Mischief

Chapter Four

Luella

July 15th. My birthday. In two days. My birthday has never been an enjoyed experience in my life. On the fifteenth of July, I have always ended up alone and crying. It was either because of my mom almost dying from an overdose, or my dad being arrested for drinking and abuse. I've been in and out of foster homes my whole life. Absolutely none of them have helped me. I was once in a foster home when I was 9, and I was abused. I was in a foster home when I was 13, when I first hit puberty, and I was sexually assaulted. These types of things have been happening my entire life, and they've happened so often that I've just learnt to deal with it and push it to the back of my mind.

"Hey babe." Johnny walks into my little building with a grocery bag.

"I told you to stop calling me that." He's called me babe ever since he found out I was single. So, about a week after I joined the Pikes.

"And I told you I don't give a shit."

"Keira wouldn't like you speaking like that now would she?" Keira is Johnny's girlfriend and she despises swearing. She's a strict Catholic, which means she's holy or some shit. She just hates cuss words.

"You tell her I swore and you're dead to me."

"Hm. I'll think about it."

"Idiot. Watcha doin'?" He sits beside me on the floor and starts shuffling through his bag.

"What does it look like?" I'm sitting on the floor in the apartment I'm crashing in, painting on a canvas. Painting was something I took up when I was first hit at the age of 8. It seemed to be my way of showing my bottled up anger, sadness, fear, I'm not sure. It took away some of the weight on my shoulders though, so I carried on. And I wasn't too bad at it either. I've sold pieces on the street for some extra cash, and they all were sold at the end of the day.

"Painting."

"No shit."

"Watch it."

"Why you here?"

"Can I not come to see my bestie?"

"You can, it's just a bit unexpected. You usually text me when you come to see me."

"Yeah, my phone broke."

"Yikes, how did Keira take it?"

"Not well."

"Not surprised."

"I know it's your birthday in 2 days. And I also know how hard it is for you on your birthday, you know all the shit that's happened to you before. I just want you to know that you've got me, and you've got the Pikes. We're all here for you okay?" Why did he have to bring it up?

"I know. Thank you."

"I love you Lu."

"I love you too."

"Now, let's watch a movie." Johnny pulls out so many packets from his grocery bag that I can't even count them. He's got popcorn, candy, chocolate, chips, ice cream, donuts, cookies, and drinks. There's a lot of junk food here. We turn on The Conjuring 2, since we watched number 1 last time and loved it.

***

I wake up, after falling asleep with Johnny during the movie and head to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. All of a sudden my phone starts ringing, so I rush over to it as quickly as I can so it doesn't wake up Johnny. It's Keira.

"Hey Keira, what's up?"

"Do you know where Johnny is?"

"Yeah he's with me."

"With you? Why?"

"We watched a movie."

"Mhm. Just tell him to come home. I'm sick of him hanging out with you."

"Excuse me?"

"Bye." Keira ends the call. I've never had a good feeling about her. She's always given me a strange feeling, and whenever I see her and Johnny together she's always being controlling. I've known Johnny longer than he's been dating Keira, and he's changed since they got together. And not for the better.

"You okay?" Johnny is walking towards me, rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hand.

"Yeah. Keira called. She said she wants you home."

"Ugh. She say anything else?" I contemplate telling him about what she said about him hanging out with me, but I don't want to ruin their relationship, especially not if that means it's jeopardising mine and Johnny's friendship.

"No. Just that."

"Alright. I better head out then. I'll see you tomorrow then. Eddie, Gabriel and Christian have nonstop been pestering me about this goddamn meeting. It better be good."

"I know. They've all been calling me for the past few days."

"I'll see you tomorrow then. Don't be late and leave me with them dicks. I'm begging you."

"I won't be late. Bye."

"I love you!"

"I love you too." Johnny leaves my apartment and I'm suddenly all alone again. I'm alone in this apartment, surrounded by the memories of the previous person who lived here. He moved to Switzerland for 2 years, and is now renting out his apartment. To me. I've been here for about 7 months now, so I still have a little while left until I have to find somewhere else to live. I'll figure it out. It can't be that hard to find some shitty place to live.