MISCHA TOOK A seat in the large room in F wing and looked around. Prisoners were spilling in and looking for seats, sometimes in groups with friends.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYXNogsZcG2
It was movie night. The prison got a different film every month and showed it on various nights to accommodate the two thousand inmates. Mischa signed up for this one because it was a James Bond flick----License of Twice----so it would be easier for her to follow. But truthfully, any time she spent out of her cell was like a reprieve.
And she was hoping that she might see one of her friends. Mischa had not laid eyes on Rihanna, Nicole Richie or Lindsay since they arrived at the prison. Each of them had been placed in a different cell block. The warden had a built in excuse----they were still subject to their appeal, so they weren't supposed to communicate. But the truth was, he wanted to keep the head on them, especially Mischa. If only she would confess.....
There! There she was. Rihanna. Mischa stood up and saw her before she saw Mischa.
Mischa's heart swelled. She hardly recognized her. She looked haggard, depleted. An unhealthy kind of skinny, with sunken eyes.
Upon seeing Mischa, Rihanna lit up. Before they reached each other, they were both crying. Everything that had happened thus far, the terror, the pain, and the despair, came pouring out. They held each other until a guard divided them with a soft rebuke When they separated, Mischa noted how many people were observing them. She sometimes forgot there were as much celebrities in there as much as they were on the outside.
They took seats in a middle row, creating a distance between them and the guards, who mostly sat in the back. They had their arms around each other. They stroked each other's hair. They touched heads. The room went dark and the screen lit up with the movie, but neither of them was watching it.
"It's just awful in here, isn't it?" Rihanna whispered.
Mischa moaned. "Let's not go there. Have you talked to the others?"
"I saw Lindsay once. At the library. She's learning French, Arabic, Portuguese, you name it."
Mischa and Rihanna both laughed. God, it felt good to laugh.
"What about Nicole Richie?"
Rihanna shrugged. "I saw her once. She's doing pretty well, actually. She's in cell block A and has only one other person in her cell, an elderly woman."
"Wow." How nice that must be. Luck of the draw, Mischa guessed.
"Lindsay told me----she said they're being awful to you. They're trying to force you to confess?"
It figured that Lindsay would have a grapevine in here. Once an information junkie, always an information junkie. "I'm a big girl," said Mischa. "Have you seen Drake?"
They'd been in there ten weeks now, so with visitation privileges limited to every other week, Rihanna could have seen Drake four or five times by now."
Rihanna was silent for a moment. "It's----hard. It's the best part and the hardest part. Right?" Then she looked at Mischa. She knew, presumably, of the rifts between Sebastian and her. "Have you seen your boyfriend? Your sisters?"
Mischa shook her head no. "I don't know if I can stand the thought of Zoe and Hania coming here, seeing this godawful place. And Sebastian----he's coming next week, I think. We're writing letters."
"Drake says Sebastian's going to the States. Is that true?"
It was. Sebastian had completed his film, fortunately. But his days as a top movie actor were numbered since Mischa's arrest, even more so once his affair with his co-star, Kallie Wayy- Singer became public knowledge. The studio wasn't so barbaric as to fire him while he and Mischa were in crisis mode, but now that the trial was over, the writing was on the wall. Sebastian was going to move to New York City. On the plus side, he'd be a lot closer to Zoe and Hania, who had returned to their boarding school in upstate New York. On the down side...
"He'll be so far away," Rihanna whispered.
Mischa leaned into her. "I think that's okay with him, Rhi. Know what I mean?"
She let out a pained sigh. "Oh, God. I'm so sorry, Mischa, I'm so dreadfully sorry about all of this. All of this is my fault...."343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡESUUtgVSXb
"Shhh." But Rihanna couldn't be consoled. She broke down, quietly sobbing. Mischa held her and closed her eyes and savored the warmth of her friend. Mischa didn't mind a wet shoulder. It felt so good having Rihanna close again.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcQsi1iF3Mm
When it was over, when her body had stopped trembling, Rihanna was quiet for a long time. Then she put her mouth up close to Mischa's ear.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrxncHLF6O
"I can't do this," she said. "I'm not going to make it in here much longer."343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHBSUt5C5t
