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“May I come in?” Stormer called out as she knocked on Kimber’s door, she took a listen and didn’t hear any sort of reply. “I’m alone.”
A sniffly “come in” was barely audible.
Stormer opened the door and saw Kimber sitting on her bed and wiping her eyes.
“How are you holding up?” Stormer asked and she sat down next to Kimber.
“I hate this,” Kimber drew her legs into herself.
“I do too,” Stormer said after a heavy sigh, then she cracked open her beer and took a swig. “This is taking things too far.”
“At least the girls didn’t get separated,” Kimber leaned on Stormer.
Stormer held out her beer towards Kimber. “Want some?”
“No, I’m too young, remember?”
“Ah it’s just a year.”
“I’m only nineteen.”
“For another two months,” Stormer raised her eyebrow. “But it’s your call.”
“Can I get a hug?”
“Yeah, of course,” Stormer pulled Kimber into her arms, deciding not to say anything about how odd it was for her girlfriend to ask. “I hope Jem and Jerrica come back soon.”
“I do too,” Kimber started to cry again.
“I love working with you, but not like this,” Stormer tightened her hold and started to tear up. “I tried talking Pizzazz out of her megaband idea but she just wouldn’t listen. I’m so sorry Kimber.”
“It’s not your fault Stormer. I don’t think any of us blame you.”
Another knock on the door, the voice behind it was quiet.
“It’s Ashley, can I come in?”
“Yeah, come in,” Kimber called.
It didn’t take long for Ashley to enter the room.
“Hey Ashley,” Stormer gave her a small wave. “Welcome to the moping room I guess.”
Another sip accentuated Stormer’s new name for Kimber’s bedroom.
Ashley planted herself on the floor and leaned her back against the bed.
“We need to figure out how to get things back to normal,” Ashley said.
“Oh are we planning something?” Krissie quietly slipped into the room. “I saw Ashley come in here and thought I’d follow.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Kimber’s voice was completely dejected and she held her hand out towards Stormer. “I think I’ll accept your earlier offer.”
“Okay,” Stormer passed her bottle to Kimber.
“Kimber! You’re too young to drink,” Krissie harshly whispered.
“I don’t really care right now,” Kimber took her first drink in the same way she saw Stormer do earlier. “Blech.”
The bottle was quickly passed back to its owner. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t really like beer. But it was worth a try.” Stormer leaned into Kimber and whispered. “You want me to pick up peach schnapps the next time I do a liquor run?”
“I’ll think about it,” Kimber whispered back, much to Krissie’s horror.
“Because I like you Stormer, I’m giving you a warning,” Ashley started, “I’m planning on driving Pizzazz and the other awful Misfits away with some help from the other girls. You’re going to see a terrible side of us.”
“‘The other awful Misfits?’” Stormer blankly looked at Ashley.
“Yeah you can stay,” Ashley declared.
“We all like you Stormer,” Krissie added. “You always help take care of us when you’re over. You haven’t been doing that as much lately but I get it. Your band keeps you on a short leash. The fact that you’re making sure we’re all okay tells me that you really are a good person.”
“I don’t feel like a good person,” Stormer mumbled.
“Once everything’s back to normal I’m sure you’ll start to feel better,” Ashley said. “But first we need to get things normal again. So I need to figure out how to give Pizzazz a serious headache.”
“Want any pointers?” Stormer offered. “I’ve been a Misfit long enough to know how to cause a lot of trouble and be really annoying.”
Ashley laughed. “You really hate all this too, don’t you?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” The beer was finished off and placed on the floor.
“The only problem with your plan is that the Starlight Foundation might get dissolved,” Kimber spoke up. “I don’t want that. It’s why I let Pizzazz buy everything. I’d hate for you girls to have to get separated. I can handle this.”
“True,” Ashley crossed her arms. “Okay, once Jerrica comes back we can scare the bad Misfits off.”
“I can’t believe Jerrica went missing too,” Krissie muttered. “It’s not like her to drop all her responsibilities. I hope nothing bad happened…”
Krissie hugged herself tight and started to bawl. “I can’t keep losing family like this.”
“Oh, Krissie,” Kimber pulled her into a hug. “Try not to let your mind go there. I’m sure Jerrica will come back safe and sound. She has to.”
Once Kimber broke down Stormer stood up and hugged the two and Ashley joined in. They all tried to convince each other that things will work out in the end.
“I’m not about to treat you guys like prisoners,” Stormer left the group hug. “I’m getting another drink. I’ll bring some water with me for you all. See you in a minute.”
