Fresh Air

[laZardo†]

"C'mon, Rita. Swirl 'im. That's all you gotta do." Eva Bartlett may have looked like the typical blonde cheerleader ditz, but she knew what she was saying. Her own squad looked on and down into Rita's eyes, as the boy she clutched by his shaggy, jet-black hair had long since stopped squirming. His hands firmly clutched the rim of the toilet bowl, but his arms would crumble with sufficient force that only Rita Valentine could administer.

"Please...don't..." the boy whimpered.
"You don't have to do this, Rita! It's not worth it!" cried Robby McBride, Rita's best friend and a true bishie/dork, before being restrained by Eva's minions.
"You want into our gang, you swirl that runt. It's that easy."

With a deadly smile and no hesitation, Rita dunked the kid's face into the pungent, golden waters of the toilet, and pulled the handle.

"CUT!"

---
Reneé Valenti snickered at the fact that it took at least 5 takes and quite some protesting from both Eva's actress and her victim before she got over the rather entertaining urge to dunk that poor kid. Hell, Cliff thought she was just getting a little too "in-character."

But Reneé knew how the script was supposed to go. Rita would - after some crying and pleading on the part of her "victim" as well as her dorky/bishounen sidekick - nobly refuse, and through a series of unfortunate yet somehow clichéd events it would be Eva's head in the toilet and yet another sappy reflection scene at the pier (which, thankfully, was taken care of some days before).

But how was she supposed to know that the kid she was supposed to administer a swirly to bore more than a passing resemblance to none other than her favorite punching bag? (Co-star Michael Parker, on the other hand, thought he looked like that villain's kid brother from that card-game animé). What transpired in those precious few seconds came just like reflex, shocking even Eva's actress with its voracity.

Reneé sighed and took another sip of her frappuccino. It was a bit chilly inside, not nearly as cold as the drink itself, but maybe it was because of her blood-red spaghetti-strap and tight, faded jeans and casual shoes. She didn't feel any chillier having left those girls back at the mall, it was better for her not to get involved with moochers. If those so-called "Bloody Fists" came back for her, she'd give them a taste of the real Rita Valentine.

(OOC: Forgive me if I am not in tune with the latest girl fashion sense. I'm not metro, for crying out loud!)

At least the toilet water was (obviously) fake, otherwise that kid would still be blind today.

As she put the frappé back onto the table, she could feel a slight yet noticeable vibration in her side pocket. She took out her cellphone, and leaning back on her seat (to look like she was somewhat irritated), accessed the message - from lowly minion Franco Sebberts.

You are invited over to my house for a party tomorrow night, good wholesome fun.

Reneé raised a well-trimmed eyebrow. She might go, she might not. She might because she always looked for the opportunity to mingle with the cream of society (no sexual pun intended, though admittedly she sometimes looked forward to that chance), she might not because Franco would probably use the party to try to butter her up for something, and he had plenty of time to do that at school. Speaking of the buttering up...

P.S. Damien's coming. Watch out for mom.

He's probably invited Marvin and the rest of the gang too. Ah well, might as well go just to show up. Damien's friends need to be taught a lesson. Wonder how I can torture him this time and NOT get noticed by his whore of a mom?

She took another sip and let herself sink a bit back into the ambience. She'd formulate a plan in good time, but for now her primary concern was getting spotted by some crazy fans. With this crazy Running Man show now over, her show would soon get back on air, and her (mindless, drooling) fans would return - most likely in droves. At least the attention was positive. It wasn't like there were more than a few stalkers among the bunch, and she could easily have restraining orders out on them in due time.

[Xaldien†]

On the way towards her house, Kristey decided to let out some steam.
Downtown was a nice place to go to if you just need to relax, so she headed in that direction.

While walking, she noticed a familiar face sitting down for coffee... she approached, knowing full well who it was.

"Well, if it isn't the one who put the 'whore' back in 'horrible.'"

[laZardo†]

And speaking of stalkers... Reneé was in the middle of a particular hearty sip when her ears were pierced by a barbed comment, aimed directly at her. She looked up and saw its source standing right across the table from her. Suddenly, Reneé wasn't disturbed anymore. The redhead looked up at the blond and grinned slyly. This bitch was headstrong, seeking her out at the coffee shop to deliver her verbal poison, but she did have the advantage of catching her rather off-guard, sticking a flaw in that sly grin.

