little miss perfect - cady x janis (PAUSED)

chapter six - janis sarkisian

a/n: i'm going to describe an outfit at some point so when you're picturing it picture barrett weed's outfit from when she sang on jimmy fallon :)

those words stuck into janis' head.

that was the one thing your mom wanted me to make sure never happened to you.

just sixteen words, sixty one letters, one sentence, one moment. that was the one sentence janis didn't expect to hear from her dad. immediately her brain went to, 'why would you care? you cheated on her anyways!' but she decided not to. it would be a lot for her dad to deal with all at once. so instead, she didn't say anything. she just waited for her dad to speak first.

"janis, i think we should get you back into therapy." her dad said interrupting the silence. that took her by surprise because it was one thing she didn't expect to hear from him. her therapist had to relocate over a year ago so she stopped going, especially because she thought she was good without it.

"what- but kira moved away, like, last year." janis spoke softly, trying to now find a comfortable position to sit in. she moved around multiple times before deciding that she wasn't going to be comfortable in this awkward moment.

"i know, janis. which is why i think we should look again." her dad told her, putting the tv on mute. janis' mind started running all over the place. she knows how hard it was to find a therapist the first time, and so does her dad. she was still in therapy when her mom died, just after everything happened with regina in middle school. it took time for her to be okay again, and she finally was. she didn't think she needed this.

"i don't want to." she told him, petting her dog who had just jumped up onto her lap.

"i know. but i think it's for the best." her dad replied, her now looking up at at him.

neither of them responded to each other. janis didn't come up with any remarks to him, she didn't crack a joke about anything. all she did was stare down at her dog who slept on her lap.

•••

"you're going to do therapy?" regina asked janis that wednesday at school during lunch. "i thought you were done with that." she added, as she popped a celery stick in her mouth.

"yeah i was done, maybe i wouldn't have to had started to start with if it in the first place if wasn't for you." janis replied, rolling her eyes.

the two had a lot of rising tension between them recently. it was more janis than regina, but it made everything the group did together awkward. regina tried her hardest to be nice to janis, but all janis did was shut her down or reply with some sarcastic joke, or a snarky remark. she had even gone to the length of calling her plastic in front of all her friends, something she promised cady and damian that she wouldn't do.

"how many times do you want me to say sorry?!" regina exclaimed, turning to face janis now, slamming her hand down which held a carrot now.

"till your tongue falls off." janis replied, making eye contact with regina while unscrewing the cap on her water bottle, then taking a long sip of it without breaking eye contact.

"hey guys! what's up?" cady smiled, her happy energy radiating throughout the cafeteria. this immediately made janis and regina stop whatever they were doing because janis broke eye contact immediately and grabbed a pencil from her bag and began drawing.