MISFITS- Nathan Young

Foxy

The following week, after another morning of useless litter picking and Nathan's constant harassment towards Simon, Annabelle found herself being called into Sally's office. A boring old room with a sofa in front of Sally herself, who was sitting on a chair with a strained smile on her face as she beckoned the younger woman inside. Annabelle wrinkled her nose and reluctantly slid into the sofa, crossing one leg over the other and her arms over her chest.

"What's all this?" She asked dryly. Sally blinked slowly at her, but kept the smile on her face.

"This is your chance to talk about community service." She explained and folded her hands in her lap. God dammit. Annabelle's eyes narrowed and she let out a small huff. "It's the most boring shit I could've been sentenced to." She responded simply.

Sally's smile grew even more strained and the younger woman could've sworn she saw the brunette's eye twitch. She cleared her throat and glanced down at the clipboard in her lap. She was quiet a moment, like she was trying to calm herself. "Would you say you've learned anything from this?" She finally asked, and Annabelle did think about that question.

She'd learned how to get away with murder. But she couldn't say that. Her nose wrinkled in thought. "Don't paint in a spot the cops can easily see ya," She answered with a shrug and leaned back against the wall behind her.

Sally sighed gently, nodding briefly. "Great," She murmured with barely concealed sarcasm before moving on. "How do you think you've changed?"

Annabelle just stared at her, her eyes flicking up to the ceiling. "I'm... fatter?" She offered lamely, gesturing vaugely to herself with one hand. Her comment seemed to catch Sally's attention and the woman's brow furrowed. The sudden focus made Annabelle uncomfortable. Her discomfort grew when Sally eyed her carefully, staring right into her eyes. The younger of the two cleared her throat and looked away.

"You're not fat, Annabelle." Sally spoke after another moment of staring. Her tone was gentle, and it made Annabelle even more uncomfortable. Sally opened her mouth but she didn't give her the opportunity to speak anymore before she'd shoved herself to her feet within an instant.

"We done here, then? Great."

Annabelle didn't give the probation worker another moment to process before she was out of the office. And Sally didn't chase after her, much to her relief.

She joined the others in cleaning up the building until everyone else was done with their little meeting with Sally, when they were all sent outside to tear posters off the wall. She picked up one of the small tools that had been left nearby and started scraping. She really hoped Sally didn't try and talk to her again. She wouldn't have much excuse for her words, other than trying to wind the woman up. And she didn't even think she'd believe that. She was too smart to. It was a lame excuse anyway.

It wasn't like Sally could do much anyway. What would she do? Give her a lecture on body positivity? To hell with that.

"We never did find out who was puttin' notes in our lockers." Kelly spoke up from beside her, causing her to look over. Nathan shrugged. "What did I say? I said they had nothin'." He boasted, clearly pleased that he'd been right. Annabelle could practically feel his ego inflating. "They were just pissin' in the wind."

Curtis, however, was not entirely convinced. He looked irritated again. "You don't know what they got on us." He muttered.

"Maybe they're watching us right now." Simon agreed ominously, causing all heads to turn to him. Nathan just shook his.

"This shit is old news. We have outfoxed the fox," He looked away from Simon and at Annabelle. "Which makes us very bloody foxy."

Her previous worries melted away at his stupid joke and her lips cracked into a small smile. Nathan looked even more pleased. "Ah, you like that, huh? Yeah..." He nudged her with his arm before going back to scraping at the posters on the wall. The smile stayed on her lips and she just shook her head. He was such a twat.