When Stormer opened the door Ba Nee ran in crying and went straight to Kimber and got a tight hug. Kimber rubbed her back saying “there there.”
Stormer scowled, things have definitely gone too far. So what if Pizzazz was ecstatic to have Starlight Music? The only saving grace was that Starlight House could stay up and running.
It took a lot of self-control to not slam the door behind her before she marched into the kitchen to fetch drinks. A couple more beers for her, and a pitcher of water for everybody else. With only one glass so it’s not immediately obvious what’s going on.
“You’re really slamming them back,” Roxy said with her arms crossed and her mouth quirked in amusement. “It’s not like you.”
“Don’t you think things have gone too far?” Stormer asked, knowing that Roxy was the only Misfit who might agree.
Roxy sighed. “I dunno. Maybe a little. Some of these kids aren’t too bad. But hey, they can keep being all buddy-buddy with each other. And it’s not like they’re completely separated from the former Holograms.”
“Whatever,” Stormer picked up what she came down for and left in a huff.
“Sheesh,” Roxy watched Stormer walk off. “It’s weird seeing Stormer so pissed.”
Once she made it back up to Kimber’s room Stormer knocked to the best of her ability and was let in by Ashley.
“I could only grab one glass,” Stormer said as she filled it. “I wasn’t alone in the kitchen. So you’ll all need to share.”
Stormer passed the full glass to Ashley.
“How’re you feeling Ba Nee?” Stormer asked after taking her place on Kimber’s bed again.
More crying was the answer.
“Same here,” Stormer said as she opened another beer. “It’ll get better, I’m sure. Jem and the Holograms always come out on top. My band just can’t have a win and keep it.”
Stormer’s attempt at giving the room some levity fell flat.
...Probably because she mentioned Jem.
Stupid Jem... abandoning her duties to run off with Riot.
Stupid Riot...
“Wow, I didn’t think you could look so mad,” Kimber’s voice was surprisingly light. “It’s kinda nice to know that you’re on my side.”
“Of course I am!” Stormer barely controlled her volume. “Yeah our bands have that rivalry going on. But I usually stay out of the really messed up stuff. I care about you Kimber.”
“Ew gross,” Roxy spoke from the doorway, she had let herself in, and was holding a few glasses. “I figured you’d be in here and taking care of some of the kids. You’re such a softie Stormer.”
“Yeah, what’s it to ya?” Stormer snapped.
“Woah, hey take it easy,” Roxy raised up her hands. “I’m with you, this is too much.”
“You can say that again,” Kimber, against her better judgement took another drink of beer.
“Jesus,” Roxy sat next to Stormer. “We even drove the kid to drink. Oh yeah... you, uh...”
“Ba Nee,” Stormer whispered to Roxy.
“Yeah, Bonnie-”
“-Ba Nee,” Kimber glared at Roxy. “There’s a pause in her name.”
“Yeah thanks for the book Ba Nee,” Roxy said with a genuine smile. “With a little help from Stormer I can actually kind of read now. It’s more useful than I expected.”
Ba Nee wiped her eyes and gave Roxy a watery smile. “So you actually read it? I’m so glad.”
“You did good,” Roxy have Ba Nee a pat on the arm before standing up again, she took a bottle of beer off the floor. “This is my payment for getting you glasses.”
She squinted at the label. “I don’t recognize this kind.”
“Jetta bought it, it’s British of course because it’s Jetta,” Stormer said.
“Is it any good?”
“It’s alright.”
“Good enough for me,” Roxy shrugged. “Try to get some sleep, alright? Pizzazz will pitch a fit if you show up half-dead tomorrow.”
With a “see ya” Roxy left the room.
“I guess Roxy isn’t happy either,” Kimber said.
“Roxy’s stance usually is, if Pizzazz is happy then she won’t get on anybody’s case, a happy Pizzazz is a relaxed Misfits,” Stormer said with some bitterness to her voice. “But Roxy is overall not too bad. She’s the most reasonable Misfit, that’s for sure.”
“So is that why you two are ‘a little flirty?’” Kimber nudged Stormer with her elbow.
“Yeah, that’s why we have that shtick,” Stormer supressed a chuckle.
Time and place Stormer.
Kimber asked for another sip of beer and this time Stormer hesitated.
“You know, I’m starting to have some regrets about making that offer,” Stormer said as she looked at the bottle. “This isn’t how I pictured our first drink together being.”
“You pictured us going out for drinks?” Kimber giggled.
