The Return Of Carla: Part I
A hard day of school had just ended for Grace, Jessie, Katie, and Zoe. The girls were definitely in for a long homework session. Sure, some would be done before others, like Zoe and Grace, but Zoe was in the 6th grade now, and Grace was now a senior, so her homework stressing days were practically over.
The girls were interrupted when the doorbell rang. The first ring was normal, but after a couple of seconds the house boomed with a quick, rapid sound of impatient jabbing. Grace got up from her chair at the kitchen table where she was doing her Calculus homework. She smoothed out her modestly tight khaki-colored bellbottoms to get rid of the crumbs that had collected when she was having some 'Chips Ahoy!' cookies. Her hair was down and met her shoulders that were covered by a comfortable red sweater.
"I'm coming," Grace shouted politely. Grace stopped halfway to the front door to think about how this was all familiar. It wasn't exactly a déjà vu type feeling; it was more of a familiar feeling from not too long ago. It was the ring. The ring was what was familiar.
(Interview in b/w) Grace: (While grinning.) Oh my God! How could I forget? Carla and I had a ring. A special ring. Carla always did it to annoy my mom. (She laughs.)
"No Way," Grace almost shrieked with joy, under her breath of coarse. She could make out a dark figure through the translucent glass. It had to be her. Grace wasn't sure if she was supposed to be happy or cautious. You could never be too sure with Carla.
Zoe was rushing behind Grace to see who was at the door. Grace put an end to the suspense and swung open the door. There was a moment of silence. It all seemed like it wasn't even happening to Grace.
"Carla!" Zoe screamed. Even in 6th grade Zoe still had the tendency to act like a five year old whenever Grace's friends were around. Grace noticed Carla looked different. She looked flashier and didn't have that white trash aura hanging around her. Carla stood in front of the entrance way in huge clunky black platform boots. Her tight denim miniskirt screamed "I'm an MTV vj!" and her white top seemed a bit 'Pretty Woman-y'. The new look didn't surprise Grace too much. She always knew Carla was bigger than anything in this hometown of hers.
"Grace, it's Carla-Carla's here!" Zoe nagged happily, yanking on Carla's right arm playfully. Carla acknowledged Zoe with a polite laugh. "It's good to see someone missed me," Carla paused after that. "What about you Manning? Did you miss me?" Carla looked at Grace expectantly. She had turned somewhat serious all of a sudden. Grace used every ounce of strength in her body to keep herself from bursting into tears. She wrapped her arms around her best friend. Carla quickly reacted and grabbed a hold of Grace as if she was never going to let her go. They held each other tightly and enjoyed every moment of it.
It had turned into a group hug shortly in a matter of seconds after that, with Zoe clinging to both Grace and Carla. Zoe couldn't help but think that Carla was the coolest person she knew. It wasn't much of a lie either, considering the town they all lived in. Grace fought back an urge to shoo Zoe away. It didn't matter. It was all good for Grace right now.
"What do you think?" Grace finally answered Carla. "You have no idea what it's been like without you here."
Grace relinquished her hold on Carla and led her into the house, noticing that Carla was starting to tear up.
Grace: I've only seen Carla cry once or twice. She was always the strong one out of the both of us. I just pretended to be strong to hang out with her. You had to at least pretend to be a tough chick when you were with Carla.
"We have a lot to catch up on," Grace let her own tears stream down her face, now knowing it was okay to cry.
***
"You hungry?" Grace asked Carla as they walked into the kitchen. Zoe wasn't too far behind them. "What are you kidding, I'm always hungry," Carla answered. It was true. Carla could eat anything she wanted and she would never really gain any weight. Grace grabbed a bag of cookies and a strawberry milk out of the fridge for her friend. She sat down and slid the bag and bottle of milk over to Carla. "So where have you been all this time?" Grace asked.
Carla opened the bag of chocolate chip cookies with rainbow sprinkles on them, and started nibbling on one before answering. She looked so beautiful. Even more beautiful than Grace remembered. Some time away from this town must have done Carla some good. Her long black hair was thick and full of loose curls. They dropped down to her waist, something Grace was always slightly jealous of. She looked perfect, but Grace knew she was far from it on the inside. That's what she loved about Carla. She was so gorgeously flawed to Grace.
