Better, Brighter, Whiter Part 9 (Patreon)

When Emmie had offered for Toni and Kat to stay over at her place, it definitely wasn’t for the purpose of having a slumber party. Even so, she knew full well by now that these girls were not ones to back down from a good time when one presented itself, regardless of her feelings on the matter. Before she knew it, both of them were on their phones and making arrangements, and then what seemed like minutes later, Kei was in the kitchen making margaritas while Sofia was out at the store with Toni. Apparently, the two of them were hellbent on making sure Emmie had as little sleep as possible before her big presentation in which several of them may be called upon to speak. 

She’d tried to convince them that they already had booze in the house, courtesy of Kei, but the two ethnic party girls coquettishly informed her that they didn’t want some cheapo Walmart margaritas.
“Besides, we have to live up to our school-mandated philosophies, right? Sucking back Great Value tequila and tomato juice would not be very Plushy Princess of me.”

Emmie rolled her eyes at the notion. She knew damn well that she just wanted to get everyone as trashed as possible just for the hell of it. She also knew it was a bad idea, but still couldn’t get herself to let go of the nagging temptation to have a little fun with her girls. 

Toni waved her fingers goodbye and left with Sofia blaring a sort of EDM all the way up the street.

(1)

Emmie retreated back to the house where she found Kei puttering around the kitchen looking for various dishes, but didn’t seem to be having any luck finding them. Periodically, she would look up expectantly at Emmie, who would only stare back with a lowered head and raised eyebrows, narrowing her eyes in mock suspicion when her anxiety ridden houseguest failed to actually ask a real question instead of eyeing her in the hopes that her mind would be read. Which it was, really  Emmie knew exactly what she wanted but had already decided not to reward this particular behavior. If Kei wanted help, she’d have to ask for it.

She plopped down on the couch and pulled out her phone, scrolling through apps until she found her opening speech on a word document. She ran over the words in her mind, still smirking slightly at her smug refusal to instruct her house guest until she broke out of her shell a bit more. She wasn’t about to let her friend, especially not the fattest, most insecure one be part of her organization without trying to build up her confidence. If anything, the quiet, clueless looks she’d shot the Polynesian girl every minute or so were helping her more than they were teasing.

As Emmie scrolled through her speech, she found herself trying to reword things, trying as hard as possible to make sure that she was trying to benefit all students and not just black ones. She’d noticed that her speech mentioned black students specifically, and was beginning to feel that she might have been projecting a bit too much for someone supposedly interested in equality and acceptance for ALL. She opened up facebook for a moment out of sheer habit, her ability to focus on the black and white document for very long waning the more she stared. Everything seemed to revolve around that, she pondered, feeling her mind wander as she scrolled past vapid updates from Bright girls she’d become acquainted with since school began. All of them were fairly stupid, she thought. Dumb, but undeniably pretty. So many beautiful women with pretty blue eyes and shining white teeth. So many busty, white blondes with bright pink lips. Every one of them overflowing with both confidence and stupidity.

“Must be nice.” She said aloud, prompting Kei to pipe up from the kitchen.

“Hmm?” She asked, eager eyes looking up from her phone on the couch. Emmie was startled at first. She hadn’t noticed that she’d even moved. She glanced at the time on her phone, wincing in disbelief upon seeing that she’d been scrolling for almost an hour.

“Oh. Nothing.” The black girl started, following her habit of claiming a definitive negative, then expounding in the opposite direction. “I was just thinking of like….You know all those girls that are just like really dumb but are SUPER confident? Like Dunning-Kruger narcissism so dumb that they have no idea that they could possibly fail or be wrong about anything?”

“You mean like….literally sophomore and above who goes here?” Kei droned in understanding, snapping a stick of strawberry pocky in her mouth.

“Exactly.” Emmie said. “I want to be that stupid for just like….a day. Just ONE DAY of not ever thinking even ONCE that I am going to fuck something up or that I am not good enough. Like you can totally BE just some dumb spoiled brat whose biggest problem on any given day is deciding what sexy bra she’s going to wear that day or whatever. To just happily take pictures of yourself ALL day and have people fawn over you and no shit even pay you while you plan your next boob job. I dunno. It makes me envious sometimes.” 

“I think I get that. I had to work super hard to learn to be okay with my body the way it is and know that with MY genes, I’m probably never going to be much smaller than this. My mom is fat, my grandma was fat, and I’m totally cool with being fat too. And that’s okay because I finally know I’m pretty. But like I legit wonder what it would be like to just have been BORN hot and pretty and skinny and whatever naturally. I wouldn’t have had to wrestle with my self esteem or spend all those night crying in the mirror because I wasn’t the perfect Tits On A Stick bimbo that everyone told me I was supposed to be.” Kei said, almost lost in her own memories and staring at the ceiling as she reminisced. She dipped another carrot stick into her ranch bowl and bit into it, making a satisfying crunch sound that if played over and over might have put Emmie to sleep.

