"Yeah, it was a tampon"
I groan as I look at the guy's face.
"Oh, god", I sigh loudly.
"You can't flush them down the toilet, mate", his australian accent echoes through my ears, "These old pipes, they're clay"
"Well, I mean, it wasn't me, was it? I don't flush them down the toilet, otherwise I'd know what to expect", I mumble to the worker as he collects his equipment from my garden.
I've been here all morning. I tried doing the dishes when I woke up and nothing worked. I called a guy and from then on, all he's done is ruin my garden, with his pipes and cameras and hammers or whatever.
"Well, obviously no one's to blame", he says.
"Well, obviously someone's to blame", I whisper under my breath.
Before I can complain about anything else, he hands me the bill. I focus my eyes on it and they go wide instantly.
"Five hundred and fifteen dollars?", I gasp.
"Yeah, the camera equipment is pretty expensive", he replies, casually, "And I didn't charge you for the full second hour. Here's the camera footage we got"
The man hands me the footage as I gape at it.
"Camera footage?", I question, "Of the tampon?"
"Yep."
I reluctantly nod at him, as I glance back at my plants, all dead now, from the pipe work or something.
"I'll clean up then", I hear the guy say, before he starts pulling ropes and tools, killing what was left of my tomato plants.
He spends probably the next half hour 'cleaning up', but all I can see is my tomatoes being murdered in my own backyard, as I take Cora onto my arms as to her not do any more damage than necessary.
"Who's had their period in the house?", I question, loudly, as I enter the living room after watching a random guy stomp on my tomatoes for nearly an hour, "Normani?"
Normani's head turns to me from the couch as she rushes into defending herself, "I don't know, not me. You were always so fussy about that"
I eye her as I pause in the middle of the room. It's nearly 11am and I can almost visualise the time running out of my hands as Normani just lies there, on the couch, no pants on.
"Why are you sitting? You have to get up. We gotta go get Ally", I complain.
I hear Normani groan as I head back to my room to get my stuff. As I look for my keys I complain some more, to myself; I am in a bad mood today, I am in a bad mood.
"Oh, shit, I'm up, I'm up", Normani's voice reaches my bedroom, "Can we use the shower now?"
"Nope", I exclaim, entering the living room, "No shower. There's no time"
"But I'm disgusting", Normani complains.
"Yeah, disgusting", I add.
I'm putting my jacket on as Normani gets up from the couch, and Billie walks into the room, also pantless, finally awake. I pause.
My arms are up and my jacket is halfway through my torso but I can't find it in me to finish the process.
It's been almost a week and things have been awkward; at least on my end. Since the car kiss, nothing else happened and I have been anxious while she has been seemingly unbothered, as if nothing happened. We haven't mentioned it, even though I've vented about it heaps to Normani in our sleepover sections in the middle of the night in her room.
"Oh, Billie, have you had any girls in the house?", I manage to ask, finishing the jacket putting task.
"No", she says, walking straight towards the kitchen.
"Well, it wasn't one of my friends. I haven't brought any girls into the house", I complain once again, impatient, as I watch Normani struggle to put pants on, "What's with the no pants thing? Are we done with pants? Is nobody wearing pants anymore?"
"This is it. This is how I'm going to smell to see Ally in the first time in a year", Normani groans as she zips up her jeans, and thats when it hits me.
"It was Jenny!", I snap my fingers and point at Mani in realisation, "Obviously it was Jenny!"
"It wasn't Jenny", I hear her mumble as I open the front door.
I quickly get in the car, followed by one smelly, messy haired Normani. As I start the car I hear her mumble to herself a bit more, complaining about her smell and about Jenny, how she 'isn't to blame'.
"Mani, you're going to have to tell her not to flush tampons down the toilet", I say once more, as I drive our way to the airport.
"I'm not talking to her about that"
"Mani, this is probably new to her", I mock, chuckling a bit, "She's probably scared and a little bit confused, and as an adult I just think you have the responsibility to talk to her about it!"
"It wasn't Jenny!"
Just as I enter the airport's parking lot, my cell phone starts ringing, and I quickly pick up.
"Hi!"
"I'm coming, I'm here!", Ally's voice echoes around my car, "I smell not very good!"
"We're here, we're just parking", I respond, "We'll come get you and help you with your bags"
"We can't afford $515", Normani comments as we make our way to the B gate, which I'm almost certain is the right one.
"Nope", I pop the P.
"Who's gonna pay?", she asks, trying to keep up with me as I anxiously rush my way through the crowded airport lobby.
I roll my eyes annoyedly, before getting into my sarcastic mode, "I don't know, do you think it's too rude to ask Jenny?"
"Yes. Usually landlords pay for stuff like this", Normani comments and I already feel like killing myself, "You're gonna ask your dad?"
I groan before sighing loudly, "No, there just has to be a better way, doesn't there?"
My airy thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a greeting yell coming out of the automatic doors. My head turns to that direction and my eyes are faced with the short blonde being.
"Oh, Ally! There she is", I exclaim, suddenly smiling, as I watch my tiny friend come up to us, dragging two times worth her weight only in luggage.
Mani and I both grab some of her baggage as we turn around, heading back towards my car, as Ally starts talking.
"Um, so, I'm pretty furious, because the guy who was seating next to me, I think ate all of my cheese and crackers while I was asleep. Who does that?"
As I laugh at Ally, my eyes wander towards Nornani, and she seems just frozen at the long lost sight of the small blonde. I can figure how she must be feeling after a year, so, giggling to myself, I start the teasing.
"Ah, Ally, Normani has found herself a child girlfriend. She's in high school. She's been really mean to the kid, and then, over committing to offset her guilt, Mani bought her a rabbit, right, which lives in our house. Mani and I are currently co-parenting a rabbit with a girl in high school", I laugh as I watch Ally frown in confusion, and Mani frown in defense, "Also, she got her period in the house, and she flushed her tampon down the toilet and it costs $515. We can't afford $515, Ally"
Normani groans and points her finger at me before speaking up, "Y/N got a flatmate because she thought the flatmate was pretty, then she fell in love with the flatmate, then the flatmate kissed Y/N because the flatmate was bored, then Y/N pissed her pants. So, you should be delicate with Y/N because she's sad today"
I see Ally frown in confusion once again as I laugh loudly and shake my head, before responding, in denial, "No, I'm not sad because of Billie, okay? I'm sad because your bad choices are costing us $515, my tomato plant is dead and also, I have to wake up and look at your face everyday, just every single day. Do you know what that's like for me, Mani?"
