Chapter 4
"And Everyone Laughed"
creak
Icy looked up from her book.
creak
"Thundah?" she whispered. "Is dat you?" She slowly leaned over the side of her bunk and saw Thunder standing there, shifting her weight nervously every few seconds.
"What is it?" Icy asked.
Thunder cleared her throat and looked around at the sleeping girls in the bunkroom.
"I wanted to get up early and read like you do," she whispered, "but den I got thoisty and well… I went downstairs and hoid Millah talkin' ta her lackey about dat goil dat was supposed ta show up when we did… a couple of weeks ago I guess."
Icy nodded. "Yeah an' what did ya heah?"
"Dat dey can't find 'er but dat she's a nuisance to the city an' a dangah ta society. She sounds really nice, Icy."
Icy looked at the perfectly made, empty bunk beneath her own and shivered. The early morning sun was starting to peek through the windows on the east side of the room and some other girls were starting to stir on their beds. The girl on the bunk across from Icy's mumbled something about "those evil boys," lackadaisically hit her pillow, and started snoring. Icy and Thunder both snorted as they tried to repress their laughter.
"I'm gonna start gettin' ready, Thundah," Icy said, crawling down from her bunk. She threw herself off the bottom bunk's footboard and landed softly. "We can finish talking about this latah I guess."
Thunder shrugged. "Yeah I guess."
The two girls quietly started getting ready. Icy had just walked into the drawing room to wash her face when she heard the stairs creak in the ever so familiar pattern. She took a deep breath, cringed, and waited.
"WAKE UP, GIRLS!!"
bang bang bang
"WAKE UP!! ON YOUR FEET!"
Thunder walked past Icy. "She always has ta hit da stupid wall, huh…" she whispered.
"Yeah," Icy laughed. "Shoot. She's comin' in heah next."
Miss Miller walked into the drawing room and spotted the two girls.
"Isabel! Rachel! What are you two doing up early?"
"I always get up e'rly, Miss Millah," Icy replied, trying to keep her tone from sounding like her nickname.
"But Rachel never does," Miss Miller replied impatiently.
Some girls had started to walk into the drawing room and Icy felt her face heat with embarrassment. The mumbly snoring girl walked by and looked empathetically at Icy and Thunder, mouthing, "I'm sorry."
"Miss Millah," Icy said, "Thundah is tryin' ta get up e'rly ta bettah herself an' I'd think dat you would be happiest of all about dat, but since ya obviously don't appreciate any of us, I can't be surprised dat you ain't happy about it."
"I saw her in the kitchen this morning, Isabel," Miss Miller replied, her face turning red. "I don't trust that you would know why unless you put her up to it considering that you have been a troublemaker from the start! What, did you want her to steal some food for you? She'll do anything you want since she has no personality of her own!"
Several girls stopped and stared at Miss Miller, eyes opened wide. Nervous whispers began to fill the room as all the girls looked at Thunder whose eyes had narrowed considerably and whose face was almost purple.
Miss Miller started to turn and walk off, chuckling at Icy's shocked expression.
Suddenly the outburst came and Miss Miller froze.
"Don't ya evah, EVAH, EVAH, say dat again, Millah!" Thunder's angry voice filled the room and the few remaining girls still in bed sat straight up.
"Excuse me," Miss Miller said stonily, turning to face Thunder, arms crossed and eyes narrowed to barely perceivable slits. "Don't you dare talk to me in that manner, young lady."
"Excuse yaself!" Thunder yelled, leaning forward and placing herself directly in front of Miss Miller. "Youse is da one dat makes our lives miserable an' when ya see us doin' somethin' ya feel dat it's da right thing ta assume dat what we'se doin' is wrong! I've been heah for 3 weeks now, Millah! 3 weeks! An' nevah once have ya smiled at me or said anything to me dat wasn't harsh, even when it wasn't mean. Youse always actin' like a badger crawled up youse petticoats dat you flaunt around in like it's some act of youse own dat you were born into a good family dat doesn't have ta live in da tenements or on da streets. Yeah, Millah, so don't ya be blamin' me or Icy about anything cause you don't know us at all! You don't know any of us heah! Look around you!" She swept her arm around, indicating the now full room. "can ya honestly say dat you care about any of us? Maybe ta you we're just a bunch of street scum but we'se more dan dat ya know. All of us is people dat deserves a chance! We were more dan happy before in comparison ta what we have to go t'rough now wit' some lady dat tinks she's so much bettah but claims ta be helpin' out! An' just for da record, I isn't a spineless brat wit' no personality of my own! An' da reason I was downstairs was cause I was thoisty. So big deal, Millah, ya can learn ta live wit' it."
Thunder spun around on her hell and marched from the room and down the stairs before Miss Miller could say a word back. The other girls in the room stared for a moment then started whispering as they started getting ready. Miss Miller glared at Icy.
