"Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke. She will need her sisterhood." ~Gloria Steinem
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Just as soon as she is out of earshot of Devil May Care Island, May is all kinds of unhappy. Not only is she is pain from the bad blood on her shinbone. But the forced march of her clearly irritated sister is causing her to lose her orientation. Being pushed and pulled along like a pet is one of her major pet peeves.
"You watched me? Why?" May demands of her sinister sister.
"Not here May, wait until we get to the bathroom please." April hisses under her breath. "I don't want to take any chances of anyone overhearing us."
"Fine, be that way." May sighs, accepting her sister's slightly psychotic need for secrecy.
With April breaking the trail before them, the Grimm sisters slice their way through the various flocks of Falcons standing around yammering and chattering. Until they can breach past the last pass gate and face the eternal guardian saint of safety. After a short conversation with the gate saint, they are passed through to passing through without further ado.
Wraithing down the walkway between buildings, towards the stairs into the D-wing towards May's locker and her special bathroom. As soon as they are far enough for the raucous chaos of the lunch shelter to fade away, April immediately starts in on her sister.
"What's wrong with you May? Why are you walking all wonky like that?" April's steading grip over her sister's hand tightens perceptibly.
"I told you earlier, I barked my shin in Chin's before lunch," May replies with a wince.
"I thought you said it wasn't that bad?" April slows her roll down to a quick step.
"Yeah well ...apparently I lied a little?" May shrugs off the sisterly sympathy.
"Oh, awesome sauce, and my day just keeps getting better and better." April seethes back in irritation. "Slow up steps coming ...slower ...step once."
April guides her sister towards the stairs to the hallway entrance. But May is still slightly gimpy from the shin splint and the tip of her saddle shoe catches the step edge. May instantly pitches face-first forwards towards the sharp edge of concrete steps, and her second broken nose. But April is quicker than she used to be, and reflexively locks her arm up tight stopping her sister in mid-fall. April strains slowly bringing May back to upright and steading her sister onto her feet.
"Easy May, I got you." April holds her steady until May can get her balance back. "I'm sorry May, that one was my fault. I should have said big step. Are you okay, May?"
"No worries, it's been that kind of a day." She sighs. "But nice catch though, at least you're getting stronger. So apparently all the gymnastics, yoga, cheer tumbling are paying off. So at least you got that going for ya, right?"
"Yeah...yay me." April drones dryly.
They both remember only too well, the times when they were younger, when May took more than one hard fall slipping right through of April's grasp. So April cautiously guides her sister the rest of the way up the stairs, then down the long hallway towards May's special bathroom.
"Okay, April start talking. What the hell did you watch me for?" May demands tersely, just as soon as they are inside and the door is closed behind them.
"Hold that thought while I check the stalls." April stalls her yet again.
"You have got to be freaking kidding me?" May sighs and shakes her head. "Paranoid much? Cause trust me we're really not that interesting to anyone else."
May listens in growing irritation as her sister storms quickly around the roomy restroom. Kicking and shoving the stall doors open to check for unwanted visitors in her private palaver. The stall doors retaliate by swinging back and then thudding against the rubber stoppers on the frames. Where they shimmy in impotent rage for not having broken a finger, or at least inflicted at least a minor bruise. The vibrating echos playing across the all too familiar bathroom tile floor.
"Okay, we're clear." April pronounces.
"April, what the hell is going on with you? You watched me, remember? And now you're acting all super paranoid ...even for you. So start talking now." May snaps, starting to get highly irritated now and feels down her leg to assure that the slapstick bandage is still affixed to her shin. "Wait, it's about my leggings, isn't it?"
"No May, you're leggings look fine. But we need to talk about him ...again." April sighs super sadly, which immediately alerts May to moment.
After enduring years of their mother, it takes a lot to make her sister sigh so sadly. Snorting, seething, snapping, screeching, and even screaming bloody murder was her sister's normal. But super sad sighing? Yeah, not so much. After all the tears, sadness was the second victim of their childhood. For in the Grimm house, all the tears in that well ran dry a very long time ago.
"I watched you because there is something I have to tell you about him. Something that you are not going to like. So do you want to sit before I tell you? Because you are really not going to like what I have to say." April seethes.
