GETTING INTO TROUBLE-OPEN

[britney]

Britney hads been in the alley way near the club with her drug dealer. She needed the drugs, she had gone all day without them. See that was the problem, when she was working she just could not avoid them and she wanted them even more because others around her did them and the buzz that they gave her was awesome. She knew she had to get over her problem, but also knew it wouldn’t be easy, at all. She never expected it to be easy and she knew the longer she had the secret the worse it would be if her family ever did find out, but she just could not tell them and she actually wanted to now. She’d told Andre, her best friend and there had been a weight lifted from her. It was like she didn’t really have much else to worry about anymore, except she really did, she had a lot to worry about. Britney was far under, and she needed to fix it and make things right. She needed to slowly stop what she was doing. No matter how hard it was for her to do it. A few people went back in and she also headed back into the club, she was on her break so she only had a few minutes. She at first went to the back area to take her coat off. It was freezing outside and inside it was quite the opposite, though the heat was mostly from everyone being in such a tight space.

She came back in and began serving people. Britney was much more confident once she had her hit. Though she only really did coke, she had tried other drugs and did do them occasionally. She’d had bad experiences but still carried on. The drugs were a part of her life and she needed to separate them from her and be completely off them. She needed to go cold turkey...or even rehab but she wasn’t prepared for that, not just yet because she wasn’t ready. If she was going to get off the drugs she needed to do them in her own time and her own way, but she wanted help from the people she loved. She needed their help. She knew her sisters were suspicious, how could they not be? But she just couldn’t tell them because she didn’t know what they would say. In a way she believed that she was protecting them, but at the same time she was lying even though she was keeping it a secret, they had asked a couple of times what was going on with her, an intervention had happened but she still did not tell them what was going on in her life because she couldn’t bring herself to tell them she was using. Eventually maybe she would, but the thought of her sisters hating her...she could not bare that and she knew that they kind of would hate her for not telling them what was going on, they would have wanted to help her.

She carried on grabbing drinks and sneakily took another line when people weren’t looking. The buzz of everyone around her made her feel fresh and confident. She liked the buzz but knew she would feel like shit the next morning. If Andre saw her right now she knew he would be so disappointed, she had let him down. Though she never said to him that she would stop right away, she had told him she would try and stop it because she couldn’t make the full commitment and have it as a promise. It would just be too unfair and she didn’t want to disappoint him even more. The fact that she had dropped out of school and let herself be befriended by the druggies of her school back home was bad enough. Britney had been popular and she more or less gave all that up because of the drugs. She couldn’t even remember how she had gotten into them and that was bad enough, she couldn’t explain how she had gotten herself into the mess she was in now. Back home she had been useless when she dropped out of school and hadn’t accepted help from anyone. But that was just how she was.

She wasn’t surprised her own parents were pissed at her. She could see it more clearly now, and she understood that they were just being concerned and not being annoying or trying to butt into her life. How stupid could she have been? She had more or less pushed away everyone in her life. There was only Andre and her sisters left now who she hadn’t pushed away from her, but it wasn’t too late to do that, she could still do it without meaning to because of what situation she had put herself in. hay blondie, you got some more of that stuff? someone asked her about the coke, it startled her, they obviously had seen her do it. Your not gonna tell anyone are you? she asked them. no, I won’t tell....chill they said moving closer. Okay....here Britney slipped a small bag of the white powder to the person and smiled. Okay so two shots coming up she said louder to cover up what had really been going on. You can pay me for it when you pay for the drinks okay? she said. Suddenly the lighting effects flickered and the music shut off. She had heard about the bad weather, even been outside during it and now they were having a blackout as a result. oh great....just great

[jennalouise]

slow it down, make it stop
before my heart is going to pop
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Kayleigh had been sat on the couch watching the news when the weather forecast had announced that snow was on its way. She’d been staring at the screen blankly as the images on the screen flickered and jumped, trying to entice her attention towards it and draw her in. But it wasn’t working – Kayleigh’s mind had been in a whole other world. She’d been sat here all day idly twiddling her thumbs. Sure, Tabatha – the little black and white kitten Kayleigh had rescued from a barbed wired fence - had demanded attention, as had Smokey, an impatient German Shepard who was also a frequent victim to Tabatha’s bullying. But other than that, Kayleigh hadn’t done anything. And rightly so, it was her day off work after all. But she didn’t like sitting still, she wasn’t used to it. Having lived on a working ranch there had always been things to do, whether it of been mucking out the stables or fixing the paddock fences. To go from a routine like that to, well… this was a huge change; one Kayleigh was having a hard time adapting to.

