"Go for it then," I say.

She's quiet for a moment as she collects her thoughts. Out of the corner of my eye I can see her glance at me from the drivers seat.

"Well first of all you're going to have to change your attitude if you expect me to do anything for you."

What a nice way to put it.

"Right now I'm driving you to the store to buy you new clothes. If that doesn't deserve respect I don't know what does. So if you say one snarky thing to me on this trip we're going home." Umm don't forget you're the one who wanted to take me shopping. I offered to cut the sleeves off my shirts for you.

"Second of all if you want to be around Azaela you need to stop swearing. I don't need her to become corrupt. She likes you and looks up to you so anything you say is going to reflect back on to her." That I can actually understand.

"Alright," I nod showing that I'm listening. She seems content at that and she's quiet for a minute, causing hope to bubble up that she's done.

"I think you should have a curfew set in place too." Nope she's definitely not done. "I know what living in that place can do to someone. Party all day party all night. But that isn't the same for a place like this. I want you home and in bed by 10 PM on week nights and 11 on weekends. No exceptions."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No. You will follow the rules or there will be consequences."

"Listen to what I say or I'll punish you!" The voice of my father lingers in my brain. Shut up brain.

"Fine." As long as I don't get caught breaking the rules there can't be any punishments.

"You should have some type of chores around the house too. I'm thinking cleaning the dishes and putting them away and cleaning the kitchen counters and tables after dinner. We can give you an allowance if you'd like."

"Allowance? For cleaning?" I ask genuinely confused. Why would I be getting paid for doing simple little tasks like that. Back at home I was expected to do almost everything for no price at all.

"Yes if you do it right and when you're asked." Okay that's actually kinda sick. No complaints with that.

"As for school I expect you to do your best. I know about the incidents at your last school." Shit. Half of the incidents at my last school I was blamed for most of the shit that happened. Yeah I might've started the physical stuff but the guys that went to my school were shitty people and they deserved it. The last time I was in a fight it was because this jock at my school was harassing my ex and I needed to put him in his place. No guy messes with anyone I care about.

The guy ended up getting away with it because there was no proof so it went on my record and I got detention for a week along with a call to home. Let's just say that it wasn't a good time for me.

It's not like I can tell her all of this because it's too complicated and I just don't want to explain any of it. It's frustrating though that everyone always thinks I'm in the wrong. I just wish there was a way everyone knew about all the shit I went through so they didn't just assume.

"If you start anything like that here and embarrass me and my family..." She leaves it at that. I think I get what she was trying to imply, though.

Janette doesn't bring up any more rules for the next couple of minutes so I'm guessing she's done for now. I bet you there will be more along the way but I'll deal with that later. For now I just need to focus on getting this shopping trip over with.

A few minutes of silence later, we pull into a parking lot with a bunch of stores all around. Immediately I notice how many people are scattering around and I groan internally.

"C'mon," Janette says getting out of the car. I sit there for a minute starting at the crowds. 

"What the fuck have I gotten myself into," I mutter before unbuckling myself and getting out of the car.

"I think we should hit target first. Get you a couple basics and then we can go to Nike. You definitely need new shoes." She seems too overly excited for this. I do not want her to spend so much money on me. Or in reality,  spend so much of Adrian's money on me. "If you see any stores you like we can go in too."

Yeahhh no I want to go in as few as possible.

I follow her into the crowded target and she leads us straight over to the school supplies.

"Pick what you need," Janette says gesturing to shelves. I've never been much of a school supplies freak so I'm not entirely sure what I'm gonna need but pencils is definitely a start.

I feel awkward not spending my own money on shit so I closely look at price tags of things and aim for getting the cheapest supplies as possible.

I put a pack of pencils in the cart along with a pack of black pens. I look around at all the other unnecessary stuff and decide I'm good with this aisle.

I stare at her hoping she'll understand we're good here.

"Well don't you need highlighters?" She asks grabbing a pack of them and putting them in the cart. "Sharpies too. Extra erasers is probably a good thing to have." From then on she practically just decides everything I get. She chooses my notebooks, pencil case, and even buys those tiny little sticky paper things claiming there good to take notes on.

Luckily I convinced her that I only needed one large binder for all my classes.

"Do you need a backpack?" She asks as we come to a stop at the aisle containing them. I remember packing my shitty old bag from 6th grade into my duffel so I nod my head no in reply.

"We'll get you a new one anyway," she says pushing the cart closer and going over to the most expensive looking backpacks.

"No really, the one I have is in pretty good shape," I lie not really understanding why. The bag is a piece of shit. I should probably be taking advantage of the fact that she's buying me a whole bunch of shit but instead it's making me feel incredibly guilty and like I'm in her debt.

