From The Streets - Chapter 15 (Patreon)

The next day Sophie was wheeled out like she was when she arrived with a sweater covering her.  Even if she wasn’t completely famous, she was known, and the last thing her parents wanted her to have to deal with right now was Nosey reporters.  She managed to stand on her own, long enough to step up into the van, and sat down on a cushion in the seat.

They drove her to the clinic, where she got into a waiting limo, though with the seat cushion, the van trip wasn’t that bad.  Plus they had her pretty doped up still.  She spent the entire morning into the afternoon sleeping, but, to everyone’s surprise, by 3 she was both awake, and working on her homework.  She had already done 3 of the make up assignments.

She had a big fluffy pillow across her lap to protect her sensitive bits, including her abdomen, from any sharp pokes from either the notebook or textbooks laid out before her. Nicole popped her head in and Sophie put a finger to her lips, she was watching a pre-recorded class.  Nicole nodded and kept on walking.  

Sophie was using her notebook to keep notes on the class,. All the classes she and the girls had missed were online on the school’s website, bt needed a student ID.  She  had slept as much as she could, even with the painkillers, and she knew she’d eventually need to get caught up, so she got a jump on it now.

Nicole sat down on one of the bar stools at the kitchen’s island bar with a glass of V8 Splash.  “Wish I was that studious when I was her age.  Or now, for that matter.”

“She’s really big on her education.” Amanda nodded.  “Destiny’s mom called me last night wanting to know who the body double was we paid to play her daughter because she walked in on her writing an essay for school that isn’t due for two weeks.”

Nicole laughed, “Okay so I thought Destiny would be a bad influence on Sophie, but it seems Sophie is a good influence on Destiny.”

“It’s  just a shame Victoria couldn’t stay longer.  They could double-team Des,” Amanda giggled as she put the finishing touches on her chicken salad.  “Hungry?”

“Nah I’m good.  Thanks,” Nicole shook her head.  “I guess I should eat something, though.  Painkiller’s starting to wear off.  Got to take em with food.”

“You should look at lowering your dosage.” Amanda said, “Not trying to tell you how to live your life though.  But that stuff’s dangerous.”

“I have been actually.” Nicole answered.  “I’m not convinced they didn’t put me on a placebo anyway.  Nobody believes it still hurts.  Fucking quacks can’t find anything wrong.”

“You never did tell me what really happened,” Amanda said.  “I mean I know a lot of it was classified, but...”

“Just took a shock to the system they say.” Nicole shrugged.  “You ever had a migraine?”

“Yes, once, in college,” Amanda said.  “It felt like someone was driving an ice pick  into my brain.”

Nicole nodded.  “That’s how I feel all the time.  Some days are better than others.  I go out on weekends to gay bars because I can be left alone and drink myself numb, but...  There’s no big war story behind it, no epic struggle for mankind where I got shot saving a diplomat.  I just... broke down one day.  They discharged me and said ‘Good luck kid’.”

“Nicole.” Sophie asked as she gently wobbled out, “Can I ask you a question about Desert Storm?”

“Sophie, you shouldn’t be up,” Nicole said.

“Bull, I am not going to stay in bed the entire time, I can't.” Sophie giggled. “My mind won’t let me.”

“She’s Irish,” Amanda said.  “There’s no arguing with her,” she teased.  Nicole laughed.

“Okay, ask away then,” Nicole said as Amanda placed a bowl of chicken salad out for Nicole, and a pre-mixed milkshake meal for Sophie.

“I know you weren’t a soldier back then obviously,” she paused to giggle, “But we have a paper about it, So during the first part of the Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm as they call it here in America, did Al qaeda exist yet?”

“That was long before my time, yup,” Nicole laughed, “But yeah, from what I remember from my briefings, the organization was actually founded by bin-Laden back in 1988, as a response to what the US was doing in the Middle-East at the time under Reagan.”

“So it did exist.” Sophie nodded. “Your missions in the middle east originally wasn’t to take out Saddam right? It was to get Bin-Laden?”

“Yeah, that mess with Hussein was politically motivated, but not entirely by Bush, like you might have heard.  It was bad intel,” Nicole said.  “We were all misled to believe Hussein was housing WMDs for Bin-Laden. That’s in the history books now, so it’s safe to print,” she added.  “But the original mission was to hunt down Bin-Laden for the 9/11 attack, yes.”

