Trixie stood at the square, smoking. It was two in the afternoon and she was very groggy. She had been sleeping for longer and longer. In fact, the young woman was only five minutes out of bed. She exhaled and the grey left her painted lips.
"Hey Trix," Elliott greeted on his way back to work after his lunch break.
"Morning," She muttered with an expressionless face.
"You've seen the time, right?" He jested, she just looked on, "What's wrong?"
"The world," The brunette said before taking another drag.
"You're such a fuckin' downer, Trix," The raven haired barista continued to walk on but slower. He wanted her to follow him.
"Am I?" She wasn't looking at him and hit bothered him. He follow her eye line to see Peter standing on the opposite side of the road, on his way to pick up some more Oreos for his dad.
"You fall out with him?" Elliott asked cautiously. Trixie wasn't someone to annoy.
"Your ex rejected him him last week and he did this to when I was unconscious," Trixie pulled the material of her cardigan away from her pale chest to reveal the PAY message Elliott recalled seeing the morning after the incident.
"He did that to you?" She nodded and covered up again, taking another drag, "Why?"
"An upper class girl pissed him off, so he took it out on a lower class girl," She shrugged it off like it was nothing.
"Why not wash it off?" He asked her.
"It wouldn't come off, I scrubbed at it for ages but it just hurt," Her eyes were glued to the sky as more grey puffed from her mouth.
"Trixie, why didn't you tell me before?" He walked back over to her, his voice more hushed.
She just gave him an odd look.
"Why would I?" She dropped the cigarette and snuffed it out with her shoe before going back inside the Crown Hotel, leaving Elliott to stand there alone.
•~~×~~•
"You have a sister?" Cori looked at Lexi in shock. The older blonde was walking her and Reyn hone after school.
"Yeah, from one if Dad's affairs," She nodded.
"How old is she?" Reyn asked.
"Probably sixteen or seventeen," Lexi said, "Dad said that she was born not long after Fiona,"
"So, she's still in school?" Cori turned around, walking backwards so that she could face the both of them.
"Yeah, I guess," Lexi shrugged.
"Wait, we probably know her," Reyn looked at Cori straight away, alert.
"Did Ian give you a name?" Cori leaned towards her best friend's sister, clutching her biology textbooks eagerly.
".. I dunno, guys," Lexi shook her head after a moment, "This is all really weird forms and dad said that she doesn't even know that he's her father,"
"But we won't tell anyone thou-"
"We understand, Lexi," Reyn interrupted Cori, feeling they were threading on Lexi's personal life. It was a big shock to her and still a lot to take in, so Reyn knew it wouldn't be fair to pry.
"How do you know he's not lying?" Cori quipped.
"My dad wasn't great at being there for me or Fiona but he'd never kill anyone," Lexi shot the younger blonde a stern look, "He wouldn't murder his own daughter,"
•~~×~~•
"Ariel? Are you in here?" Annabelle entered the ladies' toilets in the school, "It's after four, are you coming to the gardening club?"
"...I don't think so," A restless voice replied from within the only occupied cubicle.
"Why not?" Annabelle closed the door and took a step closet to the stalls, "You had so much fun last time,"
"I,... um. I'm not feeling well," The golden haired girl said in response, "Besides I have so many chores to do at home,"
"Femme said you haven't been in classes since before lunch," Annabelle sighed, "She's worried about you, she said she can't find you anywhere,"
"Well,... here I am," Ariel offered some uneasy chuckles as something to shut the younger girl up. It really didn't.
"Come out, we don't want to start without you," Annabelle was only greeted with silence, "If something's the matter, Olivia, Femme and I, we can help out,"
"Thanks Annabelle, but really, I'm fine," Ariel said, "I'm still recovering from that illness I had and I think I should just go home and rest,"
"Okay, Ariel," Annabelle finally nodded.
"Tell Femme that, she'll understand," She added quickly, not wanting anyone else questioning her.
"I will," Annabelle said before leaving.
Ariel let out a huge, exhausted sigh and looked down at the great sum of pregnancy tests on her lap. She had spent quite some time doing them all. And each and every one of them were positive.
