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Makayla Wright

0 · 3,268 views · located in New York

a character in “A New York Life”, as played by Bandit

Description

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Full Name:
Makayla Alexis Wright

Nickname(s):
Kay, Kayla

Age:
22

Date of Birth:
July 26th

Sexuality:

Bisexual

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Personality:
Makayla is a girl with a lot of layers, and a thick armor around her true self. She's guarded and thinks it's best to remain that way, because she doesn't want to get close to many people. Not a lot of people understand the pain that she went through as a child, or how it's made trusting people so difficult for her. She has enough on her plate as it is now, with Holly, with how her chance at a future was tossed to the wind when she accepted custody of Holly, and how her mental sanity is on a downward spiral that never seems to end. The last thing that she needs are complicated relationships with anyone else in her life, be it close friends or romantic relationships, so she tends to keep to herself. Stay in her lane, if you will. She minds her own business, does her own thing, and tries to stay out of people's way, and hopes everyone will grant her with that same courtesy. Because of this, a lot of the time she will seem indifferent towards a lot of things. She won't make you feel very loved and welcomed, but she also won't make it seem like she hates you. She's not truly that plain and simple, but it's easier that way.

To those that she's very close with, and those are few and far between, she's softer. She's protective and caring and has more of a conscience and heart that she wants to give herself credit for. She has a good head on her shoulders, a lot of common sense, and the ability to sacrifice her own comfort and wants to make sure her family is taken care of. It's undeniable that she's a strong girl. Strong definitely isn't a characteristic she would use to describe herself, but to go through what she's went through, and to accept this whole new challenge of taking care of Holly when she didn't need to attests to it. Even on her lowest days, when she swears that she's going to kill herself, she somehow manages to make it through, and a lot of the time, with a fake smile on her face.

Likes:
Chocolate and alcohol are the keys to her heart. Red wine gets you bonus points, but she doesn't have money to buy a pair of ten dollar shoes most days, so a cheap bottle of vodka will do the trick too. Dealing with the ball of energy she calls her sister leaves her with no patience by the end of the day, so 99% of the time, marijuana is the only thing that has kept her from taping Holly's mouth shut by six o'clock. Said little sister is one of her 'likes' as well, though the love isn't always showed. She likes money (who doesn't?!), but likes the stability that comes with it rather than the thrill of being able to splurge.

Dislikes:
She has common dislikes, like certain foods such as taffy, cinnamon flavored gum, bananas, chicken patties and chili. She was never a fan of the snow. She hates long bus rides and misplacing her metro card for the subways. She grew up around roaches and pests, but spiders still creep her out, and thanks to allergies,dislikes cats and dogs. Aside from the normal dislikes, there are a lot of times where she dislikes being responsible for Holly. The girl is her world and she loves her, but she doesn't think it's fair that at twenty-two-years-old, she's stuck taking care of her. She would never say it out loud, but Holly can be a burden and there are times when Kay is sure that if she didn't have to care for Holly, she might have been able to leave New York and gotten her life together somewhere else. It's so hard for her to focus on herself when she's taking care of a girl who has the attention span of a child, but at the same time, it's impossible for her to not love Holly like a sister and that dislike will never be enough for her to abandon her.
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Hometown:
South Bronx

Job:
Prostitution

History:
Makayla was born into a dysfunctional family, but it wasn't something that was abnormal in her community. She was born in the south Bronx to a crack addict mother, and a drug manufacturing and dealing father. He was an addict as well, but she preferred the addict in her mother, who was just neglectful, over the addict side of her father, who was abusive. Luckily, for most of her childhood, her grandmother looked after. She lived just a few floors up in their apartment building and at least allowed Makayla to make it through her toddler years in one piece, without accidentally consuming a piece of rock cocaine that fell off a coffee table or being the target of one of her father's whizzing beer bottles at three in the morning.

When she was eight years old, her mother was arrested for soliciting prostitution, and she never came home. She was released from jail, Makayla knows that much, but she just never saw the woman again. She doesn't know if her father threatened to kill her if she ever came back, or if the woman finally realized that her baby daddy was going to kill her if she stayed with him. All Makayla knows is that she was no real mother to abandon her. Maybe that's why it's been so hard for her to abandon Holly. She knows the pain, and she can't put that on someone else.

Holly is her stepsister, even though they aren't legally even related. Holly's mother was one of the women that Makayla's father spent a lot of time with after her mother disappeared. Holly was five years old when she first moved into the house, and at first, Kay hated her, but liked her all the same. She was annoying as hell, always touching things and making noise, but it shifted the attention of the abuse from her, onto the new girl. Now, Holly could be reasonably blamed for a broken television remote or running out of soap in the bathroom. Even when it wasn't her fault, like it had never been Makayla's, her father would blame her, and beat the girl. To this day, Makayla still feels bad about never stepping in to stop the physical abuse, and then the sexual abuse when that started, but she couldn't. If she did, it would have been her receiving the beatings, and she just knew that she couldn't do that. It wasn't her job to take a beating for a kid she owed nothing to... That's what she tried to tell herself, at least.

She just tried to focus on herself. She went to school, did pretty well given the circumstances, and during her senior year, got into a state college where she could have moved out and dormed there, and potentially started a whole new life, away from all of this mayhem. She couldn't do it though. Even though it would have been financially manageable with loans and financial aid, she just couldn't bring herself to accept the offer. However, she knew that this life wasn't for her, and spent one year at her community college while working part time at CVS before her father and Holly's mother were incarcerated. Though it wasn't even two years ago, she can barely remember the day. It all seemed fuzzy. Police tape covering the apartment door, people in hazmat suits walking in and out, her father's face being shoved into the dirt outside as his hands were cuffed behind his back. Running a drug lab in an apartment building kitchen is nothing to laugh about, and Makayla feels like justice was served for her father... but not for her. She'll still never get her childhood back, and the end result of the arrests was that she somehow accepted custody of Holly, had to drop out of college to try to work full time to support them, and then ended up losing the apartment when she couldn't afford the rent. So, they ended up on the streets. Sort of. They moved into Manhattan where Makayla did her best to make friends with people who would let them sleep on their couches, but she couldn't find any work in the city that allowed her to stay with Holly after school too. That's when she turned to prostitution, and it's what she's been doing ever since. About a year ago, she connected with the building manager of her current home, and after some "favors" on her end, he agreed to let her stay in the building for a reduced rent rate until she could get on her feet.

So begins...

Makayla Wright's Story

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Chanel Owens Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Caraline Forrester
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Thursday, November 26th, 2015 | 11:00 AM

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Chanel Owens Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Marie Casanova
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#, as written by Bandit
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{Written with Writer}


Even though she had lived in New York for all of her life, Makayla had never been to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade before. Obviously, growing up, her family was never actually family-oriented, so the idea of them making the trip into Manhattan to see the floats was laughable. Even as a teenager, though, she never went, and last year, she didn't even think of it in time to bring Holly to it. This year, she took advantage of the festivities and decided to go see it with her sister. Honestly, she didn't do it for herself as much as she did it for Holly. Anything new to distract her and keep her occupied was worth trying out, and even though it was only eight in the morning when she and Holly headed out, Makayla was already ready to crawl back into bed, so she opted to walk the hour-long trek uptown, rather than take a cab. She hoped walking there and back would tire out her sister, who was always bursting with energy. Plus, Makayla knew the cab fares would be substantially greater on a busy day like today, and she didn't have money to throw away like that.

By the time they reached the parade area, the streets were so packed that they could barely get a glimpse of the floats passing. Luckily, Holly didn't seem bothered by it, and Makayla was happy enough that the girl managed to remain content with standing on a corner and essentially staring at the back of people's heads for forty minutes before growing antsy, giving Makayla the signal that it was time to head back home. To many, spending over two hours total commuting to and from the parade, for a lackluster view would seem pointless, but it was free, and Makayla tried to take advantage of as many free activities as she could with Holly. It was essential to keep her moving and out of the apartment, or else everyone would go crazy, Makayla included.

"Can we get brunch today?" Holly asked, noticing a sign outside of a small cafe a block away from their building that was advertising brunch specials. "Since we didn't have breakfast or lunch yet, we can combine it into one."

Leave it to Holly to try to turn a trip that was supposed to be free, into one that would cost Makayla good money that she didn't have. She and Holly never ate out at restaurants. Cara would take her sometimes, and sometimes Chanel would insist on a lunch out, but it just wasn't something that Makayla could afford, and she hated feeling like charity. It was one thing for someone to treat Holly, but Makayla stuck to the food that her food stamps could buy, or fast food if she needed something on the go. "We can have brunch at home. I bought you that cereal you said you wanted yesterday, remember?"

"You're not supposed to have cereal on Thanksgiving, Kay! That's not something pilgrims would eat." Mimosas and fancy omelettes probably weren't served at the first Thanksgiving either, but cereal didn't sound exciting or festive.

