map bitch; ❛ PARASITE ❜
↷ heartbreak high
❝ don't you miss me? ❞

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Gathered inside of Classroom 5D, were all of the students whose names were written on the Incest Map. Arabella grimaced when she and Cash reached the classroom and realized that everyone else was already inside.

"Come on, Douglas and Bloom." The Headmistress rushed them as they brushed past her through the doorway.

Most of the people she knew were already in their seats so it was easy to find two empty seats as far away from them as possible.

Without any arguments, Cash followed her towards a seat near the window.

"Oi, eshay bah!" Ant and Spider called out when he passed them which caused him to flip them off and then sit down.

"How was hooking up in the bathroom, love birds?" Spider asked them loudly, never being able to keep his mouth shut nor his misplaced jealousy at bay.

Arabella rolled her eyes and snapped, "Piss off, Spencer."

Cash uncomfortably shifted in his seat which caused her to raise an eyebrow and give him a curious look. In response, he ducked his head down and stayed silent.

"Oi," Darren spoke up, their words directed towards Dusty, Spencer and Ant, "what's the cemetery?"

Spider gave them a look of annoyance and shot back, "None of ya biz, bong water."

Darren rolled their eyes and turned back around to face the front of the classroom just as Woodsy spoke up. "Okay. Settle down. Thank you."

"Hi, everyone." The teacher next to her gave them a warm smile. "I'm Miss Josephine Obah but you can call me Jojo. Kind of like Yo-Yo but J." She let out a nervous chuckle and cleared her throat when she didn't receive a single laugh from the crowd of students. "I'm an English teacher, so I know some of you. But I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here."

Arabella stared at her blankly.

Yeah, because that was so hard to figure out.

Miss Jojo was a good English teacher and she could say from experience that she was a pretty good teacher in general. Most teachers didn't care if their students were failing but Miss Jojo actually helped her pass English the previous year and made their classes interesting.

"Well, your names were on the map in the stairwell. You know, the one that's out of bounds."

A boy sitting right in front of Arabella, next to Amerie, raised his hand and asked, "Um, what map?"

He seemed genuinely confused and Arabella could not recognize him so she guessed that he was a new student and got into the wrong classroom or something.

Miss Jojo laughed. "Okay, very funny. Look, peeps, we're not dumb. We know a lot of you are sexually active, but we're concerned this map demonstrates a real lack of respect for one another when it comes to sexual relationships, so we want to address it head-on. This is a special class that aims to give you clear and accessible information about sex and intimacy ─ "

"A sexual literacy tutorial." Woodsy cut her off.

"SLT." Darren shortened, making Arabella crack a small amused smile. "So we're sluts?"

The classroom was quickly filled with laughter coming from every direction while Miss Jojo and Woodsy's eyes were wide in panic.

Spider climbed onto his chair while Ant stood in the air and they dramatically dry humped the air while the blond chanted, "Sluts! Sluts! Sluts!"

"That's enough. That's enough." Jojo told them, "Come on, everyone." Reluctantly, the two boys sat down so she continued, "This class will go back to the basics on sex and rel ── "

"Because clearly, you all have a lot to learn in that department." Woodsy cut her off once again.

Jojo sighed and nodded. "It will happen twice a week, in your own time."

Arabella scoffed while a couple of her classmates loudly complained. She had to sit through a class of sex education twice a week and what made it worse was that it was taking up her own free time. Unbelievable.

"Until ── No, until we judge that you started to respect each other and yourselves." Jojo explained, talking over Spider's complaining. "And you've got to attend every class or it will go on your permanent record."

Ant's mouth was agape and he gave her a confused look. "Wait, we have permanent records?"

"This is sex jail!" Missy complained.

"Thanks a lot, Map Bitch!" Ant exclaimed and threw a piece of paper on Amerie, who flinched.

The new guy raised his hand again and said, "Sorry. Um, it's actually my first day. I don't think I'm supposed to be in here . . . "

"Legend." Spider laughed in surprise, "Made it to the map before you even started!"

Woodsy spoke up again, causing the new guy to sink down in his seat again, "All right, everybody up! Up. Up. Up. Up. Up. Up. Up." Arabella scowled and copied the actions of her classmates by standing up. Woodsy nodded in satisfaction and instructed, "Okay, now clear these tables to the side, please. And lift them, don't scrape them along the floor."

