Rebellious, chapter 7
The judge's daughter
EILEEN
"Okay... how about 'talk'?"
"Easy! Talk is cheap and lies are expensive. My wallet's fat and so is my head."
"I got it I got it! 'Tool'."
"'Tool'? There's a Green Day song with the word 'tool' in it?"
"Yep. And it's well known too."
"Oh I know! Are you feeling like a social tool without a use?"
"15 out of 15. Perfect score, Miss Clash."
"Oh well, what can I say, some people were born with the gift."
Nora laughs and takes some more chips from the ball. I grab her fluffy pillow and squeeze it. And I find some pot under it.
"Well...somebody stole Dep's goodies."
"Come on there's only a tiny amount left. And she doesn't need any more marijuana in her system."
"Of course. I know that Dep's health is all you care about."
She sits up and grins at me, the way she always does when there's something mischievous in her mind.
"So you wanna get high?" She suggests.
"Sure. But if you start talking about blowing guys in the middle of the street, for the fifth time, I am so making you jump off the window."
"Deal."
She gets up and takes an empty bottle and, in a few minutes, we are both on the way of getting high. And when Nora and I get high you can't make out anything we say; yeah we laugh that much.
"Okay on a scale of one to ten how much do you love Green Day?" She asks me.
"Zero. Fucking tossers the lot of them."
After five minutes of giggling with my sophisticated English answer, Nora takes the ball of chips and eats whatever is left in it.
"Was that the door?" I ask her, after hearing a sound that was not 'Staying Alive' playing over and over inside of my head. Don't ask why that is, I have no idea.
"Shit."
"What?"
"My parents. They were supposed to come later! Fuck!" Nora gets up and opens the window to get rid of the pot smell. I disappear in her bathroom, like I have done thousands of times and fill my mouth with water and toothpaste, still stoned out of my mind and still finding a hint of amusement in this whole deal.
I hear Nora's voice saying 'Come in!" and I cover my mouth with my hand, so any giggle won't escape.
I can't make out exactly what they're saying but nobody sounds upset. And Nora will knock three times when they're gone so I have all the time to just sit and stare at her bathroom and...notice how everything is getting kinda blurry...and how I have this weird feeling in my stomach, like I want to throw up everything I have eaten since I was four.
"Hey. Clear, come on out," she says. I start throwing water in my face and by the time I get out I feel a little better.
"It's a bit more left, you want to smoke another one?" Nora asks, sitting on her bed, holding the rest of the pot. And her bed strangely feels so far away from the bathroom door now.
"You okay?"
"Sure. Your bathroom is smaller than I remembered though."
"Really? I find it okay."
We start smoking again and some minutes later I am definitely feeling better. I don't know maybe if you smoke pot and lock yourself in a small room you get all claustrophobic and feel shit like that.
"How is it having Judy staying with you for so long?" Nora says.
"It's great. My mom has given her the guest room but most of the time she just comes and spends the night in my room."
"Yeah? What do you do?"
"Make silly videos where I sing Green Day songs or talk about what I'll do to Billie when I meet him again... "
"Do I want to see any of them?"
"Well you could...but you'll think so much less of me."
"I think I'll pass."
"Yeah... "
Damn it there's no pot left; at the risk of sounding like Dep, nothing is more of a pain in the ass than running out of pot when you enjoy yourself!
Nora lies down and looks at the ceiling and I decide to join her, until the influence passes. It's fun, if you stare up there too hard shapes start to appear.
"How long has it been since you last slept with someone?"
"Nora you're about to start talking about blowing guys again... "
"Come on! Spit it out sista!"
"Alright...two months ago, a guy called Sean. I met him at the library."
"Real library or our library?"
"Last time I went to the real library was when I wanted a good dictionary with the definition of brat pack."
"And?"
"I never found it. I still don't know what it means."
"I mean with Sean."
"He was cool, we talked, he liked Green Day, he was a decent kisser...that's all."
"Any good?"
"I don't really remember... "
"Wow he really rocked your world, huh?"
"They always do! How about you?"
"I don't know...I'm not exactly in the mood right now...I don't want to just do it with anybody... again... "
"What about the guitar guy?"
"He's nice but I get kinda nervous around him and I suspect he likes Dep more than me."
"Bull! He's way into you I can tell. And he's a musician, come on!"
"Yeah we'll see. It's just weird that none of the four of us has ever had a boyfriend you know? Like a relationship. Hell I've never done it with the same person twice."
"Judy had one, when she was eleven, with that dude...Nick remember?"
"Oh yeah. And now that you said that I realise I have had a relationship too once."
"Yeah? With whom?"
"Bob, he had asked me to marry him at kindergarten."
