Jennie
"Is she terrible?" Rosé asked me from within the toilet cubicle. I visually winced at her question and then snapped myself out of the ungratefulness.
"She's trying." I admitted. "We've been working on the dance routine all week, every free period, after school. She's not up to Krystal's standard but she's trying."
The flusher sounded on the toilet and Rosé appeared in front of me just a few seconds later. I continued braiding back my hair while she washed her hands.
"Isn't it hard? I mean, you're into her and you know she goes to fuck someone else later at night." Rosé asked.
I thought about it for a while but then I shook my head. "No, I know I don't have a chance with her. We're like fire and ice. She's on tag and I'm the sheriff's daughter. Plus, there's never any depth to our conversations, she keeps me at a distance with minimal answers and I don't even think she likes me that much. I've no right to feel jealous or upset about her dating other people."
"Hmm."
"I got to go, I'm meeting her mom tonight. Wish me luck." I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder.
"Good luck, don't get stabbed or bitten." Rosé shouted after me.
As I left the girls restroom, I spotted Lisa leaving the rooftop stairwell. She gave me a simple head nod that fluttered my stomach. I waved at her and waited for her to approach me. She smelt like cigarette smoke and anti-perspirant, I couldn't help but intentionally breathe it in.
"I'm a little nervous." I admitted, but that was a big fat lie. I was a lot nervous. The trailer park has bad press, Lisa's family has bad press. Her dad already threatened me to stay away. I honestly don't know what to expect of her mom.
"You're not even my real girlfriend." Lisa commented, playing down my nerves like they were no big deal. We walked side by side home, with neither of us speaking to one another. I avoided the cracks in the pavements for good luck and rehearsed topics of conversation in my head.
"Jennie..." the way she said my name instantly made my heart jump. There was so much emotion and depth behind that little word. Lisa has never sounded like that before. "When you leave here today, you're gonna just do that, leave. Job done. Payment made. But this is gonna stick with my mom forever. It's gonna stick with me forever." My brows furrowed, I'm not entirely sure what she meant. I guess in a roundabout way she was trying to tell me that this was important, I needed to be on my best behaviour, to make her mom like me. No pressure huh?
"Don't worry, parents love me." I reassured.
"I'm not worried. I'm thankful." She replied quietly, with a soft smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Oh." We approached the trailer park, the lawns were littered in unloved furniture and abandoned trash. She turned her key in the lock and glanced back at me, now she looked nervous - frightened even. That wasn't giving me any confidence at all. I grabbed her hand, intertwining our fingers together. She glanced down at the connection and then back up at my eyes, offering a small nod.
"Mom?"
The smell of old cigarettes stagnated the air. Golden light came through the grubby windows, casting a yellowish glow around the trailer interior. Everything was retro, a small coffee table was littered in tobacco, marijuana and injections sat on display to the centre of the room. Their television was smashed and their carpet had a big blood or wine stain soaked in right to the fibres. I hugged my arms around myself for extra protection.
"I'm sorry about my shit show house. He's not home though, I'd never bring you here if he was home. This way." She tilted her head down a short, and narrow corridor each with three brown doors leading off. She pushed open the second door without knocking and poked her head in the room.
"Mom? You awake?" It was approaching four in the afternoon, why wouldn't she be awake?
"Yeah, come on in Lisa." A lady's voice croaked out. She opened the door wider and Lisa's mother's eyes fell to me, lighting up with a smile on her face. "Hi." She wheezed out.
Lisa's mom was not what I was expecting, at all. She was a frail lady, confined to her bed. Her wiry black hair sat on her head, knotted and thin. A well-worn pink dressing gown covered her bony body and she was ghastly pale with tubes hanging from her nose. Her lips were sore, chapped and cracked from the dryness and her eyes were glossy, drained off all life and colour.
"Hello." I replied, shyly.
"Mom, this is Jennie, the girl I've been telling you about. She's my girlfriend." Her mom gasped and then lost her pattern of breathing and ended up coughing uncontrollably into her sleeve. Lisa practically jumped towards her and rubbed her back.