by S. J. Sylvis
Things were okay at English Prep, but Pete found me sneaking food into my room a couple of nights ago, so now I had a lovely lock on my door. This wasn’t the first time a foster parent had locked my door at night, and it was partly my fault. I should have known better. My number one rule in foster care was to never let your guard down, no matter how nice the family seemed. I learned that very quickly after Gabe.
“So, plans for tonight?” Piper slid in beside me at lunch, her tray a colorful assortment of fresh veggies and fruit with a nice, juicy hamburger. My mouth watered at the sight of it. Then, as if on cue, my stomach growled, too. I placed my hand on my front to drown out the sound, but Piper’s eyes lowered until she saw my hand.
“Why don’t you ever eat lunch?”
I shrugged. “Not hungry.” I didn’t want to tell her I didn’t have lunch money. The scholarship didn’t cover lunch, only the tuition fee, and the headmaster was nice enough to lend me the bits and pieces of lost-and-found clothing to make up a couple of uniforms.
Piper gave me a weird look as she bit into her hamburger. I knew what she would do if I told her the truth. She’d offer to pay, but I already felt guilty because she kept driving me home from school. Regardless if her parents paid for her gas, I hated taking handouts. I also didn’t want her to think I was only being her friend because she kept giving me things.
“I’m going to go to the library to study before world language,” I muttered, standing up quickly, trying to escape the conversation before it started. I smoothed out the stupid schoolgirl uniform and gathered my backpack.
“Hey! Wait!” Piper said, grabbing onto my wrist. “Do you want to go to a party with me tonight?”
Her green eyes twinkled with hope above the sprinkle of freckles on her nose.
A party? With these people? I’d rather stay locked in my room, listening to Jill suck Pete off in the next room.
Piper shook her head as if she read my thoughts. “It’s the next town over. Have you heard of Wellington Prep?”
Still standing, holding my backpack straps, I responded, “Um, yeah, sounds familiar.”
I knew exactly what Wellington Prep was. It was English Prep’s rivalry school. Their academics were just as good, the families just as rich. It was on the other side of this messed-up town. Pike Valley had exactly that: valleys. There were the two wealthy valleys where English Prep and Wellington Prep resided, then the rest of the valleys consisted of the middle class and the straight, dirty-begging-for-pennies poor. I’d lived in every one of them, except Wellington Prep.
“Well, my cousin, Andrew, throws parties almost every weekend. It’s where I hang most weekends since it was my old school and all. My parents travel a lot, leaving me home alone, and after bingeing Gossip Girl for the twentieth time, I decided I needed some sort of social life, even if at the wrong school.”
I frowned. “I’m not sure my foster parents will just let me go to a party three towns over.” No, they’d rather just lock me in my room and pretend I don’t exist.
Pete and Jill couldn’t afford me getting into trouble. If I got into trouble, the state (Ann) would investigate, and they wouldn’t get their precious foster-parent paycheck. That was all I was to them: a check. Money was the root of the world’s problems, I swore it.
Piper gave me a half-smile. “Well, if you change your mind, text me.”
Embarrassed, I dropped my head. “I don’t have a phone.”
Her face blanched as she dipped her fork into her salad. “Oh, that’s right. Well, you have your laptop, right?”
I nodded, tugging my backpack close. My laptop was five years old but still worked like a gem. It was the only thing in my backpack that I had brought from my house when CPS took me. That, some clothes, and the locket I wore around my neck.
“Just email me through our school email address. Okay?”
Piper bit into her ranch-covered lettuce, and I nodded with a fake smile on my face. “If I change my mind, I will. I’ll see you later.”
And what I meant by change my mind was if Jill and Pete decide to be nice human beings in the next eight hours, then yes, I’ll email you.
