♥♥♥♥♥ Hi guys! So I posted the first chapter of this as a sort of teaser, and I don't post my stories until I have completed them in Microsoft word, at least. However, Trust Me is going to be finished soon, and I got a good reaction to the first chapter, so here's the second. If I get lots of feed back, I'll probably update again soon. So anyways, ENJOY!!! ♥♥♥♥♥
I sat up the next morning when my cell door swung open. My head still pulsed with a sharp pain every now and then, and I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. I never slept very well anyways. When you've been attacked by gangs, hungry hobos, or whatever else, too many times to count while asleep, you don't tend to fall easily into the arms of Morpheus.
The pit bull shaped lady guard from the day before came in, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw my face.
"You look like you got hit with a steam roller." She said kindly. I narrowed my eyes, or rather my eye, as the other one was swollen shut, at her, and she handed me a tray and my empty back pack.
"Am I leaving?" I asked, digging into the weird oatmeal stuff she had brought. She nodded.
"Mrs. Carbonnet is picking you up in half an hour, so eat up, then I'll take you to get your belongings." She said. I didn't like the idea of them pawing through my stuff, and frowned as she closed the door behind her.
********
"What happened to you?" Maria Carbonnet gasped when she saw me. I didn't look at her, but just finished shoving things into my beat up black back pack. Say that five times fast.
"She got in a fight in the cafeteria." Peregrine muttered.
"Shut up, bird brain." I snapped, in a foul mood. "sorry..."I muttered, zipping my bag shut and slinging it over my shoulder. I was feeling a little more like myself now that I was back in my own clothes; a swamp green cargo jacket over a black tank top, jeans, and black combat boots. I piled my hair on top of my head as the guards and Maria began working things out. I couldn't hear that they were saying, but every now and then one would nod. Eventually they all went their own ways, Peregrine sending me a quick nod, and Maria smiled at me.
"Ready to go home?" she asked happily, putting her hands together. I followed her out of the prison, eager to be out in the open.
"I'm ready to go." I clarified, unwilling to say "home." I didn't have a home. Home was where ever Jake was, and he was six feet under. All though sometimes it seemed like the only choice, I never considered suicide. I was a survivor, and had lost too many people already.
I was surprised to see the schmancy yellow car that Maria was walking towards. It was one of those really sleek sports cars, the ones with the racing stripes down the side and look they were carved out of the wind. It chirped lightly when she unlocked it, and she beamed at me as I walked around to the other side.
It was hot out, late in June, and the heat rolled off of the road in hazy waves. I wished I had put on shorts, but I breathed in the open air. Living in a city, I wouldn't exactly call it "fresh," but it was better than the dry, stale air in the prison.
The smell of freshly laid pavement burning in the hot sun made me crinkle my nose, but once we were out on the road and the wind was whipping the baby hairs around my face and neck, the smell melted away, and I momentarily closed my eyes and soaked up some of the hot sun.
"So, Quinn, tell me about yourself." Maria said suddenly, pulling my reverie. I glanced over at her and tried to hold back on being a bitch. She was trying to be nice, and I was not making it easy.
"Um, not much to tell." I said, nodding once and hoping she would drop it so I could sit in silence for a moment. she glanced over at me.
"How old are you?" she asked, trying to keep the conversation going. I was sure that she must have known from all the paperwork, but it would be rude of me to point that out, despite the strong urge I felt. I reminded myself that she was helping me.
"Seventeen." I answered, and she nodded, smiling a little.
"I have a son who is seventeen." she said, and I looked over at her.
"I didn't know there was anyone else...." I said warily, realizing I should have assumed that it wouldn't be just be me.
"Well, technically he isn't my son. We have four fostered kids, and two of my own." she said, keeping her eyes on the road. I felt my DEFCON levels kick up a couple notches.
"There are six other people?" I asked her, and she nodded.
"Well, seven including my husband." she explained, and I looked away. It was a whole family of them. This was going to be so much worse than I had expected.
About twenty minutes later we pulled off the main road, onto a long winding dirt road, taking us up and away from the city, though I guessed I could probably walk back into the city in about an hour or so. Just in case. I paid close attention as we moved through the woods on either side of the road, mapping things out so I knew where I was.
As it turns out, it wasn't even a road.
