Glad you liked it HiddenInTheOpen. Everyone who enjoys it really! I don't like clowns. Getting better with them... slightly. Sorry for the delay, really working out where I am going with this.
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Monday is almost over now.
Anna has yet to be as cordial with Dina as she is with Marissa.
I understand years of bad are hard to sweep under the rug, especially for Anna who can really hold a grudge. Still, it kind of hurts that she thinks me such a pushover to be pressed into a relationship.
We play a round of Clue. Anna loses because she only accuses Dina, who's playing as Ms. Scarlet.
We move on to Hangman. Apparently Anna picked up some interest in English since she had moved. However she keeps picking words like "Bully", "Enemy", "Fraud".
It's wearing on Dina and I have to watch as the joy is slowly sucked out of her.
Marissa takes a phone call, her phone hasn't rang, and excuses herself. She returns apologetically and says she has to head home.
Dina decides to head home, I have no idea if she is coming back, but I hope so.
"Anna." I know I sound disappointed.
"This is going to be awesome! We can pull out the horror movies and pop pop-corn, ice cream! Do we have ice cream?" Anna ignores me and seems to be pumped up.
"Anna." I state again.
"Yeah, Tet?" She's pulling out her pajamas.
"Sit down." I pat the cushion next to me.
"Okay, just let me change first!" I swear she's either ignoring me on purpose or so caught up in her own little world that she doesn't notice.
"Sit. Down!" I slap the cushion hard enough to make my eyes water. 'Wrong hand!' I think to myself, but at least I have her attention.
She sits by me, now concerned.
"Anna, I love you like a sister. I always will." She sat on my right so I'm able to put an arm around her. "I am not happy with how you handled yourself tonight."
"What do you mean?" She asks, even adding her finger to her cheek like she does when she is playing dumb.
"Ms. Scarlet in the library with the candlestick. Ms. Scarlet in the kitchen with the knife." I then hold up her Hangman words. "Or these." I toss them in her lap.
"I don't follow?"
How she made that sound like a question I will never know.
"Anna, you targeted Dina, my girlfriend, and made it miserable for everyone. Marissa left on a fake phone call and I don't know if Dina's coming back!" At some point I stood and I was leaning over her. "I am worried about her, Anna! Her asshole father, her bitch stepmother, they hurt her, Anna!" I feel I've said too much, but I see her eyes change.
"Anna... I know you don't forget or forgive easily, but please, do not think that I am dumb enough to be in such a... no, ah... to be in an abusive relationship!" I'm a bit angry. "I don't want to have to choose between you two. I don't think I could. It isn't 'either or' it is 'all or nothing'. I deserve happiness!"
I feel that last part is important enough to repeat.
"I deserve happiness, damn it!" I yell. "My friends make me happy! You, Marissa, Pete. Dina, Dina makes me happy!" I ease back on the couch. "I wish you could be happy for me and treat her with some respect."
"She hasn't respected you..." A glare from me says she should be quiet.
"Believe it or not, Anna, things have changed. I'm sticking up for myself, and not just with pranks. I won a fight!" I do feel a bit bad knowing what I know now, but I don't say that. "I stood up to someone who could have broken me like a twig, granted he was released from jail, but I did that!"
She stares at me.
"I made new friends. I don't do that." I sit there very worried about my burgeoning relationship. "Anna, please!"
"Okay. But I'm not going to like it." She huffs and crosses her arms over her chest.
"How do you even know?" I stand up and make my way to my room. "I made the guest room up." I say as I leave.
In my room, I see Dina curled up on her bed. It seems like she is crying. I feel pain in my heart and worry it was because of me. I worry even more it is those monsters she lives with.
I hear a timid knock on my door.
"Anna, go to bed." I say wearily. "We start new tomorrow." I sigh. "Blame it on old feelings and jet-lag."
"Okay." She whispers and my door closes fully with a soft click.
TUESDAY
I leave Anna slumbering as I head over to see Dina.
The door is ajar so I let myself in.
I think quickly about how I have watched everyone move through the house and head towards the stairs.
Dina's room has a simple sign nailed to it. "No trespassing." It reads.
I knock.
There is no response so I knock again.
The door opens just as I am about to knock once more and Dina is surprised to see me.
"Door was open." I say.
She rolls her eyes. "See, that's why I leave the house last. My worthless brother never bothers to close it." She grins. "Weirdos like you can just walk in."
"Ha ha." I say dryly. "You okay?" I place a hand on her cheek and my voice is filled with concern.
