Chapter 29

The bakery had been open for all of a day before Tim realized the problem
with running a food business. Waste. He kept the ones he didn't sell that
day and sold them for a reduced price the next. Even then, once his costs
were covered, there wasn't much left in the way of profit.

The door bell rang and Tim looked up from the assignment he was working
on. He saw the flash of crimson and knew who it was.

"Hey, Tim," the voice purred.

"Umm... hi, Roxx," Tim said, their last meeting coloring his face. She was
both attractive and terrifying. His thigh burned where she last touched
him.

"Kim's not feeling well. Thought I'd pick up some cupcakes. Got any of the
chocolate ones left?"

"Yeah," Tim sighed. "Plenty. Keep thinking that coffee might help. But, I
don't want to take Gilda's business," He rubbed his hand through his hair.

"But," Tim said, rifling through his papers, "I'll give you a few if you
can..." He looked around and lowered his voice to a hoarse whisper.

"Could you forge my mom's signature? I need it to drop out. She doesn't
know, and I don't want to tell her. Still haven't figured out how I'm
gonna tell Bobbie.... Just-" His voice broke. "Can you?"

"Now, what makes you think I'd know anything about that?" Roxx grinned her
wicked smile and cocked her head.

"Sorry, I didn't mean..."

That made Roxx giggle. "Silly, I can do it. Let me see." She took the
papers and didn't even wait a second before she started scribbling.

The likeness was perfect, every loop and flourish was there. Had anyone,
official or otherwise given a closer inspection, they would have believed
that all of Tim's check out documents were signed by one Myka Flaherty.

"Thanks, Roxx. I feel so bad not telling Bobbie," Tim said, boxing up some
of the cupcakes. "I owe you one."

"I'll keep that in mind, tiger." Roxx blew Tim a kiss as she swished
around. She poured herself out of the room, spilling some with each
swaying step.

***

Since Bella had told Bobbie about Tim's dropping out she had been avoiding
the bakery. It had only been a couple of days and she noticed herself
becoming unstuck. A glitch in the connection she felt. Darknesses swirled
around her, her mood making her see them more acutely. She walked home
that night, just walking.

There needs to be something I can do. Why is everything falling apart? I
see that these people need help. I just feel so overwhelmed. Dammit. This
walkabout doesn't seem to be helping at all.

Either that or Justice is Blind. She smiled weakly.

She arrived at home without noticing. Sylvia's car sat there in the
driveway. That was an unusual occurance lately. Sylvia had either been at
work or out with Myka. Or Roy, she had been slowly getting back out into
the social world in recent months. Bobbie noticed that she smiled a little
more when she was home and not yelling at Kim or complaining about Roxx.
Or it had seemed that way because she now had other people to vent to.

Opening the door, she saw Sylvia standing there smiling into a glass of
red wine.

"Hi, Bobbie," Sylvia said, studying the light through the wine. "Roy asked
me out tonight." She seemed excited.

"Beth's dad? That's great. Where..."

She gestured with her wine glass upstairs. "She's not feeling well. Today,
she gets a pass. I'm in too good of a mood."

Bobbie wrinkled her brow. "Well, I'm going to go off to bed. Good night,"
she said weakly.

Great, now she's going to have stars in her eyes. Why is my life suddenly
a series of Shaymalan endings?

The next day Bobbie saw Tim walking into the office wearing a visitors
badge. He froze when he saw her. His darkness nearly doubled the moment he
noticed her.

"Bobbie," he gasped. "I...I..." She could see he wanted to cry.

"Fuckin' perfect. I was fuckin' hoping to get you two the fuck together."
Bella was suddenly there.

"Bobbie, Tim needs to do this. Tim, you should have told her," Bella said,
quietly and evenly. They both listened, shocked to hear her utter a
sentence without one 'fuck'.

"Listen, you two. I'm not gonna be around in a few months. I haven't told
anyone yet, but I got accepeted into Brown. Unless they find another
drummer, Grrl Army will just be a memory. I'm not gonna be here, and if
you guys don't stay together, then love is dead."

She turned to Tim and grabbed his face in both hands. Looking into his
eyes. "If you ever try to hide something like that again. I will come down
here and play a complete Peart solo on your ribcage. From Brown."

She grabbed Bobbie's hand. "If you do anything to hurt him. I'll come back
and steal him myself. You got lucky. I'm a good judge. You belong
together. Help him get through this. Should be a piece of cake for you.
And we all know how well you deal with cake."