She visibly winced when the sound of tables scraping filled the room. The center of the room was cleared pretty quickly because of the amount of students moving the tables so they got straight to the point.

"Thank you." Woodsy hummed, "Now I want you all to start walking around the room." When nobody moved, she glared at them, "Come on. Walking. Walking. Walking."

Everyone slowly started to walk around the room, bumping into each other in the process.

"Good, you know how to walk. Now I want you to choose three other people to start shaking hands with. Shaking, shake." Arabella immediately shook hands with Cash who was practically glued to her side and then she walked a little further and shook hands with Missy. "Good, you know how to shake."

Involuntarily, she bumped straight into Spider who held a hand in front of him with a coy grin. She flashed him a look of annoyance which only caused him to become more amused.

"Shaking."

Arabella huffed but shook his hand and then snatched her hand out of it to stand next to the people who already shook hands with everyone.

"Stop." Woodsy told those who were still walking around the room and shaking hands. "Spencer, you have genital crabs."

Arabella grimaced and Darren muttered, "Checks out."

"Not in real life, thank you, Darren," Woodsy cleared up, "for the purposes of this game. Put your hand up, please, Spencer." He stared back at her with annoyance and with his hands crossed over his chest. "Hand up, Spencer." Spider did as he was told that time. "Now, hands up, who shook hands with Spencer." Arabella, Dusty and Ant raised their hands. "And who shook hands with them?" More people raised their hands. "And who shook hands with them?" More people. "And them?" By that point, everyone in the room, except for Amerie, had their hands raised in the air. "You all have genital warts."

The new kid's eyebrows furrowed and he asked, "I thought it was crabs?"

"Right, crabs, thank you, um..."

"Malakai." He introduced himself sheepishly.

"Malakai." Woodsy nodded, "Thank you. You all have genital crabs. Except for you, Amerie. Well done. Now, what does this highlight the need for?"

"To stay away from Spider cause he's chat." Cash chimed in.

Spider glared at him while Arabela and everyone else laughed, "Fuck off!"

"No!" Woodsy snapped, "Condoms!"

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While Arabella made her way straight to her locker after SLTs, Cash wandered off to talk to Harper McLean for whatever reason. It was only the first day of school and Arabella was already counting down the days until summer break.

"Hi."

The Bloom girl clenched her jaw at the sound of Spider's voice behind her. She pretended not to hear him and continued to take out the books for her next class.

"You ditched me at the festival." He stated and leaned against the locker next to hers, his tall figure hovering over her and leaving her no option but to finally stop ignoring him.

She shook her head and corrected him, "No. You ditched me. You left and I stayed there with your idiot friends while both you and my best friend ditched me."

"Look, I was drunk and high." Spider explained, actually looking guilty which was enough to shock her into silence. "I had no idea what I was doing and I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Arabella scoffed in disbelief. "You were equally drunk the first time we slept together. Which only proves why you and I would never work."

Spider narrowed his eyes at her, "And why is that?"

"We're too different."

"Not really." He immediately said, "Be both fuck and drink our pain away and that's the only way we actually feel connected to someone."

"No. I drink and fuck to have fun." She corrected him sharply, "You do it to make yourself feel better. You wouldn't sleep with someone else unless what you and I had actually meant something. And it clearly doesn't. Thank fuck for that."

"You want to run around school with your eshay wrapped around your finger and pretend that we never happened and that we don't mean anything to each other?" He asked her, a determined look in his eyes. "Fine. You do that. But I'm going to be around every corner, ready to remind you that you're wrong."

Spider gave her another knowing look and then spun on his heel to make his way back to his friends.

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"Belly?" Eli spoke up hesitantly, lifting his gaze away from the cheeseburger in his hands. "What's a sex map?"

Arabella practically choked on the soda in her mouth. She set the glass down and let out a couple of coughs and gave her seven year old brother a wide-eyed look. "What?"

Eli shrugged and swallowed his fries. "I heard you and mum talking about it. What is it?"

The older Bloom blankly stared at the table before eventually saying, "It's a film. Kids are not allowed to watch it and it's illegal in Australia."

"Why were you arguing about a film?"

"Because mum is on her period and she snapped at me for no reason." Arabella blurted out and nodded towards his place. "Eat your lunch."

