day four: "how would that even work?"
roswell scowled at her twin sister as she flaunted her lavish birthday gifts. the amount of money spent on her this birthday alone was practically what had been spent on roswell’s collective birthday gifts.
annabelle caught roswell’s eye and smirked, clearly aware of the difference in treatment. it was nothing new, after all, it’d been like this since they were young children. as if to add insult to injury, annabelle held eye contact as she held up her other purse and addressed her minion followers.
“gosh, you guys! i’m soooo grateful i got this brand new bag, and i guess i just don’t need this one anymore! what do you guys think i should do?” she asked, practically rubbing it in. her followers squabbled amongst themselves about what should happen to the bag, each feeling the most entitled to it.
roswell rolled his eyes and stepped away as the bell rang, heading off to first period. it was a regular birthday- annabelle was showered with gifts, compliments, and “happy birthday!”s, while roswell sat off to the side, occasionally remembered. honestly, at this point it didn’t bother her too much.
“aww, franklin! gee, you look so lonely on your birthday! why don’t you come sit with me and the girls?” annabelle said sweetly, coming up to roswell at lunch. her tone didn’t match her eyes which said to refuse or she’d regret it.
“i’d love to. i have so much mythology homework to do. thanks for the invite,” roswell replied in a monotone voice. he wasn’t too interested anyway- she’d stopped wanting to hang out with her and her group early on in middle school.
“awww, you sure frankie? well okay!” annabelle turned without really waiting for an answer. roswell waited for the twin to be several steps away before muttering, “not even my name,” under his breath.
apparently, annabelle wasn’t far enough away, because she turned and smirked. once at her table, she leaned in and whispered something, and the whole table glanced over at roswell and giggled loudly. roswell just buried herself deeper into her mythology book.
as the school day drew to a close, roswell found herself once again passenger to annabelle as the other drove them both home. most car rides were filled with annabelle’s obnoxious music, but annabelle had different ideas for this car ride.
“so, like, how would that even work?”
roswell didn’t answer, assuming her sister was just on the phone with a friend. a not-so-gentle poke alerted her to the fact that no, he was in fact being addressed.
,b> “how would what even work?” roswell replied, knowing ignoring would either end with more painful pokes, or annabelle would go sniffling some fake story to their mother. either way, roswell would be miserable.
“changing your name. you going to tell everyone to call you some stupid other name? like what even is rosiewal?”
“it’s roswell. and it’s the site of an alien spacecraft discovery.” roswell replied, teeth grit in frustration.
“oh my god, are you seriously on that still? what, are you going to wear a tinfoil hat next?” annabelle laughed, mockery in her voice, “ohh noo the aliens! they’re coming! they’re going to take over our radios and brainwash our children!”
“at least you’ll be safe. can’t brainwash someone without a brain,” roswell muttered. the car jerked to a sudden stop, and roswell looked over at annabelle. she was staring at her with a hateful look, and reached over roswell to flick the car door lock.
“get out.”
“we’re still like three miles from home-”
“get out, or i’m going to tell mom you poured one of those stupid energy drinks in my new bag, and she’ll make you repay all of it.”
roswell stared at annabelle for a few moments before grabbing her bag and stepping out of the car. the door had barely shut before annabelle was tearing off, no doubt to make up some story about how “franklin wanted to walk home, and you know how he is!” and then she’d get yelled at for being ungrateful for a ride and for being late for dinner.
roswell sighed and began the walk home. at least she had some battery life left to listen to music with.