UNLEASHED

Chapter 1

WARNING: Adult themes.
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“Look at this piece of trash!” A deep voice yelled in the school parking lot. I looked up with a glare, knowing exactly what he meant. “Oh, Cat! Hey, didn’t see you there.” The tall dark skinned boy stood in the bed of my 1982 Ford Pickup. 

“You’re a liar, Marcus. Keep doing that and your pants will catch fire.” I tossed my backpack through the window before moving to stand against the bed. “Where’s the others?” 

Marcus jumped up and down in the bed, smirking. “Don’t know. Penny had to talk with Mr. Coal about her last essay.” 

“Would you stop that?” I waved my arm at him. “Probably that essay about her favorite serial killer.” 

“It was! What bullshit, am I right?” Penny huffed behind me. “I bet he didn’t even read it! I perfectly stated why he did so well. He’s just mad because I didn’t do Oprah or that ditzy celebrity.” 

Margo laughed as she crossed the lot. “You are so loud. That ‘ditzy’ celebrity has won 3 Grammy’s and an Oscar.” Penny rolled her blue eyes, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder. 

“You think I could do it someday?” She placed her hand on her forehead. Everyone laughed. 

“Not in your dreams, Miss Penelope Shor. Can we get going? I don’t wanna look at these ugly bricks anymore.” Marcus laid in the bed. We agreed and I drove us to the park, where we set up camp. Margo started pulling out all of our homework while Penny and Marcus started walking to the store. 

“Hey, I’m just gonna-” I started  backing away. 

“Go on, you were gonna do it anyway. Get.” She waved me off and I bolted to the library.

I pushed the door open and waited for the chime. I walked up to the counter as a blonde woman with a face full of smile lines carried a stack of books to the counter. She smiled broadly as soon as she saw me. “Cat! Ah, I knew you’d come. I was ready.” She laughed triumphantly. I leaned against the counter with a grin. 

“Yeah, I basically live here. You know, Mr. Kent was wearing his favorite blue shirt today.” Maddie’s movement paused as a smile grew on her face. 

“Really?” I nodded with a smile. “He always looks so good in blue. Okay, here’s your books. I already checked them out for you. They are all due October 22nd.” She pressed a bag my way with a small tint to her cheeks. 

“Thanks, Maddie. See ya.” I walked back to the park with the corners of the books poking me in the leg. I set the bag in the truck before setting with the others. Margo sucked on a popsicle as Penny munched on chips while reading a comic book, no doubt a horror comic. 

“You get your books, weirdo?” I rolled my eyes. 

“Yes, I did. Would you like to read one?” I asked sarcastically. Marcus tossed me a bag of chips. 

“Nah, I’m good you can keep ‘em.” He tossed a hand-full of spicy chips into his mouth and bit down with a loud crunch. I shook my head, grabbing my homework from the stack of homework. I groaned at the amount of papers I had to do. The others muttered ‘same.’ before diving back into our work. 

We worked for a while before I couldn’t stop shivering. “Jesus Christ, it’s freaking cold.” I muttered, hugging my knees.  

Marcus nodded, “I’m gonna freeze my balls off.” 

“Wouldn’t that me tragic? Only one of us could continue the bloodline, then again, who said that would be a bad thing?” Margo smirked at her twin as he cussed her out under his breath. 

“I think it’s time to go home. It’s getting dark and it’s just gonna get colder.” Penny started packing up her stuff and we copied her example. “Hey, you excited?” She asked, brushing against me.

“Yeah, I guess. I mean, he came home two weeks ago, so it hasn’t been that long. I’m really excited for his cooking though. I asked him to make his famous chicken tonight.” As we walked back to my truck, my phone quacked, signaling I had a text message. We got into the truck and I dropped them off. Outside Margo and Marcus’s house, I opened my phone. A knot formed in my stomach as ‘Message From Dad’ flashed across the screen. I opened it to read: 

Hey, Catrina. I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it tonight.
 Not to worry, I’ll make the chicken some other time.
-Douglas Malone

I sighed. ‘What was I thinking? That he was actually gonna come to see me? Why would he do that?’ I drove home and parked in the uneven driveway.- I looked out the window and stared at the old two story house. The yellowed lawn paired with the greyed white made for the shadow of a house that was once gorgeous. I grabbed my bag and walked inside into the dark and quiet. I grabbed a soda from the kitchen before climbing the stairs to my room. I emptied my homework onto the bed, before plopping down to finish at least a few pages.