Pale

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In Juniper and Tiny's shared room, all was quiet. Tiny was breathing peacefully, dreaming of cupcakes and unicorns and becoming a lawyer like she's always wanted. Juniper was cuddling her pillow, pretending it was the lover who left too soon.

All was quiet.

Until Violetta woke up.

"Son of a bitch!" Violetta's yell echoed around the house, jolting Juniper awake and Tiny rolling onto her side. "Fuck..." Juniper whispered under her breath, wiping her eyes of nastiness and the drool from her mouth. Planting her feet on the carpet, she checked her phone. November 4th, 6:03. At least she had some time to kill before she went and talked to Emma Drina.

It was here, in the confines of the early morning awakening, that it truly dawned on Juniper.

Scarlet was dead.

Juniper was alone.

And there was absolutely nothing to do about it.

A breath left Juniper's lips in a rush, and it suddenly felt like chains were trying to restrict her to the bed. "Good morning, you cruel, cruel, world." But she'll be damned if she was just going to left them hold her down.

Picking up a few random articles of clothing for the day, she went into the half bath and dressed hastily. A pair of skinny jeans, some striped socks, a grey sweater with a black and blue dinosaur, and a fancy, dusty mauve colored bomber jacket. Tousling up her short hair a bit, Juniper gave herself a grin in the mirror. She may be the human equivalent of a garbage can, but she looked like a damn nice garbage can.

Juniper hesitated before heading out. Would makeup be a little too much? She wanted to look nice, but didn't want to over do it. A stare lingered on the eyeliner, an intimate moment between the makeup product and the teenager, before the teen turns tail and goes to leave the house after slipping on her tennis shoes.

"And, uh, where exactly do you thing you're going?" Violetta looks at Juniper smartly with a glare.

"Out," replies Juniper aptly, really not in the mood for chit chat. She was, however, in the mood for yet another chai tea.

———

The bell dinged as Juniper walked into the cafe. The boy at the counter— the same one who had been Juniper's server the day before— looked up tiredly, with droopy eyes.

Putting on a falsetto smile, Juniper asked as sweetly as she could, "May I have a chai tea? With milk please?" Juniper batted her eyes for extra measure. "Sure thing," his tone was less than enthusiastic as he punched in numbers on the cash register. "Five twenty three is your total."

Juniper began to rifle through her pockets in search of money. "You wouldn't happen to know a girl by the name of Emma..." Juniper paused, pretending to think of her last name for a moment. "Emma... Drina? Do you know her?" Juniper pulled out a wadded ten dollar bill. "Yeah," the server replies, "I have photography class with her. She's actually not half bad. Lives over on Corner Drive I think," he unknowingly fed Juniper information. He looks up for a split second. "Right now she should be jogging 'round the park, taking photos and stuff. She loves to tell everyone about how 'fit' she is," the server huffed.

"Here or to go?"

"To go, please."

The server pours Juniper's tea into a cup, and, in true romantic cliche fashion, their hands brush as she takes it from him. His cheeks flushed a light red but pretended it didn't happen. He taps away at the register, "What's your name?" Juniper tilted her head, holding her tea to her face innocently. "Silus," he says. "I served you yesterday." And with that Silus hands her her change, and she's out the door.

"Thanks!"

But under her breath he could have sworn she said,

"Dumbass."

———

648 WORDS

COMPLETED JAN. 22ND