Man Down

Chapter Four. The Henderson’s

Chapter Four

The Henderson’s

The last bell of the day rang, and Kristen was to meet her new friends at dawn’s locker, which was conveniently right next to hers. She attempted to get past the sea of students, the sea so thick with bodies she could not even nudge her way through. This place was a zoo. That would be a great name for this space. She finally saw an opening and shoved her way in. she had found her friends conversing by their locker, they locked eyes with her and smiled.

“Finally!” exclaimed dawn, “you’re late!”

“Did you not see the zoo of people?” Kristen laughed, spinning the dial on her lock.

Kristen reached into her locker and swung the bookbag over her shoulder, she felt a pit of nerves build in her stomach. She was to go spend alone time with these friends she had just met. Still strangers to each other. An anxious voice told her to pretend there was an emergency and skip this one out but, her mother’s voice was in her head and the potential disappointment that would be greeting her if she went straight home. She sucked it up and walked along with dawn and patty, lost in her own thoughts. Not even paying attention to the conversations that were happening right beside her. Dawn appeared to have lived in the same large residential area as Kristen, it was only a twenty-five-minute walk from the school. Maybe Kristen could walk with dawn to school, she could avoid the uncomfortable talks with her mom. They turned down one of the many streets that connected to each other, Dawn lived in a very similar cookie cutter house to Kristen. Dawns house however, was decorated like it was out of a storybook. You could barely tell a man lived there. It had a bright white picket fence around the property, a cobblestone walkway and a cute little mailbox that read “The Henderson’s”. The steps led to a pastel pink door with a custom stain glass window in the centre. When they opened the door dawns mother greeted them wearing a pastel blue mid length skirt and a white blouse. Her light blonde hair was pinned up elegantly, she had full red lips and her cheeks were flushed with colour. Clearly fake but still beautiful. She was a very cheerful woman, and the house was kept in immaculate condition, a complete opposite to how her house is usually kept. She felt like she didn’t belong in a house like that and didn’t want to mess anything up. Dawn and Patty didn’t even take off their shoes, Kristen felt wrong. She took her shoes off by the door, dawns mom flashed her an appreciative smile. The hallway was almost identical to Kristen’s house. It was painted a very light powder blue and was lined with family portraits. Kristen was surprised to see dawn’s dad. He was the complete opposite of Dawn’s mother, he had a long ginger beard, was quite buff, and was covered in tattoos.

Dawn’s room looked like a combination of both of her parents’ personalities. Her room had pastel pink walls, a crisp white bedspread, filled with different throw pillows all different shades of pink, and her wall was covered on rock band posters. Her room was also covered in sketches all expertly done.

“Did you draw all of these?” Kristen asked, she was in awe over these sketches.

“no” Dawn chuckled “I wish, my dad’s a tattoo artist, he brings home all the sketches he makes for his clients.”

“He is incredibly talented.” Kristen said.

Kristen walked around the room looking at the multiple band posters and incredible sketches hung on almost every inch of the wall. It was truly impressive, maybe Kristen would get him to do her first tattoo.

“So why don’t we like Elise?” Kristen asked curiously.

“she’s a bitch.” Patty responded.

Kristen smirked; Patty was definitely her kind of girl. She was a firecracker.

Dawn sighed.

“she’s very manipulative.” Dawn said, looking down.

“How?” Kristen was very curious now.

“Well, me and sky have been friends since kindergarten when he moved across the street.” She began, “Elise is from a very rich family, and she never let anyone forget it, we all used to hate her but then one day she started giving attention to sky and his mind changed I guess.”

Kristen motioned for the window and peered to the house across the street, she could tell this was a touchy subject for Dawn.

“He started getting into trouble with her and for her, skipping class, his grade plummeted.”

Kristen couldn’t see how that was Elise’s fault, yes, she may have been a driving force in the change of behaviour, but sky was a big boy. Fully capable of making his own decisions.

“Ugh,” patty spat “you take forever, it’s very simple. The little b***h cries and sky is like putty in her demon claws.”

Kristen smirked. Patty was so blunt and straight to the point.

“Speak of the devil.” Patty said looking out the window.

Kristen moved past her and saw a white Volkswagen beetle convertible pull into the driveway across the street. She watched as sky got out of the passenger side and run over to open the door for Elise. They embraced each other passionately. His hands were on her waist and her arms were around his neck. Kristen felt a jolt of pain to her heart, is that jealousy?

Clearly the pain to her heart reflected on her face because patty began smirking.

“Does someone have a little crush?” she teased.

Kristen blushed. So, what if I do? So, what if I don’t? she asked herself. She barely knew him and barely spoke any words to him. Her feelings were conflicting. She watched as the embrace ended and watched him walk into his house. Even his walk was quite cute. She’s moving too fast.