Game of Bets

The Tattoo Parlour

Bella and Marie were standing in front of a dark shop.

    "A-a TATTOO PARLOR?! No. Nope, no. No, no, no." Bella glared at her sister. "Marie! You know how I feel about tattoos!"

    "Calm down, you aren't getting a tattoo." Duh. "You're just gonna get your ears pierced."

    "Oh, no. Nuh-uh. That's even worse than getting a tattoo!" Bella exclaimed, arms flailing wildly.

    "Really?"

    "Really! You're like, putting holes in your body! On purpose! Who in their right mind would do that? No offense."

    "None taken, and you won't be able to go through with operation ROMP with out getting your ears pierced. Earrings totally make up a lady." Marie said, pulling her into the parlor. "Oh, and operation ROMP is Revenge On Mark Peterson. I couldn't fit Mr. Jandle into there."

    "Fine, but if I regret this for the rest of my life, it's on you. Also, I like operation ROMP, but Jandle was the real criminal." Bella sneered at the thought of the blond-haired cretin.

    "Hey, Kristie!" Marie called out to a lady who was wiping her hands on a towel. She was very pale and had black eyeshadow smeared everywhere around her eyes, looking like a very morphed version of a raccoon. Her lips were painted a dark maroon color. Half of her hair was pink, and the other half was jet black. She wore a black shirt that said "I only wear black because they haven't invented a darker color yet." In gray block letters. Knee-High black boots with buckles, zippers, and laces were slipped onto pale legs covered by ripped black leggings. Kristie had piercings everywhere. Her lips, her ears, her nose, and next to her eyebrows. She also had tattoos that covered the length of her entire right arm and went up her neck. It was the first goth Bella had ever seen. She took a mental picture of Kristie.

    "So, you must be Bella." Kristie said, holding out her hand. "Nice to meet you."
Bella took it firmly.

    "So just a simple ear-piercing?"

    "Yes." Marie answered before Bella could open her mouth. Kristie led Bella to a chair. In fact, that chair looked quite comfortable. How cruel. They wanted their victims to be comfortable before they put holes in their bodies. She sat down, and Kristie gave her an ice pack.

    "It's to numb the pain. Just hold it to your ear for a minute." Bella did as she was told, until she couldn't feel her earlobe. She watched as Kristie put together a weird device. The shirt she was wearing had cut holes in the back, and Bella could just make out two silver wings tattooed to her shoulder blades. As much as she hated tattoos, Bella had to admit they were beautiful.

    "Okay, just hold still." Kristie smiled reassuringly. "It'll be done in just a second." She held the gun to her ear. Bella braced herself for the pain.

    "See? That wasn't so bad!" Marie smiled. Was it done already? Wow!

Five minutes later...

    Bella checked herself in the mirror. She now had a tiny little pearl stuck in the middle of her earlobe. She had to admit, she looked pretty good.

.oOo.

Bella was exhausted. She and her sister had spent the entire day at the mall, buying earrings, jewelry, sunglasses and stuff. She had even bought a new phone, and decided to treat herself to a sleek, new laptop. Marie also insisted on re-decorating her room in case she had any friends over. She got new curtains, sheets, and a new comforter. She traded her old dresser for a new one, and her old bookshelf for a new one. Bella always used to do her work at the dinner table, but now she had a brand new desk with drawers and a new chair. She had to admit, it was fun shopping for all this stuff and then seeing the result. Her thoughts were interrupted by her door swinging open. Her mom, Carla, barged in looking delighted.

    "I've got some exciting news!"
    "What?"

Her mom looked shocked for a second. Then, her shocked face broke into a wide grin.

    "Are you a friend of Bella's? I didn't even know she had any friends! And such pretty ones!"

    "What kind of mother are you?"

    "Excuse me?" Carla now looked slightly confused, but her smile was still there, looking a bit forced.

    "It's me. Bella. Your daughter."

    "Haha! You're a joker aren't you?" Carla's smile returned to being genuine, even wider than before.

    "You seriously can't recognize your own daughter?!" Bella exclaimed. Carla peered down curiously at her.

    "Bella?"

    "Yeah!" Duh.

    "Wow! You look... so pretty!"

    "Thanks." Bella rolled her eyes. Marie had been telling her that ever since she came home. It was getting a bit annoying.

    "W-wait a second!" Carla looked around. "You redecorated!"

    "Yeah. But what about the exciting news?"

    "Oh! It's simply wonderful! We didn't tell you this before because your father and I wanted it to be a surprise!"

    "Well, what is it?"

    "So," Carla grinned excitedly. "You're going to get your braces off tomorrow!"
Bella jumped up from her bed.

    "Really? Yes!" Finally. Bella's braces had been bothering her ever since she got them on. They were ugly, they hurt, and they hurt again. She had gotten multiple cold sores, and almost got to the point where she almost had to take aspirin after they tightened it. But aspirin was out of the question.

    "Bella, did you get your ears pierced?!"

    "Yeah. Do you like them?" Bella asked, fingering one of her earlobes.

    "Don't touch!" Her mom cried, and Bella yanked her hand away quickly. "It can get infected and stuff. But they're beautiful."

    "I know." Bella smiled.

    "Oh, honey. We've gotta work on that smile. It just isn't working." Carla said sympathetically.

A/N: Sorry weird place to end again. This chapter didn't really need to be here so that's why I put two chapters the same day. Sorry it was boring. Next chapter is another filler. SORRY!! I can't get to the action until I get all these fillers in, so just sit tight. Also, I'm sorry about the weird quotation marks. For some sentences the quotation marks are fancy, and for others they are like just plain Jane Like: "
Idk why. But you know the drill, vote, comment, share and love!!!

Lots of Luve,
Rosetta 😜