Reneé tried to improvise. "Kristey! How nice to see you! Hey, I'll be honest, but my scriptwriters could probably come up with something worse. But you're obviously not the type..." - and this is followed by a quick visual inspection of Kristey's clothing - "...that watches my show." If that was true, Reneé would actually be thankful for it.

Damien could definitely wait, she now needed a plan to get this 'whore' off her back.

She remembered how she planned to get rid of two birds with one big stone. Kristey standing in front of her at this moment meant that plan had failed miserably, which further flawed her grin. Then she remembered her little text message.

"Please, have a seat! We have soooo much to talk about." She knew she sounded so...very...ditzy...with that word, but hell, it helped her blend in.

[Xaldien†]

Kristey brought it upon herself to sit next the girl, and yelled out her order of a Frappucinno.
"So, Renee," She began with a forced, obviously sarcastic smile, "How is a girl like you ever going to go to sleep with so much caffeine in her? Surely, acting like a washed up gangster from a cheesy 50s flick, in High School form, tires you out enough. You should be at home, catching up on some..." she scoped out what Kristey was wearing, and her look, "Much, much... MUCH needed beauty sleep."

She smiled, and fluttered her eyelashes very quickly.
And she was given her drink.

[laZardo†]

Renee's smile slid into a smirk. The only way the blonde would be able to have insulted her show in such detail was for to have actually watched the show herself. That, to Reneé, counted against Kristey, and hell, . "I suppose a girl like you wouldn't need any beauty sleep, you can just..." - now with a closer inspection of her wardrobe and figure - "...enhance yourself to cover up your little blemishes. Or is it that you get too much beauty sleep that your brain has forgotten how to wake up?"

Two jokes in one, including a blonde joke. Good one, Reneé.

She smiles as she looks away briefly to take a sip from her frappé. She could probably go on with the flame-hair wars until she could leave for the party and get to inflicting some real damage. But going on for that would make even this redhead forget about her plan.

"Of course, it doesn't take a genius to figure out you're still mad about the Dame." Mmmm. Dual meanings. She'll be stumped for ages. And Reneé planned to use some of that time that Kristey would use in letting that stew over, in finalizing some details of her own.

[Xaldien†]

Kristey gave her the cutest little smile.
"Now, lovely girl, surely you can come up with an insult that I haven't heard off of a bad episode of Melrose Place. Good show, unlike the trashy show that I saw the other day. There was a girl in it who looked UNCANNILY like you... but, of course, it couldn't have been you, it takes skill to get into something like that. Then again, the character had the IQ of a rock, and the personality to match, so I can see even more similarities."

Kristey could go at this for ages, and never get bored.

[laZardo†]

Wow. That comment about Damien went right into one ear and straight out of the other. Typical.

"You know, you're right. One hundred percent." Reneé sighed and pretended to nod her head in submission. She hated Rita Valentine and she knew it. Which clearly didn't stop her from a little self-deprecation as evidenced by her now-trademark cruel smirk. "In fact, I like to believe that the character was inspired by someone very close to me!" Her eyebrows curl like she's just said something astonishing. "But yeah, it actually took quite a bit of skill to do an impression of my opposite."

Touché.

Reneé took a rather loud sip (almost a slurp!) from her frappé, a sign of having finally cleared the cup of its contents save for the residue along the sides. After putting the cup back onto the table she leans back a little bit more.

"You know what skill I think you could definitely use? Try learning to cope with Damien ratting you out to his Mom. I'm sure you could use the..." - and returning to Kristey's own figure and fashion sense - "...experience." If she couldn't turn her against Damien here, then Reneé figured she could do with turning Kristey violently against her here, which would not work to the blonde's favor in such a public place.

[Xaldien†]

"Again with Damien."
She knew the DAME comment that she made a while ago, but chose not to speak of him, until now.
"I've done nothing to him, unlike you and your ragtag, 80's ripp off gang."
She took a sip from her drink.
"You all strut around thinking you own the school, and the people in it."
She began to smile sadistically again.
"And I, myself, can't wait for the day a kid like Damien gets his chance to take his anger out on you guys."

((OOC: Foreshadowing, anyone?))

[laZardo†]

Reneé laughs cruelly, and literally shrugs off that warning. Was that even supposed to be ominous!? The other customers in the store probably think they're just passing along gossip and jokes.

"You know Dame Carter Everidge, the whole school knows that he loves to hide behind that megaphone for his anger that his is mother. But to tell you the truth, without her, he doesn't have the guts to take on one of my - lesser - friends, like, hmm, I dunno" Reneé feigns trying to dig deep into her memory for this..."Rowland Kelly? Hah, he'd be more likely to hurt himself!"