"It's a long story," Carla answered, kind of implying she was about to go on and explain everything, but Grace saw that Carla didn't really want to talk about it.
Grace: We would talk about everything. That's the way we were. When we talked, nothing mattered. Carla has to be the most talkative person I know.
"C'mon, we've never hid anything from each other before," Grace said, playfully. Carla was sipping her milk and nibbling on her cookies. Even Carla's manners had changed. Carla was always somewhat sloppy when eating. Grace could see that Carla was a bit more dainty. Carla smiled and thought about what Grace had just said for a second. "I know, I just don't wanna burden you. It's all been tough …" Carla was now fiddling with the cap from her strawberry milk. "You think you can handle the truth?" Carla joked.
Grace: I've only been talking to her a few minutes and I can tell she's changed. Not in a bad way. She's just grown up. I can tell whatever she's been through has made her grow up fast.
"Yeah," Grace gave Carla a cool, laid back laugh. "I've been through some stuff this year too," Grace referred to her incident with Mr. Dimitri. She smiled at Carla, implying to her friend that there was a lot of stuff they had to catch up on. It was time to swap campfire stories.
"I don't think your year can compare to mine," Carla laughed. Grace nodded in pure surrender. "Your probably right about that, but my year deserves an honorable mention," Grace contested. At that point Grace had realized that Jessie and Katie weren't in the kitchen doing homework anymore. They must have snuck out and gone upstairs while Grace and Zoe got the door. Grace had to admit that made her a little uncomfortable. With Zoe now upstairs doing her homework, Grace worried that Zoe might accidentally barge in on Jessie and Katie making out in the attic. It was definitely a possibility, especially with Zoe's tendency never to knock. Zoe knowing wouldn't be that big of a deal. What worried Grace more was explaining it all to her little sister. There was also the problem of whether or not Zoe would keep it all a secret from the rest of the family. Jessie wasn't exactly ready to come out of the closet yet, and Grace respected that.
"Let's go up to my room," Grace said to Carla. Carla shrugged. "Sure," she got up from her seat and threw her empty container of milk in the trash on the way out of the kitchen, Grace was right behind her. "Hey, bring that bag of cookies in the fridge, they're pretty good," Carla said. "On it," Grace said, turning back to the fridge to get the cookies. Carla kept going up to Grace's room.
When she got to the top of the stairs she thought she would pay someone a visit first. She took a left at the upstairs hallway and went up another stairwell to the attic. "Eli? Guess who's back…" Carla said in her best Carol Ann impression. She giggled a little bit. She hadn't seen Eli for a while. When she entered the attic she was surprised that Eli wasn't there. She instead found two girls on a bed…making out.
"Oh-I'm sorry. I thought Eli was here," Carla said quickly. She felt totally stupid and embarrassed. Jessie and Katie were freaking out. Jessie quickly staggered to her feet to collect herself and make it seem like nothing was going on. That was quite impossible. Carla had seen just about everything that could have been seen. Katie didn't seem nearly as worried as Jessie. She was more worried about Jessie right now. She knew how important it was for her to stay in the closet.
"Who the hell are you?!" Jessie asked loudly, before Carla could make her way back down the staircase. The "h" word sounded foreign in Jessie's mouth and her voice had cracked when she said it. The intensity of the situation at hand had her nervous. "I'm Carla-Grace's friend. I thought this was Eli's room. I'm sorry, I should have knocked or something," Carla apologized. "You're damn right, you should have knocked," Jessie again sounded strange using a curse word. "I'll go," Carla said. "I'm really, really sorry."
"Wait!," Katie interjected before Carla made her getaway. "Don't go," Katie pleaded. Jessie could hear something from downstairs. "Carla? Carla?" wondered into Jessie's ears. It was Grace's voice. She must have been looking for her friend. None of this seemed like it was happening.
Jessie: I need to start locking my door!
Jessie could hear footsteps from the bottom of the stairwell. Carla was standing at the top of the stairs and Grace had now joined her. "Here you are. I thought we were going in my room?" Grace asked her friend. Then she took a moment and looked around the room. Everyone was standing. Jessie looked as if she were going to throw up and Katie couldn't stop fidgeting. "Okay, what's going on," Grace asked everyone, although she already kind of knew the answer. "Your friend here, barged in without knocking and saw-" Jessie didn't let herself finish. So far Jessie hadn't been able to call Katie her girlfriend or admit she was a lesbian. So saying something like "your friend caught us on the bed kissing," was definitely out of the question.
