Making Up and Making Out

~Fourth Period Bell~

“Well, hey there, good-looking, just the girl I was hoping to see!”

Sunflower sighed into her locker as the male’s voice came at her through the opened door. Not this again, she inwardly groaned. Stuffing her Physics 2 book into the locker, she put on as real a fake smile as she could manage, and closed the door. Leaning against the locker next to hers was a lean, athletic boy, his red-streaked hair slicked back. In addition to a silly flaming basketball charm and letter jacket, he was wearing what he probably thought passed for a smooth expression.

“Hot Rod, hiiiiiii…” she started, with falsetto sweetness as she tucked some blonde hair behind her ear. “Look, I was just about to get to class, you know how Ms. Bonbon is about late—"

The boy cut her off with a lift of his hand “Hey! It’s cool, I just wanted to ask you something real fast and I’ll let you go, kay?”

He’ll ‘let’ me go? Sunflower felt her temper rise, knuckles tightening. She gulped it down after a short moment, however… one must be nice for the boys, dear, an unwelcome voice from memory reminded her. She took a breath. “Yeah, what’s that?”

“We should hook up. What time do you want me to swing by?” Hot Rod gave her his most dashing smile. Or rather, he gave her breasts his most dashing smile, since his eyes hadn’t traveled north of her shoulders since the word ‘hi.’

What. “I’m sorry, what?” Sunflower blinked, truly wondering if she’s heard the blunt statement clearly.

“You and me, Sunny. C’mon, it’ll be fun, I’ll pick you up, and you can drive my hot rod as long as you like.” Judging from the leer, she figured he wasn’t talking about his car.

“I don’t really… do 'hooking up,' Hot Rod,” she said through a clenched smile. A nice girl always smiles for the boys, the voice in the back of her head spoke again.

Hot Rod smirked, and ran a hand through his hair. “Huh. Yeah, that’s not what I heard…”

Sunflower felt herself pale, fist balling at her hip. “What?” the smile felt more like a snarl, and she didn’t try to make it any different.

Still smirking, Hot Rod moved closer, bracing his arm against Sunflower’s locker, hemming her in. “So how about it, Sunny? A guy like me, a hot piece of ass like you…”

SLAM! Before Sunflower’s brain could think of a reply to that, she jumped from another hand slapping into the locker behind Hot Rod’s head. “Hey Sunflower!” Babs called over the boy’s shoulder. “Is Limpdick here bugging you?”

“Oh, no, he’s just—“ Sunflower stammered

“Fuck off, trailer trash,” Hot Rod growled without turning. “Sunflower’s busy.”

Babs sniffed, glancing at Sunflower’s wide green eyes and pale face, then returning to the back of Hot Rod’s head. “No need to be rude, Shitclod, manners are essential." she poked at the boy's head. "Holy fuck. Did you mousse with cum, what is that gunk?”

Scowling, Hot Rod Turned to face Babs. “Listen, you dumb dyke bitch, I said—“ Whatever he was going to say was stopped cold as Babs’ forehead smashed into his, knocking him backwards into the hallway. He was back on his feet and swinging in a short moment, as shouts and hoots of encouragement filled the hallway.

Sunflower felt a little numb as she pushed through the ring of students into the melee, grabbing at Babs' arm, to try to pull her away. “Babs! Stop! He’s not worth it!”

~3:40 PM~

“That was so worth it,” Babs snickered as she seated herself next to Sunflower in the bare classroom that served as a detention hall. A red welt was rising on her cheek where Hot Rod had landed a good hit, and her forehead had a large lump on it from the headbutt, but she was in high spirits.

Sunflower sighed at her friend, tugging her stretched sweater as well as she could over one shoulder. “He was just some dumb boy, Babs, I had it. Look, he’s not even in here, and we are!”

“If he was I’d kick his ass again,” Babs asserted with a sneer.

“Girls! Please be quiet!” came the sharp voice of Mrs. Harshwhinny, seated at the head of the classroom. Everyone winced and hushed up, even Babs. Casting a final smirk to Sunflower, she cracked her book to begin the detention assignment, and Sunflower did the same.