“Okay, Thanks Nicole.” Sophie said. “I didn’t mean to pry by the way but it’s for my report on the war in the middle east, I wanted to do the first part not the newer stuff.”

“You’re not prying,” Nicole said.  “I’m proud of my military service, even if Delta Force did have to get their hands dirty sometimes.  Anything else I can tell you?” she asked.

“Richie doesn’t like to talk about it.” Sophie shrugged.

“Some don’t, but Richie went on missions I didn’t, and he may have seen things I didn’t.  Officially women weren’t supposed to be on the frontlines.” Nicole stated.  “I was a good soldier and a good shot, but women being “allowed” to serve on the frontlines is a relatively recent change. We had to kickass to be in the frontlines and you never heard stories about it, because only special forces allowed women to fight.”

“You know now that you mention it,” Sophie grinned, “There is one more thing you could tell me about.  How did you unwind between missions or when you were on a boring assignment?”

Nicole giggled at that.  “Oh, girl I could tell you stories...”  Amanda cleared her throat at that.  Nicole grinned innocently.  “Safe stories. Like sometimes we played video games. Like Gameboy stuff or PSP.  I don’t want to perpetuate a stereotype, but we also drank a lot when off duty.  And we laughed and joked around a lot.  We were like a family like that.”

Sophie hugged Nicole. “Thank you so much.  If I have any more questions I’ll pick your brain some more.”  She turned to hobble back into the living room area, and Nicole said.

“That right there, that’s why I leapt at your offer to go permanent.”

“At Least she’s not doing it textbook.” Katelyn said, “If I had to do a paper like that, I’d probably have just done it textbook, just to get it done.”  She sat down next to Nicole with a bottle of Guiness leftover from testing Sophie.  “Thanks for not telling her the great big american titties story, by the way,” she giggled.

Nicole burst out laughing.  “You’ve been talking to Richie huh?”

“A magician never reveals her secrets,” Katelyn laughed, sipping the beer.  “Ah bloody hell, remind me again why I ever started drinking,” she sighed and pushed the beer away.  Nicole picked it up and took a sip.  She wrinkled her nose.

“Not bad.  Not something I’d drink every day, but then I don’t drink on duty anyway, so.”  She had forgotten to take her pain medication, but neither Amanda nor Katelyn were going to remind her.  If she didn’t need it, there was no harm in it.  She slid the beer back to Katelyn.

“I’m thinking about quitting,” Katelyn said.  “No more wine or anything.”  She picked up a plastic fork someone had left out from a recent fast foodening, and snatched a bite of Nicole’s chicken salad.

“I’ve been thinking about it, once the wine’s gone,” Amanda nodded.

“Already told Amanda why I drink on weekends,” Nicole said.  “Thought about quitting for Sophie though.”

Sophie called from the other room, “Don’t quit on for my benefit, quit on your own terms.” 

Nicole laughed.  “God damn that girl’s got ears like a bat.”

“Have to.” Sophie laughed, “Or I should say I had to. One of the things Richie told me, is living on the streets is like living in a combat zone.”

“You know I think a lot of your cooping stuff is a form of PTSD.” Nicole stated.  “Speaking from personal experience.”

“I’ll mention that to Doctor Wilson.” Sophie said.  “Okay, that’s math all caught up,” she said, mostly to herself. “History is done, 3 more classes.. God I wish I could attend the classes more often.” 

“Take a break otherwise you’ll have nothing to do.” Amanda laughed.

“No way, I’m really enjoying these classes.” Sophie said, “J always loved school.  Besides I want to work on school stuff while I need the extra distraction.”

“You do what you think is right for you.” Katelyn said.

“Pot and coke it is,” Sophie said, giggling.

“Oh you silly goose, I’d toss something at you but you’re injured.” Katelyn laughed.

“I’m not a goose, I’m a sidhe elf.” Sophie teased.  “Ugh.  Have to pee.”

“I gotcha,” Nicole said as she got up to help Sophie to the bathroom.

~oOo~

“Ugh going to the bathroom will never be the same.” Sophie giggled, “Do they all look like that?”

“Yours is just swollen according to Doctor Wilson.” Nicole laughed.

“Okay then.” Sophie said as she ate some pudding. “This Vanilla chocolate swirl is the best.” She wasn’t changing the subject, she was making an observation, she was indeed curious to know if they all looked like hers, and she was going to eventually find out.

