Oak Ridge

saturday. july 13

After a quick goodnight to Blake, I hurry up the stairs into Sugar Pine to escape the mosquitoes. Mary Anne greets me when I walk in and I send her a smile, trying to hide the fact that I know all about her and Myles thanks to Blake.

Poor guy had a rough one yesterday.

I get all my stuff together and hurry to the back of the cabin to take a shower. There are a few girls from Mary Anne's group talking to each other as they wash their faces and I can't help but overhear something about a going-away party.

"What college are you going to?" I ask.

"Mississippi State," the girl says.

Pretty sure her name is Caroline or something, but I'm not about to embarrass myself by asking this late in the summer.

"Oh, really? That's where Penelope goes."

"Yeah, I know! She was telling me all about it," she sighs. "Anyways, I was just telling Bailey that my parents are throwing me this huge party when I come back from camp."

"Well that's nice of them," I say, trying to hide my jealousy.

I check the water and feel that it's decently warm. I know I kind of started the conversation, but I really wish these girls would take the hint and leave so I can take a shower.

After about a minute they finish up and I suppress my sigh of relief. I get in the shower and start washing off the day, trying to ignore the growing bitterness at my mom.

Guess that's something Blake and I can gripe about together.

The difference between our mothers, though, is that his is addicted to drugs and mine is addicted to money. She's always bouncing from boyfriend to boyfriend, looking for whoever can give her the most stuff and not bothering to care about me or my brother.

It wasn't until I was in high school that she started living with them. She wouldn't come home for days at a time, leaving me to make sure Trevor had everything he needed. By the time I started college she'd gone through seven men.

Apparently mom made sure none of the guys knew she had kids which would explain why she sold the house to move in with her new boyfriend without a problem. Thankfully, Trevor's been staying with his best friend for a while and wasn't left of the street when mom kicked him out.

God, what am I gonna do?

I turn off the shower when I'm finished and get ready for bed. Leaving the bathroom, I notice almost all of the girls in their beds, either asleep or on their phones. Lights out isn't for another forty five minutes.

"Hey, Mal, you okay?" Mary Anne calls softly from her bed.

"Yeah, I'm all good," I sigh. "Just go to bed."

"Okay, obviously something's up," she says, sitting up on her elbows. "Come here."

Unable to resist like always, I shuffle over to her bunk and slide in beside her. She makes room for me and turns on her side. She's always been the best at playing the therapist and I don't know of anyone who can't tell her everything that's going wrong in life.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do when I leave here," I admit.

"What do you mean? The whole home situation?"

"Yeah, like, I won't have anywhere to go for those few weeks before school starts. God, I have got to get a job and get my own apartment," I sigh.

"Well, Mal, you know you can always stay with me," Mary Anne suggests. "If it makes you feel better, my mom didn't want me either."

I let out a snort. "True, but at least you got adopted."

"I guess."

We stay quiet for a while, listening to the bugs outside and the snores of the other girls in the room. After a while I notice Mary Anne has gone silent. Looking over, I see that she's knocked out. For a second, I consider getting up and moving to my bed, but I decide to stay where I am.

I'm tired of sleeping alone.