"You sure?" She asks seeming hesitant.

"Yeah I'm sure."

"If you say so."

Once we're done with all the school supplies we start making our way over to the mens clothing section. I notice that's it's surprisingly very large compared to what I was expecting for a target. Rich people towns.

"Okay you definitely need some of these," she says throwing underwear and socks into the cart. "How many do you think you need? Probably a lot, you came with a tiny little bag."

So you're not even gonna let me decide what I get? Thanks a lot.

We move onto where all the shirts are and she starts looking through the racks. "Tank tops are definitely essential. Oh these are cute." Now she's just throwing random shit in the cart. "Well don't just stand there go look for things."

Alright then. I leave Janette and go over to where the pants are. Most of the pants are shorts but there's a section with some jeans and sweatpants. More sweatpants would be nice. There's a rack with all different sorts of colors; blue, grey, red, black.

I already have some grey sweatpants so maybe black and blue would be nice. I've always been told that the two were my "colors" anyways. I grab a one pair of black and one of blue in my size. I'm about to keep looking for more when I realize the cost. One pair is 15 dollars- together it's 30. What the actual hell? 30 dollars for TWO pairs of sweatpants? What the fuck target.

There's no way I'm getting anything else if these sweatpants are 30 dollars plus all the shit Janette claims I needed.

I walk back over to the cart and put the pants inside. "Done," I tell Janette who's still looking at shirts.

"That's it?"

"Yep."

"Sweatpants." She deadpans giving me a look. "I thought you knew that we came shopping here for summer clothes."

"I know."

"You can't just wear sweatpants and jeans all year. You need some shorts."

"I don't wear shorts except for my basketball shorts."

"Well how many pairs of basketball shorts do you have?"

"Enough."

"We'll get you some more."

"I don't want more."

"I don't care, you need more unless you want to show up to school in the same clothes every day. I don't need anyone thinking you're some sort of city trash." I knew she had hidden motives behind this.

"I don't give a shit about what anyone thinks of me."

"It's not all about you Quinn!" She yells raising her voice and starting to bother the people around us.

"That's right. You're just worried I'm going to ruin your little image of this perfect rich suburban mom, huh?"

"Watch what you say to me Quinn."

"I'll say what I want Janette," I say mimicking the way she emphasized my name.

We have a glaring contest for a minute before she sighs angrily and turns away from me. Hah I won, bitch!

"We're done. I told you if you have me one bit of attitude we'd go right back home." She throws one last t shirt into the cart before angrily pushing it away.

"That's perfectly fine with me," I call after her.

Fuck this turned into a total shit show.

Slowly I trail behind Janette, wishing the floor would just open and eat me whole. She comes to a stop in a a very long ass line at a register. This is gonna be like a 10 minute wait at least to get the hell out of here. I don't want to awkwardly stand in silence with her that long.

"I'm going to the bathroom."

"Be quick," she spits.

I walk off to the direction of the bathroom purposely dragging it out as long as possible to disobey her last order.

Yeah yeah I know, I'm a total punk.

When I get to the bathrooms which is sort of private from the rest of the store I notice quiet chatter from the hallway. I'm about to just walk by before I pick up on what their saying.

"You totally embarrassed me in front of my friends Lindsey!" A male voice says definitely angry.

"I- I'm sorry! I didn't mean to," the girl sobs in distress.

I stop and hide behind the wall, curious as to what was going on.

"Like hell you did!" He whisper tells. "I told you not to act like a slut in front of them and what did you do? You acted like a fucking slut!"

"I wasn't trying to I swear! Just please calm down baby you're scaring me," the girl pleads.

"Good. You should be scared. I'm sick of you and your fucking behavior. Always so needy and whiny. Fucking dragging me to the store expecting me to be nice to you after what you did."

"I'm sorry I'm sorry," she says again continuously apologizing.

I'm about to just walk away deciding I don't want to come between them before I hear a loud slap and then a muffled cry.

"Stop apologizing! It doesn't fix anything," he growls. That's enough. No guy should lay a hand on a girl.

I storm into the hallway, walking right up to the guy. I notice he's around my age but definitely a bit bigger than I am. But like I've mentioned; I may be skinny as hell but I'm strong as fuck and I won't hesitate to fuck this guy up.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I say stepping between them to block the girl from his view.

"This is none of your business dude," he says sizing me up.

"You made it my business the second you laid your hand on her." I say not affected by his stance.

"Get out of my way or I swear to god," he says trying to seem tough.

"Try me," I say giving him the darkest look I can muster. He genuinely seems affected by me and takes a step back.