Twenty minutes was an awfully long time to keep quiet, though. Peering towards the front, Babs saw that Mrs. Harshwhinny was engrossed in her reading of 25 Hues of Pink. Content the teacher was well-distracted, she leaned towards Sunflower, whispering harshly. “Hey. Applejack invited me over for the as afternoon. Was wondering if you wanted to come too.”

Glancing over, Sunflower’s lips tightened. “She’s your cousin? The one who get in our face at the soccer game?”

“That’s the one. She’s… she ain’t that bad, you know.” A snicker “She’s related to me, after all, so there has to be some amount of awesome in there…”

Sunflower sighed softly. “I would, but I have to pick Pogo up after this,” she whispered back. “The vet closes at five.” Babs nodded at this explanation.

“Another half-hour in the gaol, girls?” Harshwhinny droned “I asked you to be quiet.” She stood up, marking new times next to Sunny and Babs’ names on the blackboard, adding another half-hour to each as the other seven in the room snickered.

“The fuck’s a ‘gaol’?” Babs asked, before her eyes widened and she clapped a hand over her mouth. No use. Harshwhinny glowered at the girl, and added another half hour. Well, in for a penny, in for a bit. “Fascist,” she muttered, just loud enough for the teacher to hear.

Sunflower palmed her face as another half hour was added to her friend’s rap sheet, then gasped when the math came together. “Ohmigosh! Mrs. Harshwhinny, I have to make a call, can I-“

“No.” The flat finality of the reply dampened even Sunflower’s panic.

“But-“ she started again, biting her lip.

“No.” This time, Harshwhinny threatened to add more time to her clock,as well, chalk hovering over the board like a snake ready to strike. Sunflower groaned and dropped her face into the crease of her history book.

~4:40 PM~

Sunflower leaned back against the door of her car in the parking lot, breathing heavily from the run out after detention. Her phone was pressed to her ear, listening to it ring, twice, four times, then,

“Hello?” answered the same voice as had been bothering the back of her head before the fight.

“Hey! Amy, it’s me, look, I need a—"

“And I need you to call me Amethyst, if you can’t at least try to call me mom,” the woman on the other end of the line intoned.

Sunflower grimaced. What her father saw in this woman was far beyond her. “Amethyst,” she corrected herself, with her almost-sweet tone and a roll of her eyes. “I need to ask you for a quick favor.”

“Don’t use that tone with me, Sunny. Now, tell me, it’s almost five o’clock, you’re not home, and you’re asking for a favor? It’s not bail money, is it?”

“What? Why would it… No! Look, I need—“

A sigh at the other end of the line “so you’re out all day, don’t even call. Are you with that boy again?”

“What boy?” Sunflower asked, puzzled, frowning into the view of the scrappy school parking lot. “Amy… Amethyst, there aren’t any boys.”

“That’s not what I’ve been told,” came the reproachful tone from her stepmother.

Sunflower felt very tempted to hurl the phone. One more time… She took a breath. “No, look, it’s nothing like that. I just need you to pick up Pogo from the vet for me.”

Another sigh from the phone. “Sunflower, he’s your dog. That makes him your responsibility. It’s your job to take care of him, not mine.” A pause “Where are you anyway?”

“I’m still at school; I had detention. Look, I’m just asking—“

“Detention?!” cried Amethyst. “What in the world did you do to end up in detention?”

Sunflower sighed. “There was a fight and I—“

“You were in a fight?! Sunflower, you’re too pretty a girl to be fighting like some stupid biker-dyke.”

“No, I wasn’t fighting, it was—“ Sunflower felt the heat rushing to her face, her fingers squeezing tight around the phone.

“When your father hears about this, he’s going to tan your hide. Fighting. Of all the things!”

Would you let me finish a sentence, Sunflower fumed, grinding her teeth together. “Is daddy there?” she managed to ask in something that might still resemble a sweet voice.

