young lies

chapter fifteen - locker talks

if the harbaugh's weren't on bexley and nick's asses before, they definitely were now. nick caved last week and returned the ring to liz after she found her sobbing on the kitchen floor.

bex wasn't exactly happy that nick gave the ring back to liz. personally she would have tried to hide her grin as she continues to remind herself of what the family has done. nick, unlike bex, has seemed to somewhat forget about why they were there. bex remembers the bright smiles her friend has when speaking of spending time with the family. it makes her almost angry but she knows that nick truly does miss her old life and would trade it back in a second, if given the chance. bex tells herself that nick's currently just enjoying the life she knows she could never have.

however, bexley couldn't find it in herself to enjoy anything from the family anymore. she feels annoyance when one of them speaks and disgust when they smile, and she finds it increasingly difficult to give them fake smiles. with that she's been spending most her days in silence, normally locked away in her room, occasionally with the company of nick, and trying her best to ignore her new roommates.

the family had taken notice of her disengagement from them but decided to leave her be as they assumed she was probably just a little frightened about her new home.

well, everyone besides landon. he would always try to strike up a conversation with the girl, attempting a few jokes, and even offering to help her with her homework. to say her negligence in him was upsetting would be an understatement. landon felt truly saddened by it. he even felt a bit guilty that he couldn't help the girl feel better. the worst part is that she wouldn't even meet his eyes whenever he spoke, instigating a painful twist is his gut.

for some reason landon was the only thompson that bexley couldn't bring herself to fully hate, even though she should hate him the most. not responding to him felt more like a chore while even smiling at any others was coerce. the worst part was that he would not give up on trying to speak with her making it harder and harder everyday to avoid him and his gaze. bex knew somewhere deep in her gut that looking at landon would bring her back to where she was before thompson family safety day, back to when she had forgotten why she was here, why she wanted to ruin their life's. she would never truly admit it to herself as the mere thought of it made her fill with embarrassment but it was still the truth. landon thompson would be the cause of her own demise.

even though staying away from the boy has been a struggle, bexley found it helpful as she had come up with a new plan for money. after explaining the idea to nick, they were quick to put it in motion.

using the chromebook bex had stolen from one of their first foster homes, they set up the go-fund-me account for omar, the only surviving member of his family after a salmon-fishing accident and who is in desperate need of money for the funeral.

not even an hour later, money had started pouring in and not even twelve hours later, everyone in school was talking about it.

now, bex and nick sit on bexley's bed with tony on the phone, watching as the money on the screen goes up.

"if i had social media, i would have found out about go-fund-me ages ago." nick giggles into the phone.

"yeah," tony hesitates through the phone. "but you can't risk people recognizing you."

bex smiles. "don't worry, tony. i use it all the time. thanks to lisa's dying cat, i bought myself a whole new wardrobe last year."

"i always wondered were you got all that stuff." nick looks to her with a smile. "but, dad, it's fine, we used a photo of one of the foster kids who lives with the harbaugh's, he doesn't have social media, so it's fine."