Flashback 2
By mgangel1124
She had to leave; she just couldn’t take it there. Sure, they didn’t know the exact details, but everyone knew enough. It wasn’t as if the sudden death of the city’s greatest scientist would go unnoticed. Of course word spread that he’d been killed. Of course it would come out that Angel had been there. And of course, that meant a new world of hell for her at school during the one time that she wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and disappear.
Despite her every attempt to be alone, classmates surrounded her in droves trying to pry the story out of her. She refused to tell what had happened. Normally a good student, she’d failed two exams in the month since the murder and funeral and the rest of her grades were dropping. It was only December; there was no way she could finish out the rest of the year like that. The day after her finals, she packed the house up, threw almost everything into storage, and bought a ticket to Comedia. It was far enough away that no one could have heard of them.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The good part about picking up and moving to a different country was that Angel had gotten exactly what she’d hoped for. She was completely unknown. No one looked at her sympathetically and asked what they could do for her. The only question she ever got was an occasional "Where you from?" that she could handle easily. Fortunately, she’d also managed to find herself a school to finish out the year. Apparently Actonian schools were more advanced than those in Comedia and she was actually ahead. From that point, it seemed like things were looking up.
The bad part about picking up and moving to a different country was that she had no money. It hadn’t even occurred to Angel that the money she’d brought over could only get her through a month there. She had a short-lived career as a waitress in a café near her little apartment, until it became obvious that she was too clumsy to balance hot, hot coffee on little trays. Not even that low-cut uniform top could keep those customers from getting angry at that. Especially not the female ones. But hey, rent wasn’t due for another two weeks. And there was plenty of time to get a new job before school started in three weeks, right?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Okay, so things were getting kinda bad. Rent was due in two days and she still hadn’t found a permanent job. Apparently your application doesn’t go over well when the interviewer calls your references and is told everyone around you better be heat-resistant or love burning liquids on their laps. She needed a drink.
Angel popped into the nearest seedy bar that would probably sell alcohol to teenagers and found a scene going on. A woman with huge, obviously fake boobs was having a screaming argument with a man in a purple suit. From what she could understand of the shrieking, Implants was leaving, and Purple wasn’t happy. Eventually it ended with the man yelling "BITCH, GET YO ASS OUTTA HERE. NOBODY WANT YO CRABS ANYWAY!" and shoving her out the door. He walked back behind the bar mumbling, "Damn, now I gotta find a new ho to work her shift." He looked around the room and called out, "Hey! Any o’ you hoes know someone lookin’ for a job?"
Angel’s eyes widened. Maybe it was going to be a good day after all. She walked up to the purple man. "Um, hi. I need a job. What exactly would I have to do?"
The man looked her over. "Come over here. Crystal can show you around." She followed him into another room where a blonde woman was playing a video game. "Bitch, I told you not to be playin’ that game when you’re s’posed to be making me money!" He grabbed the controller and broke it. "Now, this ho’s taking Candie’s place. Find her something she can wear."
"Um, hi. Remember me?" Angel piped up. "What exactly am I supposed to do?"
The man pointed out a window into the main room of the club. "See that pole up there?"
Angel stopped. "You can’t be serious. I thing I better just…" She couldn’t take that job. Maybe she could go back to Orly and figure something out. There was no reason she had to take a job at a strip club. Then, another day popped into her mind. "You can’t even take care of yourself when you’re healthy," she had been told. No, she would prove him wrong. She sighed and looked at the man in purple. "Well, when do I start, Mr…"
"As soon as you squeeze that ass into some shorts. And my name is A Pimp Named Slickback."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Her first day of school did not go well. She’d had a bad time at work the night before. A guy about her age hogged her all night, tipped terribly, and tried to grope her several times before he was finally asked by a bouncer to leave. She’d come home exhausted and fell asleep immediately, oversleeping the next morning. She was late to class and got lost trying to find the right room. She was ten minutes late by the time she finally found her way and walked in to class. At least the teacher was nice enough not to give her detention on her first day and just sent her to her seat.
…Which unfortunately, was right next to that creep from the club. He smirked at her. "Well hey there, Jiggles. Funny seeing you here, huh?"
She facepalmed. "Fuck off."
Creep’s grin widened. "Aww, don’t tell me you’re still mad about that little misunderstanding last night. Come on, how ‘bout we skip next period and go get to know each other?"
"Go suck a cock. I can’t miss trig."
"Trig? Isn’t that a little advanced for you?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She snapped.
