(Usual Disclaimer Time: Even though this story almost entirely takes place in a high school setting, all the characters in this story are 18 years old or older, and since we're living in the wide wonderful world of porno-land here, where clichés roam free and things might get a little unrealistic from time to time, please remember it's all in good fun, I swear.)
(Author's Note: I know this chapter gets off to a slow start, but there's some necessary story material to get out of the way for the coming chapters. Besides that, this chapter is one for the fans! Special thanks go to reader and writer MisterWildCard for the creation of Noa Kanzaki. He gave a review stating that my story was lacking certain archetypes, and intrigued by some of his ideas, I gave him the opportunity to create a character, and so Noa was born. I hope I don't disappoint with her! He also gets credit for giving me a ton of other ideas, acting as a sounding board, and even doing some edits to this chapter, so thanks a ton MisterWildCard! Also, the character of Mrs. Sullivan, the librarian, is dedicated to a very special anonymous fan with a fondness for short skirts and fantasies of mature women. Look forward to more of her in the future. As always, if you're enjoying this, please, please, please drop some stars, reviews or shoot me some feedback. Though I may not always respond, I do love hearing from all of you and seeing that you're enjoying the series. It keeps me going and motivates me to continue writing more. You've all been wonderful and I can't thank you enough for all of your kind words and encouragement and yes, even the criticisms!)
Previously, on Senior Year Memories: Sometimes all it takes is one bad day to lead to a major mistake. Nerdy 18-year-old Ryan Collins was nervous about meeting his goth friend, Josie Wong's, friends, in the hopes that they would approve of him and hopefully lead to a developing relationship with Josie. However, they were hesitant and even hostile after Josie's previous relationship with a guy led to a dark depression, and not wanting to make anything worse, Ryan left. Going over to best friend and sometimes lover Tori McNeil's house for a game night, he discovered from Tori's mother, Lauren, that Tori lied to him about her whereabouts to go out on a date with a girl they'd scared during the Halloween Scream, breaking Ryan's heart after she told him she didn't want to be in a relationship while they were still in high school. While commiserating with Lauren over Tori's lies and Lauren's husband's cheating, Ryan and Lauren fell into passionate sex. Leaving afterward, Ryan was confronted by Tori's visiting wild child college student sister, Rachel, who has discovered his phone and Senior Year Memories album, including pictures of her mom covered in his cum...
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A lot can change in a day. It's so easy to start one out on top of the world and end it neck deep in a pile of shit of your own making that it's amazing we don't keep an eye out for those shit piles all the time. Take, for example, this day.
At the beginning of the day I was preoccupied by two things and two things only: whether or not I'd impress Josie Wong's friends enough that us dating could seem like a good idea, and the identity of "Sam," the mysterious, masked girl I'd fucked on Halloween night. I wasn't really worried about impressing Josie's friends because I'd gotten cocky and was sure I could impress anyone these days, though maybe I was a bit nervous because I really liked Josie.
No, I wasn't truly worried about that, so I was able to spend more of my time focused on just who the hell Sam was. I knew little of her aside from the most cosmetic of details, but what little I did know had me looking at every girl in the senior class, sizing her up and figuring out if she was looking at me because she'd known we'd done something or just looking at me because I was staring at her and sizing her up like a fucking Terminator. There were a lot of girls who fit her build, and the sum total of my limited investigative skills couldn't narrow a one of them down. Still, after the night of hot sex we'd had on Halloween, I felt, no, I knew I had to find her. I didn't know what I wanted or needed from her after finding her, but I'd have been fine with a name and some answers about what had happened on Halloween.
Okay, maybe I'd have been up for some more of that intense fucking sex. That would've been awesome too. Not mandatory, but awesome.
At the beginning of the day, these were the things that worried me.
