Chapter 3: A New Life, A New Friend
"Ow!" I protested, dropping my hair straightener to the ground as my finger throbbed. That was the second time I had done it this morning.
This isn't working, I thought to myself, why do I even bother? Why do I even bother trying to impress someone that didn't even notice me, that shoves my head down a toilet? Why should I even care? Who was I dressing up for anyway?
The answer was left unanswered. Painfully unanswered.
With a sigh, I turned my straightener off and shoved it in my drawer, cradling my burnt finger to my chest. It was the first time I'd ever used the straightener in about four years. Before that, I didn't really care what I looked like. I lived to please no one.
"10 minutes, Lily!" Bettie, my foster mother, yelled from the kitchen. My eyes popped open.
"Ten minutes?!" I hissed. Where had all my time gone?
I frantically searched through my wardrobe for something to wear (I still had my pyjamas on.) Of course, I found nothing that pleased me, just old hand-me-downs with flower prints on them and hoodies that were ten times my size. My foster parents would usually spend all their money on Lewis, my foster-brother, and I would end up with the short end of the straw. I felt like Harry Potter with his Uncle. I was still waiting for the letter that would send me to Hogwarts. Grabbing whatever I could find, I dashed to the bathroom down the hall, my feet tingling with the cold of the morning.
"Lewis! Get outta there you twerp!" I yelled through the door, banging my fist on it with all my strength. The bathroom door opened and Lewis stood in the doorway, his blonde hair mussled and in a dizzy array.
"What's the rush?" He smirked, still blocking my way.
"Lewis, if you don't move in less than 5 seconds, I will literally roll you, down a hill. Do you know how much that hurts?"
He held his hands up. "Calm down, sis. My hair is worth every second of the time I spend on it." He strutted down the hallway and slammed his bedroom door shut. I hated when he called me that. I didn't want to be related to him at all.
"I swear I'm gunna rip his hair out." I muttered to myself, slamming the door.
I changed and checked my hair in the mirror, scowling at my failed attempt. It looked worst than it had before, like someone had dyed a mop black and shoved it on my head.
"Lily Rose!" I heard my foster father's voice then, which made me panic. "You're not still doing your hair, are you?"
I wish I was, I thought, scurrying out of the bathroom. I yanked my bag off its hanger and ran out of my room. "I'm coming!" I yelled back, bouncing into the kitchen.
Not even bothering to say hi to my Foster-Freaks, I flew out the front door. It was a cold morning.
"Morning, Daisy," I addressed my yellow Volkswagen Buggy. Some of the dust shimmered off as I whacked the top of it. "Ready to go?"
It squealed as I gunned it to life. Lucky the law permits in this town were different, I thought as I glanced out the window at the storm clouds. Lucky we could get our licenses at sixteen. I hated the thought of walking in that weather.
The song on the radio was familiar, so I turned up the dial, only to hear a crackly, muffled sound in return.
"Stupid piece of junk," I said, slamming my hand on the dashboard. Lewis had already picked out his own car, a Porsche, but of course I'd gotten the crappy car. I wasn't good enough. I was never good enough.
The rain was started to shimmer down from the sky and hit lightly on my rooftop. I sighed, luckily I had long pants today. But I was almost at school, so my good day was up.
I didn't want to see Carter again.
They had let me go yesterday; of course they did, but after what seemed like forever of washing and scrubbing, I could still not get the filthy feeling off me.
Maybe that was the filthy feeling of shame, shame that I was not good enough.
I couldn't think about it, or I would burst out crying again. I spent most of my time crying, no wonder everyone thought I was so depressed.
I pulled into my regular parking spot and sighed, closing my eyes.
I can do this, I can do anything.
Then why are you sitting in here? My inside voice smirked.
A tap on my window made me jump, and I turned to the right slowly, afraid at who it might be.
I grimaced. It was Ivy, one of Eliza's little minions. Hadn't she had enough of teasing me for one day? She just stared at me, her blue eyes wide and anxious. I wound down the window so I could hear what she had to say.