He was still smirking. "It doesn’t exactly look like your biggest asset is in your head. So Jiggles, what’s your name?"
"You son of a-"
"Angel Sarcasta," the teacher interrupted. "I don’t know how they did things in Actonia, but in this school students are expected to pay attention in their classes."
"Yes, sorry." Angel said and took out her books.
The day got worse from there. Creepy McPervypants was in all of her classes. He seemed to have attached himself to her like a shadow from Hell. Gym was a particularly bad hour. Not only did it involve her total ineptitude involving any game with a ball, but the uniform seemed to have been designed just to give Creepy a great view too. Also, her hopes of just blending in and not drawing attention to herself were shot. It seemed that Creepy, whose name she found out was Michael, was pretty popular and everyone wanted to know who the new chick with him was. The end of the day couldn’t come fast enough. She practically ran out the door when the final bell rang.
"Hey Angel! Wait up!" Jesus Christ. The boy just could not take a hint. She walked faster, but he soon caught up with her. "So how’d you like your first day?"
Angel snapped. "How did I like it? Well, all I wanted here was to disappear. I wanted to finish out the year without any attention and just get through it. And instead, some asshole paraded me around like a prize piece of meat. HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK MY DAY WAS?"
"Exciting?" he joked.
She punched him in the face and hurried home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It turned out Michael’s ability to take a good punch was a real turn-on for Angel. No matter how many times she beat the crap out of him when he asked her out, he kept coming back. He even showed up at the club sometimes to pester her until A Pimp Named Slickback threatened to have him taken care of. Despite her best efforts however, he eventually started to grow on her. Finally one day, she decided to take him up on his offer.
"Hey Angel, wanna go do something this weekend?"
She sighed. "Okay, fine."
"Aww come on- Wait, really?"
"Sure. If it’ll get you to shut up and stop embarrassing yourself."
She was surprised to find out that when he wasn’t stalking her, he was actually pretty funny. It was the first time in awhile that she’d really laughed and enjoyed herself. It was great how he didn’t try to pry into her past or her reason for moving. They started dating soon. Things were going well, except for Angel’s curious habit of not letting him spend the night and just kicking him out after they had their hawt sexy fun. She had no idea why the thought of him sleeping over made her uncomfortable, but she figured it had something to do with Matrix and her being an idiot and jumping into bed with him so soon. Anyway, everything was going great. Until the day Michael said the one thing that made her totally batshit crazy.
"I love you."
"…Get the hell out of here."
"What?"
"You heard me. Just go."
"What’s your problem? Is this about your douchebag ex?"
"Shut up. I SAID GET OUT."
That lead to a screaming argument about how he was a clingy bitch little girl and she was a dirty slut. It involved lots of things being thrown and smashed. Finally he left, calling her a crazy whore as she slammed the door on him. She slumped down on the floor and looked around her trashed apartment. "God, what is wrong with me?" she said out loud. "Why can’t I have a healthy relationship for once?" Having nothing else to do, she went out drinking and ended up getting several men’s numbers.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
She’d been in Comedia for almost two years. Despite the rocky tension between Michael and her in every class, she’d managed to do well with her grades and graduated near the top of her class. She was also coming to terms with the fact that she just couldn’t handle commitments and relationships. Good thing most of her men didn’t see a down side in just being used for their bodies. She was sitting in bed reading the paper when she saw a familiar name. According to the article, Ozzal was gaining more and more power in Actonia, thanks in part to her team of top-notch scientists. On the other side, the leader of the opposing syndicate, Landon Blaken, had been missing for quite awhile. Silently, Angel made up her mind. She had to go back and fix her mistakes. She had to make up for it.
Twenty minutes later, she walked into the strip club. "Hey Slickback! You here?"
He came walking out from the back. "How many times I gotta tell you, it’s A Pimp Named Slickback! You gotta say the whole thing."
"Okay whatever. Look, I came by to give you my two-weeks’ notice."
A Pimp Named Slickback looked at her. "Bitch, you must be crazy. I ain’t got time for yo shit. Now go get yo ass on that pole."
"Fine. I quit now then." She turned to walk out. "I’m going home."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So then I just threw my shit in a bag and jumped on the first flight back here," Angel said and downed another shot of tequila. She and Emiri were sitting on her bed in her room, several bottles around them. Emiri took the bottle from her and finished it off.
"Wow. Your senior year sucked." Emiri said simply.
"Yep." Angel picked up a pair of scissors. "Now, how low do you think I can I make the neckline on this uniform before Hikki shoots me?"
