CHAPTER ZERO
pre-grease

Sandy and Roxy Olsson have moved from Sydney, Australia over the summer. Roxy didn't really know why, their father's lame excuse was, "There was a change of plans."

Sandy was upset about it since she loved her old school and friends, but Roxy was undecided. She wasn't one to make friends, really. She was always hot-headed, unlike her sister, and usually got into arguments and fights back at her old school. Sometimes, Roxy thinks that maybe that was the reason they moved. Everyone disliked Roxy.

"You catch more flies with honey," her mother, Elisa, would say. Roxy would roll her eyes and walk out of their mansion in Australia, trying to find some trouble around the posh parts of town. Her life was boring, she thought, that's why she would stay out late and mess around with some of the town outcasts. Much to her family's dismay.

As of now, the family was settling into their nice, pale yellow house in Venice, Los Angeles in California. Roxy had her hair styled in small, soft curls and the hair that framed her face were pulled back and pinned behind her head with a pearl barrette.

"Why is your hair like that?" Her mother asked when she stepped into her barren room. The walls were colored a pale yellow like the outside of the house and the windows had lace curtains that hang from the top to cascade down the sides.

"What do you mean?" Roxy asked as she looked back at her reflection in her vanity mirror. She turned her head to the side then to the other to examine it.

"Your curls should be bigger, and pinned up," her mother pointed at Roxy's hair. "Or just bigger in general, like mine."

Roxy glanced at her mother's voluminous hair and just stood up. "Is there a reason you came into my room?"

"Actually, yes," Roxy's mother nodded. "We need some boxes for Sandy's shoes and clothes that don't fit into her closet." Roxy rolled her eyes at this. Of course they didn't fit, there were too many.

"And?" Roxy folded her arms over her silk robe-clad chest.

"And we need you to go down to Bargain City to pick some up," her mother said, handing Roxy a five-dollar bill. "Would this cover five of those?"

"Yes," Roxy looked at the bill. And two packs of cigarettes. "Just barely."

"Good," her mother turned to leave but stopped and turned around to point at her daughter. "And put on a dress."

Roxy watched her mother leave to untie her robe. She grabbed a pair of high-waisted, light blue shorts and a pale yellow checkered blouse with no sleeves. She tied the blouse right under her breasts and slipped on some dainty tennis shoes her mother insisted she got.

She slipped the five dollar bill into her bra and stepped outside her room and shut the door. Sandy walked up the stairs with her hands holding the front of her mint green dress up. Sandy stopped walking when she saw her sister.

"Roxy," Sandy looked at her sister's outfit. "You look... daring."

"And you look posh," Roxy snapped. Sandy recoiled at her sister's outburst, but Roxy took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. You look nice."

"Thank you," Sandy bowed her head respectfully. Roxy scrunched her nose at her action. It's not like she was the Queen of England. "I'm also sorry for being rude."

"It's okay," Roxy nodded. Once Sandy didn't say anything, Roxy walked past her to go down the stairs.

"Roxanne," Sandy called out to her. Roxy stopped at one of the top steps to look back up at Sandy who was leaning over the railing.

"Yeah?"

"Where are you going?" Sandy asked. Roxy considered lying to her since Bargain City isn't really her scene. Besides, some of the guys that hang around there would rip her dress for the hell of it.

"Bargain City," Roxy responded. She started going down the steps again, only stepping on one when Sandy spoke again.

"Mind if I tag along?" Roxy looked up again at her sister's pleading eyes.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Roxy said. "Isn't Dad's boss coming over for tea soon?"

"Well, yes..." Sandy tilted her head.

"Well, then, you should be there," Roxy said, walking down the steps and finally making it down to the foyer.

"What about you?" Sandy asked. Roxy had her hand on the door knob, ready to leave.

"I'm gonna be out," Roxy said plainly.

"Could I come too?" Sandy came running down the steps and her hand trailed behind her on the railing.

"Whatever," Roxy rolled her eyes and opened the door. Sandy smiled widely as she followed her older sister out. The two girls got into their father's blue Cadillac and Roxy turned the key, making the engine rumble to life. She whipped her head back and pulled out of the driveway and took note of the surrounding houses and how they all looked the same.

"This is so exciting," Sandy smiled at her sister. Roxy raised her brows and gave Sandy a tight smile before turning back to the road in front of her and speeding off.

The pair arrived at Bargain City not long after they left home. Sandy tried to make conversation with her sister, but all the responses she got from Roxy were either one worded or just a look from her. Roxy and Sandy's relationship wasn't bad, it just wasn't there. Roxy never made the effort to talk to her sister since middle school, or the beginning of secondary school in Australia. That was when Roxy really figured herself out and that's when she became quiet and reserved and the seeker of trouble in the family. Sandy was the opposite. She was the same before as she is now.

Maybe that's why Roxy didn't try to talk to her. Maybe it's because she just couldn't relate to her at all. No, it was definitely her snobby voice and her overenthusiasm. Or maybe it was the way she dressed. No, Roxy isn't that shallow.

Roxy turned the engine off and pocketed her keys in her pocket and walked into the shabby store, not waiting for her sister. When she opened the door, she expected to be met with a gush of cold air since stores always crank the air conditioning in the summer. But the temperature inside was almost the same as the hundred degree weather outside, only a few degrees less maybe.

