"OK, that should do it," Angelique muttered to herself as she worked with her wrench. "Hey, Amber, can you pass me the IPM?" She waited a few seconds but didn't hear any sound coming from her sister. "Uh, you know, the internal pressure monitor, so I can check the car's engine?" Angelique tried again. "Uh, Amber?"
Instead of answering her older sister's questions, Amber Lily pursed her lips and arched her back over a little more into the hood of the car that they were working on together. Well, fixing cars was actually Angelique's specialty, but Amber Lily also liked helping out sometimes to show their parents what a good girl she could be too.
"Hmm, I think it might be just about done, but it needs to be checked with the internal pressure monitor just to be sure." she finally said.
Angelique was stunned. "What?!" she exclaimed. She had just said that! Where was Amber Lily's head these days? "Amber! Amber, I know you can hear me! Stop ignoring me and just hand me the dang IPM!"
But, Angelique's cries fell on empty ears.
The sound of the garage door sliding open filled both sisters' ears. While Angelique was surprised at who could possibly be here at this time of the night when they weren't even open, Amber Lily was filled with euphoria.
She felt warm hands wrap around her eyes and a blush spread across her cheeks.
"Guess who." a sultry voice whispered in her ear.
Amber Lily placed her dainty hands over the thick ones wrapped around her and spun around, giggling softly.
"Zach!" she wrapped her arms around his chest.
"And who is this under here?"
All of a sudden, Angelique felt herself being pulled out from underneath the car she was working on and her eyes were blinded by all the lights that were on in the garage. She turned her head away, but the voices she heard were unmistakeable.
Angelique pushed herself up from the automotive creeper she was resting on while fixing the car's engine and blinked rapidly before looking up at the two figures that had just joined them.
Zacharia and Deven Bradberry were two teenage brothers that Angelique and Amber Lily used to be friends and neighbors with. Well, Amber Lily was friends with them, Angelique was a bit of a loner and was always too busy to really have friends.
Angelique turned her head and spotted Zacharia with Amber Lily, who he had lifted into the air with his hug and then turned back to her left where Deven stood staring at Angelique with an amused look on his face.
Angelique wondered what the heck he was looking at - no, most importantly, she wondered what the heck they were doing here - the Bradberry's had moved away like three years ago to Boston for reasons unknown. Though she was sure Amber Lily knew, but she never told her anything and she never asked. Besides, they were her friends and they wouldn't have even known Angelique if they weren't constantly coming over to their house during all the summers spent together.
Zacharia finished hugging Amber Lily then and with a broad grin turned and started heading Angelique's way.
"Angel, baby!" he yelled, stretching his arms out wider. "Ugh." he stopped short though when he got to me. "Ah, hey baby doll, you look a lot darker than I remembered; too much sun?"
Angelique scrunched up her eyebrows. What was he talking about? The twitching of his lips and the snickering that was coming from Deven and Amber Lily only confused Angelique even more.
A few droplets of sweat rolled down from Angelique's forehead and made her skin itch and that was when she realized what everyone was looking at. She brought her hands up to her face and felt oil and dirt; they must've gotten smudged on her face while she was working.
"Oh. Yeah. That," she sighed in exhaustion. "It'll come off. Don't worry, I'm still as white as you remember."
Zacharia let out a loud laugh. "You're funny, girl." he winked at her.
"Yeah, I'm sure I am." she muttered and reached for a rag from the shelves lining the walls.
She wiped her hands and then dragged it over face, scrubbing hard on her forehead and along the side of her face.
"Oops, you missed a spot!" Zacharia licked his thump and swept it across the spot next to Angelique's lips. "There, all better!" Angelique could only stare at Zacharia as he leaned forward and swept up her lithe body in his arms. "How've you been, Angel Cake?"
Without meaning to, Angelique let herself lean into Zacharia's chest and gripped onto his brown leather jacket. Sure, his scent was assaulting her nose and his tight hug was making her uncomfortable, but after a long, hard day, this was just what Angelique needed.
