roller derby queen ~ j.g.

nine

dakota had only just woken up when she gets a call from veronica. she looks over to the other bed to see the still-sleeping face of julie gaffney, and wonders if answering would really be worth accidentally waking julie up. then she remembers that veronica has the power to have the cops come to find her at any given moment, and decides to answer it anyway. 

"'ello?" she hopes that she sounds as tired over the phone as she is. veronica might try to speed things up a little bit. 

"good morning, sunshine." while veronica wasn't normally this unprofessional (dakota had seen the way she talked to foster parents and the younger kids), dakota was one of the oldest kids she had, and also knew that dakota was smart enough to see through all the professional law talk bullshit. in all honesty, dakota liked that veronica dropped the act with her. it made her more fun. it made her human.

before dakota's half-awake brain can even figure out a response to that greeting, veronica speaks again. "you're being moved again." wow. dakota's definitely awake now. 

she sits up in the bed. "really? when'd you find out?" 

"just this morning. the home you were staying in had to take another girl. you were the one that's getting moved." dakota normally didn't like getting moved, but if it meant getting out of that hell hole, she'd take a home in antarctica if that's what it took. 

"do i need to move anything? i've got all my stuff at the school, so i don't think there's anything i need to do at the home, right?" dakota sees julie stir in the other bed. oh god, please don't wake up. she really couldn't deal with questions, especially not this early in their... friendship? is this a friendship? 

"...he's a single dad, which we normally wouldn't place you with but he's the only one ready for you in such short notice. are you ready for the address?" oh shit. she missed half of that. 

she's scrambling for a notepad and a pen while veronica, without waiting, starts rambling off the address. "wait! wait, wait, wait, i need a pen." she hears veronica's displeased sigh on the other end of the phone. dakota flips her off in her mind. she hopes veronica can feel it. 

she's sitting cross-legged on her bed with a pad of paper and a pen in her hand before she tells veronica she's ready. "okay, good now." 

"you sure?" dakota frowns. 

"positive." 

veronica's just finishing giving her the address when julie's eyes flutter open. oh shit, how much of that did she hear? dakota decides just to say as little as possible for the rest of the call, and try to wrap it up quickly.

"did you get that?"

"mhm." 

"and they want to meet you at what time for dinner?" 

"uh..." dakota glances over at julie, who's staring at her, confused. 'everything good?'  she mouths. dakota nods hurriedly before putting her attention back to veronica. "can you say that again, maybe?"

veronica sighs again. jesus, dakota didn't need veronica to make her feel like a disappointment, too. "they want you there at six, but he says if you're a few minutes late that's fine. his kid probably won't be home from hockey practice until five, so he's not sure how much he'll have ready by then..." dakota can't help herself.

"hockey?!" julie's head snaps up. god, time for this call to end.

"yeah, dakota, his kid plays hockey. i think he goes to eden too, but i'm not positive, and-" dakota had heard enough. 

"okay, i've got it, thanks veronica, talk to you soon, bye." she presses the 'end call' button on the phone before veronica even starts to answer and throws her phone down on the bed with a sigh.