Blood and Other Matter

Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Tess

Thursday, September 8th

Nowhere Road, Fairdealings, Alabama

The last day of my life started like any other—late. I woke to a horn honking and groaned, reaching for my phone to check the time.

"Crap!" My phone showed five missed calls, and a billion texts from my best friend, Derrick. One minute, I texted, then jumped out of bed, my pulse racing with adrenaline as I grabbed a pair of jeans off the faded shag carpet and shimmied into them. Off went the nightshirt, on went a bra and the first top I could find. A dark red mid-drift tee.

I eyed my bare stomach in the chunks of mirrored closet doors that hadn't been worn away into non-reflective grey patches. Not the worst look I'd ever thrown together, but . . . "Yeah, Mrs. Atkins might have something to say about that."

Spotting a black tube-top under a pile of clothes, I yanked it free, pulled it over my jeans, and up, up, up until it was tucked just under my bra. "There, stomach covered." I'd made two illegal articles of clothing dress code acceptable. Nice. Throwing my dark hair into a quick ponytail, I ignored the honking horn in my driveway and brushed my teeth.

"Double crap!" Out of deodorant. Wrinkling my nose, I dug my fingernail between the blue plastic seams and scraped as much of the greasy, white substance free as I could. Just enough. I made a mental note to pick up more from the health center after school.

Wait a minute. I frowned, tilting my chin to the side and examining my jawline in the mirror. Redness swelled toward my chin. With a sigh, I pulled open my makeup drawer and reached for my foundation. Empty. Fantastic.

Derrick laid on his horn. My heart skittered, and I whirled toward my mom's room, relief almost knocking me over when I saw her door was open and the bed was empty. She wasn't home yet.

The horn blared again, but this time, it sounded like it was right outside my kitchen door.

"Coming! Coming!" I called, though there was no way Derrick could hear me. Grabbing my book bag, I slipped on my paint-splattered Keds, ran to the kitchen, and opened the fridge.

A cold, stale scent filled the air as I stared at the near-empty shelves. "Oh, that's just fanfrickintastic." My stomach growled, and another honk of Derrick's horn had me glancing around in desperation. Mom still hadn't gone grocery shopping. Frazzled, I grabbed the last two cans of soda and shoved them in my book bag, then yanked open the fridge drawers in search of something, anything more than soy sauce and salad dressing. A few individually wrapped slices of cheese stuck to the bottom of the drawer. "That'll do." Grabbing the cheese and a half-empty pack of Hawaiian rolls from the counter, I dashed outside to meet Derrick, letting the aluminum screen door slam behind me.

"What the hell, Tess?" Derrick leaned out his window, his hands thrown up in exasperation.

"Sorry, sorry!" I slipped into the car, balancing my soda and tearing two Hawaiian rolls out of their package. "My alarm didn't go off." More likely, I'd slept through it. "Can I charge this?" I held up my phone.

Derrick nodded as his car lurched down the gravel driveway. I hurried to shut off the music that had connected from my phone before he could make fun of my playlist, and kept my breakfast in hand, as though I hadn't taken a much larger gulp of soda than I'd intended.

Derrick kept his gaze locked to the road as the car shuddered down the street. "Bread and cheese? Great breakfast."

Shrugging, I swallowed a sip of my and inspected the Hawaiian roll I'd pulled from the package. Green spots bloomed along the bottom. My stomach turned as I tucked the rolls back into their package and shoved it into my book bag. I could pick the mold off later . . . when Derrick wasn't watching.