She walked away, through them. "Don't fuck it up."

"I'm sorry, Bobbie. I wanted to tell you. I was, just got busy with the
bakery. I can get the work done. I'll graduate. I can do this without
you."

"But," he continued, "I don't want to." He reached forward and clasped her
in his arms.

She forgave him in that instant. His darkness ebbing away slightly. "Beth
and I will be there. You should have told me you decided, told us."

"I know." Tim looked at roughly unable to look into the ocean of her eyes.
"Roxx came in yesterday. She said Kim was sick. How's she doing."

Bobbie shrugged. "I don't know if she's sick, or just high anymore. Mom
won't see it, either. She started seeing Beth's dad."

"Roy? Good for him, and your mom. It should all balance out soon. This
whole thing's gonna work out. Peas and carrots again?" Tim shyly looked
up, drawn in by her eye's tidal pull.

Bobbie shook her finger at him. "Stupid is as stupid does, you magnificent
bastard." She smiled sarcastically. "What did Roxx want?" Bobbie eyed him
suspiciously.

"She got Kim some cupcakes. Which I seem to be wasting a bunch of, I
dunno. I need to make this work, dammit. It's all he wanted. I know it'll
succeed. There's no way this can fail."

Bobbie said, "Be wary of Roxx, I don't trust her. And neither should you."

Tim's face looked scared, his eyes flashed dimly.

"Look," she said, her expression dark. "I know what girls like that can do
to guys like you."

"I don't care about her. I care about you. Losing you would be a Sommersby
level tragedy." He finally held her gaze.

"I've gotta turn these in, you should get to class. See you tonight?" Tim
asked.

"You know it," she said, hugging him again.

Chapter 30

The prep work was going well, Beth was rolling out the chocolate ribbons,
and Tim was doing schoolwork. Bobbie had insisted that he focus on the
work, insisting that she and Beth could do all of it.

"Yeah," Tim finally acquiesced. "I've got night school tomorrow."

"Night school?" Beth asked.

"If I can get all the work done in time, I won't have to do summer school.
If I bust my ass, I can just pull it off. I hate that I'm not gonna see
you at school every day, I hate that I can't have lunch with you." Tim
scrubbed his face with his hands.

Bobbie saw his frustration, his darkness swirling around him. Bella's
words echoed in her ear. "Tim needs to do this," Looking around, she saw
the veracity of it. Bobbie saw what this place meant to him, and to a
lesser extent, her. Cheepskates had become an important part of her life
as well. She looked over at Beth, she was happily rolling the chocolate
ribbons. Her darkness was nearly nonexistent. Between having friends for
the first time in her young life, and her burgeoning relationship with
Steve, she was content in a way that no one had ever seen before.

Bobbie started to feel better about Tim's school situation as the days
wore on. He was making good progress on the remainder of his schoolwork.
The Spring Musical's rehearsals were on in earnest. February was soon in
full swing, the major snows of the season starting to slip into the past.
The bakery was wasting less food. Things seemed back on track.

***

Kim felt like shit. Her mouth tasted dry and ashen, her skin had lost
color. Waking up, she took another Oxycontin and swigged some flat Sprite
to chase down the bitter pill. Looking into the bottle, she saw that there
were only two of the little white pills left. Need to get some more from
Roxx. She was pretty high most of the time now. Kim hated how she felt
when they wore off, but she always had more. In the shower, the warm,
tingly numbness spread out from her stomach into her limbs. Looking in the
mirror, Kim noticed that her hair was getting shaggy. Fuck it, she
thought. Pulling on her clothes, she headed downstairs.

It was a little early for everyone else, but she wanted to meet Roxx for a
little before school fun. It was always fun with Roxx, she thought. She
grabbed her backpack and slowly closed the door behind her.

***

Amber was looking for Bobbie when she saw Kim and Roxx ambling onto campus
late. She had noticed Kim getting worse. She's gonna be a permanent
resident of Slacker's Cove or worse if we don't do something.

"Kim," she called. "Kim," Amber yelled again. She saw both girls turn
toward her.

"What is it, Amber?" Kim said, clearly annoyed by the presence of the
second redhead.

"Heather was wondering when you were going to pick up your bass," Amber
lied. Heather had put it in a safe place, hoping she would come to her
senses and pick it up.

"Give it to the next bassist." Kim waved her off. "I'm too busy for that
now."

