What You Are Is Beautiful

Harsh Adjustments

"Don't act so resentful. I came to visit and make sure things were okay after the," the woman paused, "incident," she spat.

"Oh of course. Thank you for your visit." Beatrice stood and approached her mother, giving her an awkward hug. "It's nice to see you again."

The woman smiled uncomfortably. "I guess I could say the same. I just wish I was here for a better reason. I wish I wasn't here for one of your mistakes." Beatrice visibly shrunk in on herself. "But, I will help you fix it." She spoke as if she was a savior worthy of praise and worship. She spoke as if her time was so valuable. Ava felt her blood boiling inside her. You guess? What a fucking bitch!

Ava stood from the ground, still holding her nose in her hand. She made her way to the womanwith some choice words in mind, but settled for a greeting. "Hello, I'm Ava." She reached out a hand and saw the woman visibly cringe away. That's when she noticed the red covering her hand. "Oh. I didn't see that." She waved at her instead. The woman raised a hand and gave a reserved wave.

"Mom, this is my friend, also the new halo bearer. She just got injured, so I'll have to cut our greeting short and show her to the infirmary to get her nose adjusted before it heals." Beatrice harshly grabbed Ava by the wrist and yanked her away urgently. Ava stumbles behind her, trying to tear her eyes away from the woman she had just seen. That's Beatrice's mom? I guess I can see it. They look a bit alike, minus the bitch face. Maybe she looks more like her dad. A reality dawned on Ava. Oh I just met her mom.

"Hey," Ava complained. "Slow your roll." Ava paused and grabbed her nose. "Fuck this hurts." Ava knew something was wrong when Beatrice didn't stop to correct her language. It's that bad. Somehow the shock was getting in the way of what Ava was sure to be pure instinct for Beatrice. But her face was stoic as ever, shutting out any light daring to shine on her emotions. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Beatrice responded cold and devoid of emotion. The only indicator of any feeling was the small, barely noticeable crack in her voice.

"You don't sound like it." Ava reached for her hand, brushing her fingers over her wrist. She felt her heart fall through the floor of her stomach when Beatrice quickly retracted her hand. "Oh."

"We need to get you adjusted quickly. Let's go." Beatrice started toward the infirmary and Ava sulked along behind her.

Ava was sat down and tended to by a nun named Sister Florence. She was easy to small talk with and was very careful to ask Ava how she was doing at each step.

"Wow, you really got bent out of shape. I'm going to go in one more time." She inserted the instrument and pressed against the side of Ava's nose. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Ava didn't speak further, not wanting to move and mess up the adjustment. She spoke again when Florence pulled the instrument away and leaned back. "Am I gonna get a badass cast?"

"Ava, language," Beatrice corrected.

Florence waved it off. "You should heal quickly with the halo. But if you don't, come back and I'll give you one." Florence pat her above the knee. "You're good to go."

Ava sat up and rubbed her hand over her nose. She winced in pain. Beatrice approached her from where she had been hovering a few feet away. "How's it look?"

Beatrice placed a hand under Ava's chin, moving her head to see all angles of her nose. "It looks just like normal. Sister Florence did a great job as always." She nodded at the Sister. Ava sat up and stood with Beatrice's help. Beatrice was refusing to make eye contact with Ava at the moment. She wanted to so bad, but she couldn't.