Chapter Text
As each day, Tina and Vanessa take the tramway to go home. They don’t discuss that much because even though they have the same friend group now, there is still this discomfort between them. Tina already excused herself about her bias and Vanessa accepted. She said that she understood but they never found the friendship they had as kids again.
“It’s been a long time since the tram was stopped, no ?” notices Vanessa, raising her perfect eyebrows.
“You’re right", answers Tina, surprised. “Do you want me to go see what’s going on ?” Vanessa nods and Tina walks until the front of the tram. She quickly notices the checkers and runs to her friend. “There are the checkers,” she explains, stressful.
“What, you don’t have your transport card ?” asks the Romani girl, slightly desperate.
“I forgot” answers the blonde one, with a guilty voice.
Vanessa quickly analyses the situation and explains her plan to her classmate : “Let me talk and NEVER give them your card”. Tina nods, anxious but reassured that her friend took matters into her hands.
The checker asks Vanessa for her card. She gives it to them, smiling like everything was normal. Her card is valid, so the girl begins to ask stupid questions : “Does my card allow me to go to Špansko ? And do I have to renew it soon ? How much time have I before needing to renew it ?” She continues that ride for a few minutes, quite annoying the checker and the other passengers.
The tram driver opens the doors to make go out the checkers, so the brunette discreetly takes the blonde one’s hand and squeezes it. Tina instantly understands. When they were kids, they made the exact same gesture when they needed to be alone. One of them pressed the other’s hand and, together they ran to an empty corner of the schoolyard.
Now, as teenagers, they run together to their houses, laughing in the sunset.
***
“Thank you so much, you literally saved me !! My parents would have gone insane if I had a fine to pay.” Tina explained, out of breath when they stopped to run because they had almost arrived. “They are already difficult to live with, so…” she instantly stops, realizing that she was saying too much. But Vanessa acts like she didn’t notice. She just nods and says that it is normal.
“As a gypsy girl, I can do this whenever I want”, she explains. The blonde girl asks her :
“How do you mean ?”
“Romani people are mostly seen as idiots, some of white people think that we don’t even understand them. So, it’s quite simple” the brunette explains. “But don’t forget your card, next time because I’m not sure that I’ll be able to do that each time”, she rags with a smile. Tina nods gravely and arriving at the cross between their streets, they separate.
Tina enters and greets her father sitting in front of the TV. Her mother isn’t yet home because she works until late, so for now it’s calm, even with her little siblings who run everywhere with foam swords. She goes into her room, just wanting to be at peace before the evening. The blonde girl knows that like every day, she’ll have to take care of her siblings because her father won’t do anything. He always explains that he works early in the morning, so he has to rest. And it’s naturally a women's role to take care of kids and cook dinner. Like she wasn’t a kid herself. Her heart slowly speeds up because of the anger, so she puts on sweet music, Oliver, an artist that she always liked. Most of the time, she’s more a Severina girl but tonight, with her anger, she needs Oliver's words.
Tina lays on her bed and can’t help but replays the ride with Vanessa in her head. She sees again her perfect face that she always admired, her black but brilliant hair, her malicious smile which is like a signature for her… And her hand in hers when they ran together. It was quite cold but Tina really appreciated it. She felt so much better just by feeling her hand in hers.
While Oliver sings, the blonde girl slowly remembers her childhood with the brunette. All the playtimes they spent together, just watching the sky and finding forms in clouds, the races Vanessa fought against the boys and how she always defeated them, their gentle smiles when they helped each other… But on top of all these memories, there is this hand, still the same as today. Quite cold but more reassuring than all the others.
***
“Tina, can you wash Zoran before your mom comes home ?” yells her father, interrupting her musical break.
“Okay”, she answers calmly, her anger erased by the music and Vanessa’s memory.
She washes her little brother with an so unusual smile that Zoran asks her sister : “Why do you smile like that, Tina ?”
“I think, I found again my childhood best friend today”, she explains, quite mysterious but undoubtedly happy.