“Yeah, I was gonna take you to my favourite dyke bar when you were old enough and we’d celebrate,” Stormer’s original plan still made her smile. “Of course Roxy would come out with us from time to time and you would have gotten to know the decent side of her.”
“Stormer…” Ba Nee shook her sleeve. “What does dyke mean?”
“Uh-well…” Stormer mentally scrambled.
Despite it all, Kimber laughed. God did it ever feel good. “You walked into that one. You need to watch what you say around kids like Ba Nee.”
“You see, Ba Nee,” Stormer noticed the older girls giggling. “‘Dyke’ is another word for lesbian, but only we can say it. So please don’t repeat it.”
Stormer could have sworn she heard Ashley say, “I know what’s coming next.”
“What’s a lesbian?” Ba Nee asked.
“That’s a girl who really really likes other girls,” Ashley gave Stormer a way out.
“Oh like Kimber and Stormer!” Ba Nee said with a bright smile. “I get it!”
“Close enough,” Kimber stopped Stormer who was about to try to explain bisexuality. “Technically I’m not because I don’t only like girls. But it’s pretty late so we won’t go too into things right now because it’s complicated. Alright?”
“Okay,” Ba Nee said, she still looked curious but listened to Kimber; she was too tired to argue and she yawned. “Kimber, can I sleep in here tonight? I don’t want to be alone.”
“You can sleep in my room,” Krissie offered. “Kimber has a really early morning and we need all the rest we can get.”
“But I wanna sleep in Kimber’s room,” Ba Nee sniffled. “I miss Kimber.”
“We all do,” Krissie held Ba Nee’s shoulders affectionately. “But I feel like Pizzazz would be mad if she finds out she let you stay in here. That’s why we’re all sneaking around at night.”
“Okay…” Ba Nee sounded like her heart broke in two.
“I’m going to take Ba Nee to bed,” Krissie said. “Have a good sleep.”
“You too,” Everybody in the room said as Krissie took Ba Nee to the door.
“Are you going to bed soon?” Kimber asked Ashley.
“Nah,” Ashley shrugged. “Unless you two want me to make myself scarce. So you can be lovebirds, you haven’t been able to do that lately. I think that’s one of the weirdest things about all this. By the way, why is Pizzazz having Kimber do all that running around for her?”
Stormer sighed heavily and took a swig before giving an unusually blunt answer. “Because she’s bitter. Pizzazz is angry at Riot for running off with Jem and she’s taking it out on me.”
“I had a feeling,” Kimber said as she leaned on Stormer. “She’s such a cow.”
“Yeah she is sometimes,” Stormer couldn’t help agreeing in the moment. “If Riot does come back with Jem then Pizzazz will tear him a new one. Maybe chase him back to Europe and this nightmare will be over. I’ll never get what she sees in him.”
“Wow, drunk Stormer just says what she thinks, huh,” Ashley said with a laugh.
“I’m not-” Stormer’s words died in her mouth. “-Okay, I might be a little tipsy. I did drink those beers kind of fast.”
“But back to you, Ashley, I really do think you should go to bed,” Kimber said. “It’s really late and you’re a growing girl.”
“I won’t sleep anyway,” Ashley’s eye twitched. “I haven’t been at all lately. I just want to get things fixed and back to normal.”
“Ashley you can’t,” Stormer pushed. “I have a way better chance of fixing things and I can’t even come close. Please try to rest. You need it.”
After a long drawn out sigh Ashley agreed to go to bed. She didn’t leave the room before getting hugs from Kimber and Stormer.
“And now it’s just us again,” Kimber said. “You think I could…”
“It’s all gone,” Stormer didn’t let Kimber finish and waggled the now empty bottle. “And Roxy took the other one.”
“Oh well, I shouldn’t have been having any in the first place,” Kimber didn’t seem too broken up about being cut off and she shrugged. “We probably shouldn’t tell my friends about that.”
“We definitely shouldn’t tell them. I’m probably falling out of their good graces already.”
“I told you earlier, nobody blames you. It’s mostly Riot’s fault. Jem’s a little to blame too for coming with him alone. But I know my sister, she wouldn’t be gone this long unless something bad did happen.”
“And Jerrica?”
“Jerrica… well… I don’t know! The same goes for her, she’s too much of a workaholic to just up and leave like this.”
“And she cares too much about the girls to abandon them.”
“I know I told Krissie to not let her mind go to such a terrible place. But I’m seriously scared.”
Stormer rubbed Kimber’s back and her girlfriend clutched onto her for dear life while sobbing.
There’s just been too much loss in her life already…
Jerrica better come back!