She watched him scowl at her but continue eating anyway and when she looked outside the window of the diner they were in, it was her turn to scowl. Cash was hanging out with those stupid eshays again which she wouldn't mind if they weren't terrible fucking people. She preferred to stay away from them because they made her way too uncomfortable.

It was annoying enough that he made her go to parties with him so she could help him sell stuff but she drew the line at even interacting with that group of pigs.

"Ooh, is that Dora?" Eli asked, looking at something over Arabella's shoulders. She gave him a weird look and turned around to see Amerie sitting alone in a booth. Just as she was about to turn around, the girl made eye contact with her so she had no choice but to offer a short wave.

"No." Arabella answered her brother, "She's a... girl from my class. I'm going to go say hi. Wait here."

Usually, she wasn't irresponsible enough to leave her brother alone in the middle of a diner but she and Amerie were the only other people there and she was only going to ask her how she was doing.

❪ Don't look so surprised, she's an introvert not an emotionless cunt. ❫

"Hey, Wadia." She greeted her with a small strained smile on her face. "Do you mind if I sit for a sec?"

Amerie barely got a second to nod before Arabella was sitting down in the seat opposite of her. She scanned her now shoulder length hair and the bangs that went along with it. Yikes.

"I take it you had a shitty week and that's what led to the bad hair day?"

"Yeah... " Amerie sighed, nervously fidgeting in her spot. "Why are you talking to me?"

Arabella shrugged and blurted out, "Because you don't have any friends." She paused and then added, "And I wanted to check on you. You look like shit."

Amerie slumbed back in her seat. "I feel like shit."

"'Sup, Dora?" Darren's voice made both dark haired girls look up. They cleared their throat and sat down next to Arabella. Darren, dressed in the work uniform that belonged to the diner, shamelessly took a fry from Amerie's plate. "Do you want me to fix that for you?"

"Please."

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That was how Arabella ended up on the roof of the diner with Eli, Amerie, Quinni and Darren. Darren was fixing up Amerie's hair and told Arabella that coming with them was not optional. And, because she was on babysitting duty, she brought Eli.

Those were not the type of people Arabella hung out with on purpose. Quinni was a sweetheart and there was nothing wrong with Darren other than the fact that they were too loud at times. But she never thought that she could actually like Amerie.

"It's bad, isn't it? Like irreversible bad?" Amerie asked with a frown on her face.

Darren shook their head. "Nah, I shaved off both my eyebrows and they grew back." They grinned at how better her hair looked. "Yeah, way less shit."

"More like heaps less shit." Amerie stated, her frown now replaced with a small smile, "Thanks."

"I once shaved my hair off." Eli chimed in from his spot next to Quinni. "Belly almost murdered me."

Quinni let out a faint giggle and looked at Amerie, "Why did Harper punch you in the face?"

All eyes immediately turned to Amerie who looked down at her lap and admitted, "I don't really know."

Darren rolled their eyes, "Well, you must have done something."

"We went to black music festival last week." Amerie recalled, "And after that, she just went ghost."

Arabella raised an eyebrow, "Did you get into a fight?"

Amerie narrowed her eyes in thought and then nodded after a couple of seconds, "Yeah, but I can't remember what it was about. We always fight."

"When's Harper's birthday?" Darren asked her.

"November twenty-first."

Darren grimaced, "Scorpio. Unsubscribe."

"Depends." Arabella squinted down at Amerie, "When's yours?"

"I'm a Virgo."

"I'm an Aquarius." Darren told her, perking up, "Quinni is a Libra."

"I'm a Gemini and Eli is an Aries." Arabella said, chuckling when her brother rapidly nodded with a grin on his face.

"Are we compatible?"

Darren blinked at Amerie and deadpanned, "Not all queer people are astrology experts."

"Well, I am." Arabella stated, "You and Harper are compatible because all earth and water signs are but you aren't the most compatible with us since all of us except Eli are air signs. You and I are only compatible because we're both mutable signs."

Nodding in agreement, Darren added, "I'm going to need the time of birth of both of you because if either of you are Leo Moon I am not messing with you."

Amerie hummed but continued to stare down at her lap. Qunni tilted her head curiously, "Do you feel sad?"

"Yeah."