"Enough with the dramatics, April. So just tell me straight, what time it is?" May invokes the watch rule and steels herself for the inevitable let down.
That April has finally found out that her only friend is interested in seeing someone else. That no one like Lifeguard Darren could ever be really interested in someone "so special" as she. That she is little more than a charitable phase, a passing interest at best.
You knew this day was always going to come. May mentally reminded herself. That he was new and he didn't know anyone else besides you. Now that he knows some people, he's looked around and found someone better. You knew it was just a matter of time before you were going to be a burden, an anchor and then a regret...or worse.
"I am sorry May, I know you like him. But May...he's a thief." April intones coldly. "And he's been stealing from you right in front of your face."
What's even odder to May's ear is that her sister sounds almost sad about being right about her devil all along. That there was something bad about her personal hero. That he might be another user, like their mother has always warned them about.
"What do you mean by, he's been stealing from me right in front of my face?" May frowns down.
"I glanced over at you at lunch, just to make sure you were okay? I saw him go through your bag when he thought you weren't paying attention. He went into your bag May, real slick and real fast, straight into your wallet and stole. I watched him do it May." April seethes. "And honestly if I hadn't glanced over at just that precise moment? He would have gotten away with it easy-peasy."
"No, he didn't steal anything at all actually," May quirks a small smirk of satisfaction. "That's why I asked you if anything was off or odd about my leggings."
"May enough about your gawddamn leggings! This isn't about some silly wardrobe malfunction moment!" April snaps sharply. "I saw that lying, thieving bastard go into your wallet and take money from us! Right in front of your face."
"So either you didn't know he was stealing, which sucks? Or you knew and you let him think he can steal from you! Which that sucks even more. Because that means mommy is right about boys, which sucks even worse." Aprils sighs. "I'm so sorry May, I really am, but that's the truth."
"Oh, I knew he went into my bag," May smirks.
"I thought you might, cause you never miss much that close. But May, you cannot let guys like that just think that he can take whatever he wants and start stealing from us. You know what mommy said..." April shifts it to full ballistic.
"April enough." May commands coldly.
Railing against her mother's prophetic propaganda. Because according to the Spyder: No boy will ever be interested in you for you ...because you're simply not that interesting. The only thing interesting at all about you is what you have to give them. First sex, then money, and other than that you're nothing to them.
"Will you just listen to me for a minute, please." May sighs sadly in the knowledge of just how much damage her smother has done on her sister over time. "Trust me, it's not what you think. If you'll just hear me out..."
"You think?" Aprils cuts her off clean. "Cause from where I was sitting, it looked like he went into your bag and took your wallet out. Then he was trying to feel you up under that ratty sweater."
"Wait! Omigod May was he was trying touch you there? Why the hell, didn't you say anything?" April seethes coldly. "That piece of shit, I am so going to end him."
"April! Will you please stop talking!" May finally snaps sharp and harsh. "Before you go all Apeshit just answer the question? Is there anything strange about my left legging?"
"No May! I already told you this isn't about some gawddamn wardrobe malfunction moment." April snaps back. "I am telling you that he is bad news and a thief and a liar and..."
May feels down into her borrowed sock and rolls the hem of her leggings up. To reveal the truth of what was going on under the ratty tatty poncho thing, that still smells of the sea. April suddenly stops snapping and stares in incomprehension at what she is seeing stuck to her sister's shin.
"...and...and what the hell is that thing doing stuck on your leg?" April intones slowly in incomprehension.
"Believe it or not, it's called a slapstick bandage," May snorts in retort. "Like I already told you twice, I took a good shin splint in Chin's class before lunch. When she Hellen Kellered me with a new bookcase thing again."
"That doesn't explain what the hell that thing is doing stuck to your leg." April intones in clear confusion.
"Yes April, it actually does," May suppresses a snicker.
"That's what you saw him getting out of my bag, not money ...a slapstick bandage? Think about it, you know damn well where I keep the emergency money, not the daily dollar money. He only took my blood money..." May points down to her slapstick. "...and did that."
"He put that thing on your leg?" April shudders aghast. "Why the flock did you let him do that?"
