No Face No Case

CHAPTER 1: The Rules

My pen flew across the paper in my notebook as my mind poured out my ideas. "The Rule Book," I titled the page, as I began to write. 

There's rules to living in a group home if you want to make it out alive. 

Rule #1: Mind your own business. Trust me, it'll save your life one day. So if you see Ashley taking some perfume bottles out of Gabby's room, take my advice and don't say shit. Be as blind as a bat. It pays to be oblivious. 

Rule #2: Don't get too attached. The last thing you need is to be the look out when the girl's are stealing supplies from a locked closet or even another girl's room. If you get caught, Ms. Katrina is taking it out of your allowance, and $4 per chore means you'll practically become a slave.

Rule #3: Avoid fighting as much as possible. One enemy leads to a whole army enemies, and I doubt you can fight that many opps at once. You know what I say, "All you need is a heavy box to barricade your door, loud music and a few candles to block out pointless arguing and the smell of cheap weed." These rules haven't failed me yet. 

My name is Alyson Baker. I am 16 years old. I live in North Star's group home. It's a girl's only facility. No men are allowed to step foot in here unless they're doing some sort of repairs. There are only 4 other girls living here at the moment: Ashley Taft, Gabby Roberts, Jennifer Sampson, and Abigail Douglas. The last group of girls got kicked out for fighting. Ms. Katrina owns this home, and she says fighting makes her look bad. One thing Ms. Katrina doesn't play with is her money. Although I'm not really sure what's being done around here to help us, we do get to live in this big beautiful brick house that stands out in the neighborhood. I almost feels like a normal girl living in a luxurious home. 

We all have our own issues and reasons why we're staying here. Some girls are like me and don't have family support. My mom and dad died from drug related problems. I don't know much about them besides how they looked and what killed them, so their death never really hit me hard. I've been in one too many psychiatric hospitals from shitty foster home experiences, so I guess you can say I'm a little crazy. 

We all have our own rooms. My room is in the back of the second floor. I've been here the longest, so I have the best room. My room has a big window with sliding doors. One you open it, there's  stairs leading to the backyard. All the girls wish they had my room because it's the perfect escape to go cyph with Jago and his boys when the staff is asleep. Jago is the neighborhood's plug. He sells weed to the girls in the group home. Ashley and Jennifer have a thing for him. They're in competition with each other over who can cuff him first. I don't know why they'd want to cuff a drug dealer, but I guess they get a rush from it. Me personally, I never experienced love. All I've ever had was myself-

Someone bursts through my door, which does damage to the box I've placed in front of it. 

"Hey! What the hell?" I yell hiding my notebook under my pillow.

I see Ashley, and Gabby who was running behind her. Ashley was holding Gabby's perfume bottles in her hand and slips them into her tights.

"Give me back my stuff Ashley I know you took them out my room!" Gabby yells.

"Bitch you over here chasing me and shit, I bought these myself." Ashley snaps.

Ashley puts her hands on her wide hips and gives Gabby a threatening look. Ashley was one of the older girls in the home no one dared to mess with. She was mixed with long brown hair and had a faint scar on her left cheek from when she got cut in the face with a glass bottle back in juvy. She's always been a thief, that's just who she is. She gets away with bullying the younger girls like Gabby and Abigail because Ms. Katrina never does anything about it. I guess people are afraid of her. Gabby was a bit smaller, a darker complexion with short kinky black hair.

"No seriously, my dad bought me those." Gabby pleads.

"And? That's not my problem, you know to lock up your things in this house." Ashley replies.

"But I can't find my key."

"Like I said, whose problem is that?" Ashley asked pushing past Gabby out of my room.

I sighed. "Am I really about to break rule #1?" I thought as I got up and opened my mouth to speak. 

"What Alyson, you got something to say?" Ashley asked bracing herself to pop off.

"I just think that you need to stop picking on the girls here. We all know that perfume isn't yours." I replied.

"Oh really, you saw me take it?"

There was a long pause. See, moments like this I evaluate the situation. Am I trying to live or die? Don't get me wrong, when I need to defend myself, I can. But fighting for the girls in this home is pointless. One minute a girl is crying for help, and in the next rotation of girls they wanna rule over the house. It's like bad girls club the way they try to claim dominance. I've been keeping my peace with the girls in the home, but I know that once I speak up against Ashley, all bets are off. Ashley is coming after me next. Fuck. Gabby you better count your days.

"Yes. I did. I saw you take it." I admitted. 

"Oh, and what are you going to do about it?" Ashley asks.

Gabby looks at me with glimmers of hope in her eyes.

"I'm-I'm going to tell Ms. Katrina."

"Ms. Katrina won't give a damn. Go ahead." Ashley laughs making her way downstairs to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry Gabby, you know how it goes in here, we don't get taken seriously. Next time you have to lock up your things. You can use my closet." I sighed. "Damn here I go breaking rule #2," I thought to myself, "at least rule #3 isn't broken."

"You know what, I'm tired of her messing with me, I'ma get even. You gonna help me?" Gabby asks.

"Um, definitely not." I refuse.

"Fine, I'll get revenge alone." Gabby says storming out of my room.

"Finally..." I mumble as I turned off my light.