Kill V. Maim

5. Pj and Josie's rant

    Lilliana sat in the gym with the other girls. Everyone else was playing with random equipment, but Lilliana was sitting down and trying to get her hair perfectly up. She had her phone propped up on her waterbottle with her camera open, fixing and fixing her ginger hair. But she couldn't help herself and kept glancing at Hazel, who was moving on one of those rolling things you would play with in elementary school P.E. Lilliana could stop thinking about the time her and Hazel spent together in the bathroom stall. She couldn't get the image of Hazel running her hands through her dark bangs whenever she laughed, how her blue eyes weren't the normal kinda of blue eyes, they were dark. Hazel just stuck to Lilliana's brain like gum on a sidewalk. But PJ slamming the bottom of a mop stick on the floor snapped Lilliana out of her fantasy. She got up and joined the rest of the group, noticing that there were more members, plus, a teacher.
"EVERYBODY SHUT THE FUCK UP!" PJ yelled aggressively. She walked around and jerked her head at some of the other girls. "This isn't a little hangout, okay? Oh, it's not a sleepover, playtime. There are serious rules that we need to establish, 'Kay?" PJ talked to aggressively that it scared Lilliana a bit. "First? Listen." Pj jerked her head real close to a girl with blonde hair and pigtails. "Second? Be. On. Time. Yeah. Expect for you. You come whenever you want." Pj said to the teacher, the one who taught Lilliana's history class. "What time is it!?"
"3:30." Annie answered.
"3:30!" Pj yelled. "Club starts, at 3:15! Not 3:16, not 3:17, but the doors close at 3:15. No exceptions!" Pj slammed the bottom of the mop stick on the ground again, making Lilliana jump a tiny bit. "I don't care if you're like, 'Oh, but I had to go to extra help for math because, I...I need to get a full ride, because my mom lives in a trailer and she loves her boyfriend more than me'" Pj mimicked as two girls walked in. Lilliana was scared for them considering Pj's mood. "La La blah blah blah. Shut up, okay? My dad left me, and I'm incredibly punctual." Josie cleared her breath and gestured her head towards the two girls. Pj turned her head and stared and stammered at them. "Um, hey, guys. Come on in." The mood in Pj's voice suddenly changed.
"Wait what...?" Lilliana mumbled under her breath quietly.
"Uh, we're just getting started here, so, um. Today I think we're gonna start with some body contact. We're gonna do wrestling." Everyone became quiet and confused as Pj talked some more, but less aggressive and more, gentle? Finally, Annie spoke up.
   "I'm sorry, I thought we weren't aloud to be late?" Pj and Josie quickly found answers and excuses.
   "That's not true- it's about-"
   "Oh, that's about next week. Yeah next week!"
   "So the rules for next week, don't be late but the week is good." Josie explained as Pj agreed in a chill manner.
    "Okay I'm sorry, I just want to make sure, this is a self defense class right? Where we can learn to learn to protect ourselves against like, football players."Annie asked politely.
    "And Huntington? 'Cause, um, they're gonna pork us, they're gonna pork us." Slyvie added nervously.
    "It just kinda feels like 'quickly change the rules club' right now." Lilliana said sarcastically.
    "I thought we were fighting each other for money. There's a cash prize right?" A girl in a half dark pink, half light pink dress asked excitedly.
    "I thought this was to be part of, like, a local underprivileged female community." One of the girls who was late tried to confirm.
"My identity is completely attached to her's, so I just kind of go wherever she goes." The other late girl added. Damn. Lilliana forgot how weird this school is.
"Everyone's here for a good reason. So, uh, you know, like- why are we nitpicking reasons?"
"Yeah! How bout this? Let's jump in. Right?" Josie and Pj stammered and Pj tossed the mop stick onto the ground. Annie volunteered to go first, and Pj just pushed her to the ground. Immediately, the teacher got up and walked towards the girls.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. I don't know about this shit." He said calmly.
"What the hell? You didn't even warn me!"
"Okay, we didn't get warnings at juvie." Pj and Annie bickered.
"Wouldn't you get in trouble if you did that in juvie? Like your time would get extended?" Lilliana asked and everyone stared.
"Look, Red-" Pj was about to say something but got cut off by Hazel.
"Her name's Lilliana actually."
"Well I don't remember asking you Hazel. Lilliana, I'm sure you're a sweet person and you know your stuff, but uh, our juvie was different than regular juvie. It was tougher. And made us tougher." Pj explained, and Josie nodded along.
"How about we take it slower." Josie suggested, and everyone nodded their heads in agreement. Lilliana wasn't even paying attention at this point. She couldn't stop thinking about how Hazel corrected Pj for her.  Sure it was just a small thing, but it made Lilliana feel like she was...known. Like she wasn't just the girl in the room people only noticed for her looks, no, like people noticed her cause someone pointed her out and said her name. Lilliana's stomach fluttered. Lilliana fidgeted with her fingers in a happy way, but something stopped her. Pj started to point out good things about the club.
   "Crystal, I'm thinking of you. You are never gonna get assaulted on your birthday again." The girl Pj pointed out smiled, but smiled like she belonged.
   "And I...I'm gonna finally reverse-stalk my stalker!" The girl who thought the fight club was for money exclaimed.
   "I guess that means I'll be able to protect my younger brother from those horrible transphobic bullies," Lilliana added on, everyone cheered her on.
    "And for me," Slyive added something too, "I'll be able to kill my stepdad." The whole room went silent and awkward. But Lilliana knew, she was gonna like this club.