Like or Like-like [Jess]

Jess wasn't the typical sort of last-chance case that came through this place, she was a guarded girl but pretty good natured overall, friendly with a quick smile for everyone in the house. The younger kids seemed to like her well enough too, with her snarky attitude and her blue hair and lip ring...she was *cool*, she understood their lives better than most, and she took the time to pay attention to them as well, playing video games, offering homework help.

The twins of the woman who oversaw the house were closer to her age, but while not mean spirited or cruel in any way, they seemed to have their own lives and interests, and didn't seem overly interested in getting too close to the other kids that came and went through their home. She supposed she could see it, she'd learned being friendly helped all this be less hard, but she didn't let anyone get too close either, not when she knew either her or them would be quick to leave again soon.

She sat on the bed in the room she shared with one of the other girls, thumbing through a magazine with her headphones in, music could be heard faintly even from a bit of a distance, her lips moved along with the words, she even paused to bob her head furiously in time with whatever she was listening to. She caught sight of Mido and startled, more embarrassed than surprised, and was quick to pull off the headphones, blinking over at him.

"Um...hey. Sorry...was someone calling me or something? I...couldn't hear anything really well..." She admitted.

Mido startled the same time that she did and ducked back around the corner when he did, putting a hand over his racing heart and taking a few deep breaths before peeking around the corner again, "no. No one called." He said in a rather plain way, giving her an intense, curious stare. He liked her blue hair and her lip ring, especially the lip ring, "did that hurt?" He pointed to indicate it, he'd always wanted to get piercings, all kinds of them, but he was always half afraid to ask his mother, assuming she'd tell him no anyway, "it's cool. I'm Mido." He finally stepped into the door as he spoke.

He shuffled a little and looked to the side, "sorry for not saying hello sooner." He frowned as he spoke, fiddling with the hem of his shirt, "I don't...I can't talk to people very well." He looked out the door thoughtfully, "Fareeha has always been standoffish...I don't mean to be." He looked down, "but uh...You're name is Jessica, right? You just got here." He'd noticed that she seemed friendly to the other kids that were here, he only hoped she wasn't put off by him like everyone else seemed to be.

She blinked in surprise as he disappeared around the corner, leaning forward to peer to where he'd gone. She leaned back again when he came back around the corner again.

"Did what hurt?" She asked, the reached up touching the lip ring as he pointed at it. "Well...I mean, yeah. They stuck a needle through my lip." She grinned a little. "But I like it, so it's worth it. This one got infected...so it hurt more..." She pulled off her earphones, pointing out a hoop in her upper cartilage. "But, you know...whatever." She shrugged.

"It's okay." She gestured that he could come in and join her if he wanted. "Like, I get it. People come and go all the time...could see how you'd get stand-off-ish." She smiled, not seeming put off by how they hadn't talked much in the last day or two since she'd been here.

Mido chuckled and tilted his head, "I'd like to get piercings...A lot of them." He glanced out the door and frowned, "don't know what mom would think..." She seemed more traditional sometimes, and there was always that worry that he might step wrong and do something that was heavily frowned upon. Not that he worried she would do anything bad to him, but the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint his mother.

He was hesitant a moment before slipping into her room, sitting on the floor beside her bead and leaning his head back to look up at her, "it's not just kids here." He sighed and looked down, running a hand through his hair, "I can't talk to anyone...I don't have friends." Fareeha was standoffish but at least she had friends at school, "people think I'm weird." He glanced up at her with a soft little smile, "you probably will too eventually." He seemed to bother everyone for one reason or another, "the other kids seem to like you though!" He looked back up at her with a smile.

"I wouldn't mind getting a few more...what I'd really like is a bunch'a tattoos." She smiled as she explained. "Like I can get away with piercings and stuff right now...but tattoos...probably gonna have to wait until I'm 18. But then I'm gonna get a bunch."

She flopped over onto her belly, chin in her hands as she looked down at him. "That sucks...it's hard, not knowing people or having friends..." She said sympathetically. "I mean...weird doesn't have to be bad...people think I'm weird." He seemed nice so far, though really, really shy. She could see how some people might think he was a little off...but she'd actually known some really weird people, so far he wasn't that bad. Though with time that might change.

"The younger kids...I dunno, a lot of 'em just like someone paying some positive attention to 'em, you know? Talking to 'em like they're people, all that. Like...all of us...we just get so...constantly screwed over in this system. Like all the time. Someone being nice helps." She tried to explain.

Mido chuckled and turned so hi chin was resting on the edge of the bed, leaning his body against it, "tattoos would be cool...I think I would rather design them than get them..." The idea of anyone wanting his art on their bodies in any permanent fashion was wild to him, "you'll look awesome with all those tats, Jess."

He shrugged a little and looked down, "it's my own fault." He screwed his face up in thought, "I...Don't communicate well." He shrugged, "or that's what the school counselor tells me." He got sent there a lot by teachers who thought he was troubled, "I don't really have any right to complain." He realized whining about school to someone who'd been through hell wasn't right, "sorry..." He chuckled softly and ran a hand through his hair, "the last thing you probably want to do is listen to me bitch."

He looked up at her and nodded, giving her a soft smile, "I can't even imagine what it must be like." He shook his head, "but you're all here now. Mom will be good to you."

"Hey, you're talking to me just fine." She shrugged, not seeming to believe he was bad at communicating. "And hey, look man, if you wanna bitch sometimes...you know, whatever. It's cool. We all need to bitch sometimes. But if that's all you ever do...or if you start whining to me that like, your lunch was on the wrong kind of bread or something...then maybe I'll stop listening." She grinned a little to show she was still good humored about it.

"This place is nice." She agreed. "I like your mom, she seems cool. And like, she actually wants to be doing this. It's not just some government paycheck or something for her. Cause for some of them that's kinda all we are." She admitted with a bit of a grimace.