Rage (Blue Rose Series Book 1)

Prologue

There was a part of me that wanted nothing more than to take off this bright yellow dress, put on my pajamas and rewatch Pretty Little Liars. But I had to do this. I promised I would try for him. I looked over at the framed photo on my desk. A picture of my boyfriend Noah and I sat there, Noah freaking Grant. The most popular guy at Allen Prep was my boyfriend. If Jessica had never pushed me to ask him out, I wouldn't be here getting ready to go to his annual summer party. This year we will be starting the senior year as a couple. Maybe even going to the same college. Stop; you're getting ahead of yourself. You just started dating him.

I gave the yellow flowy dress a second look and decided to keep it on because I knew Noah would like it. I flat ironed my hair and put it into two braids. I didn't have the right products to do it properly, and there was no way my foster parents would buy me anything I needed. I put on a pair of white sandals, grabbed my purse, and walked out the door.

"Where the fuck are you going?" Mike, my foster dad, grumbled.

He doesn't even look at me as he sits in front of the tv, stuffing his face full of a half-frozen tv dinner with several cans of beer around him. He had a beer belly, balding hair, and pale skin with dirt all over his hands. He worked at the factory in town, just like everyone else in this town. He used to shower a few times a day to get the dirt off but eventually gave up.

"Out," I said, opening and closing the door behind me.

He doesn't care if I leave or not. He wanted to make sure I didn't run away again. If I do, the checks stop coming. Jane, his wife, is working the third shift at the hospital. She's nice enough, and by nice, I mean she makes sure I eat daily.

Noah was leaning against his car. He's smoking a cigarette but puts it out once he sees me coming. I wished he'd stop smoking. I've asked him to, but he's refused. At least he's considerate enough to stop when he's around me. He dropped the cigarette on the ground, and I quickly picked it up and threw it in the little trash can in his car. I see him shaking his head and giving me that beautiful smile of his. I get butterflies every time. Hell, I get them when he's even in the same room with me. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me.

"I missed you," he muttered in my ear.

"I missed you."

"Are you ready for tonight?"

I nodded.

"Don't be nervous. Everything will be okay. I've got you, remember?"

"I trust you."

A pained expression crossed his face, but it was  gone a second later, and his smile was back. He opened the door for me, and I slid in. He closed my door and went to the driver's side, and started the car.

We drove away from my house and towards his house. It's depressing to see how much his neighborhood differs from mine. The change is immediate. From corner stores and liquor stores on every block turns into libraries and high-end grocery stores. When I got the scholarship to Allen Prep, this was all a huge culture shock. Sometimes it still is.

We got to his house, two stories high, with a basketball court and pool. The party was bigger than I imagined; either I didn't pay enough attention at school, or half of these people didn't go to Allen. Noah walked over and opened the door for me, and I stepped out into the hot California air.

"I thought you said it would only be kids from school?"

"And a little more."

We walked hand and hand inside his house. A few people were passed out on his lawn, and he didn't glance twice at them. We walked through the crowd of students from our school and people I'd never seen before. The people from our school glared at me when they thought Noah wasn't looking as we walked by. A lot of them believed I got a free pass. Because working my ass off all of middle and some of high school didn't do it for me. I know that part of the reason they accepted me was because of my back story. Two parents that didn't want her were bounced from foster home to foster home. But I didn't care if my history was the only reason I got in. I'm going to one of the top high schools in the world. Allen could open up so many doors for me that no other high school could. So using a sense of confidence I didn't know was there, I held my head high and kept walking.