Zoe's life is turned upside down when a devastating house fire leaves her and her family homeless. Forced to move into a tiny one-bedroom apartment that is barely big enough for one person, let alone four, Zoe is certain that things couldn't possibl...
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On Wednesday morning, I woke up really early. Asher had caught a cold from somewhere, nothing too serious, but he had a stuffed up nose and had snored the whole night. I'd spent hours staring at the ceiling, listening to his heavy breathing as my mind replayed events from the previous week. Kane. The laughter, and the lightheartedness. Then, that awful scene the last time I'd seen him. I kept thinking about it all, and the letter I'd received yesterday hadn't helped matters. It was a short notice, saying that I had to appear before a magistrate next week. Mom was really anxious about it, and it made me anxious too.
On the positive side, it did distract me from thoughts of Kane. Mom had been very sympathetic when I'd spilled the whole ugly story, but she'd also been very much on Kane's side.
"He's right, don't you think? He is too old for you," she'd said, patting me on the arm.
Feeling miffed and very patronized, I'd pulled away from her.
She was fast asleep on the couch now, as I tiptoed into the living room. I glanced at the time and saw that it was six in the morning. Great. I was up a whole hour earlier than I needed to be, and there was zero chance of me falling back to sleep.
I grabbed a pair of shorts, and a shirt that was actually Mom's, and headed to the bathroom. She'd been so busy, she hadn't gotten the chance to go to the Laundromat. So I was very limited on what I had to wear.
I shut the bathroom door behind me quietly, and turned the shower on. The water took a minute to warm up, and when it did, I stripped off my clothes and got in. I always had quick showers in this apartment. Although the bathroom was clean – after Mom had scrubbed it top to bottom – the bathtub and sink were a disgusting green color. There were missing tiles on the floor, the mirror on the wall had a big crack in it, and the fluorescent lighting was harsh. I used to love having long, relaxing bubble baths at home. I couldn't imagine doing that here.
About ten minutes later, when I was barely halfway done with my shower, the warm water suddenly turned freezing cold.
"Shit," I swore, jumping back. Shit. Shit. Shit. I waited several moments, hoping that the water would turn warm again.
It didn't. And I still had shampoo in my hair. Shit.
It took a minute for me to work up the nerve to step under the freezing spray, and when I did, I shuddered violently. God, I hated this bathroom. I hated this apartment. And I absolutely hated my life right then. Stupid tears gathered in my eyes as I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair as quickly as possible.
I was shivering by the time I got out of the shower, using a scratchy towel to dry off as quickly as possible. I was freezing. After pulling on my clothes, I hurried out of the bathroom.
Mom was sitting up on the sofa, yawning. "You're up early, sweetheart. Have a nice shower?"
"No," I said, curtly. "The hot water cut off after a few minutes."