I slowly backed away from Piper and turned around. I walked over to where the food was and waited a beat before I felt I could blend in with the other students grabbing trays and filling their plates with food. Leisurely, I stepped in line, pretending to grab a tray, and stood behind one of the tallest boys I could find. I swept my gaze to Piper, and she had her back to me, thinking I’d gone up to the library—which I planned to do right after I grabbed something small and discreet from the buffet. From what I could gather, no one was paying any attention to me, so I hurriedly swiped an apple and stepped out of line. I bent down beside a cluster of students and pretended to tie my shoe while simultaneously pulling my backpack off my back to shove the apple inside. I just need some calories. It was hard to tell if Jill and Pete would leave a plate for me this evening, especially after stealing some food from their pantry.
Right as I unzipped the zipper, a pair of black shoes appeared so close to me I thought they were going to step on me. I angled my chin up, my hair falling past my shoulders. My eyes went past a pair of khakis and a filled-out navy blazer as I sucked in a breath. Christian tilted his head a fraction and clenched his jaw.
My chest grew tight. Nerves trickled down my spine.
Cool, gray, hooded eyes were staring down at me, and I swore it was just the two of us in the cafeteria. The chatter and clanking of dishes was nonexistent. I felt like I was looking through a tunnel and Christian was at the very end.
I swallowed, licked my lips, and continued to stare at him. Don’t look away. Almost as if it were a challenge, he flicked his eyebrow and he narrowed his eyes. He lazily crouched down so we were eye level. My heart was beating a thousand beats per second, and the only thing I could think was, He’s painfully beautiful. Christian’s jaw was as sharp as glass, his skin free of flaws, his nose strong and straight, and his eyes could suck the life right out of me.
My mouth parted as he leaned in closer, his intoxicating smell putting a spell on me. Then, I felt his hand cover my apple, and he plucked it right out of my palm.
I gasped, the action bringing me back to reality.
“Like father, like daughter?” He took a big bite of the glossy, red skin. The juice dripped down onto the floor below us. His jaw worked up and down as he chewed, and after he swallowed, he stared me right in the eye and whispered, “We don’t steal at my school, thief.” Then, he stood up, threw my apple in the trash, and walked away.
I gave myself three seconds to gather my emotions and threw them right in the trash along with my lunch.
Fuck him. This wasn’t his school, because if it was, and he truly did “rule” it like everyone said, then I wouldn’t still be here.
“Thanks, Piper. Again, you really don’t have to drive me home.” Piper smashed her lips together as she looked at the small, smokey-colored house I now called home. It actually looked bigger than what it was. There were three bedrooms and two tiny bathrooms. My room was the smallest—no surprise there—and my bathroom was, thankfully, only used by me. Jill and Pete used their master bathroom from what I observed. When Ann and I first came to the house, it was sparkling clean, the smell of Pine-Sol wafting throughout. The floors were shiny, and the kitchen counters were wiped off. Pete’s chair was empty as he and Jill answered the door with smiling faces.
But as soon as Ann was gone and we all sat down to eat, they laid down the rules of the house. I was to be quiet, keep my nose out of their business, eat what they gave me, and I was limited to six-minute showers, and I got the laundry machine on Tuesdays and Saturdays. They would not be giving me a phone or an allowance, and no rides, either, unless it was to check in with Ann. If I followed their rules, I could continue staying with them after I turned eighteen and until I went off to college (of course, I’d have to give them the grant I'd apply for with the state or get a job and pay them). Otherwise, I�
�d be thrown out and shit out of luck. If I got thrown out before I was eighteen, I’d go to a group home. And after? I’d be homeless.
I knew they weren’t being nice people by letting me stay until I started college; they just wanted to continue getting extra income. But what choice did I have?
“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the party with me? Maybe bring me inside and we could say we’re staying at my house for the weekend?”
The thought made my stomach hurt. I didn’t want to ask Jill and Pete for anything, even staying the night with a friend. If it were just Jill, maybe, but Pete? No way. He was a mega-asshole who liked to control everything.
“You don’t want to go inside there,” I all but whispered, staring at the house. “I’ll see what kind of mood they’re in and ask if I can. But don’t count on it.” Lie. I pulled the door open and began to climb out. “Thanks for inviting me, though.” I smiled. “And the ride. You’re a good friend, Piper.”
