true friend
𐬿 𐮚 ミ★ ☆彡 𐮚 𐬿
IT WAS ANOTHER HOT DAY IN SAN FERNANDO VALLEY. Scarlett was bored to say the least, sitting around at home in her room alone while the boys had gone off to the pool again despite being kicked out last time. The girl wanted to go and swim with her friends but was dealing with a monthly visit, making her rethink her decisions on swimming.
So now, the girl lazily rolled around on her mattress, trying to entertain herself with the magazines her mother had picked up for her at the store but she wasn't focused on them and it was itching at her. She couldn't even go downstairs to watch TV because she knew that Jamie was hogging it with some dumb soap opera that she liked to watch, she had it on constantly whenever she had the chance to stick her grubby fingers on the remote.
After Scarlett finally thought of an idea of what to do other than rot in bed, she got herself dressed and stepped out of her room before descending down the stairs and towards the front door. Jamie's sharp eyes followed her stepsisters every move when she'd seen her hopping down the stairs until she heard the door open and shut, she wondered where she was heading so she opened the window that was behind her and the leathered couch she leaned on.
"Wait, where are you going?!" Jamie shouted, hanging half of her body out of the window.
"Out!" Scarlett yelled back, strutting down the sidewalk and from the house where Jamie couldn't see her anymore.
The brunette huffed before roughly closing the glass pane and plopping herself back down onto the old couch cushions, debating wether or not she should go after the redhead and do something with her time. She hasn't left the house since she's gotten here and she was slowly going insane staying inside and watching a static screen all day.
The contradicting blue eyed teen stayed still for a few moments, her slim arms crossed over her chest as she stared ahead. Jamie suddenly shot out of her seat, spinning on her heel and going out the front door.
Scarlett skipped her way to the main part of town where all of the shops stood and decided to go out and shop her heart out with a credit card that she sneakily pulled from David's wallet, don't tell him that though. She hummed to herself as she strolled by a couple of random children run, playing tag. Their giggling filled her ears, along with the sound of cars rolling by and the active town buzzing around her. She turned down a familiar street, her feet leading her to one of her favorite clothing stores.
The Porter girl examined the entire store, pulling clothes into her arms without a single thought in mind, she just wanted to kill the boredom. She tried on every pair of outfits she had picked out, making sure that she liked the article of clothing before strutting to the register. The cashier gazed down at the redheaded girl in amusement when she placed a large pile of clothes and a couple of shoes in front of them. Scarlett smiled up at them politely and patiently waited as they began to scan every item in the pile and placing them in bags.
"The total will be $248.35, are you sure you have enough money for all of that, little girl?" The cashier asked smugly, grinning at her with yellow crooked teeth that made Scarlett internally cringe.
"Well, why don't you see for yourself." Scarlett spit, her eyes turning into slits as she handed the person the credit card, praying that there was enough money on it to prove them wrong that Scarlett—well technically David, wasn't poor.
The cashier took the card before swiping it and punching a few things onto the small old computer illuminating in front of them. A small feeling of nervousness filled in Scarlett's body, not knowing how much was on her stepfathers card.
"It accepted the payment, I'm surprised." The cashier mumbled before gathering all of the girls bags and handing them off to her, Scarlett stood tall while staring at them with a wide smirk.
"Thank you." She said sweetly before taking her newly bought items and pushed her way out of the store.
The warmth of the California sun beat down on the redheaded girl who walked on the side walk of the semi-busy town, as most people were probably at the pools or the sandy beaches, enjoying the heat and cold water. Scarlett huffed as sweat began to drip down her face, the heavy bags in her arms were making it worse for her in this type heat. She had to pause her brisk pace, turning into a dark alleyway and leaning up against a stone wall as she caught her breath and used the shade as protection from the beaming rays of the sun.
That's when she noticed she wasn't alone anymore, "Well, well, well, look who we have here," A familiar voice spoke darkly, which caused Scarlett's breath to hitch and turn her head to the side to see Jessica Lattson and Allison Wilson standing further down into the gloomy alleyway despite the sky being clear of clouds that day, they both stood a distance away with their arms crossed and eyes glaring at the lonesome redheaded girl.