"Like I said, I got hurt in Chin's but didn't think it was that bad. During lunch, Darren saw that I was bleeding through my leggings. So he stopped the bleeding. So that's what you saw him doing in my bag and under the poncho."
"You know blood in, blood out? Occam's razor? Problem solved, done da-ta?" May drones dryly. "Oh, and he said that Benjamin Franklin called it a 'slap, stick and slay' bandage or something?"
"I do not understand any of that, at all." April drones slowly. "So start from the beginning. Explain to me how it is that thing ends up on your leg ...and that somehow a good thing?"
"Alright." May leans back against the wall and smiles out at her sister, pulling April next to her against the familiar wall.
Looking out at the world like they did when they were still children. Seeing "things" through the eyes of the other, comparing the dark and the light world at once. Sharing the secret sister stuff, that no one but them will ever know about the other. Because nothing is as powerful as the bond between the sisters who grew up in a house filled with horrors. Because your sister is the only other person in the world who will ever truly understand just how broken your parents made you.
So May begins to weave for her sister the tale of the Reversed Curse, as only May can do. With words and senses, smells, and fears of falls of darkness. The pleasantly wonderful surprise that "Lifeguard Darren" can be in the oddest of moments. Not a thief, nor a pervert, but a truly decent dude, who can't help himself but to be a helper.
Someone not like their father at all, who doesn't seem to care about anyone one way or another ...especially about their mother. How Lifeguard Darren is definitely not anything like the bad boys that Spyder has described. The kind that will take advantage of them, in the myriad ways that all boys are apt to do in their mother's twisted worldview.
The bells ring for the end of lunch, and soon enough the flocks fly through the hallowed hallways. Screeching and screaming and slamming their lockers in rage at the end of feeding time at the zoo. The laughter of life, and of "whits and giggles" of shuffling off to class, followed by the squeaky sneakers of running feel as the second bells end the rush to class. Until finally, the sweet silence echoes thru the halls once more. Through it all May keeps speaking with portent, painting a dark picture of her befall and after, right up until Aprils came to pull her away.
"...and so that's what you saw him doing in my bag and under his sweater?" May ends her tale of the slapstick surgery. "He was trying to help me out to stop the bleeding, then take me to the nurse's office after lunch. Nothing more insidious than that."
"I'm sorry May, but I can't even begin to process all that insanity? Other than to say that is sofa king disturbing on so many levels." April shakes her head slowly. "It's just too weird, and more than just a little creepy? And as much as I hate to admit this ...oddly sweet'ish? But that thing on your leg is just so many kinds of wrong, it's not even flocking funny ...just like he is."
"Okay, but just so we are clear? He's not a thief, right?" May counters evenly.
"He was just being slick. Maybe not slicker than slick? Cause obviously, you caught on that he was doing something. Just not the something you thought he was doing." May starts to giggle. "Trying to feel me up under the sweater at lunch ...as if."
"And you're positive he didn't steal from you?" April counters cautiously. "Like you checked your money to make sure it was all there, after he went in your bag?"
"No, I didn't." May sighs. "But I didn't have to, cause I trust him."
"Dammit May'May..." April sighs back.
"Fine, here check my bag and see if anything's missing?" May proffers the bowling ball purse. "Inside zipper pocket is a hundred in origami twenties. Taped under the bottom panel is my emergency hundred dollar bill."
April digs in wanting to be right for her own sake. Almost not wanting to be right, for her sister's sake.
"Two hundred and twenty." Aprils call the count. "Two of the new twenty-dollar stars were stuck together. I put it all back in the zipper pocket, so you can squirrel it away later in the Goodbye Kitty stash."
"See, I told you he would never do that to me." May counters contritely.
"So he didn't steal after all?" April muses, contemplating the meaning of that fact.
"Now please tell me that you didn't say anything to anyone about him? That you're are gonna have to quick fix with your own slapstick before it bleeds out on him, right?" May inquires dryly. "I can not have people calling him a thief. Not when all he was doing was trying to help me."
"No, of course not. I'm not new, I came for you, not against you." April invokes the mantra that defines them. "Always with you, never against you."
