The Bet

chapter 1

~~~~Brooke's pov~~~~
"I swear Brooke you fuck everything up I told you to clean the house and the living room looks like shit!" My mom yells.

"I cleaned the whole kitchen,bathroom, the hall,and the living room, Lauren went in the living room with her toys and breakfast and messed it all up!"I replied.

"No whatever, you always blame her to get out of shit you do take responsibility for once!!!" She yells getting closer to me.

"Oh You're the one to talk about responsibility?" I mumble as I walk away.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" She asked.

I can feel tears forming but I hold them in as I answer.
"You should know already I tell you all the time. I have been alone while you and dad wanted to be a kid for ten valuable years of my life doing drugs and parting while I was home alone wondering why my mommy and daddy don't want to be with me!!! Now I'm 16 and I'm still left wondering the same thing."
I can't hold my tears any longer I let them go and they blur my vision. I'm so tired of living here I feel like they don't even care they hurt me a lot and still do I feel like I'm going crazy in this place.

"Oh please we have tried to do things with you and where are you? You're off with your stupid friend Victoria!! So stop using that line of shit!"

"MOM IT DOESN'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT IT STILL HAPPENED! I've been home for weeks now and all I do is clean and watch Lauren while you and dad do what ever the hell it is yall do! So you cut YOUR line of bullshit!"
I go to turn but my mom grabbed my wrist jerking me towards her and before I had time to react, my mom's hand connected with my face. The slap is nothing new but everytime her or my dad lay a hand on me it's like pushing me one step closer to the edge.
I look down yanking my hand away. As the tears rolled down my cheeks I bit my tongue and retreat to my room slamming the door behind me. I have no one....I hate this house....I hate my life I hate it all....I need tori I feel like I'm a burden sometimes but she's all I have. I search for my phone in the mess of covers and call Victoria. She doesn't answer the first time but after my second try she picks up immediately.

~~~Victoria's POV~~~
I always feel bad when I don't answer the first time because there's always that fear that she needs help but my cousin just got back from being overseas I didn't want to miss out on the time I had with him. My mom looked at me with a knowing look.

"Did you just ignore her call?"

I looked over at my cousin then back at my phone contemplating rather it was the right decision to ignore the call.

"Of course I didn't ignore the call I just let it ring until it was too late to answer." I tried to joke around but I knew just as well as my mom that I should've answered.

My cousin adds to my gut feeling as he says "Call her back it might be more important then you thought."

I reach for my phone and right on que I get and incoming call from Brooke. This time I pick it up on the first ring and step outside.

I hesitate before I finally say hello.
"Is everything alright?" The shaky breath on the other line proved other wise.

I can tell she's hurting as she says "N-no I don't know how much more I can take...my m-mom hit me again and I'm sure I'm gonna get it when my dad comes home."

I felt so bad I wish I could help but I'm obviously helpless when it comes to her family.
"Look Brooke I know you're thinking that now but look on the bright side in a week we'll be starting school again and we could hang out more and spend as much time away from them as we can. Just think all the guys and their football butts"

That earns a chuckle....a broken chuckle but I'm still counting that as a win.

She sniffles before saying okay and I can hear her lighten up a little, but that changes for us both when I hear a bang at what I'm guessing is her bedroom door. I'm sadly familiar with this situation enough to know to stay quiet so her dad won't know she's on the phone. I'm able to make out some of the conversation with little bits of her saying "Dad stop!" Followed by him knocking things over and yelling "don't disrespect your mom like that again." I close my eyes hoping he'd just leave it at that until I hear a piercing scream.  I could tell she was being hit but the question was with what this time. Then a bitter sweet moment came. I here her dad tell her to "get out of this house and see how much that other family can do for you!" That was my moment to tell my mom we needed to go get her as soon as possible she would know to be ready.

~~~Brooke's pov~~~
Victoria's desperate attempt to make me laugh surprisingly worked. For a second I feel like I can get through it when my dad burst in my room.

"What is this bullshit I hear about you disrespecting your mom!?" My dad yells.

I put my phone on my desk next to the TV leaving Victoria on the line....just in case. I hoped he didn't know she was on because things will get a lot more violent. I knew this was going to happen my mom starts shit over nothing and my dad comes and over does things.

"I didn't dad! She got mad at me cause the living room was messy! I cleaned it but-" before I could finish I see him grab the broom I knew I needed to brace myself for what was about to happen.

"Im tired of listening to you!" With that he swings the broom at me. I put my arm up to protect myself and he hits it so hard the broom bends. I yell at him to stop and jump across my bed to hide behind my chair but he gets my pinky.

"Dad please!"I plead. But as always my words are never heard by him.
I continue to hide.

"Get out of this house, see what that family can do for you!" He yells as he throws the broom at me and exits the room. I just sat there and cried in the corner. I realized that tori is still on the line. I figured she was on her way by now so I just started packing my things up. My arm was throbbing and I was 99.9% that my pinky was broke. I ended the call and walked outside to wait for  Victoria to get me. My mom, dad, and Lauren all walked outside not looking my way or saying a word. They got in the car and my mom rolled her window down.

"Im sorry." She says. She rolls it back up and they drove off. Sorry? that's it I hate them so much, Lord I'm sorry but I do.