Honey and Spice(97)
I blinked, trying to digest all the new unexpected pieces of information, chewing slowly, trying to extract sense from them. “Wait, so why did you drag me the next day? And bring him to Ty’s? And leak that video to make me look bad?”
Simi was unruffled, an easy smile on her glossy lips as she reclined and sipped the mystery cocktail she’d just concocted. “I needed you away from Zack so I could do my job properly. And I figured he wouldn’t mess with someone who’d publicly embarrassed him. He’s vain. I came with him to Ty’s because I overheard him saying he was going to crash and I thought if it was with me, I could at least help to control the damage. I filmed and leaked the video to make him look bad. Which he did.” She sighed, apparently finished, the need to explain herself to me a tedious inconvenience. “Look, Kiki, I knew you’d be able to handle some infamy as collateral.”
I nodded slowly as embarrassment cleared way for elucidation. My eyes widened, suddenly finding their way to Adwoa as she chatted to Chi in another booth. She’d said her girlfriend was a blogger.
“Were you investigating him?”
Simi saw where my eyes had drifted; she gave a slight nod. “Right. By dating him. Well, by flirting with him enough to make him think we could date. I mean, we never did anything, but for guys like Zack the promise is enough. I’m Simi Coker. I have currency. That turned Zack on. I needed to get close to him to get the tea. I couldn’t continue to watch him fuck up my legacy. I worked hard when I was in office, and I watched him undo everything I worked for.” She leaned closer, eyes diamond and flint.
“He severed all the connections we built, all the events we did with ACSs across the region. He wanted us isolated so he could do what he wanted to do, which was to have it all completely under his control with racist Whitewell’s institutional backing. He’s corrupt as fuck. Which is why I never really understood why you were hooking up with him.”
I shook my head, trying to process the fact that Simi had partly orchestrated a systematic takedown of the most powerful boy on campus, that she was possibly—possibly—one of the coolest girls I knew. “If you knew I was hooking up with Zack this whole time, why didn’t you blow my cover?”
Simi looked me up and down like she was seriously considering the question. She found her answer and punctuated it with an elegant twitch of her shoulder. “I don’t really know. I think you remind me a lot of myself when I was younger.”
It didn’t seem like an opportune time to point out to Simi that I was only about fifteen months younger than her, so I decided to focus on the other truly shocking element of the statement, which was that Simi looked at me and saw similarities. All this time, I thought when she looked at me, she felt a visceral sort of, if not loathing then at least scorn, like that of an auntie who has spotted your bra strap slipping at church.
Simi’s darkly lined eyes were looking at me analytically, like she was some kind of queen of ancient, deciding which village girl should be her handmaiden. “I knew you weren’t hanging out with Zack for popularity because you did your best to hide it. I just could never figure out why. I guess that’s why I took it out on you sometimes. You’re smart. I hated seeing you waste your time on him. At one point I wondered if you were in on it with him, but that didn’t make sense. It didn’t match who I know you to be.”
I tilted my head. “And who do you know me to be?”
Simi took a bite of a yam chip from the sharing platter in front of me. Another surprise, as I’d never seen her eat carbs. I’d assumed she subsisted on the blood of First Years.
“A leader.”
I stared at her, trying to detect a hint of mockery but found nothing. Simi was a lot of things, and while she did sensationalize the truth sometimes on her blog, she wasn’t a liar. She went on facts. She didn’t give compliments.
After a few moments, I asked, “You fucking with me?”
Simi rolled her eyes. “Look, I may not have always liked you, but I’ve always rated you.”
“That why you called me Poetic Injustice?”
Simi chuckled at her genius. “Okay, that was funny.”
Unfortunately, it was, but I couldn’t let her know that. I schooled my face to remain mock straight.
Simi cackled harder, but in an attempt at peacemaking she shoved her drink toward me. I didn’t need it, but out of diplomacy, I took a sip. I immediately choked. “Did you put vodka and rum in this?”
She shrugged. “It needed a kick. Anyway, come on, Kiki. A little bit of rivalry is fun. I was toughening you up for your future. When I leave undergrad, I’ll need you to take over as Boss Bitch of Blackwell.”
“Boss Bitch? That’s not a political post.”
Simi was irritated by my slowness. “Yes, it is. It’s just unofficial. But aside from that, Adwoa and I have been talking.” I liked that she felt comfortable enough to drop Adwoa’s name with intimacy, like she’d always said her name to me.
“And what Blackwell needs is a strong presence to keep everyone accountable. Adwoa’s a great organizer, but she doesn’t want to be president. Ask her. She’s only doing it because you flat out refused when she asked you, and we don’t have better options. But I think you should do it. I’m going to warn you, Brown Sugar’s listenership might take a dive when you go all campaigny, but I will help you boost it. My touch is magic.