𝘚𝘖𝘕𝘋𝘌𝘙 ⁽ʲ ᵐᵒˡⁱⁿᵃ⁾

𝘛𝘏𝘙𝘌𝘌

this chapter is very short – half the length of a normal one – and normally i would never post a chapter that's less than 3000 words, but i have to remember that this is my just for fun fic so i shouldn't be stressing over what else to put into the chapter. enjoy! the next one will be longer, i promise.

Dinner the next night went about as well as Elise expected.

She'd managed to entirely avoid Carrie the day after they got Julie her spot back, but it would be impossible to get out of this confrontation now. Every Friday, they had dinner together. Their dad thought it would help "bring them together," Elise just assumed his shrink had suggested it. The man had issues.

She rolled up the sleeves of her sweatshirt and sat across from Carrie. She was isolated on her side of the table; the three of them sat like this every night. Her dad was just a glance to the left.

"So, dad. Did you hear?" Carrie said the words sweetly: the most deceiving kind. It may seem now as if she's just making conversation, but Elise knew her intentions. She was trying to stir up as much drama as possible, it's what she did best. "Elise is in a band now. With holograms."

"Oh, is that right?" She chewed her salad slowly. She didn't want to fight with Carrie, not right now anyways. She was far too drained from the existential crisis that was her life at the moment.

"Well, it's not really a band. We just play together sometimes. No big deal."

The blonde narrowed her eyes. "Right."

It took everything in Elise to stop herself from making some back handed comment. It was just so easy to rile the blonde up, every little thing had the capacity to set set her off if she milked it just enough. But she had to rise above, no matter how much she didn't want to take the high road. Fights with her always went too far, she didn't want to whole school unknowingly picking sides again.

"Who else is in the band?" Her father asked.

"Julie. Molina." She swallowed. "And three other boys. From Sweden."

"Sweden? That's interesting." He mumbled his words, it was as if he were trying to give a shit, but to no avail. Upon further investigation, she made a discovery that did not shock her in the slightest: the man was high. She thought she smelt that most familiar aroma, he did a decent job at hiding it but Elise had a sixth sense it seemed. Or maybe seventh, if you counted the ghost thing.

If Carrie had caught on, she wasn't showing it. She huffed at their father's nonchalance and returned her attention back to her twin.

"You're such an ass."

"Me? I'm sorry, what did I ever do to you?" She was relatively pleased that she didn't send a direct insult firing back, even if she hadn't exactly been polite.

"Why in the world are you helping Julie? It's just competition." An evil smirk appeared at the side of her mouth. "I think you're just jealous."

Elise scoffed. "Jealous?"

"Yes. You're still not over the fact that I didn't want you in Dirty Candy, so you're helping out Julie to make me look bad." Her mouth fell open. Carrie had struck a nerve.

"You think I ever wanted to join that piss-pot of a band in the first place?" Her voice rose slowly with each word, heat engulfing her body as she fought back the urge to slap her. "Not everyone is out to get you, Carrie! You are not the center of the universe!"

Carrie was quick to put on an unphased face, but Elise hadn't missed the hurt that filled her eyes for a brief moment. She felt no guilt; someone had to give the girl a wake up call.