Golden Lockets

Misery Loves Company

The middle-aged African woman set her purse down on the floor, her keys falling shortly after. She plastered a fake smile on her face and then opened her arms wide, inviting Kirstin in for a welcoming embrace. As they hugged, Mrs. Bailey stroked Kirstin’s hair and sighed, “You know I feel like it’s been ages since I have seen you K. Where have you been?”

            The embrace quickly fell apart and Kirstin backed away from Mrs. Bailey, trying not to be awkwardly close to her. Kirstin looked back at her group of friends, which were just staring blankly back at her. Kirstin rolled her eyes. Sometimes she thought that her friends were no fun. She continued to look back at them as she remembered her childhood.

            “Kirstin stop! You are hurting me,” screamed the girl who was being held hostage under Kirstin’s body. She had her hands tightly clasped around the girl’s neck and was just sitting there grinning in her face. She looked back at her four friends, who were just sitting there staring at her choke the poor girl.

            Quickly, Kirstin’s attention was brought back to the specimen lying underneath her. The girl began to claw at Kirstin’s face and slap her around. Kirstin took one hand away from the girls neck and used it to backhand the girl, causing a maroon handprint to quickly form on the girl’s left cheek. A clear tear formed in the distressed girl’s eyes, beginning an onslaught of crying. The girl tried to unleash a squeal, but Kirstin noticed what she was trying to do and she moved her hands from the girl’s neck to her mouth.

            The girl watched as her predator’s face changed from playfully mean to pure evil. She became quite scared for her life and decided that she needed to get out of there. She mustered as much as strength as she could, then decked K’s right eye. Kirstin stumbled back and the little girl got up as fast as she could. The girl took advantage of Kirstin’s current state and kicked her in the chest. Kirstin fell back on the ground screaming and crying. The little girl looked up at the clique of four standing there, waiting for her next move. She turned to run away, but Mrs. Maddox, Kirstin’s mom was right behind her. She wore a snake-like expression on her face and then she spat, “What happened here Penny Noreen?”

            Penny looked around to see if any of the girls would back her up, but she already knew that they were a tight-knit group of friends. She looked down at Kirstin, who had amazingly stopped crying and had made a speedy recovery. Kirstin and the other girls flocked to her mother’s side and then Kirstin cried, “Mommy! Penny beat me up and she told the other girls that she would rip their hair out if they tried to defend me.”

            The girl standing directly across from her began to sweat. Everybody knew that Kirstin’s story was false, besides Mrs. Maddox, whom was the only person that actually mattered in this situation. Her eyes darted from Bria all the way to Willow, hoping that one of them would stick up for her, but all they did was nod their heads in agreement.

            Kirstin gasped as she fell out of her flashback. She turned from her friends and smiled at Mrs. Bailey, who still happened to be waiting for a response. Kirstin sighed, “I have actually been very busy this summer. I was travelling around the country, following my now ex-boyfriends’ rock band. They were pretty good, but after he cheated on me, they seemed to progressively get worse. Maybe it is because I broke all of their instruments and slashed all of the tires on the tour bus, but you never know.”

            The two adults in the room, turned to stare at Kirstin, whom was cheerfully grinning back at them. Mr. Bailey wiped the sauce off of his hands and then approached Kirstin. He put his hand on her shoulder and said, “My, my, my! Kirstin that is not a very generous thing that you did to your boyfriend or the other members in his band. Not to mention the fact that it is illegal. Now, why would you do something like that to someone who simply broke up with you? Don’t you appreciate the fact that he was honest with you?”