Movies // Scarlett x Daughter Figure

chapter 4.

Scarlett:
Lexie seems like a sweet kid. She's quite reserved, but by the end of the night she seemed to of relaxed around the cast and I a little bit. She's only fourteen though, and this is her first acting job so of course she's bound to be nervous.

Whilst I was dropping her home I noticed a change in her mood. She was very obviously tired, but the moment we pulled up on her street she zoned out and seemed quite anxious. I mean, truthfully there seemed to be a lot of people parked out front and she doesn't strike me as the type to be very sociable, so that in itself could make her anxious.

After asking her if she was okay, I noticed a bruise just under her eye. It was quite faint, but still noticeable.

The response to my question about how it happened was very obviously a lie, but it could of been an array of things so I didn't want to assume. But still, in that moment everything seemed to come together in my brain. The allergy thing when it came to dinner - her parents would've been asked beforehand if she was allergic to anything - then there was the fact that her mom couldn't pick her up on not only her first day of work, but on a day where she didn't finish until nearly ten p.m and was expected to catch a bus home alone, at fourteen years old. In Los Angeles might I add, it's not exactly the safest city. And now of course there's the bruised cheek.

So, out of instinct, I give her my phone number just in case. I think having children of my own makes me slightly more cautious of things that seem off.

Lexie:
Just like every morning, my alarm went off at six o'clock. I still had my AirPods in after falling asleep with them on, so my ears were hurting like hell but at least it meant I was able to sleep.

I do the same 'routine' I do each school day, before trying to get out the door.

"Alexandra, do the dishes before you leave," my mom orders as I walk past the kitchen. "I can't right now, I'm running late for school," I admit sheepishly. "I don't care. I need to leave for work and I'll be damned if I'm coming home to this mess."

"Lazy ass bitch," I mumble to myself, throwing my bag on the couch and walk behind the sick. "What did you just say to me?" Mom raises her voice. I'm surprised she heard me to be honest, it was barely loud enough for me to hear. "I didn't say anything."

"Tell me the truth young lady unless you want another slap across the face," she scolds. "I am telling you the truth," I say. Yes, I lied to my own mother. No, I don't regret because if I tell her what I said it would be more than just a slap across the face.

"Alexandra May Reid! Tell me the truth right now!"

I flinch out the aggressiveness in her voice. I'm at a crossroad on what to say, but before I can even get the chance to speak, my mom picks up a glass and throws it at me. She was a bit of a distance away, but the glass still manages to cut up my face and neck.

She picks up her work bag and her phone and walks out the apartment, slamming the door behind her. I'm left, standing in shock with the water running from the kitchen sink.

I feel tears slipping down my cheeks and weeping into the open wound just below my left eye. It's stings.

As I start to come out of the shock of what just happened, I turn off the water and walk into my bathroom. My own breath hitches in my throat when I see the amount of blood from where the glass has cut the left side of my face and neck. I have no idea how I'm meant to cover this up.

I begin by soaking one of my makeup removal pads in water before pressing it gently against my forehead to try and stop the bleeding. I do the same for my cheek and lip, before moving down to my neck. Once the bleeding has stopped, I take out a few steri-strips from the cabinet below my sink and I place them over the cuts. They're only small, but there's a few of them and I don't know how I'm going to talk my way out of this is anyone asks what happened.

I try putting a bit of makeup on to make it less obvious, but it unfortunately doesn't help much. I decided go change my top too, and put on a long sleeved turtle neck so the cuts on my neck are at least not visible.

School is meant to start in fifteen minutes and it's a twenty minute walk, but I know that if I don't get the dishes done I'm going to come home to a very pissed off mother and I'd rather not put myself in that position.

First, I call my school to let them know I won't be in for the first period, before I clean up not only the dishes but the rest of the kitchen too.

__

During our lunch break, Annie and I sit outside under our tree. We call it 'our' tree because it's the furthest away from the building without actually leaving the school grounds and nobody else comes here because they can't be bothered walking the distance.

"Lexie, what happened to your face?" Annie asks with concern. I was afraid she'd bring it up. She knows I don't have a good relationship with my mom, but I haven't told her why. "I um...never mind. It's nothing," I tell her.

For an actress, I am a terrible liar.

"It doesn't look like nothing," she frowns. "Please, just drop it," I snap.

Her face visibly drops as she takes a bite of her sandwich. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I just don't want to talk about it," I sigh. "It's okay, Lex. But when you do, I'm here to listen," she smiles lightly.

"Hey, so, do you want to come over to mine after school and we can start on the science project?"
"I can't sorry, Annie. I've got work," I apologise. "Oh that's right. How was your first day?" She questions. "It's was amazing, actually. Everyone was really nice. We haven't started shooting, or even rehearsals yet, but it's so much fun. I love it," I enthuse.

A wide smile curls onto Annie's mouth. "I'm so happy for you, Lex," she admits. "Thanks," I smile before taking a bite of my pizza.

"So..." Annie drags out. "Still can't tell you what I'm filming," I laugh. "Damn it," she groans. "I promise though, when I can, you'll be the first to know."

____

"Lex, do you need a lift home? It's too cold to catch a bus," Annie offers and I walk with her to her moms car. "I'm not going home, I'm going to set," I explain. "Well I'm sure my mom's okay to drop you. How far away is it?"
"About a half hour."

"Alright well, I'll ask mom anyway," she smiles. "Okay. Thank you," I smile back.

Annie opens the back door the her moms car and gets in. "We're taking Lexie to set, mom," she orders. She's always been quite bossy, and it makes me laugh. "Of course," her mom, Gracie, smiles over at me.

"Lexie, honey, what happened to your face?" Gracie questions. "Oh, I just fell over," I laugh. Annie sends me a dirty look before it softens into one that's more worried.
Gracie doesn't give a verbal answer, only nods her head, her eyebrows knitted together.

I text Reese just as I'm about to arrive at the studios because he asked to meet me at the front gate. When we pull up, I say thank you to Gracie and bye to Annie, before getting out the car and walking over to Reese.

He wanted to show me around the studios a bit, since he didn't get to it yesterday. He also showed me where my trailer was. It's right between Xochitl's and Lizzie's, and opposite from Scarlett's.

Just before we were about to start, I made my way into the conference room and took my seat next to Scarlett. "Hi sweetheart, how was...what happened to your face?"

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the double updates won't be a thing aha, but I just wanted to do it the first couple of days to get the story started, but from now on I'm gonna try update once a day, except for probably Sunday x