Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nicole was standing around in the bathroom to get out of a quiz. No, scratch that.

she was skipping because Jecka was sick, and that meant going to class was a waste of her time.

But the bathroom wasn't much of an improvement, not even percocet could improve it.

There wasn't any bickering, no meaningless conversations about who did what, no complaining about overpriced adderall.

No one to pass a cig her way, no one to share her pills with, no one to look at.

...

What was that last thought? Not like she cared much. Without needlessly dragging on, she was bored.

Nicole wanted to text Jecka, but of all days, this had to be the day she left her phone on the nightstand.

Fuck, how did that even happen? She didn't rush to school, wasn't berated by her mom in the morning,

hell, she wasn't even particularly tired this morning, and it's not like she couldn't sleep either.

She didn't sleep well, but by her standards it was average. Maybe below average but like-

"Oh, hi Nicole." Said Emily walking in. "Hey." Nicole muttered inaudibly.

Emily was headed toward a stall and whilst grabbing the door, asked. "Aren't you leaving?"  "No, i'm skipping in here. Aren't you?"

"No, i totally am, just killing two birds with one stone." Emily shut the door afterwards, leaving Nicole to her thoughts.

Emily eventually emerged from the stall, and went to wash her hands. Sneaking Nicole a glance.

"What class are you skipping?" Asked Emily while drying her hands, afterwards sitting on the sink counter.

"Who gives a shit?" Responded Nicole. "Wasn't that interested anyway." Said Emily.

"Say, where's Jecka? I haven't seen her at all today." Emily asked.

"Ah, she's sick. Surprised you noticed." Answered Nicole. "Why are you surprised? No one else asked about her?"

"Why would people ask me? The teachers are right there." "Alright, but like, no one has asked you?" Asked Emily.

Nicole thought for a moment. "No, i don't think so." Emily muttered "Okay," then pulled out her phone to text someone.

"Wanna buy some addys?" Asked Emily, surprising Nicole. "I've already swallowed a perc, no thanks."

"But why do one pill when you can do two?" "Why do one guy when you can do two?" "Exactly! you just get everything, Nicole." Emily remarked.

"Yeah, i'm just amazing like that." "What time does school end?" Asked Nicole. "Who knows. Wanna leave right now and go somewhere?"

"Sure, beats the bathroom, i need to grab my phone anyways." Answered Nicole, already heading for the door. Emily quickly followed behind.

"Aren't you gonna get your stuff?" Emily looked very confused. "What? My clothes?" Said Nicole, also confused.

"No, silly. You said you'd get your phone from here, right?" Emily said, popping a pill. "I mentioned that?"

"No- What? What does it matter if you mentioned it? Your gonna get it anyways, right?" Emily was extremely confused.

"Oh, shit. Right, uhm- Yeah, my phone's at my house." Nicole blurted out. "...Why?" Asked Emily.

"Fuck- I don't know why. Just slipped my mind this morning. This morning, of all the mornings to forget!"

"Damn, what's wrong with not taking it today?" "Well- Like, don't worry about it we're gonna grab it anyways." Responded Nicole.

"Whatever, i got my stuff. Let's go." Said Emily closing her locker and stuffing some striped arm warmers and whatever else into her bag.

They both walked to Emily's car out front, an old, silver, 2-door Saturn with only two of the windows cracked! How luxurious.

Emily unlocked her car, got in and threw her bag behind her onto the backseats, Nicole followed suit.

Nicole immediately noticed the absurd amount of McDonalds wrappers around, alongside the chipped AC vents.

"You wanna stop by your house first?" Emily asked while fumbling with the ignition.

"Obviously, now drive." Nicole answered. "Where is it again? I forgot where you live."

"I'll just give you directions as you go." Nicole said. "Fuuuucck." Sighed Emily.

"What the hell happened?" Nicole asked. "My car's out of gas." She answered. "Fuck's sake, Emily."

"Are we really gonna walk to your house?" Asked Emily. "Yes, it's actually really close, all things considered."