It was a really long driveway, leading up the biggest gall darn house I'd ever seen.
It was massive, with white columns supporting the roof over a porch that stretched the length of the house. The massive, meadow like yard was edged with massive gardens with flowers I didn't even know existed, and a large out building stood along the back edge, so far away that I almost missed it. Large windows took up much of the surface of the walls, going three stories up, and there were quaint little window boxes under most of them. At the top of the porch steps was a double door, painted white with stained glass windows.
I slowly stepped out of the car onto the gravel driveway, gripping the strap of my backpack tightly as I gazed up at the massive house. Jake and used to look at houses like these and make up stories for the people who lived in them when we were younger.
Maria came and stood next to me.
"It's...big." I muttered, and she chuckled. "Yes, we have lots of space." she said, then gestured for me to follow her. Sweeping the area with my gaze once more, I followed her, my boots crunching on the gravel. I looked in awe as we passed a bubbling fountain, right there in the center of the driveway. It all seemed a bit...excessive.
But if I thought the outside was extravagant, the inside was even worse.
Well, worse isn't exactly the right term. It was amazing, a high soaring ceiling, a staircase right next to the door that went up, then stopped at a large landing with a wall made of glass, then took an abrupt turn and continued up to the third story. The wide boards of the hard wood floor shined, and didn't even squeak under my feet. A hall stretched away before me, with several doors of different sizes branching off into separate rooms. The faint smell of cinnamon and something else trailed under my nose.
Maria smiled at me. "Do you like it?" she asked, and I resisted the urge to turn around and run away. This was all too good to be true. I didn't trust it. I managed a weak nod, and she smiled wider, then went over to this white thing on the wall and pressed a small black button. I almost expected someone(ninjas?) to pop out or something like that, but instead it just beeped and she started speaking into it.
"Guys, come down to the living room! I want you to meet Quinn!" she said cheerfully, and a collection of groans came from the little box, or rather, the intercom, if you're using fancy terms. This place was so big that it needed an intercom.
"Follow me, and after you're all introduced, we'll show to your room." She said, smiling back at me and gesturing for me to follow her.
We walked all the way down the long, long hallway, which opened up at the end into a living room that was ten times bigger than any place I had ever lived before. Massive, black leather sofas were connected together in a sort of horse shoe way around a large wooden coffee table, a TV that deserved its own gravitational pull was positioned on the wall, and several fancy pants paintings hung on the walls. The floor was covered in a lush, off white carpet, and my boots left marks in it. One side of the room was just a massive shelf that held mostly movies, but also some books, vases, and various other items.
Maria sat down on the couch, patting the area next to her with a grin.
I sat down several feet away from her, holding my backpack tightly on my lap. We sat in awkward silence for a couple minutes, and I stared at my boots. With my good eye. The other was still pretty swollen, and ached occasionally. I heard the footsteps of someone, walking with a quick sure pace, before I saw him. No one ever snuck up on me. It was something I prided myself in.
"Hello!" the man boomed, making Maria jump, then smile at him. He was average height, a slight belly forming, and wore a sweater vest over a light blue button down shirt, and kacki pants with shiny brown shoes. He was going slightly bald, but nothing serious. Maria stood up.
"Mark, this is Quinn. Quinn, this is my husband, Mark." He smiled at me, and I stood up as he approached at a quick, hyper pace. I took a step back, almost tumbling into the couch as he leapt forward, one hand extended. I once again stared at until he dropped it, but it didn't seem to faze him.
"We're so glad to have you here, I would have come with Maria to pick you up, but I had some work to finish up." He said, and I nodded slowly. He was extraordinarily hyper, and it startled me. Where I came from, people were more of "lie low, avoid people, no eye contact" sort. Here, it was like they couldn't get enough hugs.
"Where are the boys?" she asked, just as a small girl bounced into the room, wearing a pink shirt with a flower on it and grubby jeans. She had dark brown hair, like Maria's, and I guessed she was her daughter. Mark and Maria smiled at her when they saw her and Maria leaned down and dropped a kiss on her head.
"Hi!" the girl said before Mark of Maria could speak. "My name's Josie. What's yours?" she asked, looking up at me with big, soft brown eyes. I couldn't help a small smile forming on my lips.