"And Billie's dreamy face", she retorts.
"Okay!", Ally cuts our complaints in half, raising her arms up in light annoyance.
"What have you been up to?", I try, turning my head to her, as my mind stays stuck in the Billie subject.
"Ah, just working in Hamburg, I guess", she wanders off, as I turn my head quickly back to Normani, almost getting dizzy.
"She didn't even seem awkward about it this last week, did she?", I question, unsure, "I mean, like, I don't think she thought about it at all. I think to her kissing me was, like, a joke. I think to her kissing me was, like, funny"
"I am so tired", Ally cuts my complaints short, "Too tired for this"
"Yeah, that's good news, because I have to drop you at home and then go and ask my dad for $515", I add in.
I hear Ally sigh before commenting, "Well, I guess it's nice to be back"
"Yeah, you missed us", I state, "You like us."
"Jesus christ, I don't wanna bail you out, Y/N!", dad growls, roughly placing his coffee cup down on the table, right beside his muffin plate, "Every time I bail you out, you never learn anything!"
I chuckle before speaking up in defense, "I just don't know what I was meant to learn from this! Not to flush tampons down the toilet? Is that the lesson? Learned!"
"It's your responsibility to look after the house, that's what we talked about when I let you move in", dad complains, quickly glancing at little Grace in the trolley, who was still fast asleep.
"I just don't know how I could've avoided this", I complain, "Do you want me to stop inviting girls over if they seem intimately bloody?"
"I'm just not sure what to do here, okay?", dad's voice sounds annoyed.
"You're the landlord, if I weren't your daughter you'd just have to pay for it", I comment, sipping on my smoothie, looking out at the boats through the wide windows.
As I hear dad groan once again I add in, "It's your responsibility to look after the house-"
"No!"
"-to pay for the upkeep of the house"
"I wouldn't be trying to reposition this as a traditional landlord-tenant relationship if I were you", dad raises his eyebrows and points his finger at me, "Tenants pay rent."
I slurp the rest of my smoothie through my straw and just as I hear Gracey waking up, I get up from my seat and lowly state, "I'm gonna pee"
I head to the bathroom without looking back, leaving my empty cup on the table. As I enter the mixed restroom, my eyes quickly scan the stalls, seeing they're all empty, and walking into the closest one, shutting the door behind me.
As I'm leaving the stall, my eyes wander around the restroom as I start making my way towards the sink. That's when I see the swastika drawn on the door I was just peeing behind and I stop on my tracks.
I frown and sigh, eyeing the drawing, before leaning my back against the wall of the stall, grabbing a pen from my back pocket and getting to work.
I'm halfway through the stick people I'm adding to the door, right beside the house I drew on top of the swastika, when I hear steps and wheels approaching my way. Before I can get my attention away from my drawing, I hear a loud sigh followed by a grumpy voice coming from behind me.
"It's gonna be one of those days for me, isn't it?", I turn my head towards the voice, being faced by a frustrated looking janitor, resting his hand on top of his cleaning cart.
"Oh, no, no, no, I-", I rush into trying to explain myself, as the tough and tired looking old man just glares at me, crossing his arms on his chest, "I wasn't-"
"Oh, well, you know, what are you thinking? Hmm? When you draw on my door?", he eyes me pointing at my drawing and the pen in my hands.
I internally groan and externally sigh before starting stammering again, looking back and forth from the janitor to the door, "No, I'm sorry, I just, like... There was a swastika there and I just thought, it'd be better if instead of a swastika, there was a house, do you know what I mean?"
When he doesn't say anything, I lowly add in, "Because nazis are bad"
The old man keeps his tired eyes glued on my face as he stays in silence for a moment. I don't say anything waiting for him to speak up.
"This is vandalism", he finally adds in, gesturing towards my drawing.
"Yeah, I know, but I just thought it would be nicer if instead of having a swastika, you had a house with a little cute family", I repeat in defense, my voice getting more high pitched by the second.
The tired janitor sighs, before shaking his head and mumbling, "I don't know why I care"
"I wanted to draw a jewish family, you know, because, you know...", I trail off looking at him, as he makes no mention to engage in my story, before continuing, "But that's really hard to do without looking a bit racist"
He stays silent, eyeing me and looking frustrated, but also tired.
I look back at the door, pointing at the drawing, as I speak up again, "So instead I drew a gay family, you see, because it's easier to draw a gay family", I go on, hesitantly, beginning to feel a bit intimidated by the janitor's glare, "Cause it's just two moms, do you know what I mean? Cause, you know... Because everyone always forgets that they killed gays- they killed gays as well"
As I start hiding my body into the stall, he lets out a tired laugh, before speaking up, "Well, why don't you just write 'prick' on my forehead? Well, go on. Write 'prick' on my forehead"
He lightly bows down, tilting his bald head in my direction, motioning his forehead with his hands, sarcastically.
I shake my head and mumble quiet 'no's and 'sorry's as he steps back and goes back to glaring at me, crossing his arms back on his chest.
That's when my mobile starts ringing from my pocket. I pick it up, seeing dad's face pop up on my screen, as I press the 'accept' button.
Before I can place it onto my ear, the janitor groans and requires, "Who's that?"
"It's my dad", I reply quietly.
"Huh?"
"Hi, dad", I speak into the phone.
The grumpy man mumbles something below his breath as he reaches out towards my cell phone, "Let me take that"
I feel like I'm back at middle school and I start chuckling to myself, as hear dad's voice through the phone, confused, "Who's that? Where are you?"
