I wish they all could be California girls—The Beach Boys

Best part about California, Helena was sure, were the girls.  They all had tans—and not the “I just came from the tanning booth” types, but the healthy, beach-y, types.  They were all so beautiful, especially here in L.A.  Her biggest hobby since moving to L.A. for college four years ago was watching women.

California also brought Helena her first real friends, Alice and Shane.

Other than the women and he friends, it was a chance to grow closer to her mother.  Their relationship was beyond strained and would continue to be as Helena moved in with her mother full time while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Film Studies.  Helena wasn’t exactly the daughter her mother had wanted.  Though she liked art, she wasn’t as in love with it as her mother would like.  She was a free spirit, going any way the wind blew her.  Not that this wasn’t a good attribute, but this combined with the money Helena was known for spending, made Helena a liability to her own family.

My mom says she loves me, but I don’t think it’s love ‘cause she only loves me when I act just like she does and that’s emotional blackmail—Team Dresch

“The Rebel Child” and “The Petulant Nitwit” were her mother’s favorite ways to refer to her.

She would have preferred staying in London with her father is she knew she would be insulted.  That was the problem with California.  Everyone was like her mother—mean spirited.

Living in California could sometimes be like living with a beautiful woman who has a constant headache.

She was a recent graduate, preferring to spend her summer lazing about and moving into with Alice, rather than think about the upcoming year she would spend in grad school at USC.

“Why can’t you come to the benefit?  I don’t think I can stand a whole night with my mother and her cronies…”  Helena groaned into the phone, while hoisting herself onto the island in the kitchen.

“I have to get the apartment situated before you move in!  I have all my shit in the room that’ll be yours.  Besides, I always feel out of place at those kinds of things.”