August 3rd, Friday.
Another week had gone by without a hitch. Having seen her best friend back to L.A. Sweet Pea was feeling, well, actually pretty good when it came right down to it. Despite Rose being back in her hometown, and in the path of the impending hurricane bearing down directly on SoCal, Sweet Pea had two friends who were watching out for her.
Right now though, she was dealing with yet another problem on her own as she slammed hard against the lockers, her arm was twisted painfully behind her. “Ow, goddamn get offa me!” She tried to twist, but the power of the other behind her kept her held against the lockers.
“Why, so you can run off to the Les squad you call friends? You throw your lot in with them, you can expect this a bit more often…”
The teen behind her let go as Sweet Pea’s foot came down hard, digging her moderate heel into the top of the other girl’s foot, causing her to cry out and release Sweet Pea, who instantly bolted, thankful her heels were a bit more chunky and allowed her to run, the clacking down the hall had her run right into view of Twist Ties, the Home Economics teacher.
“Woah there miss, no running in the halls!” He chided as she skid to a halt just before hitting him. The thudding of running feet echoing down the hall behind Sweet Pea, causing the elder teacher to lean to the side to see who else was coming. One Lightning Dust coming into his vision.
“MISS DUST!” he called, his eyes stern as he slipped around and she skid to a halt, eyes wide.
“Y...yes mister Ties?!” she answered, straightening right up as he addressed her, though her eyes fell directly on Sweet Pea, practically glaring daggers.
Pea, for her part, shrunk slightly behind the instructor, who didn’t fail to take notice of that. “What do you think you are doing chasing another student through these halls?”
Dust, for her part, paled a bit, and bit back a witty retort. “I was just trying to tell her something she didn’t want to hear.”
“Well, I hardly think that’s a reason for either of you to be running through the halls. Miss Pea, was it?” he asked, turning to Sweet Pea and seeing her nod. “Yes, I don’t believe I’ve heard any negatives about you, so a warning will suffice, should I catch you misbehaving again, you can count on detention… you however, Miss Dust.” his eyes fell once more on the athletic teen. “I do think I’ve heard a bit much about you lately. Be sure to come to my classroom after classes today; if you don’t, count on two days official Detention, understood?”
Lightning Dust visibly paled, “But, I’ll miss Track practice!”
Twist Ties shook his head. “Then I guess I have no choice than to…”
She cut him off. “No, no, it’s fine, I’ll see you after class.” She glared at Sweet Pea before walking off in a huff.
Pea let out the breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding, as the instructor looked over to her. “Am I free to go sir?” she asked expectantly, not about to be rude to someone she considered a savior in this instance.
“Yes, of course. Just no running, got that?”
She nodded, and turned to head for the cafeteria. “Got it sir, and thank you.”
“Hey Pea!” the hyperactive ball of cute that was Lemon Tart waved, before pouncing her friend, causing Sweet Pea to eek out as she nearly fell over. “You’re not busy this weekend are you? Because I could totally use someone to hang out with, and Coat’s busy!” the teen pouted over to Sugarcoat who shrugged.
“I can’t help the fact that I have a test in Chem on Monday, and I really need to memorise the formulas, Tart.”
“Nyah!” Tart stuck her tongue out at her friend before laughing and letting Pea go, who couldn’t help but giggle at her friends antics a bit.
“Right, well as for me, I’m still doing home studies to supplement my class work, so I was planning on buckling down and doing some more work, I mean, with Tripwire out there…” she suppressed a shudder ran down her back.
Tart sighed but nodded, “Yeah, you're right.” she settled into her spot next to Sweet Pea, pouting a bit as she poked at the food on her plate. “Still, I was totally hoping to get to hang out with you guys.” She bit into a fry and made a face, before settling into the meal.
“Yeah I know, but I doubt that Buck and Lemony would let me out anyway,” Sweet Pea sighed a bit. “Seems like my life gets a little better, then goes to hell, ya know?”
Sugarcoat shrugged. “Could be worse, we could be down south right now with the hurricane. At least you don’t have to worry about crazy weather on top of it all.”
Sweet Pea’s eyes rolled. “Yeah, thank god for small favors.” She bit down into the hamburger, and focused on trying to ignore the annoyance she was feeling.
