RE: Trailer Trash, 5 pt 1 (Patreon)

   Their expedition party had returned triumphant from a trick-or-treating mission that had possibly gone too well. After the seventh neighborhood, Mrs. Seelbaugh had asked with a look of amusement if everyone wanted to keep going, and received a resounding and determined affirmative. When they’d completed the eighth and ninth, and each of them had a second bag of candy that was beginning to fill—the boys were using spare pillowcases— they’d all continued to push on despite their aching feet.

   I… think I might sit this one out, Tabitha had reluctantly said before their final planned neighborhood on the route. To her surprise, both of her teenage friends and all four of the cousins agreed with enthusiasm and relief. It had been an absurdly successful night, the amount of candy each of them had collected was ridiculous, and everyone seemed more than satisfied with their haul. With everyone unanimously deciding to skip their eleventh area, Mrs. Seelbaugh had instead steered them in the silvery minivan back towards the trailer at Sunset Estates. Once again, the trailer was crowded and bustling with people, more than Tabitha ever remembered seeing inside all at once.

   “Tabby—can I talk to you for a second?” Elena asked, regarding Tabitha with a solemn expression. “Privately?”

   “Is… something wrong?” Tabitha said carefully, feeling her mouth go dry. Is she asking about the future already? Did Alicia say something, or did I let something slip? “Here, let’s head into my room.”

   “Alicia—can you watch the boys for a little bit?” Elena asked.

   The request revealed a lot about Elena to Tabitha. Though the night was ostensibly over, and they were back in the trailer with all of the adults, Elena never relinquished her unspoken mantle of responsibility to any of the parents present. She’d decided that the teenage girls were going to remain in charge of the four younger cousins at all times, was set on affirming this hierarchy, and seemed to take their duties very seriously.

   “Yeah, sure,” Alicia smiled. “Boys. No one’s had any candy yet—right?”

   “No,” they obediently replied. Over the course of the night they’d become well-trained and were getting pretty good at synchronizing their responses. Joshua’s no was an eager one, because he thought they were about to get permission to start gorging themselves. Nick’s no sounded a little sullen and frustrated, while Aiden’s was chipper, like he was proud to have not broken a rule this time. Sam’s no was curious, and he was carefully appraising Alicia from across his opened bags of candy.

   “Alright,” Alicia grinned. “It’s a good thing you didn’t, because it’s time to see which one of you won. Everyone—start counting your loot!”

   “This way,” Tabitha said with a wry smile, leading Elena down the hallway to her tiny room. I thought I was really good at managing the cousins, but ‘Lena and ‘Licia are teaching me a lot. It’s... actually a little scary how good they are at this.

   Tabitha’s bedroom was small, very small, a simple box measuring nine feet along her bare walls in one direction and seven feet in the other, which featured little else but a small window with curtains. She kept her decor rather bare to help provide the illusion that the bedroom wasn’t quite as cramped as it actually was, with furnishings likewise extremely spartan. All of the odds and ends of her now incredibly distant-seeming prior childhood had been carefully packed into boxes and stacked in the shed. Oddly enough, Tabitha’s room had no closet at all— the previous owners of the mobile home had removed it to give the adjacent bathroom a little more space during a remodel, and all of her clothing that didn’t fit in her vintage dresser was hanging up in the back of her parent’s closet.

   Watching Elena evaluate her living quarters with an interested look around had Tabitha feeling more anxious than she’d ever imagined, and she awkwardly sat down on the neatly-made bed to await her friend’s verdict. She’d left her bag of candy on the kitchen counter, but was still hugging the Flounder pillow against herself.

   “Needs more kitten posters,” Elena judged, shooting her a teasing look.

   “Yeah,” Tabitha said with a nervous smile. “I’ll… work on that.”

   “Good,” Elena nodded, sitting down on the other side of the bed. “I was kidding, it’s fine. Okay, um. First of all; how are you feeling?”

   “Better,” Tabitha answered with a wince. “...And also worse.”

   “Why worse?” Elena asked. Her tall blonde friend seemed a little too composed, and Tabitha began to suspect that her friend had been planning and preparing for the different ways this conversation might go.

   “I feel… out of place,” Tabitha said with caution, watching Elena for any clue as to what this was about.

   “Out of place because you missed school this week?” Elena pressed. “Or, out of place in a... general, social way?”

   “...Both, really,” Tabitha swallowed uneasily.