"Hey, Angelique." a voice behind her said.
"Hmm?" she murmured.
"Don't panic, but there's a bug on your head!"
Angelique's eyes snapped back open and she struggled to move away from Zacharia. But, she was too late to stop Deven from plucking the thin bug shaped hair clip that held all her hair up at the top of her head.
"No, wait, that's not-!" she tried to protest.
Not only had her skin gotten pinched and she had developed a small headache when Deven pulled the hair clip off her head, but Angelique had also lost her peace of mind.
She stood with a grim look on her face as her long, dark locks started falling down the side of her face and down her body.
"Oh, oops!" Deven looked down at her with a sheepish smile. "My bad!"
"Thanks." Angelique grumbled.
"Well, how was I supposed to know! Jeez, is it my fault you have such weird taste in hair appliances?"
Angelique felt his words hit and sting, but turned her head away to keep him from knowing that. She grabbed the clip back from Deven's hands and put it in her mouth as she pulled and tugged at all her hair. It was a small clip but it held up all her hair like no other.
Everyone was always telling her how beautiful her hair was and then wondering why she never cut it. Sure, her hair was about fifty inches long and tailbone length, but no one really liked her hair. It was too long and it drew attention, and so much attention on such a plain person didn't look good.
Angelique wanted to get it cut, but she couldn't do it herself, because she knew it would come out totally messed up and she didn't want to go to a salon and get it cut, because she also knew that if one of those professionals did it, it would cost a lot financially and personally. If it came out too good, she wouldn't lose the attention, she'd just gain a new kind of it.
So she just let it be and it got to be months and years and before she knew it, it was almost as tall as she was. No one was close enough to chide her about it so Angelique just forgot about it.
"So, um, you girls wanna head down to the beach with us?" Zacharia spoke up then. "We're having a small party welcoming us back. Everyone's invited."
His eyes were on Angelique as she tried to grab all her hair into her fist and put it back together the way it was. She tensed when she noticed him looking and just gave up on her hair.
"Oh, that'd be great!" Amber Lily jumped up and grabbed Zacharia's arm. "It'll feel awesome to just lay on the cool beach after the horrid day I've had fixing all these cars."
Angelique knew better than to get in the middle of Amber Lily's conversations and correct her, so she just kept her head down and her lips sealed.
"So, what do you say, Angelique?" Zacharia asked her. "You in?"
Angelique looked up and there was a part of her that really wanted to go with them. Her eyes flickered over to Amber Lily for her approval. She gave her a side long glance and then nodded a few seconds later.
"Um, O-OK." She answered.
"You might want to fix yourself before we head on out though." Deven added, picking up a strand of Angelique's hair and twirling it between his fingers.
"Let me put the car down first and then we can all go out and have fun!" Amber Lily chimed in then.
"No, wait, Amber, you're not supposed to-!" Angelique tried to protest, but it was too late, the deed was done.
Amber Lily had pushed the two jacks - that Angelique had spent forever positioning all afternoon so the car didn't accidentally fall on top of her and crush her to death while she worked - causing the car to crash down. Not only had the front two tries exploded and gone airless but all the windows had cracked and fell to the ground in pieces.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, sis," Amber tilted her head and pouted. "I had no idea that was gonna happen!"
Angelique had to blink several times, gulp at least twice, and take a few deep breaths before she could nod and speak up again.
"It's OK," she said in a measured voice. She turned towards the two guys who were watching both girls with an intense look in their eyes. "You guys go on ahead without me, I have to get this car ready for tomorrow and I'm really tired anyway. Maybe next time."
Both boys looked speechless and it only made Angelique feel worse. She knew she was close to breaking, so she was glad when Amber Lily grabbed both guys by the arm and began dragging them out of the garage.
"Bye, sis, don't wait up for me!" she yelled back over her shoulder.
Angelique couldn't help watching them leave.
"God, you're evil, Lils." Deven commented.
