21 Weeks of High

New Faces

"Here's your Sunny Sweetheart, sweetheart." I gave the young girl a wink. Inauthentic, I know. But she looked like she was 8, everything must be new to her.
Your world shouldn't be tinted with the things I've seen.

Liam's words did nothing but replay in my mind. Louder and more prominent with each thought. To be honest, I found him very odd. I had no idea how to deal with all of this. Lisa seemed extra stressed and sort of... Upset. I wonder what's eating her.

"I hope you're not too tired Rosemarie, I have some people who want to meet you." Lisa spoke with a playful smirk. Although I did get a sense that she didn't seem genuine. She looked uncomfortable with that smile on her face.

"No it's fine. Where are we going?" I asked.
"Well, you're mother's parents want to meet you. They've flown in from England last night, wouldn't stop calling all night." Oh. Didn't she say that my mother ran away from home when she was my age? Have they spoken recently, or was the way Lisa was acting because she didn't want me to have to meet them? I looked down at my attire and realized I needed to change into something more appropriate.

"Does this say 'I'm a respectable granddaughter and I don't want to claw my eyes out in boredom right now'?"

"No that says 'I'm trying to bust a cap in yo ass'," Hazel replied with a finger gun to her head. My eyes widened in horror before slowly putting down the jeans and top. "I'm only joking Rosemarie!" Hazel started laughing, holding her stomach and such.
"That wasn't very funny." I mocked anger, biting my lip to stop from laughing.

"Oh come on," Hazel rolled her eyes before getting up from my bed and opening my closet.

To be honest I secretly loved and hated how much of a bitch Hazel was. It made me feel comfortable because that meant we were close enough for her to not care about my feelings, because she knew I'd be here nonetheless. Like how I was with my friends back home.

On another thought, I didn't really know her much, but at the moment I didn't really care. Not like I had a bunch of friends to choose from anyways. As long as she was nice to me, we shared things in common, wasn't a rapist or mentally deranged, knew how to braid hair and spell nincompoop then we were best friends. It was that simple with friendships.

"Here, this says 'I'm comfortable and really respectable but hot too,'" She paused and sighed, looking at the bright clothing. Her mind seemed unfocused. "It'll bring some brightness to this town. Like a daisy." Hazel looked lost in thought for a moment, before finding herself and smiling warmingly at me.

I finally settled on the royal blue sundress and yellow flats. My hair was held back with an ivory headband that brought out the pearl earings I was wearing. I grabbed my small purse that Hazel let me borrow for the dinner.

Sitting at the back of the car, I plugged in my earphones listening to Shania Twain's Forever and Always. Ridiculously cliche title, but the song was my favourite since I was young. My daddy used to play it for my mom, and she'd always get so red whenever he lip synced it to her.

That reminded me! I've been so busy trying to maintain this job for Lisa, I forgot my purpose of coming here. I need to make my portfolio this weekend and send it to some small programs around the city. I suddenly got a strike of excitement at the thought of meeting other artists.

The stop of the car interupted my thoughts as Lisa turned back to look at me, before sighing and giving me the same smile from earlier.

We were now in the lobby of some fancy hotel. I vaguely remeber seeing this in a magazine as somewhere the Prime Minister stayed once. It wasn't the type of fancy that you'd see some CEO stay at, it was the kind where they used 6 diffrent spoons in one meal and jeans and a crop top was taboo.
"Escuse moi mon bon monsieur, savez-vous où les ascenseurs sont?" Lisa asked the consierge.