Heavy Knees

Chapter One

I stared at my backpacks full of clothes. My hands were cold so I started to rub them, unaware that my best friend was watching me.

"You okay, Mia?" Emma asked while shuffling her hands inside her bag for the bus pass. She had a hint of worry in her voice.

"Yeah, just nervous. I don't even know what the apartment looks like. Are we all going to be able to fit in there?"

It was eight of us. We were all seventeen and looking for a new life outside our homes; Emma Mason, Sam Johnson, Matt Carmine, Joahna Wesbrook, Dean Walker, Sarah Rodriguez, Violet Raven, and me, Mia White. We all met when we were eleven years old during a parent/teacher meeting at our elementary school. It turned out that all of us were mistreated by the people who raised us, so now, seven years later, we decided to strike against them and leave.

Matt smiled and stood up. "Don't worry, I've checked the place out, it's sweet! There's four beds; one king and three queen, and then there's a bed-couch thing and two regular couches. It ain't much but we fit." Matt got out a small paper from his pocket and sat back down. The little paper was a business card of the apartment building with its number and a couple of pictures of the rooms in the back, he handed it over to me so that I'd see the pictures. I looked at at the insignificant photos with awe.

"Looks pretty good," I admitted with a smile.

"Well, I think we all know who's going to sleep on the beds." Joahna said with a laugh.
"Oh, so you think just cause you're a girl, you can take whatever you want?" Said Sam in a cocky voice, raising an eyebrow.

Oh, I love that guy, I've had a crush on him since the day he asked me out for the school's dance four years ago. I'll never forget that night, we were on the dance floor the whole time, and when the dance finished, we kissed. Multiple times. But before I knew it, I was friend-zoned. The very next day, he acted as if nothing happened that night, talking to me as he would to a regular friend.

"Yes!" Joahna said in a diva voice.

"Eat a snickers, won't you? You're turning into a bi-atch again." Dean said with a snort. We all agreed with him, laughing until Joahna looked annoyed.

"Shut up! At least I'm not a friggin slut." She growled at him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You know I love you dude. I love all of you guys. I mean, this is why we are all leaving our old lives and starting a new one, right?"

"Of course," I said. "You guys are the best that could of ever happened to me."

"Me too, without you guys...I would've never been able to get over my parents." Emma looked sad, but then gave us all a thankful smile. Everyone stood up and got in, close together. We all did our group hug, not caring who was watching, what was being thought of us, we're a happy family and nobody was ever going to take that away from us. About a minute passed and we all broke out, returning back to the spots we were in.

A long silence passed, and Sarah took out a paper, some cleaning wipes, and a needle from a little bag inside another bigger bag, and handed it over to Emma. After a long breath, Sarah began to say what was on her mind. "Hey, guys, how about we make a blood-pack? I know it's kind of weird but I saw it on some movies and thought it was cool. I think it applies to us considering we've been friends for seven years already and have lived similar lives."

"Not to be a party pooper, but I hate blood..." Violet trailed off with a scared look on her face. "You know I had issues with my parents about this. I used to be hit until I bled, almost every week." She turned her face away and put her hands in her jeans' pockets.

"Come on, Violet. It'd be cool. I mean, YOLO!"

"Oh, shut up with that, Matt! It got annoying after a while." Violet chuckled a bit. After thinking for a while, she gave up to Sarah's idea. "Okay, let's do this."

Every one of us agreed and decided to get it over with, fast.

"Okay, I'll pass the the needle around, and after you stab your finger, clean the needle with these wipes. I don't want any of you guys' cooties." We all laughed at the statement and followed the steps Sarah instructed to us.

When the needle was passed onto me, I hesitated for a moment. I hated cuts or stabs. They forcefully made me remember my past, of how my grandparents would treat me. They were the ones who took care of me when my parents died, they moved all of my stuff into their house when I was nine years old. I was taken for granted and practically became their slave. After years of taking their crap, I finally revolted against them and so they started to cut me; they made my life hell.

The day before I moved into my grandparents' house, my parents were out on a date, celebrating their ten year anniversary and went to eat. On their way back, a drunk truck driver hit their sports car on the expressway and they flipped over the side barrier onto the ground, five stories below.

I stuck the point of the needle into my index finger and took it out fast, then I pressed my finger on top of the previous blood print on the paper. I handed the piece of paper back to Sarah and she nodded. "It's done. We are all one!" We all laughed at her chosen words, considering she had provably taken them out of an old cheesy movie.

Out of nowhere, a man in his mid forties came out of a bus.

"Okay, now. Y'all can come in, only if you have the passes though. I'll be taking them from the driver's seat."

I fumbled through my smallest backpack where I keep all of my personal things and came across a blue and white piece of paper that read out: 'BUS PASS- ONLY ACCEPTABLE 24 HOURS AFTER PURCHASE. PLEASE TURN IN TO YOUR BUS' MAIN DRIVER BEFORE THE RIDE. THANK YOU.'

I zipped up my backpack and got ready to leave. I carried all of my belongings into the bottom of the charter bus, hoping that the rest of the group would hurry up with their stuff. Looking back, I saw Dean helping Joahna with her stuff and Sam helping Violet. I felt a pint of jealousy but remained calm. Come on, Mia, Sam is just helping out, he's not asking her out on a date.

I waited until Emma got to me, to give the bus pass to the driver. He took both our passes and ripped them in half.

"So why are you girls here in the middle of the school year?" The bus driver eyed us curiously.

Emma pointed to the rest of the group, "we're with them. My great aunt passed away a week ago and my friends are coming with me to visit her tomb. It's too bad I didn't get to see her before."

"Oh, I'm sorry I asked..." The bus driver looked uncertain of what else to say.

After a long uncomfortable pause, Emma decided to break the silence.

"It's okay. She's in a better place, right?"

"Yes she is. I'll keep her in my prayers for you. Now, what was her name?"

"Um, it was... Uh-"

"It was May. Her name is- was, May." I interrupted quickly.

Emma looked at me with a thankful look in her eyes.

"Well, again, I'm sorry and I'll have her in my prayers. Have a nice trip." He looked at us with pity and then smiled. He threw the ripped passes into a small plastic trash bin and gestured us to the back of the bus. We fled from there, almost laughing out loud.

"How did you learn to lie like that, Emma? I thought you were a goody-two-shoes." We both sat down and started laughing about unimportant things when the rest of the group got to our seating area.

"Hey, so what was your aunt's name again, Emma?" Sam looked at her with a displeasing face.

"Why, it's May, Sam!" Emma said facing me and we both started cracking up again.

"Huh, whatever." He smiled at both of us and sat down on the seats in front, with Dean.

I returned the smile.

I concentrated my eyes onto Emma's and we both grinned knowingly, that this was just the beginning of a perfect life.