"We're eating our Thanksgiving meal tonight, remember? Cara invited us over, so we'll have food pilgrims would eat then. And you told her you would make cupcakes, right? So we need to get back home to work on those." At first, Makayla had wanted to smack Holly when her sister volunteered that they would bring cupcakes. Knowing Cara, she would expect some organic, gluten free, thirty dollar box of cupcakes from some bakery in the Upper East Side, and frankly, Makayla didn't have the money for that. She knew she couldn't complain, since she was going to get a free meal (and hopefully, lots of free booze) out of the evening, but she still couldn't toss money to the wind like that. However, Holly insisted that they make the cupcakes, and Makayla could deal with that. She had already borrowed the baking materials from Cara the night before, had spent five dollars on the cake batter and icing, and had the eggs and other needed ingredients in their kitchen. Not only was it an affordable option, but one that would again keep Holly busy, and one that Cara couldn't complain about, because it just seemed like Holly wanted to bake, not that Makayla was being cheap.

"I wish that you got the vanilla and chocolate frosting, Kay. I think Nick would like chocolate more than vanilla," Holly stated as she followed Makayla inside of their building. The thought of a fancy brunch was out of her mind now, as baking cupcakes did sound far more interested. She was excited for Thanksgiving at Cara's, especially since it was going to be the first real Thanksgiving she would ever have. Or the closest thing to a real Thanksgiving, since this was last minute too.

"He'll get over it," Makayla insisted, nudging Holly to walk faster up the stairs. After that walk, the five flights up really had Makayla wanting to crawl into bed again, but it was only eleven o'clock, and she knew she couldn't do that for at least another twelve hours. "Put your jacket in the closet and then we'll have cereal, and then work on those cupcakes," Makayla instructed as she set her bag down in the kitchen of the apartment. She wasn't sure if Marie or Chanel were home, but she was curious as to whether they were coming to Cara's too or not. She wouldn't have been surprised if they weren't. Though she knew little about their pasts and family lives, she always felt like people's lives had to be more normal than hers.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Chanel Owens Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Caraline Forrester
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A rush of heat burned her fingertips before she could yank them from the flat iron that unraveled her curls. Now two hours into the task and still not finished, she was beginning to regret the decision to even straighten her hair. As she sucked her finger, her phone slid across the dresser some as it began to vibrate. When the screen brightened and a picture of her mother surfaced on the phone, a quick surge of fear ran through her stomach as she sat the flat iron on the towel she had placed down. It wasn't so much that her mother had such power over her to make her afraid, but it was knowing the reason she was calling that made Chanel hesitate before gliding her thumb across the screen. Before she was able to get a word out, her mother beat her to it.

"Chanel, you were supposed to call back. Are you okay? You didn't call back," her mother said in her newly characteristic frantic way. She'd never really been a helicopter parent. Not so finicky. At least not before...

"Actually, Mom, I...uh. I think I'm going to stay in New York this year."

"What?" Her mother gasped. "But why? You didn't say anything."

"I know, I know. But I just got this new job, and the boss kinda hates me, and he wants me to work tomorrow, so I kind of have to. I mean, I don't have to, but if I want to pay the rent and have a place to stay and..."

"Chanel." Her mother said sternly, indicating that she was talking too much. Or at least she hoped that's what the tone signified, and not the fact that she could detect every ounce of lie she was telling. "You never said anything about a new job."

"Yeah, well." Chanel danced the phone in her hands a bit, staring at the picture that reflected. It was one of her and her mother about two years ago, a little before she'd moved out. Her heart clenched. "Look, I'm straightening my hair, and I kinda want to finish. I'll call you later, okay?"

"You know what I said about using that flat iron so much. It'll ruin your hair. Do you want your hair to fall out?"

"I think I'd look good bald actually. Mom, I'm kidding, I'm kidding," she said as soon as her mother began to panic. Another five minutes passed before she was actually able to hang up. Chanel sighed and grabbed the flat iron, running it down the fine pieces of hair near her ear. Part of her felt guilty, but another part of her felt relief. No, she didn't get a new job anywhere. Nothing came up. Her suitcase was still packed in the corner of the room, her train ticket bought and wasted. She'd packed a week in advance and bought the ticket two weeks early in hopes that it would prevent her from flaking. But here she was straightening her hair for nothing and avoiding her family. Then there was another part of her who told herself that they'd have just put her in a bad mood anyway. And they would have. It wasn't her fault they were so overbearing to the point of pushing her away. None of this was her fault. It wasn't.

When she finally finished, and now in a freshly bad mood, the room was a couple degrees warmer and her neck was already damp with perspiration. She pulled her hair up into a messy bun and unplugged the straightener. As she exited the room to get somewhere cooler before she sweated her hair out, she fiddled with her phone, looking for a distraction. She swiped through her messages before getting to Cara and it was then that she remembered Cara saying something about coming over. Chanel opened the fridge and dug out a breakfast smoothie she'd made the night before. It wasn't very filling, or all too tasty, but hours of unqualified google research told her that this small 'meal' would give her plenty of energy. It was bullshit, but she was too cranky to really care. "Hey. Is the offer still on table?" When Cara finally responded confirming the invitation, she quickly responded with "All right. I'll be over in a bit!" It was now eleven, and Cara was right down the hall, so she figured she could take her time. Besides, she had to mentally prepare for the day if she wasn't to project her shitty mood on others. Taking a quick swallow of her smoothie, she hopped on the kitchen counter and opened Instagram, losing herself in others' lives to distract from her own. Before she could be completely consumed, though, Makayla and Holly entered the room. Chanel smiled widely, putting her phone down. "Hey, you guys. Busy morning?"

Setting

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Character Portrait: Chanel Owens Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Holly Maddon
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It wasn't that cold out today, but Holly tended to get cold easily, so she was somewhat relieved when they got into the building and were met with a wave of warmth. Upon Makayla's nudge for her to take the lead, she led them up the five flights of stairs to their apartment. "I wish we had sprinkles for the cupcakes. Sprinkles and chocolate frosting, because not everyone likes vanilla, Kay. And some people like sprinkles, like me. Did you forget to buy them or did you not buy them on purpose?" Holly continued, still stuck on the topic of the cupcakes as they entered the apartment. Makayla seemed to be over it, instructing her to take off her jacket and get ready to eat, but Holly wasn't going to move on that quickly. She wasn't planning on moving on that quickly, at least, but when they stepped into the apartment, Chanel was in the kitchen, and the sight of another person had her switching her train of thought immediately. "We went to the parade," she exclaimed when Chanel asked if they had had a busy morning. They had, but judging by Holly's energy, you would never know. All of the walking would hit her later on when she would become fatigued, but living in the city meant that they walked a lot in general, and coupled with Holly's unusual abundance of energy every day, she tended not to crash until the night time, regardless of what she did that day. With everything that was going on today, from spending an hour walking uptown and an hour back downtown and nearly every minute of that time talking to Makayla about everything and anything, and then all of the festivities at Cara's later that night, it was possible that she would crash sooner, though.

"Why didn't you go? There was a balloon of Ronald McDonald and we almost got brunch but we didn't because we're going to have cereal instead," she continued, glancing towards Makayla at the thought of cereal, and only then remembering what her sister had told her to do. She left the kitchen abruptly and briefly - only for long enough to toss her jacket onto her bedroom floor and kick her shoes off before returning, and continuing the conversation as if no time had passed. "Want to have cereal with us? Makayla finally bought Fruit Loops, and then we're going to make cupcakes to bring to Cara's. But just cupcakes with vanilla icing." She sat down at the small kitchen table, looking towards Makayla for a second as if she was preparing to say something to her, before looking back to Chanel. "Why does your hair look soft today?"

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Chanel Owens Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Caraline Forrester
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She couldn't really be too disappointed. She'd technically gotten to sleep in late, but it still feel like she'd just woken up since most of her time awake had been spent straightening her hair. So when Holly's burst of energy came full force, she couldn't say she was totally prepared for it, but she also wasn't surprised. Chanel opened her mouth to respond, only getting a "Well," out of her mouth before Holly disappeared into her bedroom and returned just seconds later, this time without shoes or her jacket. In that time, she took to glancing at Makayla who definitely looked like she'd just been out for some time, unlike Holly who was not sitting at the table looking completely unfaltered. It was strange how consistently energetic she was, albeit admirable to an extent, and Chanel tried feeding off of this positivity.

"Fruit Loops actually sounds pretty bomb," she said. And it did. She preferred Apple Jacks, but that wasn't what resulted in her saying, "I'm just gonna stick to this though," as she raised the hand with the smoothie in it. She kind of had an idea that no one was helping Makayla. She didn't like to pry or anything, but she'd feel kind of like she was mooching if she helped herself to some. Not only that, but she did have some of her own cereal. "Oh, awesome. I think Cara likes vanilla, so that should be good. I should probably figure out what I'm bringing, now that I think about it." Just as she thought that, her phone vibrated before her three times back to back. She raised her brow as she grabbed it. Speak of the devil."

