"Darling, I'm a nightmare dressed as a daydream."
Underneath the golden heart and perky smile, Carly strived for chaos. Carly had a deep, dark secret of a hidden power, connected to the minds and emotions of others - a secret that Carly's step-brot...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
✺
SUMMER HAD TRULY KICKED OFF, where Carly was making the most of it. For some reason, Hawkins had crept up on her in a surprising delight. Maybe it was being back with her mom and Max again or perhaps even the charm of someplace new (or maybe it was a nice escape from the shame of her hometown).
Reminded of her hometown of Riverside, Carly found her lips tugging downwards. The Walkman headset was on her ears with Madonna a welcome distraction to drain out the negative thoughts. Carly's eyes had fallen to the sketchbook in her hands, finding another sketch of Billy had come to life through her fingers.
There was something colder about this Billy, but Carly could not place it. His eyes were hollow, skin glistening as if he was sweating in his white tank top. Deep down, Carly knew there was something more, but she could not place it.
And a part of her wondered if the something was Justin, who had freaked out and dumped Carly with all traces of love evaporating overnight. Carly's heart still ached, though time had started to stitch what damage Justin had caused back together again. Though, Carly had vowed that her dark secrets would remain just her little secret.
Then, hands were on Carly's shoulders as she let out a frightened gasp. The sketchbook quickly closed, head turning, hands pulling the headphones away from her ears as she found Ronnie Munson laughing at her.
"Ronnie, that was not funny," Carly protested.
"Sorry, Blondie, but it was," Ronnie told her, sitting down on the bench next to the perky girl in the sailor uniform. "Payback for your cheery greetings every morning."
Carly had made a habit of seeing Ronnie before her shift at the Starcourt Cinemas. There had always been a smile from the blonde, insisting that the two did something out of hours together.
"How is that payback?" Carly questioned.
"For the douchebags that always come out to see you at work," Ronnie rolled her eyes. "Seriously, you are a magnet for them around here."
"Maybe they're just being nice—"
"Right," Ronnie scoffed before she was tugging at Carly's headphones, putting them on her ears to hear what she was listening to. With the sketchbook, it was always forgotten; Carly never read Ronnie's journal nor did Ronnie ever look at her artwork. "Madonna again, really?"
"I love Madonna," Carly insisted.
"You are too sweet for Iron Maiden I suppose," Ronnie said, handing the headphones back. "Though, I would love to see your reaction, Blondie. If you wanna hang out, maybe we could go see my brother's band together."
Carly smiled brightly at that. "That sounds like fun."
"I'll think about it, I suppose," said Ronnie. "After all, we're not friends."