"Lindsey let's go," he attempts to get by me and grab the girls hand but I step in front of him staring up into his eyes.

All while I remain eye contact with the douche bag I ask the girl for her own opinion. "Do you want to go with him?"

She takes a shaky breathe before saying "no," and moving closer behind me, shielding herself from her boyfriend.

"You heard her. Get the hell out of here." His face heats up a crimson red and a vein pops out of his forehead.

"I am going to-"

"I wouldn't finish that sentence big guy. You have three seconds to get your fugly face out of here before I kick your ass so hard you'll wake up forgetting your mama's name."

He only gets redder. I smirk as he backs down and rushes passed me.

"You're going to regret this," is the last thing he says as he storms away.

I turn back to the girl who's still crying slightly and has a red hand mark over her cheek. I notice that she's shaking and definitely in shock at what just happened.

"Are you okay?" I ask but she doesn't reply. She just stands there still shaking. I know not to touch her based on my own experiences so instead I continue to try and talk to her. "Hey. Hey Lindsey right? Lindsey are you okay?" She breaks out of her haze and looks up at me.

"N-no. No I'm not okay." She cries.

"Okay," I reply not knowing what to do. "Uh do you have your phone with you?" I say after a moment deciding I don't want to just leave her here alone.

"Um.. yes. Yes I do, why?"

"I'm gonna call someone for you to take you home."

"You are?" She seems surprised.

"Yeah just give me your phone."

"Um o-okay. Thank you," she fumbles for her phone in her pockets but eventually finds it and hands it over to me.

"What's your password?"

"My password... oh! It's 7527."

I plug in the password and when it unlocks I go straight for the phone app. When I find it I go to the favorites section and pick the first one I see, Briana. I didn't want to call her parents in case she didn't want them knowing.

"Hey girl! What's up?" A cheery voice answers the call.

"Um are you Lindsey's friend?" I ask awkwardly into the phone.

"... Yes I am. Why?" She sounds concerned now and definitely alert.

"She needs you to come pick her up. Something happened with her prick boyfriend," I offer.

"Wait you mean Brad? What did that asshole do!?" I hear movement on the other end signaling she's rushing to get ready or something.

"Just get here as soon as possible," I say not wanting to speak to her any longer than I had to. "We're at target if that helps at all."

"Target? What the fuck is she doing there.. I'll be there in five," then she hangs up the phone.

"Your friend is coming," I tell Lindsey holding out her phone so she can take it back.

She takes the phone and puts it back in her pocket but her movements are still sluggish revealing that she's not really paying attention to what's happening.

"Um why don't we go wait outside?" She nods her head and I lead her to the exit. I sneak a glance at Janette who's still waiting in line but she's on her phone so she doesn't notice me slip out with Lindsey.

When we get outside I spot a bench where I tell her to sit down on. She curls in on herself as soon as she takes a seat and it sort of hurts my heart at how much she's reminding me of myself. This is exactly how I act sometimes when I get into a weird depressive episode.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that," she says rocking back and forth. "He's not usually like that, I swear."

I don't say anything, not wanting to upset her anymore then she already is.

"You don't have to wait here with me."

"I want to." I say still standing in front of her.

"God out of all places he decides to blow up it was at a target bathroom! Like who does that?"

"Fucking assholes."

"Right cause that's exactly what he is. But I still keep coming right back to him time after time no matter what he does. It's like I'm addicted to him or something. He fucking ruins my life but I can't live without him."

"We're all addicted to something we shouldn't be." She sighs and then finally looks at my face. She widens her eyes a bit as she takes me in.

"What happened to your-" she starts but gets cut off by a white car speeding into the parking lot and pulling right up to us. The diver presses on the breaks, hard, and the car makes a loud screeching sound.

A girl with blonde messy hair rushes out of the car and runs right up to us.

"Lindsey oh my god!" She screams grabbing said girl and pulling her into a hug. "What did he do to you? I'm gonna fucking kill him!"

Lindsey sobs into her friends chest. "I don't know... I don't know."

The blonde turns back at me while still holding Lindsey.

"Were you the one who called?"

"Yeah." She stares me down for a moment before smiling softly.

Thank you She mouths before leading her hysterical friend into the passenger side of the car all while murmuring sweet comforting words into her ear.

I watch as the car pulls away, much slower this time. That was a lot for a simple shopping trip wasn't it?

"Quinn!" I hear an agitating voice from behind me. Oh fuck. "Where were you?"

"My bad, I needed air." I say turning to Janette who's holding 4 bags in her hands.

"You could've told me where you were going. Jesus christ." She hands me two of the bags and starts speeding off to the car. "Let's just go already I've had enough of this day."

Me too, bitch.