"Teenage Dream"
Inspired by the Rachel quote: "You could just get drunk and pick someone up for a shag." S04E04
(1994. Cammie unlocks her house door. They had a proper front garden with grass and a tiny stone statue of two fairies by a mushroom. Cammie sees Rachel staring at it.)
Cammie: When we were little, Abbi and me, we used to argue about which fairy was mine and which was hers. (Rachel laughs at the ridiculousness of it.) Mine's the top one. She's the prettiest.
Rachel: They're exactly the same.
Cammie: They're not. (Rachel looks again but knows certainly that the fairies are identical. Cammie opens her home door wide.) Bienvenue ma Cherie.
Rachel: (smirks) Mais tu échoues.
Cammie: (enters the house and Rachel follows) What about shoes?
Rachel: Wow. Alright, we've got a lot of work to do. (Rachel adjusts the straps of the book bag on her back. She looks around at the cozy furnishings of the kitchen. It was similar in size she thought to Sean's house, a few streets over. There were ruffled pink curtains over the sink window and brick-a-brack of glass eggs with smiling faces, which Rachel thinks are stupid. Better looking than anything in her drab and tattered home but still not something Rachel could ever imagine spending money on.)
Cammie: Our rooms are upstairs. Mum's is down here.. (points to a hallway) I'm 2nd door on the left. First door is the washroom. I'll grab snacks.
Rachel: Alright. (she begins up the stairs, stopping on the first stair to look at a baby photo of Cammie and Abbi wearing identical dresses and bows. She smiles and takes her time slowly ascending observing each stage of what looked like a picture perfect life.)
Cammie: (shouts) Left! Not Right. To the Right is Abbie's room!
Rachel: Got it. (she makes it to the top of the landing and the first door she comes face to face with clearly reads "Abigail" in pink letters. Heart and butterfly stickers surround the name. For whatever reason, Rachel had imagined the twins shared a room. She's not sure why she forgot some people's houses are larger. She walks past the open washroom door, a hairbrush was on the sink and nail polish and makeup littered the counters. Rachel smiles at the girliness of it. If their washroom at home were that untidy she and Dom would get an earful or worse. Rachel stops in front of Cammie's door, plain, looked like the stickers that spelt her name were peeled off from the slight discoloration. Rachel opens the door and steps inside. The walls are painted a sky blue and the duvet was black. The headboard and wardrobe matched. Posters torn from magazine's hang on the wall and one lone poster of princess Leia. Rachel puts her-backpack on the bed and spots a full tape stand and boombox with a sky blue electric guitar leaning against it. She sits on the bed and her face gets hot and her eyes get teary. At first she 's not sure why. But she realizes she's jealous of her friend. Now that the room is Allison's all Rachel had was a corner in their shabby shameful shit heap of a living room. A corner and a sleeping bag. It's been years since any of them have ever invited a friend over, their Dad's temper was too unstable. But at least if either of her siblings did, they had somewhere to hide away from it. They had their own space, bed, door. She had nothing. This room was so cool and Cammie literally came home to it every day. Rachel wipes a tear and reevaluates solidarity. This is why she never bothered with people. Being with other people and their families only emphasized how shit everything was for her. If she kept to herself she had nothing, apart from Sean's, to compare to.
Cammie's footsteps are heard on the landing and Rachel shoves down the knot in her throat. She pulls out a stack of french flashcards that she made herself. Cammie enters with a bottle of wine and a box of chocolate covered biscuits.)
Cammie: -Bon Appetite. (Places everything on her bedside table, shoving over a picture of herself, Abbi and their mum. All pictures of Sharon were taken down at the Bailey home. Rachel's dad couldn't stand to see her face. It enraged him. So they took down all the photos including most that included Rachel. Rachel couldn't help it that she reminded him of their mum.)
Rachel: (takes a chocolate biscuit) Mm. Brain food. Right, let's do this. (Rachel shuffles the flashcards and is surprised when Cammie kisses her on the cheek. Rachel laughs. The gesture is shocking but sweet.) What's that for?
Cammie: (shrugs) Just wanted to. Is that alright?
Rachel: (nods.) Fine. (Cammie is close to her and Rachel likes that the body heat reminds her of a cuddle.) Alright, so- (she's about to hold up a card but Cammie leans in planting a new kiss on Rachel's lips. Rachel doesn't pull away until she feels Cammie's tongue.) Oiy.
