Clayton McMillen
Hours came and passed. Or it could have been minutes. He'd lost myself in the memories as he had a tendency to do. He always tried to ward them off, but Clayton couldn't. Just like he couldn't ward him off. It went nearly the same every time. Catch his breath as he slammed into a wall, refuse to scream. Refuse to be weak. Punches, kicks, whacks with various objects. The severity of each beating changing with his moods.
Clayton was laying on the bed, him arms flung back behind my head, not really asleep, but not really awake either. Simply lost, when his door opened. He sat up on one elbow to glare at whoever it was. One of the other delinquents. He'd forgotten her name. She was actually quite pretty, if not a bit skinny for his taste. Willowy though, and tall. With sharp features, waist length perfectly straight, silky black hair and blue eyes that were more violet than blue. Her eyes were dull and sad. The eyes of someone who had lost someone.
"The doctors are insisting everyone come down for supper," she told him in a quiet voice that sounded as though it were seldom used. He moved to the edge of the bed and looked down, her narrow feet were bare. Guess that meant he didn't have to bother with shoes either. Clayton looked back up to those eyes. The pain in those eyes mirrored his exact feeling at the moment. Loss and longing.
"What was your name?" he asked her as he stood to put on a tee-shirt.
"Amber Manett." He nodded and, after he'd tugged the shirt over my head, held out a hand for her to shake.
"Clayton McMillen," Clayton informed her. She fit a long, slender hand into his own.
"Well, shall we go downstairs?" she asked me after we'd both let go. "I've already sent everyone else down. You were farthest from my room." He gave an easy shrug and gestured for her to lead the way. We walked out the door, down the hall, down another hall, and to the staircase, into the living room then into the dining room. He really hoped he wasn't going to be required to spend a lot of time about the house. A person could very easily get lost. And Clayton would just be happier in his room. Alone and sulking.
"Ahh, so you two have joined us," Ruby Stewart smiled. He gave a half-hearted smile back. Amber didn't even attempt a smile. She barely even looked at them, just sat down at the table and looked blankly at the wood grains. Clayton sat in the only chair left, next to her, and copied her. He glanced at the steaming bowls on the table and opened. They all contained different colors sauces with some sort of meat in it. Dr. Stewart clapped her hands and grinned.
"Indian food tonight!" None of the kids even tried to fake excitement. They all just looked at her like she was crazy. Perhaps she was. What the hell had coach gotten Clayton into?
Amber Manett
Apparently it was her turn to "gather up the kids." More like the delinquents, she thought. It was obvious something was wrong with each of them. She wished that would make her feel better about being here, but it really didn't. She still felt like shit. She still felt useless. And she still wanted a damn drink. The kid, Clayton, juts made her want one even more. With his dark, messy hair and his light green eyes he reminded her so much of Hunter. The height as well. Cayton's features, however, were more chiseled than his had been, his athlete's body more built and darker. She had preferred Hunter's lighter coloring and slimmer build, she thought.
Amber looked blankly at the Indian food covering the table. Food didn't sound very appealing. The way Clayton was looking at the food as though it were going to bite back, he didn't seem to think so either. In fact, the only two people who looked like they had any interest were those two twins. Amber ignored them, she wasn't concerned with them. She wasn't concerned with anyone anymore. Not a whole hell of a lot mattered without him.
"We're going to pray," Dr. Richard Stewart announced. Amber raised an eyebrow. Pray? She wondered. For real? Dr. Stewart looked at her.
"Amber, would you like to do the honors?" he asked. It wasn't really much of a request though. More of a demand.
"No," she answered stubbornly.
"It wasn't a question, my dear," he said mildly. She bristled at the endearment. He didn't know her. He didn't know what she had been through! He had no right to demand she pray to such an unforgiving god. If he even existed. Which she doubted.
"I don't care," Amber snapped back.
"You promised to abide by our rules," he reminded her. "We pray at this table." She raised her eyebrows, but relented. In her way.
"Dear god. If you exist, you can go fuck yourself and take back your damn food. I don't want it. I. Only. Want. Hunter." With that she shoved away from the table and stomped off to the extensive backyard, the numb feeling she'd had wearing off. Hunter had always called her "my dear."
Lisa Fuller
She watched the pretty dark haired girl shove off from the table with some surprise. Amber, as Lisa remembered her name was, had seemed so composed earlier. Or perhaps it was that she seemed to not care about anything. That was it. She didn't care. Much like Lisa. She didn't care anymore either.
