Once Upon a time
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from this aside from the writing itself. The characters and other basic details were created and written by Diablo Cody.
There is a story to be told before the stupid Satan-worshipers, Low Shoulders, crashed Devil's kettle and Melody inn got burned down to a crisp. Before Jennifer lost her soul and started eating all those boys. Before I drove that dirty old, rusty blade into her heart and finally crossed out Jennifer out from my life, permanently. And it all began in a small sandbox.
Now, I'll be honest. Jennifer never was nice, she never had to be. She got everything she ever wanted and exactly how she wanted them. Being the richest girl in town came with little sacrifice. I can't remember the last time Jen had done something I wanted to do, and I can't remember the last game I had missed since she made the cheerleading squad.
It was something about her that drew me to her, made her so absolute in my primal stages of childhood that when the time came, I couldn't unclench onto to her. Jennifer Check became the center of my universe.
At the time, I liked to think I had been special or different, because I had nothing going for me. Absolutely nothing. My mother was borderline insane and I was hardly up to par with the Check's fancy dining room chandeliers and silver ware. So logically, I figured I was endearing or something. Why else would Jen bother with someone like me?
The answer soon became very clear.
Jennifer Check was a very high maintenance sort of mess and even I; a saint had a hard time staying civil with her sometimes. Though my own did nothing to hold against Jen's own sort of charms.
Before puberty hit her and made her from an awkward little girl to a stunning 'babe', Jen used to have a soft spot.
Sandbox love is not easily lost, especially if you are willing to play the ugly doll instead of Barbie.
One summer, when we had yet to blossom into the most popular girls in school, or to be more precise, before Jen even knew the word 'Salty', we went camping.
It was at her family's cabin, which was thankfully outside of that little shithole town of ours. Devil's Kettle was my world until that faithful trip. It was nice to know that there was more to life than a population of a thousand or a bottomless whirlpool. Truthfully, it was nice just being alone with Jen.
Cause Jennifer had a soul before this mess, she also had a heart.
And at one point, I even had her heart.
We were twelve when we both lost our lip-virginities. I had been such a blubbering mess, sitting there in the cold with the lights all turned off. Jen had asked me to meet her at Old Maud's shack, which was a popular make-out spot for teenagers. Thankfully the brunette found me before I decided to leave. Jen had been so beautiful that night with her hair all curled up and smooth, her lips had a bit of her mother's lipstick on it and I could tell she was wearing perfume. Even with all those things, the thing that got me going the most was her eyes. Gosh, they were so dark and handsome beneath the moon's glow.
When she did press those pre-teen lips up against my own, I froze.
Then I jerked and shied away, completely petrified.
That was the first and last time I saw her eyes water.
Jen got over the incident quickly, so fast it almost made me question the kiss altogether, but then I would recall the soft warmth that had emitted from her lips as it had briefly touched mine. You could say I was jealous when she got taller and grew a pair of boobs, but I wasn't. It was that stupid boy that I was all 'green jello' over. The boy that didn't even know how to spell Jennifer let alone remember it, he was her first boyfriend. He was also the first boy to ever come between us.
Sure we've had our share of fights with teeth and nails and more, but it never lasted long. When her boy-toy started to spread rumours about Jen putting out on the first date, I was furious. I got even madder when I found out; Jen really wasn't a virgin anymore. Worst of all she hadn't even bothered telling me, Needy Lesnicki, her 'Biff'. In fact, I was practically the last to know.
That was the day that things between us started to really change, when I lost a bit of innocence and gained a whole mouthful of bitterness.
Sandbox love lost a bit of its magic that day.
It became obvious that boys would always be a part of the equation whenever Jennifer was involved. It was no longer Jen + Needy = 4ever, instead it was threesomes and foursomes on the side and then Needy.
I no longer felt needed.
So when Chip asked me out on a date, I happily accepted. Too scared of losing everything.
But Chip never came before Jennifer, not even when it was things like our first month anniversary or Valentine's Day. Jen always had something planned on those days and Jen always got her way.