She smirked and shook her head as she wrote back. "What did I tell you about dragging people, Cara? Let's go to Trader Joe's. I need to get some conditioner and some turmeric for a face mask I've been wanting to make. Give me like ten minutes and I'll be over." If they were to have this turkey done at a reasonable hour, they'd need to go now. Chanel grinned some at Holly as she jumped off the counter. "Because I straightened it. I like it like this for the holidays, but it took forever so I'm not doing this again for a while." After chugging the rest of her drink, she put rinsed it in the sink quickly. "I'm about to go out, so I'll hit you guys up later. Just text me if you want me to pick up anything while I'm out." she said. Normally she'd invite the two of them, but right now she sort of just wanted to hang out with Cara. After the conversation with her mom, she wanted to just worry about herself. And this turkey that was somehow going to be cooked within the next few hours. "Holly, you can tell me about the parade later on, all right?" she said without really waiting for an answer. She was sure she wouldn't hear about it anymore if something more excited happened between now and when she saw Holly next, but anything was possible. After taking five minutes longer than she said she would to get dressed, she rubbed her lips together to blend in her lipstick and was out the door with a final wave to the others if they were still in the kitchen. Within the next moment, phone in hand as she'd gotten a text message from somebody else, she knocked on Cara's door. As she waited, she thought back to Cara's earlier messages. She wasn't quite fond of Roman either, and she didn't have any particular opinion about Brooke, but part of her felt weird about not inviting them. Especially if Nick were to come. It wasn't any of her business or her place to decide who was invited, and maybe they had other plans, but she didn't know. It wasn't that dire anyway and soon she'd forgotten the whole ordeal and instead began obnoxiously drumming on Cara's door in some made up rhythm.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Chanel Owens Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Holly Maddon
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Makayla tried to focus on getting their late breakfast together as Holly went on and on to Chanel. Between her and Marie, and both of their tolerances for Holly's... Holly-ness, she knew that she had to be grateful. Even after knowing her for so long, and growing to love her like a sister, Holly was a lot, and it didn't take a genius to see that. She didn't understand a lot of social clues, was always rambunctious, and rarely ever stopped talking. Makayla loved her, she really did, but she knew that others didn't need to love Holly as much as she did. Marie and Chanel both could have easily gotten sick of her after a month of them living together. They could have gotten genuinely angry by the way that Holly would sometimes leave their bedroom without Makayla noticing and wake one or both of the other two up. They could have been bothered by her constant need for conversation, or by how she would sometimes watch television with them, even though Makayla couldn't afford to chip in for the cable bill. Their own family members couldn't even tolerate Holly, so the fact that two girls who had been strangers to them could, seemed like nothing short of a miracle.

Aside from smiling at Chanel when they walked in, Makayla hadn't said anything to her. Holly was doing enough talking for the two of them, and really, she was tired. What she really wanted to do right now was smoke, but she was out of weed and out of money, so she didn't want to test her own patience by trying to be more friendly than she felt. She had only pulled the cereal out from the pantry when she realized that the room had suddenly gone silent, and she glanced over her shoulder to see Holly gone. For a moment, she furrowed her brows and considered going down the hallway to make sure that Holly wasn't in Marie's room or something, but a second later, her sister bounded back in, now without her coat or shoes. Rather than commenting on it, Makayla took advantage of Chanel keeping Holly's attention for another minute as she finished getting the cereal ready, and she poured the last of the lemonade they had into a glass for Holly. Their food stamp benefits weren't going to be refilled until the third of December, so running out of one more thing only had Makayla's mind back on how badly she needed to smoke and relax.

As she carried Holly's bowl of cereal and drink to the table, Chanel was hopping off the counter, doing something by the sink, and then waving goodbye to them. Makayla hadn't been following the conversation at all, having been zoned out in her own thoughts, so she offered a smile and said, "have fun," hoping that was a relevant response to wherever Chanel had said she was going. She sat down across from Holly once they were alone in the kitchen and smiled. She was tired, she wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep for the rest of the day... or maybe the year, she wanted to roll a joint right there, or down a bottle of vodka, but she had to pretend like she was okay because she needed Holly to be okay. Makayla didn't like getting sentimental, but it was hard not to acknowledge that Holly was the strongest person she knew. Through everything that they had ever been through, Holly had always maintained her smile and her hopefulness. She didn't know any better... but at the same time, she did. She had experienced enough in her sixteen years to know how cruel the world could be, and Makayla was determined to do whatever it took to make sure that Holly had a reason to keep on being happy and hopeful, now that they were on their own. "We'll start cooking when you finish that," she said. "And then maybe we can go across the hall and see if Cara needs help with anything else."

Setting

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Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Holly Maddon
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{Written with Bandit}
Now that Chanel was gone, Holly knew that she was going to be bored. Makayla was fun, but she had spent all morning with her and Holly could tell that she was tired. "Can I see if Marie is in her room?" she asked after Makayla explained that they would start cooking once she finished eating.

"No, we need to leave her alone. I don't know if she's in there, but if she is, she's probably sleeping." She pushed Holly's bowl of cereal towards her, signaling for the girl to start eating.

"I won't wake her up if she's sleeping," she objected. She would just knock on the door, and if no one answered, she would go in just to make sure that Marie was alive if she was in there.

"No, Holl. We'll see her later. Maybe Cara will invite her over if she's not doing anything for dinner." Makayla wasn't sure who Cara had invited at this point. She imagined that Nick, Brooklyn, Roman and Ryan would be included since they all lived there, but she also knew that Cara wasn't friends with Roman, and that obviously, she wasn't a great friend to Brooklyn either.

"Want me to go ask her now if she's inviting Marie?"

"No, I want you to eat now."

"Why aren't you eating?"

She wasn't in the mood to eat, but now thinking about it, she was kind of hungry. Makayla appreciated the fact that both she and Holly had small appetites. It paid off when they were low on money and food. She would usually force Holly to eat three meals a day, just to keep her healthy, but there were some days where Makayla went on just a few snacks. A lot of the time, she wasn't starving, but sometimes, she was hungry but just knew that it would end up being more stressful if she ate and they had no food, over not eating and still having enough for Holly. "I'm going to, I just don't know what I'm in the mood for."

"Scrambled eggs? Toast? Fruit Loops?" Holly began to list off things before putting a spoonful of cereal in her mouth.

"We need to save the eggs for the cupcakes, but maybe I will have toast. Good idea," Makayla responded with a smile as she got up to prepare her toast. It seemed like it would be light enough to not make her feel sick, but hopefully enough to quench her hunger until they went to Cara's later.

"Maybe Marie would want some toast too. Want me to ask her?" Holly said, putting her spoon down and getting ready to stand up.

"Nope. Eat." She looked at Holly with a glare that told her to sit her ass back down without it having to be verbalized. Marie was nice enough where Makayla doubted that she would really be bothered by Holly storming into her room unwanted, if she was even in there, but Makayla wasn't going to test the theory. She did her best to keep Holly reigned it, because if she let Holly hang around their roommates as much as she wanted to, there was no way that the girls would be able to tolerate her like they could now. She wasn't trying to be mean to Holly, but it was in everyone's best interest sometimes.

"Where do you think Chanel went?"

"I'm not sure, Holly."

"Can you make me toast too?"

"No, eat your cereal." She wasn't trying to be mean, but it was all too typical for Holly to insist on having one thing for a meal, and then change her mind halfway through and ask for something else. Sometimes Makayla went along with it, just because she wanted her to eat, but by the end of the month when they were running low on food, she couldn't entertain that side of Holly, even if she wanted to. They didn't have the resources to just waste food like that.

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Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Holly Maddon
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Holly ended up only requesting toast a couple more times before agreeing to just eat her cereal instead. She was a slow eater, mostly because she got so easily distracted and ended up talking more than eating, so before she was halfway done with the bowl, the Fruit Loops had gotten soggy and she wouldn't finish it. She wasn't hungry anyway, and after a bite of Makayla's toast, she was ready to move on from breakfast as a whole. "Let's bake," she insisted, hopping off of her seat and heading towards the counter where the box of cupcake mix sat. She had chosen the Funfetti mix at the store, but they didn't have the funfetti icing to go with it, so she had to settle for plain vanilla frosting. While she preferred vanilla over chocolate, she was still convinced that someone was going to be upset that Makayla refused to buy both vanilla and chocolate icing.

Makayla had put two pieces of toast into the toaster but barely finished one piece, including the bite Holly took out of it, by the time her sister was apparently finished with eating and ready to move onto the next thing. Marijuana usually made her more tired than she already was, and that wasn't going to help her feel any less washed out today, but she couldn't get her mind off of the drug today. She didn't have energy on most days, but at least when she was high she felt lighter somehow. She would still feel tired, but it was like she didn't care as much about all of her problems. As she finished up her last piece of toast, she sent a text message to Nick, and responded to Holly. "Alright, get the eggs from the bottom shelf," she said, still eating as she nodded towards the fridge. "And then get the oil from the cabinet, and the measuring cup from the drawer over there," she continued. She knew she would have to stand up at some point to make sure that Holly didn't put the entire egg in the batter or something, but she really was really very fatigued suddenly.