"I'm in the toilets, alright? I got in trouble", I roll my eyes leaning my side onto the stall, feeling like a rebellious preteen.
"Trouble? What do you mean? What kind of trouble?", my dad's voice sound outrageous as I hear chairs being moved and steps through the phone call.
"It's not a big deal. Editing some graffiti", I mumble back.
"Graffiti?", I hear dad's voice, only this time it comes from the restroom's entrance, "You were vandalising?"
I chuckle looking at dad, as I hang up my phone, placing it back in my pocket and speaking up, in a jokingly tone, "Yeah. In, like, a noble way, you know? Like Banksy"
The janitor sighs before turning to my dad, "You this girl's dad?"
"Yes. Who are you?"
"I'm the cleaner", he sighs and points at me, "Just caught Bart Simpson over here drawing on my door"
I snort as dad just continues eyeing the janitor, a frown on his face, "Yes, and? What do you want?"
"You know, I just thought-"
"Oh, just fuck off", dad cuts him in, as I gawk at him, trying to keep my laughter contained.
"Oh! Oh, don't worry, I'm gonna get you security"
Just like that the old man walks off, a frown on his face, as I start giggling.
Dad's face still looks frustrated as he glares at me. But before he gets anything out, realisation hits him and his eyes go slightly wide.
"Y/N. Oh, shit. Let's get out of here"
I let out another laugh, as dad groans and complains, "Vandalism. Like a fucking teenager!"
And with that he starts rushing out of the restrooms as I follow close behind, laughing nonstop.
Dad quickly leads our way out of the coffeeshop and into the shopping mall. His rushed pace suddenly turns into jogging as he mumbles quick 'hurry up's to me every once in a while.
Before I realise, dad and I are fully running across the mall towards the parking lot. It's only when we manage to get into the car and shut the doors that we let ourselves breath out and our brains take a rest.
"Y/N?"
"Yeah?"
"It comes down to this. I look at you and I think you're lost", I turn my head over to dad and find his eyes already on me as he talks, "And I feel lost when I look at you"
He pauses for a while, catching his breath, as I just nod at him.
"You're a smart kid", he goes on, "And I guess you have to decide wether you want to be somebody or just anybody"
As he keeps on talking, I just keep nodding my head, trying to hide my smile, as I wait for him to finish, "Yeah"
"And I think I mollycoddled you", he groans, putting his seatbelt on.
I chuckle and keep on nodding as I watch him, "Yeah-"
"You know, it's time you started taking some responsibility for something", he complains and takes a breath.
When he doesn't add anything else, I try speaking up again, "Yeah. You left Grace behind, yeah?"
Dad immediately undoes his seatbelt and opens his door, as he gets out of the car ready to redo our whole track in reverse.
I watch him, chuckling, as I see his figure quickly vanish from sight and all I can hear is loud groans from a distance, "Shit, shit, shit!"
"You don't gossip much, do you?", mom lowly questions, from her position on her bed.
Hannah slowly shakes her head from the armchair across mom's room, "Nuh."
The room stays quiet for a moment. Mom lightly smiling at the wall, Hannah paying close attention to the pillow on her lap, fidgeting with the fabric.
"Stuart and I had sex"
Mom looks over at Hannah expectantly. Hannah's eyes slowly look up from the pillow, her face looking a bit uncomfortable, "Noted."
And just like that her eyes fall back onto the pillow.
Mom frowns, "Is that all you gotta say about it?"
When Hannah quietly shrugs Mom turns her head back to the wall, "He has a wife"
"This... this here?", Hannah gestures to the middle of them, "I guarantee you, not my thing"
Mom ignores, looking up to the ceiling and continuing, "I didn't know he had a wife at the time, but... I don't feel guilty about it. Do you think I should feel guilty?"
"I don't think", Hannah quietly states, "I have no thoughts."
Mom sighs as Hannah slowly speaks up again, "Ginger has a lot of thoughts"
Mom shakes her head, "I couldn't tell Ginger, I never know how she's going to react to things, she's crazy"
"We're all crazy. It's kind of the point."
"No. No, she'd just tell everybody, she'd love it too much", mom comments.
"Perhaps."
"You know, I think she thinks she's the most sane person in here. Now that's pretty crazy"
Hannah shrugs before slowly replying, "Everyone thinks they're the most sane"
Mom snorts, "Yeah, but for her to say that. I mean, she's Ginger"
"I knew it!"
Mom's head quickly turns to the bedroom door where Ginger now stands, with her hands on her hips.
"I knew you'd talk about me behind my back!"
Hannah's eyes finally look up to watch the situation while mom's eyes are already wide and her body getting up.
"Oh, shit", mom lowly mumbles.
"Everybody! Listen up! I've got news and I can't keep it to myself!", Ginger takes off, rushing through the corridors.
Mom quickly gets up from her bed, running after Ginger, while Hannah reluctantly leaves the pillow behind, trailing off towards the corridor.
"Cooee! Cooee! It'll rock you to your very core!", Ginger announces.
Just as mom manages to catch up with Ginger, an old lady comes out of her room, inquiring about the news, "What is it?"
"It's about-"
"Oh, Ginger", mom pleads.
"Oh, what, Rose? Are you ashamed?", Ginger sassily teases, "You seemed quite proud of yourself back there"
"I want to know what the news is", the tiny old lady requires shakily.
"Well, Maudrey, it's about Rose."
Mom sighs loudly as Ginger eyes her, arching her eyebrows, while Hannah watches the situation unfold from behind, her eyebrows high up and a slight trace of a smile on her face.
"Oh, Ginger, look, I didn't mean any of those things-"
"Rose is... a pig."
It gets silent as Ginger eyes mom with a mocking face and Maudrey gasps, her old eyes going wide.
"She isn't!", Maudrey gawks, in genuine surprise.
Ginger nods, a convinced look on her face, "She is"
It's later in the afternoon and the house has been in a comfortable quiet mood for about an hour.
Normani and I are each on one couch, lost in thoughts, Ally is beside me and Billie beside Mani, both on their phones, and Harry is lying down on the floor, staring at the ceiling.
