Page 27 of TAINTED by TWINS

HIS POINT OF VIEW,

I love pink.

I love 5 inch platform boots, mink fur leg warmers, strawberry leggings under denim shorts, and a fuzzy sweater for a rainy day.

I love pink headphones disguised as earwarmers, strawberry and cherry stickers on my laptop, and my faded pink hair after three washes from my lychee shampoo.

I love black mascara, flavored lipgloss, and lychee scented perfume.

My mother was a beautiful mess. I don't really remember if she was a prostitute or just went on dates, but she would come home drunk. On days she was sober, she loved me. I was her son. When she wasn't...

"You're a disgrace—! DON'T EVER SHOW YOUR FACE TO ME, YOU'RE NOT MY SON!"

"Mama! Mama don't, Mama please! Please stop—!"

Let's just say my uncle had to stop her from laying her hands on the wretched son who shamefully has pink lipstick on him.

I loved pink. I wanted to look like her. But she didn't want me, she wouldn't even look at me.

But my uncle sat down with me and gave me a smile. This was back in Russia where flashing lights were all over my house and the only tall adult that didn't scare me was my mother's brother, my uncle.

"Sasha..." he says with a voice I feel safe in, "How would you feel about living in America with me?"

"America? With you? Mm... are you going to hurt me if I wear lipstick too, Uncle?"

"Of course not. Just... kids aren't really allowed make up so only wear it outside when you are 18, okay?"

When I am 18, he said... I hear my age a lot from him. But my uncle made living in America a lot more easier. I spoke less Russian, but I sound more attractive speaking in English.

My Uncle was kind, handsome. He was tall, as blonde as my mom but unfortunately I didn't inherit their hair.

He had the prettiest green eyes, deepset and hunter-like, but full of kindness inside them.

I felt safe with him in a way that I didn't find in my own mother.

I felt like he completed what's lacking in me.

.. I felt like a needed... hmm, what's the word?

When I was a kid, he would introduce me to the girls he goes on dates with. "Sasha, this is Grace."

"Awww, he's so cute! How old is he, isn't he too young to be up this late?"

"I'm 10," I answered in wonky English since I was new to America, "I am sorry. I know just old people stay awake late... but lady look very pretty when 40 year old."

"What—?! I-I'm 26?!"

I don't like those women. Sometimes I tell them my Uncle is secretly married. Sometimes I tell them he still loves his ex. Once, I made the mistake of telling a woman my uncle secretly touched me. It didn't just scare her away, it got my Uncle in trouble.

"I was lying," I told the officer. "I wanted her to go away. She hits me for watching TV."

That's when I realized kids often don't get suspected for lying; and I got her in trouble instead. Wow. Words are so powerful when it comes from an innocent face, a whimpering voice, a pair of fluttering eyes. I realized how powerful lies and truths are.

"I'm sorry for lying about that, Uncle. I love you..." that wasn't a lie. I hugged him with the pure intent of never letting go.

My uncle had a fascination to dark haired women with red lipstick. I hated it—I hate red lips, dark hair, but at 12 I started dressing up with eyeliner, red lipstick, a black choker, long sleeves and shorts. All for him to look at me just once...

But he never looked my way. I was 13 asking him if I looked good in fishnets and shorts that my butt peeked through, but he just looked down, worried.

"Is there anything you'd like to tell me, Sasha?

I promise I won't get mad. It's the modern age, a lot of boys experiment and are trying to find themselves. I'm happy you're doing the same."

"You think I'm gay, Uncle?"

"If you are, I'm okay with it. You're just too young to wear fish nets. Wait until you're 18, okay?"

Wait, wait, wait. 14, 15, 16... how long will it take for me to be worthy of his gaze?! He didn't even call me pretty, or beautiful!

"Hahahahah!"

He immediately widened his eyes and backed off.

I look at his friends and told them, "Here, 10 dollars.

I know the crack you buy behind the school doesn't just cost a dollar.

You know guys, I think you should just drop out of school and get jobs to support your addictions.

Hmm... but what would your parents think, huh?

Don't worry, I have their numbers—I can just ask them. "

"Hey Sasha," a classmate approached me one day, "I've had a crush on you for a long time now. Mind if I ask you out?"

Too young. Wait until you're 18, buster. I just smiled at him, "No thanks. I'd rather go out with your dad, I heard he's single because he no longer likes your mom... or women, in general. I have a chance with him, don't I?"

