She had just told me what she did for a living. I had figured it out, but to actually hear it… it ached. She sold her body to men. Disgusting men. I didn’t even want to hear what they did to her.

“So, Bette… I talked to Dick,” she said, stroking my hair. I tensed up. I had noticed Dick was being different to me lately, much more harsh and much harder to please.

“Yeah?” I asked, couraging her to go on.

“He isn’t really content about you lately. You work slow, make a lot of mistakes. He can’t have it anymore. He says he’s given you a lot of chances.”

“I know, I’m just… distracted. Fiona, how long are we gonna stay here? Sophie can’t have made that much debts. I want to go home.”

I realised I sounded like a whining baby, but I didn’t care. It was just the truth. I thought about the picture of Tina under my mattress. A tear rolled down my cheek and I quickly whiped it away.

“What’s waiting for you at home, Bette? Your father is almost always away, and your sister… well, it’s not like she’s very much around. At school, they’d all ask questions about why you left. You have nobody there.”

I wanted to start about Tina, but I shut up. I hadn’t told her about Tina and I wasn’t going to. In a way, I was scared of Fiona. She wasn’t violent towards me, she never hit me or anything, but it was there.

And in the end, she was right once again. Tina would have forgotten about me. She had probably moved on, found another girl that actually did deserve her, a girl that made her really. As I said to Alice what I wanted to happen; her meeting someone.

“Bette, I’m sorry but you’ll have to face it. I’m all you have now.”

She was right. I hated it, but she was right. I had gotten myself in the shit so deeply that nobody would be able to get me out. I had given her the power over my life once again. I cursed myself for being so naïeve.

“What about Dick,” I changed the subject.

“He has a lot of other girls lining up for your job. Girls who will do it better than you.”

“So I’m fired?” I asked in a small voice. The tips and the wage weren’t much, but I was saving it in case she ever really harmed me.

“I’m sorry, but yes, Bette. But you don’t have to worry. I have another job for you. I’ll take you tomorrow?”

“You have to work tomorrow.”

“Well, it’s in the same place.”

“I don’t want to do what you do, Fiona.”

“First of all, stop calling me that. I’m Jodi here. And second, I never said you haid to. You’ll just be a waitress. Okay?”

I sighed. “I guess.”

“Fuck, Bette.” Fiona pulled me away. “You should be thankful that I’m doing this for you! I got you a job, you got yourself fired, and I immediately got you another job. What is wrong with you? Back in the days, you weren’t such a spoilt brat.”

“I’m not a spoilt brat.”

“Than proove it. Come with me tomorrow and do your fucking job and don’t you complain! Do you think I like it? Do you think that this is what I want? I’m doing this for my sister and you’re doing this for me and since you love me you do everything for me, like I do everything for you. Is that fucking understood, you stupid cow?”

“Yes,” I mumbled, the tears in my eyes. I hated it when she was like this, insulting me and showing who was the boss, how much of an insect I really was. I stood up, ran to my room and pulled Tina’s picture from under my mattress. I knew Fiona wouldn’t follow me.

I held tight to the picture, my body shaking of the crying. “Tina,” I whispered. “Tina.” All night long. I wanted to go back to her. I wanted her to hold me and tell me it was gonna be okay. “I’m so sorry.”