fates_jaye | Niagara Falls, Saturday (Reply)

Jaye takes a break from Gretchen's babble from the dressing room and Mahandra's ignoring of pretty much everything to pretend to make a phone call, then comes back to where Mahandra's sitting almost underneath a rack of clothing. Gretchen is still happily talking behind her door. "And then Staci told him about everything that had been going on, and he was all 'whatever' about it, which was so not the appropriate reaction to that sort of thing..."

Jaye takes a seat beside Mahandra on the floor, brushing a denim jacket's sleeve off her own shoulder. "Still not talking to me?"

"Yes," Mahandra says.

"You just did..."

"Gretchen Speck?" Mahandra hisses. "You realize we are hanging out with Gretchen Speck who thinks my name is Janet."

"...and that just proved that he's not the sort of human being anyone should want to associate with..."

"It just... seemed like the right thing to do," Jaye flails. She really wishes Mahandra would buy into the 'animals talk to me' thing, because then she could just be honest.

"Having fun yet?" Mahandra asks.

"What, two hours of babbling about people I didn't care about when I lived here isn't fun?" Jaye asks. "Maybe this is some cosmic plan to get us both makeovers."

Mahandra stares at her. "If she heard that, I'm never talking to you again."

"Here's something I don't get," Jaye says, tucking her legs under her. "Gretchen doesn't like me."

"See, looks to me like she's trying to edge out me and that Buffy girl for BFF status."

"...but of course that's not how it looks, and all of a sudden I have to deal with all this jealousy, which let's be honest, I'm used to, but..."

Jaye frowns at the dressing room door.

"She tolerates you," Mahandra says. "It's me she doesn't like."

"Still, it's weird."

"So's she."

"...and they can't seem to figure out that they're being completely pointless." The dressing room door swings open, and Gretchen stands there holding an armful of clothes. "What do you think?"

Clearly, both girls were paying rapt attention, and they prove this by nodding emphatically. They're still on the floor.

"Terrific! I'm going to go check out."

Jaye and Mahandra meet Gretchen and her shopping bags at the entrance of the store, and Mahandra has developed a folded-arms glaring sort of stance and Jaye's not sure who it's directed at. "So we've been here for a few hours," Jaye says. "We could probably start skedaddling, right?"

Gretchen's eyes widen. "I still need shoes, silly! This way!"

They get about halfway to the shoe store when Gretchen stops, causing both Jaye and Mahandra to bump into her. Gretchen puts her hands on her hips and greets a group of three girls with, "Staci. Jenni. Kerri."

Jaye doesn't know any of these girls outside of having to gone to school with them since childhood. Mentally, she spells all their names with an I.

"Gretchen," says one of the I-names. "Here with your new... friends?"

Mahandra is shaking her head emphatically. Jaye joins her.

"Oh, no," says Gretchen. "They just followed me here, I'm just being nice."

Now Jaye and Mahandra are both staring at her.

"Hm," says the lead girl again, and brushes past Gretchen with the other two following.

Gretchen waits till they're gone, then gives a frustrated sigh before turning to Jaye and Mahandra. "Thanks for covering for me, guys. They're just so. frustrating!"

"Um, I didn't cover," Mahandra says.

"Yeah, you did kind of just turn on us there," Jaye agrees.

"I had to," Gretchen says, looking shocked. "I have to at least try to maintain my reputation amidst all the trauma and I knew you would understand!"

Jaye isn't sure exactly what's going on, but she feels bad and she hates that she does. "Is this what you were going on about in the dressing room?"

"Yes!" Gretchen says, flailing her arms and shopping bags a little. "You have no idea how hard it's been to be me this last month. And with school starting.... It's senior year and I have no idea what to do."

"Could always go back to planning prom," Mahandra grumbles.

Gretchen looks at her. "Oh, that's already done. I just wish I could like, punch them in the face or something."

"And ruin your manicure?"

"Or any chance I ever have of being friends with them again. Duh!"

Jaye looks over her shoulder at the girls' retreating backs as they turn the corner. "Why don't you just explain to them whatever's going on that I was totally listening to?"

"You obviously don't go to this school anymore."

There's nothing telling her to do anything, but at the same time, Jaye's pretty sure she doesn't have to be told on this one. Which is a little weird for her. "You're right," she says. "I don't."

*****

Four hours later, when Sharon is driving both Jaye and Mahandra home from that little area in the mall where the security people keep shoplifters until their parents or police come to get them, Jaye's examining her knuckles for bruises.

Meanwhile, Sharon's ending a pretty impressive rant. "Where did you get it in your head that you should randomly punch people? Seriously, what synapse fired in your brain to say 'hey, this sounds like a great idea, and it's not like I've been in a jail cell in a while...'"

"It was not a jail cell, it was a dinky little detention area," Jaye clarifies. "There weren't even bars. I didn't even have to sit in one of the rooms with the two-way glass."

"I still had to talk that girl out of not pressing charges!"

"She wouldn't have done it anyway, it would only make people look to see if her nose was broken," says Mahandra from the backseat.

"Not the point!" Sharon says. "What was the point of that?"

"I dunno," says Jaye. "Catharsis?"

"She has had a rough week," Mahandra says.

"If I'd done it at school, they might have expelled me," Jaye adds. She does not mention that pretty much everyone at school could kick her ass into a different shape.

"You're insane."

"I broke skin," Jaye pouts at her knuckle.

Sharon stares at her. "You're grounded!"

"You can't ground me! We don't even live in the same house! You lack authority!"

"You got nearly arrested!"

Jaye looks at her and says, "And you'll notice that has never happened in Fandom."

[NFB due to distance, like radio totally isn't already up. Also, this was up earlier. Really.]