"Married?! What do you mean you're getting married?!" Yoko yelled at the violet haired woman sitting across the table from her. "You didn't even say you were dating again!"
The woman she had the luxury of calling mother twirled a piece of hair around her finger, looking at the freshly trimmed ends as if searching for a missed piece. Her perfectly lined blue eyes moved to her perverse daughter. "Your father got married. I can't afford you on my own."
"Well, if you got a job instead of being an escort, maybe you could!" Yoko fired back, easily stepping out of the way of a flying half filled wine glass as she picked up her messenger bag. She glared at the broken glass and staining floor before turning her attention to the whore. "How long have you known him?!"
"He's a frequent customer and has been for years. His wife was a bit much for him, so he left her and their sorry kid." Her mom explained like she was describing the weather.
It made Yoko's blood boil, and her mother knew that. Yoko stormed to the door, her hand grasping the doorknob so tight her knuckles were instantly pale. She was shaking so hard she could barely breathe. Her mother had a final nail in their proverbial coffin of a conversation just as Yoko opened the door. "Be ready to pack your things. We'll be movin-"
Yoko slammed the door behind her, shoving her hands into her hoody pockets and storming down the hallway of the apartment complex. The place was built like a mansion, beautiful tanned walls with a luxurious red and gold carpet. Delicately crafted scones lined the walls, and the doors had beautiful plaques for the numbers. If it weren't for the fact there was no room service, the place could pass off as a hotel.
Rather than using her finger, she slammed her foot into the elevator button to take her to the bottom floor. Even the elevator was fancy, the sliding doors appearing to be black doors with golden handles rather than the usual bland silver.
She stepped into the elevator, again using her foot to push the ground button. She picked at her blue painted fingernails, trying to scratch the last bit off as the elevator went down to the ground floor. With her destination in mind, she stormed out the front door, heading down toward the center of town. She had one person on her mind, and she needed to see him immediately.
How she missed it. Just stepping into the small cafe diluted her ever growing hate and malice. It wasn't much of a place to find children her age, something that was obvious with the suits that sat around at solitary tables or in purple leather booths. The olive green carpet was striped with random tan lines going in any sort of direction making no real distinguishable pattern, but ended just in front of the door where light tiles would greet all visitors after stepping through tinted glass doors. The fantastic smell of decadent pastries and grilled meats and vegetables were always a welcoming aroma. It was nice, familiar.
The blue haired boy waved from their usual booth in the corner where they met every Saturday. Nagisa Shiori, her best and practically only friend. His hair was tied back as always and his blue eyes were overflowing with happiness. Though, when she got closer, his large grin disappeared.
"Did something happen?" He asked as she sat down across from him.
"Mom's getting married," Yoko replied, her evergreen eyes glaring at him beneath short black bangs that were in desperate need of barrettes.
Nagisa's eyes widened. He knew all about her psychotic escort of a mother. "To who?!"
"She said he's a long term customer," she replied as she moved a bit allowing the waitress to place the macaroni and cheese filled bowl and tea in front of her while placing a weird tortilla wrap of some kind and water in front of Nagisa. "Trying something new?"
"I saw Karma here one time, and he was eating this. He swears it's better than the sandwich."
Yoko glared suspiciously at the wrap before taking a bite of her macaroni. She was a vegetarian for health reasons and the process of becoming vegan was a struggle. For the most part, she had gotten rid of basic dairy, like milk and yogurt, but avoiding butter and cheese was proving to be quite the struggle. Gelatin seemed to be a problem as well when it came to desserts. So far, this was the only place she had managed to find that made vegan macaroni and cheese, and it wasn't terrible.
"So, what's up with you?" She asked Nagisa. "Anything new since school got out?"
"Well, as of right now, I'm still in A Class. How about you?" He asked as he took a large, trusting bite of the wrap.
"I dropped to C," she muttered as she poked at her noodles. "There's no excuse for it, but my dad got remarried and doesn't want anything to do with me or Mom. He's paying child support, but that's it." With a heavy sigh, she took another bite of the cheesy dish, "It wouldn't have been so bad if Dad hadn't kicked me out."
"You didn't tell me he kicked you out," Nagisa said as he took a gulp of his water, his face slightly red and sweat on his forehead. "It's spicy," he explained at his friend's curious gaze.
"Yeah, I was at Mom's for the weekend, then I wake up Saturday and boxes with my stuff are at the doorstep with a letter of what was going on. There wasn't enough room in the house for me and her kids, plus the two on the way. Seven kids, Nagisa! You've been there, there's more than enough room for seven kids!"
She was shaking again which made her take a deep breath to try to calm down. "I'm sorry. It was just so sudden."
He smiled. His face was so innocent. For his situation, he was handling it well, much better than she was handling hers, and she thought hers was minuscule compared to the abuse his mother dropped.
