The Girl With The Tattoo

2. safe

Sophie

"So... tell me about your family." Lexi looks back at me.

Why does she want to know about my family? I swear this girl is planning to kill me!

"Uhm, there's not a lot to tell really." I tell her, which definitely couldn't be further from the truth "Wait, why do you want to know about my family?"

Lexi stops, before turning completely. She looks annoyed at me. Maybe it's because I'm being stubborn and won't talk to her about anything.

She explains why she's asking me so many questions "Look, I'm just trying to make conversation. It's fucking creepy in here, my shoes are ruined, and I'm bored. So talk to me."

"Where does your mom work?" She asks me about my mom.

"At a dance studio in the city." I admit to her.

She furrows her brows "Wait... so your mom owns a dance studio but you dance at another studio? Why don't you just dance for her? Wouldn't it save so much money?"

Sure, I could dance at my mom's studio but it just feels wrong. Plus, Mr Adams is one of the best ballet teachers in the city and maybe actually the country. My mom doesn't even leave her office half of the time...

She stopped dancing when she was younger because of an injury. Apparently, it was her knee or something.

"My mom doesn't care about the money." I admit to her "She just wants me to be happy."

"Happy? How could anyone be happy at this school it's like the worst!" She complains about our dance studio "The only thing good about it is that I get free cigs from this guy called Lewis who hangs out near the dumpsters."

She seems to be going off track a little "He also thinks I have a crush on him, but I definitely don't, so I just go along with it so he gives me all the free goodies he has."

I guess she realises that she's now not asking me about my family, so she stops talking about Lewis and free cigarettes "Anyway, so are you like rich or something?"

I scoff "Rich?"

"Yeah, rich! Your mom owns her own dance studio so she's probably rich, right? You probably live in like a mansion and your daddy buys you whatever you want. Am I right?" She asks me, smirking because she thinks she's got my life figured out.

She's got me completely wrong. I've actually never had a father figure in my life. I grew up with two moms... yeah. I used to get bullied because of it. Kids would laugh at me every day but now it's not as much of a problem.

My mum was a dancer too– she was a good one. She won this title at a competition once and she wore this sparkly dress that made her look stunning.

I decide to tell her more about my life "Actually, money is really tight at the minute... My mum's pregnant and who knew hospital bills were so much?"

"Your mom's pregnant?!" She raises her voice a little "She doesn't look pregnant! I see her all the time dropping you off at dance, she's like tiny as fuck!"

"No, not my mom..." I tell her "I have another one, she doesn't take me to dance though. You don't know her."

Her eyes widen as I reveal that to her "You have lesbian parents?!"

I hope she doesn't think I'm weird because of that. It's usually the reason why I don't have a lot of friends.

But then I can finally relax, as she shouts "That's so cool! You have two moms and I have none!" She laughs a little as she says the last part.