"I told her once I wasn't good at anything. She told me survival is a talent."
―Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted

"Jay come on. Get the hell up!"

I groaned and slowly opened my eyes focusing on a mess of blue hair.

"Jay!"

"I can get up without you screaming at me," I complained though I don't think it actually came out as comprehensible English. "I don't know what you just said, but it was probably rude. And I don't have time to fight with you because we need to get out of here," Evie huffed still shaking me.

"Fine, I surrender," I mumbled fully opening my eyes. I grabbed for my beanie that was lying on my chest and put it on. I sat up on the old green futon I had been sleeping on to see Evie stuffing her bag. "Why are we in a rush?"

"Because someone should be coming to open this place any minute now!"

I laid back down with a sigh staring up at the ceiling. The ceiling was white decorated with golden accents. We were staying at an old theater at the edge of downtown. While far past its glory days it was still in operation and giving the place a long look it was easy to tell that once upon a time all things glamorous gathered here. Which of course meant Evie fed up every moment of being there. It wasn't difficult to break into and after a show finished its run the theater was usually left vacant. So, we had been staying there for a few days, having to dodge no one but the janitor, until another company had come into town to begin the setup of another show.

"What's in the bag?" I asked watching as Evie stood like a statue staring inside of it. She pulled out a sparkling midnight blue floor-length dress. "Shit! Where'd you get that?" I mean we definitely weren't above shoplifting clothes, but any store that sold a dress like that would kick us out before we made it to the entrance. "Perfect huh," she whispered staring at the dress. She spun it around holding it up to herself causing it to sparkle under the ceiling lights. "I found it in one of the dressing rooms guess it was just accidentally left behind. Can you believe it?" she squealed "I mean who could possibly just forget about a dress like this?"

"Probably someone who can afford a million more like them," I scoffed "Nice find though. Bet we could get tons for it." She gave me a look like I had just told her that I wanted to burn the dress in a trashcan for fun. "What? All you gotta do is fix your hair, slap on a smile, and we might be able to convince someone you didn't kill an heiress for it."

I barely dodged the can of hairspray that went flying at me. "I would not sell this dress if I was on my deathbed!" Evie yelled clutching the dress close to her "I altered it up a bit with the sewing machine in the back while you were sleeping and now it fits perfect."

I got up to pack my bag focusing on taking the food we found in the storage room at concessions and looking quickly around for anything else to take that wouldn't be too missed but earn me a couple of bucks. "What's the point in keeping it. When are you planning to ever wear that?" I said swiping some random props from a table.

"It doesn't matter if I ever get a chance to wear it," Evie mumbled her voice taking a sad undertone, "Just having it makes me feel like a princess."

"You are a princess." I smiled at her throwing my backpack over my shoulders. She let out a laugh and turned to me with a devilish look in her eyes that made me roll mine. "Yes.." she started dramatically throwing her bag over her shoulder and running out onto the stage behind the velvet curtain, "…the princess of failing theaters!" I automatically jumped onto one of the railings and pulled the curtain open. Evie burst into a fit of giggles as the curtains slowly pulled open and she tore through them strutting down to center stage in her patched leather skirt and matching top. "Welcome to our show folks." My fake announcer voice thundering through the empty theater. "Presenting our favorite mischievous and misfit isle princess…EVIE!"

"Thank you Auradon city!' Evie shouted to the pretend admirers in the audience. I jumped down from the railing and flattening out my maroon hoodie and ran onto the stage doing a combination of flips. "And her dashing co-star," I belted catching my breath "The prince of thieves J…"

"Shit!" Evie interrupted me her eyes going wide. She grabbed my arm and we rushed back behind the curtain. I peeked out to see a security guard followed by some guy in a suit rushing towards us. "Didn't anybody tell them that we were all sold out." She whispered giving me a smirk. I returned her witty remark with a snort and we bolted through the theater flying out of one of the backdoors. We kept running down the street it led out to until we reached the corner and ducked behind another building.

"I don't think they're following us," Evie said between breaths. "Yeah, I didn't think they would," I said as we started walking through the empty morning backstreets. "Ugh I hope this doesn't make them increase security or something," she groaned pushing her dress further down in her bag. The theater was one of the nicer places we've managed to continuously squat in and it was Evie's favorite place. I didn't mind since it was fitted with actual furniture and had a working AC, plus it was really fun to just hang out there for a few days and feel normal. Though I guess my normal was breaking and entering, taking food from unexpecting vendors, and being an overall nuisance to society. So, the leisure that came from sleeping on vintage furniture while Evie tried on old theater costumes wasn't quite normal it was amazing. "I wouldn't worry too much about it," I told her reassuringly.

She lifted her arms and stretched with a yawn. "Well off to the next destination," Evie said as we entered onto the crowded main streets. "I heard from Mal a while ago. Said she was crashing in somebody's vacant summer house by the coast."

"Sounds romantic," I smirked at her. "Yeah, maybe if you weren't there," she retorted with a saucy smile. "Wow, that hurts!" I gasped in a fake shocked voice. "You dare abandon your friend just cause you want to bang a girl."

"Aren't you a hypocrite." she teased pushing me, and both of us laughing when I bumped into some shabby looking kid who flipped us off in response. "There are no people on this earth quite like the Auradon trash." Evie sighed. I snickered at her nickname for some of the residents of the Isle. The Isle was just a local nickname for our part of Auradon city, the shitty part. Mal joked that people called it that because only a small piece of land connected us with the rest of Auradon, and all we needed was one good earthquake and we'd all just float away. Maybe she had a point and that's what Mayor Beast was hoping would happen since he and his rich posse didn't care about us at all. Evie always said that all of Auradon's trash managed to float over to the Isle and it was the same for the people. Those that didn't fit into their perfect society were sent over here with the rest of the garbage. When she would make remarks like that it worried me a little because Evie was born in one of the nicer parts of Auradon city until her father divorced her mother and threw both of them out onto the streets. I can't help but think that Evie counts herself as another piece of Auradon trash.

"Anyway, come on. We've got to hurry if we want to be there soon, it's all the way across town." She said leading us across the street filled with either shabby cars or stolen ones. "No worries I actually think I'm gonna stay behind for a little while," I objected turning slowly around the other way. "You sure?" she asked slight concern in her eyes but mostly just indifference. "Yeah, I need supplies and plus I've been just chilling for a few days I could use a little excitement," I replied giving her a mischievous smile. She just rolled her eyes. "Whatever, just don't get arrested while you're at it."

"Come on, who do you think you're talking to," I smirked at her pulling my hair behind my ears and gesturing to myself with a flair. "Just meet us when you've finished your crime spree. If we're not still at the house then we'll be…" she trailed off thinking. "I'm sure you'll manage to find us."

"I always do," I said waving goodbye and walking off further into the city.

I looked around at the different graffitied street signs trying to decide what to do first. I could start at some of the usual shops or pickpocket some unsuspecting visitors. Maybe I'd go by Gaston's bar drunk people were by far the easiest to steal from. I slunk into the shadows watching the people pass by unaware. It wouldn't take long to find some trouble, in a place like the Isle it was always waiting around the corner.