"What'd I do?" Icy asked, holding her hands up to her face, palms facing Miss Miller.
"Next time your friend blows up like that, Miss Conlon, she goes straight to solitary confinement and if that doesn't work, she'll start working here and in the likely event that she messes that one up, she will be sent straight to the Refuge/"
Icy glared at Miss Miller and walked into the bunkroom, going over to her trunk and pulling out her gray skirt.
"Don't you worry, Miss Millah," she said, tugging the skirt up to her hips and fastening the button in back, "she ain't gonna blow up unless the person dat she blows up at deserves it, an' I'd have ta say dat you deserved it. If ya remembah," she continued as Miss Millah looked curiously at her, "ya was accusing us of stealing even though we've given ya almost no trouble at all an' ya called her spineless. I'd say dat you'd deserve all dat came ta ya."
An awkward moment followed.
"Well," Icy said cheerfully, "see ya latah, Miss Millah. Try not to kill youseself ovah 'allowing someone ta get out of line,' ok?"
Icy skipped down the stairs, leaving a puzzled and irritated Miss Rebecca Miller behind her.
-_-_-_-_-_-
"Keaton! How's it going?" Icy walked over to give her friend a hug.
"Heya, Icy."
"Has Thundah gotten heah already?"
Keaton's eyes sparkled. "Yeah, she has. Right now she's in Spot's 'office' telling him about this morning. From what she told me it was a total fiasco."
"What did she tell ya?" Icy asked.
"Just that Miller was being really stupid and she yelled at her."
Icy laughed. "Ya would have been so proud of her, Keaton! She got in theah an' tore Millah ta pieces! It was wondahful."
"Wish I could have seen it," Keaton sighed in mock wistfulness. "She's probably really cute when she gets angry."
"Yeah she is," Icy said, nodding her head fervently. "Ow, dat hoit. Anyway, yeah, it was great."
"What did Miller say to make her so angry? She's really easygoing and can take a lot of trash. I mean, she hangs around us. She would have to, you know?"
Icy looked at the ground. "Yeah, Keaton, but I'm gonna have ta let her tell ya what happened, it ain't my place. She'll tell ya soonah or latah. Probably soonah, she just needs time ta cool down though an' ta actually grasp dat she lived up ta her nickname."
"It's nice today," Keaton said after a moment.
"Yeah, really nice."
"Heya, Icy!"
Keaton and Icy both looked towards the voice and saw Spot and Thunder walking towards them from the entrance to the Brooklyn Boys LH.
Keaton walked quickly towards Thunder and put his arm around her shoulders. "Heya, sweetheart," he said, lightly kissing her nose.
"Hi," she answered, blushing slightly.
Icy and Spot looked at each other and Spot cleared his throat.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnyway," Spot said, "When do ya have ta be back tonight, goils?"
"It's Sunday today so not until around 11 or so, even though I don't wanna go back at all tonight," Thunder said.
"Praise da Lord dat it's Sunday; I hate sellin' in da afternoon!" Icy proclaimed to a crow sitting on a trash can.
The crow looked at her and blinked.
"CAW!"
Everyone laughed.
"Well, so what ya gonna do tonight den, Icy?" Spot asked his cousin.
Icy looked down. "I tink I'm gonna go see davey," she said. "I need to see him again. Just cause. Don't ya even roll youse eyes, Spot!" she exclaimed.
Spot laughed and rolled his eyes anyway. "Sure, cousin, sure. You go off an' do youse little kissy face thing."
"He hasn't kissed me!"
Spot became suddenly serious. "Good! He'd bettah not have!"
"Gee, Spot, youse woise dan any oldah brothah!"
"Shut up, Wicket," Spot snapped to the young boy who was entering the LH.
Wicket laughed. "Youse is! And ya know it too!" he tipped his hat at the girls and walked inside.
"He's new, ain't 'e?" Icy asked.
"Yeah, came in a week ago," Keaton answered. "He's a nice kid but from a bad background. I think he ran away."
Spot nodded. "Yeah, 'e did. Not like what happened wit' Ashley, but it really makes me sick ta see a kid dat young especially wit' bruises dat big."
"Are ya serious?" Thunder asked in astonishment. "Who would do that?"
"Sick people," Icy replied.
"Well, let's not talk about it. Go see Davey, Icy, an' make sure he can walk ya back, ovah ta heah at least ok?"
"Yes, Spot," Icy said, rolling her eyes at her cousin.
"Good!"
Everyone laughed.
A.N. – ok, I know this chappie really didn't do anything but there was a point for everything in it I promise!!! Except maybe for the crow on the trash can…. That was just a random moment… but I hope you guys liked it! You'll have to let me know what you think! Next chappie should be up soon since I'm into my writing mode right now!