Grace looked at her friend standing next to her. "What were you doing up here?" Grace asked. Maybe she could help fix some of this. "I thought it was Eli's room… I guess he doesn't crash here anymore," Carla said, apologetically. Grace felt sorry for her girl. She knew Jessie was feeling terrible right now as well. Carla had just walked in the middle of everything and it all seemed like it was all falling apart for Jessie.
"Look, Carla, you can't tell anyone about this. I mean no one," Grace said slowly to Carla. Carla nodded in understanding. "Right, who am I gonna tell, anyway? The only real friend I have right now is you, Grace, and you already know," Carla paused and looked at Katie and Jessie standing apart from each other by the bed. "So you guys don't have to worry," Carla told the two. There was a moment of silence after that. Everyone looked at one another. The room was at a stand still.
"So is everything okay?" Grace broke the silence. Everyone looked at Jessie and waited for an answer. Jessie didn't answer for a moment, but when she thought of what to say she spit it out quickly. "Just don't mention anything around my family. Only Grace knows." Carla nodded once more. "No problem."
With that, Grace and Carla left Katie and Jessie. Jessie locked the door behind her step-sister and her friend and then flopped back on her bed. "Great, a few more people and the whole world will know," Jessie exhaled. Katie sat next to her girlfriend on her bed. Katie couldn't fight back the grin forming on her face. Jessie could sure be a drama queen sometimes. "C'mon, it's not that big of a deal. It's two people that know. Not everyone, but two people," Katie said through a small giggle. "Why don't you just come out?" Katie asked.
"Are you kidding? My parents would wig out. I'm already in therapy for my eating problems. I'm just getting over that. I don't want them to send me to another shrink," Jessie stated. A strange expression fell on Katie's face, just then. She seemed disturbed by what Jessie had just said. "Your parents would send you to a shrink because your different?" Katie asked. Jessie didn't answer right away. She first sighed and then gave the whole answer thing a try. "I dunno…maybe…it's hard to say with my parents."
Katie replied to that with a "Hmmm…I see" and looked at her girlfriend with a blank expression. She wondered if she would ever tell her parents, because she wasn't sure how long she could be with a girl who kept secrets liked this from important people in her life. It made Katie feel uncomfortable.
***
"Eli lives in the garage now, just in case you were wondering," Grace said. "She had to say something. They had just been sitting on Grace's bed not saying anything to each other. "Your step-sister hates me doesn't she?" Carla asked Grace. "Jessie? No, she'll get over it. Don't worry about it," Grace said. "Since when is Jessie into girls? I knew Katie was, but I wouldn't have thought Jessie was," Carla branched the conversation out into a different direction.
"I was surprised too, but it's no big deal. It's cool she has somebody, you know?" Grace looked at Carla. "Yeah, everyone deserves someone," Carla smiled. "So, is there a special someone in your life?" Carla asked. Grace blushed. There wasn't anyone right now, but she wanted to tell her about Mr. Dimitri. "There was someone earlier this year, but it didn't work out," Grace left Carla wanting more. "Well, who was it? Do I know him?" Carla asked. She wanted to know who had the guts to date the one and only Grace Manning.
"Yeah, you kinda know him. It was that English teacher, Mr. Dimitri," Grace said, more nonchalantly than she wanted. "Grace Manning! No way! What happened?" Carla shrieked with excitement. "It didn't get too serious. We barely even had a relationship before things got around at school and we got caught," Grace didn't sound too disappointed when she answered Carla. It wasn't a big deal anymore. It was a chapter of Grace's life. It had been read and now it was onto a new chapter for Grace.
"That's always the way it ends up," Carla said, feeling a little bit sorry for Grace. "Age shouldn't matter so much. I mean you're almost eighteen," Carla said. She always knew the right things to say to Grace. It felt good to have her best friend comforting her again. "It's good to have you back here, Carla," Grace stated. "It feels good to be back," Carla replied. There was silence for a while. What was there to say after so long. So much, but where did you begin in situations like these? Grace and Carla didn't know.