I'm resting my head on Ally's shoulder when suddenly jumping off the couch and rushing into the kitchen, "Oh, I made you a cake! I forgot, I forgot"
As I'm opening the fridge I hear Billie's voice from the living room, "Ayo, what are we doing to celebrate Ally coming back?"
"I made a cake!", I exclaim.
"Let's go dancing", Harry suggests.
I walk back into the living room, Ally's cake on my hands. It is chocolate flavored with pink icing, and it reads 'Ally is home' in green.
I sit back down beside Ally, showing her the cake as she sweetly smiles up at me.
"I'm not very good at icing, but..."
Normani hesitantly speaks up, drawing my attention away from the cake, "I can't hang out tonight. I have to see Jenny"
I eye her for a while, before insisting, "But Ally just got back. I made a cake"
"I just have to"
"It's fine, I'm tired", Ally assures Normani, smiling, "We'll just do something tomorrow"
I shake my head, unconvinced, "No, what are these immovable plans?"
Normani keeps quiet for about ten seconds, before sighing, closing her eyes, and slowly admitting, "It is... Jenny's... school musical tonight"
Immediately both Ally and Billie perk up. Harry lets out a loud laugh and I raise my eyebrows, a teasing smile on my face.
"Oh, let's go out, we should go out", Ally quickly insists.
My smile grows wider, "Yes!"
"Yeah, dude, it's your first day back, we need to entertain you", Billie states, trying to maintain a serious face, rubbing her hands together.
Normani's face looks slightly panicked, as she complains, "No, you can't come"
"Why, is it sold out?", I mock.
Her face suddenly goes blank as she comments, "I hope not. I was meant to book but I never gave back the slip"
Ally jokingly gasps and Harry laughs loudly. Billie has a thinking face on as she speaks up, "Will there be alcohol there?"
Normani frowns, "I don't think so"
"Do you have juice?", Ally asks me and I nod, "We should pour vodka into juice"
"Yes!", I nod excitedly as Billie calmly speaks up.
"And with that it is done."
"Over hill, over dale! Thorough bush, thorough brier. Over park, over pale. Thorough flood, thorough fire!"
The school patio is crowded with moms and teenagers, a couple of plant themed decorations around and many colorful lights hanging from the walls.
There's this one kid dressed as a 'fairy', I'd say if I had to guess, and he's been reciting complicated words for several minutes now. He's climbing up chairs and benches, skipping around the patio handing our fliers.
When he jumps towards us I quickly look down, trying to avoid laughing into his face.
"Milady", he greets Ally, bowing down in front of her and handing her a flier.
When all of us had one of those in hands, the kid quickly turned around skipping away, "I do wander everywhere..."
We all collectively chuckle to ourselves, while Normani tries to keep a straight face, looking around the place, seeming nervous.
"It's good to get out and get a bit of culture, huh?", Billie speaks up.
"I can't believe Harry gave this up for your mom", Ally comments glancing at me.
"He's meeting us here after the play", I reply, shoving my cold hands down my pockets.
"Is he though?", Billie chuckles.
"He better", Ally replies.
Normani's been quiet for a while, just looking down at the flier. I threw mine away the moment I got it, so I peek at Mani's, looking above her shoulder.
"Shakespeare? No, Mani, I thought this was a musical!", I complain as I read the flier briefly.
"It is", Ally speaks up as she starts reading out, "A Midsummer Night's Dream, but reimagined in the modern day with pop songs from the 80's, 90's and now"
She doesn't manage to finish reading it, starting to laugh halfway through, me following close behind as Normani sighs loudly.
"Oh, yeah", I start teasing, "I mean, that's what Shakespeare would have wanted"
"Well, he didn't write it as a musical", Ally trails off.
"It doesn't mean it's not gonna be better as a musical", Billie suggests.
"I mean, how could he decide?", I add in, "It's not like he had access to the hits of the 80's, 90's and now"
Ally snorts at me while Normani lets out a loud groan, "Guys, you can't poison my mind. I need to convince myself this is good so I can be supportive after"
"I must go seek some dew drops here..."
After a short while they opened the school gates and we found our way to the theater, finding our seats and sitting down.
We've been waiting for about twenty minutes and the play hasn't started yet, meanwhile the alcohol did start kicking in.
There is quiet indistinct talking around us, and we can't quite focus on anything in particular since we giggle at everything that comes out of any of our mouths.
Ally and I have been giggling to ourselves for a while now, being seated in the middle, right next to each other. Normani is by my side and Billie is next to Ally.
Billie leans from her seat looking across Ally and I, in Mani's direction, as she whispers, "How are you feeling, man?"
"Nervous", Normani mumbles.
And just like that the curtains go up and a couple of colorful looking teenage girls appear to the view of the public, one of them on top of a flowery tower.
Applause roars around the theater as pop music starts blasting from the speakers.
As the kids start dancing around the stage, Ally leans her head towards my head whispering into my ear, "Which one is she?"
"That one", I point out, just as Jenny, along with the other girls, start doing a barely synchronised choreography.
"We'll always be together
However far is seems
(Love never ends)
We'll always be together
Together in electric dreams"
The girl on the tower starts singing out, as Jenny and the other girls on the bottom do the backing vocals, fake smiles plastered on their faces.
"Oh, this sucks", I comment.
Ally frowns before replying, "No way, these kids are way more talented than you are"
I smile and shake my head, "No, that is just not true"
"Can you please be quiet?", Normani shushes me.
"She said we're not talented at musicals", I complain to Normani.
"Please just be quiet."
"Only if you defend yourself, Normani"
"Shh"
"Now"
"Shh!"
As the kids reach the chorus again, I look back at the stage, a smile on my face, as I start singing along, "We'll always be together, however far it- doo doo doo doo. We'll always be together-"
"Okay!", I hear Ally stiff a laughter as Normani quickly cuts me in, before turning to the others and whispering, "These kids are trash. Our school musicals were perfection"
Billie's muffled chuckles echo in my ears as I nod, satisfied, "Thank you"
"Why is Ginger over there?", Harry questions, taking a sip from his orange juice.
