Return of the Runaway – Esteem of the Middle Child – Part 3
Quinn walked home,
after having helped Jane prevent her house from being foreclosed. 'How is it
that the Lane's just forgot to pay their bills?” she wondered. Jane was
interesting though. 'If nothing else we do fit as acquaintances.'
“Hi!” Quinn stopped
at the word. She turned and saw a goth chick. She had red at the front of her
dark hair.
“You're at Lawndale
High, aren't you?” she asked.
“I am. I just
started there. What is it to you?”
“I tried to talk to
you yesterday,” the goth said with a slightly subdued tone.
Quinn remembered.
“Oh. I told you to 'get lost' didn't I.”
“Yes,” the goth
said in a tone that implied that she was worried that Quinn would say so again.
“So, what did you
want?”
“I'd like to get to
know you. You seem interesting.”
That got Quinn's
attention. Other than Jane; no one had found her 'interesting; before. “I see,”
she responded.
“So?” the other
girl prompted.
“I'll think about
it.”
“At least that's
something.”
“What's your name?”
“Oh, Kristen.
Kristen Leung,” the goth said, almost whispering her last name.
“Oh, I'll see you
at school,” Quinn said, wondering what would come of it. 'Would Jane like her?'
she found herself thinking.
“Sure,” Kristen
said.
As Quinn went on
her way, Kristen thought. 'That went well. I wonder how she would react to
Cindy?'
Quinn soon arrived
home, and found her mother there waiting for her.
“Mom, are you OK?”
she asked. “It's not even 5 o'clock yet.”
“I don't pretend
I'm going to cure you, but if a lack of mother-daughter bonding is part of your
problem, we're going to remedy that right now. We're going out to do something you
want to do.”
“That's not the
problem,” Quinn mumbled. Louder she said. “You mean, shopping?” she asked.
“Of course,” Helen
said.
Twenty minutes
later, they were in the Lawndale Mall at Cashmans.
Helen emerged from
the change room. She was wearing a version of her usual power suit that had a
different colour. “What do you think of this one?” she asked Quinn.
“It stands proudly
and proclaims 'I am',” Quinn said in a bored tone.
“Really?” Helen
asked. She knew Quinn was bored. 'She used to love shopping when she was
younger,' she thought. Of course that was before... 'No, Helen! This is not the
time to think about that!' Bad enough that she and Jake had argued about it the
night before.
“It does,” Quinn
said.
“Then I'll buy it,”
Helen decided.
Quinn sighed.
Oklahoma City, OK
Lillian (or Daria,
but she still thought of herself as Lillian out of habit) entered the library.
She had taken two Greyhound coaches on her journey from Highland to Oklahoma.
Another bus to eastern Kentucky would leave in two hours. She had decided to
use that time to research Lawndale.
She soon had booked
a half hour on one of the internet computers, and had found a book on the
history of Maryland. It was quite informative, but there was hardly any mention
of Lawndale. 'I'll search for it on Altavista,' she decided.
There was not much
more information on Lawndale online. With frustration, Lillian went to look for
more obscure sources. She started scouring the shelves. 'There has a to be a Lonely
Planet here somewhere,' she thought.
Lillian did find a Lonely
Planet on Maryland. It only had a bare minimum of information on Lawndale,
including the fact that it was best known for the Big Strawberry, whatever that
was. 'Not very helpful,' she thought. She put the book away. She looked at the
time, only twenty minutes left until the bus would leave. 'I would have to find
out about the town when I get there.' Soon she had left the library.
Lawndale
Trent Lane heard
his sister whilstling as he passed her door. That was strange. She rarely
whistled. He was rather sure. He opened the door. “Janie?” he asked.
“Trent?” She asked.
“I heard you
whilstling.”
“Really?”
“I'm pretty sure.”
“I met someone at
school. A new girl. Her name is Quinn,” Jane explained.
“Quinn? Sounds like
a guy's name.”
“I'm rather sure
it's a girl.”
“So, you think
she'll be a friend?”
“Yes,” Jane said,
giving her brother a look of vulnerability.
“That is good.”
Jane smiled.
September 18, 1997
Jane and Quinn were
in the Self-esteem class again. “So, what are we talking about when we are
talking about ourselves?” O'Neill asked. “Anyone?” he pointed to a boy. “Yes?”
“We're... talking
about us!” The boy, with a t-shirt advertising MTV's The Head, said.
“Excellent! When we
talk about 'ourselves' we're talking about 'us'. Now, guys, I've got a little
challenge for you. Today we talked about turning your daydreams into reality.
Tonight I want each one of you to go home and do just that.” O'Neill pointed to
Quinn. “What's a daydream that you'd like to see come true?”
“I'd like to see my
family do something together,” Quinn answered.
“Excellent!”
O'Neill said.
“Something that
will cause them to suffer!” Quinn added.
“Uh, it's healthy
to air these feelings... I think,” O'Neill responded. The Bell rang. “We'll
talk more about this tomorrow. Class dismissed.”
That night, during
the Morgendorffer's dinner.
“How's the old
self-esteem coming, honey?” Jake asked.
“My self-esteem
teacher says to think back to circumstances that brought me happiness as a
child and to replicate them...”
“Well, we can do
that, honey,” Helen said.
“Like go to Pizza
Forest, like we used to?” Quinn asked.
“Um,” Jake began...
“No!” Ronni said.
“Quinn, I don't
think there is one in Lawndale.”
“I saw it on the
way to school yesterday,” Quinn said.
“Oh!” Helen said.
“We can't go!” Jake
said.
“I miss those
songs!” Quinn said.
“Sure,” Helen said.
“We'll go tomorrow.”
September 19, 1997
Oakwood, Lawndale
County
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