A Test of Loyalty

Part 10: Samantha and Ashleigh

Samantha

I couldn't believe my mother! How dare she just brush me off like a five year old? Neither she nor Faraj's grandmother wanted to hear anything I was saying about Ash. They'd rather keep talking about whatever stupid thing they were on about, than hear about some real problems. Well, screw them; I could look after it myself. Jeff wouldn't dare touch me.

I stomped back through the downstairs hallway to the rear door. I hoped Ash was still there. She had to call the police, rape was a serious crime. Jeff would be put in jail for a long time. Long enough for Ash to get away from here, anyway. I ignored the little voice that asked where she could go, university? Medical school?

Ash was standing near the edge of the dumpster, well, almost standing. She was hunched over, like her ribs hurt. Somehow she looked worse standing there, bravely trying to look like there was nothing wrong, than she had all curled up and crying.

I walked over slowly. I was scared, how could I fix this? I'm fifteen years old, who am I kidding? I needed to get my mom. But just then Ash looked up with such pain and hope in her face. I couldn't walk away again, not even to grab my mom.

CHAPTER THREE

Things get deeper

Ashleigh

She was back! She didn't just walk away. But she was alone; she didn't bring her mom, or even one of the gang. I wondered why not.

She hurried over, then stood there, doing nothing. Just dragging her toes through the dirt, like a two year old caught doing something wrong. She didn't even look at me.

Finally she glanced up.

"What do you want to do?"

I wanted to run away, I wanted to kill Jeff, I wanted to kill my mother for taking his side and refusing to believe me, I wanted to kill myself.

"Let's get high," I said. "Do you have any money?"

"No. but I think I know where my dad has some." She shrugged, looking unhappy. "What good does getting stoned do? It won't stop anything."

But she turned and went back into the building anyway. So I followed her. I gasped, hoping that the pain in my ribs was only a bruise.

We went upstairs as quietly as we could, hearing her mother talking on the porch.

"My dad's supposed to be looking for work. He usually just goes out to Starbucks and reads the paper, though. He says it makes him feel like everything's back the way it should be."

I snorted. Starbucks, home of the five buck coffee. You could get a couple of beer for that, if you had someone to buy it for you.

"Stay by the door and listen for my mom, I'll go see if he has a twenty in his stash." So, they kept money in the apartment, good to know. It might be necessary to steal some sometime. I watched carefully to see where she went, but at the last moment, she turned waving at me to go back to the door. At least I knew it was down the hall, toward the bedrooms.

Samantha

I didn't feel right about this, stealing money from my parents. But Ash looked devastated, and I had to admit, the thought of doing drugs was kind of exciting. I'd never done anything really bad before, I'd always been conscious of how it would affect my getting into med school, but what was the point now?

It wasn't like I really had a future anymore, not like I did last year, before dad screwed up and lost everything. So what difference did it make if I stole a little money? They didn't give me any for school anymore, so they kind of owed it to me.

So why was my heart pounding so hard I couldn't hear the radio in the kitchen playing? My head felt light and kind of tingly with nerves. I was such a freaking wuss.

So, I ignored the small voice that said this was very wrong, and opened my parent's bedroom door. I knew Dad kept his emergency money in an envelope in his underwear drawer; he'd done that since I was a baby.

There it was, just like I figured. He had about seventy bucks, so I slipped thirty out of the envelope. For a minute I considered putting ten back, but decided it wouldn't make any difference. Either he knew how much he had or he didn't. I realized that this was one of those turning points the history teacher mentioned. I could still put the money back. No-one would know.

Then I thought of Ash's face. And my shattered dream of being a famous surgeon. So, I slipped the money into my back pocket and closed the drawer.

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