violet gallagher // shameless

27- school or out

the next day i sat on the stairs in front of sheila's house, waiting for frank. i needed to make sure he shut his mouth. then the front door opened and frank stumbled out. jesus he stank of alcohol.

"i don't have any money." he muttered passing me.

"i know." i said getting up and following him to the gate he opened. "mickey thinks your gonna tell everybody what you saw."

he laughed as we walked down the street. "you guys are like fucking romeo and juliet, two families that hate each other but are bound by true love. except it's with gallagher and milkovich."

"mickey wants to kill you frank. i don't want him to go to juvie, or for either of us to be killed by each other's families! this is fucking bad frank."

"what's happening to my mother is very, very bad. dying is bad." she had cancer.

"you'll be fucking dead soon frank if mickey finds you!"

————

i sat in the kash n grab when i spotted mickey ducking underneath the shutters to face me.

"where is he?" he asked.

"no idea."

"he's had 24 hours to run his mouth, where is he?"

"he won't." i said rolling my eyes. i was pretty pissed off at him for the idea of killing my dad. well, i hate frank but mickey can't kill him. mick would get into to big trouble. also if someone kills frank, it's going to be me.

"if my dad finds out about this he will kill me himself."

"and me." i muttered.

"i've been to 16 bars, homeless shelters, shantytown under the L, your house, now where the fuck is he?"

"i don't fucking know!"

"bullshit!" he yelled. i could see how angry he was now. "you fucking warned him, didn't you!"
i said nothing.

he walked behind the counter. the fuck was he doing now? "will you get your shit together? i hate him more than you do!"

then he opened the fucking register staring to take money out. "i ain't stealing this, this is less than what i'm owed for my hours this week. i'm done. done.
done." he said before i could.

"franks walked in on fiona with her boyfriends, lip and his girls, he doesn't run his mouth! how is this different?" i asked.

he turned around to face me. "what fucking world do you live in? a world where gallaghers and milkoviches get along holding hand and picking fucking roses?!"

"fuck you milkovich! you can't just- you can't- i don't want you to!"

"what did i just say to you? what you think? we're boyfriend and girlfriend? you're nothing but a warm mouth to me!" he yelled at me. ouch, that hurt. well i know we're not boy and girlfriend but i was something like a nothing to him.

damn.

"fuck you mickey! i don't want to be your damn girlfriend! i hate you!" i shouted holding back my tears. his words seriously cut deep. but i wont let myself cry. not in front of a boy, not because of a boy.

"sorry i gotta go kill your dad but i'm doing a lot of people a favor. including you!" he said pushing past me, leaving the store.

————

i lay on my bed smoking a fresh rolled joint, starring at the top bunk bed. the thing with mickey really fucked up my mind.

that's when i heard someone coming in, standing in front of me, giving me a look. i turned my head a little. it was ian.

"what?" i asked.

"fiona told me mickey came around looking for
frank. what happened?" he asked.

"i don't know. don't fucking ask me." i muttered turning to the wall. i felt sick. he sat down on the bed, putting his hand on my shin.

"what happend?" he asked me again.

i stared at the wall saying nothing.

"tell me vi." he said softly.

i sighted and turned to him, taking another drag of the joint.

"if i tell you, you have to promise not to tell ANYONE. not lip, not fiona, no one. mickey's gonna kill every single of you."

"okay..."

"so... mickey and i were having sex in the back of the kash n grab-"

i saw anger in his face but i just kept talking. "-frank caught us, and now mickey is scared frank will run his mouth so he wants to kill him because if it gets out a gallagher and milkovich were fucking we could both get killed."
i sighted again.

"jesus christ violet." he said slowly.

before we could keep talking we heard voices from downstairs. ian and i looked at each other. we stood up and headed downstairs. lip and fiona were yelling at each other. oh no...

they had made some deal that lip finished school, and fiona would get her GED, but now lip got expelled for throwing a chair through a window.

ian and i weren't even on the last stairs when we saw debbie, carl, steve and his wife watching them fight.

"so what you want me to bust my ass? get a diploma and a high paying job so i can buy you all houses and shit while you lay around doing fuck all?" lip said with his face read. oh fuck he was really angry. "why is that on me huh? because  i've done alright on some tests? no. i'll pull my fucking weight but i'm not gonna be the goddamn golden goose!" he went on.

ian and i were still standing on the stairs in silence watching them.

"school or out." fiona said.

what. no.

"the fuck fiona!" i butted in.

"what?" lip said.

"my job is to keep this house going, i'm busting my ass for you, working eight jobs, making meals, keeping everything straight! your job is school. school or leave!" she yelled.

it went silent for a few seconds. then lip stormed upstairs.

i followed ian into the kitchen. fiona stormed past us putting plates onto the table.

then lip came back downstairs with a big bag in his hands and fiona went back to him again. we all followed her.

"what are you doing?"

"well i'm not going back to school, so i guess that means i'm leaving." lip said with a shaky voice.

"lip-" i wanted to say something but i just couldn't.

lip stormed out and carl followed him.

i just stood there next to ian. my body literally couldn't move.

"lip! come back!" carl yelled after lip but it didn't seem like he would.

a lump grew in my throat. what did fiona make him do?!

lip just left.