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Drama High School Teens & Young Adult

Tinsley Everdale only liked things halfway there or halfway done. 

That’s why when she was seated at the tattoo parlor, fake ID propped between her thumb and pointer finger, she told the man with green pictures beside his eyes to stop inking. 

It was how it appeared in her dream, succulents bent at odd angles with various types of greenery in the background. Half a garden, just like she wanted. 

She couldn’t remember exactly, but she thought it was her aunt who exclaimed, “You’ve become a piece of art!” when seeing her forearm. 

“I’m always a piece of art,” Tinsley had declared, kicking off her crocs and heading into her room. 

It was hiding under the covers where she traced half the design with her nails like claws and finished her English homework. The homework was simple: write about a sad memory and include as many descriptions, metaphors, and similes that you could. 

This wasn’t very simple to Tinsley, though. She had too many sad memories framed in gold and hammered to her walls. 

But maybe she was overthinking it, like she did with a lot of things. Maybe it was as simple as writing about the ocean trickling down her cheeks when her parents disappeared or the way her dog’s eyes faded like a burnt-out lightbulb and that’s when she decided not to love anything again. 

Tinsley shut her eyes at this, and instead wrote about her breakup. 

She could still recall every detail—his eyes only mirrors to the outside world and the gap between their hands like mismatched jigsaw pieces. He tossed her the plastic ring she had given him four years before. She had said it was a promise ring, he said it was trash. 

As he was stumbling away, blind to the monster he’d created, she tugged on his sleeve. “I love you.” 

The mirrors shattered and suddenly all emotion was gone. He left shaking his head and muttering about timing and what an untrustworthy thing love was. 

Tinsley laughed to the sky to protect herself from vulnerability and cracked the plastic ring in two. One half she buried, the other half she hung from her neck. 

Tinsley Everdale only liked things halfway there or halfway done.

That’s why she didn’t finish her English homework and she fell asleep with her hands nestled under her chin and the half-ring twisted around her neck in a dangerous way. 

She woke up with the sun, stretching out her arms that told stories of childhoods gone wrong. Her bracelets jingled and chatted while she peeled her pajamas off. 

The black and blue shapes around her eyes looked like holes in her skin, and so in her mind she listed all the girls who would probably get pregnant in junior year of high school. It calmed her, seeing an invisible list laid out like that of people who would screw up like she had. Of course she only listed half the girls because she wanted to and because she was going to be late for school. 

As Tinsley was trudging back home from school, she stopped at the wine shop across the street from Titan’s Coffee and Pastries. She loved pastries, especially the ones coated in butter with sweet vanilla cream on the inside that she knew was going to stamp a frown on her doctor’s face. But today there was something more important she had to do. 

The windows were tinted and the air-conditioning breeze rushed to meet her at the door. It held her hand and waltzed over to the cashier’s desk. 

He was a man with freckles peppered on his face like rust on aged pennies and glasses that couldn’t seem to stay on his nose. And either he thought Tinsley wasn’t underage, or he seriously didn’t care. 

“What can I get you today, Ma’am?” he inquired in a tone that scratched her ears. 

Tinsley avoided the man’s eyes and thrummed her fingertips on his desk. She knew it was annoying him and it deeply satisfied her. “Could I see your stemware collection, please?” 

The man, whose name tag announced to the world that he went by Don, tapped his foot in all types of directions producing some rhythm that Tinsley didn’t and would never understand. 

He pulled out three wine glasses, one short, one tall, and the other one in the middle. The way they stood holding their bowls high made her want to gag and smash them all into smithereens. 

Tinsley was trapping her tongue behind her teeth when she said, “I’ll have the short one.”

He slid it over to her and put the two other glasses back where they belonged behind the desk. She tucked it into her pleather purse, handed the man too many bills and stumbled out of the store before he could change his mind, hand protectively on the spot where the glass was. 

She knew she really didn’t need it, but part of her was anger in a brown paper package, all tied  up with frizzy yarn. One day, when it was the right time, she’d crack the glass in half. There’d be a line running right through the logo of the wine shop but she wouldn’t care. 

