Meet the rest of the pack, well almost

The kitchen is in the ground floor. There also are the rooms of Rita and Paula, the living room and the bathroom. You find the kitchen very fast because of the voices inside. As soon as you enter you only get a short look on shelves with cooking stuff, a fridge and a table, before something tackles you almost down and holds you tight.

“Max, welcome to the halfway house,” the thing that hugs you says happy.

Rita laughs and helps you get free from the hugging thing. It turns out to be an Afro-American girl in a dark blue shirt and jeans. She looks very cute. A ponytail, pink lipstick and a childlike smile make her look very young. The fact that she is about a head smaller than G and one and a half heads smaller than you doesn’t help.

“I’m sorry,” Rita says laughing, “our youngest can be a little stormy and clinging sometimes, she is even younger than you. Turned 18 just yesterday.”

“Well, it was a nice surprise,” you answer smiling, “you must be Sophie, right?”

“No, Sophie has no interest in showing up,” G mumbles from the table, “the little one is Abbie.”

“Abigale Ward,” Abby introduces herself, “but Abbie for my friends. I hope you will be my friend too.”

“What have you done for your sentence?” you ask amused, “hugged somebody to ****?”

“No,” Abbie answers and suddenly sounds very sad, “I was a trainee in a hospital, but my superior was a racist who hated me. One day he made a mistake and an old lady died. He blamed me for it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” you say and try to comfort Abby a little.

“It’s fine,” Abby mumbles, “I was not ready for such a complicated process. I made mistakes and in got much worse. The judge said I meant it good and just overvalued my skills. I only got two years on probation. And the clinic fired the other asshole too.”

“Abigale, language!” Rita says sharp, “no cursing in the kitchen!”

Since this is settled, you look around. Officer Reno sits on the table next to G with a cup of coffee. Rita, who still holds Abbie’s shoulders stays next to the table. Nobody else is around. You wonder where Sophie and Paula are.

“Well, since we are already telling each other what we did for our punishment, why don’t you continue, G?” Rita asks, “the other girls seems to need a little longer.”

“Well, my name is Georgina Cooper,” G says, “I have no idea what my mother smoked to give me this stupid name. But who cares? Just call me G. Everybody does. I’m 19 and was sentenced to five years because I used to stand up to corrupted fuckers and their henchmen.”

“She wants to say she was an activist,” officer Reno interrupts before Rita can tell G to not curse, “and you overdid it more than once.”

“Maybe,” G admitted, “but the verdict was mostly because I broke the jaw of a pervert security guard who wanted to manhandle my friend. We broke into a company and got evidence the bastards dump toxic waste illegally in the middle of the county. Three of us, including me, got caught and while waiting for the cops one of the guards thought he could take advantage of my best friend. What a coincidence the security cameras got black just in this moment. I feel not sorry for anything.”

“There were some other illegal activities too,” Rita adds not very pleased, “otherwise the sentence would be much lower.”

“Yeah, just continue telling this,” G mumbles, “maybe one day you believe it yourself, Rita.”

Rita wants to reply anything, but suddenly another girl enters the kitchen. She looks very similar to Rita, so you assume it is Paula, her daughter.

“Sorry, I couldn’t make it earlier,” Paula apologizes and looks around, “Well, where is … a boy? Are you the new one?”

“I’m” you say and offer her your hand to shake, “I’m Max.”

“I see,” Paula says suddenly very sceptic and looks at her mom, “I thought we get a new girl. Didn’t we agreed to not get any more males in this house?”

“Dear, this incident was two years ago,” Rita says quiet, “please give him a chance! He is different. I promise.”

“We will see,” Paula says unimpressed and continues to ignore your hand, “I’m Paula, 21 and the only one who here is not a criminal. If you keep your problems to yourself and don’t cause trouble we will probably get along.”

“Well, nice to meet you,” you say a little disappointed and look around, “well, then there is only Sophie left, is she coming later?”

“Good question,” Paula agrees, “where is the worst of all? You know we can’t let her stroll around alone.”

“She was smoking in the back yard when I saw her last,” G answers and shrugs her shoulders, “and she told me she has little to no interest in meeting the new one. She said it much more aggressive with words I will not repeat, but I think that is what she meant. Whatever, waiting for her is a waste of time. Just tell us what you did to end here, Max!”