"Can I have an addy?" Asked Nicole. "Twelve a bean, Nicole." "What about your 'First one is free.' policy?" Nicole argued.

"Bitch, you got your free one months ago, don't think I forget!" Emily yelled. Nicole sighed heavily.

"What if you give me the addy now, and I'll pay-" Nicole was interrupted by Emily.

"Fuck no. You know how this works, Nicole." Nicole knew not to push her luck any more then she already had.

"God, point proven. Now, let's go." Nicole said while opening the door. Emily grabbed her bag and did the same.

Walking to her house was uneventful, Emily was texting whoever on her phone. And Nicole was walking mindlessly,

thoughts fading in and out, percocet, Jecka, addys, Her mom hitting her, Mythbusters, killing herself.

"Nicole? We just passed by your house." Emilys voice brought Nicole back to reality.

"Oh," said Nicole, almost immediately jaywalking across the street, without looking, of course.

Emily followed Nicole across to her house, then to her room. Nicole grabbed her phone and started texting.

"So, are you gonna buy my addys now?" Emily asked eagerly, since no one buys from her.

"Sure, I think have some change here somewhere." Nicole responded, then started searching her drawers and wherever else.

Emily looked surprised. "You've had your wallet this whole time?" She complained.

"Yeah, I guess." Nicole finished texting and put her phone away. "Then why didn't you buy from me?" Asked Emily.

"Because I only have nine dollars in here." Nicole explained. "Damn, I thought you'd be richer." Said Emily.

"Why? I don't look rich in the slightest." Nicole crossed her arms. "Where do you buy clothes for nine dollars anyways?" Emily wondered.

"Like, nowhere, most of this is stolen from Hot Topic." Said Nicole.

Emily complimented Nicole. "That's badass, Nicole. You're awesome." "Stealing from Hot Topic is badass to you?"

Nicole had finished rummaging through her room. "Only two dollars in change. Fuck." Nicole was dissapointed.

"I'll make an exception, just for you, Nicole~" Emily offered in the most charming voice she could muster.

"A dollar off, I feel so special." Nicole said, handing Emily all of her money. Emily looked into Nicoles eyes whilst taking it.

"All yours, Nicole!" Said Emily handing her a single addy. Nicole snatched it and swallowed it immediately, not even a thanks.

"Well, I'm ready to go, you?" Asked Nicole. "Totally am, can we go to the 7/11 first?" Emily suggested.

"If you want to get sexually harassed by the clerk, sure." Said Nicole. "Great, let's go then." 

Emily had already opened the door and left the room, Nicole followed along afterwards.

Chapter Text

Why would Emily want to go to a fucking 7/11? Is what Nicole pondered for all of five seconds.

She didn't really care, it's better then lazing in her room, mulling over meaningless bullshit.

The walk over was a bunch of nothing, it wasn't bad, it wasn't good, it was a walk.

They both made it to 7/11, litter everywhere, and it reeked of cigarette smoke.

Not even in the hot kind of way Jecka smelled of cigs, but an old, creepy bald guy with no teeth kind of way.

"Emily, I've never even heard of this 7/11, what the fuck are we doing here? This place sucks."

"Oh, fucking Crispin wouldn't even consider a diffrent area, I should've told him to get lost and buy from someone else."

"What?! I thought we were here to buy something! Not deal drugs to an airhead." Nicole was pissed, for some reason.

She didn't even like the slushies or candy or whatever the fuck they sell here, why would she be dissapointed because of this?

"Like the slushies here are that good, but we can if you reeeaally want to." Emily offered Nicole. "Hell no, let's get McDonalds instead."

"Emily, I'm tasting the smoke in my mouth at this point, why are we waiting for him, anyways? You really should've told him off."

"You're right Nicole, he's fucking late anyways. He can suck a dick for all I care!" "Let's go before he shows up out of the blue."

They both started walking off to McDonalds, tasting fresh- no, slightly better- "Hey, like sorry I'm late man, but like, it's cool? Yeah?"

Crispins voice hit them both like a dreadful, boring, time-wasting, inconveniencing, annoying, piece of shit spear through their souls.