Cammie: What?
Rachel: What are you playing at?
Cammie: What?
Rachel: I thought you wanted help with your French.
Cammie: Yeah. (smirks and rolls her eyes.) Kissing.
Rachel: Cammie. I saw your marks. You're failing.
Cammie: So? You think I want to think about plus-perfects and conjugating verbs with you here?
Rachel: (looks to the side a little confused) l've got top marks. I can help you revise. (Cammie grabs Rachel's index cards and tosses them to the side, several flutter to the ground and Rachel watches her hard work scattered. Cammie, again, while Rachel is distracted, kisses Rachel's lips. Rachel jumps up from the bed.) What is this about?
Cammie:(scrunched eyebrows) What do you mean? I want to snog. Isn't that obvious? And you're meant to be clever.
Rachel: (fidgets, thinking of Sean) I'm not. I'm- (looks to Cammie feeling both guilty and a bit like a disappointment.) I'm not a lesbian.
Cammie: That's not what your tongue was saying when you were snogging my brains out at me party last week.
Rachel: That was different.
Cammie'. Did you like it?
Rachel: It were a game.
Cammie: Did you like it?
Rachel: I was plastered.
Cammie: Did you, Rachel Bailey, or did you not enjoy snogging me?
Rachel: (shrugs putting her hands in her pockets) Yeah but that doesn't make me gay.
Cammie: A little bit it does. (laughs and tosses a pillow at Rachel. Rachel catches it.)
Rachel:(blushes and laughs) Whatever. Maybe I just like snogging.
Cammie: That's fine with me. (Pats the bed) C'mon then.
Rachel: I can 't. (she wasn't officially back with Sean. They shagged for the second time and he called it "make-up sex". He said it wasn't as good for him as it was the first time and so he still needed time to think about taking her back after the way she was at the party. It was getting around school that Rachel might be a bit of a tart, People were talking, boys were looking at her and Sean didn't like it. He really wouldn't like this.) I'm sorry.
Cammie: You're fucking so uptight loosen your bloody knickers. (Rachel smirks and Cammie laughs) Figuratively. Literally too if ya like. (Rachel laughs)
Rachel: Let's just try- (she's about to grab a flash card and Cammie grips her hand. She holds it still and then places the wine bottle in Rachel's hand.) So, you don't want to revise?
Cammie: Girls just want to have fun Rachel. Go on. (Rachel smirks and takes a swig from the wine bottle. She still wasn't used to the taste. This one was red and bitter compared to the only other time she tried wine, which was sweet and white.)
Rachel: So, apart from snogging, what do you want to do? (Cammie sighs and shrugs feeling a bit dejected. Rachel steps over to the electric guitar.) Can you play us a song?
Cammie: No.
Rachel: Aw. (pout) C' mon. please.
Cammie: (gets up from the bed and begins rummaging through her wardrobe.) No. I can't. I don't know how to play it.
Rachel: (laughs trying the guitar strap around her shoulders. She felt so cool.) It's new or something?
Cammie: No. I reckon that was last Christmas or the one before. I guess I said something about taking lessons and mum thought I was serious. Just because Abbi does dance, Mum and Dad feel like if I'm not "doing something" then like I'm not applying myself. I'm the disappointment. (Rachel nods. She knew how that felt except it didn't matter what she did.) That is why I'm in bloody track. I never cared about guitar.
Rachel: I reckon I'd be good at track- (puts the underused guitar back)
Cammie: You should try out. (Rachel smiles knowing even if she could pull off the uniform there was no way Allison would waste money on it and the extra time she'd spend away from home would leave poor Dom alone with their Dad.)
Rachel: Maybe.
Cammie: (Finally fully emerges from the wardrobe with a smile, holding up, what must have been a very well hidden pack of fags.) Want to go on the roof?
Rachel: (laughs) What?
