Hearts Don't Break Around Here

Chapter 6 - Melted Chocolate

12th Grade

"Oof." Roseanne says, sounding almost impressed, as she squints at Jennie's chin. "Yeah that's a bad one." She leans back slightly and tilts her head to the side, as if looking at it from a 45 degree angle will make it smaller. "Yeah, it's pretty big."

Jennie grits her teeth. "Well you're the expert." She says begrudgingly. "The fuck should I do?"

Of course on the day that the whole class is scheduled to take senior pictures for the yearbook, Jennie has a zit the size of Texas itself on her chin. She woke up this morning and actually made a choked, disgusted noise when she saw herself in the mirror. She texted Roseanne, mostly pretending not to panic, and of course Roseanne was over in under twenty minutes. Skincare is very, very important to her.

"It wasn't there yesterday?" Roseanne asks.

"No. I mean, my chin hurt a little but I thought I just bumped it or something."

Roseanne sighs, shaking her head. "You picked at it, didn't you?"

"Not...really."

"Snickers! No! Why?"

"I tried my best not to but it was so small. I thought I could get it!" Jennie defends, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well now it's past the point of no return! And it's going to scar."

Jennie groans, running a hand down her face. "I can't believe this."

Roseanne looks at her sympathetically, then takes a deep breath. "Okay, well...we gotta try something. We have..." She looks down at her phone. "...about an hour and a half until pictures." She squints at Jennie's face, grimacing. "We gotta try."

Jennie nods, determined. "So, what do I do?"

Roseanne looks around the bathroom, humming. "I'm going to need a mixing bowl. And some baking soda. And lemon juice. Oh! And a green tea bag if you have any. Uhhh..." She bites at her nail; a nervous habit that Jennie can't stand. "I might need to borrow...does you mom wear makeup?"

Jennie sighs at what her life has come to, and nods. Roseanne grins.

"Okay! We might be able to pull this off!"

"Whatever you say." Jennie replies, sounding very unenthused. She trudges down to the kitchen, chin throbbing, and collects the ingredients Roseanne wanted. She has no idea what's about to happen but she trusts Roseanne. That girl has had less than five zits throughout their entire highschool career, and usually they disappear within eight hours. She seriously has a gift.

Returning to the bathroom, Roseanne is down on her knees and already tearing apart the cabinet below the sink. "Snickers, seriously? What is all this shit?" Almost-empty bottles and half-used bars of soap litter the bathroom tile. She holds up a bar of Irish Springs soap. "Is this what you use on your face?"

Jennie swallows. "That depends...is that a trick question?"

"Oh my god." Roseanne clutches her heart. "You poor thing."

Jennie scowls. "It usually works fine."

"Absolutely not. No way. Not when you're my friend." Roseanne sighs dramatically, standing back up and grabbing the ingredients out of Jennie's hands. "Okay. Chemistry time."

Roseanne gets to work pouring some baking soda into the small bowl and mixing it with water. Jennie watches with one eyebrow raised, completely clueless.

"Baking soda is great as absorbing oil." Roseanne narrates, in a documentary-like fashion. "So it always does a great job drying zits out. Fun fact! Use it mixed with water if you run out of face wash." Roseanne glance at Jennie in disdain. "Or if you don't use face wash at all."