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I walked in the freezing cold night with wet clothes all alone. The walk took me a good hour and half. I'm not exactly in shape, so it took me longer than necessary to walk home.
By the time I got home all the lights were off. I dug my wallet and phone out, realizing I fell in the pool with my phone on me. I open the front door, locking it behind me and walk to my kitchen. I place my phone in rice, hoping my loud footsteps around the house won't wake my mom up. I walk around in complete darkness, until I get to my room and turn on the lights.
I strip out of my wet cold clothes, and climb into my bed. Laying on my book looking up at the ceiling, I stay awake all night thinking about how stupid it was to even allow myself to go to that stupid party. To let myself think for even one second that I could be friends with people like them.
I have to tell Ashton. I have to tell him to leave me alone, tell him that whatever my mom is telling him, he can just ignore. Tell him and his friends that they can stop pretending to enjoy being around me.
I am going to do it. I won't wimp out.
Ashton's POV
I grab Steph's arm and drag her upstairs, swatting away her hand as she tries to squeeze my butt for the second time. I drag her into the abandoned hallway in front of the upstairs bathroom door.
"Stephanie, we talked about this." I grumbled. I wasn't going to play this on and off game again with her. She drunkenly smiles and runs her hand down my arm, stepping closer.
"I know." She giggles out, her other hand dropping the empty plastic cup she was holding. The now free hand travels down my stomach to my hips. I grab her wrist before her hand could travel too low.
"Stop it Stephanie. I have no interest in being with you." I say, pushing her body away from mine. She stumbles back on her heels, a frown displaying on her face before she giggles.
"You can't resist this puss-"
"Get out." Ethan interrupts her. I turn to look at him, his face showing no sign of joking around.
Stephanie's giggle suddenly falls off her face, a look of disgust taking place. She scoffs and trots away from us, down the stairs and out of the house. She grabs another girl who was probably her ride to drive her home. Ethan turns to look at me with pity. I roll my eyes at him and storm pass him, ignoring him when he tried to say something. I really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone right now, especially him about girls in general.
I stomp down the stairs and round into the kitchen, looking for Whisper. Taylor is left there with a new bowl of chips in his arm, talking to a girl who wasn't Whisper. I trudge over to him, slightly nudging the girl out of the way as politely as possible.
"Where's she?" I demand. Anger is slowly rising in my chest, and I could do nothing to stop it.
"She went home," he mumbles through a mouth full of chips. I let out a guttural growl of frustration, pushing my way through the crowd to leave the house. I lived in the same street as Ethan so the walk was short.
Walking into my house always felt terrible, a feeling of dread washes over every time I step inside. I hesitantly walk into my house, walking past the large doorframe that enters into my living room. I look onto the lazy boy to see my drunk step-father passed out, drool dribbling down his mouth, with my half naked mother laying on top of him.
I look away from the sight, quietly as possible creeping into my room and locking it. Most days are like this. My step-father comes home after work and gets drunk, fucks my mom and then after emotionally abuses her. Screams at her for being a whore, yells at her for not working even though his sexist egotistical self won't let her get a job. He was hell in itself, and he makes living under his roof hell.
My mother is stubborn so she won't leave him either. As much as I beg her to. I'm leaving the minute I get accepted to any college.
I lay in my bed, closing my eyes hoping I fall asleep before he wakes up. Unfortunately I'm rarely blessed with gift. He wakes up, throws her off his lap, storms around the house, stomping, shaking the house. She's so loud, too. She screams at him, a shrill squeaky scream overlapping the dark smokers scream. It's always so loud.
There hasn't been a night where silence could take a seat. They didn't stop until midnight. They slept for 6 hours before getting up in the morning and repeating it. This routine has been going on since my Freshman year.
The next morning I woke up to my father already left for work, and my mother cooking breakfast. I quietly pat my way to the kitchen island and plop in a chair watching my mother cook. She turns around and smiles, rounding the table and giving me a long side hug. She doesn't really ever use her words when she expresses her love to me, but I know she loves me in the best way she could.
Her pancakes were burnt and tasted like fluffy cardboard but I ate them anyway. Going to school turned into the highlight of my day. Even though Ethan and Taylor are two of the most stupid people I've ever met in my life, they're my favorite people. Ethan is waiting outside my house doing last minute homework that was due yesterday.
I sit in the passenger seat, throwing my backpack over my shoulder into his backseat. "Hi." I murmur. He turns closing his books and dramatically throwing them over his shoulder into his backseat.
"Gooood morning!" he chuckles, "to Taylor's house." He yells onwardly.
At my locker I see a small, thick brown haired girl slowly approaching me. She sees me and turns around, takes a good five steps in the opposite direction. She then stops and turns back around towards me. I smile and laugh at her, closing my locker. I lean against it and watch her struggle to find the courage to approach me. Ethan emerges behind me, placing his arm on my shoulder also watching Whisper.
She stands for a good minute as we stare at each other. She takes a deep breath and releases an awkward laugh before walking over to us. "Hi." She says clearly, her posture awkwardly straight. I internally laugh at her adorable inability to act normal. She struggles so hard to be natural but in the process acts more incredibly awkward. "I have something to tell you." She says, clearing her throat.
I raise an eyebrow, genuinely curious to her actions. She seems like the unpredictable type, but in a good way. "Ok." I say calmly, resisting the urge to pull her closer to me. She always seems more relaxed when I'm holding her. Her back is so stiff and she seems so uncomfortable I don't like it.
Taylor pops up behind her, making her jump. He hooks an arm around her waist and swirls her around in a circle. He plops her down, her hair all up in her face and in her glasses. She brushes it away as Taylor walks around her to stand next to Ethan. "I- you-um...- you don't need to be friends with me anymore. So please " She mumbles.
We all stood a little shocked. We thought we bonded with her after last night. Now she doesn't want anything to do with us? I look over to Ethan, and his face is covered with irritation. While Taylor has no emotion displayed on his face at all. She quickly walks away, not giving us the chance to respond to her statement.
Her brown hair flies off her shoulder as she briskly walks away from us, leaving the three of us alone.
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