Jay POV
He dropped his book bag on his bed spirits rising by the minute. His parents were in a good mood. Both sober and neither smoking. He raised his head questionably, did he smell tacos? He rushed into the kitchen and smiled blinking hard, wondering if he was dreaming.
His mom was standing by the stove cooking and whistling while his dad sat and read the paper. It was like they were a normal family.
“Oh Jay sweetie your home,” his mother turned to him.
He felt his jaw drop. They were being nice to him; they must be in a very good mood. But when he found out why his smile dropped.
“We’re going out tonight to the bar, so are you okay to be home alone?”
He nodded, hopes dashed. They weren’t drinking because they were staying sober to drive to the bar. Jay could tell they wouldn’t be so considerate about driving back. They would come back drunken and wasted. Great, he thought.
He decided to enjoy his parents company while he could. When his parents left smiling and waving, Jay knew he wouldn’t see them like that again for a long time. He thought about calling Drake and seeing if he could go there for the night, he didn’t want to be here when his parents came back, it wouldn’t be pretty. He went to bed.
The phone was ringing. Jay groaned, rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and glanced at the alarm clock. 4:00 Am. He groaned again and lay back in bed. The answering machine picked up, “hello this is Officer Norton calling from the Victoria police station,”
Jay leaped from bed and grabbed the phone, “hello? Are you still there?”
“Oh hello, are you Janette and Clyde Anderson’s son?”
“Ya,” he replied mouth turning dry.
“Well they’ve been caught drinking and driving so I’m afraid you’ll need a place to stay well your parents are doing their time in jail.”
Jay shivered, “I have a place.”
“Good, your parents will be back with you soon.”
He nodded, then realizing that Officer Norton couldn’t see him said, “Okay bye then.”
He hung up, grabbed his always packed bag and headed to Drake’s house.
Sadie POV
I couldn’t avoid them anymore. I hadn’t talked to anyone for three days. Today I would talk to Jay and the others. The only ones I really needed to avoid were Bridgette and Brendon, So at school I was all prepared to walk up to our table at lunch when Bridgette stepped in front of me.
“Listen I’m really...sorry, for what I did, you know the past few days...”she shook her head, “You probably really hate me.”
“I don’t hate you, just really dislike you.”
“Well you should, I mean it’s your first week of school and all I’ve done is make your life even harder than it was before.”
I shrugged, noticing how sincere she looked and wondering what happened to make her apologise.
“I’m really sorry, I guess I just make fun of you and Jay because... well... I kind of wish I could be more like you guys,” Bridgette said, studying her shoes, “maybe, would you like to sit at our table today?”
“Well, I was going to sit with... ah, sure Bridgette.” It wasn’t like I actually made plans or anything.
Kyle looked up and saw us walking towards there table, he flashed us a crooked smile, eyebrows raised. My heart skipped a beat.
Bridgette smiled back and sat down offering me the seat in-between her and Kyle. His features turned confused.
“What are you doing being all buddy buddy with Bridgette?”
“She’s nice when you get to know her.”
His expression turned serious, “if you think she’s nice you haven’t gotten to know her.”
I shrugged and started to eat. I glanced at Jay’s table and saw everyone looking at me in confusion. I gave a little wave and looked away.
“So, tell us about yourself, “Bridgette leaned in. Uh oh, just the question I didn’t want to hear.
“Um,” what was I going to tell them? My mom and dad got divorced and now my mom lives half across the world, probably Russia, dating some lawyer that we don’t know. Oh and did I forget to mention I still suck my thumb, I babble all the time and I live in a house the size of an outhouse? Yeah great impression. I had to make up something quick, “I moved here from Ontario with my mom and dad. My dad is a... a lawyer and my mom is an interior decorator. I am an only child but I have a dog named Bailey.” Half of that was true. My mom is an interior decorator, I am an only child but I don’t have a dog named Bailey and my dad isn’t a lawyer, he’s a plumber.
“Sounds nice, we should hang out sometime, I’d love to meet your parents, and your dog.” She smiled at me and went back to eating her lunch.
“An only child huh? You’re lucky, I have 2 brothers who play rough,” Kyle winked.
We finished our lunch in silence. Bridgette was being really nice. I was surprised. But I could also feel my friends’ eyes on me as I ate. I didn’t dare look up fearing that they would have hateful expressions.
After lunch I had home economics, we were baking nachos. Easy. The aroma of cheese filled the air and it made my stomach grumble, even though I just ate lunch.
In history class I sat down at my usual seat. Jay walked in looking cute like always and... Walked right by the open seat next to me. He took a seat at the back of the room.
What did I do? I shot him a concerned glance and tried to ignore the panic building up in my chest. Did I lose my friends on my first week of school? The only thing I could think of that might upset him was that I sat with Bridgette. It wasn’t like I was switching friends or anything. Did it seem that way? I really needed to talk to him.
After a very long forty minutes I caught up to Jay in the hallway.
“Hey what’s up?” I asked casually, pretending I didn’t notice how he blew me off in class.
“You’re talking to me?” He asked in mock surprise, “I thought you were to cool to talk to me now?”
“What are you talking about?”
He stopped walking and turned to face me, “You were sitting with Bridgette at lunch and you haven’t talked to us in days, I don’t know why your keeping up the charade because it seems to me you’ve already moved on.”
He turned around and walked to his next class while I stood there gaping like a fish.
~~~
At lunch I decided to put on my best smile, act like nothing had happened, and sit with my friends.
“Hey guys!” I said a little too excitedly while I sat down in the empty seat. Jay didn’t care, Madison and Lucas were too much in a conversation to look up, Leslie and Drake got up and went over to the desert bar and Miranda just gave me a dirty look.
“So, want to go to the movies tonight?” I asked to pretty much no one. Desperately hoping someone would answer.
“Guys what are we doing?” Madison piped up just as Leslie and Drake came back, “It’s obvious she’s here because little miss popular sent her over here to laugh at us.”
“What the- I-,”
“Just save it,” Miranda interrupted, “just go back to your popular table and leave us alone.” She shooed me away with her hand.
Leslie, Drake and Lucas just stared at me. I looked at Jay hopefully but he just kept eating his lunch.
“Fine,” I retorted, “if you want me to go over there so bad then maybe I will.” I picked up my tray and didn’t look back as I walked away from the best friends I ever had.