Chapter Text
Haley stirs in her bed, covering her ears with her pillow. Ugh, what time even was it!? Haley groaned as she flipped to her side, squinting her eyes open only the tiniest bit to see that it was barely 9:30am. Seriously?! Emily knows that she needs her beauty sleep! Gritting her teeth, Haley couldn’t take the muffled voices through the thin wall. She threw herself up and out of bed and beelined it to her dresser. Picking out an outfit and making sure her brush was where it was supposed to be, Haley angrily got herself ready for the day early.
Once Haley was presentable, she checked herself out in the mirror. Hair? Perfect. Fit? On fleek. Makeup? Perf. Nice. She blew herself a kiss before immediately getting annoyed again. Marching to her door, she threw it open in annoyance- expecting one of her Aerobics friends to be there. But Haley froze when there was someone she didn’t recognize standing across from Emily, chatting with her. Their hair really messy, their clothes horribly tacky, and they had this annoyingly cute lopsided grin. Like one of those cartoon characters. Haley huffed, crossing her arms and giving you an up-down with her eyes. She totally forgot the new farmer was moving in today.
“So, you’re that new farmer, right?” Haley scoffed, flipping her hair for good measure. Emily was giving her a glare, probably trying to get her to play nice. But Haley doesn’t want to play nice. She didn’t get her beauty sleep after all! Why should she play nice? “You know, if it weren’t for those clothes, you may actually be kind of cute.”
Emily gasped, “Haley!” She exclaimed, hands on her hips. She sighed and turned to the farmer. Haley raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry about her, I’m sure she didn’t mean it. She probably just woke up and you know how we all are when we just get out of bed.”
“Oh no.” Haley interjected again with a snide smirk. “I totally meant it.” She makes eye contact with you, making sure she’s getting to you. But you seem completely unbothered. Huh. Look at that. Whatever. Haley was about to just keep walking to the kitchen to get herself some breakfast, but stops in her tracks when you decide to contribute to this conversation.
“Gee, Barbie, if my clothes are tacky I’m terrified to find out what yours are.” Haley’s jaw fell in shock. What ?! Excuse you!? Her clothes are cute, mind you! And damn right she’s Barbie! Barbie is beautiful and beloved by little girls everywhere! What kind of insult is Barbie ?! Ugh! She doesn’t know which part to be offended by! “What are you trying to be? Bootleg Regina George? There’s enough Mean Girls bootlegs out there, we don’t need another one. So calm yourself down and get over yourself, okay? Okay.” BOOTLEG Regina George?! Bitch, Haley is BETTER than Regina George! She can make this world burn in ways she never could!
Emily, seeing this all go south, quickly moved herself in between herself and the farmer. “Hey! Hey. No need to escalate this! Farmer, why don’t you go ahead and meet everyone else in town? I’m sure they’d all love to meet you! And Haley! Aren’t you hungry? You should probably head to the kitchen to get something to eat, right?” Haley narrowed her eyes at Emily, then around her to you. Well, smartass, what are you going to do?
You simply smiled, oozing malicious compliance. “Of course. I still need to make my rounds around town. It was very nice to meet you, Emily, Barbie.” They gave the girls a simple nod before turning around and heading to the door. Haley balled her fists at her sides, gritting her teeth.
“The name’s Haley, farmer!” Haley called out as the door closed behind them. She stomped her foot against the ground, trying to get the frustrated energy out of her body. Ooh that farmer! Emily sighed and walked off, Haley hearing the door slam behind her. She went back to her room. Whatever. Whatever! It doesn’t matter at all! Haley stomped to the kitchen and threw open the fridge, following her sister’s advice to grab something to eat. Maybe that’ll bring her blood down from boiling.
Quinoa? Yuck. Guac? No, they’re all out of tortilla chips and you canNOT have guac without tortilla chips. Survival Burger? Eww to the max! And also greasy and will get ALL over her NOT tacky clothes. Ah! Wait, is that fruit salad? Haley capital-L LOVES fruit salad! Taking the tupperware out of the fridge and popping off the lid, Haley’s face scrunched up all around her nose. EWWWW!!!! Haley held the tupperware away from her as the smell of spoiled fruit filled the entire kitchen area. Of course her fruit salad had gone bad. What a perfect day today has been so far! Woken up early, the worst farmer ever moves in, and now her favorite meal has gone bad and there is nothing good in the fridge! Ugh, today is the WORST!!!
