MARIE ✔️

T H R E E

J A S M I NE

I pull into the driveway of our house and see our dad's car parked. I sigh and turn the car off. We get out of the car and quietly shut our doors. Out of instinct, I hold onto Annalise's wrist as we walk to the door. "Just go to your room, okay?" She looks up at me and nods her head. I hand her the food we had picked up.

I slowly open the front door and walk in, making Annalise stay behind me as I look around. When I walk to the living room, I see that he's laying on the couch, probably passed out.

I let out a breath of relief and turn around, ushering Annalise in. I point for her to go upstairs, and so she does. I lock the front door and start walking to the stairs.

"Allison?' I freeze as I hear my father's voice. I slowly turn my head in his direction. He's still lying on the couch with his eyes closed. "Allison? Allison, please don't leave me." He cries. I creep forward, taking small steps toward the stairs. "Allie, come one!" He shouts, making me flinch. I slightly stumble back. The floor creaks under my feet. It goes quiet. He's stopped talking.

Without thinking, I run up the stairs, heading to my sisters room. I hear his footstep bang on the floor as he tries to catch up with me. I practically kick my sister's door open, then slam it shut. I struggle to lock it as he grips the doorknob, trying to twist it open. I feel Annalise come up behind me, she presses her body weight against the door.

I sigh as I finally get the door to lock. I take a step back and finally let myself breathe. He bangs against the door, desperately trying to get it open. But he doesn't.

"I fucking hate him." Annalise groans. She takes a seat on her bed. "I can't wait till we get enough money and leave this shit-hole." I nod my head in agreement.

"Did you eat yet?" I ask taking a seat on her fluffy stool that's pulled up to her desk.

"Not yet. I was waiting for you." I find myself smile. She doesn't know it, but she's the only thing I'm living for. I feel her approach the desk and start digging through the chemo plastic bag. She hands me my order, then grabs hers. We unwrap our burgers and use the wrapper as a plate. I give her some of my fries, knowing I won't eat all of them.

"Shit." I groan. "We forgot drinks." I say irritated. She laughs, causing me to give her a nasty look.

"It's okay, I got some Gatorades in here." She sets her burger down and goes to her mini fridge. she takes out a red and blue bottle. "Here." She hands me the blue one.

"Hey, why did you give me the blue one?" Everyone knows that red is better than blue, and if you don't know, then you better figure your shit out.

"Because I don't like Blue." She shrugs her shoulders.

"Yea, I don't either."

She rolls her eyes, taking another bite of her burger. "Too bad, so sad." I look at her for a moment before busting out laughing. My face hurts from how hard I've been smiling. "Hurry up and eat, before I get tempted to munch all that food down myself."

I roll my eyes and sight. "I love you." I say still laughing. She swallows her food and looks down at me.

"I know." I scoff and playfully hit her.

I finally manage to pick my burger up and take a big bite.

We both finish eating around 11:45. We both need to get to bed, because we both have school tomorrow. "Hey, can you put a movie on?" I ask. She nods her head and turns the T.V. on. Believe it or not, this is how most of our nights end. Us running from our dad. Us hiding from our dad. Us not being able to eat in the kitchen like a normal family. Us falling asleep in the same room, because we're too scared to be alone. Us waking up and repeating the process.

Fun, right.

"I'm gonna take a shower. Do you have any clothes I can wear?" I ask my sister. I pick up all my trash and stuff it into an empty grocery bag.

Annalise is just playing on her phone. She gets up and goes to her closet. She comes back out with a white tank top and shorts, outlined with red. Wait- these are mine.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I groan. She looks up at me confused.

"What?" She asks, obviously confused.

"These are mine." I wave them around in her face. She stares at it for a second and then starts laughing.

"Damn- my bad." She covers her mouth, pretending to be shocked.

"Yea, yea, okay." I don't waste anymore time before going to the bathroom my sister has in her room. I don't lock the door incase she needs to come in and get something, or go to the bathroom. Or if our dad somehow gets in. But I doubt that will happen.

I turn the water on and wait for it to get warm. I brush my teeth before I take a shower, just so I don't have to do it when I get out. My sister has towels under her sink, so I grab one and hang it up for when I get out.

I slip my shirt off, and throw it in the dirty clothes hamper. I go to take my pants off, but then my phone starts ringing. I grab my phone from my back pocket, and see who the caller is. I feel myself smile.

It's my three person group chat calling. I slide the green answer button and their voices fill my ears.

"JASMINEEEE." My bestfriend, Layla, says when I answer.

Playfully, I roll my eyes even though she can't see me. "Are you drunk? Is Jayda with you?" I ask. Layla always does this though. She always asks me to go out with her, but I'm never in the mood. It's always her and Jayda- our other bestfriend- going out and getting drunk. Then calling me to go get them.

"Uh- yea, she is. But we need you to come ge- we need you to come get us." She slurs into the phone. I can't even take a shower without having to do something else. It's not like I hate being their driver, I actually prefer it. It's just the fact that they go out almost every night when they definitely need to focus on school. C'mon, this is our senior year.

"I uhm- I'm kind of in a situation right now. Can't you get an Uber?" I ask, hating myself for it. Usually I'd be right out the door any time they called but since my dad decided he was extra cranky today the alternative is for them to just get a ride themselves.

"I mean- we could've, if some asshole didn't steal my purse." She says sounding happy. "Come on, All we need is a ride."

I wish she didn't put me in these situations. Like I really, really, wish she didn't.

But what are bestfriends for?

---