She shook her head. She could say all that with relative impunity, not many people here apart from the staff that she knew even by first or last names, let alone from school.

"You can call us ripoffs and ragtag and all that...lower-class...jazz, but at least we stick together. And we have the connections to stay in the game longer than anyone else, until we graduate, of course. That's why Damien sticks by his mom, because it's the faintest thing he can muster to a defensive blow, at best."

Reneé is really enjoying this now.

"And...even if there was some remote possibility that he's got some Death List Six or whatever, there's no guarantee that we'd be the only ones on that list. I do remember someone else giving him quite the scare in school that other day."

Time to move in for the kill.

"You know, there's a classic movie line that goes, I'll see you in hell.. I believe its retort went..." and for this, Reneé tilted her head downward, looked ominously up into Kristey's eyes, and whispers...

"YOU FIRST."

She laughs softly.

[Xaldien†]

Kristey gave her a smile, and took a sip from her drink.
"You're a real bitch."

She sit her drink down.
"It's true, he's afraid of me, despite the fact that I have done nothing to him. And, despite the fact that I have defended him so far, if he tries something, I'll hurt him before he gets the chance to lay a finger on me."

She decided that this hostility actually was getting a little boring.
"But, in all seriousness, what IS with your group? What do you guys hope to accomplish with your godfather-esque antics? I mean, sure, your looks let you pass off the old Marlon Brando look, but still."

[laZardo†]

Reneé's smile was now one of victory, especially now that all that Kristey could do was call her a bitch. Of course, the blonde seemed to take it quite well, given that she seemed to smile it off. But the real icing on the cake was that she said she'd hurt Damien before he got a chance to retaliate (let alone run home to his mommy.)

Time to turn the tables.

"I like your thinking. In fact, chances are he's planning to do so at this very moment. Maybe you're the first one he's after, as some kind of little exercise before he takes on the gang itself."

She sighed in relaxation.

"To be frank, I don't really know what my guys hope to accomplish by hanging out with me. I suppose it's kinda like the Army. Some are in it for their family, some to prove themselves (like Marvin). I'm just giving the help they need to accomplish whatever they hope to. And the camaraderie we share, priceless."

And speaking of Marlon Brando, she'd soon be making an offer she hoped Kristey wouldn't refuse. Technically, it was an offer she'd made before, but it would seem a lot more enticing now...

[Xaldien†]

"Hmm, well, whatever the case may be, you guys are rather pathetic..."
She finished her drink, and stood up.
"I'll be on my way now, there's someone... I must see."

[laZardo†]

That's right, whore. Get up and go. But before you do...
Reneé also got up from her seat and said, rather thankfully, "Kristey, I really like your style." Really, she did. "You don't like taking shit from anybody. And you're a Gilroyal, which definitely helps."

Anyway, there's a party I've been invited to, and I was thinking maybe you could tag along with me. There'll be people attending that we both know, and there'll be chaperones, so chances are things won't get ugly. Hell, maybe we could even talk some things over there."

Reneé actually said "things won't get too ugly", only she had silenced the word "too" as it rose out of her throat and suppressed the motions of her lips in that moment. And by people both she and the blonde knew, she obviously meant Damien, though she was careful to give the impression that the chaperones would obviously be keeping close watch on the rest of her fellow 'partygoers'.

She hoped she could probably get Kristey to join in that special good time they'd have there. It might turn out to be something they could actually both enjoy.

"I could give you the address if you have a cellphone, or write it down."

[Xaldien†]

Kristey smiled at the opportunity.
"well, why not... stranger things have happened."
She got the address from the girl, and went on her merry way.
"Catch you then, Raggity-Anne."

[laZardo†]

Seeing as how Kristey was smiling at the opportunity, Reneé proceeded to go to the counter and "borrow" (read reach over the cash register and find) a Post-it and pen from the currently unattended counter. Delving a bit into her mental rollerdex of contacts, she slowly writes down Franco's address in swanky Kensington Heights.

Finally, she walks back and hands the post-it to Kristey, trying to match her smile.

"Hope to see you there. Later, Barbie." she says cheerfully, and watches as Kristey goes on her merry way.

We'll have a real good time, Kristey.

The redhead quickly returned the missing stationary seconds before a clerk makes his way out of the backroom, just finishing a quick smoke break. He finds Reneé at the counter, again, and asks... "Can I help you?"

Reneé responds by ordering a blueberry "victory" muffin.

((See you at the party! 8D))