Chapter Twenty-Seven•The Aftermath

It was hard, cold and the eyes of Danford was slowly becoming the devil's eyes and it looked like he was trying to take over my soul. The moon turned into the sun and they all let us out,"Alright you're free to go! Sign yourselves on the way out and just know that this is going on your record, think about that the next time your ass decides to drink and party" We all walked out ashamed and parents were waiting….except mine, shocker there. Reggie's went straight to him and his parents looked at all of us,"Don't go anywhere near him" And before they went out the door,"Don't be expecting him to be around that so-called school" They had him by the neck which made handcuffs seem more comfortable, Danford's father came to get him and on account of the severe injuries that Reggie and Frankie caused him, he needed to get it checked out. Juliet's mother got her and she didn't say one word to the 4 of us. We were free to walk, for now and the boots that Yvonne and I were wearing was killing our feet to death, so we just walked barefoot, Gretchen looked over drowsily and pointed them out,"You're not wearing boots, what if you get sick?" Yvonne was spacing out and answered,"I'd rather get sick and die rather than deal with my folks" Frankie walked beside us and said,"Some homecoming huh?" 

"I shouldn't have let Danford get to me, this is my fault that you guys were in jail. It should've been just Danford and I, you guys should've ran. I got nothing else to lose" Gretchen got in between Frankie and Yvonne,"Hey we all had the chance to run, but we chose not to, we chose to stand by your side" Yvonne joined in and said,"Yeah and plus, I didn't think that Greg was going to treat you like that, plus you had the right to do that to Danford. He was keeping you down and you practically showed that you had the upper hand, not him anymore" Yvonne patted my back,"I'm this way, pray for me" Frankie waved goodbye,"See you Frankie" So the girls and I were the only ones left,"So how pissed will your parents be Gretch?" She took a deep breath,"No clue, maybe pissed of course, so I'm gonna just pay the price for it" We talked to get our minds off of what's happening and we all walked our separate ways.

By the time I saw my house, the dry grass and the fence that's barely holding together. I walked up to the doorstep and my hand was hesitant, I was afraid to walk in there and it wasn't because I was just in jail, it was because of my mother. I opened the door hesitantly, the door was creaking and I peeked inside to see if the coast is clear, I closed the door quietly and attempted to tiptoe, but then I heard the witch's voice,"Get your ass in here" My heart stopped and dropped, I sighed and walked into the Living Room,"Sit down" I planted on the couch as I set my bag down,"Explain to me, I got a call from the police station about you being in jail for intoxication and being in a fight, what the fuck is wrong with you!" I scoffed when I had my arms crossed then slouched back,"Wish I could say the same thing about you" She smacked my head,"Shut the hell up, this isn't about me, this is about you"

"I can't believe you would do something like that" Then she started rambling on and on while she was fueling my anger and then I finally said it,"Well maybe if I didn't have a mother who is still acting like she's a teenager and fucking every guy in her eyesight and if she wasn't treating me like a roommate. Maybe I wouldn't have ended up in jail and I would have a job"

"You don't have a job because you're not responsible" She was close to my face and I did the same,"Because you're not helping. You spend your nights somewhere in a var latched onto some guy's arm and your days off passed our drunk. You aren't here when I need advice and look where that's got me. You're not a mom" She was huffing while my heart was beating harder and faster, a lump forming in my throat and she rose back up,"Get out of my face, I don't want to see you"

"Good"

I walked out without a second constantly thinking of anymore things that I want to say to her, but my entire body was just shaking, so I just slammed the door and put a chair underneath the door handle and just laid down on my bed. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, but it felt like, I didn't have a voice anymore. I wanted to tell her what happened at the party and with Danford, how both of them were trying to take advantage of me. Before you know it, I started crying, silently because this was hurting too damn much, why I was even born if this life was just going to give me tragedy? I took a nap and when I woke up, it was around 5pm, I got up and unlocked the door quietly, looked down the stairs and hallway,"Mom?" No answer, just the echo of my voice, I looked both ways and went into the bathroom. I turned on the faucet in the bathtub, turned the warm knob a tad along with cold, I began taking my clothes off slowly and just dropped them on the linoleum. I played the radio just to tune out the traffic and as soon as I stepped foot into that tub, it felt like Heaven, another foot in...it was relaxing, laying down in it was another level and I just wanted to stay in there until the end, I didn't care about my future, it was already sabotaged by my criminal record, I didn't care about my diploma, I just don't want to go back to that school. The more I thought about it, I drowned myself as the music was muffled when I was underwater. It was peaceful, maybe that's how death will be, but all I saw was complete darkness; it was nice actually. It was the peace and quiet that I have been looking for, even when I opened my eyes, the world was fading away.

School came around and I walked in through the front doors, I heard whispers,"She got arrested, how awful" 

"Yeah I heard that she tried to fuck some guy and he wouldn't have it" I rolled my eyes and went to my locker, I saw my friends, but we haven't been speaking to each other, we're all just….I don't know, it just seems like we want to get away from this hellhole. I closed my locker and there he was,"Hey I just want to say that I'm sorry, I-I was"

"What Greg? You were drunk? That's a pathetic excuse, don't ever pull that shit on me and stay away from me. Just when I thought you were more interested in my mind than my body" He groaned and said,"C'mon don't be like that" Tears were streaming down my face, I was aware of it, so I went into the bathroom and starte crying, I just couldn't stand to look at his face because I can see is him panting next to my ear, trying to fuck when I told him not to. All I want right now is someone here with me, someone to assure me that everything will be okay. I just need to keep going...I need a voice, a voice of reason. My breathing became more difficult, I wanted to get up, but I couldn't, I didn't want this weakness to take over, all I want to do right now is get up and show who's stronger, so that's what I did. I walked out of the other door and when I opened it, there was Heather and this other girl,"Excuse me" That other girl's nasal voice, I only heard it once and it was unbearable,"Sorry" I was going to walk out but they weren't so quiet about what they were saying,"Is that the girl?"

"Yeah, she got fucked up at the party as usual. But she got caught for it, she got arrested over the weekend, I'm actually surprised the police even let her go since she's just gonna go out and do it again" Heather's snide comment and now this girl's,"Seems like she's peaked" She giggled then Heather,"Trust me, she's peaked long ago, she fucked that boy Danford and after that, she became a mess. Sooner or later, all her mistakes are gonna catch up and make one big heaving mess" I groaned lightly and opened the door then slammed it. I was about to walk to my class, wiping my tears away after I just washed it, but this feeling just came over me, I looked behind me to see  what's at the end of the hallway, I swore I thought I saw a girl with brunette hair, she was thin, about the same frame as me. I couldn't even see her face, I was about to go that way but then,"Miss! You're late for my class"

"Erm sorry Mrs. Peters, I'll be right there" She snapped her eyes at me as she went to her classroom. I looked back in that same direction and….she was gone.