Chapter Two: Meet Mitchie

I stared intensely at the school gate, waiting for my mom to come around the corner to rescue me with my spare car keys which were kept for emergencies like these. Not that this particular situation was really considered an emergency anymore; it was more like a weekly occurrence.

As I heard the sound of my mom's car turning the corner into the school parking lot I quickly threw my near-finished cigarette on the floor and put it out with my stiletto heel. Quickly, I grabbed the bottle of perfume from the bottom of my bag and sprayed it over my clothes and fingers several times until she got to around five meters away from me. If she knew I smoked she'd go mad, in fact, if she knew half of the things about me that I hid from her she'd go mad and probably disown me (slight exaggeration.)

She stopped the car next to me and opened the passenger door for me to climb in which confused me. I looked at her questioningly as I climbed in gradually, dreading her smelling the smoke on me as perfume wouldn't hide the smell for the entirety of the fifteen minute drive. "You need to learn not to lock your keys in the car and you won't learn if I keep bringing you the spare keys so I'll drive you home now and then in the morning you will get up and leave early to teach yourself a lesson about locking your keys in." She told me with a soft smile which turned to a frown soon after she'd finished talking. "Give me your hand." She instructed firmly. I knew she'd smelt the cigarette smoke on me; she'd never smoked on in her life so she'd always had a nose like a bloodhound for it.

I slowly put my innocent, smokeless left hand in her awaiting palm. She brought it up to her nose and sniffed, getting a confused look on her face then realising why she probably couldn't smell anything. "And the other one." I shakily placed my right hand into hers and silently prayed that the perfume had worked. The look of pure disgust and nausea crossing her face faster than the speed of light made it obvious that the perfume had not worked. She dropped my hand as quickly as she could and opened the window on the drivers' side. "I'm so disappointed in you right now, Mitchie." She whispered as she began to pull out of the school parking lot. Shit. Lie, Mitchie, lie.

"Mom… It wasn't me, I swear, some girl asked me to hold it for her and I wanted to make friends so I did!" I exclaimed, feigning innocence as well as I possibly could. After three years of being badass Mitchie I had perfected the arts of lying to my mother. She stopped at a red light and turned to face me.

"Breathe on me."

"What?" I almost yelled at her whilst we waited for the excruciatingly slow lights to change so I could buy myself some more time.

My mom sighed as she looked back at the lights quickly to make sure they hadn't changed yet then turned her attention back to me. "If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about. Do it now." She instructed strictly. I hated when she was like this, usually I could prove her wrong by destroying all evidence of anything bad but this time it was impossible. I groaned quietly then blew gently on her face. She scrunched her face up and I swear she got tears in her eyes. "I can't even look at you right now."

We continued to drive down the road, I hadn't even noticed the traffic lights changing but apparently they did. "Mom, please…" I trailed off, my voice almost breaking. I was nearly crying because of the purely heartbroken look on her face.

"I suggest you don't speak. We'll talk later when you don't smell like an ashtray anymore." She hissed at me bitterly through gritted teeth. She was angry, I could tell because the vein in her neck was sticking out slightly which only ever happened when she was angry or frustrated, both a genuine rarity.

The rest of the ride home was an unnaturally awkward silence. Seeing my mom so disappointed in me really broke my heart.

She let us in to the house wordlessly and walked straight in to the kitchen, grabbing my spare car keys from the 'messy drawer', I put my hands out expecting her to toss them to me but she didn't, she just pocketed them earning a 'what the hell' look from me.

"I will not have you smoking in the car that I fund. Jesus, Mitchie! One day at that new school and you're already smoking, what has happened to you? The girl that smokes and probably does god-knows what else behind my back… She is not the good-natured little girl I raised." She lectured me tiredly as she opened the refrigerator to begin preparing dinner. I widened my eyes as I realised what she was saying, she was taking my car from me.

"What? Mom it was one frigging cigarette, you can't take my car from me! I won't smoke in the car, I swear. Please, just give me my keys." I begged her, trying my best to keep calm and stop my voice from wavering at the horrific thought of having my baby taken from me. My mom looked up from the vegetables she was cutting with sympathy, or what I thought was sympathy, in her eyes.