Lauren then looks up in realisation, finally spotting Ginger, who was having dinner, as well, but on the table across the room, by herself.
Lauren frowns at the sight, quietly sharing a confused look with Harry, before looking back at mom, who, without looking up from her plate, mumbles, "Never mind"
"Usually she sits here with us", Lauren comments.
"Mom and Dad are fighting", Hannah whispers.
Mom sighs, keeping her head down, as Hannah, Lauren and Harry share a quiet look.
"Yup. There's tension. I can feel tension", Lauren starts, "I didn't come to the hospital to feel tension, I could've just stayed at home with my family. I'm gonna go eat in my room"
With that, Lauren takes her tray onto her hands, gets up, and walks away. Harry and Hannah watch her quietly, as Hannah speaks up, "Why didn't I think of that? Food. Bed. They are my top 10 favorite things"
Harry cracks a light smile before turning his head back to look at mom, who is now sadly eyeing Ginger from a distance.
"I don't know what to do", she finally mumbles again, as she turns to look at the other two, "Could you have a talk to her?"
"Not my thing", Hannah states.
"Harold?"
"It's your problem, Rose"
"Oh, I can't stand this"
Mom sighs and gets up, heading towards Ginger, sitting down on the chair beside her.
When she doesn't spare once glance at her, mom quietly speaks up, "I know you don't wanna talk to me but I need you to know that I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of those things I said"
That makes Ginger look up for a moment, before quickly turning back to her food, "Yes, you meant it. You meant everything you said. They're all true, all those things are true"
"Yeah, okay, alright. Yes, I did mean them, but...", mom pauses and sighs, "But those things I said are not bad things. They're just flaws that you have and I really like them, those flaws"
As mom stammers, Ginger glances up once again and mom sighs.
"I really like hanging out with you. Isn't that what friendship is?", mom concludes quietly.
Ginger looks mom in the eye before grabbing her tray and standing up, "I don't know what friendship is anymore"
Mom sadly watches as Ginger, just like Lauren, disappears into the long corridors of the hospital. She slowly gets up and heads back to her own table, just to find Harry standing up and gathering his things.
"You're leaving?"
"I'm meeting Y/NN and Mani. Ally's back", he tells her, going in for a quick hug.
Mom weakly hugs him back, mumbling a goodbye and sending some love to Ally.
As Harry walks out, mom sits back down, getting back to her food.
"At least you're still here", she mumbles to Hannah.
"I just stayed here the same way I sometimes sit through The X Factor", Hannah calmly comments, "Can't find the remote."
"And all my right of her I do estate unto... Demetrius"
All kids in costumes gasp as yet another song starts playing and all girls position themselves around the stage.
I haven't been paying attention for a while, getting lost into my drunken thoughts and only bouncing my head to the tunes that would play from time to time.
Ally gulps down some more alcohol from the juice bottle before passing it to Billie, just as the music picks up and the girls start doing the can-can.
I watch as Jenny throws her legs, one at a time, into the air, at the left corner of the line of girls front stage.
I get mildly impressed at her elasticity before getting dragged back to reality as I hear Ally snort and quickly cover her mouth with her hand.
"What? What?", I ask.
"She has wings", Ally whispers.
Confused, I focus back on the stage, my eyes roaming around the four girls.
"What do you mean?", I ask again just as I realize what she's talking about.
It was when I payed close attention to Jenny that I noticed; it was there, it was just right there every time she would raise her fluffy colorful skirt and kick up her legs, it was always there, peaking out.
I snort along with Ally, also rushing to cover my mouth, as Normani quickly turns to look at me.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing, okay?", I whisper back, "Just look"
Her eyes are fixated on the stage for a quick moment, and I can tell that she also noticed because she quickly turns back to me.
"What is that?"
"Wings", I whisper.
"Wings?"
"Wings", I insist.
"Like on a pad", Ally whispers across me.
I keep watching the choreography and what before was amusement now is embarrassment; she just won't stop spreading her legs.
"No", I hear Normani gawk as the only sound coming from me and Ally is muffled laughter.
"It's not, it's just part of the costume", Normani insists, her eyes wide.
I shake my head in denial, still chuckling to myself, as Ally replies, "Mani, it is not the costume"
That's when the song gets to an end and people start cheering and applauding. I share a funny drunken look with Ally while Normani's eyes stay glued to the stage, in panic, and Billie naively claps along.
Not much time after that and the curtains go back down. Neither Ally nor me had the guts to make any more fun of the play after the can-can, and Normani seemed to be frozen for the entire time.
As we all walked out of the theater, Ally filled Billie in, who immediately started wheezing, being quickly shushed by the tiny blonde.
We just got back into the patio and Normani hasn't said one word, so I decide to finally address it, with a teasing smile, "Well, Jenny owes me $515"
"Unrelated, okay? Unrelated", Normani complains.
As we stop walking, Billie sighs, shoving her hands into her pockets, before speaking up, "Yo, let's get out of here"
"No, we have to stay for the second half", Normani insists as the rest of us groan.
"Oh, I'm not staying any longer, man", Billie replies as I shake my head in agreement.
Ally looks around before sighing and suggesting, "Why don't you two go for a walk and I'll stay here and watch the rest with Mani?"
Billie and I instantly perk up looking at each other and smiling.
"Cool"
"Okay"
We turn away and leave at the same time, heading towards the parking lot as quick as we can before any of them change their minds.
"This is hell", Ally drunkenly complains as they watch us walk away, "I'm so jetlagged and this is hell"
"I think the play's been good-", Normani tries.
"Shut up"
"Oh!", I laugh as I watch Billie jog across the court.
After wandering a bit around the school property, we found ourselves at the basketball court. Billie got crazy excited and so for the past fifteen minutes I've been sitting on the ground watching her try to throw an empty water bottle through the basket.
She's been stumbling a lot and hasn't gotten one basket in yet. But she does look good.
"I just thought you'd be, like, pretty talented at sports. No?", I mock.