The man at the counter had a cigarette settled between his chapped lips and he scratched his beard as he read the newspaper. He had a camo baseball hat on and a dirty white t-shirt that had obvious sweatmarks.

"'Scuse me," Roxy walked up to the glass display case with cheap jewelry that also doubled for the counter. The man looked up at her from his paper and eyes her before his eyes settled back on her face.

"What?" He asked in a gruff voice.

"Do you know where I could find packing boxes? Y'know the cardboard ones?" Roxy asked, leaning on the counter. A crash sounded from behind her and she turned to see Sandy looking down at a bottle of Coke that shattered at her feet. She sheepishly looked up and Roxy shook her head.

"Do you know her?" The man pointed to Sandy.

"Never seen her in my life, sir," Roxy looked back at the man. He use huffed out a sigh and Roxy could smell the cigarettes and liquor lingering on his breath.

"The boxes are out back. You can pick 'em and bring 'em back here. Nickie should be able to help." The man folded her newspaper back and got out a mop to clean the mess Sandy made.

"Nickie?" Roxy cocked a brow. The man nodded and pointed to the back door to her left.

"Yeah, just out there," he said as he hopped off his stool and wobbled over to the mess on the ground my Sandy and her poofy mint green dress.

"I'm so sorry, sir, there were just too many things in the way," Sandy apologized. Roxy slowly made her way over to the dirtied, ajar door. She looked around the store and silently agreed with her sister. There were probably only four aisles and the metal shelves were packed tightly with random stuff that some overflowed and some were laying on the ground.

Roxy left the two to converse as she opened the door. Outside was a large asphalt area where trucks would come and unload. A dumpster was to her right and a giant pile of cardboard boxes were to her left. Behind the store was a train track and a huge palm tree was growing in front of the fence that surrounded the train tracks.

Roxy had enough of seeing the back of this place and moved to the pile of boxes to pick five. She grabbed the first one and stacked two more on top of it so that is covered her whole upper body. She grumbled under her breath a string of profanities. Where was this 'Nickie' that the manager guy was talking about? Guess she needs to do two trips.

Roxy stepped back and turned to go back in, but she rammed into something that made her boxes fall everywhere.

"Shit!" She yelped. She looked at her boxes on the floor with her arms wide in surprise. She saw a pair of black leather boots standing right in front of her. Her eyes trailed up and the guy was wearing blue jeans and a beige t-shirt under a leather jacket. The guy looked to be about her age, maybe a year older, with a light brown, exaggerated elephant's trunk hairstyle. A cigarette was tucked behind his ear while one was between his lips. His deep blue eyes looked at Roxy with annoyance.

But not as much annoyance did Roxy have for him.

"What the hell?" She practically yelled at the boy.

"What?" The boy asked with his hands out in exasperation.

"When did you teleport here?" Roxy asked rhetorically as she started to pick her boxes up.

"I work here, sweetcheeks," the boy said under his breath as he bent down to pick up the rest of the boxes that fell out of Roxy's arms. "You need help?"

"You're about two seconds too late, James Dean," Roxy said quickly as she stacked her boxes again.

"Well, I'm here now," the boy said.

"Hallelujah," Roxy mumbled as she brushed past the boy in anger to bring the boxes back to the front. She kicked the door open with her foot and walked inside, setting the boxes down by the counter to go back outside for more. The boy watched her come back outside and pick up two boxes and started to carry them inside. Roxy stopped and backed up a bit, looking at the cigarette he was smoking. She yanked it out of his lips and stuck it between hers with one hand and walked back inside.

The man was back at the counter and Sandy was outside, waiting by the car impatiently.

"What's the damage?" Roxy asked, flipping through her dollar bills.

"Fourteen cents," the man said as she calculated the number of boxes on his big calculator. "Did good 'ol Nick help ya?"

"Is he supposed to be helpful?" Roxy raised her brows and set a bill on the counter. The man grabbed it and punched in some more numbers. He opened his money box and grabbed the change back.

"Yep," he responded. He gave Roxy her change.

"Yeah, I don't think he's in today," Roxy said. She knew that the boy outside was 'Nickie', but she was going to make his day miserable. He didn't really do anything wrong, but Roxy gets annoyed easily.

"Huh," the man said as Roxy pocketed her money.

"Thanks," Roxy said, stacking her boxes and walking out. The man helped with the other two and she loaded the boxes into the back seat.

"Roxanne, there you are," Sandy said when her sister walked out. "I've been waiting out in this hot sun forever now."

"Go to the beach or somethin', I don't know, just quit yappin' my ear off," Roxy rolled her eyes and finished the cigarette she stole from Nickie and threw it onto the ground, not bothering to put it out.

"Thank you..." Roxy turned to the man who was looking at Sandy.

"Darrell," he said as Roxy turned the key in the ignition. "I thought you said that you don't know her?"

"Trust me, Darrell, I really don't," Roxy put her sunglasses from the cup holder on and smirked up at the man as she rode off with her sister and boxes.

UNEDITED

Thanks for reading :)