Amber wasn't sure if she saw red, or if her hair had fallen in front of
her eyes. "Fuck that, you tell her yourself, then. We're all worried..."

"Save it. I'm fine." Kim shook her head. Roxx seemed to be posing for an
invisible photo shoot, each pose a subtle seductive fever dream. "I'm not
fragile..."

Amber cut her off. "But you are breaking, and we can't stand to see you
like..."

"Like what? Happy? Fuck you, Amber. Just because you don't have someone."
She leaned back and kissed Roxx mid pose.

"Fine, and Kim, Roxx."

"Fuck you, too. Enjoy your high." Amber turned on her left foot and
stormed off, the world and her hair sharing a color.

***

Lunch. Bobbie and Beth were joined by Amber, who told her about the
morning's confrontation.

"Why won't her mom do something?" Amber asked Bobbie, clearly still
frustrated by the exchange.

Bobbie breathed heavily in an exaggerated sigh. "Mom's out with Roy a lot
lately, so she's gone. I never see Kim, and when I do..."

"She kind of scares me." Her eyes became misty.

"None so deaf as those that will not hear," Beth suddenly spoke up.

"Huh?" Bobbie said, suddenly turning to her.

"Mr. Boyd said that today. Some guy named Matt Henry or something. Kim
won't listen because she feels like you're attacking her," Beth said. "If
we could just break them up."

"Beth, that only works on television," Bobbie smiled.

"But, she has a point. None of this happened until That Girl showed up,"
Amber stated, not wanting to use the offending name. "It was all music and
fun with her. She never even showed any interest in that stuff. After what
happened with her brother..." Bobbie visibly winced. "...that was that.
Now, she's spaced out. I'm starting to think they're stuck together
because Kim needs to be held up."

Bobbie thought of Tim, and how with him, she enjoyed being held. This
Roxx/Kim thing seemed to be the inverse of her relationship with Tim.
Where her time with him was constructive and meaningful, their time was
fraught with dead brain cells and weakened bodies. She thought of Melanie.
They shared the obvious brokenness and self esteem issues. There had to be
a way to show her without attacking...

"We could try an intervention. You know, kidnap her one night, and we all
talk at her until she gets it. Never mind, too much tv."

"Beth, you may have something. I'll talk to Heather and Bella and see if
we can set this up. None of us want to see her like this," Amber turned to
Bobbie."You should bake her a cake or something. Or just force feed her a
dozen cupcakes," Beth laughed, breaking the tension.

Bobbie didn't laugh. "I think this is beyond the range of mere baked
goods."

Amber looked at her, stricken. "Bobbie, whatever else happens in this
world. Those cupcakes are no mere baked goods. You can taste the love in
them, and THAT is what makes them special." The bell rang, and the girls
said their goodbyes and went off to finish the rest of the drudgery that
was the remainder of their day.

Chapter 31

Heather was in the restroom, fixing her makeup between classes when an
almost reptilian clicking sound crossed the ladies room threshold.

It was Roxx. She walked up next to Heather and began to touch up her
violet lips.

"Hi, Heather," Roxx purred, not looking away from the mirror.

"Mmm," Heather acknowledged. "Get a good deal on those stripper heels?"

"Of course," she laughed. "Jealous? I ALWAYS get good deals.." She
shimmied, her breasts and hips shaking slightly. "I know what people
like," She turned to Heather and stepped closer. She could smell Roxx's
musk, as well as an undertone of candied bacon; smoky, salty, sweet, and
tempting.

"It helps to be able to read people. People tell me everything. And what
they don't tell me, I have a knack for figuring out," Her voice mixed
molasses and vodka, smooth, intoxicating, and menacing. Heather couldn't
speak; she was overpowered by Roxx's sheer presence.

Roxx smoothed down her hair and leaned into Heather; putting her lips
right next to her ear, Her hot breath humidly steaming her earrings.

"I know your secret, too."

Heather gulped as Roxx turned to slosh away. She watched the crimson
locked girl as she left.

"That was fun, we should do that together again sometime..."

"Tiger."

***

Bella felt good. Bobbie and Tim were back together, it was going to be
hard for her to leave Delacroix. Her world seemed so different now. When
she'd taken the SAT last year, the last thing she expected was a perfect
score. Being accepted to an Ivy League school was far beyond anything she
could have hoped for. Her mood was darkened by Amber's sudden appearance.

"We need to do an intervention on Kim. We've all had enough."

"Fuck yes, we fuckin' need to get her fuckin' ass back to reality."