"Oh my fucking god..." "Y'know Emily, we should just OD on the spot." "I fucking wish these pills could kill me..."

"Woah, like what's with all the negativity? What happened?" Crispin was so unbelievably unaware that he was what happened.

"What the fuck do you care? Do you have the money or not?" Emily was visibly on the edge of running into traffic right now.

"Yeah I got it, like what are you up to?" "Fuck off and give me the money, Crispin."

"Yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah just- Oh, wow, Nicole! I didn't know you two were friends!"

Oh, no no no no no no no, fuck no, this conversation has doubled in length only because of a moron's ability to use his eyes.

"Big deal, now give me your money." Emily tried her very best to steer this conversation back to payment. "Yeah, it's just that...I don't know-"

"If you don't give me the money immediately, I will cut your Fucking tongue out!" Emily finally got her message across.

"Alright, no need to yell..." Crispin handed her whatever, and Emily gave him some pills. Probably the fastest drug deal Crispin ever pulled off.

Emily and Nicole didn't even say goodbye, only jaywalked across so Crispin wouldn't have the balls to try and follow them.

"So, like, are we down to hang out sometime? Like maybe here? Okay, yeah! I'll call you later!" "Y'know you two are like..."

Crispin's voice faded out, thankfully. Maybe he was so focused on saying goodbye he missed the green light? Probably. Thank fuck...

"Wait, did he say 'Call you later!' Does that waste of air have your number?!" Nicole asked her out of nowhere.

"No, atleast I didn't give him my number. That guy has a way of finding our numbers, y'know." Emily answered.

"Yeah, that's right. I totally forgot he does that." "Oh, y'know, I think he might try and find your number now."

"Shit. Now I'll have to deal with him in and out of school." "No, you can just block him. Unless your mom only has the basic phone plan."

"Well, fuck me, my mom does only have the basic phone plan." Nicole was shit out of luck. "Have fun with that."

Nicole remembered something, then pulled her phone out to check her inbox. No New Messages. 

Is she still asleep? No way, it's like almost 3 pm or something. Why didn't Jecka respond?

Did her fever get worse? Is she busy vomiting? What if it's serious?

Nicole decided to send another text, maybe Jecka hasn't checked her phone today?

hey do u want me 2 bring u xans or cigs? both is not an option

Nicole waited for a response, but no luck. Not like she expected her to respond, but no luck regardless.

"What did you want from McDonalds?" Asked Emily. "Fries and like, a coke." Nicole wasn't that hungry.

"I'm gonna get a happy meal." Emily eats entire meals? That's a surprise to Nicole.

"Is this the right street? I've been here before, and I don't think a McDonalds is nearby." Said Nicole looking around her.

"Shit, you're right. Did I take a wrong turn?" Emily wondered, also looking around. "We came from that way, right?" 

"Proooobably?" Nicole was unsure, and Emily looked like it as well. "This street also looks...Fuck, Nicole are we lost?"

Chapter Text

Fucking amazing! Now they're both lost in a sketchy-looking neighborhood, how will they get their McDonalds now?

"This looks like PG County. Are we in PG County, Nicole?" "I- Probably? actually, yeah. This is definitely PG County."

"You've been here waaayy more then anyone else at school, do you recognize any landmarks?" Emily asked Nicole.

Nicole looked around, looking for anything familiar. "I recognize...That guy." She pointed to a walking corpse.

...Five seconds of silence permeated through the air...

"You sold crack to that guy?" Is what Emily assumed. "Yeah, but there's no way we can talk to him now, he'll just beg for more crack."

"Recognize anything else?" Nicole looked for a bit, then noticed something. "I think I recognize that car over there."

They both looked at the end of the street. In the distance sat a white, mid-80s sedan, they couldn't see any details.

"That's like, the average car here, Nicole. We better not be screwed over because you didn't look at the scenery back then."

Emily complained about Nicole's lack of shit giving while dealing drugs in a safe, drug-free, high income neighborhood.