“Yes it is, but Amanda just make chocolate and vanilla and mixed them for that.” Katelyn laughed.

“When you can eat solid foods again,” Amanda grinned, “I’ve got a cookie recipe I’m dying to try from Nerdy Nummies.”

“I was told that I could try more solid stuff tomorrow.” Sophie said, “But I swear if my gut feels like this time tomorrow I definitely won't be.”

“We have enough meal replacement shakes, pudding, and apple sauce to last a week,” Amanda said.  “Oh, and I’m going to make you some hot soup for dinner.”

“I had them deliver it earlier today.” Katelyn said, “It’s nice that the grocery store does online orders and delivery out here.  As for the soup, I hope you like tomatoes.”

“Homemade tomato soup?” Sophie perked up.

“Yup.” Katelyn said.

“Nah, can’t stand it,” Sophie teased and giggled.  “No, that sounds amazing.  Aunt Sarah had one of those high power blenders that actually cooks the tomatoes as it blends.  She always made an extra thermos for me.”

“It’s her recipe I’m using,” Amanda said.  “I’m going to ease up on the spices so it doesn’t make you sick, though.”

“Thanks.” Sophie said and looked up from her tablet, “Okay, so it is swollen.” she giggled. “Just so you know I didn’t look at a porn site, I looked at a medical site.”

“I trust you, that’s why we don’t have any filters on the internet.” Amanda laughed.

“Ah, the internet,” Nicole laughed.  “Who needs skin rags when you’ve got Wikipedia.”

“Id rather her looking at medical journals than pornhub.” Katelyn laughed.

“I’m teasing,” Nicole laughed.  “My mom had a saying growing up:sex is natural, but violence is learned.  And then I became a soldier, and blew her poor mind.”  She giggled at that as David poked his head around the corner, eyes covered.

“Did someone call for a temp?” he teased.

“Hey David,” Nicole laughed.  “Yeah, I need you to take the next hour while I run to the VA clinic.”

“Sure thing.” David said. “Hey I never got to say thanks for that contract neg you did for me.”

“No problem,” Nicole grinned.  “They thought they were getting a sweet deal.  They haven’t figured out we’re robbing them blind yet,” she teased.

“No kidding, expenses paid?  That trip to Ireland was god damn expensive.” David laughed. “It’s wet out there, be careful.”

A clap of thunder punctuated the comment, right as Nicole opened the door.  Sophie giggled.  “I thought you said it never rained in LA,” she teased, picking up her phone to tweet out some random nonsense.  Luckily Casidhe had been keeping up on tweeting for her, but she wanted to keep the illusion of normality alive by adding some more to it.

“It does occasionally.” Nicole laughed.  “Hopefully this won’t take long.”

“Take your time.” David laughed. “So how you doing Soph?” he sat down on the other couch near her. “Up for some baseball on TV?”

“Oh aye, I forgot you promised to explain the rules,” Sophie giggled.

“Girls usually play a similar game but it’s called Softball, I swear that a softball is a lot harder than a baseball though.” David laughed.  “Used to play mixed girls-boys little league softball when I was a kid, and those things smart.”

Sophie put her school work aside and picked up the TV remote, passing it to David.  She was comfortable and confident with a tablet or a smartphone, but the ways of 3000 channel television were still a bit of a mystery to her. She had a general idea how to use the Roku that was it.

“I just hope it’s easier to follow than cricket,” Sophie giggled.

~oOo~

“How's my Sophie doing?” Destiny asked as she came into the living room.

“Hey stranger,” Sophie giggled.  “Doing better this morning.  Now it only feels like a mule headbutted me in the stomach.”

“Sorry I had to go do a small photo op.” Destiny giggled, as she sat down. “Better than being gut punched by a donkey then?”

“Yeah, I’m taking less painkiller today, so I’m slightly more coherent.  I might switch to regular Ibuprofen tomorrow,” she said as she leaned her head on Destiny’s shoulder.  “How’s life on the outside?  Is food in pill form yet?” she teased.

“The tabloids are freaking out that you haven’t been seen in a couple of days,” Destiny teased.  “Just kidding.  They’ve moved on to stalking people more famous than us again.  I’m not going to miss it - nawt.”

“Cas and El should be over soon.  Once them and Ang get here we can get started.”

“Sounds good,” Destiny said.  “I freaked out my mom the other night.  I was on my laptop writing my essay on MacBeth for English Lit,” she giggled.  “But Shakespeare was pretty metal.”

