your best american girl ✓

17 | commander in chief

The Zhang residence is in shambles, literally and figuratively.

Even from the outside, I can see that most of the windows are smashed to smithereens and there are small line marks carved into the walls. There's a large hole in the garage and a dent in the ceiling. On the road, Lulu and Faye's parents are yelling at each other in spitfire Chinese, speaking at a rate too fast for me to comprehend. The police officers look like they're trying their best to understand them, scribbling down notes every so often.

On the front porch, I spot Faye sitting cross-legged, a bunch of cards laid out in front of her in an organized manner. Rubbing her temple, she takes a deep breath, turning a few of them over. Then, she crumbles the dust from the tip of her incense, sprinkling the ashes on top of her cards.

"The hell are you doing?" Tara asks, stepping around her. "Casting a spell?"

"Something like that," she mutters, grabbing the jar of pickled bamboo shoots next to her, using a pair of chopsticks to poke around. She only eats pickled bamboo shoots when she's really stressed out. In 9th grade, before our math midterm, she had finished 2 jars in one sitting. Reaching over, I snatch the chopsticks from her grasp.

"Hey! Give it back."

"No, you're gonna get a stomach ache. You already ate like 2 large fries at lunch."

"And your point is?" she retorts, snatching the chopsticks back and shoveling another pinch of bamboo shoots into her mouth. Raising my eyebrows, I put up both hands defensively.

"Do you, by any chance, know how to curse someone?" Tara asks, taking a seat next to her.

"No, trust me I've tried."

"That's...not weird at all," I mumble under my breath. At that moment, Kassie and Halle burst through the door, the latter sporting a significantly different hairdo. The formerly long blond locks have been cut into a blunt bob and dyed a baby blue color. From afar, I noticed something sparkly on her nostril. A nose piercing.

"I like the new look. You guys look more like siblings now," Tara points out, poking Halle's cheek.

"That is such an insult!" Halle exclaims in unabashed horror. "Are you saying I look like one of those emos?"

"Are you insinuating that I am one of those emos?" Kassie challenges, pushing Halle playfully.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, you emo."

Wiping the coy smile off Kasie's face with a shove in return, Halle huffs in frustration. Her sister, still very much amused, puts a hand on her shoulder. "You need a disguise. You're lucky I didn't make you go bald."

"What I wanted was intense plastic surgery, not this."

"How bad is it in there?" Tara asks, shifting on her weight so she can take a peek of the inside. From my position, I can kinda make out a pile of ripped curtains and mountains of pillow stuffing laying on the floor, next to a table with a leg torn. God, it looks so much worse than the exterior. They did some serious damage.

"Pretty bad. From what I can tell, nothing is missing, which is both reassuring and terrifying at the same time. It means they didn't need to steal anything, so they did it completely out of spite," Kassie says with a sigh, crossing her legs.

"What matters is you guys are alright," Faye says, smoothing her cards into a neat stack. "The spirits are telling me we'll be okay."

"Where were you guys when this happened anyway?" I ask, furrowing my brows. "You guys shouldn't be in public. What if someone recognizes Halle?"