By the Skin (completed)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Mention of substances. 

It's finally December, the day before winter break. And it got cold in two whole seconds. Suddenly, everyone's gone from t-shirts and a varsity jacket to heavy sweaters and beanies. Snow doesn't appear here so the administrators let us wear hats for fun.

I'm in art class, on my phone. The BHAA Twitter posted some new announcements:

"Congratulations to the following for making it to the Florida Fine Arts Association state competition:

PERFORMING ARTS CATEGORY:

- Martina Basbano, Junior

VISUAL ARTS CATEGORY:

- Elliot Belafonte, Sophomore"

Martina's an operatic contralto. She totally deserved it.

Both her and Elliot have to give up their break to compete with a hundred other talented kids in a really big Florida city. With cool, not red-necked, fashionable people. I'm so jealous. But this also means that I get to spend more time with Mayo.

Since we're getting out of school early, Mayo's driving me to an art museum near the panhandle. After, we're gonna get Korean food. I'm so fucking excited. Elliot actually offered me a ride today; it was hard to lie to him, but I just said Mom was picking me up.

Speaking of Mom, she was kind of a huge skeptic about this trip. Half because of my relationship with the both of them, and half because she's an Asian mother and she stalks me with her GPS app. It took me a lot of convincing to let me go.

It's last period. Since the school day releases earlier, we have shorter class periods. I'm talking with Elliot. We're sitting at our desks.

"I'm going to miss you. I'm really proud of you, El." I start to question my statements I thought were true. 

"Me too, Evangeline. You're probably going to be sad without me while I'm gone."

I nod hesitantly at his abnormally-worded sentence. Over his shoulder, I see Mayo. Today, she's in a turtleneck with a Frosted Flakes Tony the Tiger shirt over it. Epic. I honestly don't know what to say at this point.

Briiiing!

I'm saved by the bell. This is a gift from God. Seeing Elliot off, I pretend to fiddle with my desk so he leaves before me. Once he's totally out of my peripheral vision,  I ready my backpack to leave with Mayo and run to her.

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We've been driving for five minutes. And this trip will take five hours. I'm driving five hours with Mayo and I've said nothing. 

Everything about her car is cool. It's a 2000 Toyota Origin she found in a car dump. She told me it was "retro," so I expected Herbie from the Disney Herbie movies; a cool-ass Volkswagen Beetle that can do skateboard moves and blink and shit. Her car is still cool though, and retro cars match with retro girls. Mayo's Origin isn't only cool, it's mega clean. There's no dirt in the cup holders, the windows are clear and free of leaves, and she told me she shakes the floor mats to get the dust out of them before every car ride. I've impulsively opened her glove-box, and the only things I've found are a couple tissue packets and a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Despite the fact that the car was made a really long time ago, it's seriously cleaner than the new ones I've been in.

She's blasting Hot Rod by Dayglow, bopping her head and tapping her thigh with the hand not on the steering wheel to the beat. I love this song. I want to scream the lyrics. But she would probably get scared and swerve, or think I'm super weird. 

This idea was thought of about the same time Mayo started screaming the lyrics. I joined in.

The silence in the 2000 Toyota Origin was gone. 

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I'm itchy. I got a bit of knee-pad rash from when Mayo and I went biking. I bend down to scratch the back of my leg through my jeans when the arm next to me places itself on my shoulder. Mayo takes her arm off of me and reaches behind my chair, digging into the pocket of it. Out of the pouch is her Car Bottle Of Protopic. 

"Jesus..." I chuckle to myself as she hands it to me, with her eyes dead-focused on the road. "How many bottles of ointment do you have?"

"Only two, haha." She chuckles too. "I always keep a spare in my car. First time I'm using it, actually."

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Dance, Baby! by boy pablo plays in the car. I have to think about what to say for a second.

"How can you blue-tooth in your car?" This car is about a decade old.

"Look down." She points to her little doohickey next to the gear shift. "It's an adapter. You plug it in to the cigarette lighter plug, and when you turn to a specific radio channel..." Mayo points up to her old screen, which shows the number 98.7. "... the FM waves will transmit."

"Ah." I'm gonna pretend I know what she means. Smile and nod, Evangeline. Smile and nod.

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We're in the middle of the highway, and Mayo put her car on cruise control. She takes one hand off of the steering wheel and opens her loose change box. And out of the box she takes...

...a pack of cigs?!?

Mayo opens it and takes out a cigarette, putting it in her mouth. There's no lighter to be seen; it's just... in her fucking mouth. 

"I-I didn't know you smoke." I'm stuttering because my mother doesn't let me hang out with people that smoke. 

She chuckles, looks me straight in the eye, pulls the rest of the cigarette into her mouth with her tongue, and starts eating it. Mayo's eating the fucking cigarette. My heart stops.

I think she noticed the mortified look on my face, and breaks out laughing. She crunches on the cigarette. "It's candy, Evangeline. It's okay." She laughs some more, and offers me one.

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"How is it so easy for you to show your skin?"

I can't help but ask, despite the fact that it is winter and she's obligated to wear long sleeves. 

"It took me a really long time. I was bullied for it in elementary school."

"Really?" Me too. 

"Yeah. They called me a pizza human. The names were really funny, actually. Not funny back then, haha. My so-called friends called me an alien, and told me I needed to stay home in order for me to get better. I felt alone. Sometimes, I still feel alone now."

You're not alone. Please. As long as I'm with you, I'm not alone either.

"I show my skin to show them that this alien will never get better." She smiles a bit, still dead-focused on the road. "I also wanna spread awareness about it."

"I didn't know that about you, Mayo."

"You don't know a lot about me at all."

"Really? Like what?" I laugh.

"See this?" Mayo points to and feels her hair. "It's naturally curly. I straighten it every morning."

"You what? "