"What do you want?" Scarlett groaned, the weight of the items that hung from her arms were starting to tire her out to the max.
"We have some... unfinished business." Jessica added with a dramatic pause which caused Scarlett to roll her eyes. Allison glanced back and forth from Scarlett to Jessica, doubt weighing heavily on her chest but she kept a stoic face, it's what Jessica ordered her to do.
Scarlett huffed, putting the bags onto a nearby cardboard box that stood against the bricked wall, assuming that the brunette wanted a cat fight, "Fine, but let's make it quick. I need to get going."
"Oh, we'll make it quick alright." Jessica smirked, snapping her fingers and a group of teenage girls—who Scarlett has never seen before—hopped out from behind the bricked walls and from dumpsters, standing tall behind Allison and Jessica.
"Wait—that's kinda unfair, don't you think?" The redhead chuckled wearily, slowly backing away from the smirking brunette and a frowning blonde.
Jessica shrugged causally, her eyes glittering with excitement at the thought of her plan finally being put into work, she's waited for this moment, "Get her, girls!" She compelled and all of the girls obliged to their master without much thought.
The group of strangers surveyed her, circling around her like a herd of hungry tigers hunting down their helpless prey, she watched them all closely as her heart began to throb in her chest with fear. Fear that she wasn't to make it out of this predicament alive, it was seven versus one, but she wasn't going to go down so easily without putting up a fight.
An olive colored girl pounced at her first, claws fully out as she lunged forward and tried grabbing a chunk of the redheads hair but missed when Scarlett slide to the side, barely missing her grasp. The girl roared, her face red and the other around her ganged up on the lonely girl, dragging her deeper into the abandoned alleyway.
Scarlett kicked and flailed her arms around, her hands smacking harshly against their skin, "Hey! Get your hands off me, you stupid broads!" She screeched, trying to pull herself away from their collective grasp. She was stopped when one of them slapped her hard across the face and that was their advantage to easily pull her further down into the alley.
Multiple hands pulled on her hair and tugged at her clothing, shoes were bouncing off her skin as the girls repeatedly kicked and rolled her around on the dirty concrete ground. Punches were thrown, curses were spat and she could feel her skin start to feel numb. For the first time in awhile, the Scarlett Rae Porter was absolutely terrified for her life.
"Stop! Please, stop I beg of you!" She screamed out in pain, hunching over on her knees and elbows but was roughly kicked in the stomach which caused her to fall back down onto her side.
Allison watched the scene unfold with a large amount of worry in her eyes. Yes, Allison was very upset with what Scarlett had done to her, but they shouldn't have handled it like this. She didn't like fights or bullying, she'd rather talk it out with someone and not have to involve anything on the physical level but Jessica manipulated her into believing that this was the only way to knock sense back into the redheaded. When Jessica made up the plan to attack their ex best friend, at first she thought that it was doable and not going to be taken to such an extreme, but alas, Allison was regretting to ever agreeing to a violent plan and knew that there would be major consequences.
"Jess, maybe we should-" Allison spoke up worriedly, grabbing onto her friends arm gently.
Jessica roughly pulled her arm away from the blonde, her face pulled into a scowl when she turned her full attention on Allison, "This is what she deserves Al, she shot first. It's payback for your nose, you remember that right?"
Allison cringed, her gaze fell to the dirty ground, the sounds of Scarlett's cry's ringing in her ears and making her heart quicken it's pace, "Yes I clearly remember that, how could I forget? But that doesn't mean we should continue with more violence!" She began to hold her head up higher, wanting to appear confident with her words but she shook like a leaf in the wind, struggling to keep a hold on the branch.
"Shut up!" The brunette hissed, "Do you want to be in her place instead?!" Jessica yelled furiously causing Allison to back down and shake her head weakly, "Yeah, that's what I thought. I knew you wouldn't be able to handle this," She scoffed, tightly crossing her arms over her chest, "Both you and Scarlett are so pathetic and weak it's laughable," She stifled a chuckled as if to prove her point, "Why I ever choose to be friends with you is still a mystery to me but you're useful, so that's probably why."