"Fine, make fun of me."
"You ask for it."
"Hey Baby?"
"What?"
"There's something bothering me."
"What is it?"
"I don't know...do you think we have forgotten something?"
***
DEP
Alright I am going to kill them.
Torture them until they beg for death. Although that line sounds kind of washed off. First of all, they force me to leave work earlier and come shopping with them even though they know I hate shopping more than I hate folk music. Second, they make me promise that I will be with Nora when she gets her first tattoo despite the fact that I hate screaming and whining and there's going to be lots of both.
And third Eileen said 'Don't be late' and they're the ones who are fucking late, while I'm waiting outside of stupid Burger King when I'm supposed to be saving money and not waste all of it on food and grass.
"We are so so so sorry Deppie! We owe you so so so big! We promise we'll... "
"If you say another sentence with three sos I'll leave you bold."
"Okay." Eileen stops talking and gets some distance from me; she's the one who always believes my threats. Whatever I come up with she buys it.
"Nora you say things now," She says and I look at Nora who smiles like she's not afraid of how mad I am. They got high the damn bitches!
"Dep come on, get another tattoo with me, I'll pay."
"What? I have more pride than accepting bribes."
"Really?"
"No, not really. But it has to be a big tattoo."
"You can tattoo your whole back, I don't care."
"Fine. Did you guys get high?"
"Yep, Nora stole the pot you had left." Aha, exactly where I wanted this conversation to end! Nora widens her eyes and pinches Eileen's arm, because she always does that when she's angry (it's gross, my mom used to do that too) and I try to keep an expressionless face just to scare them a bit more.
"I'm sorry, I didn't... " Nora begins.
"Nora! You want to buy me lunch? That's so thoughtful of you. My God, tattoo and lunch? You're such a great friend."
"Well of course I am. Come on."
As we have settled now, and I don't threaten them with death, you'd think Eileen would start behaving normally and be the annoying squeaky girl I know and love. But she doesn't even smile; she just looks down and rubs her neck and walks slowly and stays silent while Nora rambles on how she doesn't know what tattoo to get. And if you consider that she got high some time ago too, that's a very unusual attitude.
"Hey, is everything okay?" I ask her.
"Yeah, it's just that my throat is burning a little."
"You want to stop and get you a drink or something? Nora pays."
"Nah, it's fine it'll get better, maybe I'm catching a cold."
As we get closer to the tattoo shop Nora becomes pale so now I have two sick looking friends. I am predicting that once the one sees the needle and the other hears the screams they will both collapse on the floor and I will have to get them to the hospital which is not fair because they know how useless I am when it comes to taking care of others and the whole day will suck.
"Hey Mark, how are you?"
The tattoo guy looks up and smiles once he sees two of his best costumers on his doorway again.
"I'm okay now! How are you girls?" He stares at Nora though even if he's talking to us because we've never brought her to his shop before and well she's also gorgeous obviously.
"Our friend wants to get her first tattoo," Eileen informs him, putting her arm on Nora's shoulders.
"Great. Come on in." I forgot to mention that Mark doesn't really have a license to tattoo people so he has turned his apartment into a tattoo shop and it really is the coolest apartment ever. Drawings everywhere!
"And I'll get another tattoo too Mark," I tell him, already eyeing an impressive snake on his wall, next to a unicorn.
"Great. Okay, girl what do you want, where do you want it?" He asks Nora, smiling a little too broadly than he usually does. Yeah Nora gets that a lot. She answers that she hasn't actually decided but she was thinking of getting something on the back of her left shoulder or near her belly button.
"You know like Dep's lizard. But not so big."
"Okay and what were you thinking of having?"
"Well something romantic, like a rose or... "
"You should get the words 'Knight, Hero, White Horse'," I tell her, still looking at the snake next to the unicorn.
"What?"
"Yeah, we call you princess right? And you're very attached to that nickname. What does every princess need? A heroic knight on a white horse."
Nora looks at me and then at Eileen who just shrugs (what is the matter with her?)and then a smile appears on her lips and she asks Mark if she can do that, and he tells her she can do anything she wants. Great.
"Where do you want it?"
"On my back. Make it a big one."
"It's gonna hurt though... "
"Well I should have thought of that before I came here shouldn't I?"
And right at this moment I lose my entire world.
As I watch Eileen throwing up on Mark's floor and then passing out while Nora is screaming and Mark is shouting. As our lead singer fights to find her breath and eventually falls down unable to.
Everything else happens like we're in a movie; all in slow motion. Nora manages to regain her calmness and tells Mark to call emergency while I still stand three feet away and I can't move, like somebody is telling me not to.
Where the hell is Judy?