She had to leave; she just couldn’t take it there. Sure, they didn’t know the exact details, but everyone knew enough. It wasn’t as if the sudden death of the city’s greatest scientist would go unnoticed. Of course word spread that he’d been killed. Of course it would come out that Angel had been there. And of course, that meant a new world of hell for her at school during the one time that she wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and disappear.
Despite her every attempt to be alone, classmates surrounded her in droves trying to pry the story out of her. She refused to tell what had happened. Normally a good student, she’d failed two exams in the month since the murder and funeral and the rest of her grades were dropping. It was only December; there was no way she could finish out the rest of the year like that. The day after her finals, she packed the house up, threw almost everything into storage, and bought a ticket to Comedia. It was far enough away that no one could have heard of them.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The good part about picking up and moving to a different country was that Angel had gotten exactly what she’d hoped for. She was completely unknown. No one looked at her sympathetically and asked what they could do for her. The only question she ever got was an occasional "Where you from?" that she could handle easily. Fortunately, she’d also managed to find herself a school to finish out the year. Apparently Actonian schools were more advanced than those in Comedia and she was actually ahead. From that point, it seemed like things were looking up.
The bad part about picking up and moving to a different country was that she had no money. It hadn’t even occurred to Angel that the money she’d brought over could only get her through a month there. She had a short-lived career as a waitress in a café near her little apartment, until it became obvious that she was too clumsy to balance hot, hot coffee on little trays. Not even that low-cut uniform top could keep those customers from getting angry at that. Especially not the female ones. But hey, rent wasn’t due for another two weeks. And there was plenty of time to get a new job before school started in three weeks, right?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Okay, so things were getting kinda bad. Rent was due in two days and she still hadn’t found a permanent job. Apparently your application doesn’t go over well when the interviewer calls your references and is told everyone around you better be heat-resistant or love burning liquids on their laps. She needed a drink.
Angel popped into the nearest seedy bar that would probably sell alcohol to teenagers and found a scene going on. A woman with huge, obviously fake boobs was having a screaming argument with a man in a purple suit. From what she could understand of the shrieking, Implants was leaving, and Purple wasn’t happy. Eventually it ended with the man yelling "BITCH, GET YO ASS OUTTA HERE. NOBODY WANT YO CRABS ANYWAY!" and shoving her out the door. He walked back behind the bar mumbling, "Damn, now I gotta find a new ho to work her shift." He looked around the room and called out, "Hey! Any o’ you hoes know someone lookin’ for a job?"
Angel’s eyes widened. Maybe it was going to be a good day after all. She walked up to the purple man. "Um, hi. I need a job. What exactly would I have to do?"
The man looked her over. "Come over here. Crystal can show you around." She followed him into another room where a blonde woman was playing a video game. "Bitch, I told you not to be playin’ that game when you’re s’posed to be making me money!" He grabbed the controller and broke it. "Now, this ho’s taking Candie’s place. Find her something she can wear."
"Um, hi. Remember me?" Angel piped up. "What exactly am I supposed to do?"
The man pointed out a window into the main room of the club. "See that pole up there?"
Angel stopped. "You can’t be serious. I thing I better just…" She couldn’t take that job. Maybe she could go back to Orly and figure something out. There was no reason she had to take a job at a strip club. Then, another day popped into her mind. "You can’t even take care of yourself when you’re healthy," she had been told. No, she would prove him wrong. She sighed and looked at the man in purple. "Well, when do I start, Mr…"
"As soon as you squeeze that ass into some shorts. And my name is A Pimp Named Slickback."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Her first day of school did not go well. She’d had a bad time at work the night before. A guy about her age hogged her all night, tipped terribly, and tried to grope her several times before he was finally asked by a bouncer to leave. She’d come home exhausted and fell asleep immediately, oversleeping the next morning. She was late to class and got lost trying to find the right room. She was ten minutes late by the time she finally found her way and walked in to class. At least the teacher was nice enough not to give her detention on her first day and just sent her to her seat.
…Which unfortunately, was right next to that creep from the club. He smirked at her. "Well hey there, Jiggles. Funny seeing you here, huh?"
She facepalmed. "Fuck off."
Creep’s grin widened. "Aww, don’t tell me you’re still mad about that little misunderstanding last night. Come on, how ‘bout we skip next period and go get to know each other?"
"Go suck a cock. I can’t miss trig."
"Trig? Isn’t that a little advanced for you?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She snapped.
