Chapter 12

Carmen sat among the gang at the Planet. She had no idea how she became part of them. Apparently Alice had told the rest about her and they were all curious to see the girl who nearly sparked a fight between Shane and Valeska. During the first few days, she just sat there, feeling a little bit like an outsider because all of them shared such a close bond. Then gradually, she had opened up to the girls who were so warm and friendly towards her. Before long, drinking coffee at the Planet had become part of her daily morning routine. Her relationship with Shane had been at a standstill and perhaps that was for the best too. Sometimes, she would think about it and the term ‘friends’ seemed too inadequate a term to describe their relationship. The more she thought about it, the more tired and confused she would get. Just listen to Alice and let things work themselves out, Carmen told herself. Today, Jenny was talking on the phone while Alice and Dana were engaged in some lovey-dovey talk. Just when she started munching on her muffin, Shane slid into her seat with languid grace.

“Hey famous,” “What?” Alice started flipping through the pages of a magazine and started reading. “Dammit Alice….” Shane groaned and pressed her hands to her head. “Shane McCutcheon is an up-and-coming hairdresser. You may not recognise her name but she is responsible for the hair of Carla Simpson on the popular teen drama the…” “God Alice stop!” Shane reached over and snatched the magazine from her. She looked around and seemed relieved that no one from the other tables had heard what Alice said. She stuffed the magazine under the table, took a peek and there was a grimace on her face.

“Can I take a look?” Shane passed the magazine to her and Jenny leaned over her shoulder to read the side article. Carmen couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride welling up inside her. She looked up and found Alice looking back and forth at Shane and her with a speculative look in her eyes. She flushed and handed the magazine back to Shane. “That’s great Shane. I feel happy for you,” Jenny said as she pushed her seat back and stood up. She made her way to Shane and ruffled her hair. “Carmen you wanna go?” “ Yeah…Ciao guys…work’s waiting,” Alice and Dana said their goodbyes to her and went back to whatever they were doing under the table. Shane lifted her shades. “Bye Carm…” Carmen turned back and waved to Shane. Carm was somewhat like Shane’s nickname for her. Normally Carmen hated people calling her anything other than her name, but coming from Shane’s mouth, it had sounded like an endearment.

Jenny and Carmen were walking towards their workplace which were situated in the same area when they walked past a newsstand. “Erm….Jenny I need to go buy something, why don’t you go first?” “Oh…sure,” she leaned in to give Carmen a hug. When she lost sight of Jenny, Carmen bought a copy of Style and put it inside her bag.

After a long, tiring day at work, she took out the magazine from her bag and cut the page where Shane’s article was. She smiled at the picture of Shane. Shane looked so uncomfortable there, as if she was in great distress being made to pose in front of the camera. Then she opened her drawer and carefully placed the cutting at the bottom.

The next few days were the same, morning coffee at the Planet and the same monotonous work at the TV studio with Carmen spending some nights clubbing with the girls and others sitting in front of her computer with her headphones on, listening to her mixes. Then one night, her handphone rang and she recognised the number as Jenny’s house. “Hello?” “Hey Carmen… this is Shane,” “Oh hi….” “Are you busy now?” “No….just lounging around..so what’s up?” “Are you free this weekend?” “Yeah…..why?” There was a long pregnant pause at the other end and for a moment Carmen thought the phone had disconnected on her or something.

“Urm….Shane?”

“Yeah….I….I’ve got something to tell you. You remembered I told you before that I didn’t know who my parents were?”  

“Yeah…..” Shane had only briefly mentioned it when Carmen had talked about her family.

“Well the social worker…she called ….erm..she’s the one who placed me in all the foster homes….and….” Carmen could hear Shane’s deep intake of breath and she could almost picture her struggling to come up with the words. “Apparently my….my mother saw the article….and she’s trying to find me….”