"I'll let you go in exchange for a deal."
"Wh-What deal...?"
"All I ask is you find something for me. I'll take you to that place where it is, which is safe and you cannot be harmed. But if you don't find it, I fear you won't live very long, and you...
Margot's older sister is Niah Solomon, who's a lighter shade of brown than Margot and wears glasses that she accidentally broke a few months ago and now they slide down her really nice face a lot. She likes wearing ponytails and a yellow cardigan their grandmother had knit her last Christmas and is very smart and sweet.
But this very moment? Hardly.
Niah's room is pretty bright and well-decorated with various music posters, and she has one stuffed toy on her bed - a dolphin named Carrot. He's a bit worn out and the stitching that ran down his belly opened to reveal his inner stuffing, but was really nice to hug against your chest. It was currently carrying out said purpose now. "Look, you know how huge this party is," Margot brings up vaguely, staring down at the floor.
Niah runs through her hair, letting loose a heavy sigh that tenses up her shoulders as she paces her room. "Come on, this is Max we're talking about. If he fails this quiz, his mom's gonna kill him!"
"You know you're not the only one who's risking things, by the way." Then she stops, because it's revealing what she didn't want to admit to anyone. Although Niah wouldn't judge her, it wasn't something she was ready to admit to herself.
"It's just a dance, Mags. You have plenty of those. Missing one won't kill you." She pauses, realizing her words are hitting a little harsh. "I... Margot. Look, this is... This is really important. Please do this for me."
Ugh, that voice. The voice drenched in pure desperation and hopelessness that Margot should be used to, but somehow it hits pretty hard each and every time. "Niah, Rob's already getting crabby about the amount of times you're skipping your shifts, and... This is important to me too." More than she could properly convey into words. It nipped at her consciousness, tucked away in the very back of her mind and emerged specially at the smallest of things.
A book she read in second grade.
A certain phrase uttered by a classmate.
A secret glance at the beautiful girl two tables away, always wearing that pretty baby blue bow to tie back her hair.
"Mags, please." Niah's brows knot together as she frowns down at Margot, which the latter couldn't understand. As soon as she brought up the news to her family coming home, she was immediately dragged upstairs where Niah proceeded to probe for this one request. It was ridiculous.
Margot's shoulders wither, as the guilt within her was flaming. Man, she hated this. "Alright, fine. I'll... stay at the theatre, if it'll make you happy." Niah's face relaxes, and she pulls her sister into a hug.
"Thank you, Margot. I really appreciate it." Margot hesitantly hugs back, trying to make it feel genuine when really she was a little mad. This was really, really dumb. She was gonna have to do something reckless and stupid but so be it.
---
And so she did something reckless and stupid.
Really, it kind of felt like a secret mission, the way the details played and replayed in Margot's head as her mom drove her to the Hathaway theatre on that faithful Friday afternoon.
Mom made conversation as Margot played aggressively on a mobile game, checking every five minutes on the battery percentage. It was at 10%, which was pretty decent at this rate. "Honestly, it's amazing you'd skip a party just for Sherwin and Connor."
"Sher finally got this new Lego set and Connor's been so excited for it. I don't think I've seen him grin like that since his bar miztvah. It was kind of creepy, not gonna lie." She and Mom laugh, aware that Connor wasn't very expressive.
"Well, enjoy your sleepover. Sherwin's going up against the Rhinos next Saturday, right?"
"They should be, last time I checked. It's supposed to be a huge game."
"You could ask Dad to take you to the game; I'm sure he won't mind," she offers, taking a brief moment to glance at her daughter with a smile. Margot nods. 7%. Mom turns into a parking space in front of the small Hathaway theatre. "Have a good day, sweetheart."
"Thanks, Mom." Margot turns off her phone, unbuckling her seatbelt and leaning over to place a kiss on Mom's temple before letting herself out. "I'll call you!" she informs, and Mom nods just as she's leaving her parking spot.
She manages to slip inside the theatre and into one of the bathrooms without being spotted. So far, so good. Margot takes a deep breath as she occupies one of the empty stalls, plopping her knapsack on the ground and her knees came down soon after, her hands shakily rummaging through her things. Her fingers catch onto a lacy fabric and she tugs on it to pull out into the surface.
It's a dress; a creamy pink almost identical to the shade of her favourite jacket if not lighter and ends mid-knee. It's really pretty. Not something Margot would typically wear, but admittedly taking off her uniform and bearing it it's not really bad. The cuffs of the sleeves almost reach down to her knuckles, so she has to roll them up in order to stuff her uniform back into her knapsack.
She checks her phone. It was completely unresponsive. She grins, exiting the stall and placing her phone on the counter with a deep, almost shuddering breath. Her eyes meet the mirror, and she takes a good second to stare at herself, brows furrowing in determination.
This had to work. It needed to.
The event was held at the town hall, which wasn't really too far a walk for Margot. Quite frankly, she'd go as many lengths necessary. This was something she absolutely had to.
And so, here it was. A really reckless and stupid plan but she needed this. More than anything.
"We got this!" she announces to herself just as a redheaded female enters the bathroom. She has her toddler beside her, keeping him close as she stares at Margot, clearly very disturbed.
"Uh..." Margot dashes out, muttering a small 'excuse me' as she brushes past the woman.
"See, this is why we don't do drugs, Phillip," Margot hears the woman say, and she shakes her head as she finds her way near the theatre exit. Nothing would stop her.
She was ready for this.
---
a/n: filler? i think not
aaaand this be niah :
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