Jay POV
He was trying to be compassionate, but he couldn’t. How come she could sit there complaining that she had family issues? At least her mom didn’t beat her; at least she had a nice caring dad that wasn’t drunk all the time! Jay’s hands clenched into fists and he saw Drake watching for his reaction. He bit his lip trying to hold it back but he exploded anyways, “You think you have family problems? If you want family problems come live with me for a day!” Now everyone was looking at him. Great.
“Jay?” Sadie asked. He looked away, feeling bad. He’d obviously hurt her feelings.
Drake looked at him, the unspoken question hanging in the air. Jay shook his head. He wouldn’t let Drake tell the story for him; he had to man up and do it himself.
“My parents abuse me; my dad’s drunk all the time and they’ve been arrested more than once.” He said quietly his voice cracking.
Jay heard Sadie gasp. He didn’t look up because the last thing he wanted to see in his friends eyes were pity.
Sadie put her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her. Her gaze wasn’t pitiful; it had a light that said everything would be all right. Her eyes were tinged with sadness, but Jay knew that would fade.
He looked around the table at his friends and gave them a shaky smile. His smile dropped when he saw Brendon’s face. His jaw was clenched, and he had a faraway look in his eyes.
“Brendon? Are you okay?” He asked slowly.
Brendon POV
He tried to swallow but his mouth was too dry. He always hated it when people talked about their families, but it was different now.
Everyone was trying to comfort Jay and Sadie, but what about him? At least with some family counselling maybe their families could turn out alright, at least they had hope.
What did Brendon have? Hopes that someone would adopt him? They still wouldn’t be his real parents, and besides no one adopted teenagers anyway. They all went for the babies.
Bridgette leaned her head on his shoulder. She was the only one that knew. He didn’t want people to think he was an outcast. People would make fun of him because he didn’t have parents; either that or they’d pity him. He didn’t want them to do either.
That had been the secret Bridgette had been talking about, the one she’d ended up keeping. He looked up at the group of good people that he and Bridgette used to torture. Brendon owed them at least the truth. He took a deep breath and told himself not to get too emotional.
“I’m an orphan,” he said.
“I’d rather be an orphan,” jay muttered.
Brendon glared at him, “you don’t know what you’re talking about, you don’t know how it feels to know that the two people that are supposed to love you no matter what abandoned you!”
“You don’t know how it feels when the two people that are supposed to always be there for you, disappoint you every day!”
“Yes I do! I didn’t even get the blessing of being abandoned at birth! My mom tried to keep me ‘till I was fricken ten! No one adopts ten year olds; they only go for the stupid babies!” His bottom lip started to quiver and he bit it determined not to cry.
Jay’s face softened, “sorry man, I shouldn’t have said that.”
Brendon shrugged.
“Can you tell us what happened Brendon?” Madison asked gingerly.
Bridgette straightened up, he’d never told anyone about his past, not even her.
“My dad left my mom when he found out she was pregnant,” he began, “After I was born she didn’t know what to do with me, she wanted to keep me though. She couldn’t get a job because she had to look after me, and we had no money. She ended up having to steal money, my mom was desperate.” He explained, “She didn’t get caught the first time and it worked until I was old enough to stay home alone. Old enough for her meant old enough to make my own dinner, so around five.
She couldn’t get a very good job because she never went to college. We ended up in a small rundown apartment where I would stay from six to eleven while mom worked her butt off earning just enough money for food and electricity. One day when I was ten, I came home to an empty house. There was a note from my mom that said she couldn’t live like this anymore and she didn’t want to drag me down with her. She’d left without even saying good bye.”
His voice cracked on the last word and silent tears began to roll down his cheeks. Brendon went to wipe them away but Bridgette grabbed his hand.
“Don’t be ashamed of crying, it means your human, just like the rest of us,” she said. She didn’t let go of his hand.
Sadie POV
After the surprising confessions from Jay and Brendon, Bridgette explained that she and Brendon wanted to apologize for acting so stupid. They never really like bullying and decided to stop. Again, we were stunned at what they had said but then forgave them. So now we were all sitting in my living room studying for exams.
“I don’t understand this calculus at all,” Madison said, discouraged.
“Well this geography isn’t that much easier.” Jay said.
“Can we study later? ‘Chillers’ is on and I can’t miss the part where the zombie eats the doctors’ brains.” Drake threw a piece of popcorn at Jay who caught it in his mouth.
“I need to study this or else Mr. Smith will get on my case.” Lucas said.
“Okay well whoever wants to study you can come to my room. Whoever wants to watch the movie, you can stay here.” I stood up and walked over to the stairs. Lucas, Jay, Madison and Leslie followed. Drake, Bridgette, and Brendon stayed downstairs.
“Here comes the good part!” Drake exclaimed.
“Oh I think I’m going to be sick,” I heard Bridgette say as we reached the top of the stairs.
When we entered my room, Madison blurted out, “So your birthday is Saturday!”
“You weren’t supposed to know that, “Leslie said shyly.
“Don’t worry,” I said, “we won’t do anything big.” Of course I lied; we had a surprise party planned for her.
“Thanks,” she said relieved, “Now let’s get studying.”
Drake POV
Leslie’s surprise party was two days away. He still didn’t have a present for her.
“What should I get?” He asked himself as he stared at the rows of clothes, chocolates and jewellery.
“Jewellery, that’s it!” Drake walked into the jewellery store.
“Hello! How may I help you?” A cheerful woman in a white blouse asked.
“Well, my girlfriend’s birthday is coming up and I wanted to get her something special to show her how much I love her.”
“Okay, I think I have just the thing,” the saleslady answered as she reached down to pull out a box. Inside revealed a sparkling silver ring. It was beautiful but not for Leslie.
“Hmmm, do you have anything else?” Drake asked nicely.
“Let me look.” The lady, whose nametag said Naomi, went to the back room.
A few minutes later, Naomi came back with a small silver box. When she opened it, Drake knew that was the one.
“That’s perfect, I’ll take it.” He said excitedly.
Sadie POV
Balloons, streamers, cake, presents. I checked off the last of the items on my list. The surprise party was being held at Bridgette’s house. I was still getting used to the whole Bridgette is our friend thing. That’s why I was surprised when she offered to let us use her large patio.
“Where’s Drake?” Jay asked.
“He’s going to get Leslie then they’ll be here,” I said as I gave him a quick kiss, “right now I need to get the last of these items organized.” I ran off.
Forty-five minutes later, everyone was getting anxious. Drake and Leslie were supposed to be at the party thirty minutes ago!
“I wonder what’s taking them so long,” Brendon said as he walked up to me.
“I don’t know.” I answered. Suddenly, my cell phone rang.
“That better be Drake,” I said as I answered the call. I was horrified when I heard the unfamiliar voice at the other end. The phone slipped out of my hands and fell to the ground.
“Sadie what’s wrong? Guys!” Jay screamed as he picked up my phone and talked to the person who called.
“Oh shit!” He yelled.