"Eileen? Honey? Are you okay?" Nora has now kneeled next to her and slaps her to wake her up; Eileen however stays unconscious. Mark comes in and says 901 is coming and then kneels next to Nora, not touching Eileen but offering to help somehow.
"Yeah go get her some water in case she wakes up."
Why can't I go over there and help? I love Eileen more than anything, I'm obviously upset and sick worried and yet, my fucking feet are stuck on the fucking floor.
"Eileen, can you hear me?" She moves her head and that's when Nora panics a little.
"She's moving! Oh my God she's moving! Eileen? Are you okay sweetie?"
Our lead singer is still on the floor (hell her vomit is still on the floor as well) but she is now making a sound after anything Nora asks her, like "Are you okay sweetie?"
"Mmm."
"Want some water?"
"Mmm."
"We're going to take you to the hospital to see what's wrong, okay?"
"Mmm."
Where the hell is Judy?
Nora holds her back and Eileen manages to sit up and that's when I realise that if I don't do something in the next five seconds I am a real bitch. But if I go there I'll have to say something to her. I'll have to see her lying down on the floor next to her own sick while she is unable to speak. Eileen unable to speak.
I am a real cold, hard bitch.
***
JUDY
Damn me for wanting to spend a day alone with my thoughts. If every time I am by myself something like that happens, I am seriously screwed. Eileen being sick and in the hospital is one thing to worry about obviously, since she is my best friend and if anything happens to her I'll probably die, but having to tell Eileen's parents that she is sick and in the hospital is another thing that can get me killed.
"What do you mean she passed out? She was alright this morning before she went to school."
Okay how do I tell them that she skips school every second Friday like we all do?
"I don't really know Mrs. Pullman, Nora just called me and said they were in their way to the hospital with Dep."
"Wait a minute...Dep doesn't go to school. She dropped out didn't she? What were Nora and Eileen doing with her on a school day?"
Damn you woman, your daughter is in the hospital and you want to know why Dep was with her before she passed out!
"Mrs. Pullman I told you I don't know; we really should go and see her and make sure she's alright."
"And shouldn't you be at school too?"
"Enough!!!"
Okay I never shout at anybody, especially not to someone who has accepted me in her house and treated me like a sister of her child but God, it seems like she doesn't want to get to Eileen.
"Mrs. Pullman I'm sorry for yelling at you, I really am but I am so worried about Eileen so can we please drop this and go see her? I mean you must worry too."
Thankfully she stops and gets her car keys and we go to her car, after she calls her husband and tells him to meet us at the hospital. And I suspect it's going to be a long ride.
She asks all kind of things like if Eileen has ever skipped school, or what we all do when we get out at night, or if anyone has ever given us drugs in "that bloody hell sent" bar we go to and play, and if anyone has ever "taken advantage" of us and I don't say anything but I feel it in my guts: this is not going to be a pleasant day. And it seemed perfectly fine when it started.
Yeah Eileen is a rock singer, she plays in a band called Gun Shot she smokes cigarettes, she smokes marijuana, she likes having sex, she skips school, she sneaks out of her bedroom every night and she sure as hell is not going to college. And both her parents are going to find all that today.
Dep is outside the hospital, having a smoke when we arrive. Mrs. Pullman doesn't say anything to her; she just rushes in and finds a nurse. I on the other hand fall in my friend's arms and start to cry. Because of what happened but mostly because of what's going to happen now.
"It's okay," Dep says.
"She is really pissed. She's going to find out today."
"Well it was going to happen eventually. Don't worry."
"You look like shit by the way."
"Yeah, health emergencies aren't really my thing."
"I have to get in. Where's Nora?"
"She's with her."
"Did the doctors find out what was wrong?"
"She got high and she had eaten something bad before and I don't know I guess it was just too much for her to handle."
"Fuck."
"I know, and we had just convinced Baby to get her first tattoo."
I laugh and wipe my eyes, as Dep finishes off her cigarette and we look at each other with the same thought running in our heads. This is going to be difficult but we can't let Eileen deal with it by herself. We have to go in there and defend out best friend.
"When I saw her falling I just lost it," Dep tells me looking down.
"I can imagine. Nora didn't freak out?"
"She did. Big time."
"But Nora freaks out with style."
"Exactly."
You know what the worst part is?
Having to wait outside of the room while a doctor is in with Eileen, testing her blood pressure or something and me, Nora and Dep are all in the one corner of the corridor, pale as hell (I must look like I came back from the dead. Even the Dark Dep seems white) and her mother is looking at us from the opposite corner, not seeming any happier than when she was in the car with me. And on the one hand I want the doctor to come out soon so I can know what's wrong with Eileen but on the other I want the whole thing to be as delayed as it can get.