To: Nick
can you hook a girl up for $5 :)? friend discount or something?

As soon as Makayla directed her to where the ingredients were, Holly began to search for them. Their refrigerator always had a good amount of food in it, but Holly knew that she was basically forbidden from touching anything that wasn't on the shelf that Makayla put their things on. It didn't stop her from occasionally testing out an organic drink that Chanel would bring home, or something cool that Marie would keep in stock, but she never did it to "steal". She just didn't seem the harm in it, especially when it never seemed like anyone else cared about money or wasting food as much as Makayla did. "How much do I pour in?" she asked, looking back towards the table once she had retrieved the ingredients.

For a moment, Makayla felt guilty for wasting money on drugs. She didn't think it was wasting money, since it was the one thing that kept her sane, but she sometimes felt like it was wrong of her to spend money on it when she could have been chipping in towards the cable bill, or offering more money to Cara whenever she looked after Holly. She didn't feel guilty enough to retract the request from Nick though, so she just set her phone back down as she looked towards Holly. "I don't know, Holls. Bring me the box."

"Are your legs broken?" she asked with a grin, though she eagerly returned to the table with the box, along with the measuring cup and the oil. Holly wasn't good academically, but even out of school, things that involved math and reading didn't go over well with her. She was definitely insecure about it, so a part of her failure was probably tied in with her overthinking things and getting nervous, but she just wasn't good at the subjects in general. Her dyslexia would make it impossible to pour the oil to the right level in the cup, no matter how hard she tried to remember and match the number up with what Makayla said, so it was easier just to have her do it for her.

"I'm tired!" Makayla groaned, shooting her sister a deviant smirk when she suggested she was being lazy by not walking over to her. "Let's take a nap and then we'll bake. I'm too tired to do this now." She expected the response that came a beat later, but it was worth a shot by trying. "Nooo, I want to make them now. They won't be ready in time for Thanksgiving if we wait," Holly objected, extending her hand to grab Makayla's arm to pull her to her feet. "And Chanel said Cara loves vanilla, so she's going to be so disappointed if we don't make them, okay?"

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Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Roman Killens
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Brooklyn was right, going to a hotel was a stupid idea. He just couldn't bare the thought of being in that apartment all night, knowing that Cara would be there and in a socializing mood. It wasn't like there was a chance that she would be out with friends, or working, or in her room all night. He knew for a fact that she was going to be there hosting at least Makayla and Holly, and that meant that it was going to be hard for he and Brooklyn to get away with staying in their room all night too. Nick trusted that Cara would never say anything, especially to Brooklyn, because everyone seemed to think that Brooklyn was the kind of girl who would knife you in your sleep if you did her wrong, but he was still nervous. Cara and Brooklyn were friends, or at least friendly, and he wondered if girl code would kick in at some point and Cara would confess to Brooklyn before he did, making her seem like the good friend and him like the horrible boyfriend. He hated knowing that someone had something that they could potentially use against him, and that made him want to talk to Cara again just to make sure she was still okay with keeping her mouth shut. If he did that, though, he knew he would feel even more guilty, because than there was no way to deny to himself that somehow this wasn't that bad, because he would be blatantly trying to hide and cover up for it. He knew that he should just come clean to Brooklyn, but that meant the relationship (and possibly his life, if she was in a crazy mood) would be over, and he really didn't want to lose her. The stress of it all made his chest feel tight and his head heavy.

"Uh, yeah, I think she might have mentioned that," he responded, rubbing the back of his neck as she brought up Cara's Thanksgiving get together. "We could do that if you want. I'm down." He was really trying not to seem distant and unsure of himself, so he smiled and returned the gentle squeeze she gave his hand, hoping that it didn't seem as forced and robotic as it felt.

When Brooklyn got up to throw out her food, Nick sent out a few texts to some of his customers who he needed to make deliveries to tomorrow, responded to Makayla's text and sent one to Roman as well. Roman was his closest friend but their relationship was never demanding. Nick rarely ever noticed when Roman didn't come home for a couple of days at a time because he wasn't the kind of friend to smother anyone. They gave each other their space, but if Brooklyn was bothered by it this time, Nick now felt like he should be too, and figured that sending a text to Roman couldn't hurt.

To: Roman
You've got Brooke worried lol u alright? Wanna catch a movie with us later? I think we're seeing spectre? And I picked up a ton of bud from my supplier last night so I'll probably light up w Makayla when I get back if you're in the mood

To: Makayla
Of course. I just refilled my supply and cara hasn't been a bitch lately lol so I don't think I'll need to store it in ur room for now but I'll drop something off when i get back. U gonna be around all day?

"Yeah, you know, I haven't seen him in a while either. He might have mentioned that he had a fight last night or the night before, but I'm not sure. I texted him too, but I doubt he's even awake at this hour," he said with a shrug as he got up and followed her towards the door to leave. When they stepped outside, the brisk fall air caught him off guard, but he didn't really mind it. His black leather jacket was surprisingly insulated, and the pizzeria had felt like a sauna anyway. "Anywhere else you wanna go before we head back?" he asked, tucking one of his hands into his jacket pocket and wrapping the other arm around her waist. He didn't have anywhere that he needed to go, but he hoped she would think of something, just to stall going back to the apartment.

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Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Holly Maddon
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Makayla knew that there was no way that Holly was going to let her off the hook with baking these cupcakes, and absolutely no way that that she could convince her to sleep with her over baking them. It was worth a shot, but after Holly's pleads, Makayla got to her feet. "Alright, alright. We'll make them," she said, tying her dark hair back in a pony tail. "Wash your hands," she instructed, as she did so for herself first. She looked at the back of the cupcake box, reading the directions before setting them down. Her phone was on silent mode, but she noticed the screen light up and paused in her baking preperations to read it. When she saw it was Nick, her energy level jumped up a tiny bit. Knowing that she would have her weed shortly was the light at the end of the tunnel that she needed in that moment.

To: Nick
yesssss tysm. come over whenever. my roommates are out so we can smoke in my room.

She usually felt disrespectful smoking in the apartment because of the smell. No matter how much air freshener she sprayed after doing it, she was sure that the smell was still somewhat evident. She didn't think either girl had a major problem with drugs like Cara did, and she guessed that the two smoked once in a while themselves, but she didn't want to be that horrible roommate. Today, she really just didn't have the energy to care though. It didn't even bother her that she would be doing it with Holly in the other room, although she did know that getting Holly to stay out of their room while she did it was going to be a challenge. Normally when Makayla smoked with Nick, it was before or after she worked, which meant that Cara was taking care of Holly. It was hypocritical, but she did her best to be a good influence on Holly, and through that, the girl had developed a strong dislike for drugs or drug users. It helped that both of their parents had cared more for their drugs than them, but it didn't help Makayla's case since it made it all the more essential to make sure that Holly didn't catch her smoking. Drinking was another thing. At this point, she was over hiding her drinking from Holly. She just went with the saying that as long as you're twenty-one, it's fine to drink in moderation (with "moderation" sometimes meaning a bottle of vodka straight for Makayla).

While Holly washed her hands, Makayla grabbed a large bowl from the cabinet and a spoon from a drawer. "Okay, we need a cup of water," she said as she nudged Holly aside from the sink to fill the measuring cup up with water. She handed it to Holly when she was finished, and nodded towards the bowl for her to pour it in. Makayla knew it would go ten times faster if she did it all on her own, but clearly, Holly had been excited about this and she knew she wouldn't hear the end of it if she didn't let her participate too. She moved on to crack the three eggs in a separate smaller bowl, and when Holly had poured the water into the large bowl, she took the measuring cup to refill with the oil. "Now you're going to pour the oil, the eggs and the bag of the cake mix into the bowl and stir it. It has to all be mixed together," she advised. As Holly did that, she worked on lining the cupcake tray with the cupcake wrappers they had purchased, but she couldn't stop hoping that Nick would show up sooner than later.

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Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Roman Killens Character Portrait: Ryan Forrester Character Portrait: Isaac Rankin
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"Oh, okay, cool," Nick responded, nodding as Ryan explained where his sister and Roman were. Again, he figured he was probably just overthinking things again, but he felt weird storming into Ryan's room to see Roman, even though it was Roman's room too. It wasn't his room, so he felt like he would be breaking some sort of privacy rule by not asking if it was okay to go in, with Ryan sitting right there. He didn't feel comfortable with asking that either, since it seemed so unnecessary, so he just headed to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. "Want anything to drink, Brooke? We still have a few beers or I can make you a drink if you want. I think we still have some of that cotton candy vodka left..." he said, his voice trailing off as he started to rummage through the cabinets. He read Makayla's text and planned on going over, but he wanted to make sure that Brooklyn was set first, and possibly see if Roman was there too. He didn't respond to Makayla but managed to send Isaac a quick text.

