Grayscale

-Chapter 9-

Feeling a tap on my shoulder, I swivel around, almost losing my balance. Teetering, the ground looms into view, but a hand catches me. A hand with nice, manicured, white nail-polish. "Nice nail poliiiish," I laugh.

"You're welcome," the voice replies. "I love the color white, don't you? It's blank, devoid of any color. A blank canvas. You can create whatever you want."

Sierra? I look up, and sure enough, her obsidian eyes are gazing at me, her emotions not reflected. "Why?" I ask.

"You'll have to be more specific than that, I'm afraid," Sierra smiles, her hand still on my forearm, steadying me.

"Why do you never show your emotions? You always hide them. That's not cool," I complain. "You always hide your sadness. I see it sometime, you know."

Sierra frowns. "You're drunk, you don't know what you're saying." She pulls me out of the crowd, taking the red, plastic cup from my hand and chucking it far away.

"I know exactly what I'm saying," I argue. "Just because I'm a bitty tipsy doesn't mean that I've suddenly lost all my brain cells."

"That's good to know," Sierra says. She closes her mouth, no more words pouring out. That was unusual, for such a talkative person like Sierra. A million thoughts crossed her mind every second, and she spitted them all out. For her to not talk must mean something was wrong.

"I'm not drunk enough to not know something's up. Can we go outside to talk about this? Please?" I add, after seeing Sierra's hesitant face. Without answering, I pull her outside, the cold blast of air hitting me and awakening some of my senses. Wobbling, I bring her to the big tree outside my room. I see a couple of strangers lingering near the tree. Their pants are hanging off their butt, and they are leaning against the tree like they own it, like they are the coolest people on earth. Dangling off their lips is a cigarette. I cough, smelling the scent of the air already. "Shoo!" I push them away. "Smoke your weed in the alley or something, not near my house."

One of the red-eyed boys glares at me before stalking off, the others following in close pursuit. I turn to Sierra. "Okay, now can you tell me?"

"I've told you all you needed to know. My past was filled with loss and grief. But the past is the past. We live for the present."

I roll my eyes. "You told me what I needed to know, but what about what I don't know? Like before we came to the party, you wouldn't put your hair up?"

Sierra twitches her mouth before turning away. "I... I had a past, like I told you. A past I don't want to remember. Putting my hair up was something I did frequently back in Memphis. That was an old me. New me doesn't put her hair up. At all."

"Oh." I stay quiet, not knowing what to say. Then, Sierra bursts out laughing. "What?" I demand, thinking she has made up this story to trick me.

"Your room... is being violated," Sierra says in between fits of laughter.

My head follows her gaze, and I see a boy and a girl making out. Thing are getting pretty heated up there, with the girl throwing off her shirt. "WHAT THE ACTUAL EFF!" I scream when I see the boy toss the girl onto my bed. My bed. I barge into the house, knocking down people who are in my way. I fall down quite a few times due to the fact that drinking has affected my vision and depth of field, but I manage to make it upstairs. I run into the room, screaming at them. "Take your lustful selves somewhere else!"

The couple look up, and the girl squeals and hides beneath the boy. "What the heck, man? Can't you see you're interrupting something?"

"What the heck, man? Can't you see that you should maybe use your own house for your frick-frack?"

They stare at me weirdly, but I shrug it off. Whatever. I can be weird. They should learn to be more accepting. "Do it on the grass or something," I say. "Anything but here." I put my hands over my eyes. "Please leave," I say. "I'll count to five, and if you're still here, then I will cut both of you."

Sierra snorts. "Wow, Marley. I like you drunk better."

Ignoring her, I start counting. "One...two...three!" Opening my eyes, I see that they have long gone. I stand there, stunned. I hadn't actually thought they would leave, but then again, I was probably creeping them out.

"So," I turn to Sierra. "What next?"

"Marley!!" Someone screams.

I turn around. It's Natalie. Shit. I thought she moved towns or something. I could not deal with a former friend right now. One I had when I was popular and concerned with irrelevant, substantial matters. She tackles me, her head resting on my shoulder. The scent of Chanel 05 fills my nostrils. "Oh, I haven't seen you in forever!" She squeals. She grabs both of my shoulders, squaring me up. "You look good," she praises. "Joint?" She opens up her palm, revealing the drugs.

"No thanks," I say. Turning to Sierra, I stifle a laughter. Sierra is standing there, frozen, a look of horror and repulsion taking over her features.

Natalie pouts. "You're no fun." Looping her hand into mine, she says, "who's that friend of yours? She is one hottie."

"Who? Sierra?" I point to Sierra, and Natalie nods. "This is the most popular, partying, and happy girl you will ever meet," I say, smiling wickedly. Sierra opens her mouth, but I talk over her. "Have fun bonding, Natalie!" I quickly run away, weaving into the crowd, disappearing under the dark room and loud commotion. Laughing to myself, I imagine Sierra and Natalie standing there, Natalie blabbering her mouth off to Sierra. Shaking my head, I pat myself on the back. Too good, Marley, too good.

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A/N:

Hey guys, so this is Marley's old world. I just wanted to give y'all a glimpse of her and Sierra's old life. Well, not so much Sierra, but at least she told Marley something!

And oops, this chapter isn't my longest either, but I didn't really have any ideas for the party scene. I'm super excited for the next scene, though! :)

So don't forget to vote and comment below, and tell me what world you think Marley belongs in/should live in so far! (The free, wild running in the rain; early morning wakeups to observe the natural world; last but not least, the high school get-togethers and partying she used to do.)

Thank you all for the support! Love y'all so much.

<3,

C. Augustine