Cammie: Follow me. (Smiles fiendishly. Cammie snatches the wine bottle by its neck out of Rachel's hands. Rachel grabs the biscuits and begins to grab her bag but Cammie catches Rachel's hand. Turns and tugs Rachel along. Rachel follows her new friend. She didn't consider herself a follower but she was intrigued by this "other world", this care free teenage existence that she was observing. She knew it was never a life she'd have but it was something her friend seemed happy to share bits of. Cammie tugs Rachel into Abigail's room. Rachel looks around quickly trying to gather as much visual intelligence as she could on this other twin, so different to her. A large painting of a horse hangs over a four-post bed. Cammie shoves the bottle into Rachels arms and turns her back to her, pushing away the sheer white curtains and unlocking and prying open the window. Cammie steps one foot out of the window gripping tight to the pane. She's then suddenly out of sight. Rachel steps closer to the window and Cammie's hand pops in to view from the side.) Wine! (Rachel hands over the bottle and then pokes her head out the window to assess the climbing situation. She notices Cammie safely to her left on the slightly sloped roof. However it was a carefully maneuvered step on a tight ledge to get there.) You just step-
Rachel: I've got it. Here. (She tosses the biscuits to Cammie who barely catches them and laughs at the near miss. Rachel steps out on the ledge carefully one leg still inside, firmly gripping the window. It's sturdy.. Rachel looks to Cammie and plays action music in her head. She smirks, imagining she can't let her suspect get away. She then very limberly hops over to the roof as if she'd done it a hundred times before.)
Cammie: Alright Spiderman. (Rachel's grinning ear to ear pumped with adrenaline. Cammie begins lighting a fag and Rachel walks over the roof exploring the new territory. She scans the side of the house quickly evaluating access points. She's rather certain she could make the jump if she had to. She then looks over the view, a wealthy neighborhood with manicured gardens, gates and hedges. Cammie surprises Rachel by hugging her from behind. In one hand Cammie holds the fag.) Did I scare you?
Rachel: Not at all. (she takes the fag from Cammie's fingers. She's never smoked a fag before but she didn't have trouble with the marijuana smoke so she was sure she could handle it. She puts the fag to her lips and takes a first hesitant inhale. She slowly blows out the smoke.) Not a bad view.
Cammie: Not from where I am either.
Rachel: (laughs and shrugs Cammie's hug off.) Shut up. (Rachel takes another drag on the cigarette and stands still smiling at the view, the blue sky, the gray clouds threatening rain, the rows of narrow green gardens in nearly identical homes to this one. The world was so much bigger than her grim unhappy little corner. Bigger than their miserable house and bigger than her father's temper. She nods, taking another puff, feeling the smoke fill her lungs and then controlling the slow release of the smoke, watching it meld with the clouds. She felt empowered by this reminder of her insignificance. She felt momentarily optimistic about the future, about the hope of beauty outside of her limited experience. She feels invigorated.) If I could get on my roof- (she looks to where she expects to see Cammie, but Cammie has long since sat down.) I'd be up here all the time.
Cammie: (pats the spot near her but Rachel doesn't seem to notice.) Whenever Dad catches me out here I get in trouble.
Rachel: (steps over to Cammie and kneels. She sips the wine.) What sort of trouble?
Cammie: That's why they made this room Abi's. They trust her.
Rachel: I'm the troublemaker in my house too.
Cammie: No way. Shy little Rachel?
Rachel: I'm not shy.
Cammie: You are.
Rachel'. I'm not.
Cammie'. Then how come I never even saw ya until last week?
Rachel: Because you weren't looking. (They share sips of wine.) I just don't talk to many people. I'm not shy, it's just that everyone at our school is either a thick chav. or some toffee-nosed tosser.
Cammie: Really? Which one am I then?
Rachel: (smirks, then smokes.) Not you. You're alright.
Cammie: You're just saying that because you know I could shove you off here. (they both laugh.)
Rachel: (looks off into the distance) It's so peaceful, innit?
Cammie: Except when the bloody train comes by.
Rachel: Our house is literally like a street over. Can't be nearly as loud over here.
Cammie: 'spose not.
Rachel: (they are both quiet for a time, smoking and passing the wine between them. Rachel looking at the sky and Cammie looking at her.) D 'you remember, I reckon it was two years ago, when they found that little boy's body severed by the train?
Cammie: (laughs, startling Rachel a bit.) Bloody hell, Bailey! That's really why you keep to yourself, innit? (Rachel scrunches down her eyebrows confused.) You're a flipping psycho!
Rachel: (laughs playfully nudging Cammie.) I'm not.
Cammie: Well, it's always the quiet ones, eh?
Rachel: No seriously. We were just talking of trains. You're telling me you don't remember?
Cammie: No, no. Not ringing a bell.
Rachel: Really? God, it was bloody horrendous!
Cammie: Well, he was obliterated by a train.