Heather also showed up, visibly pale, making the red of her lips stand out
all the more.

"Fuck, Heather. You look like you fuckin' saw a ghost."

"Er...I..."

The other girls looked at Heather. Never one to be at a loss for words,
her speechlessness was a surprise.

"Heather, we're gonna kidnap Kim and make her listen to us. You in?" Amber
said

"Uh, sure," Heather said, her voice shaky.

***

Beth sat in her room, the house seemed a little lighter. She had never
seen her dad happier. And she just thought it was so cool that he was
seeing Bobbie's mom. Maybe they'll get married, then I'll have two
sisters. Kim'll get better and Bobbie will be around to help with the
bakery. Dad was happy, she was going to have sisters, she had friends. All
the prayers she ever offered were being answered at once.

Thank you, God.

It didn't matter what Bobbie said. To Beth, Bobbie would always be an
angel.

***

Roxx shook the bottle, the little pills rattling like a baby's toy.
"You're going through these a little quick." Kim was mesmerized by the
curves enhanced by her tight clothing.

Kim looked up at her. "I snorted a couple. Lawrence told me about that.
Didn't even know you could do that. Kicked in like a motherfucker."

Roxx laughed her beautiful, terrible laugh. "Oh, you can do all kinds of
things. I don't know why people always think we're lazy. We can figure
anything out." She lightly tossed the bottle to the girl.

Kim clumsily caught the bottle. As she slipped it into her pocket, she
brushed some errant strands of hair off of her forehead. Roxx moved her
hand toward Kim's head. She ruffled the shaggy, unkempt mess. "I can take
care of this mess if you want. You need a new look anyway."

Kim looked up at Roxx. Swallowing a pill, she said, "Sure, I trust you."

***

Since Bobbie and Beth were helping out at Cheepskates again, there was
lest waste. Not none, but since Bobbie recommended donating the day olds
to the local homeless shelter, it had ceased to be a real problem.

"Yeah," she had said. "Tax writeoff. And it'll help make someone's day.
They need help, too. Just wish I could do more."

"What would I do without you two?" Tim asked the room. Beth was humming
what sounded like the Firefly theme.

"We have done the impossible, and that makes us mighty," Beth said,
abruptly blurted.

Bobbie and Tim both looked at Beth.

"What? You were right, great show. Totally dah byen wah." She smiled.

"Looks like we have another browncoat," Tim said, looking back at Bobbie.

The bakery seemed to be shaping up. Nearly everything has certainly had
its ups and downs, but Tim was confident that by the next year, there
would be at least some profit. He looked over at his accomplices.

Thanks to you, Bobbie. Must have done something right in a previous life,
can't imagine what it could've been. But whatever it was, thanks you
prehistoric pirate ninja conqueror sports hero actor person...

The song playing came into clarity.

Vindicated. I am selfish, I am wrong
I am right. I swear I'm right, swear I knew it all along.

Tim felt his eyes mist up a little. Since he lost his father, he noticed
himself getting emotional at weird times. This was one of them. He wished
that it had been raining, he could hide it then. Watching them work was a
thing of beauty, as if it had been engineered by Hephestaus. The nearly
full-contact, double dutch style with which they worked was a cross
between a finely designed timepiece and a pinball machine. made him stop
and appreciate the wonderful turns his life had taken lately.

***

Everything was going so well. The opening gambit was finished, the next
part would be so much more fun. Roxx was enjoying every minute of this.
She had gotten her hooks into Kim, and she had fallen just as hard as Robb
did, maybe harder. Let's see how she deals with what's next.

"Wow, dries a lot faster now." Kim had entered the room from the shower,
the light glinting off of Kim's shaved scalp, "Good thing it's winter. I
can imagine the tan line being totally obvious."

"Mmm," Roxx said. "Sexy." She strode over to Kim and folded her body close
to hers. Kissing her smooth head, Kim moaned. They collapsed to the bed
again.

You're mine, Bobbie. You're gonna beg for me to take you, beg for my
forgiveness.

And. I. Will. Laugh. As. You. Weep.

Chapter 32

Carla Castillo was anxious. Roxx had asked her to meet today. She wasn't
sure she could do that breaking and entering thing again. It had weighed
heavily on her, getting high helped her not remember. And she was okay
with that.

The click of heels followed by the distinct metallic clink of a Zippo
lighter alerted her to Roxx's presence. She stepped out of the stall.

"Told you I might have something..."