“Yeah she asked my mom Manda what she did with you, if you were like some sort of clone or something.” Sophie giggled softly.

“It’s like I can’t help it if the Sisters make learning actually interesting.  I found a clip on YouTube of Sister Barbara performing Poe’s The Raven that gave me cold chills.”

“Yeah, I watched the class she did it in.” Sophie said, “They have an entire archive did you know that?”

“Whoa, seriously?  Show me,” Destiny practically begged, taking out her tablet from her messenger bag.

“Okay so you have to log into the school’s site using your student login.” Sophie giggled and once Destiny had, she showed her where it was located, “It’s kinda buried, Casidhe showed me where it was.”

“Oi,” Casidhe giggled.  “No lookin’ at porn without sharin’ it with us,” she teased as she, Ellen, and Angela came in together.  “We found yer lost cousin by the way.”

“I was not lost.” Angela giggled.

“I already looked at the porn sites last night.” Sophie giggled, “I had to make sure everyone’s looked kinda like mine. Which I found out they don’t.”

“Well yours is probably a little scarred up and swole,” Casidhe said bluntly, grinning.

“Well according to the medical site, everyone's is different like every guys penis is different.” Sophie giggled.

“Oh aye,” Ellen laughed.  “Just like everyone’s boobs are a little different, or a lot, depending.”

“Okay,” Angela said, “Got the Roku set up for casting in three, two...” an image of the classroom appeared on the massive television screen.

“Hey.” Victoria said, “Can you see us?” she waved. “Schools out, but the class decided to do a video meet with you, it’s 8am your time, it’s 4pm ours.”

“Awww,” Sophie said, “Thank you.  I know this is really awkward for you guys, but it really means so much to us.”

“Na we were worried about you actually.” several of the girls spoke at once and everyone nodded.

“Hows classes?” Sophie asked them.

“Same, but not as fun without you.” one of the girls said. “And everyone else over there.” she waved at the others.

“Aye,” Victoria laughed as she spoke up again, “It’s been two days and I already miss Rebecca’s corny jokes.”

“We know you’ve been asked this a billion times, but how are you doing?” Another girl asked.

“Better,” Sophie said.  “Before it was like a donkey gut punched me, but now it’s more like a headbutt.  I’ll ask my doctor tomorrow if I can switch to taking Ibuprofen instead of the opioid they’ve got me on now ‘coz it makes me dizzy.”

“Yeah, we don’t want you hurting yourself.” Another girl said.  “Those opioids are nasty things.  I can’t even take Tylenol 3 without getting violently ill.”

“Okay class,” one of the Sisters  said, “Today we’ll be discussing a key figure in Shakespeare’s MacBeth.  Can anyone guess who I’m talking about?”  Sophie raised her hand.  “Sophie?”

“Lady MacBeth?” she asked.

The nun grinned a sly, broad grin, nearly laughing in surprise.  “I’m going to first say yes, you’re right, but how did you arrive at that conclusion?  Most students immediately assume the title character when I ask that.”

“It was a lucky guess,” Sophie giggled. “I remember reading somewhere that they used to say the play was cursed?”

“Aye that’s true.  Actors to this day will not say the name MacBeth for fear of the curse,” the sister nodded.  “It’s considered worse than wishing someone good luck.”

“I think the proper term to tell someone whos in a play is Break a leg?” Sophie said.

“Quite so,” the sister nodded.  “Now, Lady MacBeth is an interesting character for a number of reasons.”

~oOo~

“Glad that was the last class of the day.” Sophie said as she reclined a bit more.

Rebecca popped her head over Sophie’s shoulder, causing Destiny to jump and squeal.  “What, I thought you liked school?” she said teasingly as she placed a brightly wrapped package in Sophie’s lap.  “Gotcha a get well present.”

“Awww thanks, and I do like school, but I have to do this.” she slowly got up and hobbled to the bathroom but first set the present down.

“So what’s inside?” Ellen giggled.  Rebecca winked.

“Same thing I gave Megan after her surgery,” she giggled out, waiting for their minds to invent horrible ideas before continuing, “A gel pad to make it easier to sit on hardwood chairs, an ice pack, and a box of chocolate truffles for when she can eat solid food tomorrow, you bunch of pervs,” she burst out laughing.