"I am", she laughs, grabbing the water bottle from the ground, "I did gymnastics"
"Stop it", I gawk at her.
"Yeah"
"You didn't"
"You knew I was a dancer", she comments, pointing at me.
"Okay, and? So was Normani, she didn't do gymnastics", I argue.
"I was gymnastics champion", she brags as she misses another point.
I watch her jog towards the bottle once again as I quickly get lost in thought, just watching her as she laughed at herself. Her long silver hair was all over the place and her baggy clothes flew around her body in movement. Everything about her looks so enticing right now and it might be the alcohol or the moonlight or the weak yellow light that's coming from the electric system of the court, but whatever it is it's working wonders.
I forced myself to snap out of it as I speak up again, "The time we had to do gymnastics in class is the sixth most humiliating moment of my high school years"
"But you're so graceful", she mocks me, doing a funny voice.
"Yeah. Yeah", I wheeze, "Isn't that just the meanest thing you could imagine? Making teenagers do gymnastics in front of other teenagers?"
I watch as Billie kicks the empty bottle away, chuckling at me, before approaching me and sitting by my side on the ground.
"I didn't have to do it, though. My dad, he made me a note to get out of it", I tell her.
"Hmm, what was the excuse?"
"Uh, that I had had surgery on my ingrown toenails a few weeks before"
Billie quietly snorts before commenting, "That's why your toenails are so weird"
"Yeah, the teacher still had to- Woah", I cut myself in as I process what she had just said, "Woah, woah, woah, woah. How long have you thought I have weird toenails?"
She looks at me and she's smiling, "Since I saw them"
I pause for a moment, just looking at her and she keeps on looking back at me and smiling. But there's something different about the way she's smiling at me now, and I don't know if it's because she's drunk or if it's because I'm drunk, but it makes me feel quite bubbly.
Once again I force myself to snap out of it, stammering a quick 'okay' before going back to my story, "Well, the teacher still had to grade me, right, so I had to do, like, a gymnastics routine but without any gymnastics in it"
"I cannot fathom how that is possible"
"What she made me do, right, is I had to replace forward rolls with my arms like this and spinning", I mimic what I remember from the position, which was my arms crossed in front of my torso with my open palms against my chest, "And cartwheels were arms out like this", I spread my arms out, parallel to the ground.
Billie wheezes at me as I continue, "And then I had to put together a routine and she just judged me on how well I, like, used the space"
"Wow", she laughs out.
"I do not know how she found a way to make it more humiliating", I comment.
Billie eyes me, leaning back onto her arms, smiling widely, "Will you show me this routine?"
"I mean, I'm happy to show you my routine if you show me your champion routine", I mock her as she nods at me.
"Okay. Yeah. Fuck, yeah, I'll do it"
She slowly manages to get back to her feet, stumbling a bit, before adjusting her stance and pulling her pants up.
She looks at me with a challenging look on her face as she removes her jacket, dropping it to the ground.
"Oh!", I laugh.
"Yeah"
"Oh, you're very serious"
"Oh, yeah"
Billie suddenly raises her arms in the air, making a pose, and I wheeze, "Ooh!"
She starts twirling and doing flips and it is actually quite impressive. I try to maintain a neutral face as I mumble casual comments, "That's... Yeah, that's good, I guess"
She does a weird kind of ballerina jump and I mumble, "No, that's not a thing"
That's when she does this crazy back flip and I exclaim, in surprise, "Oh! No, that was quite good"
Billie, then, wraps it up doing, once more, a showing off pose, raising her arms. I giggle as I say, "It's the most beautiful gymnastics I've ever seen"
Loud weird music plays from the speakers around the theater, as one guy, dressed in old villager's clothes, with a funky donkey head on, tap dances in the middle of the stage, as two girls, one in each side, tag along in the choreography.
Normani and Ally watch the show, gawking at what is being presented to them, trying to hold in the laughter.
Normani leans her head in Ally's direction, commenting about the donkey, "Unveil yourself, masked dancer"
Ally laughs out loud as the donkey and the two girls wrap the dance up, bowing down as the audience applaud.
Both Normani and Ally reluctantly clap their hands, as drunk Mani looks up at the ceiling, sighing loudly, before groaning, "Okay, kill me."
Ally tries to hold her laughter in, as another teenager gets to the center of the stage and starts proclaiming, "Now the hungry lion roars-"
"I dare you to touch that girl's hair", Normani speaks over the scene, over to Ally, pointing at the random girl sitting in front of them.
"I'm not touching someone's hair", Ally grumbles.
Normani raises the vodka filled plastic bottle as she speaks, "I'll give you the rest of this juice if you touch that girl's hair"
"Oh, shut up"
Ally suddenly seems indecisive as her eyes go from the kids on stage to the wild haired girl sitting in front of them. Normani keeps her eyes close to her former girlfriend, while the tiny blonde comes to a drunken decision.
"Now the wasted brands do glow"
Ally rapidly reaches over to brush the girl's hair with her fingers, as Normani quietly chuckles.
"While the screech-owl, screeching loud, puts the wretch that lies in woe in remembrance of a shroud."
Alcohol motivated, in sequence, Normani reaches out to, also, touch the stranger's hair. Being less light handed, her touch makes the girl look back at them; Ally makes a mocking face in return, making the random girl turn her head back to the stage, in defence.
"Now it is the time of night that the graves, all gaping wide..."
"There you go", Normani hands Ally the juice.
Mom is currently picking on her nails as she suddenly hears her bedroom door open.
"His wife's here, his wife is here", Ginger peaks her head in, a wide smile plastered on her face, as Lauren wanders around behind her, in the corridor.
"Oh, Ginger, just leave it", mom mumbles.
"Oh, no, no, no, we're not fighting anymore", Ginger explains in a rushed pace, "I got bored. We're a team"
Mom's eyebrows are raised high, "Oh. Wow, great"
"Yeah, so let's get her", Ginger motions her hands, ushering mom out the room, as Lauren flashes excited smiles through the door opening.
"It's our big chance", Lauren ushers.
"Get her?", mom questions.