"Well everyone, do dig in," Richard Stewart invited them. "Ruby is an excellent cook. I promise you won't be disappointed." Those two twins hesitantly made a grab for the food, but no one else did. Lisa found her eyes returning to the girls. They were the exact opposite of her and she found envy welling up. Perhaps if she had looked like them, someone would have noticed. Maybe even cared.
Because they looked like angels. Tall, slender angels with long, gold blonde hair, blue eyes, skin like milk and perfect, classic features. Lisa, on the other hand, was just average height, more on the too-skinny side with wild red hair, freckles, plain brown eyes, and a delicate, pixyish face. She had always wanted to look more like those girls. Girls like them always got noticed. People noticed when beautiful people like them were having problems.
"Would you like some?" one of the girls asked her politely. Lisa took the bowl from her and her sleeve slipped up, revealing five neat scars. The girl lingered for a moment handing her the bowl and looked at them, her eyebrows pulling together. Lisa tugged the bowl away and her sleeve down. No one knew why she was here, and no one was going to. Her past was not something she shared.
"Thanks," Lisa muttered and took some of the rice. A little bit of the food ended up on her plate, but she didn't eat. She felt nauseous as it was, having seen the scars again. Not only did she want to hide them from other people, but from herself. Yet even at that moment, she felt a horrible compulsion to pick up the knife in front of her and make a small, neat cut. Let out some of the memories for a moment in that flash of numbing pain.
"As most of us are here I'll lay down the one ground rule we have here now," Dr. Richard announced, shocking Lisa from her meditative state. "You must stay away from whatever your addiction. Jade, Ebony, this rule obviously does not apply to you unless you are hiding something." Both girls shook their heads.
"As for the rest of you, no drugs, no sex, no alcohol, no knives, you must eat at every meal and cannot go throw it up again. I won't mention names with the problem, though I'm sure you'll all know eventually. If you're caught with any of those things, we'll deal with it then." Lisa had felt herself flush at the word knife and realized the girl sitting next to her had noticed. She was either Ebony or Jade. No matter, Lisa didn't plan on being here long as it was. Her problem wasn't that bad. She may have had scars, but it wasn't like she ever cut enough to kill. Unfortunately, she didn't have the guts.
Kevin Groff
Half way through the meal he had to get up and rush to the restroom where he emptied the few bites of food he'd eaten into the toilet. Kevin groaned and curled around himself on the bathroom floor. His doe brown eyes were closed tightly, his eyelashes resting on high cheekbones. Dusty blond hair was darkened with sweat and usually strong muscles refused to work, they merely trembled. That was how she found him.
"Kev!" she cried and dove to the floor next to him. Kevin's jaw clenched as Marissa's rich, brown hair brushed against his cheek, smelling of her favorite mint shampoo. Even sick as he was, everything tightened at that smell. Mostly his chest, though, in a rather painful manner.
"Don't call me that," he managed to growl out. "And leave me the hell alone." He wished his voice sounded stronger, but he didn't have the energy to really bitch her out like he wanted to. Like he'd wanted to for months now. He'd given her his everything, laid his very heart at her feet, and what had she done but stomped on it? Cool hands brushed his forehead. Those hands would be small, delicate. He knew every inch of those hands...
"Sit up, Kevin. Please," she begged. Sitting up was exactly what he wanted to do. Then stand up and walk the hell away. However simply breathing seemed to take too much energy at the moment. So that definitely wasn't going to happen.
"Can't," he muttered. He felt her slender arms wrap around his waist, her curvy form pressed up against his back and Kevin almost groaned. Why the hell did he still have to react to her?! He didn't want to. He just wanted her to go away and to have never existed. Or he wanted another fix. That would take care of it. A really strong, large one. He would just drift off...
"Whatever your thinking, stop thinking it," she barked as if she knew exactly what had been running through his mind. Then again, Marissa had always been good at reading him. A little too good. She finally got him sitting up and Kevin found himself looking into those wide, grey eyes and soft, features. She pressed her hand against his forehead, neck, and started to slip it under his shirt. He grabbed her wrist.
"The fuck are you doing?' he growled.
"Checking your temperature," she answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. She'd always had a caring streak. No! Kevin scolded himself. No she didn't! She used you! She left you! She's a whore and doesn't deserve a damn thought from you.
