Don't Trust Stoner Girl

The Pearls | Ch. 1

I glanced across the room at my best friend Audrey dancing beside her boy friend, Daniel. I sigh and take a long sip of the bottle of vodka placed in my hands. Walking up to me, a short stubby guy winks.

I cringe and look away. He sits next to me. "What's up hot stuff?" He laughed. "Um nothing." I grunt. "You've got a nice house. No parents home?" He asked.

I gulp and my eyes widen as I shake my head no. Even if I wanted them to be home they wouldn't. "So where's your room?" I am so uninterested in this kid I barely hear him. "Are you like high or something?" He asked, squinting.

I hold up my middle finger and take another sip of the bottle. He places his hand on my thigh and I, right then and there lunge my fist forward and punch his face. He hits my face too, not nearly as hard as I did and walks away.

I finish the last of my vodka and go to my room to sleep. I wake up to the bright sun shining through my broken curtains. I slowly walk into the kitchen, trying to keep my balance.

Audrey is asleep on the couch. I start up a pot of coffee and take Advil for my killer hangover headache.

I unlock my phone and go through snap chat, seeing loads of videos from last night. Audrey greets me with a hug and I hand her a cup of coffee.

"Where'd you disappear to last night? It was lit." She asked. "I was just... Tired." I shrug. "Wait hold on." She looks at me closely. "Your eye! What happened?!!" I start to remember that stupid guy. "No big deal just a drunk fight." I fake smile and walk into my bathroom.

I look into the mirror and reveal the swollen light purple bruise around my left eye. It makes me cringe a little.

I look over to the tray that holds my moms jewelry and my eyes widen when I notice two things missing. A pearl necklace and her wedding ring.

I dash into the living room and share the news with Audrey. She gasps. "You know what, now that I think about it I think I saw someone with something in their pockets. It was... Sid." She said.

I think back to who he was and I remember his tall figure and bright green eyes. We met a few weeks ago at the mall. I recalled whispering to Audrey about how he was kinda cute.

I walk into my room and find him in my contacts. "Did you take something from my house?" I press send and feel like I'm about to cry . He replies with no and I grunt in anger. "You sure?" I send. "Positive."

Audrey walks in and hands me her phone revealing her conversation with Daniel. "Sid has it for sure." It says.

"We're meeting with them later right?" I ask. "Yep." She nods. "Cool." I smirk. We get Daniel to tell Sid to meet them in the parking lot of the mall, but in reality it'll just be me up there while everyone else is chilling inside the mall.

His weird expression as  he walks up to me makes it hard not to laugh. I angrily strut up to him. "Give it back." I said opening my hand. "Give what back?" He laughed. "The jewelry." I said. "I don't know what you're going on about." He crosses his arms.

I swung my arm so fast into his sharp jaw my hand started throbbing. He picks me up and smashes me to the ground. Everything seems hazy for a second as I try to get back on my feet.

I angrily blink away tears. "My moms fucking dead and it's all I have left of her!" I shout and run away.

I make it to a bench and cover my face. My whole body feels numb. A few minutes go by and I see him sit beside me.

"My dads dead. I know how you feel." He sighed. I turn away. "I will give it back to you. I'm sorry. It's at my house so if you what we can walk there it's not far."

So we walked and I stayed as far behind as possible. His house is light gray with chipped paint and mold stains. He motions me to follow him into his room.

He hands me the necklace and wedding ring with a frown on his face. "I'm really sorry." He said.

"Whatever." I walk away. "Wait let me walk you home!" He chases after me. "It's far." I said, still walking. "Let's take the bus." He smiled.

The bus ride takes about 20 minutes. When I am at my stop he walks out with me and gives me the tightest hug ever. I can't help but feel butterflies form in my stomach.

I cover my blushing face with the angry expression I've had all day. "See you around." He waved.

If only I knew then that this was just the start of the highest and lowest point in my life. Maybe if I just hid the jewelry I could have avoided all of this.