Manhattan

I continued to look up at the sky, my arms folded tightly across my chest as the unforgiving Pittsburgh air swirled around my body, engulfing and attacking my face. My long brown hair swayed with ease as it whipped back and forth at an almost painful rate, yet I stood still, perched in a spot on Sasha and I’s apartment roof. Sasha was dead asleep; hours ago she had passed out on her un-made bed with the evidence from her late night partying written all over her face in smeared make up. I opted to stay in, like I did almost every night, and study. I had much more up in the air and more likely to be put into risk than Sasha did.

The wind pulsed again through the city streets, but different than all the other times before, I let a slight shutter rip through my body and out threw my teeth in the form of a shocking gasp. I don’t know why I was punishing myself; I knew it was damn cold out here. But, I opted to stay, letting my bones ache and shake, knowing the wind would surely beat me down eventually.

I was upset and the last thing I needed to be near was heights.

Being upset over this particular thing was a normal occurrence. I always come up to the roof and sort it out and the only thing left at the bottom of the barrel was the fact that I was angry and jealous of Sasha but it wasn’t over something girly or stupid.

It was the little things she took for granted that really ate away at me.

It was when she would come in plastered, drunk off her ass in the early hours of the morning and then go into class, sleep through it and flunk a project or a test. She would shake it off and continue in this same routine because she had the money for that. Me, on the other hand, well, I haven’t touched alcohol since I’ve started college at the University of Pittsburgh. I have no time to get shit faced and fail a test, nor did I have the money.

I was living from check to check, loan notes and bills pilling up in the corner of my lifeless room. My head ached 90% of the time, taking on a double major and a shitty job does that to you. I wanted to better myself, to prove that I could make it out of the shit hole that my mother and father dug deep for me. I grew up right in the mouth of the Hudson River, in one of the most extraordinary cities in the world, New York City.

“The irony,” I muttered to myself in a pathetic tone. I was the girl who grew up with everything and yet came away with nothing.

Another thing that bothered me about Sasha was that she completely took her father, and family for that matter, for granted. She always bitched and moaned about how protective they were over her. Her father would constantly call her or have her mysterious “Uncle Dan” phone in for him to see how she was. She absolutely hated it but it was something that I longed for.

Sasha Christensen was a girl from the south, with a big, close knitted family that was over bearing and tacky like poorly done wall paper. They were loud and obnoxious but they were one thing that my family never was, and that was loving. She had brothers and sisters and I had nannies and maids. She had a mother and I had a drunken, scorned woman who knew how to use her backhand. Sasha knew she was always loved and I knew that I was rich. Being rich was nothing compared to being loved.

I pulled my thin cardigan around my body tighter as I was pulled back into reality. I let out a low laugh as I felt hot tears run from the corners of my eyes and fall to the corners of my mouth, the salt giving the bottom of my stomach a bitter sweet feeling.

Manhattan, that’s were I grew up. Apart of the original city that never sleeps, the true city of lights, glitz and glam. Hollywood isn’t but a name compared to what New York City is.

I was swaddled in pure luxury from birth and I thought I had the best family in the world. One mother, one father, one dog, a cat, a nanny, a butler with a wicked sense of humor and two gold fish. I remember thinking that I loved my life so much after an amazing 8th birthday party but when I woke the next morning I could feel the tension of a battle coming onto the horizon.

I had walked into the dining room, teddy bear and footy pajamas, and sat, dirty faced and all and stared between my mother and father. My father had his coffee on his left side while he had his morning paper right underneath his nose, reading glasses resting on his biggest feature. My mother, a too thin for good health, naturally blonde woman, sat perpendicular to my father, her face hard and thick with desperation.

They told me they where getting a divorce but everything would be okay.

They lied. I had later found out that my father was a cheating expert and that beneath her thick Chanel fur coat, my mother was an angry drunk with a past full of demons who seemed creep over her head every time her eyes laid on me.

I was sobbing, now, sick to my stomach at the thought of how everything went down hill so quickly.

The penthouse, dress to the nines, Akerlands where now the Bad News Bears who couldn’t keep there secrets, secrets.

God, we were a mess. My mother and father weren’t like other parents who went through divorces, no, they didn’t fight over the child, they fought over the penthouse and the cars and the butlers. What a fucking joke.

I was a very bitter child, evil, horrid. I was a brat and no one stopped me because no one cared to stop me. So I grew into a bitter teenager who loved to spend and hate. I was an absolute nightmare. People would run and hide when they would hear me coming, I was the Devil who wore Prada, Gucci and anything else that was ridiculously expensive. I wanted to strip everything my father and mother owned by buying outrageously priced things to the point where I was drying up their bank accounts.

Everything was just too far gone by the time my father died, which intern just sent everything over the edge truly.

Over the edged.

I gasped out loud as I was jolted back into reality once again. I was leaning over the edge of the roof top. I took a few shaky steps back, pushing my hair away from my face and rubbing the tears from the tip of my nose. I let out uneven breaths as I felt my forehead for no apparent reason, as if I was sick.

I looked over the roof top once again before glancing at the dark sky, wondering what God really wanted from me. I shook my head and turned around and took one step towards the stairway door before a piece of paper flew into my eyes. I had a mini spaz attack as I tried to swat the paper away from my face.

Laughing at myself quietly I brought the paper into my line of vision and read it. It was useless, advertising about the Pittsburgh Penguins, an Ice Hockey team, I think. I crumbled it up and threw it over the roof top edge.