And she was. I was just too afraid to get attached.
She smiled brightly, the freckles on her cheeks meeting her eyes. “Email me anyway, okay? Just so I know you’re okay over the weekend.” She glanced back at the house. “I have a feeling you try to make things seem like they’re okay, even when they’re not.”
I stared at her for a beat before giving her another lift of my lips. “I promise I’ll email you later. Have fun at the party.”
She nodded as I closed the door and began walking up the broken concrete steps to the house. Piper was right. I did try to make things seem okay when they weren’t. Which was exactly why I didn’t tell her what happened with Christian earlier.
Something had happened during our five-year hiatus that made him hate me, and it was driving me crazy. The glares he gave me were one thing. His bitchy “non-girlfriend” was another. But taking my food? My only source of nutrition? It was about to be game on. I did nothing to him. Nothing. There was absolutely no reason I deserved to be treated that way.
And yet, I somehow always found myself in this position. Getting shit on by people who thought they were better than me.
So lost in my raging thoughts of Christian, I didn’t realize I was inside the house until Pete barked at me. “What are you doing standing there with the door wide open? Shut the fucking thing.”
I jumped in my skin and shut the door behind me. My pulse was climbing in speed as I rushed past him and to the stairs. Jill bent down and whispered something in Pete’s ear as I turned my head, and then I flinched when I heard skin slap skin. I paused, my hand on the handrail, ready to retreat upstairs.
“You’re a dumb bitch. No, she isn’t getting food tonight. I caught her stealing out of our pantry last night. This is her punishment.”
I spun around slowly and eyed Pete in his white undershirt that was a hair too small. He wore his black pants that still smelled of engine oil from working at the mechanic shop. He looked crazed. Spotting the beer can beside his chair, I clenched my teeth. Pete must be a little heavy into the alcohol. A bead of sweat crawled down his red face. Jill was standing beside him, holding the side of her reddening cheek. There was a fire in her eyes. I recognized that look, but in the end, she kept her mouth shut.
Jill was wearing a pair of light-blue scrubs with her purse draped over her shoulder. My heart studded to a stop. Is she going to work? She was leaving me here with him all night? Alone? Fear was climbing in the back of my throat, but I swallowed it down. You’ve been in worse circumstances. Fear meant weakness, and I had no room to be weak in a life like this.
“Are you going to work?” I asked quietly, still standing by the stairwell.
Jill nodded once. “Sometimes I work the night shift. I’ll be back in the morning.”
I took a deep breath, slowly exhaling so Pete wouldn’t notice and demand I stop breathing his air or something. “Okay,” I answered, turning around to walk upstairs.
Pete yelled from down below, “No dinner tonight, and I’m locking your door at 8pm sharp, so get your business done before then.”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I ran up the stairs and shut the door. I sunk down against the wall and stared at the mattress on the floor with stained sheets from who knew what. I squeezed my eyes shut and counted to ten.
One, two, three. You’ve been in worse places, Hayley. Suck it up. Four, five, six. Calm your heart. Seven, eight. It was worse when living with Mom. Nine, ten.
Reaching into my backpack, I let out a shaky breath. I heard the door bang against the wall downstairs, and suddenly, I was twelve years old again, sitting in a stairwell on the phone with the police as my father was shot in our living room.
My hands were trembling as I opened up my laptop and the browser. It only took me three seconds to decide I didn’t want to be locked in my room all night to think of things that had no part residing in my brain anymore. Christian included.
Piper emailed me back within minutes.
She’d be here at ten, and all I had to do was figure out how to climb down the side of the house from my window without breaking my neck. But honestly? Would that even have been a bad thing?
Chapter Seven
Hayley
The faded white lattice with overgrown, tangled vines scratched my stomach as I shimmied down to the ground. Once my black Converse crunched the crispy leaves, I let out a sigh of relief. My stomach was cut, I think, but I didn’t care. I felt ten times lighter after being in that house with Pete’s blaring TV downstairs. My door was locked at 8pm sharp, just like Pete said. I just hoped he didn’t check on me through the night, but by the looks of him through the living room window, he wouldn’t, as he was passed out with a slice of pizza resting on his belly and a pile of crumpled beer cans on the floor. What a sight.
