𝙇 𝙄 𝘽 𝙀 𝙍 𝘼𝙏 𝙀 𝘿

37 L I B E R A T E D 37

37 L 37

"...date."

A smile burst out onto Vonna's face, and it instantly lit me up, inside and out.

"I never thought you'd say yes to me, especially after everything," Vonna sighed. "But you did," happiness shone in her eyes.

"I feel like I wanna try things out with you. But first, I wanna lay down some ground rules, because I will not be a repeat of your whole Beatrix relationship."

I made my intentions and boundaries clear, watching Vonna's reactions to everything I said and dissecting her comments.

I didn't choose to start dating Vonna because she was helping me through a rough time. It was because of her quiet nature, the way she seemed to go out of her way for me, the interesting things she had to say. The way she seemed even more sexy when she sagged, or the way she smirked at me when she knew what she had said was freaky.

I could see a future for me with this girl.

Maybe we could both touch the stars together.

Fast forward to the weekend, and my parents and I had patched things together. They actually listened to me this time about what I had to say. They were obviously still disappointed in me, but they understood that I was only trying to reach out for help.

Just like I had set down some ground rules, my mother now had some ground rules for me too: I'm not allowed to go shopping alone for awhile, unless I'm with my parents or Vonna. She put up all of our valuables, even though I assured her multiple times that I had a thing against stealing from houses, but I guess she had the right to be cautious, you know? And anything new that I had, she had to catalogue it down in this journal she bought, so she could keep up with the new things I popped up with.

She now has free range of my room, and she was forcing me to eventually dump out my box of stolen goodies from over the years.

I was still at Vonna's, but I would be moving back to my house next weekend. It was Sunday, but it felt like my mom had just kicked me out a second ago and not five days ago.

It still hurt, remembering all the hurtful things that she said to me, but I knew it was because she was afraid. I'm a young minority teen with a stealing problem and my mother's business is starting to shoot for success. There's so many bad things that could have happened to me in my darkest of times when I would steal on a whim, at times, not even caring if I was sloppy doing it.

I could have brought our entire family down, but someone somewhere out there had been on my side apparently. Still, the guilt that I feel, and the pain that I see in my parents eyes wasn't worth any lanyard, any bracelet, any purse, any set of earrings.

But without my pain, I wouldn't have met Vonna. I can only hope that she won't cause me more pain.