Heart Burns

Chapter 7

I wake up to a kick in the jaw. Jayden is sleeping face down in an x formation. I gently lift his legs off of my lap and get out of the little bed. It's early in the morning, and from the sound of it, Carol is either sleeping or over Jeff's house. The house is messy from their tampering last night, and I know I'd get a beating if I didn't clean up. Beer bottles are scattered everywhere, and there are rolled up dollar bills next to empty pill bottles. I sigh, and start to gather up all the money. They were clearly not the only ones here last night. While vacuuming the living room I find empty cigarette packs, various items of clothing, and more bottles of liquor. The trash clinks full of last night's fun as I slam it into the bin. The bathroom is covered in bronzer and vomit. I don't know how I slept through all of this.

"You're coming back, right?" Jayden looks up at me with tears in his big blue eyes. I pull him into a hug and tuck his button down red shirt down. "Of course. You get to go to the diner with me tonight." He immediately perks up and he asks his usual question, "Do I get to help you and Lyra?" I nod and he bounces up and down. "Okay, Bud, go on and try to learn how to count to twenty this time, alright?" His daycare teacher smiles at me as Jayden passes through the big door covered in drawings and spellings for simple fruits. "I'm so happy he's joining us today. We missed him last week," she says to me, her penny loafers crossed on opposite sides. "Yeah, I just couldn't get him here. Things were... hectic." I give her the truth, knowing she'll see through my poor lying skills. "Well, if you need maybe some extra help, you can always call me and I can send my niece over. She was here a couple of weeks back and she grew a fondness to Jayden." "Oh, I don't know..." "Oh, please let her. She's your age, and I'm positive she wouldn't mind. Here is her phone number if you ever change your mind." She hands me a small piece of paper and I nod. I shove it in my backpack without a glance at it.

The school was insane as I walk in the front door, girls in their cheerleaders' outfits waving their pom poms at everyone who moves, and every sports player has on their varsity jackets. The hallways are decorated in toilet paper and spray paint, our school colors. I see some of the girls on the track team crowded around one locker, their expensive sneakers looking right out of the box. A few of them wave to me even though I'm not on the team. I wave meekly back and see Jonah leaning on my locker, thumbing through his backpack. I walk past him toward the vending machine and use one of the crumbled dollars I found this morning to buy caffeine. I didn't have enough time to make coffee. As my can of Coke falls to the bottom, I feel Jonah behind me. "What do you want?" I mutter, and he laughs. "Hey, hon. I just wanted to say good morning." He grabs my can before I can pull my hand out of my pocket and takes a sip. He grimaces and hands it to me. "Ugh, you drink this stuff?" I smirk at his reaction and guzzle the drink. "So you're going to be in the pep rally right?" I choke on the bubbles and spray brown liquid all over his black getup. "Crap! Seriously, Brea?" He rips my sweatshirt off my back and starts to towel himself off. If it had been any other topic, I would have laughed my ass off. But this subject brought chills. "I am not going to be in the pep rally." I cross my arms, trying to get warm. "Sure you are. You're on the track team." He hands me back my wet hoodie. "No, I'm not." "Ugh, come on." He pulls me by the arm to the sophomore hallway. The girls are giggling in Jonah's direction, but he doesn't even notice them. "You have groupies," I nod over to the girls, and he doesn't even blink in their adoring direction. He keeps pulling until he comes up to the cork board covered in fliers. "Look," I glance over job offers, a car wash, and tutors for all grades. I roll my eyes. "You dragged me here to look at month old pieces of paper?" He rips off a pink slip. "Here, you blind rodent." I stick my tongue out at me, and he reaches out to grab it. It's a weird motion, but it brings a smile to my face. I look down at the paper and see a bunch of names. "What is this?" He flips it over, and I almost faint. There, in big bold letters: STUDENTS FOR THE PEP RALLY, TRACK, was my name. "No, no, no..." I blinked my eyes fast and hard; maybe I'm just seeing things. But my name did not erase from the paper. "Why the hell is my name under Track? I'm not on the team." My voice wavers, and I mentally count to ten. I am getting so stressed, and I just needed to be calm. "Go ask the captain," Jonah says, staring over my shoulder. "Who is the captain?" He mutters a name, and I snap my fingers in his face. "Hey, you're spacing out, lover boy." I turn around and try to see the poor girl he decided to fall for. "So is it Prada Bag with fake tan all over her white shirt, or Purple streaks in her overly dyed hair?" I snort out, and turn to see his reaction. But he hasn't seemed to have heard me. I follow his eyes and see him staring at Vince, the quarter back, who is playing with his girlfriend's dead hair. "Really? The quarterback? I didn't think you were so cliché." I say, and he snaps out of his daze. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he slides past me and tries not to look as he passes Vince. I snort and follow him through the throng of students. "There," he points to the pack of track teammates. "She's in the middle of that ring of manly females," he very dramatically shudders and I push his arm. "Hold my bag," I dump my messenger bag into his arms and start to push into the group. I can't even hear my thoughts as every girl there is having her own conversation. A few pat my back and congratulation me for finally joining the team. I reach the small middle and see her, blonde hair pulled into a perfectly messy side braid, wearing the track uniform, and smiling at everyone who tries to get her attention. Suddenly, it's on me. "Brea!" she says, smiling so bright I try not to look at her white teeth directly. "Hey, um Rebecca-" Becca," she says, and I correct my mistake. "Becca, could you please explain why my name is on this list?" I wave in her face. She leans back from my mad shaking, and takes it out of my face. "Oh," she smiles at me once again. "I put your name in with the rest of us." It's nails on a chalkboard. "I'm not on the team. You know that." Her face falls. "I know, but I thought that this would have been a really good opportunity..." her voice trails off as I start to get mad really fast. "You had no right. You're not a captain. You just guilt people into a stupid team that freaking sucks. You have these girls follow you around every day so you seem like you're happy and popular. Jesus, you're like every fake girl here." Her face is blank, and she is the first person I can't read. "I'll just take your name off. It's no biggie." She says, crumpling the paper into a ball. "Yeah." I start to push my way out when I hear her whisper, "Come to the track meet tomorrow. You can see how much my team lives up to their name." I huff out, my heart somehow falling with her face even though I should be heated. "Wow... I didn't expect that from you..." Jonah says, eyes on the group, while I take my bag out of his hand and sling it over my shoulder. "She deserved it." I mutter, but even I don't believe my statement.