Small Towns Don't Forgive - Violentine Slasher high school AU

Chapter Two: Game Night

"I thought you hated baseball?" Brody said, sounding perplexed.

"I do-" Violet replied, shoving her books into her locker, "-but someone asked me to come and watch, so I thought I'd give it a try."

"Someone, huh?" Brody smirked, "does this someone have a name?"

Violet frowned at her friend, slapping her lightly on the shoulder with the back of her hand.

"I know what you're thinking, so stop thinking it."

"I'm not thinking anything. All I'm saying is, someone convinced you to watch a sports game, thats a huge deal in my book." Brody grinned smugly.

Violet scoffed.

"You watch too many of those true crime shows. Not everything's a conspiracy, detective."

"Fine then, keep your secrets." Brody rolled her eyes.

"You wanna come to the game with me though?" Vi asked genuinely.

"Sure, maybe I'll get to meet this mystery person." She teased.

"Oh my god, leave it alone." Violet groaned.

***

Violet pulled open the flimsy screen door to her house. It was filled with so many holes that it was rendered completely useless for keeping bugs out. She was careful not to let it creak and announce her arrival.
The sound of the TV in the living room was blaring, so she knew that her father was home.
Violet tried to sneak by without alerting him, but a creaky floorboard gave her away.
The ratty old armchair squeaked as her father leaned around to scowl at her. Not that anyone would notice if he miraculously did smile. The deep set lines on his face practically locked him into the same expression. His bushy beard was dotted with grey hairs and held the crumbs of food he hadn't yet bothered to clean out.

"What are you doing here, ain't you got school?" He grumbled.

"It's four o'clock, school's finished." Violet rolled her eyes.

"Right-" her father said, "-make yourself useful then. There's dishes in the sink, need washin'."

He turned back to the TV, sloshing around a half empty beer bottle before taking a gulp.
Vi glanced into the kitchen and saw the stack of dirty dishes.

"Those are from last night, why didn't you wash them? You were home all day." Violet retorted.

"Because it ain't my job, that sorta' thing's for women to do."

Violet inhaled sharply. How this man had managed to avoid repelling her mom away long enough to have a kid was beyond her.
She stared daggers into the back of his head.

"What is your job exactly?" She said pointedly.

Her father whirled back around, the sudden movement made Violet flinch.
Despite the fervour of  his turn, he didn't bother to get out of his chair. 

"Don't you speak to me like that, god damn it!" He snapped, "get in there and do as you're told."

As much as she wished she could, Violet concluded that it was in her best interest to not argue the point any further. Her dad wasn't a reasonable person, even less so when he drank.
She hastily scrubbed the dishes and put them on a rack to dry before escaping to her bedroom and shutting the door.
Violet's bedroom was plain to say the least. It was tiny, she barely had enough room to move past the bed. Then again, their entire house was tiny.
The outdated 70's wallpaper was faded and peeling at the point where the wall met the ceiling.
She had tried to make the best of it, covering the ugly patterns with posters and art, but it didn't do much to quell the dingy look of the place.
Vi jumped backwards, landing on her bed and bouncing a little with the impact. She splayed her arms and legs out and breathed a long sigh.
After resting for a few moments, she sat up and opened the drawer to her nightstand, retrieving her MP3 player and popping in her headphones.
Her thumb traced the circumference of the control dial, scrolling down the list until she found a song she was in the mood for and then clicked play.
The deep thrum of the bass line kicked in and Violet closed her eyes, letting herself be enveloped by the music: