Karen was excited when she found out Marina was taking her to the mall.
Kenny hopped into the backseat, "Excuse you. Girls Day." Karen glared back at him.
"Yeah, get out dude." Marina backed her up.
"Oh hell nah. I am not going to let you go alone with this one. I don't trust her outfit decisions anymore. I want to make sure she isn't letting you dress like a slut." Kenny shook his head.
"I'm right here." Marina sighed, "And I wouldn't let your sister wear anything that I know you would be mad at me for buying."
"Kenny please?" She begged, "I really want a girls shopping trip."
Kenny sighed, "Fine. But.. Marina, you better not let her buy anything you would wear."
"Screw you Kenny. Go inside and call a girl or something. I got this." Marina laughed.
Kenny got out of the car and watched them leave before going inside.
"Damn, always acting like your dad or something." Marina shook her head.
"I know." She giggled, "But I think he feels like he has to because our dad doesn't."
"It is nice of him. He definitely cares about you."
"He is a really good guy. Even though he is kinda a whore."
"Kinda." Marina laughed, Karen laughed out loud with her.
Marina pulled into a parking spot in the mall and they headed inside.
"Pick out what store you want to go to first. And then we will just grab whatever, try it on and whatever works we are buying." Marina told her as they made their way through the entrance area.
Karen started heading toward a direction, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, it's on my parents bank account so my dad will have to pay for it. And he will have my back right now because he owes me big."
"Is that why he gave my dad a job?"
"Yes." Marina winced, "Sorry about that."
"No. Don't be! It is really good." Karen told her as she turned into a store.
Marina ended up walking off and looking at some clothes for herself as well.
It was a little bit before Karen found her, her arms filled with clothes, "I know it's a lot. I won't buy it all. I just don't get to try things often, and I wanted to try a lot of it."
"Girl, it's fine! Let's go get dressing rooms."
They ended up buying almost $100 worth of clothes, Marina let Karen pick out a couple more stores. When they finally left their hands were full of bags.
"I have never had this many clothes before!" Karen squealed.
"I hope Kenny doesn't get on my case for some of those outfits."
"He will get over it. They aren't that bad!"
Marina dropped her off at her house and headed over to her own house.
As soon as she closed the garage door she found her father was sitting at the kitchen table.
"Marina." He spoke slowly.
"Father." She replied.
"Six hundred fucking dollars? Are you kidding me?"
"Oh. No. I am not. Mom said I could buy Karen some clothes."
"You seem to have a bunch of our own bags." He raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah, I seem to." She nodded, "Got myself some more clothes as well. Figured my dad wouldn't mind too much."
"I mind."
"What is it that you really need mom around for?"
Henry glared at her.
"Thought so." She shrugged as she went upstairs.
Marina drove her and Kenny to school Friday morning. She knew the guys had a game that night and she hated waiting around the entire time. "Hey did you tell your dad to give my dad a job?" Kenny broke the morning silence.
"Yeah. I hope that is okay."
"He seems to be in a really good mood so I can't say that it isn't. Just worried about him screwing it up."
"Oh! No. I told my dad that he isn't allowed to fire him if he ever comes in drunk. Told him to either let him go and calm down, or sober up in the back, or have him just work in the back that day. He better have given him a full time position. I told him he better pay him full time too."
"Really, Karen and I appreciate it. I am sure my mom does too."
"I was slightly worried you'd get on my case for handouts."
He chuckled, "Honestly, my dad needs to get his shit together. If I didn't work, then Karen and I would have nothing really. We definitely wouldn't have cell phones, that is for sure. My parents will always pick what they want before helping us. I mean they'll feed us but let's be honest it is just food to keep us alive. And the rest of the money is for their drinking and drug use. They have always done the bare minimum to keep us from being taken away."
Marina had known Kenny for almost 7 years now, and this was the first time she realized Kenny was paying for the cell phones.
"I still don't understand why they won't give your parents food stamps."
"I don't either actually. Any time I ask, I either get ignored or they evade the question somehow. I don't know what they did."
"Weird."
"Also thank you for getting those clothes for Karen, she has been so happy ever since. You really didn't need to get her that much, but I understand you're still getting back at your dad."
"I couldn't tell her no. She was so excited about the stuff she picked out."
Friday afternoon Marina walked into the bathroom to pee. The girl in the stall next to her kept sniffing. She figured she was just dealing with a cold or something until she heard the 3 breath sniff, and she realized she was crying. She tried to mind her own business, walking out of the stall and washing her hands. She was about to leave the bathroom when she heard her let out a light sob. "Hey sweetie are you okay?" She asked softly.
"Yeah I'm okay." The girl tried to say but her voice gave her away.
"You sure?" She asked, feeling bad about leaving a crying girl in the bathroom.
"No." She choked out.
"Do you want to talk about it? Do you need a hug?"
"I'm..." She sobbed again, "I am just a terrible person. I get what I deserve. I know that, you know? But I didn't think it would suck this hard."
Marina walked up to the stall the girl was in and leaned against the door, "We all make stupid decisions. It doesn't make us terrible people."
"You don't understand. I really messed up. And now I have to deal with this forever."
"It may seem bad now. But eventually, whatever it was, it will get better. Unless you murdered someone. I mean, you can't run from that."
The girl sniffed and unlocked the stall, Marina stepped back to get out of her way.
As soon as the door opened enough, she realized it was Candice. She burst right back into tears when she saw it was Marina. "Oh God." She sobbed.
"Stop." Marina told her nicely, stepping forward and hugging her. Candice moved her arms to hug her back. "I understand." Marina rubbed her hand up and down her back, "He is a huge freakin' asshole."
"I am so sorry, Marina."
"It is okay. Really. You helped me get out of a very toxic relationship. I don't blame you at all."
Candice cried against Marina's shoulder, "He made me believe he loved me." She sobbed.
"I know sweetie. He does that." Marina felt bad for Candice. She thought back to when she found out he had cheated on her. She remembered how hard and long she cried when she saw the messages. How much she had hated Candice. She couldn't believe she was now in the bathroom comforting her because he already broke her heart too. "He isn't worth it. Really." Marina told her softly.
"He knocked me up. And now I'm going to have to make a decision. Do I have a full pregnancy? Do I keep the baby? Do I give the baby up for adoption?"
"Well that all depends on what you decide."
"I didn't think he would just drop me like that. So easily."
"I didn't think he would cheat on me so easily. Instead of just breaking up with me if he wasn't happy anymore."
"I really am so, so sorry about that." Candice backed up a step and looked Marina in the eyes, "He made it out like you guys were talking about breaking up for a while. And that you didn't love each other anymore. I didn't know it was different."
"How could you know Candice? He is a manipulative asshole, he makes you believe crazy shit and you don't even feel the need to question it. He had you convinced he loved you as well as he had me convinced he loved me. And we all go to the same damn school."
"True." She sniffed, wiping her fresh tears from her chin before they fell into her shirt some more.
"Do you want to skip the rest of the day and go get some delicious burgers and milkshakes?"
"You want to hang out with me?"
"Yeah, we can talk over burgers and milkshakes."
"Okay." She shrugged, following Marina to her car.
They walked into the local Diner, which was pretty much not even 5 minutes from the school. They got a table and ordered some food.
"Have you ever skipped school before?" Candice asked.
"Nope." Marina smiled.
"I really like your new look by the way. I think it fits you really well. You seem so much happier. You are really pretty and I am sorry for you that Adam treated you how he did."
"Thank you. You are very beautiful by the way. And I feel much happier. I feel like I can be who I want to be for the first time in a while."
"You are also so much nicer than Adam acted like you were."
"Of course he acted like that." Marina laughed, the waitress sat their burgers and milkshakes onto the table.
"Can I ask though, what made you fall for him?" Candice asked before she took a big bite into her burger.
"He was so funny and he has that really adorable smile. He made me feel like I was so important to him and I was craving that attention."
"Sounds like Adam." She sighed.
"Same for you?"
"Yup." She popped a fry in her mouth and then took a long sip of her milkshake, "Fuckin' asshole." She mumbled.
"That's what he is good at. I didn't even realize how manipulated I was, even with my friends warning me. I didn't see it until one day, I just actually saw it, then I couldn't stop seeing it. It was awful. And it was almost everything I did. It was an argument if I did anything that he didn't agree with or want me to do. He also blew up on me anytime I wore makeup. I still don't understand what his deal was, really. It's not like I was going to cheat on him if I suddenly didn't look plain."