To: Isaac
probably smoking in 5B in a few. buds on the house today since i'm in the holiday spirit lol. come thru if ur craving

Brooklyn didn't rush when they got into the apartment. She took off her jacket and shoes, something that she had decided was a ritual at the apartment. For years, she had desperately wanted a place to call home, and now that they had a somewhat stable living situation, she was going to take advantage of it and make it feel as homey as she could. When she thought back to rituals in her house growing up, taking her shoes off at the door was always one of them. Her mother was meticulous with things like that, and though she wasn't a clean freak like the woman, she had taken up the habit again as a way to remind herself that this could be a home for her. She listened to Nick speak to Ryan for a few seconds before following her boyfriend towards the couch. She smiled at Ryan, but didn't say anything, and turned to watch Nick as he headed into the kitchen area. "Yeah, make me whatever you made me last night. The one with that vodka and the cranberry juice, and Sprite, I think it was," she responded. It was a little early for vodka, but oh well. It was a holiday. That would be her excuse today.

"I'll be right back," she chirped a moment later as she left her place by the counter and headed down the hall and into her bedroom. She hung her coat up, placed her shoes in the corner, and then headed back out, but not into the kitchen. Instead, she slipped in Roman and Ryan's room. "Rise and shine, Ro Ro," she said in an obnoxiously cheerful, sing song voice as she gave a sharp nudge to Roman's side. She didn't care that she was basically pulling a Holly by waking him up, and doing the one thing that she would spend hours ranting about if it happened to her. She was waking Roman up for his own good. There was no use in sleeping all day when he could be hanging out with Nick, and potentially getting good life advice. Brooklyn wanted to laugh at that thought. Who was she kidding, acting like her drug dealer of a boyfriend who cheated on her had any life advice? Holly could probably offer Roman better guidance than Nick at this point. At the very least, Brooklyn could say that she was certain that Nick had just as good of intentions with Roman as she did, so she was confident that the two socializing would only be good for both of them. Nick wouldn't think it would be okay to fuck anymore hoes with Roman around, and Roman wouldn't be getting concussions in Nick's presence. She gave him one more nudge before flipping the light switch on and opening up the blinds that covered the bedroom's window. It was definitely obnoxious and if he was suffering from a hangover, it might have been a death wish, but she didn't care. "Nick wants to hang out with his favorite loser, so get dressed and go hang out with him. Unless you want to stay and hang out with Cara and Chanel and I," she said, making her way to the doorway. She knew he wouldn't want to take the latter offer, but she knew that waking him up in the manner that she did might just as easily result in him rejecting both offers and being annoyed all day.

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Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Holly Maddon
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"I want to do that part too! Don't do it!" Holly exclaimed when she realized that Makayla was busy putting cupcake liners in the tray. She didn't put down the spoon she was mixing with, but she paused in stirring and flashed Makayla a distressed look. Baking cupcakes had been her idea, and Makayla didn't even seem to want to do it, so it only seemed fair that she should get to do most of it. She glanced over at the oven in a panic when it beeped, signaling that it had reach desired temperature and for some reason, Holly felt like that meant that they needed to hurry up. As she began to stir again, she decided to be more reasonable. "Okay, fine, you can do that, but when I finish mixing I want to pour it into each one." The batter was almost completely smooth but Holly wanted to make sure it was perfect.

Holly wasn't acting out of character today, but for some reason, Makayla felt like her own temper was unusually short. She would be the first one to say that she was a patient person, because anyone who dealt with Holly regularly had to be patient. It would be easy to be mean to her, to tell her to shut up and sit down because she was annoying, but she wasn't annoying on purpose. Being energetic and loud and ditzy was just Holly's nature and Makayla wasn't going to be one more person in her life who cut her down for a personality that she had no control over. At the same time, she was human too, and it was hard to always have the patience of a saint. Sometimes, all she wanted was for her to shut up and sit down, and if she was pushed far enough that day, she would snap and say it. She was trying to make sure that today wasn't one of those days, though. It was a holiday, and this was the first Thanksgiving that Holly was ever spending in a traditional manner.

When Makayla was very young, before she knew Holly or Holly was even alive, for that matter, she would spend Thanksgiving like a normal person, in her grandmother's apartment surrounded by food and cousins. She was seven when her grandmother was put into a nursing home, and once that happened, so did any normal celebrations. For the next thirteen years, all of her holidays were spent in her father's disgusting apartment where she would take care of Holly and any other kid whose mother happened to be sleeping with her dad, or whose parent was involved in their drug operations. Nothing festive went on, but Makayla had grown used to it. So much so, that over the past two years, when they were out on their own, she hadn't put much effort into holidays either. Money was obviously tight, and she hoped that she could convince Holly that big holidays were unnecessary because she really couldn't afford them. This Thanksgiving didn't seem harmful, though. She spent a few dollars on cupcakes but the meal was being entirely prepared and financed by Cara. Seeing the parade had wasted a couple of hours and hopefully drained a little bit of her sister's energy, so celebrating Thanksgiving this year seemed like an okay idea, especially when she reminded herself that she wanted Holly to be able to live a normal life now. She had been abused and neglected for most of her life, and now, Makayla had to make up for that.

She tried to be patient as Holly attempted to get the gooey batter into the cupcake holes, but it was hard to watch half of the batter end up on the counter, so she ended up doing most of it herself. She got the cupcakes in the oven and during the twenty minute duration it took for them to bake, she managed to get Holly to attempt the homework she had been assigned to finish over Thanksgiving break. It didn't end up going that well, but that was to be expected. Holly always got frustrated one problem into whatever she was working on and though Makayla had graduated high school and taken one year worth of college courses, sometimes the material even messed her up. It was mostly the math problems, or English assignments that heavily relied on whatever the teacher had been talking about that day in class, but sometimes, she wasn't much of a help. "Hey, hey, hey, no getting upset on Thanksgiving. Don't worry, Holl. We'll bring it over to Cara's later on. You said her brother, Ryan, is smart, right? He'll help you with it, and we have all the way until Monday to finish it, so don't worry," Makayla said, glancing back at Holly who had put her head down on the assignments on the table in defeat, as she removed the hot cupcake trays from the oven and set them on the cooling racks to cool off. Could Nick take any longer?!

As she tossed the towels that she had used in place of oven mitts on the counter, she returned to the table Holly was sitting at and took the homework off of the table. "Stop being dramatic, Holl," she said, trying to be playful as she poked her sister in the side. It spoke to how desperate she was to be able to smoke in peace, but she held onto Holly's arm and pulled her into the living room. "I'm gonna let you watch TV for a little while, alright?" Since she couldn't afford to chip in for the cable bill with Chanel and Marie, she did her best to keep Holly away from the television. It was hard, since that was probably the only thing that could keep her quiet and in one spot for prolonged periods of time, but Makayla hated seeming like she was leeching off of the other girls. "I need to do some work in my room and Nick might come over to help me, but we don't need your help, so you need to sit out here and be quiet, okay?"

Working on homework had completely ruined the good mood Holly was in, but being able to watch TV definitely brought it back up a few notches. "Okay," she responded, with an eager nod. She wasn't even listening to the part about Nick coming over, them not being help, and her needing to be quiet. She lunged for the remote, readied herself on the couch, and began to skim through the channels. "And then we have to ice the cupcakes!" she called out to Makayla, though her eyes didn't move from the screen.

"Yup, as long as you listen now, we will," Makayla responded distractedly. She had stepped away from the television area to retrieve her phone from the kitchen. She was hoping that there would be a text from Nick, but there wasn't. The desperation had her back at the front door, and she actually opened it up, hoping that she might spot him or one of his roommates in the hallway, so that she could ask them where they were. For once, luck was on her side, and he was actually heading in her direction. She couldn't hide the pleasure she was feeling as a smile appeared on her face, and she welcomed him into the apartment. "Finally!" she hissed, playfully squeezing his arm in anticipation. Speaking more loudly now, so Holly would be able to hear, she led Nick into the apartment towards her bedroom. "Holly's here too, Nick. She's going to watch TV while you help me with all of that math work I have to do, so we'll hang out with her when we're finished." Anyone aside from Holly would sense the "play along" tone that came with her words, but she knew after Holly's breakdown minutes before, between the TV in front of her, and her anti-academics attitude, there wasn't a huge chance that she would want to hang out with them to do that pretend math work.

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Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Roman Killens Character Portrait: Isaac Rankin
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Nick left the apartment with a kiss from Brooklyn, but no Roman in tow. He guessed that Roman was going to shower or at least put on a new pair of clothes since he had literally just rolled out of bed, and he didn't feel like waiting. He was sure that Makayla was waiting on him, and more than that, waiting for Roman wasn't worth dealing with the awkwardness that he would feel if within those few minutes, Cara returned. It just wasn't worth it, and with the cold beers in his hand, he had one more reason to get across the hall quickly. The fact that he didn't even have to knock on Makayla's door, and that she was actually waiting for him in her doorway quickly brought a smirk to his face. He and Makayla were unlikely friends, but she was someone that he genuinely enjoyed spending time with. "Spending time" for them almost always meant smoking, but that was besides the point. She was a good customer when she had the money, and when she didn't, Nick was a good friend. Like today. She had offered him five dollars, but he wasn't going to take what he was sure was some of her last money. "Sorry, I didn't know there was a rush," he commented as she playfully squeezed his arm.