"It's fine," Nagisa reassured her. "That's why we're here. We don't see each other anymore, and you were one of my best friends in first year."
Yoko smiled slightly, blushing at the compliment. They did make a pretty good team when it came to projects. She knew her replacement had been Karma Akabane, one of the smartest students in the school. He was a decent guy, but a dangerous one.
Her head ached from the swirl of emotions she had felt in such a short amount of time. The anger was still there, gnawing at her heart and mind. She hadn't noticed Nagisa had left until he placed a large paper cup in front of her, steam coming out of the small hole in the lid.
She smiled slightly at her friend's thoughtfulness. "You didn't have to get me hot chocolate."
"You're upset," he replied, giving a half hearted smile. "And before you say anything, I think this is worse than my own. Mom has her days, your mom is crazier than the last."
After paying, the two went on a walk through the town, catching up on the week's events. With it being summer, there wasn't much to catch up on other than the occasional drama that came from one family. Sometimes one of them would have an interesting story about something they had read on the internet or saw on the street. The important part was the company. Both were suffering, and they knew the other needed the support only someone facing pain could offer.
As their reunion came to an end, Yoko felt much better than she had when she left her home, but she could feel the darkness that was choking her heart start to return as she watched Nagisa walk away. She sighed as she headed home, wondering what terrible surprise waited for her.
And the surprise was, indeed, terrible.
The apartment was covered in rose petals and champagne glasses, some tipped over, some half full. Candles flooded the room with their romantic glow, and an all too familiar sound echoed through the apartment making her skin crawl. She was curious as to who the man was her mother was so willing to marry, but not enough to sneak a peek. No, that could wait another forty years or so.
Silently closing the door behind her, Yoko managed to get in without a sound, locking the door and turning on music to drown out the life-scarring cries just on the other side of the apartment. Disgusting.
There was a harsh blow to her mind as she stared at the wine glasses on her cleared off night stand and crumpled violet bed sheets. Her room was supposed to be her sanctuary, her peace, the place she would be accepted no matter what. Yet, it had been invaded, disgraced, damned. It wasn't the first time her mother had done something like this, but she would have to sterilize the room, top to bottom. Her mother had started a war.
Without a care in the world, Yoko pulled her door open as hard as she could causing a dent in the tanned wall. For good measure, she scratched her fingers down the tan walls as she marched down the hallway until she got to the living room. She made as much noise as possible, blowing out all the candles and turning on all the lights. Just to keep things interesting, she turned off the air conditioner and turned on the heat so they could boil in their sex.
She had never been more grateful for the dishwasher to be broken or for whoever cooked to have made seven courses of something, some sticking to the pan so touch, it took the hard scrubbing of steel wool to get it off.
Not ten minutes later did her mother come storming out of her bedroom, violet hair in a curled up mess, her makeup all over her face, wearing a bed sheet like a toga.
"What are you doing?!"
"Cleaning up," Yoko replied innocently. "My room is a little dirty, and I needed to wash the glasses you left in there. The rest of the cook ware was getting in my way and since we don't have a functioning dishwasher, you'll just have to deal with the noise, though I'm surprised you heard it."
A loud pop was covered by a bass drop from her music, knocking Yoko back a bit, but only making her smirk. "Now, now, mother dear, we wouldn't want my new father to think so low of you. We wouldn't want him to leave because he thinks you're crazy, too."
Her mother hesitated, though her anger never faltered. If anything, it got worse. Yoko could only laugh at the predicament. Before she went back to washing dishes, her phone vibrated. Her immense joy immediately disappeared when she read the text from Nagisa.
"As much as I would love to humiliate you further, I'm afraid I must go. Stop going in my room and I'll stop ruining your sex." She promised with a wink.
Without another word, she grabbed her other bag, one that held lock picks and other shady things. She ran as fast as she could to the address Nagisa had sent to her and found him waiting, worry clear across his face. He also looked slightly depressed, his eyes red from tears and cheeks burning from some sort of abuse.
"It's been a while since she's kicked me out," Nagisa said sadly. "Karma said I could stay at his place, but he's not home to let me in. I don't know what to do."
The comforting smile his friend gave him slightly eased his troubles until his blue eyes found the red splotch on her cheek. "You too?"
Yoko knew her smirk was the incorrect response, but she couldn't stop it. "She brought a special hell on her head. You don't have sex in your kid's room. So, she has to deal with the embarrassment of explaining to the guy she was with why she slapped me in the first place. I think it was worth it."
The two debated on whether or not it was technically her room since her mother was paying the rent, or at least assuming she was. While Nagisa argued it was in fact her mother's apartment, Yoko argued the value of privacy, how it was okay for a parent to check up on their child and invade their personal space as they seem fit, it was disrespectful to in fact have sex on the child's bed.
"Here it is," Nagisa said as they came to a stop in front of a pale two-story house. "I think there's an alarm, though."