But her voice sounded...well. She sounded demeaning, not just demeaning either. She sounded condescending, too.

"What fucking scenery, Emily?" Nicole raised her voice. "Like I would want to remember this shitty and disgusting place anyways!"

Oh, here it comes! Nicole sounded angrier. "Oh, and also 'Screwed over because of you.' Fuck you!" She continued on.

"Also, I was following you, Emily! You were leading the way! Maybe your fucking carelessness screwed us over." Nicole bit back.

"You're the one who wanted to go to fucking McDonalds!" "You should've told Crispin off! You said it yourself!" Nicole retorted.

Emily paused for a moment. "God, all you do is fucking complain Nicole! Complain, complain-" Nicole cut her off.

"You sound like my mom, 'All you do is complain, Nicole! Complain, complain, complain.' Fucking playground insults, Emily? You can do better."

They both stared at eachother for 2 entire seconds. "What? Couldn't think of an-"

Emily shoved Nicole onto the pavement with an amount of force Nicole didn't know a human could muster. Or survive.

"Fuck you! I don't have to take this shit from you! Have fun chatting with crack addicts, bitch!" And like that, Emily had run off into an alley.

Nicole's vision was blurry and just generally fucked up, her back was also stabbing her just enough to not kill her. A sick and twisted joke.

The only reason she even tried getting up was because she didn't want her final moments to be in PG County, of all places.

Because PG County is a shitty, dirty place, and it is waaaaaaay below Nicole's standards for places to die. She's picky like that.

And when she got back up, her entire body was telling her to lie the fuck down before she loses conscienceness.

Her legs were weak and felt like they could snap in half at any moment, her neck was stiff and stung like hell, no words could describe it.

Nicole, by some miracle, didn't lose conscienceness. Great! Now she just had to get her bearings and limp around sketch-town

looking for a way back to her cushy little cul-de-sac.

Nicole's posture was horrible, but there were way bigger things to concern herself with, like which street to go walking down.

She could go the direction Emily went, so basically, follow the girl who just nearly paralyzed her. Or she could go right to the white sedan, 

but any living, breathing person here was either a criminal, a creep or a cop. And she wanted to deal with none of these options, so fuck no.

Forwards, there were more shitty apartments, and a street sign, helpful. And backwards she barely saw some trees in the distance...

Nicole had realized the colossal fuck up both she and Emily made while looking around for directions. But there's no way they were that 

fucked up on drugs to not notice, Nicole's perc had worn off so Emily's addy was the only thing she was on. And she did see Emily pop a pill

back at school, maybe it was strong stuff? Regardless, she sluggishly moved towards the trees and remembered that she had a phone

and could just call Emily to tell her to come back and get that McDonalds she so craves. And so she got her phone out and realized

that it was pretty banged up, being in her back pocket and all. The screen was royally fucked, Nicole could just barely make out the words

on it. How lucky. And so she was about to call Emily, but something got her attention first. That being a new message.

j̷ec̴k̵s: ̵x̷ans̴ ̸4̵ ̸su̷r̵e̸ ̴when r̵ ̶u̶ ̷c̴om̴i̵ng̷ ̴o̷v̶e̵r???̶

Nicole was a little pissed that Jecka didn't mention anything from her first text, but whatever. She decided to try and call Jecka and ask her

for a ride out of this shithole, Emily too, if possible, she's cool. Nicole looked for Jecka in her contacts and called her.

"Hey, who is this?" Jecka's familiar voice flooded Nicole's right ear. "It's me. Can you pick me up?" Nicole didn't waste any time.

Jecka paused for a moment because of the how transparently direct Nicole was. "I thought you were coming over?" "Change of plans."

"Bitch, what does that mean? Use more words!" Jecka requested of Nicole. "There's been a change of plans because Emily took a wrong turn,

happy now?" "Don't tell me Emily also wants a ride." Pleaded Jecka. "Not sure, she's not even with me right now." Nicole casually mentioned.