   “Okay. That’s perfectly normal,” Elena reassured her. Tabitha could practically hear Mrs. Seelbaugh’s kind and patient voice within Elena’s. “But, I want us to do something about that.”

   “Something?” Tabitha echoed.

   “Matthew’s Halloween party is tomorrow,” Elena reminded her. “We were all invited, and I want you to go.”

   “Okay,” Tabitha inwardly let out a sigh of relief. “...I’m listening.”

   “I really like Matthew,” Elena said. “Just to be like, completely clear and totally transparent about my priorities and ulterior motive.”

   She doesn’t really sound like a teenage girl at all either, Tabitha mused. But, she’s so much better at making it all still sound natural. Her words and mannerisms come off as just being picked up from her parents. In a really strong way. How can I make it start to seem like that when I’m in my… PROPER DICTION mode?

   “So… I want to go, no matter what,” Elena continued. “But, you going or not is... the big topic. Everyone at school thinks you’ll be there.”

   “You’re kidding,” Tabitha felt herself go pale.

   “Both Erica Taylor and Clarissa Dole are gonna be at the party,” Elena revealed. “Clarissa privately approached Matthew and asked if she could go, because people think you’ll be there. She legit didn’t know what she was getting into with all of this, I think, and will switch to your side in an instant if it means you can put in a good word. So that she doesn’t have to repeat a year.”

   “Sides?” Tabitha made a face. “I really don’t think—”

   “There are sides to this, whether you like it or not,” Elena insisted. “You’re one of them. The Taylor girls—well, Erica’s pretty much the other, right now. It’s pretty much confirmed that she’s gonna be there, and Matthew’s mom is kinda-sorta okay with it—to ‘give her a chance to apologize in person.’ No one actually thinks that’s gonna happen, though. Erica apparently shrugs things off whenever people ask her about it, but word from Carrie is that she’s still completely trash-talking you, and that actually it’s gotten way worse. Way worse.”

   “Then, I definitely don’t go,” Tabitha blinked. “...Right?”

   “I really want you to go,” Elena repeated. “You’ll literally never have these kind of advantages in a confrontation between you two, like, ever again. Matthew and his parents are both on your side, so right off the bat that’s like a home-ground advantage. I’ll be there with you right by your side the whole time. Alicia and Casey will both be there with us— together, they pretty much represent the Art Club people. You’re like, the poster girl of the whole club right now, because Mr. Peterson is totally in your corner. All the teachers are, really. It’s bitchy popular girls versus everyone with common sense, at this point.”

   “Um,” Tabitha blanched. “Is it… cowardly, to admit that I just don’t want any kind of confrontation, period?”

   “No, it’s not,” Elena patted Tabitha’s shoulder. “I mean that. But, I mean, if there ever is a confrontation—and there probably will be—this is your best shot ever. Like, the terms’ll never be as… favorable? You know what I mean? I really think you need to go. If you go, that makes a statement, and people are going to take it a certain way. If you don’t go, but Erica does, then everyone’ll make certain... assumptions? Think you’re hiding, or have a guilty conscience, or that you’re afraid of her. Or afraid of the truth. She can spin things however she wants, if you don’t go.”

   “That doesn’t seem very fair,” Tabitha frowned.

   “I know,” Elena shrugged. “I’m just saying. I really want you to go, Tabitha— I think it’s in your best interests to go, and I’ll hope that you trust my judgement on that.”

   “Okay,” Tabitha said after a moment of consideration. “I do trust you. We’re friends, right?”

   “Friends!” Elena promised, lighting up at the word and clasping Tabitha’s hand. “Thank you. You’ll really go?”

   “I’ll go. But, you don’t say ‘thank you,’” Tabitha chuckled. “You say; ‘definitely. We’re friends.’”

   “Definitely!” Elena affirmed. “We are friends. The party’s going to be amazing, and we’re all gonna be there with you. Everything’s gonna be fine, no matter what Erica tries to pull. There’s nothing she can even pull, really. It’s a costume party, and we’re all already set there. Oh—uh, we should probably talk about this, too. How do you feel about Matthew?”

   “He’s cute. I like him,” Tabitha revealed. “But, I don’t like him. No conflict of interests, there.”

   “Cool,” Elena let out a sigh of relief. “I mean—it’s totally cool either way, it wouldn’t be a problem. Just, I do get competitive, and I don’t want things to get weird for us, right now. Did Alicia talk to you about dating, who you’re interested in?”

