Polar opposites [Jess Air]

[Yvonne Olzon]

Yvonne pushed the door to her room open with her elbow, both her hands preoccupied with keeping her bag from catching on her dress, as well as simply holding it above the ground. She struggled over to one of the beds, and dropped it on the mattress, wiping her sweaty hands on her dress. Despite the effort of carrying the heavy bags, she had had the presence of mind to pick the bed furthest from the door; she also noticed that it was covered with what appeared to be teddy bears. Raising an eyebrow, she lifted a Winnie The Pooh bear from her pillow, collected the rest, and carefully placed them on the floor by the next bed along.
That was when she noticed that a blonde girl was lying on the bed by the door, her head buried in an enormous pile of fluffy toys. Presumably, she was the owner of Winnie and the rest. Yvonne subjected her to analysis: skinny, blonde. Wearing ridiculously large clothes that hung off her body like curtains. Yvonne's own hand unconsciously smoothed the fabric of her favourite black dress; it was made of cotton, reached to a jagged hem around her knees, and it hugged her slender figure in the most flattering way possible.
Turning away from her, Yvonne opened her suitcase, contemplated unpacking now, dismissed the idea, and decided to rest. She pulled out her iPod, fixed the headphones in her ears, and turned it on at full volume. She sat on the bed, pulled off her boots, and swung her legs up, wrapping her arms around them and resting her head back against the wall. Her iPod was blaring straight into her ears, and for a while, she closed her eyes, relaxing and enjoying the serenity in the room while it lasted. Hopefully, the blonde wouldn't notice her presence for a while. The journey had tired Yvonne out enough, and she didn't want to cope with an over-welcoming roommate just yet. Or ever, really.

[Jessica Air]

Jessica had just been weighed for the first time since arriving at St. Dympha's. She'd only been there a day, and apparently she was going to be weighed three times a week for a while, until she 'reached an acceptable weight'. Despite trying not to go, by hiding in the dance studio, they'd sent security to find her and quite literally dragged her to the medical room when she refused to go. She hated this place. Deciding to go back to her dorm, so she could spend some time buried under her duvet. Preferably crying. She estimated that she had about an hour before she had to go to dinner, and although that time would be best spent practicing at the barre in the corner of their room, she wanted some comforting, non-exercising time. Plus, she wasn't technically allowed to exercise, and had been told that breaking that rule would mean extra calories. Jess wasn't usually one to listen to stupid rules like that, but the thought of any extra food today made her feel sick. She'd managed to see her weight (they'd tried to hide it), and she was six stone three pounds. That meant she'd already gained a pound since arriving here.

Resting her head, face-down, in the comforting, outstretched arms of an over sized Curious George, she curled her legs up. How was she ever going to dance now? She wasn't going to be able to wear a leotard in front of anyone, ever again. Which meant that she wouldn't be able to dance; her teacher, when she had turned up to class wearing her usual, baggy clothes, had told her that was 'inappropriate' and she was to wear what the others did. Jessica sighed. It was a pity. She liked dancing. But there were guys in her class, and she didn't want anyone to see the disgusting fat on her legs and stomach.

Deciding that she'd put her leotard on, just so she could see how bad it looked, she stood up slowly. It took her until she had reached her wardrobe to notice that there was another person in the room. Literally jumping backwards, she stared. How had she not processed that? And what had happened to all her cuddly toys? They were all on the floor! Glaring at the intruder, she noticed that there were bags on the bed. Oh, no way did she have a roommate. Her roommate had to be a dancer, and she was the only female dancer here! As the thoughts passed through her head, she noticed the way the girl held herself; her shoulders back, and her head high. Maybe she just had good posture, rather than actually being a dancer? Jess hoped so.

" Um, who the hell are you, and why are you in my room? " Crossing the room angrily, she picked up the teddy bears and pushed them straight back onto the bed, managing to push one of the bags off at the same time. Ten points. And damnit, why hadn't she noticed that the girl had an iPod in? Jessica physically pulled the headphones from the other girls ears, and repeated her question. Hoping that the girl wasn't planning on killing her for that, she kept glaring, taking a step or two back.

[Yvonne Olzon]

The girl was crying, Yvonne noticed when she opened one eye. She shut it again hastily. The last thing she needed was an over-emotional girl crying all over her nice dress. She turned her head away, turned up the music so the sounds of Tristania surely drifted into the room from around her headphones, and lay silent again. She hoped this school's dance teachers were competent. At her old school, all the students had been placed in one group and taught according to the lowest skill level. Luckily, she'd had other lessons, mostly private. Here, she hoped, she'd be able to make full use of the ballet studio's she'd glimpsed briefly on her way in. Once she'd got her energy back, that was.