Yoko whistled a vague tune as she searched her bag and pulled out a weird remote. Nagisa snatched the gadget away from her, "You are not breaking in without the code number!"
"I'm certainly not going to stand out here and wait for him to get back," she replied, snatching the remote back.
The two argued over whether or not they should break in before Nagisa received a text from Karma telling him the alarm code. Nagisa glanced around awkwardly as he hovered over his friend, blocking possible onlookers from watching them. When the lock clicked, she silently opened the door and froze upon seeing someone standing there, smirking down at her.
The tall teen has dangerous oozing from him, but Yoko stood still, her body frozen in place and her heart thumping loudly in her chest. His orange eyes seemed to pierce her very soul, almost beckoning her to join his chaos.
"Karma?" Nagisa glared st his friend. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing," the red head shrugged with an easy smile. "I just wanted to see if you could do it. I didn't know you would get someone else involved."
"This is Yoko," Nagisa introduced.
"Right, your friend from first year," Karma commented with a smile. "You certainly dropped fast. Where are you now?"
"Karma! Don't ask her things like that!" Nagisa scolded.
"Yeah, yeah," Karma waved off as he turned away from them. "Are you coming in?"
Nagisa stepped in while Yoko gave a weak smile. "Call me if you need me." She told her blue haired friend.
"You're not staying?" Nagisa and Karma asked curiously.
Nagisa recognized the wicked smile that started to form on Yoko's lips. He sighed and smiled, "Just don't kill anyone."
The wickedness in her glowing eyes made him wonder if she was actually about to kill someone, or get close to it. "We'll see."
Nagisa half expected Karma to try to help her, but he said nothing as she walked away.
"She's crazy," Karma said as he closed the door. "I like her already."
Yoko wasted no time. As soon as she was back in the apartment, she began cleaning. It was her favorite past time. Clean and rearrange. Though they would be moving soon, that didn't mean her antics had to stop. Whoever this guy was would have to get used to it anyway. When she got upset, she made sure everyone else got messed up too.
She had no idea where her mother was, but she knew she wasn't home. As soon as she finished washing all of the dishes and wiping everything down, she moved on to changing where the dishes were supposed to go, finding new places and causing structural disorder that would happen almost immediately. The living room was treated the same, cleaned up, vacuumed, and rearranged to a less convenient and awkward positioning.
The hours it took to fulfill the small act of revenge was worth the reaction. Just as she finished rearranging her mother's bedroom, she heard the door open, shoes being taken off, then chaos unfolding as whoever had come in stumbled around the small coffee table she had placed by the door where keys could be placed and never lost.
"Yoko! Fix it now!" Her mother demanded from the doorway.
The girl stepped out of the room and leaned against the door frame, looking at the newly designed room. "I like it," Yoko commented. "Besides, we're moving anyway, aren't we? You'll be fine."
"You're a brat, you know that?!" Her mother yelled. "I have done everything I could to make you happy and keep a roof over your head! This is how you show how grateful you are?!"
"Yeah, well this brat has standards, and you're not meeting them. Mothers don't chase sugar daddies. They use the child support money they get to take care of their children. The only good you've done is use that money to get me in a decent school."
"That you're failing," she spat. "I'm sure you've noticed how they treat the lower classmen. The dumber you are, the more they'll point it out."
"Please, Mother, tell me how stupid I am when you didn't even make it to high school," Yoko smarted off, her arms crossed over her chest in a deadly glare matching her mother.
After a few minutes of silent glowering, the two parted ways, each heading to their respective rooms. Her mother knew not to press her luck with her psychotic child. With Yoko's history, she was truly lucky she had gotten away with simply rearranging the furniture. She shuddered at the thought of her daughter's previous acts of revenge. The last one had been rather passive aggressive as well, since the two were invited to the man's house, and Yoko spiked literally everything she could think of with estrogen. Cooking oils, milk, shampoo, laundry detergent. If it could possibly be absorbed by the human body, she had placed the hormone in it. She was thankful her daughter was passive aggressive rather than trying to kill everyone that annoyed her.
Yoko was smirking down at her phone as she read the texts she had gotten from Nagisa detailing his time with Karma. There was no doubt she was envious of their friendship, since she couldn't stay the night or really hang out with them like guys could. However, that would change soon enough. She wasn't going to be an only child anymore. This guy had a kid too. She couldn't help but wonder what they like. Did they go to the same school? Would she ever actually meet them?
The last child she had to deal with got a rash by no fault of her own. It was some strange allergic reaction to the body wash she used. In her opinion, the boy shouldn't have been using a girl's body wash anyway. However, the blame was placed on her and the man left, never looking back and the boy never seen again.
She supposed she could pretend to be kind to the kid, no matter what the age. If young enough, she could instill the bad habits she had and truly make their lives a living hell. So many options.