"How did that happen? And wait- Emily took a wrong turn? Why aren't you two driving back?" Jecka asked after processing what Nicole

mentioned a sentence ago. "No, she took a wrong turn while walking. Can you pick me up now?" Nicole asked again.

"God, I don't even care, where are you?" "Near PG County." Awkward silence permeated through both ends of the call.

"Are you fucking with me?" "No, also I said near PG County, it's not too bad. Also, did your fever get worse?" This question perplexed Jecka.

"Uhm, no I'm better. Why do you ask? Finally developed a heart?" "No, I'm just asking." "I'm going to miss Drake & Josh, just so you know."

Jecka hung up. Now that Jecka was driving over, Nicole called Emily's number after thinking hard and long about it.

"God, I'm really fucking busy, whoever this is, fuck off and die." Emily said in an angry tone. "Yeah, I know, anyways-"

"Nicole, you have some nerve calling me after snapping like that. You know that?" "Uh-huh, anyways I got out of PG County and Jecka

is gonna pick me up, you wanna ride along?" Nicole casually offered. "Only if she takes us to McDonalds." "Hell yeah."

"So how'd you get out of here?" "You know the intersection we were at? Head back there and head towards the greenery in the distance.

That should lead you out." Emily paused for a moment. "So, you're telling me you could see trees from where we were standing before?"

"Yeah, what about that?" Nicole was clueless as to what Emily was implying. "So why the fuck didn't we do that before?"

"Guess I didn't notice them in the distance." "I thought you were smarter, Nicole!" "Smarter, how?" "Fuck if I know, more observant?"

"Okay. So are you coming or not?" "Yeah, sure. See you." Emily hung up, afterwards Nicole sat on a bench and got some rest.

Nicole started staring at the sky for whatever reason, it was cloudy but the sun still shined through. What time is it? It feels like

she and Emily have been hanging out for eternity but no, she checked her phone and barely made out the time. It was only 7 p.m

Only like what? Three hours with Emily? Not as automatic as the mall, mind you. No no no, what? This is the opposite effect the mall had,

the mall made time faster, walking around with Emily made time slower. Weird, Nicole thought for 10 seconds. She also saw a car

approaching. A pink beetle in mediocre conditon, she immediately knew who it was. The absurdly colored beetle pulled over next to her

and rolled it's windows down. Revealing the blonde, preppy and chainsmoking driver, staring at Nicole with eyes of discomfort and concern.

"What happened to you?"

Chapter Text

"...Nothing. Just a tiny argument." Nicole answered. "Tiny?" "Yeah, it was nothing," each of them stared at the other, one with boredom and the other with bemusement. "You look like that girl from the ring." Jecka remarked, afterwards offering that girl from the ring cigarettes, she obviously accepted. "I do not look that bad," she denied. "Whatever..."

After their conversation fizzled out, they sat in silence and stared onward, the only words the two exchanged were about offering and accepting cigarettes. Suddenly interrupted by a violent alt girl opening the passenger door. "Hey you two," is all she said before plopping onto Nicoles lap like she hadn't shoved her onto pavement 20 minutes ago. "Hello to you too," is all Jecka said before she started driving them back to her house.

The two smokers exchanged words. "Oh, I forgot to mention this, but can we stop and get some McDonalds?" "Fuck it, I could go for some nuggets. Do you have money?" "I do," answered Emily, after a while reaching towards the radio and turning the volume up, some bullshit flooding the three girls ears. "This suuuuuuuucks. Do you have any CDs in here?" She said whilst staring at Jecka. "Like, theres one somewhere in here, I think you'll find it." "I thought you had them all on a shelf in your room," Nicole passively mentioned. "This one's my favorite, I got it when I was like..thirteen?" "Msi?" "Obviously." Emily eventually found the CD too special to put on a shelf, Frankenstein Girls. "God, this is dusty, Jecka. How long has this been sitting here?" "Three or four years." Emily was fumbling with the disc, trying to insert it into Jeckas stereo. "So, why is Frankenstein Girls your favorite?" The brunette asked the blonde. "I don't know, it just is."