Less than twelve hours later, I was having the shit day of all shit days. Josie's friends had rejected me and I'd run out on her. My best friend, Tori McNeil, had lied to me about being in a relationship for reasons that were all her own. In a fit of feeling lousy, I made a move on Tori's mom, Lauren, and we had sex. It was amazing sex, some of the best I'd ever had I think, and for all the guilt I felt for it, I was too lost in my own anger and frustration to let that guilt get me down too much.
And that's where I got distracted. I wasn't careful. I left my phone out, my phone with all of my Senior Year Memories pictures including one of Lauren covered in my cum, and it got discovered by Rachel McNeil.
Rachel fucking McNeil.
Tori's sister. Lauren's daughter. 5'2" and 21 years old, bearing more tattoos than I could count on her pale skin, with glossy red hair chopped short and ragged, glasses, a punk fashion sense and an attitude to match, I never expected her to be my worst fucking nightmare, but I wasn't surprised that she was either.
Rachel fucking McNeil.
I was a dead man, and the worst part was, I'd dug my own grave. Rachel was just here to shovel the dirt onto me. The only problem was she was taking her time, but that was her style. Ever since we were kids, she loved to play games.
We sat at a table outside the In-N-Out in Blair Valley, the next town over and our high school's dreaded football rivals, if the banners on the street were to be believed. Rachel had driven me here without a word beyond basic commands and the occasional smug, vague remark. I wasn't sure I wanted to talk to her, but I also knew I didn't have a choice; it was just a matter of figuring out when we were supposed to do that and what we were supposed to say.
Rachel ordered for both of us, but I wasn't hungry. The knowledge that your life was about to end kind of has a way of doing that to you.
For how voraciously she devoured her Double Double and Animal Style fries, you'd have thought this was just another day for Rachel. Casual cruelty had always been one of her strongest suits. When we were little, that meant her scaring or punching or pinching or just otherwise hurting us for the fun of it. When Tori and I got older, it became less physical and more psychological, constantly giving Tori shit for her appearance and dating habits and that I'd probably be a virgin for the rest of my life (proved her wrong there). Tori and I had seen her brought home by the cops on more than one occasion, which always gave me a thrill, but it was never enough.
I've seen Tori in some pretty dark fucking places because of Rachel, which got all the more confusing for the random moments when Rachel showed kindness. I'd seen her defend Tori against older students back when we were freshmen and she was a senior, and even now that she was away at college she still occasionally sent Tori care packages and snuck her booze. I'd seen a lot of strange relationships lately, but theirs is one I never understood.
"I ever tell you I love mysteries?" Rachel mused. "No? Of course I haven't, because we've never really talked, have we? No, I've always loved mysteries, even fancied myself something of a detective when I was little. It led me to do a lot of snooping around in places and finding things I ought not to have found, getting me into a lot of trouble. Mom and Dad always used to tell me not to snoop, that it was a bad habit, but it's a compulsion. It's led me to a lot of trippy fucking places in my short and wonderful life, but I never in all my time thought it would lead me to hearing you giving it to my mom like a porn star."
This would've been a fantastic time for the universe to drop a miniature black hole on me and take me out of the picture, I didn't care where.
"What do you want? Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be in school?" I snapped.
Teasing a single fry into her mouth, Rachel didn't even flinch at my outburst. "I didn't want to miss Thanksgiving."
With Thanksgiving weeks away, that was clearly a lie. No doubt she was kicked out of school or something, but there was no way she'd tell me, not when I was prey she was toying with.
"As for what I want..." Rachel mused. "Well that is the question, isn't it? I've got many wants and not a lot of ways of getting most them, but now possess the rare and frankly delightful opportunity to have one of my wants explored."
"And you're just loving having me twist in the wind, aren't you?" I said.
Rachel put a hand to her chest in mock horror. "Little old me, making you twist in the wind? Why, Ryan, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't trust me!"
"I don't trust you," I said.
"Hmmm..." she replied. "Good point."
I shook my head, anger and fear battling it out until only anger remained. "In fact, I don't even know what I'm doing here."
I stood up, ready to bolt. Rachel mused, "You know it's a long walk back to Regan Hills?"
"I like walking," I said.
