Seniors

Chapter six

Chapter six

Tap. Tap. Tap. Phoenix couldn't sit still. It had been nearly two hours and the large well-built men standing at attention outside of their holding cell wouldn't answer any of their questions. Or, Phoenix' questions. They stood stone-still, like statues, and had endured her endless ranting about people's rights and gas stations and how hungry she was. They didn't say a word even when Phoenix decided she could fit through the bars of their confined area and gotten herself stuck, but instead shared a look through Mr. I'm-so-cool-I-wear-sunglasses-inside's dark shades, then Mr. Baldy(for these were the names Phoenix had given them) tried prying her from the grotesque metal rods while Phoenix ranted some more.

Thud...thud. Emma banged the back of her head repeatedly into the wall their precious bench was leaning against, knowing she should've never gotten herself into this mess. She had certainly never received detention, much less broken the law, and here she was. Why wasn't she surprised that this had been Phoenix' doing?

Smack, smack...pop! Sarah had been chewing the same piece of bubble gum for just about the same amount of time they had been in there. When she and Emma had been detained with their hands pinned against their back, her fingers had found their way into her back pocket and discovered a stick of gum that had long since lost it's flavor in her mouth, but nevertheless, Sarah blew a bubble the size of a baseball, watching the sticky pink substance pop and then splatter across her lips.

Jackie gnawed on her sparkly pink nails, the grinding of her teeth audible as her eyes roamed around the room, taking in each and every detail of what was inside and outside their little abode. Sarah slapped at Jackie's hand, and she groaned, opening her mouth to protest, but hesitated as her eyes landed on Emma, who was still banging her head against the wall. Her lips were pursed, like she was restraining from saying something, and Jackie braced herself, feeling an argument coming on.

"I can't believe you," Emma said aloud, her eyes staring accusingly at Phoenix.

"Me?" Phoenix turned to Emma, pointing a finger at herself.

"Yes you," Emma scoffed. "You're the one who got us into this mess. Now we're going to be in here all night, and this'll go on our record, and you're never going to meet your dad."

Phoenix' mouth fell wide open, along with Sarah and Jackie's. "I can't believe you just said that," Phoenix said, shaking her head and turning away, trying to think back to her anger management exercises, but she couldn't. Her mind went blank, and the only thing left wasn't anger, but fear. What if she's right?

She looked toward the door, expecting it to open at any moment, and there he would be; the man she hoped would be nothing like her mother, the man she hoped would immediately welcome her into his arms, the man she hoped would take her out for coffee afterwards so that they would talk and get to know each other and that they would be a perfect family. Maybe she'd even live with him instead of being stuck with her mom. Maybe he wasn't a dead-beat drunk. Maybe there was hope for her yet. Or maybe she had just ruined the whole thing.

Phoenix sighed before putting her head in her hands, and Emma's chest sank as she realized what she had just said. "Phoenix, I-I'm sorry, I didn't--"

"No," Phoenix said, sitting up. "You're right. I just...I just need to..."

Her chest began to rise and fall, her breathing becoming heavy and labored. Her hands were shaking, and if Jackie didn't know Phoenix, she would've guessed that she was going through a withdrawal, but she said nothing, as she was the only one out of the four of them who would know what that would look like. Instead, she put a strand of her curly purple hair that had fallen from her bun during her little scuffle into her mouth, biting down on it to keep herself from thinking about it too much, making sure not to blink, or else the memories would come rushing back, and she couldn't let that happen.