Hollywood, California, 1993. Saturday [06/22 FT].

While her fellow former students 26 years and the whole length of a country away were turning into horrific monsters that the brain could barely conceive of (and that she surely would have driven herself mad trying to capture in graphite on paper), Astrid Magnussen was finishing the ninth grade for the second time. She did incredibly well, considering. C in algebra, it was a mercy grade, they never give out D’s as final grades in honors classes. But with Claire’s nightly help, she got A’s in English and history, world art and biology, even Spanish. If she had asked her to go out for football, she would have done that too. To celebrate, Ron took them to Musso and Frank, a restaurant right on Hollywood Boulevard. She’d never noticed it before. Just down from the last apartment she lived in with her mother.

( Only good times now... )

[[ It's the end of June! I can post this now! And lots more to come! Cribbed from Chapter 17 of White Oleander by Janet Fitch. Mostly establishy, but should anyone want to take the chance to get in touch via calls or letters, please do! I've missed this girl. Stupid time-specific narrative gap! ]]