Paullina Simons: Tully

She locked herself in and looked around. Whether she needed to or not, Tully always made sure she visited the Mandolini bathroom at least once. Their entire house was neat and well kept, but the best, cleanest, prettiest, most organized room in the house was undoubtedly the bathroom. Spacious and gleaming, it had spotless white tiles with roses and daisies on them, an ivory white carpet, mirrors on all four walls, chrome taps, soft pink bulbs, blush-pink carnations, fresh-smelling towels and shower curtain. Unlike the Makker household, where everything in their gray bathroom smelled of diseased mildew, the Mandolini bathroom smelled not like seaweed but like the sea. Not that I have any idea what the sea smells like, thought Tully, looking in the mirror.

Her face was puffy. No amount of makeup, no matter how diligently applied, could hide that in the harsh light. She turned off the fluorescent and turned on the soft pink. Ah, that’s better, she thought. Now I just look a bit…fuzzy. Oh, well. She opened her big bag (Mary Poppins called hers a ‘carpetbag,’ but even Mary would’ve been surprised to find what lurked in Tully’s) and took out her makeup case. She put on another layer of cake powder, added another hue of black to her eyes; Tully liked her eyes, her eyes were all right. A shadow of all colors. Yes. Oh, but her dress! She couldn’t have looked more frumpy in Aunt Lena’s nightgown. She retrieved out of her bag a thin black polyester skirt, with a zipper at the front, a slit in the back, and a length of about ten inches.

She quickly slipped out of her skirt and shirt and tried to stuff them into her bag, but they were much too bulky, sort of like squeezing a brick through a keyhole, and so she ended up dropping them into the hamper.

‘Jule, I’m sorry, don’t be mad,’ Tom was saying in the meantime. ‘I can’t help it that she rubs me the wrong way.’

‘And what the hell did she mean about that twenty-one club anyway?’

‘I don’t know what she meant,’ Tom said.

‘What club was she talking about?’

‘Julie, how should I know? She’s got me mixed up with someone else. She knows a lot of men, believe me.’

‘How the hell do you know?’

Tom giggled awkwardly. ‘Julie! She’s got a re-pu -tation.’

‘How the hell do you know? What does that have to do with anything? And who are you? The Pope?’

‘Look,’ Tom said. ‘Everyone in school knows.’

Julie got up. ‘Tom, you’re gonna have to stop this. You’re gonna have to stop talking about Tully that way. As long as me and you are together, you’re just gonna have to be nice to her, just gonna have to.’

‘Why?’ he asked.

‘Because,’ Julie said, ‘I can always get another boyfriend.’

‘Oh, that’s delightful,’ Tom said. Julie became silent.

‘What is it, Tom? What is it? You have something personal against her, or what?’

‘Nothing personal,’ he said grumpily.

‘What is it?’

‘Don’t hound me,’ he snapped.

‘Go to hell,’ she snapped back, and walked out of the room.

Tully remained in the bathroom, with a long line of footballers lining up outside the door, knocking and muttering obscenities. To complement the black skirt, she put on black high-heeled pumps and a white short-sleeved T-shirt – plain, thin, no bra.

That’s me, thought Tully. That’s what I am. And when I die, that’s what will be on my tombstone. Plain, thin, no bra. The T-shirt was cut off at the navel, showing her young stomach. Some more red lipstick, some more black eyeliner, and she was set.

She strolled out of the bathroom, looked bemusedly at the herd of guys scrambling past her, and then stood against a wall. Lighting a cigarette, she scratched the inside of her bare thigh and smoked. A guy walked by and ogled. Another guy also ogled, until the girl with him pinched him hard; he walked on. A couple was walking up the stairs. The male gave Tully an appraising up-down. The female’s glare was less appraising, more abrasive. That girl didn’t even notice me before, thought Tully. I wasn’t properly dressed before. She smiled.

Tully must have looked good, judging by the reaction of the females; always, but always, she told herself, judge your appearance by the reaction of the females. The more derisive the look, the better Tully was attired. And I haven’t even danced yet, Tully thought gleefully.

She stubbed out her cigarette on her shoe and got out a piece of gum. Satisfied with herself, Tully was about to go downstairs in search of Jennifer when Julie stormed out of Jen’s bedroom with Tom behind her. Tully sighed.

Julie stopped near Tully and smiled. ‘Well, Tull,’ she said. ‘I’ll be damned. I shouldn’t be surprised, really.’

‘Surprised at what?’ asked Tully, ignoring Tom’s expression at the sight of her. He looked at her as if she were not the same person he had just insulted. Finally, she smiled an obnoxious smile at him and cracked her gum. ‘Mary Poppins bag to the rescue once again,’ she said to Julie. ‘Remind me to take my clothes out of Jen’s hamper before I go.’ She pulled out another Marlboro. ‘Julie, every day in school you see me metamorphose myself. Why are you looking at me as if I’m from Mars?’

‘Tully,’ said Julie, touching her friend’s upper arm, ‘like I said, I shouldn’t be surprised, but you never cease to amaze me.’ She rubbed some blush off Tully’s cheek. ‘Not too much metamorphosis, eh?’ she said.

‘Thank you, Julie,’ said Tully, moving ever so slightly away from Julie’s hand. ‘Earth to Tom, Earth to Tom,’ she said. He stood dumbfounded and deep red, obviously embarrassed by his own inability to stop staring at Tully’s breasts poking through the T-shirt.

Departing for the bathroom, Julie left Tom red-faced, self-conscious, and alone with Tully.

To talk at all seemed impossible – the music was loud and they would have to come close to each other. Tom would have to bend his head down to her mouth, and Tom looked as if the thought of coming closer to Tully were already rendering him insensible. But just to stand there and not talk seemed equally unpleasant, so Tully moved away from the wall and closer to him. He backed away, was stopped short by some guy right behind him. He looked to her as if he would burst. She stood on tiptoe until her mouth was an inch away from his ear and said, ‘I think you should grow up and not hold it against me anymore.’

Tom didn’t look at her. ‘I don’t hold anything against you,’ he said. ‘So when are you going to be eighteen?’ In January, she told him, and he said, ‘That’s nice!’

He didn’t hear me, thought Tully. He is not even listening. He has not stopped staring at my tits, and this really pisses him off.

Tully stopped trying. A misunderstanding between them – when any conversation was already so undesirable – was too much to take, so when Julie emerged from the bathroom, Tom rushed straight to her, and Tully slipped out of sight and down the stairs.

Watching Tully disappear, Julie poked Tom in the chest. ‘You’ve obviously frightened her. I’ve never seen her go down the stairs so quickly. Why, I think she took them two at a time!’ Tom wiped his sweating forehead and apologized to Julie for his earlier behavior.

Tully found Jennifer loading up on apple strudel in the kitchen.

‘What a loser,’ she muttered.

‘Ease up, will ya?’ snapped Jennifer. ‘I want to eat it, it’s my birthday, so ease up!’

Tully looked at Jennifer as if she were from outer space. She came close, broke off a piece of the strudel, shoved it into her mouth, and said, ‘Hello, Mars. Not you, you nut, Tom.’

‘Oh.’ Jennifer looked relieved. ‘Him. I thought you were gonna bug me about my weight. Forget him. He doesn’t like us. He thinks we are a bad influence on Julie.’