Crybaby

You don't own me

You can literally feel it in the air. Something big is about to happen, and not everyone is ready. But it's all you can think about and you feel a jolt through your whole body at just the thought.
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The day before the dance is exciting. Some of the girls go out shopping after school to find something new to wear, even though the dance is sort of casual.
Crybaby and Johnny go back to the rooftop of a building to talk a little.
Their bikes rest next to each other against the chainlink fence below.
"Cr-Crybaby?" He mumbles, right as they are standing up to leave. "Yeah?" She says, surprised at his tone.
"I wish I could take you... uh... to the dance, but... y'know..." he stutters.
She gives him a reassuring smile and says "it's ok, I get it."
She is mostly just happy that he would even think about asking her.

Electra, Lana and Alessia are sweeping through the aisles of a vintage shop together. Alessia smiles as she pulls an oversized flannel off of the rack. She turns and and sees Lana admiring a blue miniskirt and then tucking it under her arm. Electra grabs a white satin jacket. It's kind of plain, but she knows what she wants to do.

When they get home, Electra gets to work embroidering on the back with pink thread, similar to the jacket that Troye has. In the middle of her hard work she gets the idea.
She is going to make jackets for everyone in the group, each with a special message on the back.
Troye already has his: Wild
On her own jacket she is currently embroidering the words "Heart Breaker" in pink thread.
On Lana's: "Lolita"
And Crybaby's:
She decides on "Mad hatter"
These will be her Christmas gifts to everyone.
She gets back to work on her own satin jacket, smiling to herself.

Crybaby slides a Leslie Gore vinyl on to the record player in her room and dances around to You don't own me feeling free and sort of mental.

She sings along with the window open, catching the attention of a group of boys from her school walking by. Johnny is one of them. She doesn't notice them until one boy yells "Nice singing, slut! You sound like a frog!" Resulting in laughter from the rest of the group. Not Johnny though. He just stands there quietly, not daring to look up.
I like your singing.
He thinks this but doesn't say it.
She looks around her room quickly and notices a bottle her mom must've left in there. She leans out the window, her music still playing, and sticks her middle finger up at the group happily. "Stupid bitch!" Another one yells. " You think you can make us cry like you!"
"Yeah, I do." She says quietly, lifting the bottle and chucking it, making sure to miss Johnny. It hits one on the nose before shattering on the ground.
Blood starts seeping out. "You're a psycho!!" He yells, gripping his nose and running in the other direction.
"Yup." She says, giggling and waving.

Alessia is riding back to Grace's house after leaving her jacket there the night before. She had been babysitting the 12 year old.
Grace is on her porch practicing ukulele when she arrives.

Alessia grins and waves. "Oh! Hey!" Grace says, jumping up. "You are really talented!" Alessia says, pulling her jacket off of the banister where it was left. "Thanks!" She shouts as Alessia walks away.
"Tell Ms. Vanderwall I said hi!" She shouts back, hopping in to her moms car.

The night is warm for December, and the air around the high schoolers is thick with excitement. There isn't much to do in this small town, so a dance is a big thing.
And somehow even the people outside of town learn about it. That is something for tomorrow, though.

Crybaby is still humming along to a record when she is picking up her pink phone and punching in the number of her new close friend, Yolandi. She is the kind of girl who is just as crazy as Crybaby and fun to be around.
They chat for a while.
"I'm not going to the dance. Me and ma' boy are ditching to go hang with Troye." She has a funny way of speaking.
"Ok. I might come there after."
Crybaby suddenly hears a violent knocking on her door. "I have to go" she says quickly before slamming the phone down and calling out
"Who is it?"
"Open th-the f**king door!" Crybaby recognizes her mothers way of speaking and slurred words.
"You're drunk, mama. I'm not opening the door." She says in a small voice. The rattling knob makes her heart beat fast.
She hears a muffled thud.
Her mother passes out.
Crybaby opens the door, and gingerly half carries, half drags the woman's unconscious body to the sofa.

She then runs up the stair and locks her door, looking to distract herself. Crybaby comes across her closet. She busies herself setting out an outfit for school tomorrow and then for the dance. She decides on a short fuzzy pink skirt and matching top, and some platform shoes to go with it.

Troye just went straight home today, after staying up late the night before. When he saw Jacob at school, Jacob had averted his eyes and looked like he might cry. This was very disheartening, especially considering the boy's usually confident nature. Troye couldn't really say anything about it, but he managed to sit next to Jacob at lunch. Around halfway through he reached down and gave his hand a squeeze, prompting Jacob to look up at him. "It's ok." Troye had whispered in to the other boy's ear.
They had held hands through the rest of lunch.
No one noticed other than Alessia, who understood. Jacob had called her in a panic right before she left for babysitting the night before.

Now Troye sits at home on his bed,
eyelids drooping.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day.

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A/N: Hey!! Sorry this one is kind of short, it's more of a filler before all the ~drama~
I really hope you like this so far!! If you have any questions or comments feel free to reach out, it will make my day!