"Yes!", Ginger exclaims, "Let's get her. Come on"
Mom watches as Ginger turns around, smiling big, heading towards the visiting lounge, as Lauren quickly follows her.
Mom sighs as she gets up from her bed, complaining, "I don't wanna get her!"
"You just have to remember that I was doing this in front of the entire class, yes?", I state as I prepare myself.
I'm standing up in the middle of the dark, empty, high school basketball court, as Billie nods her head from her sitting position on the ground, mumbling a quick 'yeah'.
I start my gymnastics choreography, raising my arms multiple times around my body as I hear Billie giggle in response.
She sarcastically claps, rapidly, and I quickly shush her with a hand gesture, before continuing my routine, twirling from one point in court to another, my arms securely crossed around my torso.
I spread my arms out, as I, once again, twirl around my feet, moving to one corner of the space. Billie loudly laughs, watching me move.
I brush some dust off my sweater before raising my arms around once again. I take wide steps, moving my arms around as I walk, as Billie continues laughing.
"No", I shush her, motioning my hand to her, as she covers her mouth.
"Sorry", she whispers.
I go back to concentrating on my moves, waving my arms around, while Billie suddenly gets up from the ground, moving in my direction.
As I twirl around my feet once more, I suddenly turn my face to meet Billie's, who just somehow got really close. Really close.
Before I can process anything, her hands are on my waist, stopping me from twirling away, my arms are around her neck, and her lips are on my lips, lightly smiling.
As my mind suddenly goes into a fuzzy blank state, I kiss her back, while we stand, wrapped around each other, in the middle of the dark, empty, high school basketball court.
"Come one! Come on!", Ginger ushers Lauren and mom as the two follow her around the corridors.
As they get to the visiting lounge, Ginger starts subtly slowing down, pressing her back against a column wall and spying in. Mom confusedly follows suit, peaking her head in, her eyes immediately falling on the center table of the lounge, where a tired looking Stuart was sitting down across from this really frigid looking lady.
Lauren just wanders into the room, shrugging, as she starts openly watching the couple on the table, before Ginger quickly grabs her arm and yanks her back to the corridor.
"So what's the plan to get her?", Lauren whispers to the older women.
"I don't know yet", Ginger whispers back, her eyes never leaving the lounge.
"I really don't think we should get her", mom shakes her head in doubt as Ginger waves her off.
"Your hair looks nice", they hear Stuart start, in a tired sounding mumble, as the wife clicks her tongue, sighing.
"Well, it doesn't look nice, Stuart, does it?", the lady complains in a monotone voice, "This isn't what I asked for. No one does their hair like this anymore."
"What a little gremlin she is", Ginger whispers out, squinting her eyes at the table, as Lauren snorts.
"Okay, it looks shit, I don't know", Stuart tries.
His wife loudly sighs before reaching over to dust his white shirt, "Yeah, well, you're not a prize pig yourself"
"Ginger, I think we should leave", mom pleads, "Just leave them be"
"No", Ginger nods her head at mom, as if reassuring her, "We're gonna get her"
"Ginger. No one is getting anybody", mom states, firmly, "She's his wife. She's visiting, it's nice"
Suddenly Ginger's got this new look of determination on her face; she reaches down into her back pocket getting a coin out of it as she briefly aims it before throwing.
Before mom could react, Lauren's eyes are already widen, and they hear the coin clinking on the floor, after hitting the wife on the side of the head.
"Oh, got her!", Ginger whispers in excitement as mom starts laughing and the frigid lady brings her hands up to her head, a pained expression on her face.
"Ah, what happened?", the wife complains, "Oh, god, it hurts so much"
Ginger tries to focus on how the situation plays out, but the only thing she manages to hear is the muffled laughter coming from Lauren and mom.
Before she can even shush them, Ginger frowns, watching as Stuart gets up seeming concerned and holds his wife, gently massaging her head.
"What can I do for you, Hazel?", Ginger hears him ask in a caring tone before she rushes to mom's side.
"Oh, no, he's hugging her, it backfired"
When mom's only response is hold onto Lauren's arm for dear life as the two desperately laugh out, Ginger slaps her back, frustrated.
"Next time, I'll aim the coin at you", she groans, annoyed, heading back into the hospital, "Come on, you"
We've been making out for a while now, and I don't know if it's the alcohol or if it's just Billie, but I feel like I never want to do anything else.
By now we're drunkenly holding each other's hair and face and neck and whatever we can get our hands on, and I've got Billie pressed against the court's fences.
As my hands trail their way to the hem of her large shirt, I feel her chuckle against my lips, taking my hands in hers.
"Y/N", she laughs out, "I'm not gonna take my shirt off"
"Why not? Come on, it's fun", I giggle as I insist, "We're, like, on a basketball court at school. It's, like, fun, it's a fun thing"
"I didn't realise you were so slutty", she mumbles before kissing me again.
"I'm not slutty, okay?", I defend myself as she chuckles, "And if I were slutty, that's fine, let us be slutty. I never realised you were so frigid"
And just like that, we're back to making out against the fences. I feel her hands go down to hold me by my waist as I place mine on her shoulders.
That is, until we're interrupted.
"Y/N!", I hear Ally's voice coming from behind me, and I reluctantly break the kiss, slowly turning around.
"Y/N, I have superstar Jenny", Ally drunkenly motions to Jenny.
Ally is stumbling in our direction and it's quite obvious she's the drunkest of us all. Trailing behind her are Normani and Jenny holding hands, and Harry a bit further behind.
"Aren't you glad I didn't take my shirt off?", Billie whispers to me, teasingly.
"Not really", I mumble before turning to the others, "Hi"
Ally suddenly pauses, eyeing us, "Ooh, sorry. Should we... leave?"
"No, no. It's fine", I struggle but manage to speak out, "We can... we can pause"
As I lean my back against the fences sliding down to sit on the ground, the group finally walks up to Billie and I, as Jenny starts talking, "I'm sorry you guys had to sit through that. I know it's lame. Like, I need you all to know I know it's lame"
"No, it was good", Normani says, patting Jenny's shoulder.
