Uptown Girls ((Evangeline))

It surprised Cara how much freedom Emilio gave her nowadays. He must have realized that keeping her cooped up in the apartment would only encourage her to sneak out (something she was already doing, but he didn't need to know that) and decided to open the cage before the bird flew off and never came back. In the morning, Emilio shoved the sleeping Cara off of her bed, AKA the couch, waking her up effectively. Between the screaming and jumping and red-faced accusations regarding his douchebagery, Cara's brother pressed about fifty dollars in her hands and placed a spare key to the apartment on the table where she nearly smashed her head in the process of falling, all the while telling her to go out and take a look at the city since she lived there now. He then patted her on the head, pulling back just as Cara bellowed that 'I'M NOT FIVE YEARS OLD!'. He waved one last time before leaving, suitcase in hand.

Cara's shouts faded after another minute, knowing at that point he was already in the elevator and couldn't hear her. Frustrated, Cara ran an angry hand through her hair. Then, looking down at the money she clutched, Cara found it a bit easier to forgive Emilio for his stupidity. Actual permission to go out, huh? Not that a direct command to stay inside would've stopped her from going out, but knowing that she wouldn't be in trouble if she ran into him on the street (a one in three million chance, but it WAS a small world after all). Now she just needed to convince Emilio that she could handle the key to the liquor cabinet...

After Cara made herself presentable to the rest of human society, she picked up her key, stuffed the money in her pocket and set out. Unknown to Emilio, Cara already knew most of the downtown by heart. She never dared venture further in case her brother decided to spend his lunch hour with his dearest sister, something that had happened once and caused Cara to run fifteen blocks back. She found it a wonder that Emilio didn't notice her utter out-of-breath-ness when he opened the door with a box of pizza and a bourbon bottle. Needless to say, Cara didn't leave the apartment again that day. But since her leash had been taken from her neck, Cara decided to do some REAL exploration! So she headed for the train station.

Cara jumped on the first train she saw. From the sign flashing its destination, Cara found herself going uptown. A completely new playing field. The scenery flashed by Cara too quick to register and soon enough the train rumbled to a stop. Cara got off the train hesitantly, and, as a result nearly got trampled by the other impatient passengers who just wanted to get out. She stumbled onto the platform and turned around just as the train started moving once more. Welp. Looks like she was stuck here until the next downtown train arrived. She checked the train schedule. She could check out uptown for four hours and make it back downtown before Emilio got off of work. As long as she knew the location of the train station, she wasn't EPICALLY screwed.

Uptown Chicago gave off a much more friendly air than downtown did. The people who walked the streets laughed and had bright smiles on their faces unlike the solely business faces that downtown folks wore. Cara walked next to one historical building after another, the majority of them with nice, light-hearted music sounding from outdoor speakers. She wandered aimlessly, wondering about typical ways to pass the time here.

Evangeline wasn't the type of girl to spend too much of her time wondering around aimlessly. More often was she seen sitting around aimlessly or flirting with goodness knows how many boys, sometimes even multiple at the same time. Yet Evangeline missed her having some close friends to hang out with. Steal her mothers creditcard and go shopping, buying the most ridiculous things (such as bunny slippers with fangs, green jello and a beerhat) and just having fun. She needed another good friend and somehow Evangeline just couldn't manage to interact with guys in a way that would make them think of her as just a friend, she was by far too proud of her looks for that to happen. No, Evangeline needed a girl to hang out with. Her mother told her to go to school but Evangeline hadn't met one person worty of her attention in there. Too good, too nerdy or simply too full of themselves. That last one might be a little strange as Evangeline tended to be full of herself when it was about looks but she didn't have a habit of tellings others they were ugly, which most girls she'd met so far deemed neccesary.

Evangeline was confident about nearly everything, or at least acted that way. Although Evangeline was truly confident, it was a very fragile confidence and more than easy to break. One bad comment on her looks and the girl would worry about it for weeks and lose her usual behaviour of carefree joy. Unless her parents said things, she usually started yelling at them or even throwing things at them, not caring one little bit about feelings or concerns that her parents might have. All Evangeline cared about on the point of relatives was them staying out of her life or giving her a fair amount of money as compensation for being in it. Perhaps that was the reason that Evangeline bought ridiculous things nobody needed, to make sure to compensate for things she didn't like. It worked rather well as she could always fall back on her favorite guilt creation...

