Recipe For Disaster

It was yet another sunny morning in the small town of Hampton, South Carolina. Veronica Parker, better known as Ronnie, rolled over in her bed and closed her eyes tighter, trying to block out the wretched sunlight peering through her blinds. Ronnie opened an eye slightly to glance at her clock and saw that it was 11:14. She sighed - it had been a strange summer. At the end of her grade 11 year, Laylah, her best friend from the age of six, had moved away. Not that Ronnie didn't have any other friends, but her one true friend had always been Laylah. Ronnie wasn't what most would call a people person, and didn't really enjoy being in group settings. She was more of a one-person sort of girl. Everyone who she was aquainted with was having fun in different places, or with each other, causing her to spend the vast majority of the two months in solitude.

Ronnie was one of the few citizens of Hampton who had a mind of her own and didn't mind proving this fact to everyone. After a while, her mother had stopped trying to "tame" Ronnie; it simply just couldn't be done. Not that she was a bad person, but she was quite blunt and made sure to accomplish whatever she set her mind to. She was often thought of as a bitch, but this wasn't the case; she was just opinionated.

Before Laylah moved away, Ronnie had never been one to sleep late. However, since she didn't have much else to occupy herself with, nearly every morning of the summer was spent sleeping in. It was kind of nice, for a change, since during the school year she never got a lot of sleep. Ronnie was a bit of a night hawk, and sometimes would get so caught up in the night life of the town that she would get a few to zero hours of sleep. Until summer hit, she had been accustomed to not sleeping and it had never bothered her.

Rubbing her eyes, Ronnie slowly made her way out of bed and padded over to the other side of her bedroom to look briefly at herself in the mirror. Her blonde hair was still neatly in place and her chocolate brown eyes had a bit of a dull look to them, an appearance they had taken to since school ended. She sighed, brushing through her somewhat long hair and heading for the bathroom to wash her face, even though she had just showered the previous night before going to bed.

After taking her time in the bathroom, Ronnie made her way back to her bedroom and dressed herself in a pair of denim shorts and a white tanktop with lace accentuation in the chest area and across the bottom. She applied some light make up and left her house, walking lightly a few blocks over to a diner in which she had spent a lot of time over the course of the summer. The bell at the door dinged as she opened it, and her favourite waitress looked up at her with a smile as she took her usual seat at a bar stool by the front counter.

"And how is miss Ronnie today?" asked May in her light southern accent.

"The same as any other morning, I guess," replied Ronnie with a similar accent, not as strong, in a softer voice and shrugged. "How's miss May?"

"I'm here, aren't I?" replied the waitress and smiled. She then bustled around and within seconds had a mug of coffee in front of Ronnie. She uttered a 'thanks' and tore open three sugar packets and dumped them in. After adding cream and stirring she took a sip and May asked, "How's your mom?"

"She's good," replied Ronnie. "Working today, as usual." May nodded.

"So, Jason told me school starts next week," said May, referring to her son who Ronnie was two years senior to. "Are you ready?"

"May, I'll never be ready."

The motherly waitress chuckled. "You know what I mean. You must be excited to see everyone?"

May knew about how Laylah moved, but no one really knew how much it had gotten to Ronnie, with the exception of her mother, who had a pretty good idea.

"Yeah, I guess. It kind of gets to be the same old thing though."

Ronnie finished drinking her coffee while chatting with May, and stood up. "I'll be right back, I need to go to the washroom."

Ronnie began walking in the direction of the bathroom when someone walked smack into her. She scowled, looking up at the stranger - he was a good eight or nine inches taller than her and had tousled light brown hair. He was looking at a phone with his thumbs moving rapidly, and had a very disgruntled look on his face. Just as Ronnie was opening her mouth to tell him off, the boy grunted and continued over to the counter area.

She made a frustrated noise but really had to pee, so she had no choice but to quickly walk to the washroom.

When she returned to the dining area, the phone boy was seated on the end stool at the opposite side of the counter.

"I think I'm going to head out, May," said Ronnie, trying to keep herself collected as she placed money on the counter. May looked slightly confused. "I don't have the patience for rude people who don't have manners," Ronnie said, emphasizing the two words so that dumb boy would hopefully hear. It worked; he looked up as Ronnie was saying, "See you," to May, and before the boy could say anything, Ronnie had left.

The rest of her day was spent doing this and that around her house; she was just making her bed when she heard the front door opening.

"Ronnie?" called her mother.

"Hi, ma, in here," she responded. Ronnie heard her mother starting to prepare dinner in the kitchen.

"How was work?" asked Ronnie once she joined her mother in the kitchen, who shrugged.

"Same as usual, really. Busy as hell." Ronnie's mother, Beth, was a typical southern woman.She had a bit of a heavier build to her, but was nowhere near being fat. She had a fairly heavy drawl and was one of the most generous people you could find.

"Need me to help you with anything?"

Beth shook her head. "No thanks, Ronnie, I'm just doing pasta - I don't feel like cooking anything extravagant." She was also a very good cook.

Ronnie sat on the counter, swinging her feet.

"So, since tomorrow's Saturday, do you want to go shopping for school?" asked Beth as the pasta noodles were nearly cooked. "You could stand to get out of the house, honey," she continued. "You've been in such a slump this summer."

"I've been out of the house tons!" protested Ronnie, not bothering to try to deny the fact that she had been feeling down.

Beth sighed. "Ronnie, going to a diner every morning barely counts as getting out of the house."

At this, Ronnie shrugged. She knew her mother was right, but wouldn't fully admit it. Looking down at herself, she realized how pale her skin was. How pathetic - she didn't even have a tan.

"So, have you talked to Laylah lately?"

"A few days ago, actually. Things aren't much different. She's made some friends in California, though, which I'm happy about," said Ronnie. "I'd hate to hear about her starting a new school all alone."

Ronnie missed her friend, without question, but she wasn't about to get jealous over her meeting new people. She had meant what she said to her mother about being happy for Laylah adjusting so well.

Later that night, Ronnie sat in her back yard, working on a sketch. Over the summer she had been drawing a lot, and was rather pleased with her current drawing so far. As she was shading, she heard the back door open and close. She peered up at her mother.

"So I was thinking we'd leave tomorrow at, say, ten o'clock?"

"Sounds good."

"Alright, darlin', I'm going to head in early," said Beth. "I'm really tired. Good night." She kissed her daughter on the head.

"Good night, mom."