"Yeah, about that..." Carla whined, her crooked nose slightly whistling.
"Look, I don't know if I can do anything like that again. I mean, if I got
caught.." She shivered.

Roxx inhaled hard on the cigarette and exhaled. She threw her head back.
She laughed loudly, her body shaking where it counted. "No problem, This
is much easier." She handed Carla a violet flash drive.

"You just have to make sure that the contents of that drive go public.
Very public."

"What's on it?" Carla took the drive and turned it over in her hands
several times.

"Shattered hopes and broken dreams." Roxx smiled, dropping the butt into
the nearest toilet. "Just get it out there. Think of it as a 'greatest
hits'.

The contents of the flash drive bothered her all day. She would have to
ditch at lunch to get home to use her computer. Which was fine, missing
another stupid lecture on why these people throwing tea in the harbor are
considered heroes was fine by her. Who cares, anyway? Nobody even really
drinks tea anymore.

When she got home, she started up her cranky laptop, the centipede like
loading bar of Windows XP creep creep creeping along. It took a while, so
she inserted the USB device into her tower front and went to take one of
the remaining Vicodin. Stopping in the kitchen to grab some pop tarts, she
came back in time to see the desktop flash its marijuana leaf wallpaper.
The contents of the drive came up rapidly, as if by magic.

It contained one file, a video file called nicenaughty. Double clicking on
the video, she heard some industrial sounding music and two cute girls.
One dressed as a demon, and one dressed as...

Holy Shit! She recognized the angel. Sure, her hair was different, but
those eyes and that hair color were unmistakable. Bobbie Sharpe. The video
continued, and ewwww! They were... ugh. She clicked it off. She didn't
need to see anymore. She understood the what of what Roxx wanted.

But she couldn't understand the why. She copied the contents to her hard
drive and powered down her unit. She put the drive in her pocket and left
to make the rounds. Everyone would see this, and knowing the boys of
Delacroix...

It wouldn't take long.

***

It was March before long. The students already starting to talk about Prom
and what their summers were going to look like, the ending of the third
quarter loomed. Cheepskates was finally starting to put money back into
the safe. Still not enough to make ends meet, but Tim was always thinking
about ways to reach more people.

"We could do a Grand Opening during Spring Break," Beth said to Tim.

"That's a good idea. Be some free advertising. Social media and word of
mouth will only get you so far. We'll need some help. Think we can get the
band back in here? I miss having the band practice here."

"Probably. I keep seeing Heather playing Kim's bass. I think she named it
Kim. She's been a little... strange lately. Don't know why." Beth seemed
puzzled by her friend's sudden shift in instruments.

Bobbie was also puzzled by that tidbit. She named it Kim? Tim turned
toward Beth.

"Thanks. Bobbie?"

"Hmm?" She looked at Tim, wondering why she hadn't thought of it before.

"You got anything to contribute? Your ideas are always good."

"Nah," Bobbie said, shaking her head, "I think Beth's got this one."

***

"There's no way that's her," one stoned teen boy said.

"'Sgotta be. Look at those eyes, that hair. It has to be," Another said.

"Dude, upload that shit, seriously. The world needs to see this."

"Seriously though, hottest shit I've ever seen, Who's the other girl. She
can swallow my soul."

The file was burned off onto DVD discs and flash drives and passed around,
soon the guys had all seen it. It was making the rounds like a bad case of
rhinovirus.

***

Tim got a copy from one of the kids who actually bought the cupcakes. Told
him he should watch it. When he clicked play, he was stunned.

Bobbie? Can't be.

Tim had seen porn before, everyone had. It was different when you knew one
of the performers. Bobbie made faces and noises he could only dream
of...Well, not anymore. He thought distractedly. And the subject matter...
He reminded himself not to call her 'angel' again. He made the decision
right there, He'd click it off and destroy the disc. He didn't know what
to say to Bobbie. Tim would just let it go for now, he hoped he could
feign ignorance.

***

Bobbie was at her locker, getting her books out for Economics when she saw
a familiar face.

"Mary? Hi, I haven't seen you since... that party."

"Yeah, hey," Mary said looking down. "If you wanna maybe do somethin'
sometime, I'd be down."

Bobbie looked at her, perplexed.

"Look, no one seems to have noticed, but there's this video I saw, and...
Well there's this girl in it, and she looks just like you. I figured it
out, you're so hot. I mean you really do look like an angel."

