HERE YA' GO! SOMEWHAT LONG,
Julia gasped and jumped, twisting her body to see my grandpa standing in the doorway, smiling fondly at us. He slowly walked into the room and my skin crawled. "You're Julia, right?" he asked, holding his hand out to her. She looked him up and down, nodded once without making eye contact with him, and started running her fingers through my hair.
He chuckled. "I see. You don't like me because I actually set up rules for Jason, and punish him when he breaks them." "Punish is a good word," she said stiffly, her nails scraping against my scalp as anger burned behind her words. "Look, I have every right to ground my grandson if I want to. I'm legally his guardian now." "Legally, shmegally. Do you really think he's ever listened to the law before?"
My grandpa grit his teeth, and I was waiting for his dentures to pop out.
"I see why Jason's taken such an interest in you. You're nearly as defiant as he is." Julia shrugged. "Nothing wrong with wanting to break the rules." "Actually, there is." Anger crept into my grandpa's voice. "I see your parents did a good job raising you."
"Actually, my parents kicked me out when I was sixteen. So I basically raised myself." "I can tell. You're parents are no different from Alex raising Jason with no idea how to take care of a child; he barely knew how to take care of himself." "Shut up," Julia snapped, pushing my half-conscious body off her lap and getting in my grandpa's face. "You have no idea how much Alex did to take care of Jason." He snorted.
"I'm sure, getting involved in drugs and crime is the perfect way to raise an eight year old." "And you wonder why everyone hates you," Julia mumbled, glaring at him. He grit his teeth even more. "I suggest we take this disagreement somewhere else." "Fine."
They left, leaving me in a very confused, very almost high state.
.........
"I don't understand how you think, at all," Danielle said, grating on my nerves again. For the fiftieth time. In this hour. "It will put his guard up-," I started, and she interrupted me. Again. "And that's what I don't get! We should hit him while his guard is down!" "When his guard is up it makes him more vulnerable in other places! That's what I've been trying to tell you!"
"That makes no sense," she snapped. "I'm telling you, setting off this bomb now is the better option!" "Fine!" I yelled, slamming my hands down on the electronic board in front of me. "We'll blow him up now then!" She sat back in her chair, crossing her arms with a satisfied smirk on her face.
"Stop being so f-ing smug," I snarled, curling my fingers into a fist, feeling the bones hiss in disagreement. I'd smashed my knuckles into the doorframe last night after my grandpa had punched me, sending me flying into my room. I was pretty sure it was broken.
"You're just mad my idea is better," she said, picking a french fry out of the McDonalds bag by her elbow. I grit my teeth and banged my head down onto the board. My phone vibrated in my pocket and ripped it out, reading Julia's name across the screen, along with the picture of us outside of her apartment, me hugging her with my chin on her shoulder, our faces close.
'Jasssooonnn!!!! I miss u! What r u doing?'
I hit Reply and hurriedly texted her back, aware of Danielle's eyes on me.
'Thinking of you, babe. Whatcha' wearing? ;)'
I waited a little bit and grinned when my phone buzzed. 'The shirt you left at my place and my red panties. Nothing else. U? ;)' 'skinnies and a shirt. Wut r u doing?'