Again, she debated unpacking, and again, she rejected the idea. It wasn't worth it. She could unpack as and when she needed things, not all at the same time. Yvonne flicked the track over on her iPod, checked the girl was still immersed in self-pity, and went back to her semi-conscious state. The girl was deal with it herself. Yvonne stretched, a graceful, cat-like movement, fluidly reaching her arms up over her head, interlinked her fingers and pushed her shoulders back, relaxing smoothly into her previous position after a couple of seconds like that, her pale hazel eyes still closed.

A voice cut through the haze of music, but she couldn't work out what it said. It sounded angry. Yvonne opened one eye lazily. The cuddly toys appeared to have got back on her bed. One of her bags appeared to have got off. Then hands ripped her headphones out of her ears, and a shrill voice demanded who she was and what she was doing in its room. Yvonne opened her other eye to see the blonde, glaring down at her from a few steps away. She scowled. Painstakingly, she turned off her iPod, collected her headphones and coiled them up, placing them on the bed beside her. She then swept the teddies off her bed once again and picked up her bag, placing it on the bed before standing up calmly. She stood an inch or two taller than the other girl, who was far skinnier than she had first realised. "I'm Yvonne. I take it you're my roommate? A word of advice: keep your little petting zoo to yourself, sugar. I don't want teddies all over my bed."

[Jessica Air]

Jessica watched through narrowed eyes as her roommate pushed her teddies off the bed, picking up her bag and dumping it on the bed. ' God, what a bitch. ' It was about two minutes into their relationship and already, she could tell that the girl - Yvonne, apparently - was evil. Totally, completely evil. Her dress... Ragged, cut hem, like old frayed material. Short. Black. Black was a good color - slimming - but only when combined with something else. For example, her own outfit. Despite being grossly overweight, she could still put beautiful outfits together. She was wearing a black jumper, cotton, fairly tight, with faded blue jeans and a bright red belt. It was simple, cost only a few hundred dollars, and would have been stunning if she was skinnier.

Appraising the dress again, Jessica wondered if anything could be done to save this girl from the hell that was teenage Goth wannabes. She wasn't sure. Smiling to herself at the thought of offering salvation in the form of fashion tips, she felt herself relax a little. It'd be fun to give her roommate a makeover, if Yvonne allowed her to. As the girl stood up, she realized that it was unlikely that she could force her to do anything - like makeovers - if she was against it.

Scowling at the rude words, she almost didn't offer Yvonne her services. As a fashion and make-up artist, of course, not as a prostitute. But... Was she being threatened there? ' A word of advice: keep your little petting zoo to yourself. ' Jess glared viciously at the last word in that sentence, 'sugar'. A cute nickname it was not. It was evil. Eviler than her roommates outfit. " Um, this is my room, so it's up to me where I put my stuff. And... You have awful clothes. Sit down at my dresser. " Bundling up all the toys again, she dumped them on the bed and crossed the room, to the dressing table beside her bed.

Glancing between her roommate and the various shades of make-up, she hummed happily as she picked out various colors; deep red lipstick, maybe with multi-colored eyeshadow? Not like, orange and green, but maybe blue and black...smudged together of course. Before this other stupid dancer had come along, she'd been the only one in the school. At least she was still the only one that was actually good with fashion in the school. There was just that Laura before, who had no idea what mascara was, she was sure, and some guys. Not that she was judging the guys, or anything. Their choice if they wanted to be freaks and use makeup.

[Yvonne Olzon]

The girl seemed to be analysing Yvonne's clothes now. She lifted an eyebrow at Jess' critical expression. This, coming from the girl who was wearing clothes that looked about four sizes too big, must have cost about a hundred dollars each, and didn't exactly flatter her complexion. Yvonne could see how the rest of her time at this school would go. She'd been wrong about one thing, though- the over-welcoming roomie. Not quite. Lucky her.

Yvonne still glared down at the other girl as she was looked from head to toe, wondering when one of them would speak. Or would they just stand here for a while then go back to what they were doing? Yvonne sorely hoped so. She was bored of this girl already, with her shrill, whining voice and idiotically baggy clothes. Brushing her hair out of her eyes, Yvonne purred, sweet as honey, "Ok, sug. Some day, you're going to have to sit down or your spine might snap, so I suggest you start now."

Her next words had Yvonne choking with laughter. "My clothes are awful? I'm not the one wearing clothes that look like they've been made to fit an obese cow, girl. I'd rather not let you give me a makeover, if it's all the same. I don't want people thinking I'm incapable of reading clothes sizes."

She smiled sweetly at the girl, then turned and sat down again, curling her legs up to her chest and fixing Jess with an intense glare from under long, black lashes. If this bitch thought she was giving Yvonne a makeover, she was... well, exactly where she belonged. In the mental hospital.

Poor girl didn't look like she'd eaten in months, Yvonne mused. How did she stand it? She herself was always moody when she hadn't eaten. Wasn't Jess constantly moody? Well, Yvonne knew the answer to that already, apparently.

