Privilege

03 cat-calling and carjacking

EVERLY FELT A WAVE of nausea pass over her, jolting her awake. "Fuck," she murmured as she sprinted to her bathroom. She hastily pushed her toilet seat up, and dumped the contents of her dinner into the bowl.

"Goddammit," Everly whispered, as she stood from the toilet. As the toilet automatically flushed her vomit, she grabbed a half empty container of ibuprofen and downed two pills without water. "What a badass, am I right?" she muttered to herself sarcastically.

Everly studied herself in the mirror, feeling her nausea subside. According to her analog clock, it was 4:00 AM, so she had about three and a half hours to do whatever she pleased. And, like any sane person would do, she went back to her bed and slept.

-

Mikayla's whining woke Everly up. Even through a solid oak door, and two stories of concrete between her and her little sister, Mikayla still managed to be heard. Everly glanced at the clock, which read 6:30, and decided she needed to get up anyway.

Her stomach growled, and her nausea threatened to come back. Deciding to skip breakfast, she went to her bathroom and took another ibuprofen, ignoring the warning to not take any on an empty stomach.

When she went downstairs, however, Mikayla managed to force feed her Easy-Bake brownies anyway.

-

Everly bid Mikayla goodbye as she was backing out of their driveway. Mikayla was waiting for the nanny to pick her up, as heaven knows their mother couldn't take five minutes out of the day to drive her child to school. "Bye Ever!" Mikayla exclaimed.

"Bye Miki!" Everly said. As she drove away Everly's stomach twisted with pity knowing Mikayla would never experience a childhood like hers. Although maybe it was a good thing. Maybe not knowing a feeling is better than missing it. Everly shook herself off, slipping on a pair of Prada sunglasses before making her way to Sam's neighborhood.

Sam's house was wedged in between a sketchy gas station, and a sewage pipeline. Even through her BMW, Everly could still smell the faint scent of cigarettes and shit. Luckily, no one hung around the gas station at that hour, so Everly didn't have to worry about the cat-calling or the carjacking.

Sam sprinted out the door, cello case firmly attached to her back. Sam's short, blunt-cut hair was flying everywhere, and she was a little out of breath as she stuffed her cello case in the backseat. "Hey babe, I haven't seen you since the incident at the mall," Everly said, a little mad, but also concerned.

"Sorry I'm late," Sam muttered as she shut the passenger door and put on her seat belt. She pointedly ignored the last part of Everly's statement. "Mom's having a bit of a bad day. She forgot where she was, had a panic attack, and almost slapped Jackson,"

Everly's stomach tightened, and she knew to drop the mall subject. Sam could not handle twin brothers and a mom dying of Huntington's alone. Especially not her junior year. "I'm sorry babe," she said as she smoothed down Sam's hair. "Where is your dad?" she asked as she started the car and backed out of the driveway,

Sam scoffed. "Chinatown. Probably smoking and play mahjong with his buddies," she buried her hands into her jet black hair. "He refuses to accept it, y'know? He's in so much den-" her voice cracked, and Everly knew to change the subject.

"All of you will get past it Sam, you always manage to push through. It's okay," Everly said in a soft tone. "I know you think it's impossible, but I promise you it's not," she smiled sadly, glancing at Sam every so often.

"So what do you think of the new uniforms?" Everly asked jokingly as she smoothed hers down.

Sam laughed lightly, trying to forget her morning. "A slutty joke. You'd think since Principal Jefferson has a daughter here, he'd try to make the uniforms as conservative as possible, but I guess he likes young ass way too much," she looked at her knee-high socks, tight button up, and a skirt that fell mid-thigh.