So much for a message big guy.


“Pst, Jenner,” Sasha hissed from in between her pink stained lips. I heard her, but I choose to ignore her. I tried to concentrate on the textbook right in front of me, explaining exploding Stars and Star Guts. My eyes burned from my previous night’s cry, so I could use all the focus I could muster from within.

“Jen-Jen! Pst! “ Sasha tired again. My teeth tightened around the finger that I had already placed in between my teeth. I had to study, I told her that if and when I brought her to the library with me that she would act like the college student that she always lied to her Father about being.

“Oh my gosh, do you need hearing aids? Hey stupid!” Sasha finally screamed.

“What?” I whisper hissed at her as I slammed my hand down on the open pages of my book. My eyes narrowed painfully at her as we got disapproving glances from the others around us.

“ 'You annoyed, what’s wrong? “ I love Sasha, I really do but the kid, and I use that term loosely might I add, was just so damn clueless most of the time.

I took in a few deep breaths that I learned from a yoga class that I only took for a day, attempting to calm myself but as I opened my eyes, finding Sasha staking pencils on her upper lip, I couldn’t find the nerve to stop my temper from getting the best of me.

“You look tired and stressed, “She began once the pencils fell from her lips. She didn’t even bother to pick them up from the floor as they splattered everywhere.

“Really, I haven’t noticed.” I sneered slightly, finals were coming up and I was a bit on the testy side. Don’t judge me.

“You really need to quit that damn job; it’s causing all of this.” She told me in a smart tone as if she just discovered why the sky is blue.

“I haven’t worked in two days. “ I said through gritted teeth. It was true and thank god. My job, ugh, it just added the un-needed stress to my work load. I don’t even want to think about it most of the time because it was such a nightmare. It was something that paid my half of the rent and took a small bite out of my school loans.

“Still, anyways. I’ll find you new job, one that doesn’t objectify woman.” She told me with a glare.

“My job is nowhere near objectifying.” I told her in a ‘duh’ tone as my right eye began to twitch in annoyance.

“No! But you’re close to women who are being objectified!” She told me in an ‘ah, I found the cure for fucking cancer’ tone.

“Spell objectified?” I shot back.

“Ugh, that’s not the point!” She stomped her foot. I just noticed that the bottom of her hair was now a light pink, yup; I’ll take her even more seriously than I previously did.

“Then what is your point Einstein?” I asked her with a raise of my eyebrows. I gave up on studying all together at this point and time and choose to close my textbooks and fold my arms across my chest; I took off my beanie as well.

“I found you a new job.” She told me with a smile.

“Are you stupid? I already have a job.” I told her with a disapproving look.

Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane have nothing on Jenner Akerland and Sasha Christensen. I also wondered how she traveled from me finding a new job to her already getting me a new job.

“You work at a strip club.” She said in a horrified whisper.

“As a bartender. “ I hissed back.

“Who servers drinks to perverted men!” She bellowed as if I didn’t know this fact!

“Which pays fifteen dollars an hour plus tips! Do you see how your ship is sinking now?” I questioned her in a tone that was nothing short of impatient.

“20 dollars an hour, 30 if you’re kinky “Sasha said with a bright, ‘I’ve got you now’ smile.

“What? What the hell?” I asked, utterly confused.

“New job, a respectful job too. 20 bucks an hour Tila Tequila.” She said.

“Ugh, don’t call me that and yeah right! How? ” I asked her as I leaned into the table, she did so as well, her hazel eyes lined with thick eye liner in her signature cat eye style.

“I’ve got connections.” She told me with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Who?” I questioned unsure of her ‘connections’.

“Uncle Dan.” She said with a bright smile.

“Who is this ‘Uncle Dan’ character?” She made him sound like her pimp who chased her down in the alley ways, asking her where his damn money was.

“He is my uncle.”

“Your real uncle?” I asked in astonishment, she had family in this city?

“Yup, he and his wife, my Aunt Mary Beth, helped arrange this little job.” When she said job she put air quotes around the word.

“What kind of job? Your not trying to pimp me out again are you?” I asked quickly, completely worried at what she had done now.

“No! And that was one time, I thought he was kidding! I didn’t know he was an actual pimp. Let it go.”

“What kind of job are you trying to get me to do you living life Bratz doll?” I asked her completely feed up with this conversation.

“Babysit a kid or two, one of my Uncle Dan’s employee’s wife if going out of town and he travels a lot so he needs a quick and cheap nanny to watch after his kids.” She told me with a shrug.

“Kids? Really?” Has she not seen me on my remotely worst days?

“I’ve seen you with kids; you turn into instant Super Nanny/ High Wasted Jeans soccer mom! You’ll do great!” She said with a wave of her hand.

“Kids? Really?” I asked her once again.

“You can’t handle that Manhattan?” She said with a roll of her head.

“I can!” I snapped back.

“Then prove it.” She said as she stuck out her hand.

“Deal.” I told her shaking her hand. She got a weird look in her eyes as she looked me up and down. I was about to ask her what was up with her before she pulled me in closely and licked the side of my face.

“Now we’ve got a deal.” She said with a loud giggle. I wanted to kill her. I swear, I had my hands cocked and ready to make a grab for her fragile neck when some tiny kid in glasses with an arm full of textbooks zoomed by us, his foot caught one of the pencils and he landed flat on his back.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” Sasha screeched.

“I don’t know you.” I hissed at her as I pushed a textbook right in front of my face.

“What?”

“Go away you stalker!”