Allison felt her blood start to boil as her fists clenched, not taking the insult of her and her ex best friend lightly. Scarlett had always been the strongest person she's ever known, and she looked up to her for that. Scarlett was there for her when Allison had a bad day or was depressed because her parents were fighting again, even when Scarlett wasn't feeling her best either. To Allison, Scarlett Rae Porter was the greatest friend she'd ever have unlike Jessica, Scarlett was her true friend.
Jessica Lattson is a very complicated girl. She's a narcissist who manipulated people into doing things for her instead of doing them herself, she pried her way into your life if you had something that she wanted and couldn't get her hands on. Jessica never took no for answer and she pressured Allison into telling her about why her parents were getting a divorce when she didn't even want to think about it. Sure, Jessica has made many errors than Scarlett ever did, but she was just a reckless human with too big of emotions to displace them anywhere, which is why her drunken father had sent her to attend the California Boarding School for Troubled Girls.
Yes, Allison didn't tread lightly with the forever mental image of Scarlett socking her square in the nose, but she knew that she had it coming to her after what she said at the pool. Scarlett was her best friend ever since diapers, and now she's a hormonal teenage girl just like herself. Jessica wasn't even the one who was punched in face that day, so why did she take such a hating to the redhead after the pool incident?
"Why are you being so vice, Jessica? What has Scarlett done to you?" Allison questioned, watching as the brunette beside her tensed. She knew that Jessica was jealous that Benny and Scarlett were dating, Jess wanted the tall tan baseball boy for herself, this was apart of her plan to take whatever she wanted, and she usually always got what she chased after.
She scowled, her eyes glaring at the blonde who cowered under the harsh gaze, "That's none of your concern."
"It does now, she's my best friend and she always will be. She's one of the most resilient girls I've ever met, unlike you Jessica Lattson!" Allison felt her voice picking up by the end of the sentence, a newfound confidence and anger rising within her. The feral group of teenagers paused their beatings to turn at the altercation between the blonde and the brunette, the argument picking up their interest instead. Scarlett fell in and out of consciousness, giving that her head was repeatedly hitting off of the concrete was not doing her too good.
"You better watch it Wilson, or you'll end up with worse than a broken nose." Jessica growled, looming dangerously over the smaller girl in front of her.
Allison's hands tightened so hard that she could practically feel blood dipping underneath her fingernails, "No, you will!" Her fist was thrown forward and Jessica fell to the ground as a cry left her pink lips, a punch straight to her nose from Allison shocked her, she never thought that the girl was ever capable of doing so.
Jessica loudly sobbed as she watched blood drip from her nose and onto her dress. Her hard brown eyes gazed back at the group who gaped at the scene, baking her next commands, "What are you doing just standing there?! Get her, and make sure she's purple by the time you're finished!"
Allison's eyes widened as all of the girls turned, their haunting eyes scared Allison. She took steps back until her back hit the brick wall behind her, letting out a loud whimper. The first punch was hit and she fell to the ground, the group of girls then started to kick and punch everywhere, just like what they did with Scarlett.
This pain was very new to Allison, as she never got herself into physical fights. It was unbearable and Allison felt like she was in living hell.
𐬿 𐮚 ミ☆ ★彡 𐮚 𐬿
Screams echoing down an alley caused Jamie Darlington to skid to a stop, glancing around to see if anyone else heard the screams. A couple of people nearby also peered around but just continued strolling along, acting like it was normal. Jamie's face scrunched with confusion as she continued surveying her surroundings, everything seemed normal until her sight fell down a gloomy alleyway, her eyes seeing a group of larger teenagers beating up a smaller blonde.
"Hey, leave her alone assholes!" Jamie shouted, trenching into the darkness and to her surprise out of her peripheral she saw an unconscious body slumped on the ground not too far away from them. "Scarlett?" She wondered how infuriated the family would be if they saw her like this right now, hell, even though she hated to admit it, Jamie worried for the girl, she was clearly beaten on by a handful of people.
"What do you want?" A lean girl with blood spilling from her nose and down her neck, a fierce stare in her eyes spoke to Jamie that she was the ring leader orchestrating the attack, she did this to Scarlett and the blonde who was struggling to stay awake.
