Kelly shuffled her feet almost awkwardly as she watched her friends pass around the lone cigarette that Chloe had somehow managed to acquire. She watched as her friend took a long drag and held it out to her. She shook her head. "Nah, it's ok," she mumbled
Chloe rolled her eyes and shot her a pitying look as she leaned further forward, pushing the smoking item directly under Kelly's nose, causing her to cough slightly. "Don't be so boring! Try it, you never know you might even enjoy yourself for once."
Continuing to look at it doubtfully, Kelly shook her head. "No, no I don't want it."
Giving an irritated sigh, Chloe passed it instead to Tracy and turned her brown eyes back on Kelly. "You know Kel, you're getting really really boring!"
"I just don't think I'll like it."
"You know I'm starting to think that you don't really fit in with us. I mean you don't come out with us-"
"That's not my fault!" Kelly protested. "You know I want to come out with you-"
"There are always ways."
"Not with my Dad," she mumbled.
"I'm just saying that maybe you want to find other people to hang out with," Chloe continued and she giggled maliciously. "Like Penny Fairfax, she's boring too."
Kelly swallowed uncomfortably as the others broke into peals of laughter and launched into a round of mocking Penny, who was tall, gangly with both braces and glasses. "Oh God!" Sophie laughed. "Did you see her at lunch yesterday, she tripped and went flying, she was covered in soup!"
"Yeah, just think Kelly, you and her can swap tips on doing your maths homework," Chloe teased.
Feeling more than a little desperate, Kelly lunged forward and grabbed the cigarette mid pass. "I can do interesting things," she said as she inhaled deeply and triggered a massive coughing fit.
"Don't worry," Chloe assured her, smiling now that she'd gotten her own way. "You get used to it."
Kelly nodded and passed the cigarette blindly onwards. "What about the smell on my clothes?"
"Oh that's easy," Lisa scoffed. "You change when you get in and just get some body spray, no one ever knows." She stubbed out the now depleted stick out with her toe. "Chloe you got some with you."
"Yup," the girl opened her bag and pulled out a small red aerosol can. She sprayed herself liberally and threw it over to her friend. "Knock yourself out."
Smiling, Lisa offered it to Kelly, as she took it Lisa nudged her, whispering, "See, not so hard."
Standing at the bus door waiting for the vehicle to draw to a halt, Kelly could feel Maddy's disapproving eyes boring into her. "What!" she snapped.
The blonde girl shrugged. "Nothing," she mumbled.
Kelly shot her a glare for good measure as the doors finally opened. Jumping off the bus, she walked the few yards to her own house, letting herself inside. Her frown deepened when she heard the noise emanating from the living room. Stepping forward, she leaned against the arch and crossed her arms, watching as Diane dismantled the TV. "That's not yours," she pointed out.
Diane's head snapped up. "Oh good," she drawled sarcastically. "You're home."
As the woman turned back to pulling the wires out of the back of the TV, Kelly tried again, this time she was louder as she repeated, "That isn't yours!"
"Well I decided I deserved a little something extra for putting up with you and your Dad for so long."
"Oh well in that case what do we get for putting up with you?" Kelly asked casually, knowing that it annoyed Diane the most when she didn't rise to the bait.
Diane's nostrils flared as she let her breath out in an annoyed hiss, she whirled to face the petite teenager, her hands on her hips. "You," she spat. "Are the most unpleasant child I've ever had the misfortune to meet!"
"Because you're all sunshine and light."
"I could have made your Dad happy, does it make you proud to know that you've ruined our marriage?"
"I think the fact that you're a miserable cow had more to do with my Dad choosing me over you." Kelly took in the surprised look on Diane's face. "Yeah," she snarled. "I know all about what you said last night." She'd had enough of this now, she hated Diane and she was so glad to see that she was finally leaving. Ignoring Diane's rant, she walked through to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and grabbed the orange juice, pouring herself a liberal sized glass of the liquid, and walking back through to the table. Flopping down into a seat, she watched as Diane lugged the TV out of the room, and shook her head. She pulled out her science homework, figuring she may as well do something to keep herself occupied, that and it was biology, she didn't actually mind that subject.
A loud thud from the direction of upstairs caught her attention, she frowned, her lips twisting disapprovingly as she realised that Diane seemed determined to ransack the house before she went. Tapping her pencil against her mouth, Kelly shrugged, at least she was going. She'd always hated Diane, the woman had always made it perfectly clear that she just wasn't interested in her, although it had been a thousand times worse after the wedding. Before the wedding Kelly had actually been quite relieved that Diane didn't pretend that she was her Mom like Laura had done. Kelly bit into her bottom lip, she'd actually liked Laura at first, she thought she'd cared, although it had been a bit weird when at the wedding reception she'd hugged her and declared brightly that now she could call her Mom.