"So when is Eli around?" Carla asked. She automatically felt guilty about asking about Eli instead of Grace. "I dunno. He comes around whenever. You know Eli," Grace smiled. "He's single you know…if you're looking to get back with him." Grace had always loved the idea of Grace and Eli being together. She had to admit that she was jealous at first, but that was natural. After a while Grace thought about it more and realized that if they ever, for some strange reason, settled down with each other that would make Grace and Carla family. Sisters…or something like that.
"Well, I dunno about that, but when he comes back we should go out. All of us. Jessie and Katie too," Carla said with a medium smile on her face. "Out?" Where?" Grace asked. She wasn't really a going out type girl. She wasn't a partier and she wasn't a clubber. She wasn't into getting plastered and wasn't into the whole casual sex thing. Even when she hung out with Carla she was still pretty clean cut. Sure she participated in the occasional protest or rally every now and then, but that was as rowdy as Grace got. Maybe it was time to change the usual routine. At least for one night. It was a Friday and she didn't have anything planned.
"To a club. I know this under 21 thing going on up on Chapel Ave. It's a pretty nice space to dance in," Carla explained, hoping Grace would say yes. Grace mulled it over for a moment. She shrugged and answered finally. "Sounds cool. When do we leave?"
***
Lily had given the okay for Grace and Jessie to go to the club. Of coarse they had to promise to do no drinking or drugs of any kind. They had to use the geeky buddy system. Jessie would have Katie and Grace would have Carla. And then there was Eli. He had to promise to keep a close eye on the four girls. After all of that was a done deal it was only a matter of getting ready.
Jessie and Katie were almost like twins wearing Bohemian type clothing that was hip and earthy looking. They were both wearing tan colored bellbottoms and thin loose fabric blouses. Grace wore a red vintage t-shirt that had been sitting in the back of her closet. It had a picture of a black convertible thunderbird in front. She paired that with a pair of torn bellbottoms and a heap load of wrist accessories. Carla was sporting her new look. She wore shiny black platform boots. Not too huge so that she wouldn't be able to dance in them. A plaid skirt that ruffled around her legs like a Sailor Moon uniform. Chains dangled all around her waist. She topped that off with a simple tight black A-tee.
Eli wasn't really into the whole dance scene so he dressed in everyday type clothing that left you desiring more. He wasn't sure if he was going to enjoy himself tonight, but he was going to try. Why not? Right?
"You guys got the cell-phone?" Lily asked as the group of five were heading out the door. Her and Sam were sitting on the couch watching a DVD. "Yeah," Eli answered. "Okay," Lily said back. "Have fun," Sam added. "Be good," Lily got the last word in. "We will," Grace replied to her mother.
With that the five loaded into Lily's SUV. Eli drove and Carla got shotgun. Grace sat in the back and Katie and Jessie snuggled in the far back of the SUV. Carla instructed Eli where to go and they were on their way. "So where you been all this time?" Eli asked when he realized the car was too silent with the exception of Jessie and Katie's giggling in the back of the SUV. "New York," Carla replied.
"Really?" Eli asked, not sounding too surprised.
"Yeah, I had a cousin there."
"What was it like?" Grace asked. "It was okay. It's no big deal once you've seen all the sights. After a week it's really normal," Carla answered from the front. Grace nodded at Carla's reply. All of a sudden the giggling was getting louder from the back seat. Eli only grinned. He didn't know what to think about his sister being a lesbian. At was no biggie. He had nothing against it. She was still Jessie. He was really happy that she had found someone.
"How long are you gonna keep this from Mom and Dad?" Eli asked just for the heck of it. It didn't bother Jessie like Katie thought it would. She laughed as she answered her brother. "Why do they have to know. They would only freak out and send me to a shrink." Everyone in the car couldn't help but smirk at her answer. It was true. That's probably what Jessie's parents would do. Even Carla knew it and she wasn't even apart of the family.
"Don't worry about it Eli. What they don't know wont hurt them," Jessie added. Katie was silent. She didn't want to comment on any of this. She didn't agree with her on this issue and she didn't want to fight about it. She just wanted to have a good time like everyone else in the car. They were close to the club now. It was time to forget about the real world.