Good Girl Gone Bad

Chapter 2

Six months later

I'm finally out! i'm free! You know, juvie wasn't actually as bad as I'd thought, turns out most of the kids were stuck there under false accusation, just like I was. Now I felt just a little bad that I was free while most of them would be stuck there for years to come. The time passed by pretty quick since I made friends almost immediately, plus I made sure to stay out of the gangs and fights and such. I did also become friends with a few of the security guards, so that helped me out a lot. It's actually a bit strange that they didn't let me out sooner for good behavior or something. Oh well, no time to worry about that now. Now all I need to think about is getting back to school, and hoping everything will go back to normal. Hope that little by little, the pieces of this puzzle would start fitting together and reforming until everything was back where it belonged. All I gotta do is hope.

After i'd gotten back all my belongings that I was forced to part with when I first came here, I walked out through the gates, past some security guards, and finally out into the world. I took in a deep breath and with a contented sigh I started walking to my house. It wasn't too far from here and I wouldn't mind walking, I needed some time to think anyway. I had a lot on my mind, like what would happen when I got back. Would my parents be happy to see me? Would they be upset to see me? I had no idea what would happen and just the idea of anything bad happening made me sick to my stomach.

Sure i'd been in juvie, but it'd really only been the first time i had gotten into trouble. I was always a goody-two shoes so I was never involved in any kind of trouble. So imagine how freaked out I was when I got arrested, when the judge made the final decision as to what my punishment would be.

Once we'd pulled up in front of my house, I clambered out and sprinted to the door. I was more than happy to be home. Now, can you imagine the surprise I got when I knocked on the door, and instead of my mother or father answering, a cute little girl, with long brown hair, who looked about six or seven opened. She stared up at me with her huge brown eyes, and smiled a little.

After a while of basically having a staring contest with the kid, I decided to speak up, but like they say, great minds think alike, and this was one of those cases, meaning she beat me to it. "Who are you?" Her voice sounded like one of an angel, she was just too adorable.

"I'm Avery, who are you?" Before she could answer though, a pretty lady who looked like an older version of her came to the door. I assumed she was her mother so I really wasn't too shocked when she picked her up and extended a hand out to me. "Hi I'm Stacy, you must be Avery."

How in the world did she know? I nodded weakly and waited for her response. "Well come on in." She pulled the door open wider and stepped to the side, gesturing me inside.

I walked in and just stood there awkwardly looking down at my shoes as Stacy looked me over. I could literally feel her eyes bore into me. "I'm going to the bathroom" I mumbled speeding down the long familiar hallway and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door a bit too harshly, then leaning back on it and slowly sliding to the floor. What the hell? Why is she here and not my parents? What happened while I was gone?

I walked over to the sink and washed my face. I looked into the mirror and examined my reflection to see what had changed. Well, for starters, my once bright blue eyes, were now dark and distant. My wavy, blonde hair was still the same, only a bit longer, and my glasses hadn't changed one bit. I took care of those things like they were my child. I couldn't see crap without them, so I didn't really want to take the risk of having them break. I took a deep breath and slowly made my way to the living room, where I could hear some hushed voices talking. I stood by the entry for a minute when I heard my name, but the floor creaked and the talking stopped, so I rounded the corner and stood there looking at Stacy and the man, whom I assumed was her husband, that was with her. He looked to be in his late teens, early twenties. He looked a bit too young for her, but you know what they say, age is just a number. He had light brown hair and beautiful brown eyes, just like Stacy and the little girl whose name I'd yet to learn. I studied their faces and soon saw lots of similarities, but I figured it was just a coincidence, at least until Stacy spoke up.

"Oh, Avery, you're back. This is my brother Steven. Steven, this is Avery, the one I was telling you about." she gestured between the two of us and I met his eyes. He smiled slightly and extended out a hand towards me.

"Nice to meet you." his voice was kind, comforting even.

I placed my palm to his and we simultaneously shook hands. I looked away from our interlocked hands , to meet his deep brown eyes. In them, I saw kindness and I was sucked into their warmth. Neither one of us broke eye contact. At least not until the sound of Stacy's voice brought me out of the small trance i'd been in.

"Well Avery, would you like something to eat or drink? You must be starving dear." her motherly voice made me think of my parents and how they'd just left me here. Stranded, alone, and confused.

"Um sure. Water would be nice."

"Alright," she paused and nodded at Steven,"I'll be back in a minute, play nice."

He rolled his eyes and a smirk slowly took over his face. He waved her off and simply responded with, "Yeah, yeah." which in my mind pretty much meant "Whatever. I could care less what you're saying right now."

Nonetheless, he did in fact, "play nice" as Stacy had put it. I sat on one of the couches and he sat about three inches to my right. We made slight conversation for a little while and in those few minutes I found out quite a lot about Steven. First, I learned he was in fact only 19 and in his first year of college. He was an art major which I thought was pretty cool. I also learned he was here for the weekend visiting Stacy and Mia, which turned out to be the little angelic girl from before. The name fit her quite well actually. It sounded sweet and innocent. Something that did actually surprise me was that he told me he was engaged to his four-year girlfriend, Layla. I could tell by the way he talked about her just how in love he was. I wished them the best and he even told me i was welcome to come if I wanted. I told him i'd have to think about it, since i didn't want to intrude, but our conversation went no further than that since Stacy came back with two glasses of water and a plate of cookies.

She sat down on the couch across from me and her face took on a whole new level of serious. Her eyes showed pity, sadness, and when she spoke I understood why. "Avery, I bet you're wondering about your parents." she didn't wait for my response, she just continued, "so i'm going to tell you. Before I do though, I need you to understand that they thought they were doing what was best for you. Just-just try to put yourself in their shoes. Okay?" Her voice was soft and calm so I nodded and waited for her to continue.

"Alright. Now as you know your parents were very disappointed with you and they believed you actually had done it. They thought you were going through the rebellious teenager stage, but as you and I both know you weren't. You're innocent. I believe that, however your parents did not. You see about two months after you were put in juvie," and for the rest of that evening I sat there listening to a story that while it confused me to no end, also made perfect sense.