Almost Home

Ch. 16 - Never Trust the Cowboy Boots

"Valerie, you have a lot of explaining to do!"

I slowly open my eyes, my head weighing seven-hundred pounds. "What happened, grandma?" I look around at my surroundings and realize I am on the porch, a small blanket covering me.

She hovers over me with her arms on her hips. "You tell me!"

I sit up on the porch and see the egg shells that cover the door, the walls, and the floor of the porch. "Who did this?"

"Oh my.." She covers her mouth with her hand. "How drunk were you?"

"I-I don't.. I don't remember," I mumble. "Did I do this?"

She shakes her head and sighs heavily. "Yes, Valerie, you did. There's a video on YouTube with all of the fun things you did last night!"

I open my mouth, trying to find something to say. My grandma never yells at me. I have to say something, but there's nothing I can say. A video? They posted it on YouTube? Why?

"How could you be so stupid?" she asks incredulously. "I know this wasn't your idea, Valerie. Why did you let those girls influence you like that?"

I shrug, my stomach in knots. "I-I don't know. I thought it'd just be fun. I don't know. I'm sorry."

"So am I," she says.

"I'll clean this mess up," I promise. "I can get paint from the grocery store to fix the ruined patches. I'm so sorry."

"Yeah," she sighs heavily. "I just.. I have to call your mom and pray to God she hasn't seen the video already."

I bite my tongue and stand up from the porch, anger boiling in my blood. I storm off down the road as my grandma calls after me. Passing cars look at me like I'm crazy as I stomp my until I reach the front door of the Forbes' house. I knock angrily, my knuckles hurting.

"Valerie," Josh says with surprise as he opens the door.

"Are Julie and the other girls inside?" I ask angrily.

He looks confused. "Ye-yeah? Hold on a sec." He turns around to yell, "Julie! Valerie's at the front door!"

With my hands on my hips, I wait impatiently for them to come downstairs. Josh tries to start a conversation with me, but I stay silent.

"Valerie! You don't look so good," Julie says slowly. "Is there something wrong?"

The rest of the girls stand behind her, pushing Josh into the background. They have confident smiles on their faces. I notice Emily is gone too.

I clench my fists together tightly. "What the hell is your problem? My grandma's house is trashed!"

"Well," Halley starts, "we thought it was fitting after what you told Julie you were going to do to Will."

I bunch my eyebrows together. "What are you talking about?"

"We know all about your plan, Valerie. We weren't just going to let you get away with doing something like that to Will," Elena says.

"Julie, what are they talking about?" I ask. "I don't have a plan or whatever you said."

"Stop lying, Valerie," Julie snaps. "It's petty."

I clench my jaw. "Screw you."

Turning away from the laughing girls, I head out of the Forbes' property and down the road again. I walk and walk, eventually ending up in the woods. There's no staring people here, no one to look at me like the horrible granddaughter of the beloved Marlene. I end up near the lake where they had The Jump party.