Disclaimer: The characters belong to Ilene Chaiken and Showtime. I just play with them a little.
I am aware of some inconsistencies in this story, but I really am too lazy to edit right now. So you'll have to go with no-parents-Tina to parents-Tina.
Enjoy anyway!
Linger
CHAPTER ONE
My name is Tina Kennard. I was born and raised in Cheraw, where I lived with my dad, my brother and my aunt. I have always felt very lucky to have them as my family and I even felt better when I heard stories from my friends about the trouble they were having with their parents. I never knew what it was like to have a mom and a dad, but I also never knew what it was like to be fighting with the ones you love the most. In hindsight, that experience might have helped me later, but I was happy with the way it was - why wouldn't it be?
As a child, I never questioned the absence of my mother. Growing up and becoming a teenager, it became an obsession. I would ask my father about it all the time, but I saw the look in his eyes, heard her voice tremble, saw him struggling with the tears he didn't want his daughter to see. I thought that since dad and aunt Charlie were really close, she would be able to help me out.
Not.
Well, she was able, but she didn't want to. She wanted my father to be the one to tell Dean and me what had happened to the woman who gave us birth and then disappeared - if that is what she did.
My dad never dated anyone - not that Dean and I know of. Aunt Charlie occasionally brought a man home, but only if she really thought the relationship had a chance of working out.
Dad has been a gardener for a long time and he was an amateur-filmmaker in his spare time. He did everything: writing, producing, acting, designing... aunt Charlie, Dean and I often had a role in his movies as well. Then aunt Charlie got this big promotion which allowed daddy to pursue his dream: go back to school to be a producer. After a year, he got a job offer in Sacramento. Aunt Charlie asked to be transferred and Dean and I reluctantly changed schools.
We had been in Sacramento for one year. I was finally used to it, I finally knew my way around. I liked living here - and then dad got an even better job offer. They wanted him at CBS and Dad wanted CBS, but that meant we have to move to LA. I didn't want that. Dean didn't want it. Aunt Charlie gets used to every place - she could get used to living in freaking Russia.
But there was nothing we could do about it. I was just hoping for the school to be a good one and an open-minded one. Dean and I talked a lot and he agreed with me that it would have been worse if we had been at one school for three years and then had to change schools for our senior year. I had made some friends here in Sacramento, but I wasn't not as close with them that it would kill me to miss them.
There was one upside to the move - it would happen during the summer, so we would be able to start at this new school at 1 Sept. and we wouldn't have to barge in in the middle of the school year. It was worse enough that everyone would already have their group of friends.
When September came, Dean had a flu and couldn't go to school. That meant I had to take that car and face this new world alone. We had discovered LA a little bit, but we didn't exactly knew our way around. We weren't used to this - Sacramento had already been a great adaption.
I had driven to school with my old Honda numerous times so I wouldn't get lost when the first day came. I was about half of the way when my car decided that I wouldn't see the school building today either.
My car broke down. In the middle of a road. It may sound unbelievable, but it happened on a quiet road - well, one worry less. But a worry nonetheless.
I stood there, all alone, of course I had forgotten my cellphone. That always happens to me - I never really need it but have it on me, and when I do need it...
I was in the middle of a frustrated series of cursing, standing there for about ten minutes already, ringing doorbells to ask if I can use the phone but people not being at home. Finally a Buick that clearly had his glory a long time ago turned around the corner. I jumped up, waving with my arms like a complete moron and upon realising this, acted normal again.
To my delight, the driver got out of the car to see what was going on. To my even greater delight, the driver was extremely hot. Tall, bouncing curls, million-watt-smile, soft-looking mocha skin...
"You there?"
"I'm sorry?" I asked, confused and blushing. I was probably staring at her like she was some kind of divine appearance. Well, she was... but it still must have looked weired. And since when are holy appearances half-black? Actually, that was weird. Those bible-people lived in Israel, they can't have been as milky white as I am...
