Sweet Torture (3 page)

“Are you serious?” I asked as I took the doll from her hand. “What if I want revenge on Dante?”

“You can’t take revenge on both Dante and Beatrice, because this is your first time, you must pick one.”

“Definitely Beatrice,” I muttered. Even though, I was beyond pissed off at Dante, Beatrice deserved what was coming to her more than he did. Beatrice always made other people feel like crap, now it was her turn.

Sweet Victory

“Hey Claudia,” Beatrice chirped. School had started up again, and Beatrice looked stunning after a sunny two week vacation. “You look awful; didn’t you get any rest over the holidays?”

“I did, but of course, I can never look as hot as you.” I gave her a tight hug and ran my fingers through her hair. “Your hair feels amazing!” I gushed.

“I know right, it’s awesome.” She was entirely oblivious to the fact that I had pulled out a couple of strands which I quickly stuck between my history textbook.

As Beatrice was going on and on about her vacation, I saw Dante coming down the hall. He gave me an unsure wave, but I ignored him. I never wanted to speak to him again.

Later that night, I sat in my room with the voodoo doll and attached Beatrice’s hair to it. I took out my chocolate stash from its hiding place and passed it over the doll’s mouth. It took every ounce of strength I had within me not to sneak just as little taste of it.

I preformed the nightly ritual religiously, but it wasn’t easy. One night, I couldn’t take it anymore and shoved a piece of delicious chocolate down my throat. I mean, it was only one little piece, there was no harm in that, right? Well, I was wrong. The next day, I woke up to find that I had gained five pounds from that single piece of chocolate.

You see, all the chocolate I was feeding Beatrice’s voodoo doll was making the actual Beatrice gain weight rapidly. Since I couldn’t have any chocolate, my extra pounds were sliding off, and I was actually looking pretty good. A large part of me knew what I was doing was wrong, but I wanted to give Beatrice a taste of her own medicine. I wanted her to feel insecure and flawed. Once I did, I would stop feeding her chocolate.

Eventually, the early February cold crept in, and it was almost time for the Valentine's Day dance which meant shopping for dresses.
 
Although I had no intention of actually going, I knew that watching Beatrice shop for a dress was going to be hilarious.

“So are you going to the dance with Dante?” asked Sam, a fellow minion.

 
“He’s so hot, too bad he’s gay,” replied Beatrice.

“Dante is gay?” I asked.

“Yes, how else can you explain him blowing off my invitation to the Valentine’s dance? I offered him a chance to prove how far he would go for date with me, but he never did.”

“What do you mean?” I was suddenly way more interested than I should have been.

“Well, I told him that he had to make you fall in with him, when I sent him my request he never replied. He totally blew me off. So that must mean that he is clearly gay. Let’s face it; no one ever blows me off.”

I clenched my fists. Although I had known for some time that I was part of her cruel plan, the fact that she had no shame in openly admitting it to my face made me feel like punching her.
 
Maybe Dante wasn’t a jerk after all; maybe he really had liked me. If that were the case, I had messed up that relationship so badly that there was no way that he would ever speak to me again. “I was a part of this plan?” I asked as calmly as I could.

“OMG, you don’t mind, do you?
 
I mean I was kind of doing you a favor actually. You would have gotten to make out with Dante. I mean there is no way he’d ever touch you otherwise even if he were straight.”

Breathe, I told myself. Just breathe. “Yeah, no worries.” I shrugged off her nasty comment.

“This is the dress you wanted.” The saleslady brought over a black Gucci dress.

“What the hell is up!” Beatrice whinnied as she tried on the dress.

“There must be something wrong with the label. I’ve always been a size two. This is obviously not a size two!” Beatrice huffed as she tried to squeeze her newly plump frame into one dress after another.

The saleslady looked mortified. “It’s a size two Beatrice, maybe you’ve, umm, grown over the holidays?”

“Grown? You mean like fat?!!!!!” Beatrice screamed.
 

“I’ll see if I can find other designs.” The saleslady bolted out of the dressing room area.

“What do you think Claudia? Have I gained weight?”

Seriously, how could she not see that she had gained thirty pounds in the last month, and I had dropped twenty five?
 
The next thing that came out of my mouth was probably the defining moment of my high school career. It was the moment I stood up for myself and told Beatrice off. “Yeah, I think you have.”

“What?” Beatrice’s large eyes filled with fury as she turned to look at me. “How can you of all people say that?”

“Because it’s true.” I said easily. It was time that someone put her in her place.

Confusion crossed her face as she glanced over my newly thin body. “How did you do that? What did you do?” Her voice was ruthless.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You’re, you’re thin!” She hysterically screamed. “You’re thin and I’m fat!”

“I’ve just been cutting down on the chocolate like you’ve always told me to. It’s not my fault if you can’t control yourself.”