"What do you feel saddest about?" Quinni asked and rose to her feet, "The fact that you're not longer popular, the fact that Harper doesn't want to be friends anymore, the fact that everyone knows you did the map or the fact that we're all currently in sex prison because of you, or the ── "

"What's sex prison?" Eli cut her off.

"Another film." Arabella said with wide eyes, "Shut up while grown-ups are talking."

He stuck his tongue out while Quinni clapped her hands together and suggested, "You should try scream therapy."

"Huh?"

"Scream therapy." Quinni repeated, "You scream your frustrations to the moon."

Amerie grimaced, "No."

"Yes!" Quinni practically squealed, "You should. It's helped me before. Come on, let's go."

Darren dragged Amerie towards the edge of the balcony and Arabella reluctantly followed them.

"My best friend dumped me!" Amerie screamed from the top of her lungs. "Damn, that actually felt good."

Quinni grinned at her, "Told you."

Arabella chuckled and looked at Darren, who was too busy staring out at the city to notice that they were all looking at them. "Oh." They said once they saw all the eyes on them. Darren turned back to the view and yelled, "I'm a reject!"

Arabella took a deep breath before she yelled, "Men are ruining my life!"

Darren sighed, "Same."

"I have a lazy kebab vagina!" Quinni screamed after covering Eli's ears.

"Right." Amerie flinched. "I am really sorry about that. I should never have put it on the map. Spider is a lying dick."

"Oh, it's okay. It doesn't matter." Quinni assured her softly, "I'm not upset about it anymore. I just wanted to know if my flaps were actually too big."

"I don't think they can be too big."

Quinni nodded, "Yeah, my research led me to believe so too."

"I'll still look at them if you want me to."

"Nah." The redhead shook her head at the offer, "I'm good."

Darren looked up at Amerie, "You know, I used to think you were a real bitch. Getting knocked off your high horse really suits you." They looked at Arabella. "I thought you were a bitch too but at least you were cool."

Amerie signed, "Make the most of it. I'm definitely changing schools."

"You can't just quit." Arabella scoffed.

"Everyone hates me."

"So?" She raised an eyebrow, "Their opinion doesn't matter. You don't want to be one of those people who peak in high school anyway."

Her words seemed to give Darren an idea because they immediately perked up, "Wait what's the cemetery thing?"

"It's where everyone gets to hang out when our parents are home." Amerie said, confused about why they were bringing that up.

"Let's go."

Amerie immediately shook her head at the suggestion, "No way."

"Why not?" Darren asked, "Just strut out there and own your shit. Come on, you've got both your eyebrows, a non-shit fringe. What else do you need?" They turned to the edge of the room again and screamed, "Let's get mad!"

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Arabella had to sit that party out. She actually wanted to go but someone had to take care of Eli while their mad was working. She ended up watching movies on her laptop for a couple of hours after she put her brother to sleep.

Over the break, when she and Spider still spent most nights at each other's place, Arabella made a habit of leaving her window open so he could sneak in whenever he could. She obviously forgot to stop closing it when their fling ended because just near the end of Nightmare on Elm Street, a familiar head of blonde hair peaked through her window.

"I was kind of hoping to find you naked." Spider commented, not even asking if he could come in before he climbed inside.

Arabella glared at him, "Aren't you supposed to be at a party?"

"The cops crashed it." He told her and stood at the bottom of her bed. "I'm pretty sure they caught Ant. He's not answering my texts."

"It would be better if they caught you instead." Arabella muttered under her breath, pressing pause on the movie and standing up. "What do you want, Spencer?"

"You."

He couldn't help but chuckle at the heated glare she sent him at the response she received.

"I'm being serious." Spider told her, stepping closer so he was towering over her. He ghosted his fingers above her arm and whispered, "Don't you miss me?"

She swallowed. "I don't."

"I know all your tells, Bella. I know when you're angry, when you're lying, when you're sad..." His hand slowly cupped her cheek and he was satisfied when she didn't pull away, "when you're turned on."

Arabella's breath hitched. She had no idea what the hell she was thinking when she wrapped her arms around Spider's neck to pull him into a harsh kiss. He smirked proudly and wrapped his arms around her waist to tug her closer to his body.

"Just tonight." She panted against his lips, "Never again."

"Whatever you say."