Matilda 'Dixie' Green, who gets dragged into the unfathomable events at Starcourt Mall by her hopeless crush on Billy Hargrove and new-found middle-schooler friends. She struggles to cope with the trauma, which gradually costs her, her popular cheer...
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𐮜Grounded𐬺
Matilda's POV ༒༒3rd June, 1985
I finally came home after days of being with dad - it wasn't my decision to leave, Rebecca showed up, knocking at the trailer door, her arms crossed when dad opened it with a massive grin upon seeing his eldest daughter, "Becky, it's so good to see you!"
Rebecca tried to sneak a look behind him to get a better view of the inside of the trailer.
I was sat at the table with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in my hands about to take a bite out of it, stopping my movement when I hear her voice.
"Is Matilda here?" She asks expectantly, she already knew the answer because where else would I be? Unless I ran away to New York to live with Mason... but that was an impossibility right now.
"Yes, she's been here - safe," dad opens the door wider, allowing Rebecca to get a full view of the trailer.
Rebecca pushes past him and storms towards me, leaning over the table, "Mom and I have been worried sick about you and you've just been here jamming sandwiches in your mouth!"
"Yes I have," I shrug and hum, taking a bite of the sandwich and Rebecca huffs before slapping it out of my hands, it falls onto the floor in pieces, "Hey - not cool, I was eating that!" I stand up directly in front of Rebecca while dad tries to clear the mess.
"You're gonna get in the car with me and I'm gonna drive you home," she steps closer, taller than me and trying to make me feel inferior.
"I'm not a baby, you can't push me around anymore, Becky - things have changed," ever since 1984 ended, "and if anything I'm cycling back myself."
"Is this about the stupid party? I'm sick of that silly 'Matilda' glare every time I'm in your goddamn eyeline, whenever I walk in the room, whenever I tal-," her voice raises.
"No, it's not just about the fucking party - it's about being back there with mom, pretending like everything is okay when it's not been okay for ages - that's why Mason left - and we're acting like he's the one in the wrong for leaving when actually maybe we should be praising him... you and mom made me feel like I should forget his existence," Rebecca blinks and I decide I'm not done, adrenaline pumped through my veins from the freedom I'd experienced the last few days, "I'm sick of not being able to even say his name and - I'm sick of being told I'm not allowed to play basketball or dye my clothes and I'm sick of being babied by the two of yo-."
"Stop fighting, girls!" Dad shouted, completely distressed in face and voice, he'd slammed his hands on the counter in the box-like kitchen, it startled us.
Rebecca breathed deeply, giving a warning glare, "You're already grounded, Matilda - and just you wait until I tell mom what you've just told me... if you don't come home right now it'll only be worse for you."