In one of Makayla's texts, she had mentioned her roommates being out, and for a slight moment, he forgot about Holly living there too. Makayla brought her up before Nick even noticed her sitting by the television. "Oh, hey Holly," Nick commented, waving at the redhead, despite seeing that she seemed pretty engulfed in whatever show she was watching. "Uh, yeah, that math stuff sounded pretty tricky when you were telling me about it. It may take a while to get it done," he said loudly, awkwardly following Makayla's lead in misleading Holly about what they were doing. Honestly, sometimes he forgot that she was sixteen. She looked that age, maybe a year or two younger, but emotionally and mentally she didn't seem like any of the teenagers he knew. He sold weed to kids a year or two younger than her, and Nick doubted that she would even know what the drug looked like. It wasn't like it was a bad thing, though. Holly wasn't stupid and she wasn't hard to be around, she could just be a lot to take in sometimes. Nick mostly knew her through when she would stay with Cara while Makayla was working, and since Holly seemed to be fascinated with Brooklyn, he ended up spending more time than he would have intended to hanging out with her. In times like this, he couldn't blame Makayla for wanting to shield Holly from knowing she used drugs and from being around them in general. She seemed too sweet and innocent to really understand why Makayla would want to use something that she had probably grown up being told was horrible.

"Smells good in here," he added in a hushed tone now as they left the room that Holly was in and headed into Makayla's bedroom. "You put together some snacks for when we've got the munchies? I never would have pinned you as being the baking sort." He sat down on the edge of one of the beds, not paying much attention to whether it was Holly's or Makayla's, as he opened up the bag of weed and focused on breaking a handful of it up slightly, to fit it into the bowl of his pipe. He tossed the bag to Makayla when he finished. "You've got your bowl, yeah? Just save some for Roman." There was a good amount of marijuana in there, so he wasn't actually concerned with her using it all, but Makayla could smoke a fair amount, so it was worth mentioning. He glanced at his phone upon receiving Isaac's text and added, "I think Isaac might come by too. That cool with you?" He had already invited him and assumed that Isaac was on his way already, so he hoped the answer was a yes.

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Makayla was sure that the television would keep Holly occupied for at least fifteen or twenty minutes. She knew her sister liked Nick, but his presence probably wouldn't be enough to draw her away from the TV like Brooklyn, or Cara or Marie's would. Plus, she hoped that the math lie would be one more reason for Holly to remain seated. It was a worry she would keep in the back of her mind, but it was pushed pretty far back as soon as she watched Nick pull the drugs out of his pocket once they were in her room. He had sat down on her bed, so she took a seat on the edge of Holly's, which was only a couple of feet away from her own. Makayla wouldn't call herself an addict. She didn't think that it was possible to get addicted to marijuana. Not in the way people became addicted to coke, or heroin, or meth, at least. She used weed as a crutch to get her through her days, but she didn't feel like she was completely dependent on it. She wasn't going to rob someone just to get her fix. If she didn't have money for it, and Nick wasn't around, she would survive, just with a shorter temper. Like how coffee or cigarettes helped some people get through their days, marijuana helped her get through hers. The only difference was that one was legal, and one wasn't, but health wise and intensity wise, she didn't feel like they were very different.

She waited to answer Nick's comment about the smell of freshly baked goods, and his comment about Isaac until she had filled her own marijuana pipe with a substantial amount of the drug. "Yeah, that's fine. Just make sure he's chill, because I don't want Holly to suspect anything," she answered. Considering that she was trying to keep Holly in the living room, she hoped that it would stay with it just being Isaac. She knew that he lived down the hall with some other guys, none of whom Makayla was very close with, but she knew that Holly was always intrigued by new people. The last thing that she needed was for her room to become a party spot, because then Holly would want to be involved, and it would defeat the purpose of it all. "We just have to stop if my roommates come back. I think Marie and Chanel smoke sometimes, but I don't know for sure and I don't want to be 'that roommate', doing this in a place we're supposed to share, if they're not cool with it, ya know?" She was too distracted to make eye contact with him as she spoke, and halfway through the remark, had stood up in search of a lighter. After a minute of searching with no results, she returned to her spot on the bed and just decided to wait until Nick was finished with his own to use it to light her bowl as well. When he handed it to her, she wasted no time in taking her first puff. She smoked too regularly for her to say that it hit her right away and she was suddenly feeling euphoric, or anything like that, but just knowing that she would feel relaxed and less stressed by the time her bowl was empty made her more relaxed in itself. "And it smells good out there because Holly baked cupcakes. She's saving them for Cara's though, which brings me to the question of whether you and Brooklyn are gonna be there to eat too." It wouldn't affect her much, but she was curious because she knew about the scandalous affair between Cara and Nick. It had shocked her, when Cara told her, because she didn't think of Nick as being that kind of guy, but she supposed he had to have had his reasons. At the very least, it didn't take much to see that Brooklyn wasn't the most pleasant person, so she was sure that he knew that more than anyone.

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Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Marie Casanova Character Portrait: Collin King Character Portrait: Isaac Rankin
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Holly didn't watch television alone frequently enough to know which television station coincided with each channel number, so she spent a good ten minutes scrolling up and down through the program choices before landing on a Phineas and Ferb episode and staying there. She was easily entertained, so the cartoon had her laughing within a few minutes. She had barely noticed Makayla bringing Nick in, and surprisingly, the same went for Marie when she had come in and said good morning. Normally, she definitely would have been one of the people who Holly would have leaped off of the couch to greet. Marie and Chanel were both very nice to Holly, but Marie's kindness was always very genuine seeming. However, Holly had seen Marie yesterday, and Makayla hadn't allowed her to watch television in over a week, so the latter was winning her attention today.

When fifteen minutes passed and Marie reemerged from the bedroom hallway, now in new clothes, and came to sit with her, Holly was still emerged in the show, but definitely glad that Marie was there. She pulled her legs onto the couch and crossed them as she turned to Marie with an energetic smile. "Phineas and Ferb," she answered quickly. "It's so funny," she giggled, clutching Marie's hand with enthusiasm. "And do you see the boy with the green hair?" she continued, before pointing to the screen when Ferb appeared. "That one! He talks like Roman does. Do you know him? He lives at Cara's house, and he has the same voice as Ferb," she said, referring to the English accent. "Do you think that means Ferb was adopted, because he's supposed to be Phineas' brother I think, but no one else in their family has green hair and no one else talks like that." She had released Marie's hand and had slowly begun to turn her attention back to the show midway through her commentary, but then a commercial came on and Collin walked in, and she lost her focus once again.

Holly didn't know Collin or any of the boys from that apartment very well. Because they lived across the hall, she did see them from time to time when they happened to pass in the halls. Sometimes Holly would make a comment about a bag one of them was carrying, if she recognized a store logo, or about Collin's tattoos if he was wearing clothes that revealed them, but she didn't know him to the extent that she knew the boys in 5C. "Don't let him eat them! They're for Cara's!" she whispered frantically, smacking Marie's arm softly. Normally, she would have just said so herself even despite not knowing Collin well, but the commercial that was currently playing caught her eye, and she didn't want to speak so loudly where she couldn't hear the advertisement. When it was over, she turned back to look towards the kitchen area and was relieved to find Collin heading back towards them without a cupcake in hand.

Despite it not being a new thing, Holly was unaware of the hookup relationship that Collin and Marie had. She was always asleep when Collin was in their apartment at night to be with her. If it had ever happened where he was coming out of her bedroom in the morning and Holly was awake, Makayla would give some lame excuse about how he was there to fix a light bulb or something, that Holly would believe without a second thought. When he sat down next to Marie and rested his legs on hers playfully, Holly narrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She wanted to ask Marie why he was doing that to her, or tell Collin that Makayla probably needed his help with her math work too, since she and Nick had been in there for what seemed like a while, but her show was back on, so Holly's attention switched back to that. "Did you tell Cara to invite you to her house, Marie? We're going to have turkey," she exclaimed, though still clearly distracted by the television show.

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Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Marie Casanova
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Normally Isaac wouldn't think twice about letting himself into someones place, but it felt a little strange to just open up the door to 5B without any kind of warning. Especially since it was midday; so he checked his phone again, to make sure he had the right apartment. He did, but before he had to make a decision himself, Marie was in front of him and opening the door.

He followed in after her, smelling something baking almost immediately and hearing some kind of cartoon. He arched an eyebrow, wondering how many people had already lit up, but when the living area came into view it was only a young redhead sitting in front of the tv. He recognized her, knew her name was Holly - only because sometimes in the hallway she commented on something he was carrying (and once his Wonder Woman teeshirt) and the woman she'd been with had said her name in exasperation before a full blown conversation could start. But that was about as far as that went.