Tart’s eyes darted around the cafeteria as she ate her own hamburger, landing on Sweet Pea yet again she couldn’t help but find her mind wondering yet again about the girl that had only recently come into her life. The blush that found her cheeks brightened a bit as she thought about telling the other girl her feelings.
At the same time, the thought of Sugarcoat’s warning from a few days ago echoed through her mind: about how badly things had gone prior, and her own doubts if Pea even swung that way. Not to mention she didn’t want to make things weird with her… after all the girl had been abused bad.
Pea glanced up from her burger. “You sending signals to the moon there Tart? Because you’re lookin kinda spaced out.”
Tart shook her head, and chuckled. “Yeah sorry just, something on my mind.” She refocused on her food. She’d tell her, soon. After all, she respected Sweet Pea enough to owe her at least that much.
The hustle and bustle of San Francisco International Airport was lost on the man in the dirty blue baseball cap and nondescript navy blue jacket over a white t-shirt and pants. Behind his aviator sunglasses he’d bought before catching the flight out, he looked at the screen on the tablet, having grabbed a small android device to access the internet and follow his intended target. He looked over the image on the screen, a candid shot of Sweet Pea, wearing her school uniform, taken in her full length mirror, likely in her room.
Tapping away at the screen, he worked through the various sources he had, mostly internet searches. A little money here and there had secured information, an address to her home, and an address to the school she attended. Following her Facebook feed had shown a penchant for spending time at the Pier, or the Embarcadero as the locals seemed to call it. He tilted his head to one side, the plans forming in his mind as he looked at her. An odd mix of arousal and hate filled the man, and he sat the tablet face down for a moment, attending to the still warm cup of coffee he’d had sitting in front of him, drinking it down, before putting the tablet in his jacket pocket and getting up. He pulled out the tracphone he’d picked up and dialed an old number.
“Yo, you’ve reached Haymaker, leave a message.” The message was followed by a rather annoying beep.
“Hay, you know who this is. Gonna need your expertise on a little something. Money’s good, if you don’t ask questions. Call me back.” leaving the number he hung up, and headed out of the airport proper. His mind now focused on the next thing he’d need… a vehicle.
Laying back in bed, Sweet Pea glanced at the weather report, the meteorologist pointing out the odd “Freak” storm that was sweeping the southern part of the state, and had already hit L.A. in full force.
“I really hope Rose is ok…” she bit her lower lip before turning off the television in her room. Laying back on the bed she stared up at the ceiling, watching her fan rotate lazily in a circle, she followed it with her eyes for a moment.
“She could be dead, for all you know, but you don’t really care do you? You just wanted a muff to dive into.”
Sweet Pea’s eyes closed tight as she fought back the wave of revulsion at that. “No, that’s so not my interest in Rose… Yes I find her attractive, and yes I would have loved to have a relationship with her, but no, it was more than just sex you goddamned freak.” That last word slid from her mouth as almost a hiss.
“Oh, I’m the freak now am I? I’m not the one that sucked all that dick over the years, or took it, or munched so much carpet you’d make a mint in carpentry fees.”
Pea grit her teeth. “Get, outta my head! Look, I don’t need you, you’re not me, you’re not going to convince me to go back to that!” Her voice rose a bit but she was trying to keep her rage downplayed, the last thing she wanted was her brother or sister coming in to hear her talking to herself like this.
“Aww, little Sweet Pea thinks she can just run away and hide with her new family…” the room was turning cold, and Pea shivered and wrapped herself up in her own arms, as the voice continued, seeming almost behind her, as if she was resting against someone who was speaking in her ear. “You’ll never escape that part of yourself, Amelia.” The voice taunted, she could almost feel the touch of something vile on her arms, a caress of darkness that made her shiver harder.
“You think that just because you have a loving family, that gets you away from the things you did? The men and women you seduced for money? That you willingly gave your body to? You cannot outrun the scars.” she could practically feel the one on her breast burning, as if the knife had been replaced anew. “No... no you cannot outrun what you were, what you are, and that is a little whore who’s playing good girl right now.”
Pea grabbed one of the pillows next to her and hugged it tight to herself, as she felt the presence fade, that dark laughing almost echoing through the room around her, she sobbed hard. Part of her knew it was right; she was a whore, had been, and will always be in some way, no matter what she thought.
Sleep eventually claimed Pea, leaving her in the inky blackness to scream and cry, with only the answer of dark laughter to her pleas of redemption.