"I'm Quinn." I said, and she grinned at me, one of her bottom teeth missing. Mark chuckled.
"This is our daughter." He said, reaching down to rest a hand on her shoulder. I could hear several more people coming down the hall, and in a moment four boys appeared, laughing and talking and carrying on the way only a teenage boys can. Maria put her hand on the youngest boys shoulder. He looked to be about ten, and had light blond hair and turquoise blue eyes, with a smudge of freckles across the bridge of his nose.
"This is Sully, one of our foster kids." Maria started, and Sully waved shyly, smiling a little. I waved back and tried to smile a little so I wouldn't scare the poor kid. the other three boys were older.
"This is our son, Max." Mark said, gesturing to a boy who looked to be about fifteen but was already taller than me. He had the dark brown hair of Maria and Josie, but light blue eyes like Mark, and looked a lot like his father. He nodded at me.
"Hey." He said, and I nodded back. Maria opened her mouth to introduce the last two boys, but they stepped forward and bowed in synchronization. They were obviously twins, and looked around my age.
"I'm Nicco, and this is-"
"Liam. Liam and Nicco Branigan, at your service." The other one said theatrically. They both had spiky, startling red hair(lets have it for the irony) and light freckles, also with blue eyes, though theirs were lighter than Max's. I knew I would have trouble telling them apart. Maria smiled at them.
"Ah, yes, the Branigan brothers. They're a real joy." Max said, winking at me, and I forced a smile back at him. Josie moved away from her mother to stand next to Liam(or Nicco) and he swiftly bent down and picked her up, holding her upside down by her ankles. She broke into hysteric giggles and started wriggling and twisting and turning, laughing at him with her hair hanging down below her head.
"Where's Levy?" Mark asked Sully tightly, and Sully just shrugged.
"He's up stairs still." Nicco answered, and Liam set Josie down.
"I'll go get him." Max said, and left the room. Maria grimaced at me.
"Levy can be a little...difficult." She said, and Mark nodded while Nicco and Liam rolled their eyes. Josie came over to me and proceeded to tell me everything that she knew about the other guys.
"And Nicco farts in his sleep, so don't go near him while he sleeps, and Liam talks a lot, even when he's sleeping. Sometimes they fight. Actually, they fight a lot. All the time. It's dumb. And sometimes Sully and I fight, because Sully and I play together a lot because my mom says the older boys don't want to hang out with a little kid, and that's dumb too. Max is really quiet and sometimes, when he eats, he gets food all over the table, and Levy is really nice, but he gets grumpy and he doesn't like people very much. But he likes me, and I bet he'll like you too. He draws a lot of pretty pictures for me. Sometimes, when Max watches movies, Levy yells at him to turn it down, and-"
"He's coming. Josie, leave her be." Max said as he came back into the room. Josie glared at him, smiled at me, then flopped onto the couch. I blinked once. I hadn't caught everything she had said. Maria and Mark smiled at me sympathetically. Just then, a tall boy with messy black hair came into the room. He had his hands in his pockets, and wore a plain black t shirt with dark jeans, beat up black converse sticking out of the bottom.
"Ah, Levy, there you are." Maria said, smiling warmly at her. He nodded at her, and she looked at me.
"This is Quinn Williams, Quinn this is Levy Grimmer." She said simply, and I nodded at him. He stared at me with black eyes, and I stared back. Then one side of his mouth quirked.
"Nice shiner." He said in a low voice, and the twins tried to stifle a laugh.
"Levy..." Maria hissed, and Mark frowned at him.
"Thanks." I said in a flat voice. There was a moment of awkward silence before Mark cleared his throat.
"Well, it's been very nice meeting you, but I have to get back to work.' He said, smiling at me one more time. "Sully, no more videogames for the day." He said, and Sully pulled a face as he walked away. Max ruffled his hair.
"We can watch a movie or something." He said, and Sully smiled, then looked at me.
"You can come too, Quinn. We can watch Iron Man." He said, grinning at me. I smiled a little and opened my mouth to speak.
"Actually, I'm sure Quinn would like some time to settle in. Would one of you show her to her room?" Maria asked, and the twins stood up from where they had been sitting on the couch.
"We got this." Liam said, his accent adding a strange lilt to his words. Maria smiled at him.
