𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐋𝐘 ﹙peter maximoff﹚

𝒊𝒗. the mystery of the twinkies.

CHAPTER FOUR ;
the mystery of the twinkies.
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OCTOBER 1971

   THE NEXT MORNING was awful. She had almost no time to get changed and do her makeup, and when she went to grab breakfast, she was greeted with angry shouting. So instead of having a bowl on cereal she had been craving all morning, she was left hungry... again.

   To make things worse, it was raining. By the time she got to school she was a shivering mess. She rushed to the restroom the second she got into school and spent five minutes trying to dry her hair under the hand dryer. It wasn't working very well though, so she had to settle with a French braid. At least her hair would be wavy when she took it out.

   However going to school in the rain without a coat was not exactly the best idea, because she didn't stop shaking through math and chemistry, and her teacher had to take her to the nurse. The girl was forced to wait in the nurses office for an hour with a thin blanket over her shoulders for around an hour before her mother finally came to collect her.

   The drive home was even worse, as her mother was refusing to talk to her and glared at her through the mirror more than once. When they go home she simply lay in bed staring at the ceiling until lunch. She probably wouldn't have even knew it was lunch if it wasn't for her stomach rumbling.

   She would have skipped lunch, however her stomach was feeling so empty after not eating the day before she had to force herself up from the mountain of blankets. The girl grabbed a jumper from the end of her bed and walked down to the kitchen to get some food.

   Her mother had gone to Mary-Anne's house for lunch with a few other moms, so she was home alone. She went over to the kitchen and took a bag of chips and some water. It had stopped raining now, but she could see the trees shaking in the wind and ultimately decided that it was a good thing she was sent home.

   She went back up to her room and shut the curtains, snuggling back into her nest of blankets and eating her chips. The girl went over to the old tv she had gotten at a yard sale and began to rewatch Romeo and Juliette. No matter how many times she had watched it, it never ever got old. To be honest with you, Layla probably knew the whole movie off by heart from how many times she had watched it.

   She huddled in her huge pile of blankets and watched, lip syncing along when her favorite scenes came up.

   "Layla, I'm home."

   The girl paused the movie, going downstairs to put her cup in the sink.

   "Oh. Hi." She muttered, smiling slightly .

   Her mother gave her a look and went over to the living room to watch tv. It was getting darker outside, with the sun being completely covered by the clouds. She decided she would finish her movie and then sleep, considering she was completely exhausted the morning before. So she got back into her fort and continued the movie.

   It was around five when she was finished watching the movie, yet she was already tired. She got up to change into her pajama set and brush her teeth, not bothering to do her hair, and crawled back into bed. The previous night had exhausted her, and she was fully ready to roll into a ball and fall asleep for the rest of her life.

   But life had other plans, because her father had returned home and somehow annoyed her mother, leading to a loud screaming match. Layla rolled her eyes, getting up and rolling up a scrappy blanket she had in the corner of the room to block the cracks in the door. It only dimmed the noise slightly, but it was now quiet enough to comfortably sleep and not feel as though your ears would burst.