"He is so weird. We weren't even together long and he got mad at me for stupid things too."
"Well I think a lot of it is because he was cheating, and knows he is a cheater. He didn't want to worry about someone cheating on him."
"Yeah that makes sense."
Marina took a big sip of her milkshake, she forgot how much she loved the milkshakes there.
"It is because of him that I am almost the complete opposite of who I was. I don't want another boyfriend for a very, very long time."
"I really am so sorry that I was part of you becoming hurt."
"Candice, honey, seriously stop feeling that way, it is forgiven. At least, you are forgiven. Adam won't ever be. And especially now that he did this to you and dropped you."
"Thank you for doing this with me. These milkshakes are definitely therapy."
"Seriously. Any time I used to have a really bad day I'd get one. Always makes me feel a bit better. At least for a period of time."
"I wish I had some way to piss him off the way you have."
"I pissed him off?" Marina half choked on her milkshake.
"Oh yeah, the first day of school and the day after, he hardly shut up about you. He was furious."
Marina laughed, "No way. That is awesome."
"Yeah it was annoying for me then, but funny now."
"If you ever need anything Candice, seriously, let me know. Just come find me. Don't get weak when he comes crawling back. You deserve so much better than Adam. Every girl does."
"If he tries to crawl back, I will just instantly come find you." She smiled.
"Good idea!" Marina laughed.
The girls finished up their food and Marina dropped Candice off at her car before going home.
She got ready for the evening as well as cleaned up her room a little bit. She tried to dress in something cute in case any of her friends decided to do something after the football game. When it was time, she grabbed her bag and headed to the school.
Marina made her way to the girls locker room, opening the door and heading down the small hallway. The sounds of girls talking and laughing filling up the room. "Hey Mar." Red smiled at her as she passed her, "Sup." Marina smiled back.
"You are going to die!" Wendy ran up to her as Marina put her stuff in the empty locker and started changing.
"What happened?"
"Adam is in the stands!"
"He usually is Wen." She tugged her skirt on.
"Sophie texted me and said that he is in front of her and he has a sign that says 'Marina I'm Sorry'. Sign as in a big sign!" Bebe told her.
"What an idiot." She shook her head, rolling her eyes, "He doesn't know when to just stop. Like why in the hell would I want a man back who just left his girlfriend because she was pregnant."
"His excuse has been that he left her because he loves you." Red added.
"Exactly, his excuse. I also can't understand what makes him think I would take him back after he cheated on me for a long time!"
"Right." Wendy shook her head.
The girls ran to their place on the field, Marina was scanning the crowd trying to find Adam's stupid sign. It didn't take long. In bright neon green, with black letters Adam's sign stood up in the sea of students. If she knew she wouldn't get in trouble she would have flipped him off. She chose to just ignore it and not look at it again for the rest of the game.
They ended up winning, Stan ran up to Wendy and kissed her. Then looked over to Marina, "Did you see Adam's sign?" He laughed.
"Of course." She rolled her eyes.
She heard her name being yelled by the stands. No surprise it was Adam.
"I made you a sign!" He had a big smile as he yelled to her.
She crossed the distance.
"Do you like it?" He asked when she didn't say anything.
She nodded, grabbing it from his hands. She held it in front of her, looking at him above it, she ripped it in half.
"Fuck off Adam." She dropped it to the ground before turning around.
The first person she made eye contact with was Kenny, some girl she had never seen before was next to him as they both laughed. Kenny gave Marina a thumbs up and she smiled proudly before going back over to her friends.
She was talking with Red when Kenny and the girl came over, Kyle with them.
"This is Erica. She said their school is having a party tonight."
"You guys are invited if you want to come!" Erica beamed.
They agreed to go and went back to the locker rooms to change.
Kyle jumped into Marina's car, "Thank you for letting me come with you. Riding with Wendy and Stan right after a game is always so annoying."
"I get it. Trust me!" She laughed, almost running a red light to keep up with Erica's car.
"You okay? I heard you skipped out last period."
"Oh yeah, I found Candice in the bathroom, crying.. So I took her to get burgers and shakes."
"Adam's Candice?" Kyle asked, shocked.
"Yep!"
"Wow! How did that go?"
"Really good actually. I feel a lot better about everything."
"That is awesome!"
"It really was. I am happy for her that she doesn't have to deal with him anymore."
