roller derby queen ~ j.g.

eleven

"just give-" whack! "-me-"whack! "-my-" whack! "fork!"

"stop being such a fucking baby!" thud, thud, thud.

"i swear to god i will fucking stab you."

dakota's not quite sure what she walked into, but the mental image will probably be ingrained in her mind forever.

charlie is sitting on fulton's back with fulton's head in a headlock, reaching for a fork that fulton has just outside of his reach. fulton's got his other hand on the side of charlie's face, trying to push him off. dakota's standing in the dining room doorway, laughing just enough so that they can't tell she's there. charlie pouts as he realizes he really can't reach the fork in fulton's hand.

"moooooooooom," he calls into the kitchen. "fulton won't give me my fork!" fulton snickers, and dakota hears a pair of heels clicking across the kitchen floor before she hears a woman's voice.

"boys, is this really how you're going to act around guests? are you seventeen or seven? charlie, stop being a baby." fulton laughs and charlie pouts, and- wait. where had she heard that voice before? dakota turns around just in time to see-

"casey?"

"dakota?"

dakota's looking straight at the face of the pretty red-haired woman from the diner, and she's sure she looks just as shocked as casey does. they blink at each other for a few more seconds before casey breaks the silence.

"dakota, honey, how are you doing?" she says, walking towards her while wiping her hands on a towel. out of the corner of her eye, dakota sees fulton flip over out of the chair, pulling charlie with him and landing on him with a thud. it takes all she has not to laugh. she snaps her attention back to casey, who also seemed to be looking in the boys' general direction. she shakes her head. "boys are such interesting creatures."

dakota snorts. "tell me about it." they share a laugh, and then casey stops and looks at her with something in her eyes that dakota can't quite comprehend.

"it'll be so nice having another girl around," she says, a little emotionally. dakota doesn't really know how to respond. thankfully, casey keeps going. "did you make it to school okay?" dakota nods.

"yeah, after you jumped it, everything was fine. i even-"

"I SWEAR TO GOD CHARLES."

casey and dakota's heads snap up to see charlie standing triumphantly on a chair, with what she presumed to be fulton's phone in his hand. the phone was ringing, and charlie seemed to have no intention of answering it. fulton jumps up from the floor and grabs it from him. charlie tries to grab it back from him, but loses his balance and falls to the floor just as fulton puts the phone to his ear.

"hey, vick." he answers with a soft smile.

"vicky?" dakota says before she can stop herself.

casey turns to her. "you've met vicky already?" dakota nods.

"yeah, she's in my english class." casey gives her a curious look, and dakota can't tell why, but decides not to question it. casey looks at her for a moment longer before shaking her head, like she was clearing it of something. she opens her mouth to say something else, but she's interrupted by the man - gordon, dakota corrects herself - coming in and clapping his hands to get everyone's attention.

"okay everybody, dinner's ready." fulton and charlie immediately go to a cabinet in the corner of the dining room and start taking out plates, and casey walks into the kitchen. dakota just stands there, not really knowing what to do. she walks to the cabinet.