“Yes he is,” came the exact saccharine-sweet tone from the phone.

Sunflower winced. I don’t sound like that… Deep breath. “Can you put him on, Amethyst? Please?”

“Yes I can, but I won’t.” came the same maddeningly syrupy tone. “Pogo is your dog, Sunflower, and if you can’t be responsible, getting into fights like this, and ruining your reputation with who knows what kind of boys, then maybe you shouldn’t-”

Enough already. “Look, Amethyst,” Sunflower fairly snarled into her phone. “It’s not like I’m asking you to go across the entire fucking town. The vet is like four blocks away, you could have walked there by now if you weren’t so busy being a cunt—“ click.

Sunflower pulled the phone away from her ear, shaking with anger. “Bitch! Ugh!” she tossed the phone into her car, thumping her fist against the sun-spotted canopy of the vehicle. Eyes squeezed shut, she brought her fingers to massage her temples, trying to drain away the stress. She sucked in a long, calming breath, and climbed into the driver’s seat. Maybe if she hurried…

Click-whuh-whump.

“What the…”

Chick-whuh-whuh-whump.

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Sunflower yelled, slamming her hands against the wheel. “Start you domestic-model piece if shit!”

Click-whuh-whuh-wha-wha-whump.

With a frustrated groan, Sunflower dropped her head against the wheel, eliciting a single beep from the car’s horn. Then another. Bonk-beep, bonk-beep. Finally she just let her head rest there, letting out a long, frustrated sigh. “God dammit…”

~Five Minutes Later~

It would figure that someone would decide to butt into Sunflower’s angst, though. “Hey! Sunny!” came a girl’s voice, at the moment sounding annoyingly chipper.

“What.” Sunflower fairly snarled, not lifting her head from the wheel.

“Woah, jeeze, it’s just me,” Diamond Tiara sniffed as she approached the car and peered through the window. “Oh, wow. You don’t look good.”

“Gee, thanks,” Sunflower sighed, lifting her head and looking to the younger girl. Diamond Tiara sometimes hung out with her and Babs, part of the school’s little fashion clique. She was a bit snotty, but tolerable. “Do you want something?”

“Shyeah, you could stop being a ragmonster for a minute. I was going to offer you a ride… Since it sounds like your… uh… car is dead.” Tiara’s lip curled as she looked over the sun-burned paint and worn tires of the beater Sunflower relied on.

Sunflower swallowed the urge to smack the pigtails off the other girl’s head. Taking a deep breath, she sighed. “Yeah, sorry Diamond, it’s been… it’s been a bad day. I’d appreciate a ride, thanks.” She pulled her keys and grabbed her backpack, before climbing out. “I guess I’ll have my dad come have a look at this junker when I get home… I thought I was going to have to catch a bus.”

“Bus?” Tiara pulled a face, saying the word as if it were something she found on her shoe, leading the way around the lot. “Oh Sunny, public transit is for the proles. You should never subject yourself to that.”

“Easy enough for you to say, you probably have a driver on call.” Sunny rolled her eyes as they walked.

“No, only when daddy’s at home and not going anywhere,” Tiara said with a pout. “But that’s okay, because I have… this.” She flicked her keys, and the sound of a cart alarm turning off sounded, closer than sunny would have guessed. Tiara smirked as the older girl gawked at the lovingly-polished silver coupe before her.

“This thing… this is yours?” Sunny blinked, sputtering a bit. “Your dad lets you drive this… to school?”

Tiara rolled her eyes “Tchk, of course he does, why else would he have bought it for me, hmmm? C’mon, get in; don’t just stand there with your mouth open.”

Sunny shook out of it, tracing her fingers along the side of the car before climbing into the leather passenger’s seat. Well, maybe today isn’t going to totally suck she thought, buckling herself in “Thanks for this Tiara, I’ll owe you one.”

The rich girl flashed a shining smile at Sunny as she pulled out of the school’s parking lot. “Funny you should say that… I know just the thing…”

Goddammit.