   “Um,” Tabitha thought back to her earlier talk with Alicia. “Kinda? I don’t think I’m ready, not for a long while. Years, maybe?”

   “Okay. That’s perfectly fine too,” Elena said, again in that way Tabitha couldn’t help but think was in imitation of Mrs. Seelbaugh. “Just, there’s been freshman guys at school... expressing interest, and we weren’t sure if we should vet them or not. Or, if you’re even coming back soon. Are you coming back soon?”

   “I don’t know, right now,” Tabitha admitted honestly. “I think… it’ll depend on how things go at the big hearing thingie, this coming Monday.”

   “Okay,” Elena nodded again. “Is that gonna be like, at the courthouse or something? Can anyone go and watch? I want to be there with you. Alicia, too.”

   “I think they’re normally held at the district office,” Tabitha racked her brain for what she remembered from her experiences working in Springton Town Hall. “This one sounds like it involves a lot more people though, so… they’ll meet in one of the local school cafeterias in the evening on Monday. Either Springton Middle, or Springton High—probably Springton High. They might use the auditorium instead, maybe. I’m not sure. I can ask?”

   “If we’re allowed to go, we want to be there with you,” Elena said in a determined voice.

   “I really appreciate that,” Tabitha said honestly, feeling as if a slight weight was disappearing from her shoulders. “I mean it. Um— actually, I also just had a random thought. Are you going to be a kitty-cat again for the Halloween party?”

   “I… was, yeah,” Elena looked down at her outfit. “Is it actually too lame?”

   “This might be weird, or super awkward or something— but, we’re definitely friends, right?” Tabitha said, sliding off the bed and pulling open one of the drawers of her dresser. “Can I give you one of my blouses, as a—a friendship thing? I mean, it’s—”

   “We’re definitely friends!” Elena said with excitement. “I was trying to think up a way to steal one anyways—because that’s what friends do!”

   Tabitha carefully lifted a neatly folded pile of shirts—mostly tees or workout clothes—and pulled out a blouse she’d had hidden beneath the pile. It unfolded itself as she held it up, a long-sleeved black affair with rather intricate lace.

   “What the fuck,” Elena said, accepting it from her friend and holding it up for a better look. “You never wore this one to school. Tabby—this is sexy!”

   “Yeah, that’s actually the reason I don’t think I can wear it ever,” Tabitha said in a weak voice. “It’s just not me. It was part of a dress that was really, really beautiful, but I don’t like layering it with anything else I have, and… um. I’m not comfortable showing cleavage, yet. At all.”

   “Can I try it on real quick?” Elena asked. “Yeah, cleavage is hard to get used to— Mom and I’ve been over that a lot. We clipped out these two different magazine article guides on it, they’re up beside my mirror at home. My comfort zone goes as far as showing two inches, right now—and that’s like, only even a recent thing. Don’t ever feel pressured to show off more than you’re okay with. Damn, are you sure about this, though? Tabby, this is a really nice top.”

   “Try it on, please,” Tabitha nodded. “I want you to have it, if it fits. I’m glad we made it, but it wasn’t ever really me. It’d be really cool if it works with your kitty-cat costume.”

   “I think it will,” Elena stepped in front of the mirror and held the slinky garment up in front of herself. “Probably? Tabitha—thank you so much, this is amazing.”

   Slipping out of the bedroom and closing the door to give Elena privacy to change, Tabitha walked back down the hallway towards the living room with a faint smile. It was silly, but it felt good giving Elena the black blouse, like there would be a bit of visible solidarity between the three girls in wearing them. Would it be super weird if we all wore them to school on the same day, or… just together sometime, so we could get a picture of us all looking fancy?

   The living room was still a madhouse of activity—both her parents and Grandma Laurie were at the table with Mrs. Brooks and Mrs. Seelbaugh, while Alicia and the boys had pushed aside the coffee table and were crowded together in front of the TV amongst their heaping piles of candy.

   “Everything okay, Sweetie?” Mr. Moore called over.

   “Uh-huh,” Tabitha nodded. “Who ended up having the most candy?”

   “I did,” Grandma Laurie joked. “All of the boys candy is goin’ right to me.”

   “Is not!” Joshua took the bait, sounding horrified.

   “I won—I had the most,” Aiden boasted proudly. “By thirty-two pieces. Way ahead of Sam.”

