Hidden Secrets

Chapter 1

Flashback:
"Izzy!" My mother shouts.

"Yes?" I said softly.

"How many times do I have to tell you to clean my house. Hm? Til' it gets through that thick head of yours?" my mother spits at me, anger laced in her voice.

"I'm sorry. I'll do it right now." I assured.

"Yeah, well, you better." My mother said harshly.

An hour and 30 minutes later:

After some time of cleaning and scrubbing, I locked myself away in my room. It was well past ten thirty at night as my parents head off to bed.

Suddenly my phone starts buzzing.

A secret between you and I, I am not allowed a phone. 'How do you have one?' you may ask. Well because my best friend Cohen gave me his trap one so they could reach me.

< 3 best friends❤️
Cece <3: 'What are you guys doing right now?'

Leo <3: 'Nothing, why?'

Me: 'I am currently trying to stay out of sight.'

Cece <3: 'Well I wanted to go over the plan one
more time.'

Me: 'C, don't stress it ok. Honestly it will work. It has to work.'

Cece <3: 'I know I just want to make sure.' 'We can't afford to mess up.'

Leo <3: 'Meet at the park across the street from Dutch Bros at twelve. Pack light. Don't get caught.'

Me: 'Yeah, pretty much sums it.'

Cece <3: 'Ok, well, just wanted to check. Are we really doing this?'

Me: 'We have no choice, we have to. Not like our parents will even notice us missing.'

Leo <3: 'Right.'

Cece <3: 'Alright then. See you guys in an hour.'

I set my phone besides my dresser as I read the last text. My heart beating so loud I hear it in my ears.

We really are doing this.

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11:25pm
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I slowly opened my window and popped the screen out. I throw my red and black duffel bag onto the floor and my school backpack soon after.

I make my way to my dresser to grab my phone when I heard banging on my door. My heart started racing. Then I heard a voice.

"What the hell are you doing in there!" I heard my father screaming on the other side of the door. I froze. He wasn't supposed to be back until one. I grab my phone and slipped it into my back pocket.

Quickly I jump out the window. I start running. I heard the door bust down but I was already down the street and running.

I make it to the park by 11:45 as it was a 30 minute walk but instead I ran.

Now we wait for the boys.

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15 minutes later.
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I hear Leo pulling up in my car. Yes my car. I received the car as a present from my aunt who passed away. Although I just turn fourteen I am not able to drive. Thats where Leo comes in. He is fifthteen with his permit. It isn't his license but, its something, right?

Anyways I gave him my car because my father would have taken it back from me even though it was a gift. You might be wondering why are you guys running and from who. Well thats a story for later.

I get in the car and flashed a light on me and signed to Cece and Leo, 'Hello, Prince Charmings.'

They smile at my stupid gesture as Cece got out and pushed his seat forward as I climbed into the backseat. He then got in.

'Goodbye, Sacramento.' I thought to myself.

It was quiet in the car, as it was kind of awkward leaving the one place we knew so well, as we start our 7 hour car ride to Beacon Hills. All that can be heard is the roaring of my car in the midnight streets.
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Present time:

Leo is focused on the road trying not to bring unwanted attention as we are only half way through our drive. Cece is in the front seat sleeping as I am left in my thoughts.

You're probably wondering, Iz, wait we missed some steps whats happening? Well here it is.

Cohen (Cece) and Leone (Leo) are my best friends. We have been best friends since we entered the system together. Cohen and I were ten. Leo was eleven almost twelve.

Yes, we are apart of the broken foster care system.

Cohen's birth parents were alcoholics. His mom ran away when he was five. His dad beat him blaming him. Both of his parents then eventually died. Cohen suffered a lot in his childhood. He went deaf in his left ear fully and his right ear is fifty percent deaf, or as its called hard of hearing, at age two. He went deaf due to having meningitis and eventually started losing his hearing. Our school offered sign language which he took since his parents refused to take him to any classes. Our school was a k-8 so he was able to stay in that program. I don't know why you couldn't love him. His beautiful light brown hair, bright green eyes, and very bubbly personality.

Leo's parents died when he was four. His parents were murdered and the killer was never found. He was in a stable foster home but quickly it became unstable. They abused and starved him sometimes. You could see his beautiful light brown eyes darken when school was ending. His brown curly hair sometimes was tangled when we were younger but I used to help him fix it. Due to the neglect of my parents, I've had some practice. Leo doesn't speak much on what happened to him.

As for me I was the family mistake. The first born but also first mistake. I was first taken away from my parents when I was two. I was moved to this town far away from Sacramento. I stayed with a married couple who wanted a baby but couldn't conceive one. Specifically, they wanted a biracial baby so they could look somewhat like them. I stayed with that lovely couple until I was eight and a half. I was ripped away from the married couple because my adopted parents got custody of me again. I lived next to this boy who was a dear friend, but I forgot about him once I moved again. I wonder what happened to the couple? My biological parents I know nothing about. All I know is that they are dead. They gave me up.

How did Cohen, Leo, and I meet? Well long story short parents losing custody and homes not working out we landed into a group home when we were nine. This one boy picked on me because I arrived with nothing. He would bully me about a lot. Until one day he tried to hit me due to the fact he thought I stole his stupid comic book. But Leo caught his hand as Cohen started laying punches on him. Been best friends ever since.

If you are wondering why did we run away will it was because our home lives got bad. Very bad. We decided we weren't going to take it anymore and ran away with whatever we saved from working whatever jobs we could get.