Plain Jane (H.S.)

Ch.0

J.

"I'm not lying, Mom! Why would I lie about this?"

"Because I called Brenda's mother and she said you weren't together!"

Busted.

Jane's blood drained from her face, awarding her fleckles a brighter contrast. With her mother's furious temperament, Jane regrets every drop of the foul man juice that had cascaded over her flesh. None of her short-lived gratification was worth suffering a motherly scorning. "I, I," She picks at a fingernail, all of which are chewed to the nail bed.

"So where were you then?" Her mother taps an overgrown acrylic on the counter.

Jane hides her guilty stare in the floor tiling. "You don't know him." 

"Him?"

Jane is a 20 year old in college. She couldn't fathom why she couldn't wander around on her own means. While Brenda is hosting parties with her parents present, Jane's mother prohibits all co-ed hangouts. 'Not as long as you're under my roof.' she emphasized. Jane can't count the number of times she snuck out in the past 2 years. Mostly to Brenda's, during those co-ed hangouts. And once for her virginity.

"Ya."

Her mother takes a melodramatic moment to pace the compact kitchen space, palming at her forehead. "Oh dear," She exclaims, "My god, what happened to my little baby?"

"Mom, nothing happened to me."

"You lie to me and your father for a boy? When have you ever done something like that?" She is as disdainful as if Jane had dropped a child off a bridge.

"Never!" Jane chooses to forget her hidden offenses. "And I'm never doing it again!"

"You're only saying that because you got caught."

Jane bites the insides of her cheek. Her mother is boiling over quicker than a chem experiment gone wrong. The uncertainty of this conversation has Jane hanging off the edge. All she desires is the band-aid rip on her punishment, so she can get back to reading fanfiction as soon as possible. "No, I'm not, I-"

"Don't lie to me any further, Jane Monroe!"

Her middle name has been weaponized from a young age. Being a well behaved kid, her mother used it sparingly. The use of 'Monroe' silences Jane every time, without fail.

"This is....alright-alright here's what's going to happen. Your Dad comes home in," She checks the oven clock, "about 25 minutes. I need you to clean up everything you see downstairs that's yours."

Totally fair, thus far. Jane nods, masking her relief over her mother cooling down.

"Then, you need to deep clean both bathrooms. If you get that done before he gets home, I won't tell him about this."

Jane had already been swiveling her head around, jotting mental notes of her clothes and random school supplies in places. "Okay." 

"And you and I will talk about this later. After I've had time to think."

She starts on the living room junk, piling random items in her arms. A phone charger, hoodies, a blanket, and her notebook, were among the first trip. On the second trip, she picks her belongings from the dining table.

"Bring the dice to Laci's room, too." Her mother doesn't look away from the pasta she's stirring.

Arms overwhelmed for space, Jane manages to pluck the thin, red, iridescent sack with two fingers. She shovels the lightweight bag into her kangaroo pocket. By the time she dumped the items on her bed, she'd forgotten about the dice.