"Well the girl is doing fine. She's a little tired and she must have something to eat very soon and we're going to keep her overnight just to make sure everything is okay but I can assure you there's nothing to worry about." That's what the doctor tells us, the patient's friends. But then he pulls Mrs. Pullman aside and he starts talking lower and I am sure he is not telling her any good news. But I'm not going to try and read their lips I have to go to Eileen.
"Hey girl."
"Hey. Did Nora get the tattoo?" Our lead singer asks. She looks better than I expected. A little weak but I am definitely paler than her and her spirits seem okay...
"No I had to bring you here silly. But once you're better I'll go get it and I am going to get you one too."
"Great. We can all have a new one that will mean something. Like get each
other's initials..." Before any of us has the chance to tell her that this actually sounds like a good idea Eileen's mother walks in and she looks so angry I am afraid she's going to hit us. But Nora doesn't move and Dep doesn't move so I don't move from my place either.
"Hey mom."
"Hey. Can we speak alone?"
"No, anything you say to me you can say in front of my girls. I don't want them to
go."
"Okay fine. If you want that, okay. The doctor just told me that you took blood exams and he found a fair amount of marijuana in your system. Is that true Lane Pullman?"
"Jeez mom, last time somebody called me that was in sixth grade. My name is Eileen Clash and yeah I had smoked a fag."
"Oh great. I'm glad you just say that, with no guilt, without even the slightest attempt to convince me that it's not true."
"Mom it was in my tests, how could I possibly convince you against it?"
"That's not even the point!! I mean Christ how do they let people get high in
school?"
Now we're going deep. Now we're going very deep. Eileen seems surprisingly calm but I know the huge fight is about to begin.
"I wasn't at school mom. I was at Nora's place, she had told her parents that she was going to stay at home because she wasn't feeling well and we ate chips and got high. And after that we went to a tattoo shop, after meeting with Dep because Nora wanted to get her first tattoo and that's when I passed out."
"No I can't believe all that."
"It's true. And since I'm coming clean I might as well do it completely."
"There's more."
"Yes there is. I have taken drugs before. And I smoke cigarettes occasionally. And I have slept with many guys. My first time was when I was fifteen and I did it in the guy's car and it may sound gross but I loved it."
"You're lying."
"No I'm not. I like sex. And I don't want to go to college because I am going to be a singer for the rest of my life and nothing can change that. I understand how mad you must be but I chose not to tell you all this because I knew you wouldn't be able to accept the path I've chosen. And just for the record, I only smoke pot once every three weeks. I'm not addicted or anything."
***
NORA
You know what the worst part is? The silence.
Big thick silence that you can't make out why it exists. And nor Eileen or her mother are the type who stays silent for long, so things have become very scary. I expect anything at this moment, from Mrs. Pullman to start crying her heart out to her taking out a pistol and killing all of us.
"Right. Well clearly whatever I say is going to make no difference. You won't really care about how disappointed I feel right now, how used and lost right?"
"Mom of course I care. I love you but you would never understand me. I don't want to go to school, I don't want to be a good student and I like all kinds of things you don't approve of. But I didn't want you to know that because... well you'd look like this."
"Okay let me just speak my piece here and then you can do whatever you want. You can not set foot on my house again unless you accept the following terms: You will not miss any other day at school. You will apply for college. You will quit smoking whatever crap it is you smoke. You will not listen to that fucking music you like ever again because I just want to bang your stereo whenever that noise comes out of your room. You will stop playing and singing and you are never going to see those little sluts who made you like this ever again." She means us.
And right there is Eileen's boiling point. If I were her, that would be my boiling point too. And Judy's. Dep would have told her to fuck off way earlier. Eileen starts shouting that we are her best friends and we mean everything to her and then her mother snaps that we are a bunch of little whores who have turned her into one too and that's where Dep interrupts and says that Eileen is not a whore, but one of the greatest people anyone can meet and then Mrs. Pullman tells her to shut the hell up and that this doesn't concern her.
"And I can listen to whatever music I want to and I will not stop playing! You have no right to judge my lifestyle, I am a fucking adult!" Eileen screams at her mom and she answers that if she is an adult she can live by herself and then she storms out leaving a teary lead singer to us. Screw it we know how to handle her.
"It's okay," Judy whispers as we all sit on her bed, hugging her.
"I can't believe she would say all that stuff about the music and the playing... She can't judge me like that... "
We let her cry a bit more in Judy's hug while I stroke her arms and Dep is getting her hair out of the way. And then I just think of the perfect cheer up for her. If she doesn't smile with that I'll take Harley and throw him off a cliff.
"Eileen you know what you became today?"
"What?"
