Scarred

Chapter 22

I walked home from the soccer tryouts that evening. When I got home, everything seemed to be missing.

"Hello?" I called, setting my backpack down. "Is anyone home?"

"In here!" Lee Anne called from the kitchen. I followed the voice into the kitchen, where Lee Anne was throwing things into a Crockpot. I noticed that there were no knives or anything to prepare for the meal. And Lee Anne never uses a Crockpot.

"Hi," I said slowly, confused. "Where is everything?"

"Thomas and I got rid of anything remotely sharp to try to get you to stop cutting yourself," Lee Anne explained.

"Seriously?" I exclaimed. "God, you guys are the worst."

"We just want to make sure you're safe," Lee Anne said.

"I was perfectly safe before," I argued. "This is just rediculous."

"What's rediculous is that you insist on cutting yourself to rid yourself of depression," Lee Anne said. "What's not rediculous is trying to keep my daughter safe."

"Foster daughter," I corrected.

"Sit down," Lee Anne ordered. "Dinner is ready."

"Whatever," I said, ignoring Lee Anne. "I'm going up to my room." I ran upstairs before Lee Anne could stop me. I pushed the door open, ran inside, and slammed the door behind me. I quickly located my bag and frantically searched through it, looking for my knife. Nothing. Damn it, I thought. They found my knife.

I glanced mischievously at the window that sat adjacent to my bed. I climbed onto my bed and pushed the stiff window open. I pulled the screen off and climbed out the window, falling two stories to the grass below. Ow, I thought. Damn, that hurt like a bitch. I slowly got to my feet, wincing at pain from the brusies that were definately forming on my legs. I grabbed my bike, which was parked in the driveway, and rode off.

***

The supermarket was packed.

It was a minor detail, of course, but I hated packed places. I just wanted to get in and get out as quickly as possible.

I found the kitchenware section of the supermarket fairly quickly. It wasn't hard to find, considering the fact that it had a huge sign displaying the word "KITCHENWARE" right above it. I searched for a small knife set, and found one for only $8.99. As soon as I got through the huge checkout line and payed for my knives, I rode down to the Drury Inn.

I pulled my hotel room key out of the little pouch that was attached to my backpack. I found the room that the key corresponded to and opened the door to the room. Tomorrow I would go back to the house while Lee Anne and Thomas were at work and get all of my things.

I took a quick shower and washed my clothes in the washing room at the hotel while wearing one of the robes that the hotel provided. Once they were dry, I put on my black t-shirt and my bright purple shorts, which matched my hair. Then I headed downstairs.

The exercise room was completely empty, to my surprise. I grabbed a towel and the water bottle I had gotten from the vending machine and got onto a treadmill. I ran for what seemed like only minutes, but was probably more like an hour. I thought abour my stupid dad and my stupid counselor and my stupid foster parents and the stupid world. When I had run so long that I couldn't breathe anymore, I stopped the treadmill and drank half of my water bottle.

"Rough day?" a masculine voice asked. I whirled around, startled. A guy, probably seventeen or eighteen, was standing next to an elliptical across the room, which was still on.

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

"About fourty minutes," the guy replied. "Based on how hard you were running and the fact that you were cursing under your breath, I'm going to guess today isn't a fantastic day."

"Tell me about it," I grumbled.

"You tell me about it," the guy said.

"My foster parents are just being way too overprotective," I responded. "Life is just shit right now."

"Isn't it always?" the guy laughed.

"True," I said, laughing with him.

"I'm Jace," the guy said.

"Quinn," I said.

"Quinn," Jace repeated. "I like it."

"I like the name Jace," I said. "Although, I did have a cheating ex-boyfriend named Jase..."

Jace laughed. "Well, if it helps, I'm not a cheater or your ex-boyfriend."

"I guess it does help," I joked. I grabbed the towel and wiped a bead of sweat off my forehead. Jace grabbed his towel and water bottle and started running on the treadmill next to me. I got back on my treadmill and tried to run faster than him. He increased his speed, and I increased mine. We did this until neither of us could run any faster. We slowed our treadmills, laughing and breathing hard.

"You're competitive," Jace observed.

"So are you," I said.

"So why are you at the Drury?" Jace asked.

"I ran away from my foster parents," I said.

"Wow," Jace exclaimed. "I'm just on vacation."

"To Independence?" I laughed. "This is one of the most boring town ever, besides Blue Springs, which is where I live."

"Not the most boring ever," Jace said. "And I have family here, so we're visiting them."

"Oh," I said.

"You're pretty," Jace said. I looked at him in confusion. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yeah," I laughed.

"Oops," Jace said, his cheeks flaming red.

Before my brain could stop myself, my lips were on his, kissing him. I was thrilled to have something new and exciting in my life. He kissed me back passionately. I grabbed my towel and water bottle and led him up to my hotel room. He put his lips on mine as soon as we had entered the room. We sat down on the bed, still kissing. Suddenly, I felt his hands sliding up my shirt, trying to pull it off. I quickly pulled out of his grasp.

"I can't do this," I said.

"I thought this was okay," Jace said, confused.

"I have a boyfriend," I explained.

"So don't tell him," Jace said.

"It's not that simple," I exclaimed. "It wouldn't be right to do that to him."

"Whatever," Jace mumbled, getting up. "I'll see you around." He opened the door and left, slamming the door shut behind him.

Tears welled up in my eyes, threatening to spill over. I sat down on the bed, trying to pull myself together. I couldn't believe I had almost done that. I'm a horrible person, I thought. Sam's going to hate me.