"You're hot. And you need water." She stood up, her jeans tugging slightly at her perfectly rounded bottom and her V-neck tee-shirt clung perfectly to slender curves and perfect breasts. Kevin resisted groaning as his pants grew uncomfortably tight just from the sight of her. She worked busily at the sink for a moment, then returned to him and dapped sweat from his face gently with a moist cloth. Kevin forced himself to not look down.
"Here, drink this." She held a cool glass to his lips. Kevin sipped some of it, allowing himself a half second to savor being cared for by her again. Then he forced himself to remember that she was probably just doing it out of guilt. And she should feel guilty! He told himself for the thousandth time. But for some reason, he was the one shouldering so much of the guilt.
Marissa Libby
She really didn't have a reason for caring so much about his well-being except love. Which seemed like a pretty flimsy excuse considering she'd gotten him into this position in the first place. It wasn't as though she'd personally handed him the drugs and said, "here, go get doped up". But she'd prepared the path to them with heartbreak and embarrassment. And there he was, curled up on the floor, sweating and shaking.
For a moment, as she was taking care of him, she was able to imagine it was like when they'd been dating and Kevin had come down with the flu. Marissa had played nurse the entire week, even taking off school herself, to see to his well-being. She'd made him soup, wrapped him up with blankets, carefully wiped the sweat form his brow with a cool cloth. All the while putting everything she had into it. Just like she was now.
"You look horrible," Marissa murmured as she held the glass of cool water to his dry, cracked lips. He parted them slightly and let water flow into his mouth. When he came away from the cup, they were pink and moist again. Marissa's eyes stayed at his lips and she found she couldn't move them away. Perfect lips, she'd always thought so. She may have become a total slut, but every time she thought of him. Every other guy was just a means of pretending she wasn't still desperate for Kevin.
"Thanks, Mriss," he growled sarcastically. She brushed some of his sweaty hair form his forehead, relishing in the moment when he didn't pull away. Not that it meant much. He probably didn't have the energy to pull away.
"Hey, who's the one in here taking care of you?" she snapped. He turned his head away from her and opened his mouth to say something. Instead of words coming out, though, he lunged for the toilet and vomited into it, with her cool hands gently stroking his back. He came away from the toilet, still shaking horribly. Marissa wanted to take him in her arms and whisper quietly into his ear that he would be okay. She would make him better. But she had an idea he probably wouldn't like that.
Ebony and Jade Golden
The other kids had all seemed to avoid their food. Especially the dark haired boy with the clear green eyes. But Ebony and Jade were glad to not have to scrounge or beg for their food. Ebony knew they were technically going to be living off the charity of the Stewarts, but it felt less like charity since they were helping so many other people. Jade, who never really noticed anything, just followed her sister as she did in everything. Ebony seemed content to be here, so she would be as well.
Dinner was a quick, rather awkward affair and by the end half the people had left. Ebony and Jade dismissed themselves to go to their room. Jade looked blissfully happy and Ebony, while trying not to grimace, couldn't exactly manage total happiness. Not grimacing was already too much work. It wasn't that she wasn't happy to finally have a roof over their heads and food to eat, because she was. She just wasn't sure she liked putting Jade with these people.
"I'm tired, Eb," Jade told her sister when they reached their bedroom. Ebony smiled slightly at her sister.
"Then lay down and go to sleep, dear. I'm going to go and explore. Jade nodded and did as her sister said, as the sister in question left the room to do as she had planned. The house was extensive and she figured being able to make her way around was probably a good idea. Her wanderings quickly led her to the backyard where a beautiful, lush garden expanded for a good fourth of a mile. Standing in the middle of it, silhouetted by the setting sun, was the girl Lisa.
"Do you mind if I join you?" Ebony asked when she reached the shorter girl's side. Lisa shook her head, her loose hair swinging. Ebony thought the color was beautiful. A rich, vibrant red. She wanted to run her hands through it and see if the color felt as good as it looked.
"What brings you outside into this disgusting heat?" Ebony laughed at that.
"I'm from Arizona. This is nothing." Lisa turned to looked at her, openly curious. Ebony didn't feel uncomfortable under the scrutiny and she watched the other girl back. In her eyes she saw a kind of pain she had never had to endure and it intrigued her. Because there was also a kind of strength in there. Ebony had a feeling Lisa could prove to be an interesting person.
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Hey everyone! Here's chapter two. Obviously. haha. next i promise to have Bet/Dare out! Thanks for reading. xoxo~Ash