"You became the Judge's daughter."
EILEEN
"Okay... how about 'talk'?"
"Easy! Talk is cheap and lies are expensive. My wallet's fat and so is my head."
"I got it I got it! 'Tool'."
"'Tool'? There's a Green Day song with the word 'tool' in it?"
"Yep. And it's well known too."
"Oh I know! Are you feeling like a social tool without a use?"
"15 out of 15. Perfect score, Miss Clash."
"Oh well, what can I say, some people were born with the gift."
Nora laughs and takes some more chips from the ball. I grab her fluffy pillow and squeeze it. And I find some pot under it.
"Well...somebody stole Dep's goodies."
"Come on there's only a tiny amount left. And she doesn't need any more marijuana in her system."
"Of course. I know that Dep's health is all you care about."
She sits up and grins at me, the way she always does when there's something mischievous in her mind.
"So you wanna get high?" She suggests.
"Sure. But if you start talking about blowing guys in the middle of the street, for the fifth time, I am so making you jump off the window."
"Deal."
She gets up and takes an empty bottle and, in a few minutes, we are both on the way of getting high. And when Nora and I get high you can't make out anything we say; yeah we laugh that much.
"Okay on a scale of one to ten how much do you love Green Day?" She asks me.
"Zero. Fucking tossers the lot of them."
After five minutes of giggling with my sophisticated English answer, Nora takes the ball of chips and eats whatever is left in it.
"Was that the door?" I ask her, after hearing a sound that was not 'Staying Alive' playing over and over inside of my head. Don't ask why that is, I have no idea.
"Shit."
"What?"
"My parents. They were supposed to come later! Fuck!" Nora gets up and opens the window to get rid of the pot smell. I disappear in her bathroom, like I have done thousands of times and fill my mouth with water and toothpaste, still stoned out of my mind and still finding a hint of amusement in this whole deal.
I hear Nora's voice saying 'Come in!" and I cover my mouth with my hand, so any giggle won't escape.
I can't make out exactly what they're saying but nobody sounds upset. And Nora will knock three times when they're gone so I have all the time to just sit and stare at her bathroom and...notice how everything is getting kinda blurry...and how I have this weird feeling in my stomach, like I want to throw up everything I have eaten since I was four.
"Hey. Clear, come on out," she says. I start throwing water in my face and by the time I get out I feel a little better.
"It's a bit more left, you want to smoke another one?" Nora asks, sitting on her bed, holding the rest of the pot. And her bed strangely feels so far away from the bathroom door now.
"You okay?"
"Sure. Your bathroom is smaller than I remembered though."
"Really? I find it okay."
We start smoking again and some minutes later I am definitely feeling better. I don't know maybe if you smoke pot and lock yourself in a small room you get all claustrophobic and feel shit like that.
"How is it having Judy staying with you for so long?" Nora says.
"It's great. My mom has given her the guest room but most of the time she just comes and spends the night in my room."
"Yeah? What do you do?"
"Make silly videos where I sing Green Day songs or talk about what I'll do to Billie when I meet him again... "
"Do I want to see any of them?"
"Well you could...but you'll think so much less of me."
"I think I'll pass."
"Yeah... "
Damn it there's no pot left; at the risk of sounding like Dep, nothing is more of a pain in the ass than running out of pot when you enjoy yourself!
Nora lies down and looks at the ceiling and I decide to join her, until the influence passes. It's fun, if you stare up there too hard shapes start to appear.
"How long has it been since you last slept with someone?"
"Nora you're about to start talking about blowing guys again... "
"Come on! Spit it out sista!"
"Alright...two months ago, a guy called Sean. I met him at the library."
"Real library or our library?"
"Last time I went to the real library was when I wanted a good dictionary with the definition of brat pack."
"And?"
"I never found it. I still don't know what it means."
"I mean with Sean."
"He was cool, we talked, he liked Green Day, he was a decent kisser...that's all."
"Any good?"
"I don't really remember... "
"Wow he really rocked your world, huh?"
"They always do! How about you?"
"I don't know...I'm not exactly in the mood right now...I don't want to just do it with anybody... again... "
"What about the guitar guy?"
"He's nice but I get kinda nervous around him and I suspect he likes Dep more than me."
"Bull! He's way into you I can tell. And he's a musician, come on!"
"Yeah we'll see. It's just weird that none of the four of us has ever had a boyfriend you know? Like a relationship. Hell I've never done it with the same person twice."
"Judy had one, when she was eleven, with that dude...Nick remember?"
"Oh yeah. And now that you said that I realise I have had a relationship too once."
"Yeah? With whom?"
"Bob, he had asked me to marry him at kindergarten."
"Fine, make fun of me."