"I'm just curious as to why I'm hearing screams from across town and my little stepsister is laying on the ground, unconscious." Jamie crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes wavering over Scarlett before turning a sharp gaze to the brunette.
The girl scoffed, "Scarlett's you're stepsister? That's hard to believe." Jessica stepped forward to Jamie, who only a couple of inches taller then her.
"What's hard to believe?" Jamie questioned, genuinely confused why this girl couldn't imagine them being stepsisters.
"Well I mean she's a spoiled little brat and you seem like a humble girl." Jessica shrugged casually, eyeing the confident teen up and down that stood confidently over her.
Jamie rolled her blue eyes, "Oh, really?" She tilted her head to the side, blankly staring at Jessica with raised eyebrows.
"Mhm, I wonder..." Jessica placed a suggestive hand on her arm, running her skinny fingers over Jamie's arm as she hummed, "You're so stunning." Jamie let out a fake giggle, fluttering her long eyelashes at the younger girl in front of her. Jessica smirked and closed the gap between them while hungrily gripping at her arm.
The Darlington girl spat in the brunettes face, causing Jessica and the group of teenagers behind her to gasp in surprise. Jamie pushed Jessica roughly out of her way before marching over to the slightly frightened group of girls. She shoved two of them to the ground and punched anyone who was in her way, now thankful that her mother had forced her into self defense classes.
"Scram!" Jamie barked and the girls did as they were told, scampering away with Jessica also following closely behind. Jamie kept her eyes on the group until they were out of sight before she made her way to the unknown girl who watched her with careful eyes.
"Hey, you're okay now," She spoke softly when she noticed the girl flinch away from her, "Trust me, I won't hurt you." The small girl nodded weakly, her inflamed lip making her appear even more sad as small tears ran down her flushed cheeks causing Jamie to slowly pull her to her chest. The girl cried silently for a very short period of time in the arms of her savior before she reluctantly removed herself, inching towards the redhead.
"S-Scarlett?" Allison whimpered, gazing down at the girl who laid limply on the dirty ground. She sniffed and wiped her tears after crawling over to Scarlett and positioning for her to lay on her back before Jamie took notice and helped the blonde with her friend and her stepsister.
The older teen sat next to Scarlett's body, wondering how she got herself beaten up this harsh, and how the hell she'd tell Helen and her father what had happened. Even though the two butted heads at home, it doesn't mean that Scarlett's safety wasn't one of the first things on her list, along with her step brothers, they all were growing on her unfortunately.
"Scarlett, I'm so sorry! I'm the worst person ever!" Allison sobbed, pulling the girls head into her lap, hugging her body as gentle as possible. Jamie looked at the pair with sad eyes, she knew nothing of how this happened to these two girls.
The redhead stirred, her porcelain face creasing in pain, "Ally? Jamie?" Scarlett wasn't really sure to where she even was and why the two girls who she thought hated her--and she wasn't too fond of them at the moment-- were peering over her, expressions of concern as clear as day on their faces.
"You're awake!" Ally loudly cried, pulling her once best friend into her body causing Scarlett to freeze into a state of shock but reluctantly hug the small girl back.
"W-what happened?" She questioned, leaning away from the blonde, glancing back from Jamie and Ally with a face full of confusion.
Since Jamie didn't exactly know the full story except for when she found them, she decided to keep silent and let the smaller girl beside her speak, "Jessica Lattson is what happened. I'm so sorry Scarlett, I knew about this plan all along and I didn't tell you," Ally cried, tears leaving her eyes while she watched Scarlett's face slightly harden when she began to remember the events that happened today. "I was just so mad, I was so angry. I never felt like that before, and Jessica made it even worse, making the situation seem like it was the most horrible thing and that we needed revenge on you. But all we could've done was talk it out, and not include the violence that she planned." Even more salty droplets fell from down the girls face, causing the redhead to slightly soften and slowly bring a hand up to the blondes swollen cheek, wiping the water from under her eyes. She lightly winced but glanced at her with a small smile, keeping her arms around Scarlett's body.
"I'm sorry for your nose." Scarlett apologized sheepishly, gazed down from her and towards their tattered dresses, mentally groaning when she saw the dirt and rips on her laced white dress, it was one of her favorites.
