Protected

Baler Road

I bang the door open to my blue, Victorian style house. I drop my hoodie on the couch and clammer up the stairs.
"Alexia!" My mother calls. I groan. She's using my full name.
"Yeah Mom?"
Silence.
"Mom, what?"
"How many times do I have to tell you not to run in the house?" She asks, coming to stand in the doorway of her room.
"A lot of times, apparently." I mutter.
She smiles tenderly at me. "You sound like a herd of elephants."
"I'm sorry Mom. I know your rules. It's just so easy to forget!"
"I know. You're just like your father. How was ice cream?" She asks.
"It was good. We're going to have a sleepover in the treehouse tonight, that's ok, right?"
She nods, "Lexi you're 15 and going to 10th grade in a little over a month. You can make plans without asking me."
"I'm just going to grab a couple things and go, all right?"
She nods again, "Do you want a snack before you go? Your father and I are going out, we have reservations at 9."
"That's a really late dinner and nah, thanks. Bryce's dad will probably just order us a pizza."
"Okay well have fun! And bring a light, it's getting dark." She says, and goes back into her room.
You might be wondering why my mom is so fine with me sleeping over with a bunch of boys. Well, we don't really sleep. It's basically 'stay up all night in the giant treehouse that sits in the oak tree in Bryce's yard.' Bryce's dad has a camera set up in the ceiling, and it alerts him if we turn it off or cover it up. We can't do anything naughty. We never would, anyway.
I enter my room and walk over to my desk, where I have my makeup bag sitting. I didn't put any on this morning, and I am now. At 3 in the morning you don't look so hot, and I don't want to appear any uglier than I already am. Makeup helps... A little.
I pat Little Bear, my 5 year old Pomeranian, absent-mindedly as I throw a different hoodie, my cell phone, and my pocket knife into a backpack.
"I'll see you tomorrow Mom!" I yell over my shoulder as I run down the stairs, jumping the last 5.
"Lexi no running!" She yells back, but I'm already out the door, booking it down the street.
It's about 4 blocks to Bryce's house from mine, and I have to pass Sandra's to get there. I could go the long way around but I don't feel like it.
There's music pounding out of a stereo on the front porch of her house as I approach cautiously.
"Loser Lexi!" Sandra shrieks when she sees me. That name is so freaking elementary.
"I'm not going stoop to your level tonight Sandra." I say, staring straight ahead.
"Stoop to my level? Lexi you're shorter than me! I'd be stooping to yours!" She giggles and the girls around her laugh. It looks like she invited the whole female half of the 9th grade over. I feel a pang of slight hurt. The whole 9th grade, minus me.
"I may be shorter than you, but my standards are way, way higher than yours."
Sandra pauses and I make the mistake of looking at her blonde hair and blueberry blue eyes. Venom fills me. I hate her.
I'm almost past her house before she replies, "Since you're so high and mighty, it's understandable why no girl wants to hang out with you. We won't miss you here, loser Lexi."
I'm filled with anger and sadness, she hit me where it hurts. Screw insecurity.

I reach Bryce's house and pull myself up the treehouse ladder, slamming my bag down. "I hate her!" I shout.
The guys are already there and they stare at me. "You run in with the girls?" Nate asks.
"Sandra Bearnes is having a party and she invited the whole freaking 9th grade of girls and not me!"
"Would you rather do that?" Bryce asks, looking sad.
"Don't be so butthurt, of course not. I don't like them. But it just would've been nice to get invited, to feel wanted." Shouldn't have said that. Sounds insecure.
"You're wanted here Lexi." Carson says. "Now let's play a game."
I opt out of the first round and stand at the window looking out into the darkness. It comes on so fast in Vermont. I stare harder at a car driving and stopping. There it goes again. And stop. And go. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. What is going on?
Carson asks what I'm looking at and comes over to me.
I explain. "They just turned down Baler Road. No one goes down there since the town decided not to knock down the Grover Mansion."
Baler Road is actually a really long driveway leading to Grover Mansion. Teens sometimes go there to do drugs.
"Let's check it out." I say.
I grab my phone and head down the ladder, Carson and Syd follow me. Bryce and Nate are in the final battle of their game.
"This is creepy, why am I coming?" Syd asks.
"Don't be such a chicken. We'll leave as soon as we find out," I retort.
We approach the mansion. It's a desolate old thing. Sagging porch, big holes in the roof, shattered windows.
I reach one of the front windows and crouch, listening. I motion the boys closer and gesture for silence.
"We have to get the plants out of the state immediately!" A harsh male voice says.
Another voice replies and I can't hear what it said.
"I don't care that your license is expired Smalls!" The first voice snarls. "This is a huge heist and I intend to have it go through without a hitch!"
"But Boss! I keep getting phone calls about plumbing. If I have to turn away more, the cops will suspect!"
"Cancel your stupid number Smalls I don't care! Just do what I say. Get it through cleanly, if someone find out I won't be afraid to shut their mouths, should I say, permanently." Boss snaps and I hear a door slam.
A man whom I assume is Smalls leans out at the next window over and lights a cigarette. The smoke drifts downward and I stifle the urge to gag.
I look at the boys, both look scared out of their minds.
I hold my breath trying not to alert Smalls of our presence, but it's all to no avail. Because, as Smalls leans out the window, my phone rings.