"Thank you, boys. Josie, come with me and we'll go look for that toy you lost earlier, ok?" Josie smiled and hopped off the couch, following her mother. Max smiled at me and Sully waved, grinning at me before they left the room to go watch a movie somewhere else. The twins stood on either side of me, making me feel a little closed in.
"You get one of the nicest rooms." Nicco said as they lead me back down the hall.
"Yeah, our room only has a view of the driveway." Liam added, nodding. "You get the whole backyard to look out on." He said. I nodded, and they looked down at me, then at each other.
"Say, how'd ya get that shiner? It's a real bruiser, isn't it?" Nicco asked me, and I shrugged.
"This girl bumped into me, and was being a jerk. Plus, she spilt my gravy." I said, and the twins broke into loud guffaws as we began to climb the stairs.
"Man, I would have gotten in a fight for that too." Liam laughed, and Nicco nodded.
"Gravy is not to be messed with." He said seriously, and Liam snorted. At the top of the stairs I looked out the glass wall. We were pretty high above the ground, and I wondered aimlessly if I would be able to break the glass, just in case. I guessed probably not, unless I had something heavy. The dark green grass stretched away from us towards one of the massive, beautiful garden with little benches and stone path ways. A man wearing a large white hat was on his hands and knees, pulling weeds.
"This here is Max's room." Nicco said, gesturing to a door covered in magazine cutouts and a signed picture of some football guy, along with several movie quotes and pictures.
"And this is my room." Nicco said as we went passed another white door, the wall plain except for a picture of someone with red hair that was obviously drawn by a small child, I guessed Josie. Liam's room was the door directly across the hall from his brothers, and it also had a matching picture of a red haired boy, obviously meant to be the twins, only this one was wearing a red shirt, while Nicco's was wearing a blue one.
"This is Sully's room, and that's Josie's, down that way." Nicco explained. Liam pointed out Mark's office, Maria's office, two bathrooms, and a couple other rooms I wasn't able to keep track of. I was sure I would get lost, the house was massive.
"And this, is yours." Liam said, turning the shiny silver handle on the matching white door and letting it swing open. I stepped in, the twins standing in the doorway, and looked around in awe.
"Holy crap." I said, and I heard them chuckle. The room was huge, bigger than the apartment that Jake and I had shared. I almost smiled, thinking about what he would have said if he was here with me.
"Whoa, someone hit the lottery. Several times. Think they'd be willing to lend us a few million?" he'd say with a wink. But Jake was dead.
A huge, king sized bed with an ornate wrought iron head board sat in the furthest corner. Rather than a few windows, one wall just had a long strip of glass about four feet wide that stretched all the way across the wall. A fancy white vanity was against one wall, a book shelf with a few things on, a big wooden desk, and two doors.
I opened one and gasped. I had my own bathroom. A big one, with white tile on the floor, a long white marble countertop, a bath tub with clawed feet, and the only thing that could have been better was if the toilet was made of gold.
The twins chuckled as I ripped open the second door to find a closet. No, not a closet, more like a whole nother room, complete with tons of drawers to keep drawers in. One wall was just a mirror, and the other had a metal bar so that you could hang clothes on it. It was amazing, and I figured I could probably live quite comfortably in that closet alone.
I carefully shut the door behind me and looked at the twins.
"I guess Mark and Maria are pretty rich?" I said sarcastically, and they laughed.
"You can say that again." Nicco said.
"So, I get this...whole room to myself?" I asked, setting my bag on the bed. They nodded.
"Not used to having much space, are ya?" Liam asked, and I chuckled.
"Not exactly, no."
"So you come from the city?" Nicco asked me, and I nodded, backing towards my bed. I didn't want to be rude, and the twins didn't seem to bad, but I seriously needed some time to think and sort things through.
"Were you a hooker?" Liam asked, and Nicco smacked him on the back of the head.
"You don't just ask a lady that, boyo!" He shouted at his brother, and Liam glared at him, then looked at me, mischief in his eyes.
"Nicco here was the best hooker in the city." He said, and Nicco snorted.
"Damn right." He said, and I smiled a little.
"Ah, there we go! I knew she had a pretty smile." Liam said, winking at me. I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help the slight smile on my face.