“Girl you got too much ass for that shit. Plus, who wants a boring blonde with no butt anyways. You’re better off.” Emmie said in genuine support.

“Yeahhhh, I know. I just want to get rid of my belly, you know? Like even if I’m never gonna be skinny skinny, I think that these Nutrition classes are helping a lot. Like we’re actually starting up Keto pretty soon and our professor is like, telling us about how like all these girls at the gym did it and now they lost like 15 pounds in a month.” Kei said, babbling on and on about her goals and what she planned to wear come summer.

Emmie rolled her eyes in irritation and was just about to tell her to shut up when as if by divine intervention, Sofia’s voice grew louder and louder as the other girls returned from the store. 

“You SO WERE OH MY FUCKING GOD, you almost had your hands in your shorts. I thought you were gonna fuck him like right in Emmie’s driveway. So fuckin slutty.” Sofia said after opening the door and causing both girls’ ears to prick up.

“Wait, what the fuck? Someone was tryna get lucky in my driveway? What happened?” Emmie said, her eyes furrowed in disapproval.

“It was Kat.” Toni said. “ She was all showing off for some Chadbro walking his dog when we rolled up.
Both Kei and Emmie turned their heads towards the sweaty redhead that had walked in with the other two. It was the second time that Emmie had lost track of one of her houseguests today and she was legitimately wanting to chide herself for being so absentminded.

“Uhhh Kat? What the hell you been doin on my lawn?” She asked with the tone of every angry black mother snapping at a misbehaving child.

Kat rolled her eyes. “Oh my GAWD I wasn’t trying to fuck him, okay? I went outside because you two were both glued to your phones and I decided to go get a workout while we waited. Then, while I was doing my plyo, this guy walked up and said hi and he was super sweet. He told me I looked nice and asked if I could show him my abs, and….I showed him.” She said, grinning shyly, but clearly invigorated by the encounter.

“Bitch what ABS? All you got is tits and ribs.” Emmie teased, now smiling at her friend and legitomately pleased that guys were taking notice of all her friend's hard work.

(2)

The party broke into full swing soon after with Emmie completely unable to even try to practice her upcoming speech with all the excitement going on around her. Even as she stared at the letters on her phone, there was a gnawing feeling in the back of her mind that kept her from focusing. She knew she needed to have this memorized by morning and to be presentable by then, but every word she read bored her more and more. She looked up and saw the girls taking shots and felt herself wanting against her better judgment to just stop studying and have some fun for one instead of slaving away for “Black Excellence” in every boring, monotonous, unnecessary moment of her life. Seconds that could have been filled by fun and partying and even DATING.

She sighed.
Emmie had already made up her mind about that. Parties and such were for after she got school out of the way and had a job and a stable career. She didn’t want to end up like her pothead brother, working retail at a local hardware store because he cared more about weed and hanging with his friends and now-ex girlfriend than he did about finishing high school. She wanted to be better for her family. 

“Esteemed gentlemen of the advisory board….My name is Emefa Kikelomo and I am the head of a school-wide inclusivity program called Better, Brighter, Whiter.”

As she said the words, she felt a feeling of restlessness well up in her and began looking around as the momentary intensity faded. She looked up and saw Toni and Sofia snapping selfies as they broke into the second back of tortilla chips, moaning at how delicious the salsa was. 

(3)

Kei and Kat were eagerly talking about some fad diet and giggling over each other’s shoulders as they fawned over various low-cal recipes and how unbelievably good the meals looked. Admittedly, Emmie had been browsing those same kinds of pages on facebook and subscribing to weight loss instagram accounts in her spare time. As much as she hated to feel like a stereotypical skinny girl, she was desperately watching her waistline in hopes of keeping the Freshman 15 at bay. She reasoned that with people like Kat around, she and Kei were probably fine given their mutual enjoyment of diet and exercise. Toni and Sofia on the other hand…would probably have some trouble.

“Oh my god, stop hogging them all!” Sofia pouted, stealing the Tostitos from her mixed friend’s tawny hands, bickering from their end of the table.

“Bitch, you’re the one that had like all of the last bag! I barely even got any! We got like a million snacks! Just get something else!”

Sofia looked at her and pouted in her poutiest voice with the poutiest, puffiest baby frown she could muster. “But I want dose ones…” She said, exaggerating even further with ironically intentional baby talk.

Toni didn’t miss a beat however, instantly snapping back “Well then walk your spoiled ass back up to the store then.”

At this, Sofia threw her hand to her chest and leaned back, feigning incredible offense in the same way a Victorian noblewoman might.

“How DARE you!! I am not supposed to be walking. My whole MANTRA is ‘Soft. Sexy. And Spoiled.’” She said, pointing a finger, tapping at the air as if she were counting out the words to her student mantra as if they were written in the air and lighting up at her touch. “I am simply NEVER supposed to be exerting myself. I, being a young, beautiful, powerful woman am expected to maintain a certain standard of beauty and composure.” Sophia said, now tipsily working her way through a posh but fake English accent.

