YOU & ME | JENLISA

Chapter 15

Lisa

The pervasive stench of urine permeated the air from the urinals. It dried out the back of my throat and I could almost taste it on my tongue. A stranger stared back at me from the mirror, her eyes had been overcome by black dilated pupils and her vapid skin drained of all colour.

A tissue hung from my right nostril, it wasn't one of those cheap, hard tissues from the toilet roll. It was a Kleenex, lightly scented and soft from a packet. Only a girl would think to carry packet tissues around with her.

A girl like Jennie.

I've dreamed of her sitting next to me in class so many times. I dreamed about getting paired up with her in science lab or being forced together for an assignment. Today, I finally got my moment. Then I ruined it with the after effects of my drug abuse.

I wonder how low she really thinks of me, she doesn't look at me in the same way that everyone else does. She's actually brave enough to approach me, talk to me and question me. It's strange but I think I like it, as long as she keeps her distance and we're never alone together.

She must hold some opinion of me though, the drugs, the rape allegations, the fights. I wonder what her honest, unfiltered thoughts are on all of that and if she believes it all to be true or dismisses it simply as hearsay. I mean, if she truly believed it why would she remove my ankle monitor so willingly?

That was some trusting gesture. Perhaps it was absentminded. Either way, I owned her big time. I was crumbling without money, my mom was in pain. Her illness worsening by the day, suffocating her alive. I owed Jennie everything but how could I possibly repay her?

The door pushed open and some kid walked in, freezing on the spot as soon as he noticed me. "S... s... sorry." He stuttered and then ran out, practically in tears. I rolled my eyes, pulled the bloody tissue from my nose and dumped it into the trash.

After that, I headed straight for the rooftop, my sanctuary. It was somewhere no one could find me, away from their judgmental faces and accusations. Just me, the clouds and my music.

I sparked up a cigarette and breathed in the polluted fumes. Sometimes nicotine would do the job, taking the edge off my irritation without needing to go heavier. I pulled out my phone and replied to all of the messages that I got on the social escorting app and then just breathed, while watching the day float by.