"You ask for it."
"Hey Baby?"
"What?"
"There's something bothering me."
"What is it?"
"I don't know...do you think we have forgotten something?"
***
DEP
Alright I am going to kill them.
Torture them until they beg for death. Although that line sounds kind of washed off. First of all, they force me to leave work earlier and come shopping with them even though they know I hate shopping more than I hate folk music. Second, they make me promise that I will be with Nora when she gets her first tattoo despite the fact that I hate screaming and whining and there's going to be lots of both.
And third Eileen said 'Don't be late' and they're the ones who are fucking late, while I'm waiting outside of stupid Burger King when I'm supposed to be saving money and not waste all of it on food and grass.
"We are so so so sorry Deppie! We owe you so so so big! We promise we'll... "
"If you say another sentence with three sos I'll leave you bold."
"Okay." Eileen stops talking and gets some distance from me; she's the one who always believes my threats. Whatever I come up with she buys it.
"Nora you say things now," She says and I look at Nora who smiles like she's not afraid of how mad I am. They got high the damn bitches!
"Dep come on, get another tattoo with me, I'll pay."
"What? I have more pride than accepting bribes."
"Really?"
"No, not really. But it has to be a big tattoo."
"You can tattoo your whole back, I don't care."
"Fine. Did you guys get high?"
"Yep, Nora stole the pot you had left." Aha, exactly where I wanted this conversation to end! Nora widens her eyes and pinches Eileen's arm, because she always does that when she's angry (it's gross, my mom used to do that too) and I try to keep an expressionless face just to scare them a bit more.
"I'm sorry, I didn't... " Nora begins.
"Nora! You want to buy me lunch? That's so thoughtful of you. My God, tattoo and lunch? You're such a great friend."
"Well of course I am. Come on."
As we have settled now, and I don't threaten them with death, you'd think Eileen would start behaving normally and be the annoying squeaky girl I know and love. But she doesn't even smile; she just looks down and rubs her neck and walks slowly and stays silent while Nora rambles on how she doesn't know what tattoo to get. And if you consider that she got high some time ago too, that's a very unusual attitude.
"Hey, is everything okay?" I ask her.
"Yeah, it's just that my throat is burning a little."
"You want to stop and get you a drink or something? Nora pays."
"Nah, it's fine it'll get better, maybe I'm catching a cold."
As we get closer to the tattoo shop Nora becomes pale so now I have two sick looking friends. I am predicting that once the one sees the needle and the other hears the screams they will both collapse on the floor and I will have to get them to the hospital which is not fair because they know how useless I am when it comes to taking care of others and the whole day will suck.
"Hey Mark, how are you?"
The tattoo guy looks up and smiles once he sees two of his best costumers on his doorway again.
"I'm okay now! How are you girls?" He stares at Nora though even if he's talking to us because we've never brought her to his shop before and well she's also gorgeous obviously.
"Our friend wants to get her first tattoo," Eileen informs him, putting her arm on Nora's shoulders.
"Great. Come on in." I forgot to mention that Mark doesn't really have a license to tattoo people so he has turned his apartment into a tattoo shop and it really is the coolest apartment ever. Drawings everywhere!
"And I'll get another tattoo too Mark," I tell him, already eyeing an impressive snake on his wall, next to a unicorn.
"Great. Okay, girl what do you want, where do you want it?" He asks Nora, smiling a little too broadly than he usually does. Yeah Nora gets that a lot. She answers that she hasn't actually decided but she was thinking of getting something on the back of her left shoulder or near her belly button.
"You know like Dep's lizard. But not so big."
"Okay and what were you thinking of having?"
"Well something romantic, like a rose or... "
"You should get the words 'Knight, Hero, White Horse'," I tell her, still looking at the snake next to the unicorn.
"What?"
"Yeah, we call you princess right? And you're very attached to that nickname. What does every princess need? A heroic knight on a white horse."
Nora looks at me and then at Eileen who just shrugs (what is the matter with her?)and then a smile appears on her lips and she asks Mark if she can do that, and he tells her she can do anything she wants. Great.
"Where do you want it?"
"On my back. Make it a big one."
"It's gonna hurt though... "
"Well I should have thought of that before I came here shouldn't I?"
And right at this moment I lose my entire world.
As I watch Eileen throwing up on Mark's floor and then passing out while Nora is screaming and Mark is shouting. As our lead singer fights to find her breath and eventually falls down unable to.
Everything else happens like we're in a movie; all in slow motion. Nora manages to regain her calmness and tells Mark to call emergency while I still stand three feet away and I can't move, like somebody is telling me not to.
Where the hell is Judy?