That had been almost an hour and a half ago. Now Kayleigh was stood in her bedroom with her closet doors flung open and a growing mountain of clothes behind her. She eyed a pink jumper critically for a few seconds before that too was flung across the room and landed in a heap by the bed. Sighing heavily, Kayleigh backed away from her closet and sat down on the edge of her bed, brushing her mane of dark blonde hair out of her face with her hand. “It’s useless Tab. What am I going to wear?” As she spoke, a white t-shirt began to move of its own accord before a little black head poked out from under the sleeve, glaring at its owner. “I mean, what do you even wear to a nightclub? Dresses are a little too over the top. Too fancy. But I can’t show up in tatty jeans and a checked shirt stinking of horse… Can I?” Kayleigh looked down at the black head that was still peeking out from under the t-shirt. She let out a small chuckle as she removed the offending clothing item and scooped up the furry ball in her hands. “I’m over thinking this aren’t I Tab?” Placing a kiss on the kitten’s furry head, Kayleigh placed Tabatha back onto the bed. As the kitten slinked off to find shelter Kayleigh turned to stare back at the bombsite in front of her.

Her wardrobe was pretty limited in what it contained. Jeans and checked shirts mostly: ranch attire. Back in Canada she never really went out much, especially to nightclubs, so there wasn’t really much call for ‘dressy’ clothes. The only ‘dressy’ type of clothes that she had were the dresses she wore to her formal dance or to weddings. She picked up a thin, slightly creased, grey top off the floor. The material was soft to the touch and felt cool against the heat of her palms. She held it up and stared at it. It was simple – nothing to fancy but at the same time not too casual. She brought it to her face and inhaled deeply. She closed her eyes as the familiar smell filled her lungs. Even though there were thousands of miles apart, it was amazing how something as simple as Josh’s smell could bring her both such comfort and such turmoil. As she opened her eyes and looked at the top she remembered why it smelt of him. She’d worn it when they’d gone out for a meal one day. They’d gone for a long walk which had been punctuated by cuddles and kisses… that’s where his scent must have rubbed off on it. It still brought an ache to her just thinking about it.

Pushing all thoughts of Josh aside, Kayleigh rose from her perch and scooped down to pick up a dark pair of jeans which had been previously discarded. She wasn’t exactly going to be the belle of the ball, but it would do she decided. Outside, the first snowflakes had started their decent from the skies. Kayleigh was oblivious as they fell, too wrapped up in getting ready for her first experience of nightclubbing. Half an hour later and she was finally ready to leave. She stared out the window as she phoned for a cab, barely registering the now thick falling snow. It was starting to settle on the outside window ledge and had already painted the walkway up to her block of apartments white. Kayleigh replaced the receiver and pulled her coat and scarf on. She turned to her two furry four-legged companions whom were watching her every move.

“Now you two behave yourselves, you hear me? No fighting and no eating the furniture, okay?” Outside, a car horn cried loudly, heralding the arrival of Kayleigh’s ride. “Be good. I’ll be home later.” The two animals watched as their owner left the room. They heard the door open and a few seconds later slam shut.

Outside, Kayleigh shivered. She climbed into the cab and sat back in one of the seats, thankful for the warmth. She’d only been outside for a matter of minutes and she already felt like she’d never be warm again. “Where to ma’am?” Kayleigh told him and the cab set off slowly into the blizzard. Kayleigh stared out the window, watching the snowflakes dance wildly in circles. She was glad she wasn’t driving – visibility was vastly reduced and, despite living in a country which suffered from snow storms regularly, she still wasn’t particularly comfortable in these conditions.

The cab finally pulled up outside The Quest nightclub. Handing over her fare, Kayleigh exited the warmth of the cab into the biting wind. It tore at her clothes and whipped her hair around her head and she was thankful that there wasn’t a cue to get into the venue: perhaps everyone was being sensible and staying indoors? Kayleigh made a step towards the doors then stopped, her eyes searching the dark alleyway between the nightclub and the next building. She couldn’t make out much with the distance and the snow, but she could see two figures, one was of a slightly larger build while the other was of a smaller and more delicate build. She watched as they parted a few moments later, the larger figure disappearing into blackness while the smaller one slipped into a doorway next to where they’d been standing. Shrugging it off, Kayleigh walked towards the entrance to the nightclub.

