Chapter Text
"IF YOU WANNABE MY LOVER (lover, lover, lover)”
The three tween girls struck their final pose, holding it until the imagined thunderous applause and calls of “encore” died down.
“Boom!” Kaydel shouted, jumping up from her crouching position in the front of the group.
Rey scurried over to press the red button on the camcorder, adidas track pants making their telltale “swish” as she crossed the room. She made sure not to bump the cam from the precarious position they had in on the bookshelf. It was their best angle for the performance, but she would be heartbroken if anything happened to the camcorder Maz had given her for Christmas.
Rose giggled, which allowed the bright pink lollipop to fall out of her mouth and stick to the basement’s orange shag carpet. “Oops, ah gross. Hey, that was our best take yet!”
“I don’t know,” frowned Rey, thinking back to the round house kick she had bungled during the second verse. “I think we should work on the choreography more or 'Star Search' won’t take us seriously.”
During the summer of 2002 the Kanata’s basement had acted as the backdrop for classic movie scenes, Jane Fonda-style exercise tapes, and most recently pop music videos for the 3 best friends. Tonight was the culmination of a week of Spice Girls research and rehearsals for their home video.
Kaydel rolled her eyes, already elbow deep in a bag of microwave popcorn, taking a seat cross legged on the brown suede ottoman in front of the couch. “Yea, because the choreography is going to be why we don’t get on MTV.”
“'Star search' is CBS, duh” Rose commented through the open door to the bathroom as she rinsed off the lint and questionable fuzz that had adhered to the hard candy of her lollipop. Sticking her head out from behind the door, she made a face. “You guys, I really don’t want to be Baby Spice. She’s so boring, and I don’t even like pink. Can’t I be Scary?”
Suddenly, loud popping noises could be heard through the screen door of the walkout basement. Rey causally crossed the room to peek out of the door, hoping to catch a glimpse of what the older boys were getting up to.
She loved living with the Kanata’s. It had been almost a year since she had been placed with her foster mom, Maz, and Maz's teenage son, Finn. Almost a year since she had finally found herself with a family that accepted her, faults and all. Almost a year since she had moved into their modest rancher on Takodanna Ct in the city of Corellia, and met a neighborhood full of kids around her same age. That first day on Takodana Ct, Rey had made more friends then she had in her whole life so far.
Rose and Kaydel were a year older than Rey at school, but the girls were inseparable after school and during the summer. Then there were the boys next door.
Poe, handsome and athletic, would be a sophomore along with Finn at their local high school this fall. Ben, Poe’s tall and mysteriously angsty older brother, had just graduated. Ben had a mop of soft looking dark hair that always seemed to be falling into his eyes, black painted fingernails, and rode a motorcycle. He was absolutely Rey’s ideal of what a boy should be. Just this morning she had been writing in her prized Lisa Frank journal, and decided that Ben had made it to her #1 spot on her ‘Cutest Guys’ list (beating out Lance Bass who had been #1 for a good 2 years).
Kaydel’s exasperated sigh brought Rey back to the discussion at hand.
“No Rose, you’re too cute and nice to be Scary Spice. You don’t choose your Spice Girl personality, your Spice Girl personality chooses you” she explained. “Rey is Sporty because she’s good at soccer and basketball, and hates make-up; I’m Posh because I’m sophisticated and look great in black; You’re Baby because you’re sweet and have a baby face.”
Rose sulked as Rey scoffed, “You’re sophisticated? More like you just like walking around in high heels and making pouty faces”.
Kaydel aimed a popcorn kernel at Rey’s head in retribution, which missed and sailed past the Big Mouth Billy Bass on the wall, setting off a chorus of ‘Take me to the river, drop me in the water’.
“See Ben out there?” asked Kaydel with a side eye at Rey, who had been not-so-subtly squinting into the growing darkness outside.
“Shut up, no.” answered Rey, jumping away from the sliding door and slumping into the nearest armchair. “Sounded like they were setting off more firecrackers, just wanted to make sure Poe wasn’t on fire again.”
The girls burst out laughing at the memory from a few weeks ago. Poe had gotten too close to their firecracker display, and had somehow caught his khaki shorts on fire. The image of him, khaki shorts aflame, squealing and running down the street, would not be quickly forgotten in their neighborhood. Finn had eventually tackled Poe to the ground, holding him still while Ben smothered the flames consuming his shorts.