“You bitch!” She slapped me. “Don’t ever speak to me like that again!”

I shoved her into a pile of dresses. She tripped and fell over a Chanel cocktail gown. “Don’t worry; I have no intention of ever speaking to you again.”

“You’ll be sorry,” she hissed still on the ground.

“I don’t think so. Come on girls, I think we’ve put up with her torment long enough, I am officially liberating you all,” I said to the minions.

“I swear if you guys leave, it’ll be social suicide.” Beatrice said.

“You don’t have to live like this anymore, come with me, and you’ll be free,” I said to the group.

To my surprise, the minions followed me out the store and left Beatrice lying in a pile of too small dresses. I knew the minions were exactly like me. They were unsure, lacked confidence and only hung around Beatrice out of fear. Did they actually like her? No. they deserved better than her. I deserved better.

Sweet Surrender

 
It was Valentine’s night, the night of the dance. My parents had decided to extend their winter vacation and had flown out to Rio. I was sitting at home watching Chocolat. Although I had stopped feeding Beatrice’s voodoo doll with chocolate, and was free to eat the stuff again, I rarely pigged out anymore. The one month diet had done me wonders. I realized that to enjoy something you didn’t have to have a lot of it. Slowly savoring a piece of really good chocolate was just as satisfying as a whole box. Besides, I liked my new body.

 
As I was watching
Chocolat,
I could help but think about Dante. I couldn’t help but think that maybe he wasn’t actually a bad guy. But I still didn’t understand why he decided to hang out with me even if he had blown off Beatrice’s dare. It was too much of a coincidence. I mean there was nothing special about me. I wasn’t drop dead gorgeous or super smart. Even if, I was thinner, I didn’t feel like a guy like him would ever be interested in me. I had my head in the clouds and chocolate in my heart what was so great about that?
 
My thoughts were interrupted by Vlada.

“A package has come for you Miss. Claudia,” she informed me.

“Thanks Valda.” I took the box from her. It was probably a box of Brazilian chocolates from my dad. He must have posted them while my mom was at the spa or something. He always did stuff like that. As I opened the package, I was confused. It wasn’t a box of chocolate at all, but a box full of paper? A note fell off the top of the stack and landed on my lap. I picked it up.

Before you set this on fire, read it. It’s the story of us.

Dante

Curious, more than anything, I flew through the two hundred page story in two hours. After it was over, tears filled my eyes. It was the story of a lost writer aimlessly roaming the streets of New York. One day he accidently stumbles into a new coffee shop and sees a familiar face. He’s seen the girl many times at school before but never really paid attention to her because he always had a crush on her friend. However, after actually talking to her friend, he realizes that beauty can easily cover cruelty, and he wasn’t okay with that. He decides to talk to the girl in the coffee shop because he’s feeling a bit lonely.
 
The girl is strange, beautiful and full of passion. She inspires the writer to write more than he’s ever written before. The girl introduces him to a world of chocolate and dreams. For the first time, the writer feels like maybe his own dreams can come true. Sadly, at the end, the girl doesn’t trust the writer enough to believe that he is actually in love with her, and is not just using her for some sick, twisted game of foreplay. Even if, the writer and the girl can never be together, he wants her to know that she is beautiful and the only person who doesn’t believe that is her.

I grabbed a coat. I had been an idiot. I ran over to Dante’s apartment praying he was home.

“He just left.” The doorman politely informed me.

Of course, he had. He probably went to the dance. I couldn’t go there. I wasn’t dressed for it or anything. Besides, he probably didn’t feel that way for me anymore, after I had blown him off, he must have figured he was better off without me. Feeling more than just a little depressed, I headed over to Heaven’s Kitchen.

The café was filled with happy couples which made me feel even worse. I scanned the room for an empty seat when I saw the back of his head. It was Dante. Silently, I approached him. He was so absorbed in a book that he didn’t even notice me come up behind him.

“Hey,” I said as I sat down in the chair across from him.

“Claudia.” His full lips parted in shock.

“I read your story.” I tried to sound causal.

“And?”
 

“Crafted better than a box of exotic Bolivian seashell truffles. Sweeter than a cup of Peruvian hot chocolate.”

“You liked it?” Dante let out a giant sigh. “Claudia, I was never in on Beatrice’s game. After she sent me her strange request, I knew I never wanted to have anything to do with her.
 
I never responded, but she kept texting me. I never meant to hurt you, I’m sorry.”

 
“I’m sorry too, I just never believed that I was good enough for you. I should have let you explain.”

“Not good enough? Then you can’t see what I see.” Dante leaned over the table and brought his lips to mine. Electricity surged through me as our lips met. I gave into the kiss. It was sweeter than white chocolate truffles. “I love you, Claudia.”

“I love you, too.” Saying those words, and believing that I was actually good enough for Dante was sweet surrender.