There's a Playground

The next day was pretty much spent with us unloading the truck and unpacking. In the morning, I’d woken up at my usual time at five in the morning, ready to jump up and get ready for school. That is, until I realized that I wasn’t back in Denver and was, instead, in my new home in Las Vegas. I was really confused as to where I was until I looked over at my mom, sleeping soundly and snoring in her really weird ways. I smirked, rolling my eyes and running a hand through my hair.

One thing I noticed, though. Vegas smelled quite a bit different from Denver. It was probably the desert air and the heat that was already taking over the majority of the house, but it just…it smelled weird, okay? Different places have different smells and Vegas just smelled strange to me. But can you really blame me? I haven’t been back here since we’d moved.

My thoughts wandered over to what Max was doing as I watched a group of five boys walk down the sidewalk around eight, probably headed off to school. I was carrying a rather large and heavy box off the truck and almost fell when I landed on the ground. The boys laughed amongst themselves and I caught a few comments. One pair of eyes, though, was like a haunting memory.

I swallowed the lump that had ended up in my throat as I turned away from the group and hung my head, trudging my way down the walk way and onto the little overhanging porch, escaping the Vegas sun and entering my house.

That was pretty much how I spent my day. Unloading boxes and everything… Honestly, it was boring and tiring. And when two of the boys from the group of five came back by, I was sitting on the porch with my sketchbook in my lap and trying to draw one of the two trees that were in my yard.

“Hey! New girl!” One of them called and I looked over quietly, blinking and pausing on drawing the leaves of said tree. I raised a hand quietly, pulling my legs into my chest.

They walked up to me and I was greeted by those daunting gray-green eyes. Was…no, it couldn’t be. He wouldn’t still be here, would he? I tilted my head, looking curiously at him as the two approached me.

“When’d you get here?” The one who reminded me of my childhood friend asked me in an oh-so-familiar voice.

“Midnight last night.”

“Where you from?” The other asked. He was taller than the other one, with scruffy hair and a long face. He kind of looked like he was strung out on something…which I wouldn’t really be surprised to find out that he was…

“Denver…” I mumbled, swallowing the lump that had appeared in my throat again. The Max look-a-like looked at me much like I was looking at him.

“Well I’m Ronnie Radke. This is Max Green.” My heart lurched into my throat and I blinked a few times, my lips parting in surprise.

It was Max…

No flipping way…

“…Max?” I asked, blinking. My throat tightened saying that name.

Ronnie looked confused, while Max only looked more intrigued.

“Yeah…?” It figured that he wouldn’t remember me. I smiled shyly, tearing my gaze away from him and looking down at the barren ground.

“I’m Wednesday Lee…” I mumbled, frowning slightly. It hurt that he didn’t remember…but how could I expect him to?

“…What was that?” he asked and his voice was practical music to my ears after all these years. I sighed, looking up at him and praying for a miracle here. Realization seemed to hit him like a brick wall and a grin slowly formed on his face. “No fucking way!”

Ronnie still looked really confused, looking between me and Max with dark brows furrowed.

One thing was for sure. Max had changed a ridiculous amount. He was blonde when we were growing up. Shortly cropped hair and those pretty eyes of his. He also had tattoos now, which was a big change… Tattoos and a hoop through the left side of his nose and snakebites on his lower lip. He was still pretty pale…and stocky.

He rushed over and wrapped me in his muscular arms. “Holy fucking shit, Wendy! Where the fuck did you come from!?” He shouted in my ear and I cringed, returning his hug awkwardly before pulling away first. I swallowed the lump in my throat once more as he stepped back.

“What the fuck is going on?” Ronnie stated, hands on his hips unhappily and a frown on his face.

“This is Wendy! She was like…my best friend until I was eight.” Ooo…ouch. That hurt bad. I sighed, swallowing again and frowning slightly as I looked at him.

“Hi…” I muttered, sighing slightly.

“Oh. Hey,” Ronne said, and I caught the hints of a frown on the corners of his mouth.

“Dude, what are you doing here?” Max asked, turning to me excitedly. The grin on his face was making me grin myself. Which didn’t really happen often anymore…

“Umm…I don’t really know. My mom got a job here, I guess? I can’t really…”

“Wednesday Kahlen Lee! Get your fat ass in here!” My mother’s voice called and I blushed deep red as Ronnie burst into laughter and Max smirked at me.