"I know that." May sighs somberly. "And April ...thanks for trying to watch where I can't see."
"Thanks for watching my back in the dark where I cannot." April clasps her sister's hand, then threads her finger through May's in the assurance of sister secrets kept safe.
"Now let's take this thing off my leg please, and hobble me down to Nurse for a nice after lunch nappy. Then get you a passy, to go back to classy? So you can be all kinds of sassy and smart-assy. Without detention or delay..." May singsongs wickedly.
"Omigawd, will you please stop that crap!" Aprils snaps. "You seriously need to stop hanging out with that The Cat in the Hat rhyming retard. You're starting to sound way too much like him lately, and that's not a good thing."
"You should try it out, it's fun." May giggles mischievously. "It makes you hear things differently ...more rhythmically?"
"Can I just say one thing first about all this, before you tell me to drop it and back off?" April pushes at her sister slightly.
"Sure, why not." May sighs, knowing full well it's futile to try to stop her sister from talking trash. Her sinister sister is her mother's daughter, after all?
"Your little lifeguard lunch buddy? He looks and talks all kinds of wrong to me, May." April starts the diatribe she has not exactly been saving up for a rainy day. "The wyrd way he is, and how he does what he does?"
"And I get that you kind of like him, I really do. Sometimes I can even almost see why you do too? Right up until you get to know him a little. But May, and inasmuch as I hate to be the one to break this to you? But there is something seriously off about that guy, like way, way off. Like so far off, he's on his own world of weirdness."
"He's not that bad." May chortles along. "He's just a lot different from San Fall strange. Different good, not different bad...well at least for me anyways."
"Oh, he's a different 'something' all right." April snorts in retort.
"I asked about him on the sly here and there, just like I told you I would. But nothing on the vines came back, until of all people Butchy warned me off asking about him."
"That I should stop putting out feelers on your little Surfer boy, because and I quote: 'That Surfer D kid, he worries me. Not in the way that I scare me? But in a whole 'nother way I've never seen before. The way you see a pretty scorpion spider with new freaky colors while you're on acid way? Like you can look...but don't ever touch. Cause if you touch that thing and it stings you? That would be the worst sting of your life, and you'll never see it coming. Cause that surfer dude guy, he's not a San Fall spider. No, Surfer D the really dangerous exotic kind that you've never heard of before. Like one of those exotic unicorn clown spiders, they don't let you bring back thru Tijuana?"
"Yeah well, Butchy's not exactly the go-to guy for making good judgments, now is he?" May snorts. "And seriously, Tijuana unicorn clown spiders?"
"Sorry but no offense May, but let's not play the 'I can see things that you can't card' right now, okay?" April starts snortling. "Cause no offense, but it's real hard for me to take your good judgments into consideration at the moment? At least not while you're still wearing a maxi pad stuck to your leg, thinking it's super cool. Or did you already forget that new little fashionista accessory you're rocking so swimmingly in your rush to defend your little lunch buddy against a possible 'something' observation?"
"Oh okay, April. And thanks again for that oh-so-helpful reminder of all my awesome." May snorts in retort. "But on that sad note my leg is starting to hurt most fierce again, so let's go see the Nurse. And if you would be so kind as to remove my slapstick, please? No use in having to explain that story twice."
"Sure why not. Not like I haven't done worse things for you." April reaches down for a ripping good time and takes a sharp intake of breath. "O' dog dammit, May'May."
"What?" May can feel her sister's ire rising.
"May, this looks pretty bad. Like deep black and blue bruise bad. You show this to the nurse, and she's definitely calling mommy and daddy to take you to the hospital for sure."
"Crap, I do not want to do that." May sighs.
Because both sisters know only too well, that another trip to the hospital, for yet another fall? There is always taking a chance with May's pending deportation to a not so nice "Special School" for "Special Girls" just like her.
"I know you don't, but I don't think you have a choice this time." April squats down in front of May and eyes the damage to her sister's leg. "I think you are going to have to go to the doctors for this one. Cause it looks really bad, May."
"Damnation." May sighs in resignation. "Okay fine, but you are so not going to like what I am going to have to ask you to do for me then."