen where she grabbed a stool so she could start to pretend to reach the bottles. After she had missed three times, I offered to trade places with her. I could tell she wanted to do it on her own, but short girl problems made her realize she needed my help.