[Jessica Air]

That bitch. Jessica fiddled with the lipstick she was holding, twisting it up and down. She blinked a few times, trying to contain the tears that were on the verge of falling down her cheeks. Yvonne would just laugh at her if she started crying, probably. Or say something mean, again. Keeping her head bent, she put the lipstick back on the dresser, avoiding looking into the mirror. She didn't want to see herself.

An obese cow? She hadn't thought she looked that fat. Or did she? She looked down at her jeans and winced. Maybe she did. How had she missed that before? She'd thought obese human, maybe an incredibly obese human. But not a cow! Jessica began to fiddle with her hair, untangling the few knots she could find with her fingers. There had been a long pause, and she was desperately trying to think of something to say. But what did you say in this situation?

Casually, she wiped her eyes, hoping that the movement wasn't too obvious. She felt sick. Although Jessica had known that she looked disgusting - six stone three pounds was disgusting - she had no idea how to respond to someone saying it to her face. When she had been at the (other) psychiatric hospital, a few kids had seemed to enjoy pointing it out to her and making her cry. She was grateful that some people told the truth, but part of her had still felt humiliated.

Sitting up straighter, she turned slightly so she was facing away from Yvonne and tried to control her voice. " Whatever. What are you here for? " Relieved that her voice wasn't shaking too much, Jessica began to open and close the drawers in front of her, re-arranging the contents. Maybe she should just leave... It'd be embarrassing later on, coming back into the room, but the idea of a few hours hiding in peace was tempting. No; why should she leave? This was her room, after all. But how could she get the girl to leave? They were around the same height, and Jess didn't relish the idea of a physical fight. They never seemed to go very well.

Maybe she should just try and scare Yvonne? That could work. With her back still turned away from her roommate - until she could get rid of her - Jessica spoke again, doing her best to sound bored. " I'm here 'cause...um, I'm... " Damnit. Maybe she should have planned what she was going to say before she started speaking. " I'm here because I'm sadistic! " That was scary enough. Wait, unless sadistic was the one where you liked pain... Jess frowned. She was reasonably sure that sadistic meant that you got turned on by causing pain. She hoped so, anyway.

[Yvonne Olzon]

Yvonne watched her curiously as Jess turned away, suddenly intensely interested in her lipstick. She looked like she might be crying. No way, Yvonne thought. No way was she crying. Determinedly ignoring the girl crying in the corner, Yvonne pulled the slides out of her hair, allowing it to fall down from it's position piled on her head so it fell down around her shoulders, and combed it through with her fingers. Now both of them were fiddling with their hair. Her hairbrush was at the bottom of her bag, of course. Sighing, she picked up her bag and pulled out one of her dresses. She hung it up in the wardrobe, and took out the next one. And the one after that, which was followed by jeans, boots, and various items of clothing. Steadily, she worked her way through the bag to her toiletries, where she found her hairbrush and proceeded to give her hair a thorough going-though.

She still seemed to be crying by the dresser. Still? Yvonne dropped her hairbrush on the bed beside her and frowned. It was her first day. How had she managed it? This had to be a new record for her. Oh, well. It didn't matter. At least she'd made an impression. Jess spoke to her, and she seemed to have mostly recovered from her little hormonal outburst. "Conduct disorder," before she could inquire about Jess, she was told. Sadism? That wouldn't have been Yvonne's first guess. Anorexia, she was fairly certain about. Jess didn't need to point that one out to her. But sadism? "Really." She drawled, dropping any faintest pretense of interest she might have had before. Not that she'd been trying, but you never knew how thick some people could be.

[Jessica Air]

Jess watched out of the corner of her eye as Yvonne unpacked, like she was staying her or something. She decided not to make a fuss. Yet. There'd be plenty of time to sneakily move her roommates stuff out, later. Throwing it all away would get the message through, wouldn't it? She smiled at the idea, wiping her eyes again, casually. She wasn't crying, no. She just had something in her eye. Or was allergic to idiot roommates. The second was much more likely.

Conduct disorder? What the hell was that? Sounded...weird. Jess debated asking. She'd sound like an idiot, for sure, but then she'd know if it meant Yvonne was a sociopath or something. Which would be useful to know. So she could demand a room change. There was no way she was rooming with a murderer or something! Standing up, she turned around and stared. " So... What the hell does that mean? You aren't a murderer or anything, are you? " She tried to sound casual, but didn't think it had worked. For one thing, her voice was slightly higher than usual, and she also appeared to be edging away slightly. Jessica forced herself to stop backing away, standing up straight by her dresser.

She ignored Yvonne's less-than-enthusiastic response to her revelation of having sadism. She was probably terrified, but hiding it, somehow. Maybe she was an actress? No, she had to be a dancer; all the different types of 'talent' - with a smirk at Yvonne - shared. Did that mean this girl was a dancer? She tightened her lips. If she did ballet, Jess would have to murder her. She was used to being the only one at school that did that. Everyone had admired her for it. It was nice. " So, what dance do you do? I do ballet. "