Chapter Text
The world consisted of circumferences and gravity. And Eden too, but that had always been a given. For example: the swell of the cushion Charlotte was leaning her back against – a circumference. The heaviness of her thumbs as they fell on the screen of her phone - gravity. And Eden, the person she was texting.
Trying to, at the very least, but her thumbs didn't exactly land the way she wanted them too. Her eyes were mostly deciphering texts Eden sent back rather than focusing on trying to form her own.
Eden <3: I think I might be catching a cold.
Charlotte frowned a sick Eden was always bad, it meant less time hanging out and a crankier Eden to hang out with. There was something tugging at the back of her mind, however, this cold… it was exceptionally bad because they had… a thing happening tomorrow. Something Eden wouldn't want to miss, and though she couldn't remember what exactly that was, she wanted to write her back and give Eden advice for how to remain healthy and good:
Mae ur radiatoris wrk ans aso drink eta
Eden <3: Are you drunk?
Eden <3: We have school tomorrow, Charlotte.
Eden <3: I've already drank tea with lemon, I'm hoping it'll work.
„We have school tomorrow?“ said Charlotte to the girl sitting to her right, whose face she couldn't see due to the darkness of the room. Though here and there through flashing pink light she could distinguish white complexion, a sharp nose and full lips. The girl screwed on a frown and put her ear closer to Charlotte's mouth, „School? Tomorrow?“
The girl backed away and nodded, she took a sip of her beer, „I'm Gen“
Charlotte smiled at her. Gen’s lips, full and hot pink, were indeed another circumference. Her phone buzzed in her phone as she replied „Charlotte“
Eden <3: Do you need a ride? Or a place to stay?
Charlotte turned back to the girl, her name escaping her as soon as she turned her head, „What time is it?“
The girl frowned at her again, „I don't…“ the song was playing loudly, „… phone“ She shrugged and stood up. Probably to walk off to somewhere else, maybe outside. It was a shit party, you could tell because-
noones dancung
wajt wgat tome its???
Eden <3: It's 2:41 AM, if you're asking for time.
Eden <3: Charlotte, do you need a ride, or a place to stay at?
Eden <3: I'm going to try and sleep soon, so let me know.
Charlotte laughed at her phone. Eden never slept, she had the face to prove it too. Her eyes were always half closed and her eyebags always colored in.
Charlotte began to search for something, her fingers opened the gallery of gifs but the purpose escaped her like the girl’s name had before. As if pressured by gravity, ideas fell out of her head and bounce, bounce, bounced off into the distance.
„What's so funny?“, someone asked and Charlotte laughed even as she tried to explain.
„My ideas, they bounce in circumferences“, she made her point finger draw it out in the air between them, she started giggling halfway through, „My name is Charlotte and you're watching Disney channel.“
Other girl laughed with her, she had a cute septum piercing above her lips, it caught onto the flashing lights every now and then, „I'm Crystal“ she takes a pause before saying, „I've never liked Disney channel“
Charlotte raised her eyebrows at her, „Which show?“
„What?“
Charlotte repeated her question, „Which show made you hate the Disney Channel?“
„Every. Single. One“, the girl, Crystal, deadpanned and rolled her eyes. Charlotte felt her meanness catch like a hook onto her chest and tug. She leaned towards Crystal, of course she did.
„Bullshit“
Crystal raised her eyebrow, and like someone else already has, she stood up. She turned her head to look above her shoulder, her eyes settled on Charlottes and the hook tugged once more. Charlotte followed her deeper into the house, pocketing her phone as she stood up. „That'd just mean you've seen every single one, wouldn’t it?“ Charlotte explained as the two of them entered the smoke filled kitchen.
The kitchen is well lit and half empty. There are some smokers here, a useless open window and the wooden shank where all the alcohol sat. Crystal scooped the bottles all on one side, making enough space to hoist herself up „Every time I’ve seen a Disney show or a film or - whatever, I’ve been nothing but -”, her nose ring is very cute and in this light Charlotte gets a chance to acknowledge the rest of her isn't that bad either, “- disappointed.“
Charlotte leaned her head onto her shoulder, in order to look at Crystal from an angle, „What year are you?“ she asked. The music wasn't so loud that she needed to shout, her voice had been growing a bit of a rasp. She hoped Crystal would find it hot rather than lame.
“Junior, you?” Her makeup was vibrant, purple eyeshadow with neon pink accents. It suited her brown eyes pretty well and matched the purple ends of her hair.
“An American?” Charlotte exclaimed as if her accent hadn’t given her up from the beginning.
When Crystal rolled her eyes Charlotte went on to explain, “Year like - when were you born, yeah?”She put her hands on her chest, “ O-six ” Charlotte’s hands dropped next to Crystal’s thighs as she leaned slightly forwards. Not touching but not exactly caging, she hoped.
Crystal leaned in as well, “That’s dumb” she said, Charlotte sensed cigarette smoke on her breath, “You know I’m a senior, can’t you assume” she tilted her head as she spoke, her mouth was in a scowl. God, that damn hook kept tugging.