Thankfully, Chip was a good guy and by definition, he cared enough about me to stay with me, despite Jen's obsessive behaviour.
I never got to attend dances with Chip, I never got to exchange chocolates or ugly but meaningful sweaters with him either. And sadly, I never cared nor did I miss following the norms that a couple usually did.
After all, Jennifer always came first.
"Needy," she had whispered in my ears once while we were running away. It was dark and my fingers felt sweaty and cold all at once, because despite the lack of function in my family, I never wanted to leave it. I had seen my father walk out the front door and never return when I was younger, I had also seen the look of utter defeat flash through my 'big mama bear's' eyes, I never forgot how sad they looked. Yet there I was half past midnight running around town like some stranger.
Jen and her mom loved each other, but they were never close. Mrs. Check was always away on business or just busy around town with fundraisers and bake-sales, she never left much time for her only daughter. And if there was one thing Jen absolutely adored, it had to be the spotlight.
So Jen grew sick of it, something about "Needing more love than she could offer." And, I, being her trusty companion all through elementary 'til now, had blindly followed when she tapped rocks against my window and beckoned me to come runaway with her.
This left us here, cold and scared with only a single duffle bag full of a week's worth of clothing and thirty bucks. Or at leastI was cold and scared, Jen looked thrilled.
We made ourselves comfortable in a nearby highschool's field, the forest trees hiding the night's moonlight from us. Leaving me visibly terrified.
"Don't be such a crybaby Needs," Jen scolded while glaring at me. When I continued to sniffle she rolled her eyes before gathering my shivering form into her arms. She was so warm and I had been so tired, the next time I opened my eyes the sun was raising. I was surprised to find Jen up and staring at me, finally she stated looking off, "You aren't going to leave this place, are you?"
Hesitantly, I shook my head.
"I thought so. Well, I can't leave without my biff; I might as well stay too." A smile broke across my dirty, dirt-ridden face. "You're lucky I'm hungry. Now let's go over to my house," she nonchalantly said as she brushed the clumps of soil from her clothes and rose. When she offered me an impatient hand, I latched onto it like a child did to their favourite stuffy. I never let go since then.
That was the last of Jen's crazy runaway schemes, but only the beginning of her rebellion.
It didn't matter if it was buying beer or stealing fancy cigars from her dad's office, I had already weathered so many dares. I almost felt invincible. That is, until I got caught.
We were going to grab Mrs. Percy's car keys and take her new ride for a spin, but I got stuck behind the door and before I could free myself Mrs. Percy was already back from her lunchbreak. She got so mad when she noticed her keys in my hands.
But Jen interrupted us before things got from bad to worse. "It wasn't Needy's fault. I made her do it."
"Now Jennifer, you can't make anyone do anything. Needy's got a brain of her own and it her hands that I caught with my keys," Mrs. Percy's voice lacked their usual kindness and in its place was a snappy reply.
"Well you see, I threatened her."
Mrs. Percy couldn't lay one hand on Jen, not unless she wanted to face a lawsuit so big and fat, her new car would've been better off in the hands of a couple of irresponsible teenage girls.
I still can't believe Jen did that for me.
And how did I repay her? I killed her. She had cornered Chip in a dingy little pool house where the waters were so dirty, I could just barely make out the blood pouring out of my boyfriend's slit out neck. I killed her over a boy that didn't even believe me. A boy that didn't listen when I told him to stay home, that he could, no -would get hurt if he came. In the end, it was me that decided a boy weighed more than Jennifer or our fifteen years of friendship.
Some senior prom, huh? Who else lost both their boyfriend and bestfriend?
I think she really did love me, at least before that thing took over her.
Like I said, Sandbox love doesn't become easily forgotten.
Even now, I think of Jennifer and how my heart used to race whenever she would smile or just look at me.
Once upon a time, I knew a girl named Jennifer Check and I fell in love with her.
Author's Rant: I know it's a bit cut-off at the end, but I realised, I don't know how else or even what else to write. So this is all. This has not been beta-ed.