Growing Pains

Chapter 2 - First impressions were everything

K Y L I E

In the mirror, a girl with black hair stared back at me. She was wearing a leather skirt and leather boots and a tight white t-shirt. She smiled. Or I smiled. I never knew where I began, and she finished. Or even if it was the other way around.

On my bedside table, my phone vibrated. I ignored it. Allora needed to calm down. I would be ready soon. Breakfast was a thing of the past after all. I couldn't remember the last time I had sat down for toast. I had fought long and hard for just a bowl of cereal, but Lydia and Sylvia had been clear. Starting the day with a peak of sugar was simply unacceptable. What had I been doing during the night that could possibly make me hungry in the morning? I hadn't known how to answer that, so no breakfast for me and less waiting for Allora.

Soon enough I was grabbing my bag and leaving. It took me a while to actually leave the house because my mothers had made a case of living in somewhat of a palace when they moved in together years ago, before they had me or even the idea of me. I didn't mind the size. I could run away from home and still be home. I could pretend the world had ended and I was the last person on Earth. I could have as many imaginary friends as I wanted without the fear of being found talking to myself. I could not be found.

I got in my car, a Mercedes Lydia had gotten me when I got my driver's license. Sylvia had turned a blind eye to the fact that it had been my third attempt. Lydia and Sylvia, Sylvia and Lydia. I had never struggled to know what to call them. Mommy or mom or even just mother had never had the pitch it deserved because both Lydia and Sylvia were of the opinion that becoming a parent didn't mean losing their identities. I didn't mind this either.

By the time I got to school, Allora was already there, leaned over her car with a cup of coffee in her hands. She had a good coffee machine at home, but still nothing could stop her from getting a soy latte on her way to school every morning. She thought it was sexy. I thought so too. Allora made reusable coffee cups look like a high-fashion statement.

I walked up to her. The highlighter on her dark skin shimmered under the morning sun, and like always, she was dressed as if she had a meeting at a handsome law firm right after school. She didn't.

"You're keeping me alive in those jeans!" I said, looking her up and down. " I mean, look at you! I'm weak! You're weakening me."

Allora offered me an amused and handsome frown, "Shut up. You look delicious."

I smiled, "Right, ready?"

Allora shook her head but followed me into the school building all the same. Like always, school was a show I hadn't bought tickets for but had been offered nonetheless and then forced to go to for twelve years straight. We hadn't even made it to our lockers and already the sound of hysteria beamed in our ears. I rolled my eyes.

Zoey and Daisy were a bad sugar rush. Every day something excited them. Their favorite writer released a new book? They squealed. A tv show they liked got renewed for a new season? They squealed some more. Some boyband announced new tour dates? Oh, look at that! Look at them go!

They needed to calm down and they needed to do it fast. They couldn't read a book or watch a show or listen to a song without making it their whole personality. It became their reason for living. It was unsettling. They also couldn't seem to wear anything other than graphic t-shirts and old people's sweaters. I was sure Daisy was colorblind. She mixed too many patterns, too many colors.

We walked past them. It was 8 a.m. They were singing some lame generic song from some lame generic boy band. I wasn't even sure the band was still together.

"Come on..." I whined. I made sure to do it loud enough for them to hear me. No one should have to wine so loudly. They seriously needed to calm down.

They stopped singing altogether, their eyes suddenly turned to me, face red.