#edgelady

TW: injury, parental death, abuse

MAY 20TH, 1970: nadine zhang is born to jessiza zhang, a single mother of five other children, in san diego, california. she doesn't have any memory of her father; whoever he was, she never cares or thinks about him much. she only knows the warmth of her mother's embrace, and it's all a girl needs in this world.

JUNE 11TH, 1975: she realizes at a young age that her older brothers are dirtbags. the youngest of them, gabriel, is her sworn protector from their rowdy and relentless siblings. she clings to him, attaching herself to everything he does even if he'd rather do it alone. on the first day of summer break, however, she finds an unlikely friend in a girl, julie jimenez, with whom she once shared a kindergarten class.

OCTOBER 1ST, 1975: it's fall break and nadine wishes she was at school. she's stuck in the hospital at her mother's bedside. she's recovering from a fall - the forgetful and clumsy woman she's always been - and the doctors are giving wound care to her brothers in her hospital room as nadine kicks her feet out from underneath her in the hallway. when she glances up at a shadow casting over her, she sees the round, familiar face of julie, who is wielding flowers and a teddy bear.

DECEMBER 25TH, 1978: christmas comes, and nadine spends the holiday at the jimenez's. her mother had suffered a psychotic break, leaving her children in the custody of the oldest before nadine snuck out to stay with julie. it's the first time nadine ever feels spoiled; although a last minute decision, she still wakes up on christmas morning to a dozen presents all with her name on them. she wonders, then feels guilty, about how things would be if she lived here forever.

AUGUST 18TH, 1985: high school blows. after being ousted from the only home nadine ever knew, they were forced to move, separating her from her best friend. it isn't until her oldest brother gets arrested for a dui and screws them over with money that nadine plucks up the courage to tailor her own fate - for the first time in her life, she takes control of the situation. she steals her middle brother's weed money, packs a bag, apologizes to gabriel, and takes a bus back to san diego.

MARCH 9TH, 1988: life is smoother at the jimenez's. she missed their presence, and more so, she missed her best friend. she spends half of her high school career glued to julie's hip, and dedicates the latter half to the garage band whose advertisement she snatched off a lamppost in her neighborhood. she doesn't think things can get better - and yet she finds herself singing and playing rhythm guitar at a battle of the bands and garnering the attention of a talent agent.

SEPTEMBER 1ST, 1990: nadine releases her debut album TRAILER PARK GIRLS after securing a record deal a few months after acquiring her agent. she stops talking to julie, becoming all-consumed in her new, fabulously wealthy lifestyle in los angeles. overwhelmed by a grammy win, faded from the drugs and alcohol and repeatedly traumatized by her predatory producer, she misses the call that her mother has died as a result of blunt force head trauma from a brutal fall.

DECEMBER 31ST, 1992: it's new year's eve and, for the first time in years, nadine is at home in san diego. she reconnects with julie briefly, the two going on a long drive by the coast and rehashing old wounds and secrets. nadine almost forgets all her own crimes against her once best friend as they cruise; for a second, it's like no time passed at all - until everything slows to an excruciating stop when another car plows into the passenger side. nadine sustains a concussion, but as she rises from the wreckage and hears police sirens blaring, she doesn't wait. instead, she watches her best friend's lifeless body dangle from where she's strung up by the seatbelt, and turns to run.

SPRINGTIME, 1993: now a person of interest, she abandoned her life in los angeles. nadine plucks up all her remaining courage and escapes to las vegas. she quickly finds herself obtaining a motorcycle license and joining forces with the cactus cats; and, when the extra money she has from record sales, she opens up her own shop: six string serenade, where she entertains herself by teaching others how to play guitar.

💀 tidbits !!

signature colors are black and hot pink

six string serenade is a complete labor of love and is decorated to the tee with early-mid 90s staples; all the posters, trinkets, and of course, music that defined the decade in its infancy

VERY grungy/grimy aesthetic for her first and only album; think fishnet tights, shimmery smoky eyeshadow and lipstick, heavy mascara, sharp eye liner, black jackets, black pants, black dresses, black shoes, etc., etc.,...

drives a 1990 kawasaki ninja zx-11 in a slick black color. yes, it is her baby and she will put it above the well being of humans

demonias are her staple shoes and she's rarely seen not wearing them, backups are standard doc martens

has ptsd as well as depression that she refuses to acknowledge, let alone treat properly

still has weekly calls with julie's youngest and most unsuspecting sister, always on payphones

has a preference for electric guitars but teaches on both electric and acoustic