Her aunt once told her it was okay to be angry as long as she didn’t hurt anyone. Tinsley lived by those words and that’s exactly what she was going to do. 

Tinsley Everdale only liked things halfway there or halfway done.

That’s why while she was sitting in a chair at the local piercery, the needle was stuck through only one of her eyebrows. She had been thinking of getting both pierced, but the way the woman with too much mascara looped the silver hoop through the hole pleased her too much. 

On the surface she had just wanted to look cool and have something rebellious on her face to match her forearm, but deep down it was because she’d been picking her eyebrow hairs out since she was a child. 

Perhaps that was her big secret, or maybe it was the fact that when she was walking home she took a free shelf off the side of the road and planned on carrying it home. But alas it only made it halfway there before she dragged it in front of some lucky recipient’s place. 

The wind ruffled her hair which she desperately wanted to shave. She knew the wind was a naughty thing that would tease her until she was underground lying in her grave. 

Across the street, she heard shouts. Her head whipped to the right and her eyes fell on a girl with stained cheeks and a boy with his hands shoved down his pockets. They were both around the same height and the girl had strawberry hair that snaked around her face. The boy had a long sweatshirt and was walking in the other direction while the girl shouted at him. 

Tinsley was going to keep walking when she heard something impossible. 

I love you!” 

The girl’s lips were still forming the words when the boy ducked behind a car and disappeared. She wailed and rubbed the makeup off her face. 

Tinsley crossed the street with purpose and stood behind her, searching her up and down. “Here, take this,” she said, and the girl jumped and whirled around. 

“Who are you?” she asked, her eyes hopping back and forth from the tattoo to the piercing. 

Tinsley ignored her and yanked something off her neck. There was a snapping sound and she held it out to the girl. 

She let the piece of stretchy string coil in her small hands before dropping the half of the ring. It landed with a thump even though it was plastic, the fake diamond catching sunlight. 

“What—” 

“Don’t mess up like I did, kid,” Tinsley muttered, and strode away. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the girl fastening the ring behind her neck and sweeping it under her shirt. 

Tinsley smiled and laughed because she was free. She removed the strap of her purse and lifted the wine glass out of it. Her fingers let it slip onto the sidewalk. 

It shattered into a million pieces, glass flying everywhere. The pieces were jewels, glinting on something so bleak and rough. Tinsley picked up the logo of the wine shop, which had stayed whole, and crushed it with her fingertips. 

The sun applauded and birds dove into the ground. She traced her tattoo and pressed her lips together. 

And still, after all this time, Tinsley Everdale only liked things halfway there or halfway done.

October 02, 2020 03:40

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25 comments

05:50 Oct 02, 2020

Okay, calm down. Stay calm. I like this. Its simple, powerful, unique. And it's got a style that just makes me want to cry. I like the way she gave the ring out, a part of her being reborn like old dreams. Everything you've written here is amazing. Good job!

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Scout Tahoe
13:17 Oct 02, 2020

Thank you very much! You’re constantly reading my stories and I appreciate it.

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Roger Meachem
12:11 Oct 05, 2020

I really enjoy a read that takes me by surprise. I haven't read anything else by you yet, so don't know if this is a one-off. The opening line caught my eye and I just didn't stop. Okay, to the detail: The paragraphs following the homework instruction were a delight - not easy to manage to write tongue-in-cheek I think. I enjoy reading where the reader is asked to do a little work and Tinsley's back-story is an example. You allow us to gradually uncover this and we're never quite certain we've got all the clues. Subtle things like the pastr...

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Scout Tahoe
13:50 Oct 05, 2020

Thank you so much for the feedback! Yes, I didn’t mean to use stumbled twice. I’d edit it out if I could. I really like your way of constructive criticism. It’s not too harsh but it tells me what I need to work on. Your comment was kind and I enjoyed reading it. Thank you.

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09:38 Oct 05, 2020

I've been reading soo many stories with titles that really just draw you in. 'Garden of ink' it's so creative and reflects off the storyline and plot.

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Scout Tahoe
13:47 Oct 05, 2020

Thank you! Glad you liked the story and the title.