Well, Haley can always check the cabinets to see if there is anything good in there at least. Though it’s going to mostly be nonperishables and ingredients and stuff, and Haley is not a cook. That’s Emily’s job. Throwing open the cabinets, Haley immediately laid her eyes on the instant cupcake batter mix. Ooh! Cupcakes! But do they have the milk, eggs, and butter for it? She didn’t see it in the fridge earlier. Ugh! Does Emily never go shopping or something?! With a gruff, Haley kept looking. Pasta? No, she doesn’t know how to make it. Soup? She can make soup, but who has soup for breakfast? Rice? But, like, what would she have with the rice? This sucks. Defeated, Haley threw the cabinet doors closed and slumped into a chair by the dining table. Yep. It’s official. Worst. Morning. Ever.
Emily’s door opened again. She took a deep breath before leaving her doorway, making her way into the kitchen. She looked over to the pouting Haley, rolling her eyes. “We have plenty of food in the house, Haley. Don’t you have leftover Fruit Salad?”
“It’s, like, super bad.” Haley admitted, crossing one leg over the other. “And we don’t have the stuff to make cupcakes. Literally nothing good in this house.”
Emily shook her head to herself and opened up the fridge, standing out of the way and gesturing inside so Haley would look. “We have tons of leftovers of other things!” She moved a tub of Quinoa out of the way to show off there are more tubs behind it. “We have leftover vegetable medley back here, some roots platter, half a super meal… Haley we have plenty !”
“Yeah, plenty of gross health food that you like- nothing that I like!” She whined, using one of her hands to twirl a strand of hair around her finger. Agitatedly, she was starting to pull at it a little. “Seriously, Emily, there is nothing for me in that fridge!”
“Then maybe you should get a job and work and buy your own groceries!” Emily’s voice rose, echoing through the kitchen. Haley’s face fell, eyes widening. Emily covered her mouth with both her hands upon realizing what she said. The two sisters stared at each other for a good moment, the house going entirely quiet. But then Emily made the decision to stand her ground, removing her hands from her mouth and putting them at her sides, nails digging into her psalm and knuckles going white. “I am trying Haley. I really am. But you’re being such a-” She stopped herself just in time. “I get you’re having a bad morning, but you don't have to take it out on me and our new neighbor. We don’t deserve that.”
Haley was about to retort, but then she noticed how Emily’s eyes had dark circles underneath them. Haley closed her mouth. She uncrossed her leg and stood up from her chair, stepping forward so that she and Emily were face-to-face. “Sorry.” Was all she said before she walked out of the kitchen and headed to her room again. She left Emily in the kitchen to eat her health food. Even if she didn’t like it, Emily had a point. She shouldn’t take out her anger on her sister. But that farmer? Nah, they’re free game. They’re the ones who called her a bootleg Regina George and dared to call her outfit tacky! What a nerve! Fuck that farmer, right?
Haley sat down on the side of her bed, arms crossed and blowing a strand of hair out of her face. Ugh, hairspray wearing off. She glanced across the room at the mirror on her dresser, seeing herself in the corner of it. Her clothes were not tacky. She let out another frustrated huff of air, clacking her toe against the wooden floor. What now? Like, at all? What does she do now?
Well… she does like standing out by the fountain in the Spring. Maybe she should just head there a little earlier than usual. It’ll get her out of the house and away from Emily. She does not want to talk to her sister right now. Maybe she’ll stop by Alex's by the way and complain to him about it all. Yeah! She’ll go vent to Alex and he’ll be dumb and agree with everything she says because he always does! Haley smiled to herself, content with her plan, and stood up from her bed. She strides out of her room and out of the house to go find that himbo best friend of hers.
Oh yeah. She’s going to shit talk alllllllll about you.