He also knew she couldn't be much older than fifteen or sixteen, so while Marie was telling the kid hi, Isaac just made his way through the apartment towards the bedrooms. One door was open, one door Marie disappeared into, and so he took his chances with the last, giving it a knock before drawing it open just wide enough to peak. He grinned when he saw Nick, and nodded to the girl whose room he was probably in. He thought her name started with a M...Michelle? No, something closer to McKenzie? He let himself in then, gently pushing the door shut behind him.

"Hey," he greeted with a grin, then glanced up at the girl. "Sorry for just, like, letting myself in your place. But yo, Nick said something about buds on the house so, ya know."

Given that they had already packed, Isaac felt a little late to the party, but he didn't let that stop him. He just picked a spot on the floor to sit between the two beds - seemed less invasive that way, if not the most roomy - and glanced around until he saw the bag of weed sitting next to Michelle-McKenzie-McWhatever. He grinned and made grabby hands like the child he definitely was (especially on Adderall). "Hit me up, girl."

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Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Marie Casanova Character Portrait: Collin King Character Portrait: Isaac Rankin
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(Collaboration with Bandit)

"Yeah, yeah, Isaac's always chill," Nick reassured Makayla when she gave the approval for him to come. It wasn't always true, but that was usually when he was taking uppers. He didn't know if Isaac would want to mix something like that with the weed, but then again, when free weed was on the table, most people would feel compelled to take him up on the offer no matter what else was in their system. He took a hit before answering her question, about what they were doing for Thanksgiving. He thought that Makayla, out of everyone, had no way of knowing about what he had done with Cara, so he felt stupid for being paranoid and thinking that she somehow knew. If he wasn't sure of the quality of his weed, he would try to tell himself that maybe it was the weed that was making him paranoid, but this was something he had been feeling consistently for the past three weeks. "Brooke wants to eat with you guys, yeah," he began, taking one more hit, letting the smoke remain in his lungs for a good few seconds before finally exhaling. "So we'll probably stick around for a little, eat, and then head out. We always do the movies on Thanksgiving, so we're going to go see the James Bond movie that's out." A lot of the time when he was high, Nick felt more inclined to talk. Even though he was comfortable around Makayla sober, he was pretty quiet in general, and small talk wasn't his forte. Smoking opened him up to a degree, though, so just talking casually about nothing didn't feel strained. "Those cupcakes smell good, so I'll try to get her to stick around for dessert too. It's not even one and she's already drinking, so for all I know, she'll be passed out before we can even get to the theater. We're just gonna play it by ear, I guess."

Unlike Nick, Makayla tended to zone out more while high. It was what she did to relax, so that was really the only thing she wanted to do while smoking. Nick's conversation never bothered her, and didn't bother her now, but she mostly just nodded along. She wasn't going to push the topic of it being Cara's dinner, and how that would be with Brooke there because it wasn't her job to police Nick's behavior or tell him that she knew. They weren't that close, and as long as he hooked her up with free weed occasionally, Makayla would turn a blind eye to him being a murderer if it came to that, so being a cheater wasn't a huge deal. Her main goal at the moment was to get high enough where she could survive, and possibly even enjoy the rest of the day, but she knew that she needed to do it quickly. She didn't want to be doing this if her roommates came back, especially since she had left Holly to watch their television. No matter how many times they said they didn't mind Holly using it, Makayla did feel guilty when she wasn't helping to pay for it. It would only make her feel worse if she was letting Holly use it while she got high. Makayla was used to smoking quickly, and she usually took toke after toke until her bowl was empty. Sometimes it took three minutes, sometimes ten, depending on just how fast she was going. Her first bowl took five minutes, and just as Isaac came in, she reloaded it. One more couldn't hurt.

She tossed him the bag when she was finished, and spent the next fifteen minutes on the second bowl. She wanted this high to last, and she knew that once she finished this bowl, she was going to have to go check on Holly. If everything was still okay, she figured that she could get away with coming back to smoke one more. It would seem like a lot of weed for such a petite girl, in such a small amount of time, but Makayla had been smoking since she was fifteen or sixteen, and she was used to smoking a lot. She hadn't engaged much in the small talk that Nick and Isaac were in, so when there was a pause, she set her pipe down and got up from the bed. "I'm going to go check on my sister. Isaac, you should treat us to pizza since Nick covered the weed," she said teasingly. She definitely wasn't close with Isaac and had only remembered his name when Nick said in during the conversation, but when you smoked with people, it was a bit of a bonding experience. It was one that likely wouldn't extend past the duration of being high, but she didn't feel weird pushing the offer playfully. That toast from earlier wasn't going to keep her munchies at bay. Before leaving the room, she doused herself and the room in general with Febreeze, knowing that it still wasn't likely to cover the smell considering the amount they were smoking. She considered trying out some eye drops on her eyes, but thought that it was just Holly in the apartment, and Holly wasn't going to be observant enough to notice them being bloodshot.

"Dude, that girl can smoke," Nick laughed when Makayla left the room. His bag of weed was basically depleted at that point. Roman wasn't even on his mind anymore, since Nick figured he was no longer coming, but if he did, he was going to be disappointed. Nick tended to be generous when he was high, but even he knew that he couldn't get away with giving out anymore free weed at the moment. Brooklyn would kill him, and it would hurt his own wallet. "You going to Cara's too later? Pizza sounds good right about now, but I'm stoked for that turkey."

A few steps out of the room and Makayla realized that it wasn't just Holly in there. She heard voices and as she turned the corner, found Marie and Collin sitting on the couch with Holly. Fuck! She had no idea how long they had been out there or if they knew what was going on in their room. It probably wasn't a huge deal. Marijuana was much more accepted than other drugs, but it just went back to the point of Makayla not wanting her roommates to think of her that way. At the same time, in her state, she couldn't find it in her to be too bothered by it. A natural smile appeared on her face as she waved to them and then looked over at Holly who seemed consumed by the TV. "Hey Marie," she said. She knew Collin mostly just from seeing him in the apartment sometimes with Marie, but she didn't think it was necessary to specifically greet him. "Holly, let them watch the TV now. They don't want to watch this," she said as she rounded the corner and saw that a cartoon was playing on the screen. By the way that Collin was sitting with Marie, she assumed that they were trying to get cozy and she didn't need Holly getting in the way with that. "Come and ice your cupcakes, leave them be for now. Nick and Isaac and I are almost finished with our work, so I'll come help you in a few minutes," she continued, walking into the kitchen to check on the cupcakes. They really did smell good and she was so tempted to just eat one, but she knew Holly would make a big deal out of it. Isaac was going to need to order that pizza, and soon. She grabbed the icing and a knife and left them on the counter for Holly, who she turned to tell once more to get off of the couch when she heard a knocking at the door. It was only a few feet away, so she opened it without waiting for Marie to. The boy on the other side was familiar to her too as a neighbor, but she didn't know her name off of the top of her head. "Oh, uh, Marie, he must be here for you," she said, looking at the boy for another moment before somewhat awkwardly turning away and leaving him in the doorway.

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Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Marie Casanova Character Portrait: Collin King Character Portrait: Oliver Carver
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Marie had been sitting comfortably on the couch. Upon asking what the girl was watching she had responded that she had been watching Phineas and Ferb. A show that Marie wasn't hugely familiar with, but she knew it just based on Holly in general. Marie couldn't help the soft spot that she felt for the girl. She was just so naive and she had a rough life from what Marie could remember of the bits and pieces she had heard. Either way Holly began talking about the show and about Ferb in particular. Marie listened intently and was engaged in the conversation she was having with Holly.

At the mention of Ferb speaking like Roman, Marie couldn't help but laugh a little bit. "You know, he kinda does." Marie said in agreement with an amused smile on her face. Holly really was the safe place for Marie. Marie didn't have to worry about building herself up to be someone grand. She could just be less guarded around the girl and it was nice to have that in her life. Something she hasn't really had for a long time. Holly had gone off on a rant, but Marie had followed.

Shaking her head she responded to Holly, "I don't think he is adopted. Doesn't he sound a bit like the dad?" Marie asked hoping she had remembered correctly. The dad wasn't in every episode, but he showed up from time to time. Soon Collin had walked in and made a remark on the cupcakes being awesome. Holly had got concerned that Collin would eat them, and informed Marie that they were for Cara's later. Nodding Marie was about to tell Collin not to touch them, when he came and sat down on the couch with them. His legs had been resting on hers, and Holly had asked if she was going to Cara's or rather had been invited.

"Don't you worry Holly, I'll be there, and then I can try one of your delicious cupcakes." She said with a grin. She felt her phone vibrate in her hand, but just as she was about to look at it, she heard someone coming. She turned her head and had seen it was Makayla. "Hey Makayla." She responded. Marie knew what people looked like high, and she could see the red in her eyes. However Marie also knew that was where Isaac had gone to, just Marie wasn't that into marijuana at this point in her life. When she was a teenager, yea, but now, no.