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Cal Carson
04:06 Oct 05, 2020

Wowee! Loved the repetition, made the story seem poetic. I especially loved the detail of half a garden. I loved the way you described it! "...or the way her dog’s eyes faded like a burnt-out lightbulb and that’s when she decided not to love anything again," was my favorite line. Heartbreaking and beautiful! Usually not one for realistic fiction but this was one cool story. Maybe check out one of mine if you get a chance? Anyway, looking forward to more from you, good job! :)

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Scout Tahoe
13:45 Oct 05, 2020

Thank you so much! I’ll try and stop by when I can. :)

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Cal Carson
14:52 Oct 05, 2020

Great!

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Princemark Okibe
12:33 Oct 04, 2020

I must surely give it to you for creating a unique character. Tinsley is surely an engaging character. Even though there was not much going on in the story, the character held my attention all through. Nice work. Just have a question [It was hiding under the covers where she traced half the design with her nails like claws and finished her English homework.] In the sentence above, what is the 'it' at the beginning of the sentence. I was thinking you meant 'she'. That is [She was hiding under the covers where she traced half the desi...

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Scout Tahoe
13:34 Oct 04, 2020

Thank you so much! Yes, I meant “she”. So glad you caught that. :)

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K. Antonio
02:56 Oct 04, 2020

Oh this was really nice. The descriptions this time seemed pretty solid and easy to understand, but they weren't simple, just more accurate. Do I still think there is a lot of poetic language, yes, but everyone has a style. I do think these metaphors and comparisons lent better to this story though. Just 2 things: 1) The main character, she seemed to had fallen asleep spontaneously, yet when she woke up she was with pajamas. Just something I noticed, because the way you had told that event made me think she had fallen asleep suddenly. ...

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Scout Tahoe
20:02 Oct 04, 2020

Thank you for the feedback! You’ve read a few of my stories and I’m grateful. I’m glad you liked it and yes, poetic language is my style. ;)

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Genevieve Taylor
03:51 Oct 02, 2020

Oh my gooooosshhhhh Scout! This is my new second favorite story from you! Apartment 17A is first, obviously. I loooove the writing in this so much I almost don't know what to say. Tinsley has such a wonderful voice and character that I have absolutely fallen in L O V E with her. I hope you write a whole entire novel, because I would snatch it up (even if the cover was ugly, which is saying something, because I rely heavily on aesthetics). Anyways, this was absolutely positively fantastic and I want moooooore. Okay thanks, love ya. xo...

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Scout Tahoe
03:55 Oct 02, 2020

Thank you so much for your kind comment. Haha, you're always so fast to comment on my stories and I appreciate it. Love ya 2!

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Genevieve Taylor
15:36 Oct 02, 2020

Of course!!! You're one of my favorite writers on here, and I would never miss out on a new story from you (I've been very excited with your two stories per week thing for the past bit).

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Scout Tahoe
15:47 Oct 02, 2020

Haha, thank you!

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Svara Narasiah
13:49 Apr 09, 2021

I just love this. It was so powerful for something so short. Don’t stop writing, you’re amazing!

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A. K. Wilson
21:35 Oct 03, 2020

The flow of this story is very talented and the character is very relatable thank you for sharing!

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Scout Tahoe
22:03 Oct 03, 2020

Thank you!

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A. K. Wilson
22:05 Oct 03, 2020

Keep up good job!

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Elizabeth Inkim
04:02 Oct 03, 2020

Delightful, Teen and Young Adult fiction are some of my favourites to read, and I think you did the genres justice. Also, this week I tried something different and wrote a character-driven story that centres around dialogue, its called "A Rose By Any Other Name" and I'd love to know what you think.

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Scout Tahoe
04:18 Oct 03, 2020

Thank you for your kind comment and I’m busy now but I’ll totally stop by when I have time! :)

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Elizabeth Inkim
04:20 Oct 03, 2020

Of course no problem. Also great title, I am absolutely in love with it!

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Scout Tahoe
04:55 Oct 03, 2020

Thanks!

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