𝐁𝐎𝐘𝐈𝐒𝐇// 𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐗𝐎𝐂

𝐱𝐱𝐱𝐯𝐢𝐢. ✭ 𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐄

SEPTEMBER, 1985; CHANCE

"Hello, Abilene." My heart pitched itself from my body. I could see it on the front porch, crawling away, coated in sluggish slime. Pulse racing, I stood frozen in the front door's frame.

"Hi." She replied coldly, arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes, devil's water blue, flicked across my face. Abilene was studying me like a lion does to its prey, trying to choose which part of me to tear apart first. "Well, are you gonna invite me in?"

The girl before me had flipped. She used to be so fun and kind and witty and sharp. She used to love with me in her frilly white bedroom.
A frigid heartless monster had replaced her. Abby was no more.

"If my grandma catches you here she'll have your hide." I mumbled, casting my stare down to my shoes. "You're on the list of people banned from the house." My hand gestured to the framed infamous list behind me in the living room. "She put you up there in April."

"Typical." Abilene scoffed, tousling her shiny blonde hair. "Y'know Jesus wouldn't hesitate in letting me in. It's the neighborly thing to do." A dry laugh fell from her plump lips. "But excuse me, I shouldn't have thought you could be so polite...all things considered."

"Fine." Swallowing down the hurt in my throat, I opened the door for her. "Come in, why not? It's your skin on the line. Not mine."

"Your bedroom, yeah?" Abilene brushed past me, knocking into my shoulder as she welcomed herself inside. My jaw lay slack as I watched her sashay up my house's stairs. "Close your mouth, you'll catch flies doing that. C'mon, Chance." She sighed over her shoulder, perpetually annoyed at everything.

I closed the door and followed her up the stairs, suspicion creeping on the hairs of my necks. What in the world was she up to? The previous week I had overheard her ragging on me again in Doc's ice cream parlor. Why was she playing nice now? She had made it plain and clear that she didn't want anything to do with me.

Abilene browsed my display of tiaras, ribbons, medals, and little golden statues that I had won doing pageants. She ran a finger on the glass case surrounding them before rubbing her index and thumb together.

"Checking for dust?" I asked in that same fake voice she had been using around me, jutting my chin out at her. "Is my room not to your liking? 'Cus I don't remember you complaining when you and I was in it last time."

A hard mocking laugh left her mouth. Abilene swiveled around to face me, her eyes narrowing to sharp slits.

"Desperate much?" She stalked toward me, puffing her ample chest out at me. Rubbing her glossed lips, she cocked her head to the side. "Some people never change."

"And some people do." That hit her. My words had shot out like an arrow, sinking down into her shriveled heart. She glitched, just like the computers did at school. Her body freezing up while her face softened.

"Sit. Down." As she growled out her order, her thick brows arched at me, telling me she meant business. "Now. On the bed."

"Oh, so you want me on the bed now?" Biting the side of my cheek, I threw her own words back in her face. "Desperate much?"

"Get on the damn bed, Chance."

"Someone's mouthy." Submitting to her order didn't mean I was submitting to her entirely. Drawing myself toward the bed, I perched myself on the edge. "Guess that little month long camp didn't fix everything about you."