St Mary's Academy Series Box Set 1

by Seven Steps

  I couldn’t believe Quincey would do that to me. To me! The girl he’d spent entire summers with. I was his cousin, not some stranger. He was different now, and that difference had irrevocably changed our relationship. Was it worth it for him? Was this what he wanted? After tonight, I would never confide in him about anything else ever again. Why would I? I couldn’t trust him.

  I put on my headphones and sent a text to Joe.

  Sophia: Things are really screwed up.

  Joe: What happened?

  Sophia: Apparently, Quincey was sent up here to babysit me because my mom couldn’t control me.

  Joe: How do you know that?

  Sophia: They told me tonight.

  Joe: Were you that out of control?

  Sophia: No. I snuck out but for the most part I was with my friends.

  Joe: Did your mom ever talk to you about sneaking out?

  Sophia: No. I don’t think she even knew it was happening. Quincey showed up and ratted me out.

  Joe: If she had talked to you about sneaking out, would you have fessed up?

  Sophia: She didn’t give me an opportunity.

  Joe: But would you have?

  I sighed.

  Sophia: Probably not.

  Joe: The three of you need a come to Jesus moment. Or a come to Dr. Phil moment. Whatever you guys say up north.

  Sophia: It won’t work. No one listens to each other.

  Joe: It doesn’t mean we stop trying.

  I stuck out my lower lip.

  Sophia: I miss you.

  Joe: I miss you too.

  Sophia: Come see me later?

  Joe: Where?

  Sophia: I don’t care.

  Joe: Maybe we should cool it until tomorrow. There’s always play rehearsal.

  I put my phone face down on the bed.

  He was right. After tonight’s conversation, Quincey and Mom probably had the entire house on lockdown.

  But I wanted to see Joe sooner than tomorrow.

  Ugh!

  Why were Mom and Quincey so psycho about everything? The worst part was, I didn’t know who was crazier. They seemed to be feeding off of each other lately, and I hated it.

  I was just starting to put on my headphones again when I heard shouting coming from the living room.

  Was that Mom and Quincey? Or someone else?

  I put down my headphones and pulled open my door.

  I spied Joe standing in the doorway. His hands were up in a defensive position.

  “I just want to talk to you,” he said.

  “You’re not welcome here,” Quincey cried back.

  “Why?”

  “You know why!”

  I stepped out of my room, running to the door.

  “Leave him alone, Quincey!” I said.

  “No. He has to go.”

  “What is happening?” Mom asked. “Why can’t Joe come in?”

  “Joe knows exactly why he can’t come in!” Quincey cried.

  “I just want to talk to you, bro,” Joe said.

  Quincey puffed his chest out, standing more firmly in the door.

  “Nobody is talking no more, Superman. Now go back to where you came from.”

  “Really?” Joe asked. “Quincey, it’s me. Your best friend. We grew up together. You won’t even talk to me now?”

  “Best friend, huh? Do friends stab friends in the back? Because that’s what you’re doing to me.”

  I grabbed the back of Quincey’s shirt, trying to pull him out of the way.

  “Let him come inside and talk like a normal person.”

  Quincey shoved me back, and I stumbled to the floor.

  “Don’t touch her!” Joe bellowed, shoving Quincey out of the way and standing over me.

  Suddenly, he was jerked backward. I watched in horror as Quincey’s fist went flying into Joe’s face, sending him spinning into the doorway.

  “Stop it!” I screamed.

  Joe quickly recovered and pushed Quincey hard into the door.

  “Stop!” Mom cried. Before Quincey could rush at Joe again, she stood between them. Suddenly, it was silent. Deathly silent.

  “Joe, go downstairs.”

  “But, A—”

  “Don’t Aunt Pam me. Go downstairs. I don’t want to see you back here no more. You hear me?”

  The devastation in Joe’s eyes broke my heart. “Seriously?”

  “I said go.”

  Joe looked at me for one heartbreaking second, then left.

  Tears streamed down my face.

  I wanted to crumble.

  I wanted to die.

  But Mom pinned me with a look that kept me on the floor.

  “What did you do?” she demanded.

  “Me? I didn’t do anything.”

  “Don’t tell me that. You go away for a day, and now Joe and Quincey are fighting? You must’ve had something to do with it.”

  “Mom, I didn’t.”

  “Was Joe on that camping trip?”

  My mouth opened, then closed.

  “Was Joe on the camping trip?”

  My gut clenched. I thought about Joe’s words to me. About giving her an opportunity to know the truth.

  “Yes.”

  Mom sucked in a breath.

  “How long have you been seeing him? Did he do something to you?”

  “I haven’t been seeing him.”

  “So, what is going on? Somebody better start talking.” She looked at Quincey. “Q, what happened?”

  But he was already walking to his room, slamming the door behind him.

  Shock passed over Mom’s face. Mine too.

  Quincey was never disrespectful.

  Ever.

  For him to ignore my mom and slam the door was completely out of character.

  Mom looked at me.

  “Sophia, you tell me what happened between those two boys right now.”

  “Mom, I swear I don’t know.”