"Get out of here." I said, and they held up their hands, backing away.
"Just some friendly conversation, love. You let us know if you need anything." Liam said, smirking at me.
"Levy's door is the one directly across the hall, in case you cant find us." Nicco added, and I nodded, surprised. They shut my door, and I heard their footsteps trailing away.
I sat down on the edge of my too comfortable bed and resisted the urge to just lie down and sleep forever. I needed a nice relaxing day where I could just kick back in a hammock and like, drink out of coconut or something.
If I ever had a perfectly relaxing day, I would probably go bonkers.
I pulled my bag onto my lap and unzipped it, dumping the contents onto "my" bed. An old hair brush missing several teeth, an old toothbrush in a plastic bag, two t shirts, a pair of cut off jean shorts and another pair of jeans fell out, along with a picture, cut in half by a long crease from being folded up for too long. I carefully opened the picture and looked at the only photograph I had of me and Jake. I folded the half that had my face in it down so I was just looking at Jake. His blond hair gleamed in the flash of the cheap camera. We were fourteen at the time, and Jake had one arm slung across my shoulder, our heads tilted together as we grinned at the camera. His deep blue eyes gazed out at me, and I felt the hot prick of tears at the back of my eyes.
"Wish you were here, Jakie." I whispered, then set the picture down on the nightstand. I went into "my" bathroom and splashed cold water on my face, then changed into my shorts before leaving my room to go explore, and check the property.
That house was a freaking labyrinth. I made it to the stairs, went down them, and then things went bad. I went into the huge kitchen, then went through a door on the other side and ended up in what appeared to be a library. I went out another door through there, and was officially lost.
Eventually, I burst out of the house, feeling a little panicked, and inhaled the fresh air, then looked up at the sky. It was late afternoon, and the sun would be setting soon. I stuck close to the edge of the house and made my way around the back yard.
Most of it was pretty open, a nice round garden right in the center, a play set I would have loved off to side, close to the house. The outbuilding I had seen turned out to be an old stable, but now it housed things like four wheelers and golf carts. Not far away was a little stone edged pond with pretty giant gold fish. I couldn't remember what they were called, but was sure it was something Chinese, or Japanese.
Basically, what I learned about their property was that it was charming. Charming! What did I know about charming? Nothing! Yet here I was, in this fancy pants house with a crap ton of land, several people, and tons of other stuff. I began wondering what exactly it was that they did for a living.
I was about to head back to the house when I heard voices coming from the stable. I went over and peered around the edge of the door, looking in. At first all I saw was Josie chattering happily, and when I leaned more I saw that she was talking to Levy. He had his back mostly turned to me, but I saw his cheek lift in a smile as Josie talked to him. I was surprised. He hadn't seemed like the kind of guy that would enjoy a five year olds company.
That's what I get for judging people.
"Quinn!" Josie suddenly yelled, waving at me. I cursed under my breath and tried to shrink away, but Levy had already turned and seen me. Josie ran towards me and grabbed my hand, sending slight chills up my spine as she tugged into the barn, despite my reluctance. I pulled my hand from hers when we finally came to a stop in front of Levy. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not huge on the whole touching thing. Left over habits from long ago habits, even if it was just a little girl holding my hand, my natural reaction was...panic.
"Quinn and I are best friends." Josie said smugly, grinning up at me. I couldn't help but smile back; she was so cute, and so innocent. Levy flicked a glance at me, his eyes unreadable.
"Oh yeah?" he murmured, looking back down at the drawing pad I could now see in his hands. He turned it just enough so that I couldn't see what he was drawing, and I got the feeling he was a pretty private person.
"Yeah! We're going to go shopping together, and watch Disney channel together, and do all sorts of fun stuff!" she cried happily, bouncing on her heels a little. Levy glanced down at her, raising an eyebrow.
"I thought I was your best friend." I said, and she frowned, her eyebrows bunching together in an adorable face. She leapt forward and took his much larger hand in hers.
"We can all be best friends." She said, grinning at us.
"Maybe Quinn doesn't want too." He said, smirking at me. He leaned down so he was at Josie's level.
"See her eye? That means she was a bad girl." He said, smirking at me. Josie gasped and looked at me accusingly.