   “Good job, Aiden,” Tabitha praised, feeling a little surprised. Isn’t a thirty-two piece lead several handfuls of candy? They all went to the same doors! “How do you feel about sharing with your brothers?”

   Their side of the room went quiet, and each of the cousins—still with ridiculous smudged South Park eyes drawn across their entire faces—regarded each other with solemn looks.

   “You’re all a team,” Tabitha explained, grabbing her own bulging bag of candy off of the counter. “You’re my team. If all four of you boys put your candy together in one big pile, for all of you to share together… I’ll add my haul in with yours. I don’t want any candy for myself.”

   “It’s Halloween,” Alicia protested, pulling three lollipops at once out of her mouth so that she could speak clearly. “You’re not allowed to have no candy. You have to have at least something. It’s the law.”

   “That is the law, I’m afraid,” Grandma Laurie agreed with a smile. “Rules are rules!”

   “It’s a Kentucky state statute, I believe,” Mrs. Seelbaugh joined in with a wink.

   “We’ll do it,” Sam said with conviction, already pushing and shoving his rather enormous pile of candy across the carpet into the middle. All at once the other three cousins began nudging and tossing their piles to join the heap.

   “You say, ‘we accept your proposal,’” Alicia chimed in. “But you do have to have a piece.”

   “We accept your proposal,” the four cousins said in a chipper chorus, marveling at how huge the single mound of Halloween candy had become.

   “I’m trying not to eat too much sugar,” Tabitha protested weakly, looking around at all of the expectant faces.

   “It’s Halloween, Sweetie,” Mr. Moore said. “I’m sorry—but, the law is what it is.”

   I don’t think I’ve had any candy in… what, years? Tabitha thought to herself, reluctantly peeking inside the heavy bag. Since well before the stomach ulcers…

   With no small amount of bashful excitement, she picked out the best thing she spotted— the bright orange wrapper of a pair of large Reeses peanut butter cups, and then passed the rest of her candy to the neary Joshua. He gleefully poured it out in a rush atop their collected pile, and all four boys marvelled at the sheer size of the thing. It was enormous, almost a foot and a half high and with a large, spread-out base made up of hundreds upon hundreds of different colors of wrapped treats.

   “You’re all gonna get diabetes,” Grandma Laurie sighed, getting up out of her chair. “Well come on, then, boys. Gather ‘round behind it for a picture.”

   “What’d you pick?” Mrs. Seelbaugh asked, sending Tabitha a curious look.

   “Reeses,” Tabitha said. “Um. Mom, if I have one of these cups... would you want the other one?”

   “Aww, Tabitha,” Mrs. Moore looked moved by her offer. “I’d love that!”

   “Are those tears I see, Shannon?” Mrs. Seelbaugh teased.

   “It’s true,” Mrs. Moore theatrically wiped away some moisture with her fingertips. “I really do just love Reeses that much.”

   “Uh-huh,” Mr. Moore rolled his eyes.

   Tabitha had just begun to tear open the orange packaging when Elena stepped out of her room and pranced down the hallway with an enormous smile. She was still wearing the cat-eared headband, and unlike the boys had managed to keep her face-paint from smudging—but, the black blouse she was wearing now looked incredible, and when replacing her previous long-sleeved shirt it added a certain sexy elegance to her entire look. It was low-cut enough to show cleavage, but on Elena’s taller figure it seemed to work. The lines of what had once been a rather sexy party dress were embroidered with a lace pattern, which continued across the mesh of her shoulders and back where the garment was mostly see-through.

   “Well—what do you think?” Elena asked, stepping out and giving a twirl to show it off.    

   “Ooh la la,” Mrs. Brooks laughed. “It’s lovely—is this another one of Tabitha’s?”

   “I helped a little with that one!” Grandma Laurie called over.

   “She did most of the work,” Tabitha corrected with a smile. “I was the one who only helped a little.”

   “I like it, it looks great,” Mrs. Moore decided. “Daring, but not distasteful. It looks good on you, Miss Elena.”

   “Thank you!” Elena beamed, turning to Alicia and the boys. “What do you think?”

   “It looks really good,” Sam said politely, trying not so stare.

   “It’s cool!” Nick offered.

   “Cool,” Joshua agreed.

   “Me-ow,” Alicia growled, in playful imitation of the recent Austin Powers movie from last year.