"Oh my god—hahahaha!" Everyone around me laughed as he walked away in disgust and shame. Meanwhile, I looked forward to going home to my Uncle...

Where I saw him in the couch making out with his girlfriend of three months. They scrambled to put clothes on, "Sasha! I thought you had club activities after school!"

"There was a bomb threat," I replied, walking past them as if my heart didn't shatter to a million pieces. "Don't worry, Uncle. I won't stay here for long. I'm going out to watch a movie."

"The movie is called Obsessed... I'm watching it just for Beyoncé." I smiled fakely at them, before throwing them a condom. "Don't forget that, Uncle. I wouldn't want our family to be sabotaged by her genes."

As I left, I heard the woman gasp, "What did he say?! Oh my god—!"

That knocked off the mood, In sure. But it didn't lift mine. I just walked mindlessly to the theatre, not even planning to watch the movie because I had it pirated already. However, I did see a familiar classmate by the park bench, walking his dog.

I stood in front of him, arms crossed. "You still want to go out?"

"Sasha?"

"You probably hate me after what I said about your dad. It doesn't matter, you don't have to date me. Just come with me to the bathroom, get a piece of the cake you've been eyeing on 'for a long time.' Haha..."

He didn't have big hands or a deep mature voice, he couldn't call me a good boy nor did he even touch me like I was. I only wanted to be touched, I didn't feel loved because boys my age don't even know what that is.

"Oh, here's Sasha..." my Uncle greets me with a big smile and a male and female couple in the living room. "Happy birthday, Sasha."

He looks too happy. "Uncle, what's going on?"

"I'm very excited to announce you can finally live with your father.

" He took my hand, which sparked my own, before he presents me to the couple, "Mr. Petrovna, this is your precious son, Sasha.

He has above average grades and performs perfectly in school, so I have given him the freedom to be himself—"

"What is going on?!" I can't help but yell as I snatch my hand away from him. "You're giving me away?! Uncle—!"

"My darling," says the man in the living room, "Your mother's custody and restraining order expired the day you turned 18. I've wanted to see you for a very long time and finally, you can live with us."

"Uncle, you can't! Please, I love you!"

"I love you too, Sasha. But your real father can take care of you better than me. You'll have a brighter future with him."

"No, no! Uncle please don't do this—! Uncle PLEASE!"

See, this man has no living children and I was the son he planned to inherit his tech company. I was torn from the first man I ever loved to go live in a mansion. I couldn't even say I loved him, that I waited all these years just for him to get married to a woman.

Was it wrong? Isn't everything in this world wrong? Humans are an anomaly that isn't supposed to exist, parasites that infest the world until we destroy it. So why does it matter that I'm in love with my mother's brother? I didn't matter to him, anyway.

"I'll cry until the candles burn down... this place..." At 19, I smile at his heavily pregnant wife as she eats the cookies I had delivered to their door. At the end of the day, she wasn't pregnant anymore. Another parasite down the drain.

I laughed so hard in my bedroom until I cried my eyes out. You could've had me, Uncle. You could've loved me and I could've given everything for you. But now, you'll get nothing. You'll lose everything, and you'll have nothing.

But I slept soundly that night, until I turned 20.

"Good morning, Sasha."

"Good morning, whores," I greet my friends, both of whom you know to be Tiffany and Amanda. "Flavor of the iced tea today?"

"Jessica slept with Mr. Wilson," Amanda whispered.

"Ew, he's like balding..." the others commented. "But he's not married so, anything for an 'A' I guess."

"And I found a pregnancy test in the guidance councilor's office. Isn't her husband neutered?"

I gasp, "Tiffany! You can't just call a person neutered. That's like, violating animal rights."

The girls laugh along until a tall curly shadow loomed over us, covering the white fluorescent lights. I look up to see the most handsome boy in our school, none other than the Prince Charming Deveroux twin.

"Sasha Petrovna," he greets with a smile that made Tiffany choke with her iced macchiato, "May I speak with you?"

"Eeeeiiii! Go Sasha!" / "Get him, kitty..."

"Ladies, ladies..." I stood up and fixed my hair, "Just so you know, all of thiiiisss~is for Dr Wayne."

"Understandable, go girl!"

I went with Jonah outside the classroom where my smile has never dropped so fast. He didn't stop walking, so I had to follow him to the men's restroom when I glared at a nerd who flushed his pee and rushed outside.