"Were you bad, Quinn?" she asked, and I narrowed my eyes at Levy before looking down at her.
"No, someone spilt my gravy on me, and I got some in my eye." I lied. Thank god she was five, and accepted this as completely realistic and true. She pulled her hand from Levy's and looked up at him, placing her hands on her hips as she scowled at him.
"You should have asked her before you said that." Josie said, and Levy held up his hands.
"Sorry, Josie. You're right. Why don't you go ask your mom when dinner is?" he suggested, and Josie grinned, her momentary disdain gone. She ran from the barn and across the large yard.
"Got it in your eye, did you?" Levy said, hardly looking at me as he placed himself on the seat of a four wheeler, sitting sideways. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"It was a mutual fight." I said, hoping that made some sense.
"Got a bit of a temper, don't you?" he asked, his voice annoyingly calm.
"Only around you." I snapped, annoyed with myself for letting him get to me. He raised an eyebrow.
"I see why you ended up in prison." he said, and I felt my cheeks flame.
"and I see why you were voted least popular in your class." I snapped, storming out of the barn. I heard him chuckle behind me, making me madder. Usually, I had the upper hand in fights, of all kind, but this kid just really got under my skin. Something about the way he spoke, and the way he looked at me, made me hate him, almost instantly. No, it does not take much to get on my bad side.
I opened the door just as Josie raced past me, back across the yard towards the stable. I slammed the door behind me angrily, earning a surprised look from Sully as he walked by.
"Quinn, is that you? Dinner's ready!" Maria called, and I followed the sound of several voices into a room I had been in earlier, another branch off of the kitchen, the dining room. It was fancy, with a crystal chandelier, a large, shiny, oblong, mahogany table taking up most of the room. An ornate carpet was underfoot, and my mouth watered at the amazing smell.
There was four roast chickens on the table, a salad, several vegetables, potatoes, and yes, gravy. I had never seen so much food in one place before. There were white plates around the table, with shiny silverware next to it, I quickly took a seat next to Sully, looking at the crispy, golden, no doubt juicy chicken.
I looked over at Sully, who was grinning at me.
"I know how you feel." He said, bouncing a little in his seat as he looked at the meal. I wondered where Sully had come from, where all of them had come from. I knew that I wasn't the only one to have a bit of a rough start.
Soon, everyone was seated around the table, and food was being passed back and forth. Mark and Maria sat at either end of the table. Josie sat next to Levy with the twins on her other side, and I sat in between Max and Sully. The twins tried to take a whole chicken for themselves, but Maria quickly shut them down. I was trying not to be rude, but I was insanely hungry, and my mouth was literally watering, and I was worried I would start drooling at any time.
"Glad to see a girl with an appetite." Max said in his quiet voice. I smirked at him.
"I never miss a chance to pile it on." I said, and he chuckled, nodding his head at my mound of potatoes.
"I see that." He said, then his eyes widened a little. "Um, that wasn't a fat joke." He said nervously, and I snorted in laughter.
"I knew what you meant." I said, and he smiled gratefully. Sully passed the gravy to me, and I grabbed it greedily. I love gravy, in case you haven't noticed.
"Don't get any in her eye!" Josie cried from the other end of the table, and the meal came to a momentary stand still, except the twins, who were arguing over the last drumstick. Levy snorted and shook his head. Maria smiled at me sympathetically, and the meal quickly resumed. The twins smirked at me as I dumped gravy on pretty much everything.
"Wouldn't want to get in between Quinn and her gravy, now would you?" Nicco said, shooting me a wicked grin. I narrowed my eyes, but a slight smile was playing on my lips. I could get used to this.
But I wasn't going to let myself. It wouldn't last. I had to keep reminding myself of that.
By the end of the meal, pretty much everything was gone. I was shocked at how much the Nicco, Liam, Levy, and Max could put away in such a small amount of time. I had done pretty well myself, and was fuller than I had been in...ever.
"So, Quinn, I noticed you only had one bag." Mark said, and I stiffened a little.
"Um, yeah." I said, a little awkwardly. I wasn't sure what he was getting at.
"Maybe you and Maria could go shopping tomorrow. I would offer, but I'm afraid I'm not much use in that department." He laughed, and Maria nodded happily.
