Pinned but Fluttering

Chapter 7

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Chapter 7

I slipped into my room, placing the two bags of clothing on the bare mattress I slept on. I sighed. Sheets sure would be nice. But I shook my head; I couldn't let these new clothes make me discontent with what little I did have. After all, in the past Billy had sneered at me that I was “damn lucky” to even have a mattress to sleep on, much less a blanket for cold nights....

In fact, he had made it perfectly clear that if I complained even once, I would lose my battered pillow, my thread-bare mattress, and my thin blanket. For all he cared, I could sleep on the scratched and scraped wooden floor with nothing soft beneath me and nothing warm around me.

And I knew he meant it. Every word.

I started rifling through the bags, placing clothes on shelves in my closet since I didn't have a dresser and hanging up others. At least I now had a warm jacket to wear on cold nights. Those boots looked nice and warm, too; I could wear them while I slept if my feet got really cold.

I felt so grateful to Mrs. Jane for spending money on me. Despite the fact that she mentioned a “special fund” for clothing for kids in protective custody, I knew better; I had seen an odd expression quickly cross her face as she came up with the idea of the “special fund.” At that point, my suspicions were confirmed: Mrs. Jane had bought me these clothes with her own money.

God bless her. Well, if there really was a god, that is. All I knew was that Mrs. Jane was an angel. A tough, no-nonsense, taking-no-shit-and kicking-serious-ass angel, but still an angel. Maybe even a savior of sorts.

I was liking her more and more each day. And I was beginning to trust her more than I had trusted any person since Sarah Black had died. Perhaps even since my own parents had passed away and left me with the Blacks.

After putting away my new clothes, I paused in the center of my shabby, filthy room, hearing the voice of my “angel” raised in anger.

Uh oh.

It was starting.

So, was I going to be a coward and hide here in my room, or was I going to go out there to face the anger of Billy and Jacob?

Billy's voice lashed out toward Mrs. Jane, and I heard him cursing her with vile words.

Okay. That's it.

I'm not going to cower in here while Mrs. Jane took all the heat for me.

Not feeling remotely brave but putting on a decent pretense (I hoped), I marched out my door, down the dark hall, and into the main room. Mrs. Jane stood in the middle of the Blacks' tiny living room, her lips thinned in anger as Billy wheeled his chair toward her, yelling at her to mind her own business and leave him and Jacob alone.

No mention of me, of course.

Arms folded across his chest, Jacob leaned against the cheap Formica breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the living room, his eyes glaring and watchful.

“Now listen, you bitch,” Billy hissed at the diminutive blond woman who had become my best (and only) friend over the past few days. “You are to walk your little ass right out my front door and never come back. I will sue your ass and your department if you harass me or Jacob again. I take good care of this girl, and you have no right to insinuate otherwise. You may have a court order for her to attend that fucking high school, but I will make her change her mind, and you can't force her to go to school against her will, can you?” Billy's voice lowered to a self-satisfied sneer as he finished his tirade, smirking as he waiting for Mrs. Jane to retreat.