Ally softly laughed, "I deserved it for what I said to you, it was probably one of the worst things I ever had to say before." Her smile dropped, and she glanced away from the redhead.
" 'Had to'?" Scarlett echoed, keeping her eyes on Ally even though hers weren't.
Ally grew antsy, uncomfortably shifting in her spot as the two stared at her, just now processing what she had said to the older girl, she doesn't want to tell her anything Jessica made her do. "I-I-"
"Spit it out." Jamie barked, causing Ally to flinch in fright, she never liked people raising their voices at her.
"A-All of it was Jessica, she made me say those things to you Scarlett and I'm so sorry-" Ally hiccupped, hiding her puffed face behind her torn hands.
Scarlett's bruised face hardened, "Why'd she make you say that Ally?" She pressed through clenched teeth.
Allison knew that Jessica would kill her for spilling the scolding tea all over the picnic, but she wasn't too worried about the girl anymore, she hoped to never see her again her entire life, "She threatened to spread rumors about me and- and I wouldn't have any friends. She said that you deserved everything after forgetting about us," Scarlett's jaw stayed clenched, her heart pounding harshly in her chest.
"I didn't forget about you guys, I was going through. . ." She swallowed thickly, eyeing both of the girls next to her, making sure to pick her next words very carefully, she wasn't going to open up fully just yet, "I was going through a very hard time and no one was there to help me except for our parents," She glanced at Jamie when mentioned them, "My brothers, my boyfriend and our friends, you weren't there, neither of you were." She whispered, pulling her knees to chest as her face twisted with pain.
"I know and I regret everything that happened between us. I wanted to come and visit you when I heard you were hanging around with my cousin, Jacob Phillips," Scarlett winced at the name and they both noticed this, casting each other a quick glance but neither pressed on it, the redhead would tell them when she was ready. "But she stopped me before I could. There's something else," Ally suck in a deep breath, Scarlett urging her to continue, "She likes Benny." She squeaked.
"That bitch-" Scarlett started to say, but was cut off by Jamie.
"Jesus, what the fuck kind of screwed up friendships do you guys have here?!" She questioned, thinking that maybe it wasn't the best idea to fall for her parents bribery after all.
Scarlett huffed, "If I would've known that she was going to turn into such a back stabbing bitch I wouldn't have befriended her," She grunted, doing her best to peel herself off of Allison's lap, "We should get heading on home before my mom pisses herself when she notices that we aren't back for dinner."
Jamie helped the two girls up, both of them groaning in pain but ignored their bodies screaming at them and managed to pull themselves together. Scarlett carefully collected her bags before her step sister grabbed the rest, Ally limping behind them. The small blonde caught up to the redhead, nervously playing with the necklace that her mother had given her before she left and moved to Japan with her new boyfriend after her parents divorce, "So. . . are we friends again?" She asked shyly, hope glistening in her blue eyes.
Scarlett chuckled, nodding her head before sticking out her pinky finger, "Sure thing, piccola farfalla." The pupils in Ally's eyes dilated after hearing the childhood nickname, it was one that Nikolas Porter had decided for her when she was little and Scarlett picked up on calling her that, and even though she didn't know Italian like the Porter family, she appreciated the thoughtful name. She hadn't heard it in years, since the time before her friends fathers death. The little butterfly hooked her pinky around Scarlett's before the two pulled each other into a needed hug.
Jamie watched the interaction with a small smile, finding the nickname cute. She of course was fluent in Italian as well, given her mother and father met there and birthed her there before moving to America, staying together until she was the age of eight and they split. David was in and out of her life until she never saw him again until this summer at the age of sixteen. The three left the alley and made their way down the sidewalk, glad that there weren't too many people outside anymore now that the sun was setting.
✃------------------------------------------------
Translations:
"piccola farfalla" - "little butterfly"
a/n:
I'm sorry if you didn't like Jamie or Allison at all, but girls gotta stand up for each other!!! and I low key missed Ally/Scarlett's friendship so you'll be seeing more of them getting close again.
Also I just finally concluded what Allison Wilson's face claim is, Angourie Rice!
Word count: 4382
Pls comment/vote!!
ILYSM🤍
Revisted & edited: 01/30/2024