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah!" I shake my head again. She probably thought I ran away from some kind of mental institution. "Well... no... my car broke down, you see, and I forgot my cellphone at home so I can't call for a tow truck and I actually have to be at school and I'm gonna be late and it's my first day here and I'll be late already and holy fucking shit this is so, SO typically me, you see these things always happen to me and I don't know why, because you know I wasn't this bad child or something but trouble just finds me and we just moved to LA and I'm gonna be late and holy fuck, I'm rambling, aren't I?"
The Divine Appearance flashed me that smile again and cocked her head, as if I was some kind of animal and she was studying my awkward behaviour. "Kinda," she finally said. "What school is it that you're attending?"
"L...L.A... H-High," I stumble over my two words. First that whole rambling thing and now this? Way to go, Kennard!
"Well, that's convenient. I brought my cellphone and LA High is exactly where I have to be. You can drive with me?"
"Oh... uhm... thanks!"
Bette took out her cellphone and dialed a number. She listened, said her name, gave the road and then asked my name.
"Christina Kennard," I whispered. I was probably so beet red it wasn't funny anymore, so I ducked inside my car to grab my bag.
Bette talked some more and then hung up. "They'll be here any minute. Nice to meet you, Christina. I'm Elizabeth Porter."
She offered me her hand and when I took it, the electricity was filling up the air and taking my breath away. "P-people call me Tina."
"People call me Bette."
A truck came around the corner of the street. "Wow, that's fast!" I say in wonderment. Would everything in LA go this fast? I smiled - that was such a delightful promise for the fast food restaurants that would welcome my presence very soon.
"Yeah, well, I know some people there," Bette smirked. She caught my look of pure adoration which I had failed to hide. "And the company is situated a few blocks away."
I was too amazed to say anything, so Bette handled everything about my car. She then lead me in hers and drove us to school. In the car we started talking.
"So, you're new in LA?"
"Yeah, we just moved here from Sacramento, but we only lived there for one year. I am actually from Cheraw, South Carolina."
"I thought I heard a southern drawl."
I blushed. "Is it that obvious?"
Bette looked at me and gave me a cheeky smile. "Yeah, but don't worry."
"Uhm... why not?"
"It's hot."
The mental projection of myself that could do anything in any kind of space started a very happy dance. I was so immersed in my inner joy that I didn't hear what she said next.
"Tina?"
"Oh - I'm so sorry. What did you say?"
"I asked you if you had a boyfriend."
"No, never had and not planning to either."
"Girlfriend?"
"I wish."
"Great."
"Why?"
"Because."
"Oh. Okay."
I prayed to any God that would listen that this meant that she wanted to be my girlfriend. But then again, what was I thinking? I was this plain girl from a small town and she was this perfect goddess. Maybe she had some dork in mind for me.
I looked at my clothing again - jeans and green top. Oh. Of course. My top had a bit of a cleavage, not a very deep one but enough to hint at what I had to offer. Those ladies were damn hard to hide, too.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"Oh." I could hear the disappointment in my own voice.
"In my worst nightmare."
"Oh." The relief was too obvious.
We arrived at the parking lot of the school when the school bell rang. I was already hurrying out, but she stopped me.
"We're going to be late! We already are!"
"No, Tina. You're with me and I'm never late."
"Oh... okay?"
"Relax, Tina, nobody's going to skin you alive."
"I would hope so."
"I'll make sure they won't," she winked.
Happy happy, joy joy. YAY! Hoolahoobahup! I was again lost in my statements of excitement. Another round with that hip - mentally.
"Uh - Tina - now we do have to go."
We got out of the car together and I noticed the stares we were getting, most of them directed at the beauty walking beside me, drooling. Some at me, sceptical and a tad bit jealous.
I got the message - Bette was cool. Well, wasn't I lucky to have that breakdown with my car. A little voice told me that my car wouldn't get fixed anytime soon. Bonding time first.