Bobbies mouth went dry, her stomach threatened to turn inside out, her
knees almost buckled. She grabbed her locker door to steady herself.

"So, like I said, if you wanna do something sometime." Mary reached out
and ran a hand through Bobbie's hair. She was suddenly very
uncomfortable.

"It's okay. I won't tell anyone. But Jeb was right about one thing." She
looked up at Bobbie.

"You were the prettiest girl at the party." Mary, suddenly looking as if
she had run out of courage walked away at a power walker's pace.

How did that video get out? Faye? No, Faye wouldn't do that. She had no
reason to.

Melanie? She hadn't thought about her in months. Those thoughts were
shoved aside by one other.

If she knows... who else does?

The rest of the day was tinged with panic, whenever she saw people
whispering in the hall, she was left to wonder if they were talking about
her, laughing at her. She was quiet and thankful as school let out that
day. She rushed home just to be alone and away from the bulk of the
student body.

It was about a week later when it all came home to roost. Bobbie had come
to school to find "SLUT" painted on her locker in pink nail polish. People
were coming out of the woodwork. Jocks applying for the easy lay, nerds
praying that she could be their fantasy. Darkness was everywhere.

It was terrible. Girls were taunting her. From here the rumor mill did
it's nasty business. She was pregnant; no, she had an abortion. She was a
prostitute; no, her father molested her. It was disgusting. She was glad
that Tim wasn't there to see this. Just about ten more weeks, and it'll
all be over.But can I make it?

C'mon, another part of her mind said, the voice oddly deeper. You did this
for years. How much worse can it possibly be?

When she saw Beth at lunch, Bobbie seemed blissfully oblivious to the
things people had been saying. But the weight they put on her face was not
able to be hidden.

"What's wrong, Bobbie? You look like someone just walked over your grave."
Beth was smiling, her usual cheerful self.

"Oh, nothing," Bobbie lied. She couldn't imagine explaining this to Beth.
She could tell Beth anything. But not this.

She could only hope that Tim hadn't seen. It was a meeting that she didn't
want to have, would have done almost anything to avoid it.

Oh, you see. I got turned into a girl after I got shot during a robbery,
then my girlfriend and I took ecstasy and recorded us fucking so we could
make some money. She got up and left. Beth watching after her, confused.

Bobbie made her way to the bathroom, catcalls following her all the way.
She felt herself turn lobster red as she hugged her books so close to her
breasts that it hurt. Once inside, she made it into a stall and dropped on
the seat. She sobbed quietly. All the bad things were coming back.
Everything that had happened since then had been good for everyone,
couldn't that be enough?

Click, click, click, click.

The sound went unnoticed. There was a metallic clinking sound, followed by
the smell of a cigarette. Bobbie suddenly shivered, all of her skin
becoming gooseflesh. She peered out of the crack of the unevenly hung
door. She knew it was Roxx before she saw. Roxx turned and looked right at
her.

Green met blue from opposite sides of the door. "Peek a boo, Bobbie."

"What do you want, Roxx?" Bobbie hissed.

"Just thought you might need a friend."

Bobbie opened the door and peered out. "A friend? You?" The gooseflesh was
starting to crackle unexpectedly.

"C'mon. We can all be friends."

"Yeah, I see how you treat your friends. Leave Kim alone. She's all fucked
up now."

"Oh," Roxx pouted. "Language, girl. What? Kim and I are just having some
fun."

"She doesn't need your kind of fun. It's no good for anybody."

"Like you're some kind of expert?" Roxx grinned, reaching over to toss the
cigarette into the next stall.

"I'm warning you, Roxx. Stay away from Kim."

"Or you'll what? Throw cupcakes at me?" Roxx was staring Bobbie down.
"Face it, Roberta, she belongs with me now. You had your chance." She
pointed a purple nail accusatorily. "You should worry about yourself." She
pointed again, wagging her finger. "You have enough to worry about."

"Maybe you should believe in something." Roxx turned on her heel and
walked away. The purple kanji burning like an ultraviolet corona, luminous
in its darkness

Bobbie was stunned; by Roxx, by being called Roberta. Roberta, she cringed
so hard her feet started to cramp.

"FUCK!" she screamed to the empty restroom, it was in fact a girly scream.
She pounded the stall's wall with closed fists. She collapsed in a heap,
sobbing.

Beth came in to find her crying. She went over and hugged her friend. She
couldn't help it; she cried too. Bobbie wouldn't let go. The bell rang,
leaving both girls late for class.