"Jenny, it was fine", I assure her, "Ours were heaps worse, I promise"
"You looked hot", Billie adds in.
As Jenny flashes a smile, Harry sits down on the ground and Ally starts humming and moving. We all turn to watch her as she stumbles around trying to mimic Jenny's can-can, her eyes closed and the now empty juice bottle in hands.
Jenny confusedly looks at her as I slightly cringe, trying to get Ally's attention, "Ally. Ally! Stop it", I try to whisper in her direction.
"Uh, I am very drunk and I haven't slept in three days", Ally states in a slurred tone, defending herself.
"Ally drank all the juice", Normani explains.
Ally frowns and points at Normani, as she starts speaking up again, "Mani gave it to me because Mani was trying to get me tipsy"
Jenny weirdly watches the scene before hesitantly opening her backpack, "Um, I have some more if anyone wants"
"Tremendous", Harry smiles up as Jenny walks to us, handing over her small flask.
Harry, Billie and I each take a big sip as Ally stumbles around a bit before speaking up again, looking up at the dark sky with furrowed eyebrows, as if in thought, "You know, there's something about being jetlagged. It always makes me feel like I'm on my period, you know?"
I watch as Normani sighs closing her eyes and Harry looks around at us confusedly, sensing the weird tension. Jenny frowns at Ally as Billie hides her face behind the flask in her hands.
"No", I trail off, glaring at Ally, "No."
"I've been jetlagged before, it doesn't feel like you're on your period", Jenny awkwardly chuckles, dismissively.
Ally twirls around holding the empty bottle up to her mouth as she sings into it, "Midsummer Night's streeaam!"
That's when Jenny pauses on her tracks, looking at Normani, before looking down at us, and then back at Normani.
Her face looks slightly panicked as she stammers out to Normani, "Did you tell them?"
When Normani just awkwardly shakes her head negative, Jenny speaks up again, "Mani. How do they know I'm on my period?"
"They don't", Normani mumbles.
"Okay, well, they obviously do"
"We do", Ally sings out.
"How?"
"Jenny, it's... I don't wanna talk about it"
"You told them?", Jenny's eyes widen at Normani.
"No-"
"Mani, that's crazy!", she whispers at her.
"It's... I just...", I watch as Normani tries to get something out, just anything, but no words seem to work.
"What?!"
Billie's hand is on top of my knee, intertwined with mine, both of our faces carrying cringing expressions, mine with maybe a trace of a slight smile at the comicality of the situation. Harry just seems genuinely confused, turning his head back and forth trying to keep up with the dialogue. Normani seems awkward, Jenny seems panicked, and Ally just seems drunk.
"Mm-mm, come here", Ally blurs out, throwing one arm to wrap around Jenny's shoulders as she leans into the kid's face, "Um, what happened is, when you were doing the can-can, we saw your wings"
"Wings?", Jenny questions as Billie's head drops down as she closes her eyes, and in the corner of my eye sight I can see Harry's eyebrows go up in realisation as he snorts.
"Yeah, your wings", Ally repeats, lightly giggling and drunkenly burying her face in the crook of Jenny's neck.
Suddenly the court goes quiet; we're all looking at Jenny expectantly as she seems to be frozen, with Ally still snuggling on her side.
Jenny's eyes go up to Normani who seems to be in an awkward fear, and, finally, the younger girl reluctantly speaks up, "Okay. I'm gonna go", she sounds annoyed.
"I'll come", Normani quickly follows up, hopefully.
"No, nah", Jenny coldly refuses, getting out of Ally's embrace and stepping away, "You stay here with these guys"
She quickly turns away and starts to walk out of the court.
"Jenny", I call out, feeling slightly bad.
She stops for a moment and turns around to face us once more before angrily stating, "You are all so fucking immature."
With that she turns back around and walks away, vanishing from our sight, and I try to hold in my laughter at least until I can't see her anymore.
Billie's head is still hanging down but I can feel her shoulders move as she quietly wheezes. I look over at Harry, who seems to be having the most fun out of us, his eyes squinted and his hands covering his mouth.
Ally slowly manages to sit down, crossing her legs as in to improve her balance, while Normani is still standing up, looking lost as her eyes remain in the direction that her, I presume, now ex girlfriend just disappeared into.
Finally, after a while, she starts moving. She slowly turns around heading toward us as we all watch her movements. She leans her back onto the fence, slowly sliding down to sit right beside me.
I can't seem to read her expression, she just seems frozen. I look over at Harry who looks like he's contemplating speaking up.
After examining Normani's face for a short moment, he finally does.
"It was my tampon", he quietly announces, "In the drain this morning. It was my tampon."
Everybody is quiet, all heads facing Harry as he pauses.
"I cannot begin to imagine what you mean by that", I say in response.
"Dude", it's all Billie says.
Ally frowns in confusion before stating, "You're a boy"
I wheeze before turning to check on Normani, who still has no expression, her eyes are just glued to Harry as he speaks up once again.
"I was on the toilet and I saw it sitting there and I realised that I'd never seen one and that's weird", his british accent echoes around the entire court, and I can see he is trying to fight back a funny smile as he tells his story, "Because they're a big part of the world. They're important"
"Mm-hm", I nod, holding in a laughter.
"And I'd never seen one, not up close. So I unwrapped it and I took a good look", he quietly continues, his voice sounding raspier than normal, "I pulled it apart a bit to see how it's made. And then I flushed it."
All our eyes are on Harry and just as he finishes his story, all of the eyes immediately turn to Normani. For a while she remains expressionless and we all wait.
A few seconds go by and suddenly she falls on her back, laughing hysterically.
With that, we all internally sigh in relief before we allow ourselves to laugh along. We're all laughing and looking at each other or at the dark sky.
When we start to quiet down, Normani quickly props herself up on her elbows with such an excited expression on her face as she speaks up, "By the way, we saw a very talented donkey"
Ally's eyebrows go up in memory, before she loudly exclaims, "Such a talented donkey!"
We all laugh.