“Mom…” I whined under my breath, sighing as I unfolded from my little ball and stood.

“Holy fuck you’re short!” Max exclaimed and I turned towards him, glaring up the few inch difference between us.

“Seriously, Max?” I asked, shaking my head and raising a brow.

“You’re also not fat, by the way. What the fuck is that woman thinking?” Ronnie growled, looking towards the door behind me. I smirked and rolled my eyes.

“It’s a joke between us. I’ll see you guys later…” I stated, waving slightly as I stepped back into my eyes, feeling their eyes on my back as I entered my house.

My heart was racing and I could feel my hands shaking. I sighed, swallowing and depositing my sketchbook on the couch as I moved to the back of the house in search of my mother. “Yeah, Mom?”

“Where’d they put the box with Grandma’s stuff?” she asked, her eyes looking rather watery. I sighed, moving across the hall to my room. The idiots had put that box in my room instead of hers for some reason. Stupid movers… I was so glad they’d disappeared after unloading everything a few hours ago. I lifted it, carrying it over to her room and setting it down on the floor. “Thanks, love. Who were you talking to?”

“Um…the neighbors…” I stated, not sure if I should mention that Max was either our neighbor or friends with our neighbor. I sighed, smiling at her before I walked back over to my room, yawning slightly. I looked around my room, finding it rather bare since I hadn’t really unpacked anything other than my blankets and the shitty speakers that were in the bag with my blankets. Sighing, I reached my arms up over my head and looked out my window.

I had a perfect view of the house next door. The house that either belonged to Max or Ronnie…

With another sigh, I plopped down on the edge of my bed and stared out the window, not really trying to look into the room across from mine. Max and Ronnie walked into it, laughing amongst themselves. My old friend turned towards me, grinning at me and waving enthusiastically at me. Ronnie looked like he was glaring at me. I smiled shyly, waving back before I yawned and fell back on my bed, staring instead at the ceiling as I listened to the sounds of my mother moving around and unpacking things in the next room.

Sometime between my spacing out at the ceiling, I passed out. When I woke up, it was dark outside and my light was off. I was curled up in a little ball on my floor and my mother had draped a blanket over me. I swallowed, my throat dry and my stomach bare as I reached around me to try to find where the hell my cell phone had gone. I found it on my bed, and I pulled it to me as I crawled up on the surface of the queen bed, crawling into the back corner and plopping down again before staring at the screen for the time.

It was two in the morning. I heard my mom in the living room watching movies and I sighed unhappily. I wasn’t going to get to sleep again for another hour or so, most likely.

Sitting up again, I stared around my dark room blankly, my lids heavy over my eyes. My head hurt from sleeping so much. I hated it when I did that… Sighing, I yawned and my gaze moved over to my window that faced Ronnie’s or Max’s room. I still wasn’t sure who’s it was yet. I saw Max, smoking something with a doped-up looking Ronnie beside him on his bed. The room was smoky and I rolled my eyes. It would figure that my best friend, once a pretty damn good kid, would get into the smoking scene. Dumb ass…

Sighing, I crawled out of bed and over to my light switch, flicking it on and grumbling to myself as the light hit my eyes.

“Fuck…” I groaned, sighing and reaching back to scratch the back of my head as I walked over to my dresser, hitting the play button on my iPod and jumping slightly as it started blasting out Brightwood at me. “Holy fucking shit…” I muttered, my heart racing as I turned the volume down. Ugh…it was way too stuffy in my room…

Frowning, I walked over to the window, fighting with the lock on the window before lifting it up, glad that I didn’t have to rig it so that it would stay up. “Damn straight…” I muttered to myself, nodding and then looking up as I heard laughter from across the way.

His window was open too, and I could smell what they were smoking from here. And it smelled like some pretty strong-ass pot. Gross.

Sighing, I frowned and slammed my window shut again, not willing to get remotely second-hand high on my first real night in my new bedroom. I walked over and turned off my music again, turning the light off after and then collapsing on my large bed and curling against the wall in the corner, willing for more sleep.