It was almost midday before Mary emerged from her room and she headed straight for the shower. She'd expected her Mum to have confronted her by now about yesterday, and was surprised that she had just gone about her business downstairs as normal. Mary had already decided she needed to do some damage control on her outburst yesterday, especially if she wanted arouse less suspicion about her new habits.
An hour later and she was dressed and made up for that day. While her clothes were relatively normal, Mary hadn't noticed that she'd put more effort into her make up today, although she had decided to straighten her hair for the first time ever before deciding to pull it back into a tight ponytail. She looked at herself in the mirror, quite liking the look she had opted for today, then headed downstairs bracing herself for talks with her Mother.
It was actually shockingly pleasant.
"Hi sweetie" she smiled as Mary walked into the kitchen.
"Hey" Mary replied, worried at this point.
"About yesterday..." she started. 'Here we fucking go' Mary thought to herself.
"I understand you're under some stress right now, what with exams coming up soon, and if you don't want to talk to me about it, that's okay. Just know that I am here to talk if you change your mind"
"Thanks Mum" Mary replied, relieved that that was all she had to say on it.
"So i was thinking, why don't we go out together today and try to relax a little, do a little shopping? Maybe try and get our hair done? We'll need to leave in a minute though as it's getting quite late in the day." she asked. At this point Mary felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.
"Sure, that sounds great, just gimme five minutes and I'll be ready" she replied, then quickly left the room to check her phone, hoping it was Marcus. It was.
'Hi its marcus. u free 2day?' Mary felt butterflies in her stomach, she hoped he'd get in touch but she didn't think he actually would. She wanted to see him, but felt bad cancelling on the plans she'd just made.
'Hey! Soz i cant 2day, goin shoppin wiv my mum. another day?' she quickly replied. She stared at her phone for what felt like an eternity, when really it went off again after a minute.
'no probz. ill b about anywy so mybe ill see u ;)'
'kl yea maybe :)' she replied again then ran upstairs to grab her bag. She went to take out her cigarettes and lighter to hide them elsewhere, when the need to have one washed over her. She knew she couldn't have one right now, but maybe she could just slip out later while shopping to sneak one while her Mum was distracted. She decided to tuck them into the bottom of her bag underneath some of her other bits and hoped they wouldn't be visible at any point.
A few minutes later and she was sat in the car with her Mum on the 15 minute drive to the town center. As her Mum chatted away and Mary nodded and yea'd her way through the conversation, her mind was now distracted by the desire to smoke, fixating on trying to find a way she can slip off at some point and have one. She felt on edge.
Once they were parked up, her Mum led them to their usual hairdressers so they could get their hair done. Her Mum was having her usual dye job so she knew it would take a little while, when she had an idea.
"Could I dye my hair too?" Mary asked.
"Sure, of course you can sweetie, I never knew you ever wanted it dyed. What colour were you thinking?" She enquired, slightly surprised.
"Black I think" she said confidently. "And maybe blonde on the ends" she quickly added.
"Oh ok... are you sure? That's quite different to what you already are honey" she said, looking at Mary's hair. She'd always been a light brunette, and had never once had the desire to change her hair colour, but now an opportunity has presented itself, she felt like she wanted it.
"Yea I'm sure, thanks Mum" she replied. Her mother looked hesitant, but decided not to press on it and let her daughter have her independance.
And so a couple hours later the pair stepped out of the hairdressers with their new hair. Her Mum had opted for the usual brown dye job she usually got to cover her greys, while Mary was more than thrilled at how hers had turned out, it looked better than she'd expected. With only a couple hours left of store opening time, they headed straight towards the shopping center to try and pick up some new clothes.
Once outside, Mary's heart skipped a beat. Marcus was stood outside the shopping center with a blonde girl, both of them smoking and tucked away off to the side out of the way of the entrance. Marcus did a double take as he looked at her, processing if it was actually her or not, before raising a hand as a wave. Mary quickly raised a finger to her lips as a 'shut up' gesture, before her Mum could notice. It seemed like he got the point, and stopped acknowledging her. Mary quickly got out her phone.
'w8 ther ill c u in 5' she sent, then continued walking in with her Mum. She knew this was the opportunity she wanted to smoke, but she also wanted to know who the fuck that blonde bitch was hanging out with him. She'd never felt jealous like this before, and she absolutely had to know what was going on. Once Mary and her Mum were safely inside, she took her moment to strike.
"Hey Mum, I think I actually just saw one of my class mates outside, do you mind if i go say hi? You just head into the first shop and I'll catch up with you yea?" she asked, slightly nervously.
"Sure honey, just don't take too long, we haven't got a lot of time to shop" she said. She was a little suspicious, but still wanted to try giving her daughter the space she needed to start growing up.
"Thanks Mum, i won't be long, promise" Mary replied, already backing towards the entrance before turning around and heading through the doors. Once she was confident she was out of sight, she headed towards Marcus and the blonde girl, already rummaging around her bag frantically for her cigarettes. She could find the pack, and quickly extracted a cigarette with her lips, but couldn't find her lighter by the time she reached Marcus.
"Hey Mare, ho--" he started.
"Sorry, you got a light first?" Mary quickly asked, cigarette dangling.
Marcus laughed, then rummaged in his pocket for his lighter, then held it out and clicked it on so Mary could lean forwards into it and light up. She hungrily took a few drags on it and exhaled before taking one longer inhale and took it from her lips.
"Sorry, haven't got long, Mum doesn't know I smoke. I'm Mary by the way, and who are you?" she said quickly and bluntly as she exhaled, directed at the blonde girl, then resumed power smoking.
"Keeley" she replied. "So who the fuck is this?" she asked, directed at Marcus, obviously not thrilled at Mary's first impression. She threw the end of her own cigarette on the floor and stamped it out.
"Well before Mare interrupted me, I was gonna introduce yous. Keeley, this is Mary, a girl i met yesterday. Mary, this is Keeley, my sister." Mary felt relieved, but mostly embarassed.
"Well she's a friendly one ain't she" Keeley snarked.
"I'm so sorry, I'm just a little on edge" Mary said apologetically.
"I'm not fuckin surprised, you chuffed that thing down in about a minute" Marcus laughed, pointing at the almost finished cigarette Mary had been smoking.