   “It’s... alright,” Aiden tried to sound unimpressed, but his eyes had gone a little too wide at the sight.

   “Oooh, Aiden’s got the hots for Elena?!” Alicia blurted out in mock-surprise. “How scandalous!”

   “It does show a lot of neck, though…” Mrs. Seelbaugh leaned forward with a thoughtful look. “I think you need a necklace to go with it—or, maybe a matching choker?”

   “A cat collar with a little bell!” Alicia proposed. “Maybe we can find one that fits?”

   “Ooh, kitty collar, that’s a really good idea,” Elena said with an appreciative nod. “I think I have a thin little belt at home that could work if I cut it shorter—then, just slip on a bell, I guess?”

   “Sure, that’ll work. But… c’mon, Elena,” Alicia smirked. “Don’t keep us in suspense. Did Tabs say yes, or did she say no?”

   “She said yes,” Elena grinned.

   “To the big sleepover tonight—or to the big party tomorrow?” Mrs. Seelbaugh asked for clarification.

   Was everyone here in on this?! Tabitha couldn’t help but give them incredulous looks.

   “Oh, right!” Elena seemed to remember, twisting to face Tabitha. “Would you want to—”

   “Yes,” Tabitha said, carefully sliding out one of the peanut butter cups and passing it to her mother. “—Yes, please!”

   “Yes, pleeeaase!” The four cousins called out, instead of saying cheeeese from where they were posing for a picture huddled together—and almost obscured behind—the gigantic pile of candy.

   “Good, good,” Mrs. Brooks said with a pleased nod. “We hoped you’d say yes—we went and hid Alicia’s sleeping bag and things right outside the door there.”

   “Cool!” Joshua said.

   “Hah, well I don’t think you any of you boys are invited,” Grandma Laurie laughed. She took the first picture with a flash of light, and then stooped down lower for one with an even better angle. “I think it’s a girls only slumber party.”

   “Yeah—no icky boys allowed!” Alicia said, wrinkling her nose at the nearby Aiden.

   “I’m not icky,” Aiden protested. 

   “You’re a little icky,” Alicia compromised.

   “Whose idea was it, to have slumber party?” Tabitha asked in bewilderment, looking from Elena to Alicia.

   To her surprise, both of her friends turned their grins towards the table of adults, and from there Mrs. Brooks and Mrs. Seelbaugh turned to pointedly look over at— 

   “...Mom?” Tabitha felt absolutely stunned.

   “Happy Halloween, Sweetie,” Mrs. Moore said quietly, and there was a sparkle she’d never seen before in her eye as she took a bite of her peanut butter cup.

   “Happy Halloween, Mom,” Tabitha said, feeling her eyes betray her and tear up again— they’d been doing that too damned often, lately. “Happy Halloween, everyone.”

   “Happy Halloween, Honey,” her father said softly.

   “Happy Halloween!” Grandma Laurie exclaimed.

   Tabitha slowly—tentatively—put her own Reeses cup to her lips and then bit into it, experiencing sweet chocolate and rich peanut butter for the first time in more years than she could count. It should have been a guilty pleasure… but it didn’t feel like one, not anymore. Instead, it was the most delicious-tasting thing she’d ever had in either of her lives, and as she took a spot on the floor next to Alicia to sit down, tears rolled down her cheeks.

  “Wow,” Mrs. Seelbaugh remarked. “You Moore ladies sure do love Reeses, huh?”

   “Really?” Elena said, crouching down to open up her bag of candy. “They’re alright. Actually, if you’ll trade a Snickers for each—wait, Tabitha! What happ—why are you crying?!” 

( 23, Trick-or-treating with everyone. | RE: Trailer Trash | Next, 5 pt 2 )

/// Don't know that I can keep all of this as is without messing up the pacing before the big climax. It's therapeutic fluff-piece right now, because things've gotten pretty rough here for me. My own mother's birthday is on Halloween, so having the real start of Mrs. Moore's first meaningful maternal connection to Tabitha here is more for personal catharsis. It's written for me, I could probably trim it off so that this isn't quite as meandering for everyone else.

Before, it should have felt like a lot of people Tabitha met along the way were helping her out behind the scenes. This one was trying to convey them really coming together for her openly and directly. Which I had to do here, to some extent, because everything's about to go wrong in a bunch of big ways.

Either 18 and Up, or the start of AH Part 9 next. Might take me a couple days.