  “Go to your room. Tomorrow I am pulling you out of that school and we are heading back to Vermont.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. Something is going on in this house. First it changed you, and now it’s changing Joe and Quincey. I have to get out of here before it changes me too.”

  “Mom, you’re being crazy!”

  “Maybe I am, but I am not going to stand around and watch my family tear itself to shreds. We’re going back to Vermont and that’s final.”

  “Mom, I’m not going.”

  “You’ll go where I say you’ll go. Pack your things. We’re leaving as soon as possible.”

  My tears turned into rivers.

  I couldn’t leave.

  My friends were here.

  My life was here.

  Joe was here.

  A sob left my throat, followed by another, and another.

  Before a third could come out I ran back to my room, slamming the door.

  I screamed into the air.

  “I hate this house!”

  It was true.

  I hated this house.

  I hated my crazy mother.

  I hated Quincey.

  And if she thought she could lock me up again in my ivory tower away from the world, she had another thing coming.

  I took the picture of what I now knew was my fake dad out of my wallet and tore it to shreds. I was done with my mother’s and Quincey’s lies. I was breaking out to the only other place I could think to go.

  Thanks to Joe’s snooping, I knew that my dad was alive.

  I knew he was in New Orleans.

  I even knew his real name.

  Mom would freak.

  But I didn’t care.

  I found my phone and started a group chat before I lost my nerve.

  Me: SOS. Need to find my real dad.

  44

  It was nearly dark the next night when I found myself standing outside of trailer 32B in the End of the Line trailer park in New Orleans.

  The air was warm for May, the sky a shade of orange th
at only occurs at dusk. A train whistle blew in the distance.

  I peeked back at my friends.

  Cole, Bella, Ariel, Eric, Jasmine, Ollie, and Purity were standing just a few feet away. Their eyes on me.

  It’d taken some convincing to get them to bring me here, but in the end, this was my only option. Their parents wouldn’t allow me to stay with them for an extended period of time, especially since they knew I had a mother who’d want me back. I could stay with Eric and Purity and their guardian Grim, but Purity seemed dead set on me going back home.

  “You can’t run from it, Sophia. You have to go back and make things right.”

  I still had two years until I was a legal adult, which meant I needed to live with a parent. And since one of my parents was crazy, I decided that the best idea was to find the other one.

  James Johnson.

  I looked down at my phone, but the screen was still dark. I’d called and texted Joe a thousand times, but he never replied. I even went down to his apartment, but no one answered the door.

  Where had he gone? Was he hurt? Angry? Maybe he didn’t want to see me again?

  I sniffled and tucked the phone back into my pocket.

  It felt like we were cursed. Each time things were perfect between us, they ended. First after an hour. Then after a day. Was it some sort of sign? Was this the universe telling us we shouldn’t be together? I pushed the thought away before it shattered me.

  I had other things to think about now.

  Like the occupant in trailer 32B.

  The trailer was white and plain outside. There were no decorations or anything distinctive.

  I don’t know what I expected. A wreath on the door? A welcome mat? An actual house?

  The lights were off. Was he even home?

  My gut did a backflip, and my hands were shaking.

  What if he didn’t want me? What if he did? Where would I stay? Where would I go?

  Someone laughed from a trailer farther down. I didn’t turn my head. I was too nervous and tense to shift my attention from the door.

  I should have brought flowers or something. Or a card. Or…

  The door cracked open and a tall man glared at me.

  He was my complexion, with thick hair, a moustache, and a cigarette hanging from his lips. His eyes were familiar. The same shade of brown as mine. He leaned on one hip, plucked his cigarette from his lips, and blew the smoke into his house.

  This was not the man in the photograph in my living room. Far, far from it.

  I swallowed, feeling unease creep up my back.

  “What do you want?” he asked. His voice was grainy and rough. Nothing like I imagined.

  “Are you James Johnson?” I asked.

  He frowned, then nodded. “I am.”

  This man was my father? This thin, unfriendly looking man? Was this where I came from?

  “My name is Sophia Tiana Johnson. I’m sixteen years old.”

  He tapped his cigarette once, and ash flurried to the ground. “I know who you are.”

  My heart leapt into my throat.

  “You do?”

  “You’re Pam’s kid, ain’t you?”

  His thick Louisiana accent made me have to listen twice as hard to understand him.

  “Yes. Pam’s my mom.”

  His eyes raked over me. “You look like her.”

  “So… so you know who I am?”

  “You think I don’t know my own kin?”

  I stood stunned in silence.

  He knew who I was? He knew I existed? What was I supposed to do next? Hug him? Yell at him? He hadn’t even asked me inside.

  I fiddled my fingers.

  “I’ll ask you again. What do you want? I ain’t got no money for child support.”

  Child support? Didn’t he know that Mom had won the lottery? She could probably buy this whole trailer park if she wanted to.

  “I don’t want your money.”

  “Then what are you doing on my doorstep?”

  His tone was unfriendly. Demanding. I cleared my throat.

  This was a bad idea. A terrible idea. What was I doing here? Did I really want to live here? He didn’t even look like he wanted to live here.