"Eileen? Honey? Are you okay?" Nora has now kneeled next to her and slaps her to wake her up; Eileen however stays unconscious. Mark comes in and says 901 is coming and then kneels next to Nora, not touching Eileen but offering to help somehow.
"Yeah go get her some water in case she wakes up."
Why can't I go over there and help? I love Eileen more than anything, I'm obviously upset and sick worried and yet, my fucking feet are stuck on the fucking floor.
"Eileen, can you hear me?" She moves her head and that's when Nora panics a little.
"She's moving! Oh my God she's moving! Eileen? Are you okay sweetie?"
Our lead singer is still on the floor (hell her vomit is still on the floor as well) but she is now making a sound after anything Nora asks her, like "Are you okay sweetie?"
"Mmm."
"Want some water?"
"Mmm."
"We're going to take you to the hospital to see what's wrong, okay?"
"Mmm."
Where the hell is Judy?
Nora holds her back and Eileen manages to sit up and that's when I realise that if I don't do something in the next five seconds I am a real bitch. But if I go there I'll have to say something to her. I'll have to see her lying down on the floor next to her own sick while she is unable to speak. Eileen unable to speak.
I am a real cold, hard bitch.
***
JUDY
Damn me for wanting to spend a day alone with my thoughts. If every time I am by myself something like that happens, I am seriously screwed. Eileen being sick and in the hospital is one thing to worry about obviously, since she is my best friend and if anything happens to her I'll probably die, but having to tell Eileen's parents that she is sick and in the hospital is another thing that can get me killed.
"What do you mean she passed out? She was alright this morning before she went to school."
Okay how do I tell them that she skips school every second Friday like we all do?
"I don't really know Mrs. Pullman, Nora just called me and said they were in their way to the hospital with Dep."
"Wait a minute...Dep doesn't go to school. She dropped out didn't she? What were Nora and Eileen doing with her on a school day?"
Damn you woman, your daughter is in the hospital and you want to know why Dep was with her before she passed out!
"Mrs. Pullman I told you I don't know; we really should go and see her and make sure she's alright."
"And shouldn't you be at school too?"
"Enough!!!"
Okay I never shout at anybody, especially not to someone who has accepted me in her house and treated me like a sister of her child but God, it seems like she doesn't want to get to Eileen.
"Mrs. Pullman I'm sorry for yelling at you, I really am but I am so worried about Eileen so can we please drop this and go see her? I mean you must worry too."
Thankfully she stops and gets her car keys and we go to her car, after she calls her husband and tells him to meet us at the hospital. And I suspect it's going to be a long ride.
She asks all kind of things like if Eileen has ever skipped school, or what we all do when we get out at night, or if anyone has ever given us drugs in "that bloody hell sent" bar we go to and play, and if anyone has ever "taken advantage" of us and I don't say anything but I feel it in my guts: this is not going to be a pleasant day. And it seemed perfectly fine when it started.
Yeah Eileen is a rock singer, she plays in a band called Gun Shot she smokes cigarettes, she smokes marijuana, she likes having sex, she skips school, she sneaks out of her bedroom every night and she sure as hell is not going to college. And both her parents are going to find all that today.
Dep is outside the hospital, having a smoke when we arrive. Mrs. Pullman doesn't say anything to her; she just rushes in and finds a nurse. I on the other hand fall in my friend's arms and start to cry. Because of what happened but mostly because of what's going to happen now.
"It's okay," Dep says.
"She is really pissed. She's going to find out today."
"Well it was going to happen eventually. Don't worry."
"You look like shit by the way."
"Yeah, health emergencies aren't really my thing."
"I have to get in. Where's Nora?"
"She's with her."
"Did the doctors find out what was wrong?"
"She got high and she had eaten something bad before and I don't know I guess it was just too much for her to handle."
"Fuck."
"I know, and we had just convinced Baby to get her first tattoo."
I laugh and wipe my eyes, as Dep finishes off her cigarette and we look at each other with the same thought running in our heads. This is going to be difficult but we can't let Eileen deal with it by herself. We have to go in there and defend out best friend.
"When I saw her falling I just lost it," Dep tells me looking down.
"I can imagine. Nora didn't freak out?"
"She did. Big time."
"But Nora freaks out with style."
"Exactly."
You know what the worst part is?
Having to wait outside of the room while a doctor is in with Eileen, testing her blood pressure or something and me, Nora and Dep are all in the one corner of the corridor, pale as hell (I must look like I came back from the dead. Even the Dark Dep seems white) and her mother is looking at us from the opposite corner, not seeming any happier than when she was in the car with me. And on the one hand I want the doctor to come out soon so I can know what's wrong with Eileen but on the other I want the whole thing to be as delayed as it can get.
