New Feeling

peyak (chapter one)

"I-We'll miss you, Lady."

These words were fresh in Lady Johnson's mind as she stared out the window of the U-Haul, watching the bright blue sky melt into a pale yellow-orange and green signs that passed by way too fast for her to read. She wasn't sure how to feel at the moment. She wasn't sure if it was okay for her to feel anything right now. Her father dropped the news that he was tired of moving around and ready to retire months ago. Late last year actually. That would've been fine and dandy with Lady, in fact, it gave her a lot of hope. If he was tired, then that would mean they were going to stay in Cross World City, right?

That was apparently not the case.

Her father, Dr. Ian Johnson, decided he wanted to settle in Angel Grove. As soon as possible. Couldn't wait until she graduated. Couldn't even wait until this school year was over. Ian needed to be there as soon as possible. Lady and her friends be damned.

Allegedly, it was the place he met her mother twenty-something years ago. Why he would want to live there of all places, especially under those circumstances, was lost on her. At least Angel Grove was in the same state as Cross World City. "Just a few hours away. If she got her full license, she can go visit during breaks!" Apparently.

The whole situation simply never felt real. It didn't feel real when Ian had dropped the news. It didn't feel real when she told her friends. It didn't feel real when she had packed the very last box or when the For Sale sign showed up on their front lawn. Not even as they drove down the Californian high way, Cross World City fading further into the horizon behind them. Lady had expected, or hoped if she was being completely honest for once, that out of the blue, her dad would laugh and reveal that it was all a big joke with balloons falling from the ceiling. But the big reveal never came.

The chances of that happening now were clearly nonexistent.

"You wanna put in one of your Talking Heads tapes, Little Lady?"

She shrugged.

"C'mon, talk to me."

She rolled her shoulders and slumped further into the seat. Her gaze went everywhere but his direction before settling on the locket around her neck, her thumbnail opening it only for her to close it then open it again. She kicked off her tacky suede clogs--why did she even keep these, she hated them--then propped her bare feet up on the dashboard. Her hazel eyes flickered from her locket to her feet. The sight of her sloppily painted toes wiggling in the air made her frown.

"Kaitlin... you suck," Lady said, trying not to laugh as she pulled her feet off of the blonde's lap.

Kaitlin scoffed, making a show of screwing the metallic purple nail polish bottle shut and 'slamming' it onto the nightstand. "I'm sorry that my painting skills aren't up to your standards, Milady."

Lady snorted as she tried to turn around and place her feet onto the mattress without rubbing them the wrong way and getting nail polish everywhere. "You're worse than I fuckin' am, man. You're just fuckin' splashing it all around 'n' shit with the brush. I tried to do yours as neat as I could!" She said, leaning over slightly to point at Kaitlin's feet. Bold fire engine red made up Kaitlin's toenails, in neat but uneven and patchy streaks. "I expected something like mine is all..."

"Well, I'll try to get better for when you visit," Kaitlin said, her light joking tone faltering near the end of her sentence. She coughed, wriggling up the bed to lean against the wall like Lady was. "I'll paint Ryan and JB's nails, fingers and toes if I have to."

"Christ, would they even let you? Guys are always fuckin' weird about that shit."

"I'll make them let me."