"Come sit down," She ordered me softly. I complied and sat opposite her at the breakfast bar which was opposite the counter she was preparing at. "Mitchie, in nearly eighteen years you have never caused me a problem, you get good grades, you've never had a detention, etcetera. Now, I want you to hand me your cigarettes," I nodded silently and grabbed the packet from my bag and passed it to her. She looked inside and then closed it again, pocketing them alongside my keys. "There are five in there, you're grounded for five days and you're not getting these back. Phone," She instructed as I handed it over wordlessly. I was getting off pretty lightly, I reasoned with myself. "You can have this back when you're ungrounded."

"I'm sorry, mom. I love you, you know that right? I'd never want to hurt you." I admitted to her honestly as she placed my phone on the counter.

"I know baby. I'm just so disappointed. I love you; you're all I've really got. I don't want you to kill yourself smoking because you tried it and got addicted or whatever happened. Now, I want you to go into the living room and watch TV or something. I'll call you when dinner's ready and then you can go to your job interview. I want no more talk of this anymore, you're forgiven for now but you've lost my trust. Go on," She muttered to me, almost slipping with the knife she was cutting a carrot with. I didn't say anything else, I just went along with what she said and decided to watch a Friends rerun.

An hour later we were sat to the dining room table and I was talking quickly to her about my first day at my new school.

After dinner I kissed my mom's cheek and began the half an hour walk to the Waverly Sub Station where I'd secured a job interview with a large, sweating man that seemed to have a kind heart.

I opened the door and had to do a double take. Standing in front of me was literally the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen taking a customer's order. She had dark hair and dark eyes, flawless skin and a beautiful pair of-

"Hey, can I help you?" She asked, walking over to me with her waitress' notebook in her hand. She grinned at me and bit her lip from inside and I thought my heart stopped beating when she did. This is weird.

"Hi… I um… Is Mr. Russo around?" I asked her, clearing my throat to stop my voice coming out hoarse from the sudden dryness in my mouth. I swallowed hard, feeling like I'd just smoked a few joints from the lack of saliva I had.

Upon hearing his name the man I'd received the job interview from piped up from the kitchen and moved to stand in front of me. "Mitchie, hi, it's nice to see you again. Would you like to follow me?" He asked me rhetorically as he led me to the kitchen he was previously working in. "Sorry, this will be quick and pretty informal. Can you clean tables, take orders, make sandwiches and work a cash register?" He questioned as he quickly threw together a ham salad sub.

"Yes!" I answered, probably too eagerly.

"Brilliant, grab an apron, start now. You can work until ten. I'll pay you six dollars an hour. We'll need you Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sunday mornings. Work until ten from four on Tuesdays and Thursdays and seven until one on Sunday mornings. Today can be a trial but I'll still pay you for it." He gushed out as he handed the two prepared and wrapped sandwiches to the beautiful girl who was waiting for them through the portal. "Follow Alex around today, she'll show you the ropes." And with that he disappeared into the freezer to get more supplies.

"So, you're Mitchie?" Alex asked with a charming smile after I'd pulled the apron on. I nodded quietly after failing to get any words out. This girl was seriously beautiful, I'd never felt my heart literally stop before and she made it happen with a simple smile. "Follow me," She said as she sauntered off.

I spent the next two hours following her around, listening to her beautifully soft voice and occasionally 'accidentally' catching glimpses at her perfect arse whenever she bent over to put a sandwich on a table.

After two hours of what was an undeniable attraction to the girl in front of me I was close to breaking point. "Alex, would your dad mind if I took a smoke break?" I whispered to her, not wanting anyone to overhear in case it was against some kind of rule her dad had. She looked around the restaurant until her eyes landed on a young boy wearing the same apron as we were, taking orders from across the room.

"Max!" She called loudly, grabbing his attention. "Can you cover for us for ten?" She asked him as she brought two fingers up to her lips and made the smoking motion. The younger boy nodded and Alex turned around to face me. "Let's go out the back." She suggested, pulling her apron off and causing me to copy. We hung them up on the hangers in the kitchen and Alex led us out of a door in the back of the restaurant.

We stood under the back porch; Alex sparked a cigarette and offered me one. I shook my head to decline and opened my bag, pulling a ready-rolled joint from inside it. I needed something to control what I was feeling for this girl, it was so confusing.