Kelly giggled at the memory, her Dad's jaw had hit the floor and her Gran had looked like her head was about to explode. The giggles stopped abruptly as the memories continued to rise up, yeah Laura had been nice at first, saying that she loved her, that she wouldn't leave and then doing it anyway, for all her supposed love and their 'close' relationship, Laura had left without a word and she'd never heard from her again. So she'd thought that Diane would be better, she wasn't false, if she didn't care then she couldn't hurt her. The main problem with being that Diane was actually just a heartless bitch who didn't want her life to include Kelly in any way shape or form.
Her eyes scanned over the first question, her fingers twirling absentmindedly with a strand of her hair. It didn't really matter anymore, her Dad had picked her, so ding dong the bitch was dead.
The clatter of footsteps and the heavy slam of the front door accompanied by the squeal of tyres, signalled Diane's final departure from the house. Kelly sipped at her juice through the crazy straw she'd located, crossing her eyes to watch the liquid swoop and swirl.
She missed her Mom, she didn't want a replacement, not that anyone could ever replace her anyway. Although she sometimes wondered how she and her Mom would have got on, if they would have argued a lot or if she'd be the one that she could always turn to for help. She knew that her Dad loved her, and that he'd do anything for her, but it just wasn't the same, there were a lot of things that she just didn't want to talk to her Dad about, because it would just be cringe-worthy.
Letting himself into the house, Gibbs headed in the direction of the dining area as that was where some form of music was blaring from.
On seeing her Dad walk into the room, Kelly hit the power button letting the room fall into silence. He gave her an absent-minded smile as he asked almost apprehensively, "Where's Diane?"
Kelly's smile faltered and she blinked rapidly, her hatred for her hopefully soon to be ex stepmother skyrocketed, how could she not tell her Dad that she was leaving him, what a total cow! She winced, hoping that he wouldn't be upset, and very quietly told him, "Dad, turn around."
He frowned at her, but followed the request. As soon as he saw the blank spot where the TV had previously resided he knew what had happened. "She cleared out the place then," he stated to no-one in particular.
"Uh huh, she's taken a bunch of stuff out of the kitchen too, including the coffee maker and the blender."
Gibbs frowned. "She's never used the blender, you use it for those fruit things."
"Probably why she took it," Kelly mumbled darkly, adding as an afterthought, "And they're called smoothies, Dad."
He turned to face her again. "Were you here when she left?"
"Yeah."
His face creased worriedly. "She didn't say anything to you, did she?"
Kelly shrugged. "Just her usual."
"What was her usual?" Gibbs asked. He knew that Diane had never been overly pleasant to Kelly, but he wasn't sure what she actually said to her, although he had broached the subject of her attitude towards the teenager on numerous occasions.
"I'm a spoiled selfish brat apparently." Gibbs dropped down into the chair next to his daughter, and shook his head sadly. Kelly's eyes narrowed worriedly and she was suddenly filled with a rush of guilt as she wondered whether what Diane had said about her wrecking the marriage was true. So she asked, "Dad, are you really upset that she's gone?"
Gibbs wrapped his arm around her, hugging her as far into his side as the chairs would allow. "No," he replied, kissing the top of her head. "Just sorry that I let her stay so long," he told his daughter candidly.
She shrugged. "S'okay," she mumbled. Then looking up at him she shot him a cheeky grin and said, "Just next time don't feel you have to get married. You'll start to get a reputation."
Gibbs laughed. "Tell you what, next time I'll come and ask for your permission before I propose."
"Deal," Kelly replied, giggling. "But you won't get it."
"I can live with that, we're not a bad team, just the two of us."
Her ponytail waggled and bobbed as she shook her head. "Better than having to put up with Diane, although the bubonic plague's probably better than her."
"Hmmm." He was inclined to agree with his daughter's character assassination, but he wasn't sure that he should be encouraging her, so he changed the subject. "Tell you what, how about I cook tonight?"
"Or we could save time and just get the takeout we'll end up getting anyway after you burn everything."
"Don't be so cheeky."
"It's the truth."
"Not the point, Kels. Now pizza or Chinese?"
"Chinese," she replied decisively. And as they pulled out and poured over the menu together a relative and unusual calm spread over the house.