from the dust of earth [oliver]

The fact that Mona still made an effort in school almost came as a shock. Almost. She skipped a lot, but she made sure to make up work and do good on it. Even though she had abandoned any semblance of her old self, she still had these habits that she could not just throw away. One of those "habits" was responsibility. It had been something she felt since a baby, since she first learned how to walk and made sure to stay where she needed to stay. There had been no baby gates for her, or so she'd been told. Maybe it was just one of those urban legends that her family passed around just because it'd been told so many times it'd been considered true.

She rested her head against the car window as Pearl drove, her frizzy hair obscuring the view. "Fuck dammit, I've never been around here before I don't know where I'm going..." the Fire graduate muttered to herself, reaching into her purse with agitated and flighty movements. "Do you really need to smoke right now?" Mona asked, a scathing note in her voice. She could almost hear Pearl rolling her eyes, before the snap of a lighter igniting and the scent of Marlboro filled the car. "Shut up, Mona, you're lucky I'm even driving you to this fucking place." The younger girl snorted, looked down at the moving road next to the car. How easy would it be to just unsnap her seat belt and open the door...

A few minutes later, and it was obvious they were in mansion country, the upscale residences. Places she could only dream of owning. She did once dream about that kind of thing. Mona used to envision herself as a woman in charge in the future. Maybe a CEO. Someone with power. And she would have a penthouse and a pool and three sports cars. At least I have a boyfriend. She almost snorted thinking of this. It was one of the only things she had to keep her level, despite booze, which did not sound very good even to her. Fifteen-years-old and already fucked up. She was going to turn into her sister.

When they finally arrived at the address she had told Pearl, Mona got out of the car without even a goodbye. She thought she heard her sister mutter something under her breath, but she couldn't be sure considering how far up the drive she'd gotten. Once at the door, Mona lifted her hand, knocked, and waited. When the door opened, she didn't even smile at Oliver. "Yo," she said before walking in. "I didn't know you lived...here." With the way she said it, it was as if she were speaking of a rat infested motel, not a very nice house. "So where should we go to get shit done?" Very curt, the only sign that she would actually try to be a good partner was the book bag hanging by one strap on her shoulder.