Till it's all over, I will know you
Jill Roberts knows the Carpenters. Everybody does. And she's met the girls more than a few times over the years, although rarely interacted with them. Kirby's parents used to babysit them after all, and Jill always preferred to be at Kirby's than at home where her mother would go on and on about her cousin, she-who-must-not-be-named. Eugh.
So, Jill knows Sam Carpenter, the devoted sister (and recent troublemaker), and she knows Tara Carpenter, the sweetest most adorable little girl in the world - thank you Kirby. (For the listeners at home, Jill Roberts is rolling her eyes). But she doesn't know them, and she had no intention of knowing them. But life doesn't really care for what you have planned sometimes.
Jill has a bad day, so she does what she always does when she has a bad day, she goes round to Kirby's. Only to find Kirby's not alone. Kirby's out back smoking with her pet project.
After a failed attempt to get Kirby to heel, Jill stomps back inside and throws herself onto the couch. It's not until afterwards that she realises the little sister is here too, curled up at the edge and looking morose, a discarded book beside her.
"Oh great, you're here too," Jill mutters sourly.
The girl lets out a quiet sorry. She doesn't move, arms wrapped around her legs and chin resting upon her knees, eyes staring at the blank television screen.
Now that she knows the girl is here, Jill finds herself feeling awkward. She doesn't know how to act around kids, and quite frankly she's not really in the mood, but she knows she's got to be nice to the girl or she'll never hear the end of it. Jill knows how to play nice; she's been doing it her whole life.
"Sooooo.... guess we've both been abandoned, huh?"
Silence is her only response.
Seriously? Jill's trying her best and the girl doesn't even have the decency to respond.
"Jeez kid, what's up with you."
Jill’s mostly uninterested, but she is bored and they're stuck here together for the foreseeable future – until their other halves remember they exist – so she nudges her with her elbow. Eventually the girl mumbles nothing under her breath.
The tone piques her interest. It's bitter. Angry. Familiar.
What’s this kid got to be furious at the world about? At least Jill has real reasons. I mean, so her dad walked out, big whoop. Do you see Jill with a father? No, he disappears back in ’96 after mom refuses to skip town ‘cause of all the murders. At least she got those years with hers. Mom’s a drunk? Join the club kid!
She huffs and spins the hefty yellow and black book between them around. So you want to be an actor?
Huh. Not really what she’d been expecting. Well, she’s not sure what she was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t that.
“This for school or something?” Jill questions before she can think twice. She picks up the book and flips through the pages.
It gets Tara’s attention. “No,” she murmurs quietly.
Jill watches her, brow twitching. She doesn’t remember the kid ever being so shy and subdued.
“You… want to be an actress then?”
Tara nods, and all Jill can think about is how ridiculous it sounds. But more importantly, it gives her something to talk about.
“I want to be an actress too.”
The kid’s eyes light up in an instant, arms leaning forward and body unwrapping itself. She finally comes to life.
Jill doesn’t care about the girl, but the way she triggered the change certainly stirs something within her. There’s that sense of power, of control, of knowing with just a few words you can change someone’s world. For the better, or for the worse.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I’m going to be big and famous, a movie star. I want everyone to know my name.”
She doesn’t know why she’s telling her this. There’s only one other person in the world who knows about Jill’s dream.
“That’s cool,” the girl says, sending her a small smile. “I bet you could do it! You’re super pretty and awesome and you look like a movie star!”
Jill smirks, brushing her hair behind her ear, pleased. “Thank you.”
“I just want to look after Sam… and my mom,” Tara says, smile fading. “Actors make a lot of money, right?”
Jill hums, filing the information away. “They can, if they’re good. I certainly intend to. I going to do better than my cousin in every way. Be more successful, more famous… more loved.”
"Who's your cousin?" Tara asks innocently, unaware of the minefield she's just stepped herself in.
Jill finds herself clenching her jaw. "Seriously? You don't know? Everybody knows," she scoffs. God she hates people.
But the girl just shakes her head, looking up at her, waiting.
Shit, she really doesn't know?
Jill ponders for a moment. She could just brush it off, say nobody important, but something inside her is curious. How could someone live in Woodsboro and not know about Jill's famous cousin?
"Sidney Prescott." It's hard to say her name with anything other than venom, but Jill thinks she manages it. A worthy act for a future star.
The girl blinks up at her, no recognition behind her eyes. "I don't know who that is," she mumbles, mostly to herself, Jill thinks.
Huh. Interesting.
Before Jill can question Tara, the snick of the sliding glass doors disrupts them, and a foul odour permeates the room. She rolls her eyes at the dopey grins the two losers wear as they stumble in.