Listening to the girl tell her sister that the TV should be left to her and Collin, Marie checked her phone and grinned. Once Makayla left, she turned to Holly, "Hey, it's okay. I like to watch a good cartoon from time to time. Have you ever seen Curious George? It's pretty great to. Also feel free to watch TV, I don't mind. I'm hardly home to watch it anyways." Marie said reassuring the girl it was alright if she wanted to continue watching. Marie was about to reply to Collin when Oliver had come in as well.

"Oh, hey Oli!" She said and then looked to Holly. "Holly, this is Collin, and this is Oliver. Guys this is Holly." She said pointing to the right person in correspondence with their name. While she gave them time to say hi to each other she looked back down to her phone and responded back to Collin.


To Collin:
"Someone's in the giving spirit ;)"

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Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Isaac Rankin
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Normally, when Isaac smoked, he got kind of sleepy and started questioning the meaning of the universe (or coming up with his own meaning of the universe). One of his friends actually had him on tape, talking about Scooby Doo and really asking the deep philosophical questions of: But, like, are the endings to Scooby Doo episodes not actually scary, because it's always people that are the bad guys? Or, like, does that make it extra terrifying because that means monsters actually do exist, but they look like you and me? Not, like, dog-people...dog...werewolves! He kind of regretted that one. A lot.

But Adderall picked his mood up, and was actually pretty safe to mix with weed, so the only side effects he ended up with was that his heart-rate slowed down a little and he was much, much more talkative. Which put him on about Nick's level. For fifteen minutes they had an easy going, quick passed conversation and Isaac choked on an inhale more than once. He was in a damn good mood - a little fuzzy around the edges, thanks to the alcohol - but much better than when he'd woken up that morning feeling like death. Still, he didn't smoke much. Mostly because Makayla (he learned her name somewhere in their chatter, but couldn't place where exactly) went through a lot of it, and he actually didn't need the high - just liked it.

When she called it quits, and mentioned pizza, Isaac's eyes went wide because that was a fantastic idea. He usually forgot to eat when he was on stimulants (especially Adderall) so he was actually glad for the munchies. Especially because he'd slept through breakfast, lunch had been canceled, and he was vaguely sure the last time he'd actually eaten was the day before yesterday. He was already digging his phone out when Makayla started spraying smell-good shit everywhere, and Isaac tried - with all the uncoordinated of being high - to doge out of the way of any of that crap. He was wearing cologne, for fucks sake, that didn't happen often and he didn't want it covered up. Even if he didn't actually have a reason to still be wearing it, at this point.

He snorted a little at Nick's comment once she left the room. "Fuck yeah she can. I'm kind of regretting the fact that I've never chilled with her before. Seems like my kinda person." He knew he had the pizza place saved somewhere in his phone...the one just around the block that usually delivered pretty quickly. He just couldn't find it. Downside of substance abusive...eventually, he got the right one, lifted the phone to his ear and gave Nick a disbelieving look. "Yeah. Right. Like Cara Forrester is inviting me anywhere. I'm ordering pizza man, you can eat or not."

Honestly, Isaac didn't interact enough with Cara to warrant having a negative-relationship with her. It wasn't like she hung out with anyone he did and purposely cut him out of things or anything like that. He just...didn't like her much. He knew where she came from, it was obvious she was of higher class than all of them, Isaac felt like the white trash he was raised in when they even shared the hallway at the same time with her, and in addition to all that - Roman talked about her, complained really, that she was a pain in his ass. The last thing that girl needed was another druggie in her face, and he last thing Isaac needed was another person telling him to get his shit together. Or that he wasn't worth her time. Which he wasn't, but still, he didn't need to be told that. So instead, he just avoided her. The only people he even knew in her apartment were Roman and Nick...both of whom he hung out with only with the addition of illegal substances. So no, not exactly 'getting invited for thanksgiving dinner' friends.

The pizza place picked up then, and Isaac rattled off everything he wanted: a large bbq lovers, a large meat lovers, a medium cheese, two breadstick orders, and four large orders of potato wedges. Enough to feed everyone (including the kid, and possibly Collin and Marie, he thought he heard Ollie's voice earlier) because that was only polite. Besides, if they didn't finish it, the three boys in 5A eventually would.

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Character Portrait: Chanel Owens Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Caraline Forrester Character Portrait: Roman Killens Character Portrait: Ryan Forrester
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{Written with Writer}
"Come on, Kay!" Holly said, rapping on the bathroom door that she sat outside of. Although Makayla had been in there for less than ten minutes while she showered, it felt like three hours to Holly. She didn't know why Makayla needed to shower now, of all times. They were supposed to be at Cara's and Holly had been expressing how excited she was to go all day. After they iced the cupcakes and taken a random trip downstairs to the building manager's apartment, she had gotten dressed in the outfit she had picked out for the dinner. It wasn't anything fancy, just a pair of black leggings, a sweater, scarf, moccasins, and a pair of $2 fake pearl earrings, but Holly was excited over it. After weeks of complaining about how every other girl in her school wore moccasins, Makayla had bought her a pair, but they were hard to wear walking through the busy (and dirty) city streets, so she really only wore them around the apartment. Being able to wear them out, without it really being "out", was fun for her. It was the first time she was wearing the sweater, so that in itself was something Holly could ramble on about for an hour. Cara had bought it for her a couple of days before when they were out at Forever 21, and the scarf had been a gift from Cara too, but one that she had given her out of her own closet, rather than purchasing it. It was new to Holly, and that was all that mattered, but she felt like it wasn't going to feel new anymore if they didn't get over to Cara's soon.

Holly's knocking had been persistent and loud enough for Makayla to hear it for the entire duration of her shower, but unlike most days, she didn't turn off the water for long enough to tell Holly to stop or that she would be done soon. She just didn't have it in her, and it didn't help that she was on the brink of sobbing as she attempted to scrub every inch of her body until her skin felt raw. It was a ritual that she endured every night after she worked, but it was rarely something that she had to do during the day. Prostitution was mostly a nighttime job for her. Doing it during the day was too risky, and there was a smaller clientele pool any time before ten at night anyway. She didn't know if she could call what she had done today, and what she did on a monthly basis, prostitution, but it didn't feel any different from what she did regularly at night.

Every month, Makayla was short on rent money. Paying her share of the $1500 was just impossible. With the cost of living in New York, her phone bill, and just the necessities she needed to keep her and Holly alive, she never ended up with enough money at the end of the month. Most of the time, she was lucky to have half of it. She had gotten by living in the building for close to two years through the agreement she had with the building manager. Whenever he was craving sex, he'd text her, and she'd end up in his apartment sometime that day. Normally, he worked with her to allow her to get there at night when Holly was in bed already, or before she left to work, when Cara had her, but there were times like today, close to the date of the month's rent being due, when he knew he had the power to get her on her knees the minute he was craving it. She couldn't say no unless she wanted to end up homeless with Holly, and today he insisted that he needed her there before five, because he was leaving to eat at a family member's house on the other side of town at five. When it was done and over with, all that she could think was that she was glad Nick's weed had been free, because she would have been more than upset if she had wasted money trying to lift her mood, only to have to endure the one thing that completely shattered it. Every single time. Selling her body to survive was the most dehumanizing thing she had ever done, but for Makayla, there weren't many other options at the moment. She desperately wanted to keep Holly out of the low-income housing units that they had grown up in because it only spelled bad news.

Needless to say, she was in no mood to be socializing after the thirty minutes she spent in his apartment, but she knew that she had to. So, she made sure that Holly was dressed and ready, and then hopped into the shower, hoping to use the few minutes of alone time to collect herself and rid herself of the slimy feeling that unwanted sex left her with. It didn't do much good, and as Holly's knocking and requests for her to hurry up only increased in volume, she knew she was just going to have to try to survive the night without killing herself. On the bright side, she was sure Cara was going to have alcohol, and that was the only thought that was strong enough to pull her out of the shower and allow her to get dressed before opening the door for Holly. "You need to learn how to be patient, Holly," she said, looking down at her sister who was sitting on the hallway floor. She wanted it to sound scolding, but she didn't have the energy to make it anything more than a monotone statement. She turned back into the bathroom and applied a quick layer of makeup and put her hair into a messy bun, because she didn't have energy for life at the moment, nonetheless dealing with her hair.

"I was trying to be patient, but you were taking too long, and Chanel already took everything out of the oven. I didn't want to be late," Holly explained as she got up and followed Makayla into the kitchen. Chanel and the majority of the food that had turned their marijuana-scented apartment into one that made Holly's mouth water, were gone, only making Holly feel more anxious. "Can I hold the cupcakes?"

"No, just grab the door," Makayla responded, taking the large plate of cupcakes from the counter as they left the kitchen. She didn't need Holly dropping them on the way over there, and she didn't have the patience to even humor the idea. A minute later they were outside 5C's door, and Makayla nodded at Holly to knock on the door. "I don't have it in me today to deal with any attitude, Holl, so be good or we're leaving," she advised. Again, her voice felt shallow, but Makayla meant it. She already wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for ten years straight, so Holly giving her a reason to leave this party was almost a welcomed idea at this point.