"Hey, she would've have ruined all our fun anyway!" Amber Lily snapped back. "She's not the party type and plus, she would've busted us out for drinking and stuff."
"Nah, she doesn't seem like that type though." Zacharia added.
"How would you know? You've been gone for like four years! I'm the one that's had to live with her since like forever!"
"Yeah, but still-"
"Still nothing! You're my friends and I don't want to share you two with her too!"
Angelique forced herself to move away from the garage door and stop listening. The tears were close to falling over and she didn't want to deal with them too.
Everything turned silent for a few seconds and Angelique sighed heavily, thinking they were gone. But, then Amber Lily's whiny voice sounded out again.
"Oh come on, guys, I've missed you two like crazy and you're busying worrying over someone you barely even knew let alone ever talked to!" She sounded like she was about to start crying too.
"Alright, we're sorry." Zacharia was the first to say.
"Yeah, we won't talk about her anymore." Deven added.
And that was all it took to get Amber Lily back on track. "Yay!" she cheered.
Angelique nodded to herself and dropped down to the hard ground. She started picking up the pieces of broken glass first. She mournfully looked down at her hands. They had just begun to heal from her last "accident" and now they would just end up getting all cut and bruised trying to fix her just about but not quite finished car.
By the time, Angelique had the car windows and tires fixed and the engine was all good and ready to be used again, it was ten o' clock. If the guys hadn't interrupted them and Amber Lily hadn't purposely sabotaged the car, she would've been done by nine instead.
What were they even doing back in Texas? Sure, it was summer, but why would they want to come back to this trash heap for their vacation?
Angelique couldn't help wondering all this as she washed her hands and started up the stairs to the first floor. Neither mom nor dad were anywhere to be seen, so Angelique trudged up the second floor stairs and into her room.
When Angelique entered her room, her gaze unwilling flitted to the small mirror she had in the corner.
What she saw staring back at her was this: too long and too wild hair, an uneven shaped face, her clothes were bigger than her body, and what's more she had a "weird taste in hair accessories".
Angelique noticed her eyes were rimmed red and her throat was sore from restraining her tears and anger.
She could hear the voices of other teenagers outside her bedroom window and couldn't resist peeking out. She saw all the kids she knew from school from the freshman to the seniors were all dressed up and heading down towards the beach.
Quickly, Angelique began to weigh the pros and cons of sneaking out of the house and going to the party at the beach.
Pro: She'd have the time of her life - for once - and she really deserved it. She had been invited and it was only fair that she accepted it. It was summer and she had no curfew. She had finished all her work and had plenty of free time before she headed off to bed.
Con: She had never snuck out of the house before. If she got caught, she'd be in some serious trouble. She didn't belong there. She had never been to a party but she was very well aware of the things that went on at that them and she wasn't sure she wanted to be caught in any kind of trouble. If Amber Lily saw her there, she wouldn't hesitate to start teasing and putting her down again and that too in front of everyone.
It just wasn't a good idea, but something inside was tugging at her to just go! Maybe it was all the attention she had gotten from Zacharia and Deven, which had never happened before.
Angelique bit down on her lip in thought. She slammed her hands down on the window sill in frustration. She wished someone would just tell her what to do.
She waited for a sign, but none came. So she went with what her heart wanted.
Angelique rushed to the bathroom and scrubbed hard at her face with soap and water. She ran out and went through her closet for a change of clothes.
Once she was all done with that, she grabbed her cell phone and was just about to head on out through the window, like she's seen Amber Lily do countless times before, a shrill voice carried into her room.
"Angelique, I need you!"
Angelique closed her eyes and for a few seconds pretended like she hadn't heard her name being called.
"Angelique, hurry up!"
Angelique opened her eyes, stepped away from her window, dumped her phone on her bed and turned towards her bedroom door.
She cleared her throat and then called out, "I'll be right there, mom!"
She took one more fleeting glance at the window before pushing herself out the door.
Well, that was what her life was all about and whether she like it or not, it was going to remain that way for a little while longer.