I'd always found girls attractive but I'd never thought anything of it, every girl finds other girls beautiful, but never had I had my heart stop, breath hitch and mouth dry up from one simply smiling at me. Alex's eyes widened at what I was lighting and she smirked at me. "You want some?" I offered after the first few pulls hitting the back of my throat harshly.

"Sure, I'll try anything once." She replied, taking the spliff from my hand and handing me her cigarette in exchange. I watched her take a drag on the joint then grimace at the taste. "Shit, that's disgusting." She complained, not letting the taste stop her from taking another few drags. We switched back and I continued to smoke the weed.

"Where do you go to school? I haven't noticed you where I go…" I trailed off, remembering that I had only been there for a day so I may not have seen her.

"Independence high school, it's alright," She replied, flicking her cigarette butt into the watering can and doing a fist pump when it went directly in. The name of her school rang a bell but it wasn't where I went so I brushed it off. "you?"

"I actually don't know the name; it's a private all-girls school. I had to pass an exam to get in which I did on a scholarship. I only started today so I'm still getting used to it." I explained to her as I threw the roach of my joint in to the same watering can as Alex had previously. "We just moved here from California, this is all still new to me." I continued when she got a confused look on her face.

"Oh, cool. You should call me some time when we're both work-free, I could show you around if you'd like." She offered as her dad appeared in the doorway.

"Alex, quit smoking and get back to work. Don't corrupt my new girl before she's even properly started." Jerry ordered her sternly, pointing a finger at her to show that he was serious. Alex bit her lip to stop herself from laughing and rolled her eyes at her dad. "Mitchie, I'm so sorry about her." He apologised as he handed me my apron back after we'd re-entered the building.

"No, I'm sorry, I asked to go out. Alex just accompanied me." I quickly jumped to Alex's defence, not wanting to see the beautiful girl scolded for me.

"In that case, the both of you need to get back to work. Your breaks are every two hours so you were entitled to that one but please don't go out for another one until half past nine. We need you in here tonight." He kindly informed me. Alex just ignored him completely and grabbed my wrist, sending tingles up my arm and down my spine.

After an hour and a half the sub shop closed and Jerry instructed us to clean up, leaving me to wipe all thirty of the tables spotless and Alex to sweep the floor whilst Max cleaned the kitchen and Jerry counted the money in the cash register.

At ten o'clock Jerry handed me thirty dollars and bade me goodbye. Alex handed me a piece of paper with her cell number on and I left, ready to begin the long walk home in the cold New York air. I'd reached the end of the street when I felt a hand on my shoulder and almost screamed. The hand that was previously on my shoulder was covering my mouth to stop me from actually screaming and I turned around to see Alex standing there with a shy smile.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out," She began timidly. "You can't walk in this cold, in the dark on your own. Do you want a ride?" she dangled her car keys in front of me; I'd think it was tauntingly but she didn't know about my mom taking my car.

"That'd be great if you don't mind." I quickly jumped at the chance of a ride home; I did not fancy walking in the dark in an unfamiliar city. We walked to a black Nissan and Alex unlocked it, both of us climbed in and she started the engine.

"Where do you live?" she asked as she switched her Sat Nav on. I keyed in my address for her and let the robotic voice guide us there.

We talked about random teenage girl things, everything except boys. She was telling me about her nickname, Rebel Russo, and I told her about how my mom had caught me smoking earlier and she laughed at my punishment.

"My parents let me do what I want. They tried to discipline me but eventually they gave up and now I can do anything." She told me as she stopped in front of my house. All of the lights were off which I found to be strange seeing as it was only ten fifteen. At the sound of the car engine the living room light switched on and the front door burst open, revealing my mom in a dark sweat suit with the hood pulled right up. I knew straight away she'd be crying.

"I'd best go. Thank you." I told Alex who looked up from her phone and pulled me in for a hug, never once looking at my house. I exited the car quickly and she drove off, beeping her horn as she went.

"Michelle Torres get in this house right now." My mom growled at me sinisterly as I got closer to the door. Her eyes were bright red and I'd literally never seen her in a worse state.

I was terrified.

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