Sophie came back out and sat back down slowly, and opened it, “Awww thank you Becca.”

Rebecca leaned down and whispered loudly, “They thought I got you some dildos.”  She giggled, dodging the swat from Destiny.  “Actually since I have you fashionistas all in one place, I could use some really fast advice.”

“Yes,” Ellen said.  “There you go - really fast advice.”

“Har har har,” Rebecca said, and stuck out her tongue.  “No, I was trying to decide if I should cut my hair.”  She took it down out of the braid she was sporting today, turned around, and ran her fingers beneath it until it fell to its full length at the small of her back.  “I haven’t cut it since I was 8.  Juliette thinks I should cut it at the shoulder, Megan thinks I have Princess Hair and shouldn’t touch it,” she laughed.”

“Well, If you’re dead set on cutting it.” Sophie stated, “I’d only take it slightly past the shoulders. You really do have nice hair.”

“That’s what I’m thinking too,” Rebecca nodded.  “If I do cut it, I’m going to donate it to one of those charities for cancer patients.”

“Good idea.” Destiny said.

“And, not to sound vain or anything, I was thinking of doing it as a publicity stunt, go see the wig delivered to the kid, give her a signed CD, you know, to raise awareness of the charity,” Rebecca grinned.

“Sounds like a good plan there too, sometimes small charities like that get overlooked.” Sophie said.  “Plus unlike Rapunzel’s, yours will grow back if you decide you hate it.”

“Or you can get extensions,” Angela giggled. “Especially if you’re sick of waiting for it to grow back.” she winked.

“Hey yeah that’s true,” Rebecca said.  “Thanks guys.  I’ll get with my agent and get everything set up so the Mouse doesn’t have a bull elephant over me changing my image.”

“I’m glad I skipped the mouse.” Sophie giggled, “Everyone tells me that they are horrible to work for.”

“They’re better than they used to be,” Rebecca nodded.  “I’ve heard some wicked stories from friends of Meg and Jules’.  My biggest issue with them is that they want me to put forth a certain image, which I’m normally okay with?  But I’m also the girl who like used to dress full goth in the middle of Australian heat wave just to mess with tourists.  I mean, my debut album was a punked up ‘Let it Go’.  They knew what they were getting into.”

“Fun.” Sophie said, “They wouldn’t sign me anyway, my tattoos.”

“Oh, I should introduce you to Kelly if you’re ever in Florida,” Rebecca laughed out loud.

“Periwinkle?” Sophie grinned.  “I’ve heard about her.  But I won’t cover mine, except for my clan tattoo since I don’t have permission to show it in movies and TV.  I learned something in my short time, I fought hard for them and earned them and to be proud of them.”

“That’s why we opted to go with an independent studio for our album too,” Casidhe said.  “I mean, the horror stories thing.  We didn’t want to get locked into a contract where they own everything we do.”

“That's not really a story, that’s kinda true.” Rebecca laughed.  “Music is really all that I do, and I already knew several Disney people, so it was a natural fit for me, but it really, absolutely, is not for everyone.  I’m actually surprised they let me collab with you guys on your single.  I guess since it’s PG and not costing them anything.”

“Aye,” Ellen laughed, “One ‘god damn’ in The Causeway via Galway, and the other two being Dropkick Murphys covers, I think they knew what they were getting when they signed you, like you said”

“Y’know the most amazing thing is how accepting they’ve been of Megan,” Rebecca said.  “I mean sure she’s technically AMC now, but I legit overheard my agent and an exec talking, the exec said they’d take her back in a heartbeat if Lost Girls ever stopped being so popular.  Ah, but enough about business,” she laughed.

“Ugh I have to go again.” Sophie giggled and slowly got up and wobbled off to the bathroom again.

Rebecca giggled.  “I gotta run too.  I’m performing at some girl named Tara’s birthday party this afternoon.”  She winked.

“Oh yeah.” Destiny said, “Oh did you see the video of Deadpool yet?”

“Yes!” Rebecca said excitedly.  “OMG I am so jealous.”

“Sophie had some major balls too, she walked right up to Stan Lee and hugged him.” Destiny giggled.  “Tell Fiona ‘hi’ for us,” she said as Rebecca  left.

“Oh I will,” Rebecca replied, waving.  She was oddly humming ‘A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes’.

“Swear to God they shrink wrapped my bladder while they were in there,” Sophie groaned as she hobbled back to her recliner.