"What do you want?" I asked rudely, turning my nose up in disgust.
Ivy stepped on one foot, looking uncomfortable.
"Well, I kind of, just came over here to warn you." She said, avoding my eyes.
"About what?" I asked tediously.
"I think Eliza's at the front gate, and, she wants to, you know, do the usual. I was just saying, maybe you should, go in at the side?" She suggested.
"You are telling me this why?" I asked harshly, she looked dumbfounded. I bet this was another one of their tricks.
"I was just trying to help, I don't like it when people get hurt."
"Oh, well isn't that all warm and fuzzy. But how don't I know that you are planning an attack from the side? And you're just not trying to lure me there?"
Ivy sneered at me. "Because I'm not like that."
I snorted. "All of Eliza's friends are like that."
She just shook her head. "Well I'm not, just trust me on this one, okay?"
Trust Eliza's friends? Had she lost her mind?
I sighed, turning my car back on and winding up the window. I drove out of my parking space and left Ivy where she stood, surprised that I had actually taken her advice. I drove around to the side of the school and parked in an unfamiliar spot, glaring out my window.
Huh, nobody was there, I guess that means that Ivy wasn't tricking me.
I got out of the car slowly and steadily, still wary, and pulled out my backpack. My feet were almost silent as I approached the front gate.
Looked to the right, nothing.
Looked to the left, nothing.
Ivy was right, and I was shocked. She hadn't lied to me.
The feeling that I felt inside was warm and tingly, I didn't like it.
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Misguided Ghosts - Paramore
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"And then, if X equals two, then what would Y be?" Mr. Tawn was pointing to the board. Nobody answered his question.
"It equals four! Remember everybody? You le- oh, Ivy! Where have you been? You're 20 minutes late!" He roared as a small, nervous Ivy entered through the door.
"I'm sorry sir, we were just helping set up for the Art class," she held out a white piece of paper. "I have a note from Mr. Ramsay."
The teacher took it and examined it before walking over and shoving it in his drawer. I wondered how they forgered a teachers signature, or maybe that actually weren't lying this time. Eliza and her friends missed school all the time, but none of the teachers notice.
"Well, then. Just sit down." He gestured to the only spot left, next to me.
I hated it when this happens.
She sat down quietly and collected her books from her bag. I angled away from her, hoping she didn't start conversation.
I started to doodle on the front of my notebook, drawing nothing in particular.
Ivy was staring ahead, her eyes vacant and her fingers twitching.
I wondered once again why she had helped me, it was amazing. Could people really change like that? Could people just turn good all of a sudden? Was that even possible?
Why was she even talking to me? Wasn't it a part of Eliza's rule to not talk to emo dorks? Or anyone at the bottom of the social change?
I knew what I had to do, and I didn't like it.
"Ivy," I spoke her name quietly and carefully, she glanced over at me in surprise. "Thank's for the warning this morning." I wasn't good at this type of stuff.
Ivy smiled warmly, friendly. "No problem." Her eyes wandered back to the board.
"May I ask why you did it?"
Silence hovered between us. Suddenly, the sound of Mr. Tawn's voice was very distinct in my ears, and the sound of paper's ruffling were loud enough to make us jump.
Ivy's face turned bitter, she glared above my head, seeing nothing. She just screamed sad. It was heartbreaking.
"Let's just say that now you and I are on the same terms now." She hissed.
Wow, talk about bipolar. I wasn't afraid to ask why. "What does that mean?"
She sighed, hesitating for a second. "I found out last night that Eliza's been using me. She became my friend so she could cheat on Holden and be with my cousin, who doesn't even go to this school." Her voice cracked twice. "And all this time she's been talking about me behind my back!" She covered her head in her hands and tried to swallow the tears. I awkwardly put a comforting hand on her back and rubbed it.
"It's alright." I cooed. She sniffled and raised her head again.
