Parlee's POV;
"HOW COME I got stuck with this stupid ass name?" I thought out loud. "Like, what the actual fuck were mom and dad thinking?" I turned towards my two siblings.
"How come I got stuck with this boring ass name?" Matt replied, mocking me.
"Oh, shut up Matthieu, I'd rather be a basic bitch like you than have my name be based around a verb in a language I can't even speak anymore." I stated, rolling my eyes.
My parents are both French, and I guess I am too, but moving to the wonderful country known as the United States of America really fucked with my French skills. So much so that now I seem like one of those cliché girls that try to flex their European ancestry 'cause I only know the basic shit like 'bonjour' and 'ça va?' That and 'parler' which means to talk. Which is the verb that my name, Parliette, is derived from. No wonder I can't shut up sometimes, I guess talking endlessly is my destiny.
I'm not gonna lie, it sucks. It sucks not being able to speak the language I was once fluent in. I miss speaking French so much, but I fear I'll never learn it again. French lessons in school are shit, and our teacher is some little old lady that looks like she should've retired 30 years ago. I'm pretty sure she's deaf and blind too 'cause why can I literally roll a joint in class, dip to go to the bathroom to smoke, and return as if nothing ever happened?
And I know at least one of you motherfuckers is gonna say "Parlee, how are you gonna relearn French if you never go to lessons?" That, my dear friends, is not the issue. Even if I DID sit and listen to Ms. Flubberton ramble on about some grammatical structure in the language, I wouldn't learn anything. And how do I know that? Well, Matt does exactly that, and since we're in the same class, he just tells me what she was talking about when I was gone in short.
Even he says it's useless and wishes he could just get up and leave, and that's when you know it's bad. He needs to keep his title of star football team player up though, so he can't risk being a "bad" student like me. I forgot what position he plays 'cause I have other shit to remember, but I'm at every game! One wrong move and the quarterback, Nate Jacobs, is taking that title right from him. I hate that guy, he's such a prick. I don't get how Maddy's dating him.
Sometimes I wish they'd never made the decision to come live here. I wonder how different my life would've been. It probably would've been like 10x better than it is now, 'cause maybe id know what the fuck i was doing with it. And maybe my parents wouldn't have packed up and left without a trace.
I miss them sometimes, but then I remember they didn't even leave a note or anything and get so angry. I hate them for leaving. I hate that they left us alone. Alone to deal with all the bullshit in school, our problems, and just life in general. Maybe if they didn't leave, 9th grade would've been easier, and I wouldn't have ever even dared to be close to any kind of drug.
"Guys, could you PLEASE shut up for once? I'm literally trying to watch this movie here!" Luci exclaimed. She stood up and sat in between us to try and stop us from chatting. "Might I just add that you guys literally picked to watch this?"
"Yeah, whatever Luci." Matt scoffed, nudging her playfully. "We all know you just wanted the popcorn anyway."
"I am DREADING school tomorrow and I don't even fucking know why. Why couldn't they make Christmas break a day early, 's such bullshit" I interjected, flopping sideways onto Luci's lap, covering my face.
I made a mental note to go over to Fez' to restock on my supply of substances. I was running low and I doubt it'd last me the rest of this week. It's not like anyone's gonna stop me either. No one notices, and even if they do, they don't have the guts to come up to a "popular" kid and ask if they need help. Matt and Luci tried to help, shit I even tried to stop a few times. But it all came back after a couple of weeks being clean. I tried everything. Rehab, staying away from Rue for a bit, avoiding Fez' neighbourhood. E v e r y t h i n g. And nothing works.
"I second that." replied Luci, her mouth stuffed full with popcorn.
"Girl, don't speak with food in your mouth!" I sit up, looking at her.
She simply shrugged in response, "Can we watch this shit now?"
"Sure, whatever." Matt said. He walked out and returned a few minutes after holding more snacks and an assortment of drinks, to give us the full at home cinema experience.
THE BELL FOR break had just rung. When I tell you I RAN out of History, I mean it. Man, fuck history, what's the point of learning about the past and analysing it so much. We do all that and for what? It's pointless, what's in the past is in the past for a reason.
I knock 4 times on the last stall, then hear a click. A cloud of smoke gets blown into my face as I close the door behind me.
"Rue! Didn't I already say not to fucking do that?" I tease, pretending to be annoyed. I practically snatch the blunt from her hand and take a hit.
"Calm down Pia, it's no big deal." Rue looks up at me. Her eyes are bloodshot. "Come sit."
Before anyone gets confused, Parlee is a woman of many names. She goes by quite literally anything, apart from her full legal name. She hates that. Which is exactly why I use it to fuck with her sometimes. The classic Parlee, Par, Lettie, Pia, Etta, Liete, fuckin' Parsley. Like actually anything. Any combination of her name, a random object. You call her it, she replies.
