Dance Moms - Chlobird

Chapter 3 : Bail

"Brooklinn Hourly!" an officer called from a distance.

"That's Khoury! With a K damn it!" Brooke yelled back annoyingly, correcting for the seventh time.

"Whatever. You're free to go!"

"It's about fucking time!" she picked up her bag and stood.

The officer escorted her out to the front desk, there she saw a girl signing some papers.

The new temp has only joined the studio for a month, but already winning everyone's heart. Students and parents adore her, and the staffs respect her. Everyone seems to know her by name, like she has been on TV or something, but it was never an interest for Brooke to look into other people's lives, she barely has enough time to watch her own.

Approaching the front desk, the new temp was tall and beautiful. She wore a white denim jacket over a baby-blue sweater, casual yet attractive. Her wavy blonde hair dropped over her chest like waterfall, her fingers long and slim, dancing as she wrote across the paper.

Surely she wouldn't mind bailing a coworker out of jail at one in the morning, Right? Brooke hoped.

"Chloe! Thank God!" she waved and called out like seeing her best friend, making sure every officer at the station heard it.

The new girl raised her head, took one look at her and returned to the papers.

"She's your friend?" asked a black woman in plain clothes, her belt wore a detective badge.

"Colleague." Chloe answered unwillingly, obviously unhappy to be called out at such late hour. "Sorry for all the trouble, Detective Kelly."

"Hey, I'm just happy to see you! You should drop by more often."

"Not under these circumstances, I hope."

Brooke was used to receiving cold shoulders in her workplace, but found it odd to see the girl acting unusually friendly with the policewoman. She watched in curiosity as the new girl filled out the forms in a fluent manner, like she does this all the time.

"Will this be all, Detective?" Chloe pushed the papers to the officer.

"Dotted and crossed. I see you haven't lost your touch." the female detective smiled at the papers with approval.

"It's not something to be proud of." Chloe said modestly, then turned to Brooke. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine! Look, I'm sorry to get you out in the middle..."

"Let's go." Chloe picked up her things and turned before Brooke could finish.

Like a little girl got caught, Brooke kept her head down and followed Chloe through the double door and out the parking lot. The cold air stung her like ice, her clothes still damp from the fight and sending her shivers, but she held up, didn't want to look weak in front of the new temp.

Down a flight of stairs and into the visitor's parking lot, the place was empty at this hour, all except a white Ford Fusion.

"Nice car!" Brooke cheered, trying to lighten up the mood.

"Secondhand." Chloe went around and got behind the wheel, popping the passenger door open for her. "Where do you live?"

"Hill-D."

"You live alone?" Chloe knew the neighborhood, not exactly the safest place for a girl.

"Yeah. What's wrong with that?" Brooke felt offended.

"Where do your parents live?"

"Orange County."

"You're from California?"

"That will be the dream!" the girl scoffed. "Orange County, Indiana!"

"And you come to school here?"

Brooke didn't answer, she didn't want to go through her resume the second time in a night.

They drove all the way in silence, by this hour the neighborhood was a ghost town, not a single sign of life. Being at the heart of Pittsburgh, Hill District was undergoing development. The city has projects for high-end housing and shopping districts, but removing old tenants was taking forever.

Most of the buildings were abandoned, with hauntingly dark windows and gang graffiti. Chloe studied the neighborhood, the only other cars she saw were either burned or striped to their shells.

"Stop here." Brooke pointed at a three-story building, the entrance was blocked by rolls of trashcans.

"You live here?" Chloe looked out the poorly maintained structure.

"The only place I can afford!"

Brooke grabbed her tote bag and went out the door, then she saw the new temp stepping out from the other side.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna make sure you reach home safely." Chloe answered.

"Really? I've been living here for six months. There's nothing but rats."

"I just want to make sure."

"Fine! Just don't tell a soul about this!"

Brooke went around the trashcans, behind them was a railing, almost invisible in the dark. She slid the bolt lock and pushed, the gate swung open with a rusty squeak.

Chloe watched the girl descend into darkness, hesitated for a moment, then took the stairs with great caution, not wanting to dirty her white clothes from the surroundings.

The basement was installed with motion sensor lights, a popular choice among environmentalists, but also cheap for building managers. Each light was set far apart, activated only when they walked within range, and deactivated when they walked out, lighting one section at a time as they moved further down the corridor.

Chloe assessed the place. They walked past three doors on each side, only two of them had garbage bags laid by the doors. The corridor smelled of spice and cooking oil, indicating foreign occupants.

Brooke's apartment was the last door to the left, she cursed out loud when she read a paper sticking on the door.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me!"

It was an eviction notice, and the doorknob was chained up by a heavy padlock.

"Did you pay your rent?" Chloe blinked in confusion.

"I would if I could! Why do you think I'm working two jobs?"

Brooke yanked out her phone and called her landlord, and spent the next five minutes screaming out the most offensive profanity Chloe ever heard, so much that she was sure some weren't English.

"What did he say?" Chloe asked at the end of the call, trying to unhear some of the words.

"Voicemail!" the girl grunted.

"Do you have anywhere else to stay?"

"I'll just wait here." the girl dropped to the floor in exhaustion, pressing her back against her own door. "It's not like he kicked me out for the first time!"

"And I just leave you here?"

"Leave! I get by!"

Chloe watched the girl place her tote bag on the concrete floor, using it as a pillow and lay down on her side, curled into a ball, then pulled her beanie over her eyes.

"And hey, thanks for getting me out. And please don't tell anyone about this okay?"

Chloe bit her lip a little, then turned and made her way out. Despite how much she didn't want to leave a girl alone in this awful place, she has other things to attend to.