"It's not alright! I moved here a year ago! They were the only friends I had! Now I don't have any!"
A light bulb flashed in my head. A very dangerous, very reluctant light bulb.
What are you doing, Lily? I asked myself. You don't make friends with blondes.
But, this might've been he only chance I'd ever have in my life. I could be lonely for the rest of eternity.
Well, I thought, if you put it that way.
I seized the opportunity. "Well, you could always be mine." I muttered.
The silence was longer now, this time Ivy's face wasn't expressionless. Her blue eyes were wide and shocked. I wasn't very good at reading people, but I could tell she was a little, or, a lot taken aback. She was just astounded.
"But, I'm a bitch, I'm nothing like you." She finally said quietly, like her lips were frozen.
I shrugged. "That never stopped anybody before. And plus, I'm a bit of a bitch as well."
Ivy shook her head. "You don't want to be my friend, Look what I've done to you!"
Was she always like this? Making up excuses?
"Okay, number one, I have a policy, Say sorry, and I'll forgive and forget, unless what you did was so mean that you're not worth forgiving. And number two, of course I want to be your friend, Look around, Ivy, who else have I got? I'm the loser of the school." I was sad that all that I was saying was true.
"You're not the looser of the school, what about Janice Sklyzer? C'mon, you have way better fashion sense than her."
I smiled wryly. It was mean to say that, but after the memory of crying while my mother pulled dog poo out of my hair for weeks made my nose wrinkle. "Yeah, you're right there."
"And plus, because I'm so good at gossip. I heard that the jocks were saying Eliza's just a fake cheerleader." Ivy giggled.
I grinned evilly, putting on my fake cheerleader voice. "'I'm not a snob, I'm just better than you are! Yeah!" I imitated Eliza's girly little cheer squeal.
Suddenly Ivy and I were laughing like hyenas. It was fun, free and easy.
"Girls!" Mr. Tawn warned, we looked at him, trying to stiffen our giggles. "Do you want detention?"
We shook our heads, silently laughing as he continued his lesson.
Ivy and I talked all the way through class. We bitched about the bitch squad, we gushed over the hotness of the boys, we shared music interests. We told each other life stories.
"My Dad used to be a lawyer, so I'm kind of loaded. But he's a CEO on the other side of town now." Ivy said thoguthfully.
"Oh, cool."
She looked at me. "Not cool, he's a total work-a-holic."
Oh, "not cool. What about your Mom?:
Now a brilliant smile was on Ivy's face. "She's wonderful."
"Lucky."
"What about yours?"
"My parents were shot and robbed; just like that." I said blandly, staring at my hands.
"That's so sad." Ivy said sympathetically. "I'm sorry."
I just looked away, pain in my eyes. "What's even worst is my boring Foster-Freaks couldn't give a shit about me anyway. They just love their darling Lewie."
"Ew, that's wrong."
"Tell me about it."
The bell rung, and I flinched. Our school bell was the most disgusting sound in the world, it sounded like a sea horn. I gathered all my books together and shoved them in my bag as Mr. Tawn reminded us to do our homework. Homework? I didn't even know the meaning of the word. I didn't care about school anymore.
"Look, Lily." Ivy was standing infront of me. "I'm really sorry for everything I did to you."
I smiled. "No problem, you were always the quiet one anyway, it wasn't your fault."
She relaxed. "Oh good," She smirked. "Come on, I'm hungry."
I stood up, and Ivy linked arms with me, we both started our journey towards the cafeteria.
"I forgot to ask, what's Carter like?"
There he was again, something I could never quite escape. The images of grotty toilet water filling my ears, my eyes, my nose, made me cringe.
In a sad voice, I just said plainly "you don't want to know."
She looked at me like I was crazy.
"Are you kidding me girl? Of course I want to know, he's gooooorgeeeous!"
She started laughing and I joined in. As we walked, I realised something. Everything will change now. I was walking into my new life, with my new and possible friend right by my side.
My life seemed to be taking a change for the better.