Hailey Green was angry.
And that was to say the least. A better suite of words might have been things like ‘furious,’ ‘enraged,’ ‘heated,’ or perhaps even… ‘triggered.’ It wasn’t the first time she’d felt this way, but it was far from a ‘good look’ for her. The source of her ire? New Release Video, the last remaining video rental place in Los Angeles — and more importantly the one she had been renting videos from every Friday for the past 15 years of her life had a sign hanging on the front that said, in big letters: ‘CLOSING SALE.’
Hailey had been driving home after dropping her girlfriend off for a playdate when they’d passed by the building and seen the sign. Immediately yelling for her Butler to stop the car, Hailey was now walking into the store with Butler by her side, whispering in her ear about how this was probably poor tact. Hailey, though, didn’t care. She didn’t like change, and the removal of something she’d done for years and years was certainly change.
As such, Hailey’s mind was already made up before the car had even stopped. “I can’t believe the audacity. How dare they shut down? Do they not understand that they have faithful customers? Honestly. I can’t believe the state of this country.”
“I want to make it clear that this is not the fault of the person behind the counter, Hailey.”
“I’m going to be gentle.” Hailey scoffed, glancing over at Butler as she waited for him to open the door for her. Butler sighed, muttering.
“I doubt that very strongly…”
Hailey marched across the way toward her target of the day, the young man behind the counter. Hailey rung the bell, and the boy turned around, staring at her. As it clicked that he was with a customer, the boy started to speak, but he was, unluckily for him, cut off by the already salty Hailey. “Excuse me. Do you know what that sign outside the building is about? The one about closing.”
“Uh, yeah. The store is closing down at the end of next week — I guess running a video rental place isn’t a very profitable enterprise in the year of 2043.”
“Firstly! Are you aware that New Release Video is the last remaining movie rental place in Los Angeles? Are you aware that you have dedicated customers that have been faithfully coming here once a week for the past fifteen years? Do you not understand the severity of what you’re implying? The closing of this store might as well be the destruction of a historical landmark.” Hailey was talking quickly and in a raised voice, full of ire. The young man looked at Butler, assuming he was a father or someone that could tug the leash and get the dog to back down, but Butler did nothing. Instead, she just went on, “do you even know what’s going to replace this store!?”
“Uh… some kind of sandwich shop? I don’t know. The company that’s buying this place sounds like a sandwich one to me…”
“A sandwich shop!? Brilliant. Just. Brilliant. You’re lucky that my friend here asked me to be nice. I’m going to leave now, but I will be back tomorrow night, and if what I want isn’t here… then I’ll not play so nicely. By the way? You ought to work on your personal hygiene” With that, Hailey spun on her heel and stormed out of the building. Butler was right, the person behind the counter had no power here, and was as useless as he looked. He even smelled like the garbage he obviously was.
Butler looked at the young man and shrugged. She was gentle, he had to give her that. Following Hailey out to the car, Butler sat down inside and started the machine, adjusting the rearview to look at his charge in the backseat. “I see you’re in a bit of a mood—” Hailey scowled. “—we can go get Hana.”
“No! Hana is on a playdate and enjoying herself. Take me home, Butler.” Hailey snapped. Yes, Butler did have something of a point — Hailey could have very easily taken her frustrations out on Hana, and Hana probably would have kissed her and asked her if she felt better yet. But, Hailey had no intention of doing so. Hana was off with a friend, one that Hailey happened to like.
That Kit girl had guts — she was tenacious, and Hailey approved. If Kit wanted to be friends with Hana, then Hailey had no problem puppeteering that to happen. Hailey could go home and calm down by watching Gundam; that was healthier than slapping her girlfriend around, anyway.
Once Hailey arrived home, though, she found her plans to watch anime somewhat… delayed, as she walked into the kitchen to see her mother, Alyssa, and her father, Ty, standing there. Undeniably ominously. “Mother. Daddy. What’s wrong?” She asked, looking between the two of them. Standing behind, eyeing the situation, Butler frowned. This seemed like it was going to end poorly.
“Hailey. I brought your father here with the unfortunately accurate idea that he can talk some sense into you better than I can.” Alyssa sipped at her drink as Hailey walked up to Ty, squeezing him in a tight hug and kissing both his cheeks. “While I suppose in some ways that it’s my fault, you have overstepped your bounds.”
At this, Hailey took a step back and arched an eyebrow, looking between the two assembled parents. “I’m sorry?”
“Hails… Belle called me.”
Mmm. Oh.
