She turned on her heel and stormed off, her multitude of flowing skirts snapping behind her. We both stared after her in stunned silence.
“Huh, momma's got backbone.”
“Oh shut up and let’s get to work. The faster we get this over with, the faster I can get away from you.” She stormed off toward the back room, leaving me behind to follow.
I was scrubbing down the counters while Rosemary was straightening up the tables and chairs that were thrown about.
“How, exactly, did all of this happen?” She asked without looking at me.
“I don't know.”
She stopped and sat down in one of the chairs, looking at me with a puzzled frown. “How do you not know? I mean, shit. This,” she gestured around the destruction of the store, “is flipping insane.”
I stopped and sighed, turning to lean against the counter. I folded my arms protectively against myself, refusing to meet Rose's gaze. “Okay, so when two people hate each other very much, they get a strong urge to beat the shit out of one another.”
She ran her hands threw her short hair while groaning in frustration. “Look, I'm being serious here! I've never seen anything like this happen, and quite frankly, I'm freaked out.”
I looked down at the floor and started to twist my hair around my hands. “I know. I'm just as freaked out as you, even if I've had more time to deal with this.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Things— look, this is going to sound insane, but I really don't know how to explain it. Things just seem to happen around me. My mother calls them my little 'incidents'. I don't know how, or why they happen. They just do. Okay?” I glared at Rose and went back to cleaning.
We headed to the office after finishing. I rapped lightly against the frame and we waited for Mary Beth to answer. We jumped back as she threw open the door, her glare stunning in its coldness. I had never felt so belittled before by a single look. All the snarky comments died on my tongue as I froze under that icy glare.
“Is all the cleaning done?”
“Yes ma'am.” We replied in unison.
“Good. Now, that's not the end of your punishment. Until the two of you can get along, you will both be on the same shifts. That will be rather easy to do with school starting in a couple of weeks. You will take breaks together, work on the same projects together, and from the time you enter until the time you leave you will remain glued to each other’s sides. Do you understand me?”
“Mom, this is ridiculous!”
“Seriously ma'am, this isn't going to work! We can't stand to be near each other!”
She held up her hand for silence and waited until we were done talking over each other. “It will work. I won't have any more fighting from you two. Until you guys can learn to get along, that's the way it's going to be. Now Starlette, you can go ahead and clock out and head home. Here's your schedule for the next two weeks. Rosemary, head upstairs. I may be your boss while you're on the clock, but I'm your mother when we get home, do you understand?”
“Jesus mom! This is like double jeopardy! You shouldn't be able to punish me twice! And what about Star? She just gets off so easily?” She was practically yelling at her mother. She started muttering to herself about the injustice of it all as she stormed off a small distance and began pacing.
“Oh no, dear. I've already called Stars mother and informed her of the incident. I'm sure she'll hear all about it when she gets home.”
The grin that was tempted to break across my face died instantly. “Oh come on! You didn't have to call her!”
“Yes, I did. It's done, so you better get used to it. Your mother is waiting for your return.”
“Great. Just fuc—”
“Language Star!”
“Flipping great!”
“Yeah, not so happy now, are you?”
“Shut up Rose!” I stormed out and tried slamming the door behind me, but it was useless. Swinging doors don't make good objects to take your frustrations out on. I jumped out of the way, nearly being knocked over by the door attacking me.
On the drive home I went over and dismissed everything I could say to my parents to make them understand. I knew that regardless of what I said they'd still flip out on me. So I began to think of all the things I could do to Rosemary in retaliation for getting me into this mess. True, it wasn't entirely her fault, but if she wasn't such a bitch to begin with then I wouldn't have lashed out. Well, at least I hoped I wouldn't have. With how hectic my emotions were lately, there was a high possibility that I would have eventually. With happy thoughts of nefarious deeds floating through my mind, I pulled into the driveway and sat in my car. Tempted to just turn around and drive off.
It wouldn't do any good. If I drove off they'd end up tracking me down. I sighed and slowly started to walk to the front door. Before I even made it halfway up the sidewalk, the door swung open. Mom stood there, highlighted by the entryway light, glorious in her fury. I quickly averted my gaze and attempted to pass her. No such luck.
“Living room. Now.” She stated, then turned on her heel to storm away from me.
I realized that there would be no need to talk my way out of anything because I was screwed. Royally and totally screwed. I headed straight to the couch and slumped down, waiting for the onslaught to begin. I looked up into the glaring eyes of my mother and the resigned eyes of my father as the only thing that greeted me was silence.
“Well?” I asked, thinking they needed some prompting to get the yelling started and out of the way.
Mom raised her eyebrow at me. What was with all the raised brows lately? “Well what?”
“Um, aren't you guys going to yell at me?” I was confused. Usually by now I'd be able to zone out through all of the yelling.
“And why would we do that?” Dad asked with a raise of his brow too. Both of mine shot up in surprise. I think I've entered the twilight zone.
I cleared my throat and pushed my hair behind my ears. “Because I fought at work.”
“And what would we have to say about that?”
Frustrated, I switched my gaze between them. “How about how childish it was? Or how I need to learn to control my anger better? Oh, I know! 'You're in so much trouble Starlette! How could you do that! Do you have no restraint or self-control?'“ I said in an almost perfect replica of my mother’s voice.
“See, honey? I told you it would be faster this way.” Mom told Dad while still holding her death glare on me.
“Okay, seriously. What’s going on?”
“You see, we're rather tired of you acting up and us having to yell at you. I figured we could just remain silent and let you do that yourself.” Her back was ramrod straight and her tone cold. I shrank back from her, quickly crossing my emotional limit. “Now that that's out of the way, let’s move on to the punishment. On top of Mary Beth's at work discipline, you will also be grounded here. Now, I know that you haven't had the chance to go out and make any friends, and at the rate you're going I doubt you will. However, there is something we can use as punishment for you. Since you just love acting up, your therapy sessions have been increased from one day a week to three.”
My eyes bulged and I thought my jaw would hit the floor. “That's not fair! Come on, Mom! And what about my work schedule? Mary Beth already made it so it’s not like I can just change the hours on her now! And I'm sure James has a full schedule as it is with all the local crazies!”
“There's no use arguing. I've already called Dr. Morrison and notified him of what happened. He has agreed to the three days. Once we set a re-occurring time with him, I called Mary Beth back and informed her so your schedule works around it.”