September first, 1998

4

Jenna was angry that her mom had been so mean to her in the car, especially on her first day back at school. She hadn't even been listening when she told about her day, and how her friend Bailey had been bullied by the popular kids in her class. There were three annoying girls, Charlotte, Darcey and Maddison, who thought they could control their classmates just because they were prettier and wealthier than everyone else, they were only eight, yet they swore and wore makeup and kissed to cool boys in the class, particularly the sporty ones. They kept picking on Bailey because of her weight, and Jenna had tried to stop them, but she had just ended up getting shoved in a locker so she missed English class and got in trouble.

Jenna had told all of this to her mom in the car, but Veronica had just been daydreaming. She noticed how her mom had been doing this a lot recently, and it scared her a little. Sometimes she would even catch her mom talking to herself, as though their were other people in the room, and she always seemed angry when she did so. She loved her mom, but she was mad at her at the same time.

She was mainly mad because she would never talk about her dad. All Jenna knew was that her mom was very young when she had her, and her dad had died before she was born. She didn't even know his name or how he died, because Veronica refused to ever talk to her about her dad.

The Jenna grumbled to herself as she worked through her homework, frequently distracting herself with how mad she was at her mom, she realised the clock had gone 7:00, which was usually her bedtime. Veronica hadn't even made dinner yet! Jenna was so angry that her mom had forgotten about her, that she longed to take some sort of revenge. She was always so good, why couldn't she do something bad just for once. She tried to think of a punishment bad enough to make her mom notice her, but not bad enough to put anyone in danger.

Then she decided. She was going to get that slushie after all.

Jenna crept down to the living room, finding Veronica asleep in front of some crappy film on the tv. She hadn't even turned the lights on in the room. Jenna hated it when her mom turned like this, and while she did pity her to an extent, it just fuelled her desire to be noticed.

Jenna quietly took Veronica's purse from her handbag, and slipped out five dollars. Carefully, she place it back, pocketing the money as she did so. She took one final look back at her mom, before creeping towards the front door and unlocking the bolt. She winced as it made a clicking noise, and turned back to Veronica, who thankfully was still passed out asleep. She quickly scurried out the front door and let out the breath she had been subconsciously holding in throughout her escape. Jenna looked up at the stone coloured sky, looking so peaceful as the day had began to melt away and the darkness slowly began to creep in. She embraced the fresh air, always being the girl to crave adventure when it came to her, although this was perhaps the most risky thing she had done, even if it was just a trip  for a slushie.

The street was deserted, as though everyone else was asleep like her mom, giving her a sense of freedom. Change in her back pocket and determination in her mind, she began the journey to the 7/11.

By the time she finally reached its parking lot, the sky had transformed into a pool of inky blue, causing her to feel a little less confident in her mission. The blinding lights from the store drowned out the pathetic glow of the street lamp above her in a way that almost seemed sinister to Jenna, maybe she had made a mistake. It had taken her half an hour to get there on foot, and she imagined her mom waking up to find her daughter missing without having left a note. As guilty as she felt, she had come to far to go back with out anything to show for her efforts, even if it was just a pathetic slurpee cup.

Jenna began to panic even more when she saw the approaching police car reaching the parking lot. Had her mom realised she was missing and knew exactly where she would be? Would she be arrested? How much trouble would she be in? Without a second thought she ran into the store, realising that she was the only customer in there.