Charlotte shrugged but didn't say anything. She knew, absentmindedly, that she was grinning like an idiot but she was also pretty sure she couldn’t control it. So why bother worrying about it?
“Fine.” Crystal relented, she paused and let Charlotte acknowledge her really smooth brown skin, “2007”
Charlotte raised her eyebrows at her. Crystal, who had a very expressive face (something Charlotte started suspecting was a thing for her), raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her back. Charlotte reminded herself not to stare, her gaze slid to the bottle of stock. From her peripheral vision she saw Crystal smile at her small victory.
She pushed herself off of the kitchen shank, and did a little twirl while on her way to the fridge, “How about stock and coke, yeah?” She said turning around her shoulder while her hands opened the fridge door and took a two liter bottle of coke. She took two glasses from a cabinet and made herself the drink before hearing Crystal’s answer.
“There’s barely enough there for you”, Crystal complained, she turned her whole body so it faced Charlotte.
“That’s because you’re not thinking outside of the box, are you?”
Crystal looked unimpressed and stole Charlotte’s glass right under her nose. Charlotte laughed it off and turned around to rummage for another fizzy drink. Her eyes settled on Pepsi. She waved her reward at Crystal.
“Ugh” she took a sip of her own (well Charlotte's) drink, “You prefer Pepsi over Cola?”
Charlotte made a point of huffing louder, “ Ugh ,I prefer better debates then that one.” However, she remembered Eden’s take on the whole thing, “but if I have to choose - coke, I guess.”
Crystal nodded, “Correct choice, and I’m American. We argue over stupid debates, yeah ” she attempted a horrible imitation of Charlotte’s accent, it made Charlotte giggle as she mixed Pepsi with stock, “ I just moved here this summer”
Charlotte hummed as she took a sip, “How long are you staying?”
Crystal shrugged her shoulders, her legs were swinging back and forth, the backs of her shoes leaving little mud trails on the cabinet beneath the shank. It made Charlotte ask, “D’you know whose house this is?”
“Umm” Crystal looked around herself. Charlotte downed her Pepsi-Stock mix and mentally agreed with Eden on CocaCola’s superiority, “No clue” Crystal finally concluded. Her boots were tapping the cabinet in rhythm with the song blasting in the other room. “I was supposed to go to the Devlin’s house, something about a goodbye to summer party? Could this be it?”
Charlotte followed her gaze and looked around the kitchen, to the three girls huddled in the corner smoking and talking about something in low whispers, it seemed important, “Devlin is a bitch and a half, but she knows how to throw a better party.” She moved her head in order to peek back into the living room where, from what she could see, no one danced, “D’you hear the lack of singing, yeah? An offence, federal! If you ask Devlin.”
Crystal gulped her drink, “Devlin girl?”, Charlotte nodded, her head going a bit too low and her chin clumsily falling on her chest. She loved gravity. When she went to take another sip she found her glass empty. Crystal had jumped off of the counter.
“I came here with a friend, I’m thinking of finding her and ditching this place. Wanna come?”
“Sure”
Crystal smiled at her and Charlotte liked being just sober enough to recognize the butterflies in her stomach and just drunk enough to not recognize why they should concern her, “I’m a bloody genius for booze” She said as Crystal motioned for her to follow. They zigzagged around the house, Crystal’s hand gently curled around Charlotte’s wrist and her eyes searching for whoever it was she was trying to find. Charlotte didn’t bother to ask for the other girl's description but she did try to recognize and remember the faces she saw around them anyway. Which girl was kissing which boy, which people played beer pong together or - whose phone she recognized being carelessly left on the side of the carpet.
It was the phone. An iPhone, with its cracked screen, discarded next to sunglasses, with a bent left handle. It made Charlotte sober up a bit. She recognized them so well she gagged on reflex.
“Crystal, slow down I might throw up” Charlotte said and internally cursed Pavlov three times over.
Crystal dropped her wrist quickly, Charlotte frowned. She brought her hand to her mouth to conceal it though. “Kidding, look -” she said now that she had her attention, “I’m sorry you can’t find your friend but like I have to go, yeah?”
Crystal frowned back, looking even cuter than she did when smiling, “But uh,” the expression made Charlotte say, “We could hang out sometime, you have insta?”
Crystal nodded,” Give me your phone,” Her hand was extended and waiting. Charlotte laughed and complied.
“Such a European thing, not asking for someone’s number” Crystal complained while she typed something out. As far as Charlotte could tell there was a lot of frustration clicking on delete key.
“Can’t say I’d mind getting that too”
Crystal looked at her through her lashes and Charlotte was sure no amount of alcohol could make the heat in her stomach feel normal at that look. She couldn’t stop her grin widening while she looked at Crystal’s fingers swiping across her phone screen to add her number in as well. She looked up at Charlotte, “Call me when you get home safe”
“Sure thing” she replied, like an idiot. She must've been a cute idiot because Crystal rolled her eyes in a cute way and smiled before leaving Charlotte alone in the middle of the living room.
Charlotte needed only a second to remember who she was avoiding. She looked around the room quickly just to be safe and then bolted for the exit as fast as her heavy limbs would allow her to. She was amazed at her luck, spotting the broken phone, getting Crystal’s insta and escaping successfully. It was the start of a good year. She swung the door open and was hit with chilly air like a slap to her face.