"Nicole, can we stop by the mall before McDonalds?" "What are we going to the mall for?" "You wanna shoplift from Hot Topic?" "Can we get skittles too?" "For sure." Jecka sneaked a glance at the two. "Did you two say something?" "Yeah, can we stop by the mall first? Emily wants to shoplift." "I could get you something, Jecka!" "My mom would kill me if I wore anything like that." "..So?" "Yeah, so?" Jecka paused. "Yeah, so what? Fuck it, get some Msi bullshit, and maybe some stud belts?" Emily thought for a second, she had never stolen a stud belt before, can she even pull it off? "Yeah, great idea!" The three girls sat in silence after that. 

The three arrived at the mall, getting out of Jeckas car and walking to Hot Topic in relative silence. "You guys go to Hot Topic without me, I'll meet up with you after I get my skittles." Nicole said, turning around and leaving the two blondes to mingle. "Did that bitch just abandon us?" "No?? She just wants skittles." Jecka and Emily kept walking, eventually arriving at their destination.

Emily shoplifted in relative silence whilst Jecka was being hit on by some nobody, the alt girl was glancing over the stud belts. Fuck! They all have tags on them! The only reason she hasn't been caught stealing is because of one golden rule; stay away from the tags. What will she do? She thought for a second, waited until nobody was looking and snatched one she thought Jecka might like.

Jecka was still being hit on, despite her asking incredibly nicely, the nobody just wouldnt quit. Then Nicole, skittles in hand, suddenly said, "Buddy, she's way out your league, could you fuck off?" Jecka was a bit startled by Nicoles sudden appearence and the nobody said something like "Don't need to be mean about it," and promptly fucked off. "Hi, and thanks." "It was nothing, were you being hit on the entire time you were here?" "Yeah, pretty much." Emily walked over to them, "Hey you two! I'm done, can we go now?" "Mhm," "Yeah, said the two.

"Wait!" Emily yelled out, the best friends turned around and stared, "What?" Nicole asked. "I- Uhm, something I stole has a tag on it," Nicole and Jecka stared some more. "Fuck, how are we gonna get out of here?" "Maybe if we just book it to the car.." Emily seemed almost timid for one reason or another. "Yeah, right. Nicole got shot last time we tried that!" "Mhmm, a little louder so everyone can hear." The three of them just stood there for a bit, staring at each other, waiting for someone to say something.

"I have a really bad idea," is what Emily broke the silence with. "Still an idea, spit it out." "Okay so, Nicole, you see how the detector thingy is only so tall?" Nicole looked at said detector thingy, then stared back, "Are- Are you seriously suggesting we chuck the bag over to the other side?" "Yeah," the three looked at each other one last time. "Fuck it, it makes sense." "How the fuck does it?" The brunette asked the preppy blonde, "It does, the detector thingy probably doesnt do anything up there." "Fine, but if it goes off anyways one of you better get shot this time, I've already done that." "Deal," responded the blondes.

"God, we're really doing this?" "Yes, we are. When I count to three, I'm gonna throw the bag over to you and you'll catch it." The two blondes said to each other, while Nicole was sitting on the sidewalk and smoking. "Ready?" "Yeah, I guess.." "One, two.. three!" Emily chucked the bag with a shit ton of force, it hit Jeckas head and made her fall over, Jecka's a terrible catch, "God- Fucking ooooowwwwwwwwwwwww.." She groaned, and Emily walked towards her, helping her get up, Nicole turned around after finishing her smoke, "That actually worked?" She was befuddled that such a stupid idea actually ended so well. The three of them got in Jeckas car, "Jecka, I can drive if you want," Said Emily. "No, I'm fine, also, no offense, but I wouldn't let you drive anyways." "Why not? I'm very good," "Because.. You commit alot of hit-and-runs and do 70 mph in 25 zones." "Like you follow the speed limit..." The alt girl muttered under her breath.

"Nicole can I have a skittle?" Emily pleaded, Nicole reaching the bag out infront of her. She took one and enjoyed it, "Thaaaanks."