I sit down on the opposite side of the stall to her. "Bitch, you are so obviously high right now, how d'you plan to not get caught for the next," I look down to my phone to check the time. 10:32. "like 4 hours of school? That shits not gonna work out."
"Yeah it will, don't even stress about it."
"Well, if it does, lemme know. I been caught too many times." I sigh.
"You just need to follow the ways of Rue." The girl said, exhaling yet another puff of smoke.
"You got any Oxy?"
"'Course I do, when do I not?" Rue giggles, pulling out a small plastic bag with two pills inside. She begins to crush them before making two lines on the back of her phone, one for me and one for her, and quickly bends down to snort one. I do the same after she finishes.
It was just like in 9th grade, the day we became best friends again. Sometimes I feel like I was the reason Par got into this shit, but then I remember her mentioning that she'd already done it before our meeting in this exact cubicle. Maybe she said that to make me feel better, maybe she was telling the truth. I'll never truly know, it's hard to get her to open up about anything. She only ever does sometimes, when she's high out her fuckin' mind.
"See, this.. This is the feeling I'd been looking for my entire life. Just.. quiet." I say, looking up at the flickering light above us. "I actually remember the day weed kinda just stopped doing that for me. It still blocks out some things but not everything which sucks."
"Yeah."
"Oh, you wanna come over to mine after school? We can celebrate the fact there's no work for like 2 weeks." Rue opens her mouth to answer my sudden proposition before I quickly interrupt her train of thought again. "My parents are out again, so don't worry. We have the whole place to ourselves, minus Matt and Luci obviously, but they don't really give a fuck."
"Again?" Rue asks. "Where'd they go now?"
I pause for a moment, basically begging God not to make me say something I shouldn't, before speaking again. I'm not even religious like that, but please, for once in my life, be on my side.
"Yeah uh, I don't actually uh, remember?" I reply, scrunching my face up to pretend to search my brain for any information of where my parents had gone.
Paris. For two weeks. 8 years ago. Never to be seen again. You're all alone. They'll never come back. It's your fault they're gone. Nobody will ever know they're gone if you keep this up. Nobody will help.
It's all your fault.
It's all your fault.
"Uh, you got anything else? I mean.. like drugs? I question Rue, attempting to block out the random voices in my head that just appeared. Don't fucking know why, don't fucking care to know, don't even actually care. I haven't cared for the past few years, so why should I now?
I snap out of my head to see a concerned Rue looking me in the eyes. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine, what's up?" I retort sheepishly.
"I don't know, you're acting all, like.. weird?" The anxious expression on Rue's face doesn't disappear, but she manages to giggle a bit, trying to lighten the mood. "Anyway, I do have some.. uh, what was this again.. oh yeah! Xanax I think? I might be mixing it up though."
"Yeah, I couldn't care less what exactly it is, I just need something."
"Well, okay then. Better for you I guess, I don't actually remember what Fez said this was." Rue chuckles.
"Speaking of Fez, I need to go later. Get some more shit, y'know." I turn to look at Rue.
"I'll tag along."
Just then the bell for next period rang. Fucking Chemistry. Well, it's not that bad, and Rue's in my class too, but sometimes it's just plain boring.
"C'mon Rue, let's go before Miss Garcia murders our guts." I snicker, offering the girl a hand. She takes in and jokingly collapses backwards into my arms.
"Oh, anything for Garcia." She throws a hand up to her forehead for dramatic effect.
As we both trudged out of our stall, which we have our names engraved in, the smell of weed following us, I notice there's some mist on the mirror opposite the showers.
"Damn, someone must've been fuckin' real hard in here." Rue smirks, walking through the door.
Before I followed, I heard a commotion, and two voices, so I waited back a minute.
"Shit that was close"
"Right? I thought they'd find us"
I recognized them both, but being high and the voices being breathless, I couldn't pinpoint who it was. One was a girl and one was a guy. Wait, why the fuck is a guy in the girls' bathroom?
I quickly run out, slamming the door behind to make my presence known, and shout to Rue, who's only a few feet ahead.
"Rue! You were fucking right!"
a/n
wc: 1.9k
i feel really bad that this is an elliot fic and he hasn't made single appearance yet lmao
chapter 3 MIGHT finally introduce him but idk fs yet
i added a little Easter egg into this chapter if you find it you get a cookie (hint: dominic fike feature)
this has been going soo sloww but i promise more interesting things will happen soon :p
as always any feedback is appreciated!
don't be a silent reader pleaseeee <3
thank you so much for reading! until next time!!