“AFV would have paid up big for a video of that” said Rose, shaking with laughter.
At that moment, the screen door slid open with purpose, Finn leading Poe and Ben in from the dark. They stopped in their tracks at the sight of the three girls laughing hysterically, apparently at them.
“What’s so funny?” questioned Finn, eyes narrowed.
“How are your shorts doing, Poe” gasped out Rey, the other girls doubling over at the lame joke.
“Oh you’re gonna pay for THAT!” Poe shouted, grasping at Rey’s ankles to hang her upside down. The girls erupted in shrieks and scattered throughout the house, Poe in pursuit. Finn and Ben took up places on the couch, firing up the game cube, and exchanging smirks at the riot of noise around them as they settled in to play Resident Evil.
Rey zoomed passed Maz, who was straightening up in the kitchen, and sprinted down the hall, ducking into the open door of Finn's bedroom. She slammed the door, keeping her back to it while trying to smother her laughter as she heard the other girls scampering for escape. Poe must have given up the chase because she couldn't hear his heavier footfalls anymore.
Soon she heard Maz call down the hall that it was time for Rose and Kaydel to be heading home. Rey popped her head out of Finn’s room, making sure the coast was clear before she made her way down to the front porch. The girls hugged goodnight, making plans to meet up first thing in the morning to walk to Jakku pond, all 'Star Search' aspirations abandoned for the moment in the middle-of-summer twilight.
Walking back inside, Rey could hear the boys laughing about something in the basement. Curiosity peaked, and secretly hoping to get a glimpse of Ben’s elusive smile, Rey snuck back down the stairs.
The sight before her made her stomach drop to her toes. The boys were huddled around a book with a colorful cover, Poe grinning and nudging Ben's shoulders while Finn shook his head, looking a little disapproving.
It was her journal. Poe must have snuck into her room while she was hiding.
Looking up, Poe gave her a big innocent grin. "Hey Rey," he started, "what's this all about? Why am I not your number 1? What's emo Ben got that I don't?"
Rey's face positively burned. Heart pounding, she looked anywhere but at the teenage boys sitting on the couch. She lunged for the nearest throw pillow, weilding it with all the ferocity an 11 year old could muster, and began wailing liberally on Poe. Poe dropped the journal to protect his stupidly perfect face, while Finn attempted to grab her around the waist and pull her off his friend.
"Rey, chill out." Came Ben's low growl.
"That's private you JERK," yelled Rey, ignoring Ben and Finn, and focusing her anger on her betrayer. Then Poe made a move to get away, and Rey lost her footing. Rey stumbled back, and her hand instinctively reach to catch herself on the nearest furniture. The bookshelf. Her precious camcorder was jostled and left its perch on the second highest shelf.
It felt to Rey as though time slowed down. Finn and Ben both reached to try and catch it as it plummeted towards the ground, but their reflexes were too slow. They all stood, staring down at the camcorder that was now in multiple pieces on the shag carpet.
Rey's anger faded and was replaced with a flood of tears. Shame, betrayal, and loss crashed over her. She scooped up the broken pieces of her first ever Christmas present, grabbed the offending journal, and slipped past Maz in the basement doorway who had come to investigate the ruckus. She slammed and locked the door to her room, choosing to ignore Maz's gentle knocks and words of comfort floating through the door.
Rey couldn't believe it. At her previous foster homes she had to fight for her privacy, but never with the Kanata’s. She had let her guard down, not hiding her journal under her mattress like she used to, and this is what she gets.
Sey paced the floor of her bedroom, trying to get a hold of all the turbulent emotions running through her. Maybe the camcorder was salvageable, she would apologize to Maz and try to fix it. But those boys.
Poe was a Neanderthal, she wasn’t surprised that he would go through her personal things, but it still hurt.
Finn was supposed to be like a big brother, how could he have just stood by and let Poe read through her personal thoughts?
And then there was Ben. Stupid Ben. Stupid face. Stupid flippy hair. How had she ever let him get to her number 1 spot.
Halting her pacing she rushed over to her desk drawer and scrambled through the contents until she found her largest black sharpie.
Rey picked up her journal and violently flipped through until she found her 'Cutest Guys' list. Scribbling madly, she blacked out Ben's name, then wrote in bold letters:
IF THIS IS BEN READING THIS, I HATE YOU.
ALSO I HATE POE.