𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫, skins

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

｡･:*:･★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

I STOOD IN THE KITCHEN WITH MY MUM AS SHE FLICKED THROUGH A MAGAZINE, COMPLAINING ABOUT ALL THE MEN WHO WERE BASTARDS. "Jamie Oliver - bastard. Stephen Fry - bastard. Nelson Mandela - bastard. bastard, bastard, bastard. Big, fat, ugly Irish bastard!" She yelled out, flicking through the magazine, calling all the men she saw a bastard. "What are you doing?" Effy said as she came down the stairs after her long shower, stopping in the doorway when she heard mum yelling. "Oh, I'm just looking at pictures of men, saying which ones are bastards." I rolled my eyes as I sipped my tea, knowing she was just bitter that Dad called her all the names under the sun when she got caught. "Anyway sweethearts, what's the news? Anything to tell your mother?" "Nope," I said, shaking my head, but Effy wasn't up for keeping things so simple. "Rory is fucking Freddie. And we all know about me and Cook, but he's gone now." Mum hummed along as if she was listening, yet it was clear she wasn't. "We broke up." Effy's words surprised me, yet our mum didn't seem to care, humming along again, yet her head was stuck in her magazine. "It's just going to make it really hard raising our baby." It was clear Effy was lying, but Anthea didn't even give a shit. "Yeah. Bastard." Anthea spoke once more, and Effy lost it, storming out of the room, with me following behind her.

"Ef, come on. You know what mum is like." She continued up the stairs, not even bothering to stop, seemingly not listening to me, until she spoke up. "What, absent?" I rolled my eyes, not sure why Effy was surprised; our mum had been absent for a long time. It had started after Tony's accident, mum began popping pills, drinking, and sleeping all day long. Dad leaving her just made it worse, although she did bring that on herself. "Ef, what's really wrong?" I asked, continuing to follow her as she made her way to her bedroom. "Nothing. Just mum." She stood in the doorway of her bedroom, holding the door closed behind her as if to keep me out. "Ef? Come on, you can talk to me? Is it because you and Cook broke up?" My words seemed to strike a nerve, and she retreated into the bedroom, slamming the door in my face. "Guess so," I mumbled, heading to my room to get some stuff for tonight's little gathering in the woods.

For the next hour, I rummaged around my room, gathering some pills and little baggies of weed, tidying up a bit in an attempt to please my mother. In the midst of all that, my phone rang, and for a solid thirty minutes I was on the phone with Emily, my new bestie. After the confession she made, I was in pure shock; she'd slept with JJ last night.

"Don't you love Naomi?" I asked, and she giggled through the phone. "Of course I bloody do! But last night, Katie was being weirdly nice, you know, because I'm gay. And I didn't want to go home, so I went home with JJ. He's wanted to lose his virginity for the longest time, so it just happened... And it wasn't half bad, you know, considering I'm a lesbian. He was very excited about it all, which was cute, oh and his mum was so lovely." She rambled on, telling me all the details of her night and her morning, some of which were too much for my ears. "All right, all right, enough. No more of this for my ears. Will I be seeing you tonight?" I ask, hoping for a yes, knowing that I'd need the company; someone sane. There was always some madness just waiting to happen when the group got together. "Of course. Katie made it clear I have to be there. She's trying to be my best friend again or something, trying to make up for all the gay jokes and homophobic sisterly love she has always given me." I giggled at how weird Katie was acting, prompting her sister to ask a question I had hoped to avoid.

"How are you feeling about... well, all of the stuff with Katie, and Freddie, you know, from when we walked in on them?" "Well, I went home with Freddie last night. I was shit-faced. I vaguely remember saying how much I liked him or something and asking him why he didn't care about me. Embarrassing, right?" I could hear her attempt to stifle a giggle over the phone, but I carried on. "I woke up next to him, we ended up talking and kissing a bit, he said some quite sweet things and then he asked me to be his girlfriend." Emily gasped loudly through the speaker an excited squeal following shortly after. "I can not believe that you and Freddie will finally be official! It's so-" "I never said yes, I thought I'd keep him on his toes, make him wait a bit. Tonight I'll say yes. But I'm worried - about upsetting Ef. I know she has a thing for him, and I didn't realize how bad it was until this morning. She saw us together. Leaving my room." Emily almost sounded lost for words but mumbled something about Katie and Freddie, yet it was too quiet to make out. "Huh?" I asked, but she didn't repeat herself and instead rushed off the phone, saying something about needing to get ready, and how I should be getting ready too.

I finally got dressed and decided to change into an argyle sweater with a short skirt and my leather jacket, not exactly appropriate for a party in the woods. I rummaged through my drawer to find some thick tights, hoping they would bring me some warmth and protection from any stinging nettles. I considered changing into trousers, thinking maybe it would be better, but when Effy knocked on my bedroom door yelling through the wood telling me it was time to go, I decided to just go with it.

Effy had changed from when I'd seen her only hours ago and went from looking pale and natural to being covered in black eyeshadow, wearing an almost all-black outfit. She wore a black leather jacket that matched mine, which I'm sure we'd bought together, and we also matched our shoes, both opting for some clunky black lace-up boots. Effy was wearing a black patterned top paired with a weird lacy skirt, and some thick tights underneath, which made me feel a bit better about my outfit. "Jinx," I said, and she offered me a small smile as we headed down the stairs, grabbing my little bag and hanging it off my shoulder. Effy was driving so she grabbed the keys from off the kitchen counter, both of us not even bothering to say bye to our dearest mother, who had pretty much collapsed on the sofa. "Come on, we have to pick up the others. They're waiting at the Tesco round the corner. Come on!" Effy said as she rushed out to the car, leaving me to lock the front door behind us, climbing in beside her. She glanced at her reflection in the rearview mirror, adjusting it as she played around with her hair, before throwing me a smug smile. "Tonight we're gonna get messy, I promise." She said, tapping her small bag as she started the engine, driving off quickly to meet the group, as our phone rang off repeatedly.