Joly stood smoking as the bus emptied into the school. She always smoked just outside the school gate in the most visible spot possible. She carried a general “fuck you” kind of attitude towards everyone but mostly teachers and staff.
In any case, Joly was the person to go to if you needed to break a rule… Any rule. She despised systems of any kind and lived to tear them down. Joly was, in short, an unshakable badass.
Today, an unshakable badass was exactly what we needed. We were about to raise hell and I was pretty sure Joly could help us. I approached her cautiously. “Hey, Joly.”
“Fuck off.”
“Um. I would but I think you’re going to want to hear what I have to say…”
“Probably not.”
“Do you want to help us take down Mr. Johnston?”
“No.” She blew a smoke ring, nonchalantly but I waited her out. She had to be intrigued. “Why do you want to do that?”
“We think he stole the money we raised for prom.”
“Fuck prom. It’s stupid. He did you a favor.”
“Ok. Fine. But we were willing to pay.”
“Your money is gone. Fuck off.”
“I had something other than money in mind…” I gulped nervously. I couldn’t believe what I was about to offer. A favor from her would come with a big price.
Originally published for Romance Writer Challenge July 2019, Ravishing the Romance Day 17 “Minor Character Aesthetic”
Natolie Webb 