Rachel: No, he was, but that wasn't the worst bit. That's not even what killed him.
Cammie: Fucking hell.
Rachel: (animatedly) I followed the case in the papers. He was two years old, little John or James, or something like that. His mum lost track of him at a shopping centre. He went off with these two other kids, boys, older than him, 10 year olds. Poor little sod probably thought he was going to play. They took him out to the tracks, stripped him naked. Beat him, shoved batteries in his arse.
Cammie: Ew, god, why?
Rachel: Fucking monsters. They hit him 42 times, fractured his skull and only put him on the tracks, because they wanted everyone to think he died getting hit by the train.
Cammie: Clever, evil little-
Rachel: It's not though. There are ways to... after the body is dead, our blood, it coagulates.
Cammie: Co-what?
Rachel: Coagulation, it's when our blood stops circulating and stops getting oxygen, it gets gooey like hair gel I suppose. Never seen it meself. Just, that's what I read. (Cammie laughs) What?
Cammie: I've never heard you talk this much.
Rachel: Oh. (blushes) Sorry-I'm blathering.
Cammie: And I've only seen you this excited once before.
Rachel: When?
Cammie: When we were dancing, before you had to leave my party.
Rachel: It was a laugh.
Cammie: One of my most favorite birthdays. (Rachel blushes and pushes her hair behind her ears, as Cammie focuses on her lips. She was feeling a bit tipsy already having only had her sandwich at lunch, hours ago. ) You know the one annoying thing about being up here?
Rachel: Your Dad?
Cammie: No, it's so bloody hot. (Cammie strips off her top and Rachel looks over the girl's smooth pale white skin. Rachel didn't want her so much as she wanted to be her.) Your turn.
Rachel: What? (laughs) No way.
Cammie: C 'mon.
Rachel: No, I can't.
Cammie: You can. D'you need my help? ( Reaches for the bottom of Rachel's shirt. Rachel laughs balancing the fag with a squirming playful attempt to keep her top on.)
Rachel: Get off.
Cammie: No, you. Get that off.
Rachel: No.
Cammie: C 'mon. It's only fair. (gestures to her pink frilly bra covering her adorable A cups.) You going to leave me on my own?.
Rachel: If I do-
Cammie: Do! Do!
Rachel: If I do, you've gotta promise me two things.
Cammie: Alright, what?
Rachel: First, that you won't laugh.
Cammie: I can absolutely promise you that.
Rachel: And Second, you won't tell anyone.
Cammie: (mimes zipping her lips and throwing away the key) Your secrets and your tits are safe with me Rachel.
Rachel: (smirks, looking Cammie's beautiful young body over. She lets out a deep sigh and then pulls her top over her head. As she pulls it off she hears Cammie gasp.) You promised.
Cammie: What the hell is that? (she points at a large but fading bruise on Rachel's midsection. There were other marks but that one was big and nasty.)
Rachel: (embarrassed) You said you wou-
Cammie: Did you get hit by a fucking lorry? Bloody hell. That looks like it hurt.
Rachel: You said you wouldn't laugh.
Cammie: I ain't.
Rachel: Bugger this. (she begins to lift her shirt over her head to put it back on.)
Cammie: No, I didn't laugh.
Rachel: (sighs dejectedly) Are you going to go on about it?
Cammie: No, I just never seen a bruise so big. Did you get kicked by a horse?
Rachel: No, me dad. I got it pretty bad for sneaking out to your party.
Cammie: Shit. Sorry.
Rachel! (shrugs) That's alright. If it weren't for that it'd be for something else. So- (leans over Cammie to grab the nearly empty wine bottle. Cammie stares at Rachel's chest and it's sudden close proximity to her. Rachel downs the remains of the bottle.) I reckon it was worth it.
Cammie: (thinks about this) You must really like me to take a beating like that, just to muck about with me.
Rachel: (shrugs. She didn't have any girls as friends. They all sort of fell off after 12 when she stopped showing up at sleepovers and parties.) I do.
Cammie: I like you too. (Rachel smiles flattered, feeling the effects of the wine, closes her eyes and enjoys the sun on her face. Cammie leans over and kisses Rachel quickly on the lips. Rachel smiles and kisses Cammie back. Cammie gently holds Rachel in such a delicate way that Rachel wasn't used to. They begin snogging, sloppy wet drunken kisses. Cammie, hungry for Rachel. Rachel, hungry for affection.)