“Mmm. Oh. And what did she have to say? I understand Beatrix’s parents are coming to visit… Is Belle trying to plan some kind of get together? I’ll make it happen, so long as it isn’t our day.” Hailey was playing coy. She knew what this was going to be about almost immediately. Ophelia, Trixie, Owen. “I know how much of a socialite she is…”
“That’s not what this is about. Hailey, Belle said that you… orchestrated Owen and Trixie breaking up?”
Well, there it was. Hailey understood now why her mother and father were standing united against her. Freezing up, Hailey felt herself ice over slightly. She hadn’t expected to have this conversation, at least not anytime soon. “I saw problem, and I extracted the problem. It was a bit painful, but that’s in the word, don’t you think? ‘Extract’ doesn’t exactly imply a painless operation. Trixie was unfortunately caught in the crossfire, yes. But I have no regrets.” Hailey took a step back, away from her father and beside Butler. At least Butler was going to be on his side — he was paid a handsome sum to do so, after all. Hailey kept her eyes trained on her father, and what she saw made her heart sank.
Actual, real, true disappointment.
Alyssa’s eyes were boring into her too, but Hailey was used to that look. Herself, and her siblings alike were all too used to it. Cold green eyes drilling a hole into your head and doing their best to find your every thought. Hailey handled it better than the other two; she had learned long ago the best way to deal with Alyssa was to be as icy as she was. That… that didn’t work with Daddy.
“Hails… why exactly was Owen a problem?”
Hailey didn’t think she’d have to stand here and defend a decision she’d made. She hadn’t been considering this when thinking about what she wanted to do when she got home. She wasn’t planning on doing anything when she got home; especially not this. She hated seeing her father look like that, and hated hearing the tone of his voice. Did he hate her now? Had she erred?
No. She couldn’t have — she was right, because she had to be. Her position didn’t exactly leave much room for error. If that made her father wrong, then… so be it. “Owen became a problem some time ago; around the same time that Jennifer girl was rearing her head thinking she could… pull a coup so to speak. School politics, I won’t bore you with the nitty gritty. While I was handling my problem, Owen stuck his nose in my business and told him that he thought I was doing wrong. He said I was being too harsh. I disagreed. It was then that I told Ophelia that Owen had to be dealt with.” She watched as Daddy seemed to get even more and more upset. Hailey, for the first time in a while, very very much wanted to crawl in a hole and die.
“Hailey, do you understand how much that messed Trixie up? It basically threw her into depress—”
“It is not my fault that Trixie couldn’t handle it! My cousin being an overly emotional bitch is not my fault. I shouldn’t have had to account for that! It’s not my fault she has no control over that. Call Isabel, not me.” Pushed back against the wall, Hailey lashed out on the offensive. “I’m not sure what the point is here. Why are you attack—”
“Because I taught you better than this! You’re supposed to be good. Lead by example, not as a dictator. They’re supposed to want to be led, not be controlled by fear! I know what your mother wants, but you shouldn’t forget about the me part!”
At this, Hailey stuck her finger out at her mother, “maybe you did, but she taught me otherwise! She taught me to win by any means necessary! I can’t win by being nice, and I have to win. I have to be perfect, Daddy. I have to be perfect for you, I have to be perfect for Mother, I have to be perfect for Mom. I have to find the best way to do that, don’t you understand? This isn’t easy. I made a call! That’s what I’m SUPPOSED TO DO!”
Having nearly spat out her drink at Hailey’s sudden accusation, Alyssa glanced at the Butler standing behind Hailey, but Butler didn’t seem like he was going to step in. Apparently, Alyssa had to handle this on her own as well. “Excuse you, young lady —”
“Shut your mouth!” Hailey was physically shaking as she attempted to regain her composure. She wasn’t doing a very good job, with angry tears welling up in her eyes. “Do you understand how impossibly stupid the ‘politics’ and the ‘social ladder’ is? Yet, I have to be at the top. I have to be the best. Because you wouldn’t accept anything else! And now Daddy hates me! This is YOUR FAULT!” Hailey had seemingly cracked — between this and the realization that she was going to have to give up her ritual of going to the movie store, she had exploded. “You all three set standards for me that I can’t meet! No one can meet them! It’s stupid and retarded and so many other words. NO ONE CAN BE PERFECT!”
Hailey accented her final words by screaming, before she spun on her heel and stomped out of the room. Butler waited until she stepped away, and looked at Alyssa and Ty. “Truly monumental.” He muttered, before following after Hailey as she stomped off to her room, in the throes of a proper temper tantrum for the first time since she was nine years old.
Member
Festive
LovelyComplex
Grimoire Gaming
Bone Chief
NeoAJ
Melissa
AlteredTundra
Izurich
Sapphic Pigeon
Tim the Yeti