It helped sharpen her mind. Maybe. It felt like it when her steps became confident as she walked towards her bike. She had her phone and her keys in her pockets. Everything was going just fine-
-and then she heard the shout from behind her.
“Hey Rowlands!”
Charlotte saw a red filter switch on in front of her eyes. Chill air cleared her mind before, right? Charlotte took a deep breath to keep herself from turning around. She was the bigger person. She unlocked her bike and breathed.
“Rowlands! Why you running away, huh? Oh wait let me guess you have to run back to your chick, don’t you?”
“Fuck off Simone” she shouted at her bike and wrapped the chain around the metal handle. The bigger person breathes .
“Think I figured it out, the reason Payne likes you so much is cus you’re a huge pussy, innit? Her dyke just jumps out, don’t it?”
—
Charlotte sat on the pavement with her head in her hands while she waited for Eden. Her head was heavy, it lolled from right to left. Her eyelids were made out of steel, it hurt to keep them not-closed. She should close them… why wasn’t she closing them?
Right. Eden.
She didn’t get much sleep, what with the party and the incident, having to then drive, while tipsy, all the way to her home. She was glad her parents didn’t catch her sneaking in, though she couldn't avoid an argument for why she insisted on showering in the morning.
It was the first day of school and she was too superstitious to begin the year with a canceling of plans, so she woke up, thirty minutes early, and came to Eden’s house. Charlotte needed Eden’s insomniatic knowledge if she was to survive the day. Eden always knew how to keep herself sane and awake.
She almost sat up when the door of Eden’s house opened up and she saw the other girl lock up, she decided against it, though and waited for Eden to come to her.
“Good morning” Eden greeted through a sigh, Charlotte could feel her eyes inspecting her appearance.
“Morning” Charlotte yawned halfway through the word and hadn’t bothered to cover her mouth. Eden stood above her for a second before extending her hand to Charlotte. She gratefully took it to pull herself up and dusted off her trousers. She could feel Eden’s disapproving look on her.
“Come on you can’t be mad at me, I came early and all”
“You look like you lost a fight with a cat”
Charlotte shrugged. She still patted her box braids making sure they’re still as tight as they were when she last looked in the mirror, “Simone got herself acrylic nails this summer.”
Eden’s face changed from shock to worry in the funniest way, Charlotte chuckled as she moved to stand her bike up from the ground.
“You’ve fought with Simone? Over what?” Eden’s voice was high pitched, and her eyes were wide open.
Charlotte pouted, “Wasn’t a fight-fight though, just scratches, yeah” they began walking towards school with Charlotte dragging her bike along.
“I do not need your protection, especially when you're at the Devlins and so drunk you cannot even look at the time on your phone”
Charlotte gave Eden a look, “I wasn’t that drunk and besides,” she cracked her neck from left to right, “How’d you know I was protecting you, maybe she was just being a cunt in general”
Eden scoffed, Charlotte didn’t need to look at the other girl to know she was playing with her bracelet, “ When’s Simone not a cunt. You aren’t badly hurt are you?”
Charlotte shakes her head, “Nah, a little bit of pushing maybe a bit of scratching. Lots of yelling though. I’ve got to say mate she has not become creative at all” Charlotte laughed at her joke as Eden worried her bracelet away.
Charlotte pulled out her phone with one hand and asked for permission to play music, hoping to distract Eden with it. Eden rolled her eyes at the asking and Charlotte cackled as she pulled up her new favorite playlist, she needed something with enough beat to wake her up.
“What happened with your cold?” She asked. Charlotte had read over all of their messages from last night. She always made sure to read through whatever she wrote while drunk, especially when it came to texts for Eden.
“Nothing, why? Do I look sick?” she turned her head towards Charlotte who stopped briefly to inspect her. Eden's eyes were clear, impossible white against grey irises that currently reflected more green than blue. She had her usual eyebags and her lips were chapped. She looked like her normal self with her beautiful skin, a product of a very convoluted skincare routine Charlotte was too lazy and broke to ever replicate.
Charlotte continued walking, “Nah. Your hair’s pretty though, your own work?”
Eden felt up her fish braid with her one hand, “No, actually it was the ghost I live with, Charlotte”
“I thought maybe Charlie…?”
Charlotte didn’t have to look at Eden to know she must've rolled her eyes. Charlie wasn’t exactly known for being the most present legal guardian. “Are you sure simone didn’t give you a concussion?”
Charlotte knocked on her skull as she grinned, “Nah too hard headed for that”
They talked about professors and their expectations for the subjects this year. It was their final year in high school meaning that pressure was heavy on their chests. By the time they reached their school building they were surrounded by similarly stressed out students all around them, buzzing and zig zagging around all way too eager to get to their first class.
“You’d think people wouldn’t be so excited about school”
“Their brains reset every year, it’ll wear off in about…” Eden shook her head left to right while she thought her bet through, “ four hours”
“I'm giving it three. On a velvet cupcake” Charlotte offered and Eden accepted the bet. They shook hands on it and entered their final year of highschool.