"Mmm, very private huh, Deveroux? Did Mr. Miller not give you enough head you had to ask some from me?"

"You humor me, Sasha..." Jonah smiled at me with one dimple as he leans against the sink. "Did you really understand when I asked for you not to lie to me?"

I blinked. Does he know? No way, Lian would never tell him. Besides, he's not tilting his head, a clear indicator that he has leverage against me. So I just smiled, calling his bluff.

"I perfectly understood, Jonah. Thanks to our business together, I ended up with Dr Wayne. It's just sad your little pet refuses to leave him alone, I guess he's too attached to his previous master."

"Lian lost his virginity in high school, he told me." Hmm? "And last time I checked, Dr Wayne is his first boyfriend. Could you connect the dots?"

"He told you? Tch, do you even recall what Lian looked like in high school? No man would touch him with a ten foot pole—well, except you and your ten dollars."

"How would you know about Lian and I's deal, Sasha?"

I snorted, "You underestimate me, Jonah Deveroux! I know everything about everyone in this school. For all I know, Tiffany could've seen you in the library. Or your brother sold that to me as a secret. It's a small one, worth less than the papers you gave me on our last deal."

"Did you tell anyone about the papers I handed you? Did you sell it, Sasha?" He stepped forward, and I was almost intimidated if not for the reflection beside me showing how gorgeous I am—I shouldn't be intimidated by Jonah Deveroux.

I turned to the mirror and fixed my bangs. "That paper you gave me is too valuable to be traded by any secrets these students could give me. I wouldn't trade it for a secret." I traded it for a sexual encounter, which is well worth it.

"Alright, that is reasonable." Gotcha, Deveroux. But he grabbed my wrist and forced me to face him. "But I saw no reason for you to dump a bucket of Mountain Dew on him."

I try to pull his arm off me, but he held it tight until—"Ow, it hurts! Jonah!"

"OW! Fine—! I'm telling!" I exclaim, and he suddenly let go of me that I end up thrown on the floor.

"He's trying to get Dr Wayne in trouble, okay?

! He's angry about me, and he refuses to break up with Dr Wayne so we can finally be together!

But no, Lian had to lie to you to get Dr Wayne in trouble.

And I swear Jonah, I will protect that man with my life! "

Jonah looks confused, but when he stepped towards me, I stood up. "I will expose your relationship with Lian if you ever do anything to Dr Wayne! Your little pet teacher will be exposed and blacklisted! So forgive me for the Mountain Dew, but that's revenge for him holding Dr Wayne by the neck!"

I look at my bruising wrist and sobbed, "Kill me if you want, but I'm not going down without dragging Lian into hell with me. You forgot what truly was in that paper, you wouldn't want him to know about it, would you? Or else... you wouldn't want your dad knowing about him, do you?"

I saw something flash in his eyes, and that's when I knew I had won. "That's right, Jonah. Protect Lian all you want... but you can't protect him from your dad. You'll lose him. You'll lose everything. And I'll make sure you get a sample!"

I backed out and ran out of the bathroom, hearing him yell out for my name. Before I entered the classroom, I wiped my tears and checked my looks to ensure my Charlotte Tilbury concealer didn't budge, before going inside.

"You're not gonna believe what Jonah told me," I told my girls, making sure everyone in the classroom heard as well.

Everyone still had their eyes on the phone.

I knew that he noticed. His eyes had a habit of looking at his book for nothing but a distraction from everyone's judgmental eyes on him. And when he started to open his mouth about a question, some boys in the back raised their hands to ask a question.

"Uhm, yes Mr. Santos?"

"Mr. Miller, does it really take an apple for you to give us a chance?"

He looks confused, "What are you talking about?"

"You don't look like Jonah, Santos! You're gonna need a whole tree to even touch him!"

"I'm shooting my shot!"

Just when Jade and Jonah came in, Lian looked at them with wide, shocked eyes as everyone in the classroom started giggling over their phones.

"Ugh, of course Mr Miller could turn Jonah gay. I would too, but I'm a girl..."

"God, Jonah's still handsome while bleeding!"

"Yo, if I get beat up too are you gonna do me like this, Mr Miller?! I VOLUNTEER!"

"Oh wow, I wonder what the school will think of this," I shot a look towards Jonah, who clearly isn't happy behind that calm expression. I see that Lian is just wishing it was just Mountain Dew on his clothes right now.

Your move, Jonah.

You're just a Prince. I'm a whole Queen.