hearing damage | YELLOWJACKETS

fifteen.

Rosalynn Taylor | 1996
Somewhere in the Canadian Wilderness

Rosalynn didn't sleep well anymore. Her brain was a weird place and she didn't feel like herself. She honestly didn't know who she was anymore. Two years of her life were completely gone and Rosalynn didn't even know what was missing. How much had she changed? Who was she close with? Why the hell was Natalie Scatorrcio up her ass?

It had been nice at first, getting Natalie's attention because Rosalynn had looked up to her to the point where she'd had a small crush, but it was inaccessible. The type of crush you have because you know the person would never like you back.

It wasn't that she believed that Natalie liked her now but rather that something had changed in their relationship in the last two years to the point where Natalie felt like she had to look after Rosalynn. Kind of like she was Natalie was her older sister and not Jackie. It was weird to her that Natalie was possibly her best friend.

"Hey."

Rosalynn looked up to see Natalie had joined her sitting outside on the deck of the house.

"Hey," Rosalynn responds.

"Can I sit?" Natalie asks and Rosalynn shrugs in response. Natalie sits down and Rosalynn can feel her eyes on her. She doesn't dare look at Natalie because she knows their eyes will lock and she isn't sure what to say.

"Uh there was this party," Natalie begins speaking and Rosalynn has no choice but to give the older teen her attention, "I think it was at Randy's house. Jackie had dragged you along and you were the only freshman there. You sat on the couch looking absolutely miserable and I didn't want to be there either, but Lottie had forced me to come."

Natalie smiles as she looks off in the distance, "So I thought we could be miserable together, at least until Randy came over and started hitting on you."

"Oh god," Rosalynn says, her memory was fuzzy but she certainly remembered Randy Walsh, "Please tell me you put a stop to that."

Natalie snorts and nods her head, "Yeah, yeah I did. I told him he was cradle robbing, messing with a freshman."

"Good one," Rosalynn responds with a small smile.

"I think you and I sat on that couch and talked for hours," Natalie says.

"What did we talk about?" Rosalynn asks curiously.

"You'd had your first kiss that night playing spin the bottle. I think it was Justin White?" Natalie doesn't know why she pretends as though she doesn't know who Rosalynn's first kiss was. She knows it's Justin. She also hates that it's Justin, "You said that it was awful."

"Great," Rosalynn says, "My first kiss, and I don't even remember it. Have I had better kisses since then?"

Natalie pauses and looks down at the deck they were sitting on. She then clears her throat and nods her head, "Yeah, I think so. You didn't tell me about everyone you kissed but there were a couple of good ones I think?"

"Maybe it's good I lost my memory because my love life is sounding pathetic," Rosalynn mutters, "Am I at least good at soccer?"

"You're a sure thing for team captain next year," Natalie says and Rosalynn grins for the first time in days.

"Really?"

"Yeah, everyone loves you. You're funny but you don't take shit," Natalie says with a small smile, "I think that's why we became friends. Life is shit but you always managed to make me smile with some stupid comment. Like you always call Van, Mini Van."