"Yes, that would be so much fun! It's not very often that I get a chance to go shopping with another girl, other than Josie." She said, grinning at me. I swallowed and nodded. I had never really been...shopping. I mean, unless going to Good Will and getting hand me down jeans and t shirts counted, which I didn't think it did. I was about as fashionable as a caveman. The only thing I had ever really put any thought into, clothes wise, was how durable it was, and how easily I could move in it, in case I had to run, or fight.
"Um, yeah, sure." I said, hoping that would placate her. It seemed to work, and she grinned wildly. I noticed Levy staring at me, and when we locked eyes he didn't look away, just kept on staring. After a moment, he looked down and polished off the rest of his plate.
What was his problem?
I tried to help clean up and be polite, but Maria insisted that I stay seated.
"You are just getting settled in! No need to rush around." She said, patting my shoulder and making me cringe a little. So I just sat there, staring at my fancy plate mat, in a fancy dining room, under a fancy chandelier, and feeling extremely out of place.
I looked up when Josie slid into her brothers seat beside me. She stared at me with wide brown eyes, and I offered a smile.
"Do you like chocolate?" she whispered, and I rose my eye brows.
"Who doesn't like chocolate?" I whispered back, and she grinned at me.
"Katie made a chocolate lava cake, special for your welcoming, my mama said. Katie's our cook." she explained, and my moth watered. I didn't know what that was, and I assumed it didn't actually have lava in it, but it sounded pretty good. I was also surprised by the fact that they even had someone do all the cooking for them. Like, was it that hard? Then again, they were pretty rich.
"Get out of my chair, twerp." Max said, coming up behind his little sister and tipping the chair slightly. She slid out of it and placed her hands on her hips, looking up at him.
"Mama said I could sit where I want." She said sternly, and Max raised his eyebrows.
"My chair has a nest of spiders underneath it." He said with a straight face, and Josie gasped, her eyes widening as she quickly scrambled away from the chair and back to her own, standing next to it and watching us as if waiting for a giant spider to crawl out and eat me whole. All I could see of her was the top of her head and her two brown eyes as she peered at us, waiting.
Then the doors from the kitchen swung open and everyone came trailing back in, along with an older, round lady holding the most amazing looking cake I had ever seen in my entire life. The lady came and put the cake on the table close to me. It was round and chocolate and had chocolate on the top and if heaven came to me in the shape of desert, it would be a chocolate lava cake, I was sure.
Everyone sat back down and Katie brought another cake out, then cut them, and the boys fell on them like wild dogs.
Twenty minutes later I dragged my butt up the stairs, groaning with every step. I had never eaten so much in my life. Unfortunately, because I was half dead and because the house was huge, I quickly became lost. I came to a stop and groaned, looking up and down the hall. All the doors were the same.
"It's that way."
I jumped and looked at Levy, who was standing behind me, one eye brow raised. I blamed my lowered senses on the amount of chocolate I had consumed. I straightened and stuck my chin out.
"I know." I answer haughtily. He snorted.
"So what, were you just admiring the nice rug?" Levy asked me sarcastically, referring to why I was just standing in the hall, looking dumb. I scowled at him and stomped off, but it didn't have the desired affect I was hoping for, since he had to follow me to get to his own room.
I slammed the door behind me, irritated, and immediately flopped onto my bed, just wanting the day to be over. I wasn't sure how to feel about the situation. It was a nice to be in such a fancy place, but it wasn't...me. I had practically grown up on the streets. Even before my mom had died, before my dad had died, we lived in an old, bombed out apartment with peeling yellow wall paper, broken furniture, and creaky floor boards. The walls were so thing that you could hear people on the other side breathing, and in the winter it was so cold that I wouldn't be able to sleep. I couldn't even count the number of times, growing up, that Jake and I had curled up together, trying to warm each other up. Jake lived in the apartment next door. His mom was a hooker, and then one day she didn't come home. We never saw her again.
I felt...almost homesick, I guess, which is dumb, because I didn't have a home. I'd had that sick feeling in my stomach for over a month, ever since Jake died. The cold shard of ice in my heart never seemed to melt, and I didn't know what to do. Jake would have.
I curled up on my bed, kicking my boots off, and shut my eyes, exhausted and broken.
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