"Yeah. Pretty rough when I got home. Bee-lined for my room and got stuck."
I give her a hug and she winces, I move back quickly and wince myself.
Of course I manage to lift her shirt and get sight of the large bruises on her side and stomach.
"My lawyer works quick. They got served yesterday!" She's beaming at me like she won the lottery.
"But..." She pushes her shirt down and puts a finger to my lips.
"I'm fine." She assures me. "If I can deal with this girl I'm seeing giving me a black eye, I can deal with this. She can really hit! Makes me feel safe."
"Who is this girl?" I ask, playing along.
"Some scrawny bitch." She leans in and kisses me. "But we don't have to tell her about us, bae." She whispers.
Dina steps aside and I walk in.
"You know there is more pink than I realized!" I am Serious. I want to gag. "I feel like I'm in the womb."
"Okay, that may be a bit much. Plus there isn't any glitter in that place." Dina tells me. "Then again that sparkly shit does get everywhere. Maybe strippers and crafts lovers..."
I start to laugh seeing where she is going with that. "Don't do that! I can-can't laugh!" I manage to stop myself.
"Do what? Talk about sparkly babies? Hey, that could be how sparkly vampires are made!" She's holding me, no chance of doubling over but the fits I am now fighting still hurt. She rubs my back and starts to sway with me a bit. "I saw you dancing through your window."
I am suddenly not laughing. In fact I am mortified.
"You got the moves, Cinders!" I am turned in her arms so I face her. "Would you strip for me some time?"
"I'm not wearing glitter!" I say in response.
"You look more like a Suicide Girl than a disco ball anyway." She says with mirth.
I'm a bit offended, shocked. 'Is she telling me to kill myself?'
I guess she sees my internal dilemma. "You don't know what a Suicide Girl is, do you?" She leads me to her PC. The thing is ancient so I am impressed when actual web pages I recognize come up.
The last viewing of the website she takes me to, from the history log, is a week before she moved in next door, into this house.
I see models that fit in with the alternative lifestyle scene. Hot gothic, punk, and other subculture girls. Some showing off more than I would like Dina looking at but I can see her reflection, she is looking at me with an amused little grin.
"Getting hot?" She asks when I start to squirm in her lap.
"What... uh... style are you..."
"Your style." She purrs in my ear.
"I meant, you, what style are you?" I finish asking this time.
"Goth." She looks around her room. "Easy to tell, right?"
Now that she mentions it, she wears a lot of black, but I always assumed she was emo.
"We don't exactly have Hot Topic and I don't shop for clothes online. Anymore." Dina answers as if she can read my mind.
"What happened online?" Dina shakes her head no. "C'mon, tell me!" I say playfully.
"Not everyone has the same size definitions." She tells me but doesn't look at me.
I know something is up.
I stare at her. She focuses on the screen more. I keep staring.
"Kenneth spread a box of panties I had bought all over the neighborhood and Bob found out." She caved. She had that look of remembering a trauma. "They were... skimpy. Not only was my business known by the whole neighborhood, Bob called me a whore and beat me."
I felt bad for asking. I coaxed her into facing me, straddled her lap and hugged her.
TUESDAY (Anna POV)
I wake up because I feel alone. It is a sense I get when the house is empty. Depending who is gone depends on how I feel.
Lonely, my friend and her Mom, are not home.
I head up to Tuyet's room just to be sure. Sometimes it does go on the fritz. I knock and the door swings open. I step in and listen. She isn't in the shower. I turn to leave and stop. I can see into the room across the way.
Tuyet is just stepping into O'Brian's room. They share a few words, my best friend gets that 'I am not amused' face, but it doesn't seem genuine.
She also puts her hand on O'Brian's cheek and looks concerned. That, if I know anything, looks real.
They hug, both seem to react with a little pain. Tuyet lifts Dina's shirt, and even I am shocked. O'Brian is obviously trying to play off the bruise that I catch a glimpse of on her side.
A bit more talking and they kiss. Not sure how I feel about that.
They come further into O'Brian's room and then seem to talk about the place.
I see more pink than I would have imagined. It's almost comical and it appears that Tuyet feels the same.
They end up by the window, sitting down. I can't tell what they're doing but Tuyet seems happy.
I watch for a bit then something catches my eye in the yard.
In the shadows between the house, some creepy ass clown. Or at least, it looks like a clown. I back away from the window and head for my room, or, the guest room.
I spend well over two hours looking at pictures online. I talk with my dad and little brother. Update my social media account. I even check Tuyet's.