"Well the girl is doing fine. She's a little tired and she must have something to eat very soon and we're going to keep her overnight just to make sure everything is okay but I can assure you there's nothing to worry about." That's what the doctor tells us, the patient's friends. But then he pulls Mrs. Pullman aside and he starts talking lower and I am sure he is not telling her any good news. But I'm not going to try and read their lips I have to go to Eileen.
"Hey girl."
"Hey. Did Nora get the tattoo?" Our lead singer asks. She looks better than I expected. A little weak but I am definitely paler than her and her spirits seem okay...
"No I had to bring you here silly. But once you're better I'll go get it and I am going to get you one too."
"Great. We can all have a new one that will mean something. Like get each
other's initials..." Before any of us has the chance to tell her that this actually sounds like a good idea Eileen's mother walks in and she looks so angry I am afraid she's going to hit us. But Nora doesn't move and Dep doesn't move so I don't move from my place either.
"Hey mom."
"Hey. Can we speak alone?"
"No, anything you say to me you can say in front of my girls. I don't want them to
go."
"Okay fine. If you want that, okay. The doctor just told me that you took blood exams and he found a fair amount of marijuana in your system. Is that true Lane Pullman?"
"Jeez mom, last time somebody called me that was in sixth grade. My name is Eileen Clash and yeah I had smoked a fag."
"Oh great. I'm glad you just say that, with no guilt, without even the slightest attempt to convince me that it's not true."
"Mom it was in my tests, how could I possibly convince you against it?"
"That's not even the point!! I mean Christ how do they let people get high in
school?"
Now we're going deep. Now we're going very deep. Eileen seems surprisingly calm but I know the huge fight is about to begin.
"I wasn't at school mom. I was at Nora's place, she had told her parents that she was going to stay at home because she wasn't feeling well and we ate chips and got high. And after that we went to a tattoo shop, after meeting with Dep because Nora wanted to get her first tattoo and that's when I passed out."
"No I can't believe all that."
"It's true. And since I'm coming clean I might as well do it completely."
"There's more."
"Yes there is. I have taken drugs before. And I smoke cigarettes occasionally. And I have slept with many guys. My first time was when I was fifteen and I did it in the guy's car and it may sound gross but I loved it."
"You're lying."
"No I'm not. I like sex. And I don't want to go to college because I am going to be a singer for the rest of my life and nothing can change that. I understand how mad you must be but I chose not to tell you all this because I knew you wouldn't be able to accept the path I've chosen. And just for the record, I only smoke pot once every three weeks. I'm not addicted or anything."
***
NORA
You know what the worst part is? The silence.
Big thick silence that you can't make out why it exists. And nor Eileen or her mother are the type who stays silent for long, so things have become very scary. I expect anything at this moment, from Mrs. Pullman to start crying her heart out to her taking out a pistol and killing all of us.
"Right. Well clearly whatever I say is going to make no difference. You won't really care about how disappointed I feel right now, how used and lost right?"
"Mom of course I care. I love you but you would never understand me. I don't want to go to school, I don't want to be a good student and I like all kinds of things you don't approve of. But I didn't want you to know that because... well you'd look like this."
"Okay let me just speak my piece here and then you can do whatever you want. You can not set foot on my house again unless you accept the following terms: You will not miss any other day at school. You will apply for college. You will quit smoking whatever crap it is you smoke. You will not listen to that fucking music you like ever again because I just want to bang your stereo whenever that noise comes out of your room. You will stop playing and singing and you are never going to see those little sluts who made you like this ever again." She means us.
And right there is Eileen's boiling point. If I were her, that would be my boiling point too. And Judy's. Dep would have told her to fuck off way earlier. Eileen starts shouting that we are her best friends and we mean everything to her and then her mother snaps that we are a bunch of little whores who have turned her into one too and that's where Dep interrupts and says that Eileen is not a whore, but one of the greatest people anyone can meet and then Mrs. Pullman tells her to shut the hell up and that this doesn't concern her.
"And I can listen to whatever music I want to and I will not stop playing! You have no right to judge my lifestyle, I am a fucking adult!" Eileen screams at her mom and she answers that if she is an adult she can live by herself and then she storms out leaving a teary lead singer to us. Screw it we know how to handle her.
"It's okay," Judy whispers as we all sit on her bed, hugging her.
"I can't believe she would say all that stuff about the music and the playing... She can't judge me like that... "
We let her cry a bit more in Judy's hug while I stroke her arms and Dep is getting her hair out of the way. And then I just think of the perfect cheer up for her. If she doesn't smile with that I'll take Harley and throw him off a cliff.
"Eileen you know what you became today?"
"What?"
"You became the Judge's daughter."