“Why, I dare SAY that were I to…Uhhh….-“ Her accent dropped and was replaced by her regular Mexican one. “Shit. I can’t think of anything. But yeah. So take that. I’m staying RIGHT here. OOH, BUT LEMME GET THOSE CHEETOS THOUGH!”

“Yeah, see? You got nuthin.” Toni said, grinning. “HOWEVAH!” She suddenly burst out, her own drunkenness starting to show through a McGonnagal-esque accent of her own. “As the Plushy Princess, heir to the Stuffy Throne and Mistress of All Things Squishy…..I do declare thee to be….An official Lady of…Uhh…” She trailed off, blinking several times and harder than one normally would.

“Balremere.” Sophia said, her mouth now full of hot cheetos.

“Hehn?” Toni said as she tried to flip her sandy, coiled hair out of her face only to find it stuck to the corner of her mouth.

(4)

“Local SCA barony. It’s like…nerd stuff.”

Emmie could take it no longer. She realized she’d been just watching her friends have fun together at her own house rather than actually join them. She stuffed her phone into her and stood up, shaking her head at how little she wanted to keep reading her own words on a tiny phone screen. It was an important thing and a good cause, she thought. But the more she tried to get into her rehearsal, the more she realized that she just didn’t care.

“I….Just…Don’t fucking care. Oh my GOD.” She said out loud, gathering the attention of everyone in the room unintentionally. The words hit her like a hammer striking a huge bell in her mind, (I don’t care…I don’t care…I don’t care..) echoing through her and jarring her senses.

“What’s up, babe? You good?” Kat called out from the table. 

“Sorry.” Emmie began, snapping out of her stupor and suddenly aware and embarrassed at being caught talking to herself.

“I have just been trying to practice for this stupid fucking speech since before school started, and now it’s the day before and I don’t have it memorized, but holy fucking shit I can NOT get myself to care. I just…don’t WANT to do it….Anymore!...And that makes me feel kinda shitty now that I say it out loud.” She frowned.

“Well yeah, that’s called burnout, Emmers.” Kat said, a kind, understanding smile on her slim, angular face.

“You know like everything in there, right?” Kei asked, joining in to support her friend. “I think it’s actually better that’s it not just memorized. It will feel more like you’re being natural and not just reciting something verbatim.” 

“Yeah, and it’s not like you don’t know everything on there from practicing it like ALL THE TIME.” Sophia chimed in.

“Come on Emmers. Come spend time with your friends. Let loose for once.” Kat said, invitingly.
Emmie sighed deeply and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. “Fuck it. Let’s do this. Just make sure I don’t get too drunk and have a hangover, okay? I need to be reasonably okay in the morning.” She said, to the cheers and applause of the other girls who were already pouring her shots to catch her up and get her on “their level.” 

“Don’t worry Emelia Earhart Jr.” Sophia slurred sweetly. “I’ll make sure to take care if you so nothing bad happens.”

Sophia was full of lies.
She did absolutely nothing to make sure Emefa stopped drinking, and did in fact do the opposite. While Kat, Kei, and Toni were all snuggled together on the couch, screaming at the tv over how much they simultaneously loved and HATED “Wednesday,” the two girls drank an entire bottle of fireball and were halfway through some Hennessy when Sofia decided that an impromptu sexy photoshoot was in order. She immediately stripped off her jeans and began posing for Emmie’s camera in ways that emphasized her thick thighs and big, round ass. 

(5)

She was all set to have Emmie do the same, but the poor girl was so drunk and tired that she’d passed out on the bed. When Emmie awoke, she found her skull threatening to split apart and roiling nausea sapping her strength.

“OH MY GOD EM YOU GOTTA GET READY WE ONLY HAVE AN HOUR AND A HALF TO GET READY!!!” Kei shouted, bursting through the door just as Emmie’s headache had reached what she had considered the worst level she’d ever experienced.
…..Before Kei started screaming and opening blinds, that is.

In a whirl of still-kinda-drunk-girl power and a level of cooperation only seen in such situations, Emmie was dressed, made up, and styled for her presentation in under thirty minutes. While the others went home to get dressed should they be called on to make an appearance as fellow students and members of B.B.W., Kei stayed behind and nearly force fed Emmie a full plate of breakfast sausage, bacon, toast and eggs accompanied by gatorade and a fresh bottle of water. She may have still felt a bit nauseous, but  the immensely grateful woman looked at herself in the mirror and had to force herself not to cry at just how good she looked because of her friends all helping her out, lest she ruin her eyeliner or have to wipe her face and smear her immaculate, Bright U Cosmetics class foundation. 

“You just about ready?” Kei asked, ready and excited to head out and support her best friend the whole way, oblivious as to whether or not Emmie would describe HER as such.

“Yeah.” She said, taking one last look in the mirror and preening her long, dyed-gold hair. With one more deep breath, a surge of excitement ran through her body.

(6)

“Let’s fucking DO THIS!” She cheered, a huge smile plastered across her face.