Juliette's Ferrari roared to a stop in the parking lot. Normally she didn't drive it to work, but fuck it all if today wasn't a "special" occasion. She wasn't dressed for work. Her blonde curls were in a high ponytail and she wore skin-tight Juicy jogging shorts and a tank top, her feet hastily stuffed in a pair of old Puma's. Juliette grabbed a black Chanel duffel bag out of the trunk of her car and stormed up to the back of the strip joint, opening the door with a resounding thud through the dressing room. The girls inside froze and looked at her as she paused for a second, out of breath in the doorway, and started walking to her dressing table.

Muttering curses the whole way, she stepped around everything strewn on the floor-old clothes, underwear, costume jewelry, and containers of stripper glitter, ignoring everyone who was trying to talk to her. Upon reaching her designated dressing station, Juliette opened the drawer and shoved all of its contents (mostly cheap accessories) into her duffel bag and walked around, flinging the shoes and lingerie that she'd brought from home into the bag.

"Fuck this place," she snarled, grabbing handfuls of clothing,"I'm outta here. Tell the boss he can go fuck himself if he asks where I went."

"I'm out of here," Juliette snapped, zipping up her bag, "Done, finito, finished. I quit. And if any of those cocksuckers in the front room give me any lip about it then I'm going to tell them to shove it."

She yanked the bag up and put it on her shoulder. She didn't really have any friends here, anyway besides Amber. Juliette hated to leave like this, but it had to be done, really. There was only so much a girl could take, especially a girl who didn't have to take it. She wanted to say goodbye to Amber, but "Look me up if you're ever in Tsunami Lake Estates" was too cold.

"I'm outta here, Amber," she said dully, laying a hand on Amber's shoulder, "I'm not coming back."

"I'm freaking sick of this place," Juliette said with disgust, "I'm sick of smelling like booze and cigarettes and god knows what else, and I'm sick of guys trying to grab my ass all the time, and mostly I'm sick of the freaking boss acting like he owns the whole world."

She ran a hand over her hair and took a deep breath. Juliette gave a hoarse laugh as she sank down on a nearby chair.

"The other night in the parking lot...some guy tried to grab me. It was so weird, I think he might have been drunk. Anyway...Mr. Boss Man walked out the door just as I kicked him and started screaming...the guy ran away and all I got was a "You're working a double tomorrow". I could have been shanked in the freaking parking lot, Amber."

She held up her arm. There were still a couple of light purple bruises, left over from being grabbed and spun around. Juliette's nails were ragged from clawing at his skin.

"I'm moving back in with my parents," she said flatly, "The movers are coming in two days. God knows there's enough room for me back at the Manor."

Juliette smiled vacantly. She did have some pretty nice times with Amber. None of her other "acceptable friends" in her parents's eyes were as much fun, really.

"You can visit me all the time, Amber," she said, stroking the other girl's hair, "And you can go to parties with me...we'll still have fun."

She knew it wouldn't be the same. Hell, Amber probably knew that it wouldn't be the same. But still, it was something, right?

"I don't want you talking to Nick though. Just tell him you don't know where I am, okay?"

Juliette shook her head sadly. Not here. Not like this. The one thing she'd managed not to do was have sex in this miserable dump, and she wasn't going to start now, even if it was with Amber. Juliette let out a heavy sigh.

"I can't, Amber. I should go see my parents and...their friends."

By "their friends" Juliette meant "some of the Rockefellers", but Amber didn't need to know that. It didn't matter anyway. This wasn't fair, really. Her friend being stuck in this hell-hole was really starting to grate on Juliette's nerves.

"Amber," Juliette said, semi-reluctant to approach the subject, "Why don't you leave this place, anyway? You could get a job as a secretary, you'd be really good at it. You're pretty. Corporate people are nicer to you when you're pretty."

"Okay, okay," Juliette sighed, "I get it."

She didn't really. She probably never would. After all, Juliette's father had more money than God and so did her mother. Juliette never really had to work here, she was just sick of being spoiled and safe all the time, something that Amber would probably never know. But this goodbye was starting to get a little painful for her, even though she was going to do her best to make good on her promise to keep in touch.

"H-hey," she said with a grin, trying to keep her voice from wavering, "Why make me do all the work? You gotta come visit me at my family's house, like we talked about. Listen, next week...we're having a little dinner party. My family and a couple of friends. You should come, you can even raid my closet. My real closet, not the one at the apartment. What do you say?"

Dinner parties were usually easy to blend into. You were mostly seated the whole time, all the adults were tipsy so they didn't notice much, and it was pretty low-key. Unlike galas, which could be overwhelming based on the sheer number of forks alone.

"You worry too much," Juliette said, rolling her eyes, "Everyone'll be too busy sucking back wine to notice anything. It's no big thing. Just don't cuss and you'll be golden."

Juliette had been going to these things since before she could walk. She'd practically been raised on cocktails and caviar, and couldn't imagine thinking it was "hard" to blend in with the sort of crowd that her parents ran in. When Amber made her comment Juliette pouted and folded her arms.

"Well fine, Amber," Juliette said, "We can't all have Barbie's measurements. You'll just have to make do with what I've got."

She grinned, but it quickly faded by the time Nick started yelling. Juliette hated the man. Really, she could probably blow John again and get him arrested, but she didn't want Amber to get caught in the process. The Chief of Police and Amber didn't really...get along.

"Meet me outside next Wednesday at four p.m. and we'll get ready. I know you don't have the night shift then," Juliette said, grabbing her bag and standing up to stretch, "I'll see you then."