  My original plan was to move out of New York and stay here with my dad. I even had a duffle bag of clothes in the car. But now, I was starting to rethink things.

  “I guess I just wanted a chance to get to know you,” I finally said.

  He scoffed, took his cigarette from his mouth, and threw it into his house.

  “Look, I’ll tell you the same as I told your mama when she called here. You don’t want to know me. I ain’t nobody and I definitely ain’t no one’s daddy. Now go on and get out of here.”

  My eyes went wide. “But if we can just talk—”

  “We ain’t got nothing to talk about. Now go on and get outta here. Go back to your mama.”

  “But—”

  The door slammed in my face.

  As quickly as he came into my life, my father was gone from it.

  But this time, I watched him go.

  It felt like someone had just ripped my heart from my chest.

  My heart hurt.

  My stomach hurt.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  I couldn’t think.

  The world started to spin.

  My knees wobbled then gave out.

  Someone grabbed hold of my hand.

  Someone called my name.

  But I couldn’t hear them over the sound of my tears.

  My dad didn’t want me and my mom was losing her mind.

  Where would I go now?

  What would I do?

  The trip home was silent and miserable.

  Or maybe I was just miserable.

  I leaned my head against the cold window of the limo.

  I wanted to disintegrate into a pile of dust and disappear.

  My dad was nothing like I imagined him to be. I knew he was a criminal but, really, I didn’t believe it. Deep inside, I imagined that James Johnson was the man I’d come to believe he was. Brave, valiant, and strong. But, as it turns out, I was lying to myself.

  My father was a criminal.

  My mother was a liar.

  And I was some strange mix of the two.

  I closed my eyes, praying to God that my body would turn to rust and blow away. Then maybe I wouldn’t feel this ache in my chest where my heart should have been.

  The limo parked, and my friends walked me into the lobby.

  I immediately spotted Joe sitting on one of the couches.

  His camo hat was tilted to the side, and his jeans and shirt were wrinkled. But even though he looked tired and worse for wear, he was still the most handsome boy I’d ever seen.

  Our eyes locked from across the room, and he ran over to me, scooping me up in his arms for a hug.

  I should have been mad at him for ignoring me all day, but I couldn’t be. Not when I was so close to him. And not when I needed him so much.

  “Can we talk?” he asked.

  He put me down but didn’t release my hand.

  I turned to my friends. Most of them, except for Bella and Cole, looked surprised.

  “I’ll call you guys tomorrow?” I asked.

  “You better,” Purity said.

  They waved their goodbyes and headed out. Then, Joe led me to the couch and we sat down.

  Everything within me immediately relaxed. Joe was here, and we were together. It felt like nothing could go wrong as long as we just stayed together.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t call you today,” he said, gazing deep into my eyes. “I just needed some time to think.”

  Time to think? I knew from experience that that phrase never ended well.

  “Think about what?” I asked.

  “About everything. About us. About Quincey. I just, it’s hard losing your best friend, you know, and Q was my best friend.” He shook his head. “I never thought he would do that to me in a million years. It hurt.” />
  I wrapped my hands tightly around his.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  “No. No, don’t be sorry. I’m not. What Q and I had is in the past. You’re my future now. I want to be with you, Jelly Roll.”

  I gave him a watery smile. I missed being called Jelly Roll.

  “And I want to be with you too, Superman.”

  “So, it’s settled. We’ll do what we have to. I can text you all the time, and we’ll see each other at school, and whenever you can sneak out.”

  “Sneak out?”

  “We have to be smart about this. Your mom and Q will never let us be together, but you’re the queen of sneaking around, right? We can make it work?”

  Sneak around? I didn’t want to sneak around with Joe like he was some guy I’d just met.

  I wanted to be with Joe for real. I wanted a real relationship where everyone knew about it. I wanted to post pictures of us on social media and have him come over for dinner. I wanted to celebrate anniversaries with him and for us to kiss each other goodbye in the daytime.

  “Joe, do you really want to do that?” I asked. “Sneaking around is hard work.”

  “I’m willing to put in the work for you,” he whispered. His hand brushed my cheek. “I’m willing to do anything to be with you.”

  “Even be a secret boyfriend?”

  He grinned. “Yes. Even be a secret boyfriend.”

  I shook my head.

  I said it before and I’ll say it again.

  The universe hates me.

  How else could I describe it?

  It handed me the perfect guy, but it attached a timer to him. First for one hour. Then for one day.

  I couldn’t do this.

  I didn’t want Joe as a secret boyfriend. And he didn’t deserve a secret girlfriend. He deserved something real. Something he could celebrate. Not something he had to be ashamed of.

  Maybe it’s true what they say. The pieces of a heart can only get smaller. And, right now, you could fit the shattered pieces of my heart through the eye of a needle and still have room to spare.

  “Joe.” I patted the top of his hand.

  “Jelly Roll, we can do this.”

  There was almost a desperation in his voice. A weariness. I’d done that to him. And if we snuck around, it’d get worse. We’d have to see each other at night. His grades would suffer because he’d be so tired. His team would suffer. He’d lose his scholarship. I couldn’t do that to him. Joe didn’t deserve any of that.