I spotted Piper’s BMW down the street with the headlights off, like I told her, and hurried over. I tapped on the window twice to signal it was me.
The lock unlatched, and I climbed inside, buckling my seatbelt.
She opened her mouth to say something, but I stopped her by putting my hand up.
“I need to say something,” I rambled, pulling my thick hair down from my ponytail. Piper leaned back in her seat and angled her body toward mine. Her glittering eyes stared at me intently. “I don’t know how to be a friend. I have a hard time letting people in because I’m scared. And it takes a lot for me to admit I’m scared. Everyone and everything has been ripped away from me at some point, and it sucks. That house I’m living in? It sucks. They lock my door at night. I haven’t had dinner because I’m being punished for taking food out of the pantry when they were asleep. I don’t eat lunch because I don’t have lunch money.” I took a deep breath, realizing I was talking a mile a minute. “I emailed you because I realized I need a friend in the worst way. So, I’m sorry if I end up sucking at being your friend in the end. Just know, I’m trying.”
A huge smile worked its way onto Piper’s face as the words tumbled out of my mouth. It was dark in her car, the lights on the dashboard the only thing illuminating our faces. A bluish glow danced along her cheeks, and I felt myself relaxing. She reached over and squeezed my hand. “You're doing just fine. I need a friend, too. My old best friend just had to move with her family. The nerve.”
She snickered, and I did, too. Then, we were full-on laughing. I felt like a thousand bricks had been lifted off my shoulders, but as soon as we pulled up to the party after Piper stopped and got us tacos in a drive thru—which I basically inhaled—the nerves were right back where they started.
“You look great.” Piper stepped up beside me as we began walking to the tall house. I crooked my head up so high I could see the glittering stars playing peekaboo behind its roof.
Piper was wearing distressed skinny jeans and a chunky sweater that probably cost more than all of my attire combined. I glanced down at my outfit: black Converse, black skinny jeans with holes in them—only mine were distressed from actual wear and tear—a white band t-shirt I stole from a past boyfriend, and my jean
jacket that was also distressed from wear and tear. I shrugged. “I don’t have a whole lot to work with. I hope I don’t stand out too much.”
Piper smirked, shoving her braid off her shoulder. “You were born to stand out, Hayley. And that has nothing to do with your outfit.”
Not sure what she meant, but I didn’t have time to ask as we were suddenly walking through the threshold of a house that looked lavish on the outside and even more extravagant on the inside. Glossy tile floors were at our feet, and strange, headless statues stood along the walls, as if the intricate chiseled bodies were part of the welcoming committee.
“Come on, Andrew and his friends are on the second floor.”
Piper pulled me along and gave me a rundown of the Wellington Prep gang. Andrew was basically the leader of the school, and Piper pretty much compared him to Christian, except she said Andrew wouldn’t be a world-class dick to me. Then, there were the girls of the school, but since I was with Piper, they’d be on their best behavior since she was Andrew’s cousin and they were all friends at one point or another.
“Then there are Andrew’s guy friends.” Piper blushed a little as we climbed the stairs. “You’ve got Chase, Will, Cole, and Harrison. Then a few random guys here and there, but those are Andrew’s closest friends and part of the ‘in’ circle.”
“The ‘in’ circle?” I asked as we rounded the landing. I could hear a rap song playing and girls squealing. This oughta be fun.
We stopped a few feet away from a large room that had strobe lights interchanging in color and loud music blaring from speakers. I spotted some dancing girls holding drinks above their head when Piper stepped into my line of vision. “Yeah, you know how Christian has Ollie and Eric, and a few others, always trailing behind him?”
I nodded briefly, although I didn’t want to admit that I’d noticed Christian and his gang. It was hard to miss them striding down the halls, though. They thought they were divine superhumans or something.