The Devil You Know

Chapter 20: Monday

Jade and I woke up together, she went into the bathroom to shower. I got dressed and looked over at Tommy who was sprawled stomach down still sleeping. "Tommy" I whispered, shaking my little brother. He swatted my hand away, burying his face in the pillow. "Tommy" I shook him harder. He growled and out the pillow over his head. "TOMMY COME ON WAKE UP" I ripped the blanket off of him. Tommy jumped to his feet quickly, pushing me over into my bed.

"FUCK OFF" he yelled, he was grumpy in the mornings.

"Get dressed or were gonna be late" he rolled his eyes and gathered his stuff, heading into the washroom as Jade walked out and went into her room. Pop was gone, but Ma was in the living room, TV on and silently rocking herself."Ma?..." I mumbled, walking to her and sitting beside her, she just looked at me, the sadness in her eyes was so clear. I sighed and pulled her into a a hug. Jade walked downstairs, pulling her hair out from its bun and getting her stuff together. She kissed Ma on the head and wandered into the kitchen to get some food.

Tommy stomped down the stairs, leaning against the wall tired, grumpy and groaning. He froze when he saw ma and walked right over to her, pulling her into a hug and kissing her head. "I love you so much, Ma" he mumbled and she hugged him back.

I went to get my stuff together, I didn't want to leave Ma alone but we had no choice. Tommy was ready first, standing outside on the lawn and waiting for us. He was yelling at us to hurry up.

Jade handed me a brown bag and walked to the front door "STOP RUSHING ME" she yelled and threw the bag to Tommy who laughed and shoved it in his bag. Jade made lunch for us whenever she could, and they actually tasted really good. Jade grabbed her back and stepped out when she saw Naomi and Joel heading to the front of the house.

"BRENDAN HURRY UP" Tommy yelled, and I watched Jade hug Naomi and Joel. I chuckled to myself and said goodbye to Ma who looked a little better after Tommy talked to her.

"IM COMING IM COMING" I yelled back, stepping out of the house, closing the door behind me and locking it. I walked down the steps and to the sidewalk and we began walking together. Joel looked kind of uneasy, and the three of us fell back from the girls who were talking amongst themselves as they walked ahead. Tommy was staring at Naomi and I pretended not to notice, I just let him do what he wanted. I looked over at Joel who had his headphones in and wasn't paying attention. I tapped his shoulder and he pulled out the earphone closest to me.

"Yeah?" He looked over at me, I could tell something was wrong.

"What's up?" He scratched the back of his head.

"Naomi found out about me sellin" he sighed. He told me and Tommy he was selling drugs for money, he had to take care of her and he would do whatever it took, just like me and Tommy would for Jade. "She's pissed, hasn't talked to me since we fought this morning"

"She'll come around, she just doesn't want anything to happen to you" Joel sighed again and we continued walking. I looked up at the two girls In front of us, I loved Jade to death, and even though Naomi and me weren't related she felt like a sister, and I knew Joel felt the same way towards Jade. The three of us would do anything to protect those two girls, no matter what it came to.

Tommy held the door open as we all walked through, he looked annoyed that he was back in the building, he hated being here, barely paid attention, but he was so smart and did all his work, he didn't even have to study ever, but he slacked off on his work, didn't hand in projects and got into a lot of trouble. We all parted ways, going to our separate classes.

I met up with Tess who smiled beautifully at me. She made my heart pound and I didn't understand what it was about her, she was different, she was perfect. She grabbed my hand and kissed me gently and we walked together to our class. I was so in love with her, Tommy always bugged me about it, he didn't understand, he hasn't fallen in love yet. I stared at her as she smiled at me, just that smile got me through each and every day, and I couldn't imagine spending a life without her.