“I.D please?” Kayleigh pulled out her I.D and showed it to the security guard who, after a few moments scrutinizing, allowed her to enter.

The heat of the room hit Kayleigh full force, along with the smell of alcohol, cigarettes and stale sweat. The music surrounded her as she ended the room, the sheer volume enough to make her feel like there was an extra ten people surrounding her. She looked around at the people who looked like they were having a good time as they danced and drank their way to ecstasy. Feeling increasingly more uncomfortable, Kayleigh slipped away towards the bar, where a handful of people were gathered as they tried to catch their breath and hold conversations with their neighbours. Kayleigh sidled up to the bar. “Hey can I get a double vodka and coke please?” she asked the bar-girl. While she was waiting for her order, Kayleigh watched as someone captured the bar-girls attention. Watching closely, Kayleigh noticed the girl slipping something into the person’s hand; that had to be dodgy, right? Frowning slightly Kayleigh turned away from the bar to look across the room, disturbed.

Suddenly the lights in the room flickered, and dimmed. And then the music disappeared. The room was dark and it was difficult to distinguish if the person next to you was male or female. Kayleigh turned back towards the bar, fighting to quell the panic that was rising inside her. “Oh great… Just great.” Kayleigh looked in the direction of the voice. “What’s going on?” Kayleigh asked, hoping someone knew what was going on and could fix it.

status • complete
word count • 1,374
lyrics • the show by lenka
credit • AMANDA IN WONDERLAND !? @ caution
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[britney]

Britney didn’t care that people could see what she was doing, she was desperate at this point but she didn’t need anyone lecturing her. She just hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. She handed the drugs to the person and they went on their way, and another girl asked for a drink. Her mind had been on the drugs, that was bad, and now she was going back on her word on what she said about Andre, that was unfair and she felt guilty. She nearly felt like crying because she was struggling so much. She had no idea how she would actually bring herself out of what she was doing, she feared that it was going to be too late, that she would end up doing something really bad, like taking an overdose, by accident of course. She WANTED to get off the drugs but was finding it so hard it was untrue. She knew she had people around her who cared though, if only she could admit to all of them what was going on, surely Andre could tell Abby if he wanted to, but she had asked him not to, so she knew he wouldn’t. The thought of her sisters finding out made her even more upset. She couldn’t bare the thought of it and didn’t want to lose them. To her, their parents had given up on her. As much as she wanted to believe thatm she knew that they really hadn’t. They were just concerned and deep down they really did care for her. So much.

Sure she shrugged and got the drink for the girl, telling her how much it was. Um, are you new round here? she asked her. Britney may not have actually known a lot of people, but she sure met a lot of people doing the job she did. Working in a bar was an easy way to meet people, but she never actually followed them up on their offers. She had been chatted up but with her frame of mind she really could not get into a relationship right now, there was just no way that would happen for her because she would be way too self conscious and she couldn’t deal with it. The only person she could trust with her secret would be Andre, who she told. She trusted her sisters of course but she was scared and that made her not tell them. It was all so confusing to her. I haven’t seen you around here before, you know what? You can have the drink for free if you like she smiled. She never really gave free drinks out, though the other bartenders did she wasn’t the type to flirt and give free drinks to customers. She could do that but Britney never really knew how pretty she was, and never bothered with the attention she got because she had no reason to really. Britney was fairly happy with her life right now, apart from certain things.

When the lights went out everyone groaned and she heard people ask questions Its the blizzard I think. She told a few people. She tried to think of something that they could do so that they wouldn’t be so crowded. She felt the first thing to do was to get EVERYONE’S attention and explain what was going on. She jumped up onto the bar so she could catch people’s attention and did a whistle. So, the power is out....well duh, so you can either leave or wait till it comes back on, we can offer you drinks still but the registers aren’t working and obviously we can’t afford to just give free drinks out, so if you want to leave just leave now. she said and then jumped off the bar and turned to Kayleigh. So uhh yeah... she smiled slightly sorry about that, at least you got a drink before the power went right? she smiled at her.

[OOC; not my best, they will get better! Honest!]