Tainted Love||Robby Keene

2

Alice had finished getting ready to start her day. She applied very light makeup, only mascara and lipgloss for her today. She tied her hair up in a high ponytail, located at the crown of her head. She slipped on her Vans to match her light blue jeans and Thrasher long sleeve.

Then she made her way out of that shitty bedroom. She seen her mother passed out on the couch, she cringed at the sight of her. Her mother had last night's makeup barely on still, her hair was in knots, and she had on yesterday's outfit. Alice shook her head, but something caught her attention that was laying on the floor next to her mother. She bent over and picked up the molly on the floor. "At least you're good for something." She thought aloud, directing the statement to her sleeping mother.

Meanwhile, Robby was getting ready to escape the dojo. He absolutely despises being here, but he also has nowhere else to go. After getting dressed, he ran his fingers through his hair in attempts to calm his hair down after the very few hours of sleep he got during yet another restless night for him.

"How'd you sleep?" He heard a familiar female voice ask. He looked over his shoulder, seeing Tory standing in the doorway. "Same as usual." He shrugged. "You could stay, y'know? Maybe try joining us for once?" She suggested. "I could, but do I want to? No." He bluntly turned her down. "This dojo's not as bad as LaRusso makes it out to be." She added. "Oh, yeah? How's parole going for you?" "The same way juvie and your parole is for you." She retorted.

He grew tense at the mention of his experience in juvie. Instead of saying anything, he just walked past her to exit. She then stepped in front of him, blocking the doorway, "You running away again?" "Move." He demanded. "What if I don't? You gonna make me?" She arched her brow. "No," He gave a dry chuckle, "I think I could go the rest of my life without getting three scars on me forever." She looked away and sighed in frustration, knowing that he was referring what she did to Samantha.

"Why do you keep defending her?" Tory questioned. "What's it to you?" "She cheated on you!" "No," He immediately defended, "She made a mistake. Samantha is a good person." "Yeah, she sure acts like it." She scoffed. "Stop it!" He warned. "Or what? Look, people like her get everything handed to them. She didn't even have to raise a pinky for Miguel to run back to her, or to get you. She has her own car, a nice house, the latest technology, and her whole damn future covered! People like her always get their way, never getting told no. But people like us? We have to fight for everything we've got. Every day's a new fight." She sighed.

He just stood there silently, not knowing how to reply. He then turned on his heels and decided to just use the back exit. It makes no difference what way he gets out, just as long as he's out of the dojo. He began skating away, as far as he could get from that damned dojo.

Alice was at a local convenient store now. She was just trying to stay away from her mother and that apartment as long as she could. A group of laughing girls passed her, making jokes about each other. She watched them with partial envy and sadness. "It's times like this where I wish I wasn't a dropout so I could have at least one friend." She mumbled aloud to herself.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" A male voice spoke behind her. She then turned around to be face-to-face with a tall African American guy, who looked a little older than her. "Can I help you?" She asked. "Well, I was just going to ask if you've been having any trouble with your electronics recently? Or perhaps have a cracked screen you'd like to be fixed?" "Why're you asking me this?" "I work in the electronic department and am required to ask anyone in the store if they are in need of my assistance." He replied.

She looked down to his name tag that read, Richard. Alice had a weird feeling about him, then she looked to the guy peering around the corner watching them. Then it clicked in her mind what's going on. "Y'know," She pulled her phone out, "Now that you mention it my phone has been saying some pretty weird stuff." "Really?" "Yeah." She replied, as she began swiping and typing on it. "Well, I could fix it for you." He smiled.