"Well look who finally decides to show up," Jill sneers, leaning an arm over the couch. "Did you finally remember the child you abandoned or did you just run out of product like the degenerates you are."
Tara frowns at her, and for a moment Jill thinks she's going to interject, but the girl deflates and looks away. Jill's oddly disappointed.
Sam's frowning at her too, though it's not very intimidating given the way her eyes can't seem to focus. It's funny, it's not immediately obvious that the girls are sisters, until they emote. They have the same expression, the same tilt to their head, the same downward twitch to their lips.
"Jeez Roberts, take that stick out your ass why don't you. Tara's cool, aren't you Tar?"
God shut up Kirby. She's so irresponsible sometimes. What does she see in her?
Tara smiles up at Kirby with the fakest-
"See! She's all good."
You've got to be kidding me. That was convincing? Maybe the kid's got talent after all.
From the corner of her vision, Jill sees the way Sam’s eyes narrow.
“What were you doing?” She asks, clearly suspicious.
The audacity. Jill doesn’t know what exactly Samantha thinks she has to be suspicious about when all she was doing is what they should have been doing, and babysitting her little sister. And she’s about to tell Sam where she can shove her question when Tara answers for her.
“Jill was telling me about her cousin.”
Kirby has the unfortunate pleasure of knowing Jill, so the baffled look she sends her way is unfortunately warranted, and she knows Kirby’s going to be demanding answers later. How bothersome.
Sam, however, makes an incredibly speedy trip around the couch – given her condition – to kneel at Tara’s feet and grab at her shoulders.
Jill’s fascinated by the look in the teenager’s eyes, intense and dark. The strain and barely held-back panic in Sam’s voice only makes her more curious.
“What did she tell you?”
Despite the way her sister’s fingers dig into her shoulders with so much force they turn white, or the sharp way she speaks to her, Tara doesn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. Well, she doesn’t react.
Jill’s always been observant, she prides herself on it. It’s how she stays on top of the social hierarchy. So it doesn’t escape her notice how Tara rests a hand on the back of Sam’s, how she stares back with soft eyes, how her words are spoken back in a sickly sweet tone, so innocuous it can’t be anything other than fake.
“Just that her cousin Sidney’s famous.”
It all feels so practised. And it works. Sam’s shoulders relax and she leans back on her heels.
Jill probably shouldn’t… but she just can’t help herself.
“I’m surprised she’s never heard of her, she might be the only person in Woodsboro who hasn’t. Why is that?”
Her innocent act doesn’t match up to Tara’s apparently, as Sam turns to scowl at Jill, a warning in her eyes and in her growl. “Tara’s eight. She doesn’t need to know about any of that crap, so shut your mouth and stay away from her.”
“Sam, you’re being rude.”
It takes Jill a lot of effort not to release the laughter that bubbles in her chest at the wide-eyed and confused way Sam turns and blinks at her sister as the young girl scolds her.
“I’m not- whatever,” Sam huffs, standing up. “It’s time to go.”
Jill watches intently as Sam grabs Tara and lifts her into her arms, as if she were a toddler and not eight, as Sam was so adamantly just telling her. There’s something possessive in the way she holds her. It feels pointed, and the way she catches Sam glancing at her as Jill hands Tara her book back tells her who this display is all for.
There’s something weird about the Carpenter sisters, something… not right. She can’t help but get one last word in as they go to leave.
“Have a good night, don’t let the Ghostface bite.”
She smirks as Sam freezes and her head twitches slightly to the side. Jill finds herself hoping she turns around and confronts her. It’s so very entertaining and she finds she wants to know, to understand, to find out what it is Samantha’s hiding.
Unfortunately, the day continues to be full of disappointments, and Sam continues walking.
Tara sends her a shy wave over her shoulder, which Jill reciprocates, flashing her a winning Jill Roberts smile.
The moment’s ruined by Kirby throwing herself onto the couch, her head slapping into Jill’s lap.
“Soooooo…” she crows, “what was thaaat about?”
Eugh.
- - -
“So what exactly was the deal with you dumping the kid in here, that’s not really like you.”
“Sam didn’t expect to have her today, she was supposed to go over to her best friends after school, but apparently they had a fight. Shortstack even punched her! Ha, didn’t know she had it in her.”
“She doesn’t seem the type.”
“Eh, that Freeman kid is a little bitch, I’m not surprised.”
“So what was the fight about?”
“Why so curious Roberts? Getting broody?”
“Eugh, shut up Reed, you’re the worst sometimes.”
85 notes
·
View notes