Moving. Evangeline hated moving, changing schools and making new friends. She hated changing country and laws and school systems even more. Every single time her parents gave indications of punishment (other than the therapist that cost them too much money for no help at all), Evangeline would remind them she'd been forced to move out of her old country and leave her entire life behind. On a daily basis, she'd shove it in their faces so they'd keep remembering and feeling guilty, even long after Evangeline herself had stopped caring about it. The friends she'd had would be shocked if they knew what Evangeline did with her free time these days. Drinking, smoking and partying had not been her hobbies before she'd moved to the USA. Now they were her lifestyle.

Sitting down on a bench, the girl searched her pocket for a sigarette. She managed to find one, and a lighter. She lit the sigarette and smiled satisfied. Evangeline would have smoked about ten times as much if she hadn't known that it could make your teeth yellow. Being a little too fond of her own face, the girl didn't want to risk it. So she smoked every once in a while, trying to minimize it and using those fancy toothpastes that claim to make your teeth whiter. Evangeline sighed and leaned back, watching random people pass by. She really wanted to do something, but not alone. Perhaps she'd go to school after all. It was about time that she started acting a litte more responsible, meaning she'd sleep in classes rather than outside them.

When a girl of about her age came close to Evangeline she smiled and held out her pack of sigarettes to the girl. "Care for a smoke?" She asked with a grin on her face. Maybe she'd make a friend after all...

Cara strolled leisurely with her hands interlocked behind her head, passing building after building and humming a tune she heard seeping through the bottom of a restaurant's double doors. She took a deep breath and smiled. Cara's mind was blissfully blank. Even the slight worry she had about getting lost and not being able to find the train station again had left her. Awh, not a big deal. The people here came off as friendly enough to supply her with directions when she needed it. One part of Cara wanted to find a nice secluded place, sit and take this place in. But another part, her more adventurous side urged her to scope out more of this part of town, find something fun to do. Her prayers seemed to be answered as she passed by a bench...

When Cara got into hearing range, the bench spoke. Cara stopped walking, looking odd with one arm and leg extended and the other arm and leg getting ready to pick up the next step. She turned her head and saw a girl sitting on the bench. She was smiling and holding out a pack of cigarettes to her. Cara brought her feet together and gave her a quizzical look and a 'who? Me?' gesture. She glanced behind her, making sure that she hadn't gotten in the way of an ongoing conversation. Everyone behind kept on walking, not paying Cara or the other girl any attention. So she sat next to the stranger offering her a cigarette.

Cara regarded the cigarette carefully. She hadn't smoked before... It was one thing that Emilio was very adamant against. He gave Cara permission to drink to her heart's delight but never smoke. Cara always wondered why. She knew its lasting effects and all, but didn't drinking fall into the same category of 'dangerous things for a sixteen year old to do'? In fact, wasn't drinking even MORE dangerous? Cara shook herself. She had been known to disobey her older brother on numerous occasions when it came to things like staying inside of the apartment and only making one bowl of Ramen for lunch (pshaw, how could only eat ONE bowl?), but Cara found herself waving away the cigarette with a polite smile. She didn't want to give Emilio more reason to put a tracking device in her neck or something.

"Nah. No thanks, dude. Not really my style." Cara really hoped that she just didn't ruin her chance with this person. She looked nice enough, offering her a smoke and all. Cara crossed her legs and looked out in the direction where she came. Vaguely about a half-mile back, she could make out the train station. The deep rumblings that came from the track were only little whispers now. Cara turned her attention back to the other girl on the bench. She looked like a typical beauty one would find in a movie or a TV show. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, a very awesome taste in clothing and a pretty smile. Cara always thought herself to be pretty also, just not to the extent of this girl. She looked down at her own clothes. Decent, she supposed compared to hers. Awh, what did it matter. Cara didn't care much about her appearance all that much. Just as long as she was matching. "So," Cara said, still smiling. "Do I get a name along with that very generous offer, thanks again, by the way?"