Cold

Christmas

"No, Jo graduated two years ago." She waves her hand dismissively and Molly sighs, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but the rest of us are still in school, Jo's just freakishly smart."

"Bit of an understatement," Jen mutters, placing the, hopefully edible, pie in the oven. Mal looks a little pale.

"You mean Rosie makes you go to school?!"

"She lets us choose!" Ripley exclaims, jumping onto Jen's back. Jen winces, looking both in pain and off balance.

"And you chose to go back?!" Mal squeaks, incredulous.

"Beats sitting around doing chores all day." April decides and Molly rolls her eyes.

"Don't listen to them. They're still in middle school, they haven't died inside yet."

Jen whacks Molly over the head with a dishtowel.

"Ow!"

"The point is, Rosie doesn't force them to go to school, but if you plan on sticking around I will," Jen declares before turning back to washing dishes in the sink. Ripley has begun making herself a bubble beard while April watches with a broad smirk.

"Hang on, if they're in middle school, how old are all of you?" Mal's eyebrows have furrowed together, creating a small crease between them that looks as if it's been there often. Molly tries to direct her attention away from her and towards the sink where Jen's trying to force Ripley to wash off her bubble beard.

"Me and Rip are twelve," April mutters, jamming her thumb back in Ripley's direction, "Jo's 13," Mal begins spluttering and Molly has to jam down a giggle, that had been her reaction when she learned that the tallest Roanoke was also one of the younger ones, "and Molly's 15."

"Sixteen in about two weeks," she murmurs and turns to give Mal a smile. Mal's face turns an impressive pink color.

"A-and you," she mutters, directing her gaze in Jen's direction. Jen sighs.

"Too old for this," she mutters simply. Ripley has given her bubble eyebrows and is styling her a Santa beard. One of her eyes has begun to twitch. Molly chuckles to herself and hands Jen a towel.

"Jen's nineteen, she just comes to stay here sometimes because Rosie was friends with her mom when they were younger." She explains and Mal nods, pulling at her hair uneasily.

"So, I take it you've all been here a while?"

"Well, sorta," April mutters, "me and Jo arrived together when we were, about, nine? We've been here the longest, the first couple months we were constantly in and out, never keen on sticking here, that was until Ripley arrived."

"YEAH!" Ripley announces with vigor, launching dish bubbles everywhere and Molly coughs after inhaling some of them. "Then Molly got here just a couple months ago!"

Molly laughs nervously and offers Mal an empathetic look, "I was like you, kinda got dragged here without any clue where I was going. I hadn't been on the streets that long though, maybe two or three weeks? It's not really important."

She pretends not to notice the way that April, Ripley, and Jen are looking at her. It's the most she's said about her past since she appeared. Maybe the addition of someone equally as confused makes her feel a little more comfortable? Or maybe she's still a little overwhelmed by all that's happened this morning.

"I, uh, I've been on the streets for about a year," Mal mutters softly, finally Molly looks straight at her and Mal shrinks, shoulders curling in on herself and arms coming up to hug them. Her hair droops down just in front of her eyes and Molly has the sudden urge to push it away. She keeps herself still.