Verbose
All of Joslen’s mornings began the same way. Breakfast was served at 8 am sharp, which meant that she had to detangle her matted blonde hair, fix up last night’s leftover makeup that had surely smudged under her eyes, and pick out an outfit for school. Cameron—Joslen’s older sister who was favored by their parents in every way—never seemed to have any issue with getting up early, and she was always downstairs in the kitchen chatting with their mother over a cup of coffee by 7:30.
Dragging her feet across her slightly worn-in, pink carpeted floor, Joslen made her way to the bathroom across the hall that she shared with her sister. Everything on Cameron’s side of the vanity was perfectly organized, whereas Joslen’s sink was stained with old toothpaste. Foundation had spilled across the white marble counter top last Friday night when Joslen had done her makeup before a party, but she had yet to wipe up the spill.
“Get down here, Joslen” her mother said, calling up the stairs from the kitchen.
“Hold on mom! I’m going as fast as I can!”
Joslen quickly brushed her hair and teeth, and she slapped some fresh makeup on her face to cover up the breakouts that were threatening to emerge from beneath her pores.
“Kill me now,” she said while flicking off the bathroom light switch and going back to her ugly pink bedroom. Little traces of Joslen and Cameron’s childhood were still scattered around the room—a few framed photos, Cameron’s dance competition trophies, a participation award Joslen got for an art contest in third grade—but Joslen cringed at their presence and turned on her nearby speaker to drown out her thoughts. Music flooded into the small bedroom and poured out into the house’s hallways.
“NOTTHISAGAIN-Joslen-I’m-going-to-kill-you,” Cameron said in one breath while running up the stairs and busting into the bedroom to turn off Joslen’s Guns n’ Roses playlist.
“Oh, come on, you bitch.”
“Play this shit when I’m not home.” Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” started to play next, but Cameron slapped her hand on the nearby boombox speaker and fumbled with its buttons until silence filled the room.
“Rock n’ roll legends are turning in their graves right now,”
“Shut up,” Cameron said, exiting the room and slamming the wood door shut on her way out.
Taking her sister’s dramatic exit as a cue to finish getting dressed, Joslen pulled on her plaid skirt and white button up shirt. Uniforms were a requirement at her preppy Catholic high school. Very few people managed to look good in a cheap polyester tie and knee-high tube socks.
While grabbing her backpack and slipping on her crusty white sneakers, Joslen hurried out of her room before her mother or Cameron could yell at her again. Xandu—Joslen’s grey cat named after her favorite Marvel character—darted into her room just as she exited.
“You live with crazy people,” Joslen said to Xandu when the cat meowed at her. Zig-zagging down the stairs together, Joslen and Xandu made their way to the kitchen where Cameron and her mother awaited Joslen’s tardy arrival.