Shallow Valley

3.New Kid In Town

3.

Everybody's talking 'bout the new kid in town
Everybody's walking like the new kid in town
(Eagles-New Kid In Town)

When the doorbell rang, Lexa was still in the bathroom, trying to pull herself together. She didn't even know how she managed to hear it ringing, Madi was listening to metal music so damn loud.

"Madi, the door!" she shouted.

"Fuck you, idiot!" the girl replied from her room. Lexa rolled her eyes and she went out of the bathroom. She ran downstairs and opened the door. Raven and Anya greeted her, going in.

"Are you ready?" the dark blonde asked.

"Not yet, I need to talk to Madi first. I don't want her to treat you badly, Raven." Lexa answered.

"That's not really a problem. What about Aden indeed? Where is he?"

"He's in his bedroom, sleeping. He was so exhausted from the move, that he could fall asleep despite all this noise from Madi's room." Lexa explained. She then begged the two to wait for her as she was going to talk with the older kid. She knew Madi didn't like her, it wasn't a secret. She hated the idea of moving and now she would have hated her more for that night. And Lexa couldn't help, but feel a bit guilty. She was going out with her half-unknown sister in order to meet some new people, leaving her kid alone with a perfect stranger and a sleepy five years old child. She sighed and knocked at Madi's door.

"Go away, idiot." the girl cried.

"Please, I need to talk." Lexa insisted. She could hear a snort, sign that she could enter the room. When she faced the girl, Lexa almost froze. Madi was on her bed, listening her music loud. The brunette didn't know what band she was actually listening to - for her they were all the same - all she could hear was screams and a lot of noise.

"What do you want?" Madi asked, no kindness in her voice.

"Can you turn off the music for a moment, please? I can't talk.". In response, the teenager turned up the volume. Lexa clenched her fists. She couldn't be angry. That wasn't the time for it.

"Please.". The girl surrendered. When she couldn't hear the music anymore, Lexa felt her ears pop.

"I'm leaving for a couple of hours. Raven will be downstairs if you need anything." she announced. Madi laughed and Lexa looked at her, without understanding what was going on in her kid's mind.

"Well, everything is fine, isn't it? You force us to move to this dead town, you made me throw the phone and the PC, so I can't even contact my friends, and now you go out in order to have fun leaving me with a fucking babysitter?". The fifteen years old was mad and Lexa knew she had the right to feel like this.

"Madi I'm..."

"Don't even say that. Go out from my room!" Madi shouted. Lexa sighed and nodded without saying anything. She walked away and closed the door. She went downstairs, wiping tears on her face with her right hand.

"We can go. Raven, I haven't a phone, if something happens..."

"I will call Anya, don't worry." Raven reassured her. Lexa seemed a bit relieved and followed her sister to the car. Fridays in Shallow Valley were so different from the ones in Polis. In the city, streets were full of people during the weekends. There were a lot of pubs and clubs and Lexa used to spend the entire weekends there. Shallow Valley was different. There was almost no one in the street, maybe because of the really cold weather. Anya had told her that probably it would have snowed the next days. Lexa was curious. It used to snow in Polis, but rarely the snow wrapped the city in a white blanket.