He was still smirking. "It doesn’t exactly look like your biggest asset is in your head. So Jiggles, what’s your name?"
"You son of a-"
"Angel Sarcasta," the teacher interrupted. "I don’t know how they did things in Actonia, but in this school students are expected to pay attention in their classes."
"Yes, sorry." Angel said and took out her books.
The day got worse from there. Creepy McPervypants was in all of her classes. He seemed to have attached himself to her like a shadow from Hell. Gym was a particularly bad hour. Not only did it involve her total ineptitude involving any game with a ball, but the uniform seemed to have been designed just to give Creepy a great view too. Also, her hopes of just blending in and not drawing attention to herself were shot. It seemed that Creepy, whose name she found out was Michael, was pretty popular and everyone wanted to know who the new chick with him was. The end of the day couldn’t come fast enough. She practically ran out the door when the final bell rang.
"Hey Angel! Wait up!" Jesus Christ. The boy just could not take a hint. She walked faster, but he soon caught up with her. "So how’d you like your first day?"
Angel snapped. "How did I like it? Well, all I wanted here was to disappear. I wanted to finish out the year without any attention and just get through it. And instead, some asshole paraded me around like a prize piece of meat. HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK MY DAY WAS?"
"Exciting?" he joked.
She punched him in the face and hurried home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It turned out Michael’s ability to take a good punch was a real turn-on for Angel. No matter how many times she beat the crap out of him when he asked her out, he kept coming back. He even showed up at the club sometimes to pester her until A Pimp Named Slickback threatened to have him taken care of. Despite her best efforts however, he eventually started to grow on her. Finally one day, she decided to take him up on his offer.
"Hey Angel, wanna go do something this weekend?"
She sighed. "Okay, fine."
"Aww come on- Wait, really?"
"Sure. If it’ll get you to shut up and stop embarrassing yourself."
She was surprised to find out that when he wasn’t stalking her, he was actually pretty funny. It was the first time in awhile that she’d really laughed and enjoyed herself. It was great how he didn’t try to pry into her past or her reason for moving. They started dating soon. Things were going well, except for Angel’s curious habit of not letting him spend the night and just kicking him out after they had their hawt sexy fun. She had no idea why the thought of him sleeping over made her uncomfortable, but she figured it had something to do with Matrix and her being an idiot and jumping into bed with him so soon. Anyway, everything was going great. Until the day Michael said the one thing that made her totally batshit crazy.
"I love you."
"…Get the hell out of here."
"What?"
"You heard me. Just go."
"What’s your problem? Is this about your douchebag ex?"
"Shut up. I SAID GET OUT."
That lead to a screaming argument about how he was a clingy bitch little girl and she was a dirty slut. It involved lots of things being thrown and smashed. Finally he left, calling her a crazy whore as she slammed the door on him. She slumped down on the floor and looked around her trashed apartment. "God, what is wrong with me?" she said out loud. "Why can’t I have a healthy relationship for once?" Having nothing else to do, she went out drinking and ended up getting several men’s numbers.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
She’d been in Comedia for almost two years. Despite the rocky tension between Michael and her in every class, she’d managed to do well with her grades and graduated near the top of her class. She was also coming to terms with the fact that she just couldn’t handle commitments and relationships. Good thing most of her men didn’t see a down side in just being used for their bodies. She was sitting in bed reading the paper when she saw a familiar name. According to the article, Ozzal was gaining more and more power in Actonia, thanks in part to her team of top-notch scientists. On the other side, the leader of the opposing syndicate, Landon Blaken, had been missing for quite awhile. Silently, Angel made up her mind. She had to go back and fix her mistakes. She had to make up for it.
Twenty minutes later, she walked into the strip club. "Hey Slickback! You here?"
He came walking out from the back. "How many times I gotta tell you, it’s A Pimp Named Slickback! You gotta say the whole thing."
"Okay whatever. Look, I came by to give you my two-weeks’ notice."
A Pimp Named Slickback looked at her. "Bitch, you must be crazy. I ain’t got time for yo shit. Now go get yo ass on that pole."
"Fine. I quit now then." She turned to walk out. "I’m going home."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So then I just threw my shit in a bag and jumped on the first flight back here," Angel said and downed another shot of tequila. She and Emiri were sitting on her bed in her room, several bottles around them. Emiri took the bottle from her and finished it off.
"Wow. Your senior year sucked." Emiri said simply.
"Yep." Angel picked up a pair of scissors. "Now, how low do you think I can I make the neckline on this uniform before Hikki shoots me?"