Dysfunctional | Ian Gallagher

Pilot

Beep. Beep. "Ughhhh." Lola moaned as she hit the snooze button. She threw her pillow over her head. Beep. Beep. "Goddammit." She muttered. Lola got up and turned the alarm off. She padded to the bathroom and turned the light on. She cringed when she saw her appearance, her hair was everywhere and she had lines of dried drool on her face.

She washed up and brushed her hair, then went back to her small room. She lived in a small house with her "part time" mom and young brother. Her little brother was only 7 and the light of her life, and she was close enough to calling him her own.

As Lola slowly picked out the clothing she would wear (usually just a sweatshirt and old thrifted jeans), she thought of her old apartment. They had moved from an okay middle class apartment in central Chicago, to the ghetto south side. Her dad found out about her mothers addiction issues and left. She didn't blame him. But she wished he had taken her and Logan.

Lola braided her long hair back and threw her backpack on. She walked down the hall and knocked on Logan's door. "Come in!" He yelled. She opened it to find his room cleaned, hair brushed, face washed, outfit on, and backpack ready. He was perfect. "And I brushed." He said proudly huffing his breath in her face. She smelled the mint and nodded encouragingly.

"Good boy. Now let's get you to school."

They held hands as she walked him to school. They talked about his new favorite toy, and how he wanted to make new friends. "You'll make tons and tons of friends." Lola assured him. He smiled widely, his tongue sticking out of the gap from his two missing front teeth. He kissed her on the cheek and happily skipped off.

Lola then made the detour to her own school. Same old same old, school was school.  As she walked through the hallways she noticed however, something was different. People were smoking in the hallways, the stench of marijuana seeped out the bathrooms, she heard moans coming from the janitors closet, and both guys and girls were fighting everywhere. Her teachers all were armed, and she went through metal detectors when entering and leaving campus. Girls with brightly colored stripes in their hair, nip and lip piercings, and skirts shorter than a fly's life ran through the halls. Other girls with jeans and low cut shirts showed off cleavage and dragged boys into the bathroom for a quickie. It was clear she stood out, but in a prudish way. She ended up eating lunch alone in the library.
A boy in her geometry class tripped her teacher after he kept shoving his bulge in her and another girls face.

When the last bell rang she hurried out and practically ran to Logan's school. She waited out front. She saw Logan and another boy his age. "Hey buddy!" She called out. Logan smiled and waved as he and the boy ran over. He hugged her. "Who's this?" She asked him.

"This is my friend Carl, can he come over?" He asked hopefully.

"Are your parents ok if we take you?" Lola bent over to ask him. Carl smirked, Lola contained a laugh.

"My sister takes care of me, and she'd be fine with it." He stated. Lola nodded, it was good enough for her.

"Me and Logan will walk you back to your house later."

"Ok." Carl shrugged. "Wanna race?" He asked Logan.

"Yeah! Lola count down for us!" Logan yelled.

"Ok, on your mark, get set, GO!" Lola yelled back enthusiastically. The boys sprinted past her to the house. Logan and Carl pushed each other. "HEY KEEP IT CLEAN BOYS." She laughed, they stopped immediately.

She rounded the corner and heard the distinct voice of Logan shout "I WON!" She chuckled. She walked up the steps as the boys waited anxiously.

"Hey Logan don't brag, it was a good race." She laughed. "Good job Carl." She patted him on the back.