The phone rang.
Stop ringing.
It didn't stop. Three. Four. Five rings.
Stop ringing, blast it! I'm in no mood to freakin' chat.
Nine rings. The caller knew she was home. Sighing, she rolled over onto her side and lifted the phone, rocking over onto her back again and putting it against her ear. She managed to force a somewhat-normal voice out of her body.
"Hello?" Okay, so somewhat-normal-for-a-girl-with-no-life voice. She sounded like a cross between a lush and a frog. And a girl in a mental ward. And-
"Hello, is this Ruby?"
Arrrrgggh. A boy. And I sound like a mutant.
"Let me check." She sat up and looked down at her lower half. The baggy black pants, the tight black fishnet top that stopped just short of her bellybutton. She couldn't see the black tank top underneath that because it just covered her larger upper-half parts, but she knew it was there. She flopped back down. "Yeah. It's me."
"You had to check?" He laughed. Too bad she didn't know who he was. Bother. Always the little things, keeping her from smiling.
"Sometimes I forget."
No seriously. I do.
"Ha ha ha…" Cute.
"Who is this?"
"Ha—O-oh! It's Craig! From English." Ah. Craig from English. Craig… hot… good…She wiped her eyes and cleared her throat.
"Hey. What's up?" Ruby sounded a lot more human now.
"Nothing… I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out or something?"
"Now?"
"Yeah. You live just down the street from Sean and I. I could walk to your place…"
"No!" The word burst forth faster than she could contain it. Craig sounded stunned, even over the phone.
Jesus, Ruby, you're a freakin' FREAK…
"Do you want to meet me at the corner? We could… go for a walk."
"The…? Oh yeah… right…" She calmed down, as long as he didn't see her house. She nodded to herself, sitting up. "I'll meet you there in ten minutes, All right?"
"Sounds good."
They hung up. Ruby pulled one sleeve down over the wet gashes on her right arm, already clotting, they would be invisible beneath the tight making of the fabric. Slowly, she rose, her left hand groped the bedspread for her razor blade—still drying—and she let her fist hang idle at her side for a moment. A deep feeling of regret surged inside of her, but she headed it off with a resolute numbness. Dropping the offensive, accursed thing into the garbage, she tiptoed past her parents' room, crept down the stairs, and slipped out of the door.
When he came to the corner she was sitting on the curb, her head was bent, her back hunched, shoulders resting on her knees. As Ruby heard his approach she turned her face towards him, but it's pale depths were still obscured by the black braids that hung from her cornrows.
"Hey." She said, a sweet smile spreading over her.