His Daughter

Chapter Twenty

Luckily, I think I was one of the only people on the road that day, so I didn't have to worry about other drivers. I was looking for something. A gas station. A restaurant. Something to tell me where steve was. Or if he was even looking for me anymore. What if after all the trouble I caused him, he gave up on me?

<<<>>>

I had been driving for around 46 minutes according to the dashboard clock, when I spotted a gas station. I was happy, but I still couldn't shake my thoughts about Steve. What if he wouldn't take me back into his home? I just felt overwhelmed and done with dealing with other people's crap. And my own.

I pulled the old truck into the shell station and took my time getting out. There was a sketchy looking girl around my age lingering in the corner of the building smoking a cigarette, eyeing the truck, and me, suspiciously.

I walked inside and the store and it was eerily silent, except for the bell ringing overhead. I moved closer in a few steps, and then all the sudden someone grabbed my arms and held them behind me.

"Let go of me!" I screamed.

"Give me all your money, credit cards, and the keys to your crappy truck!" I heard a woman yell back. I was guessing it was the girl I saw outside that was eying me up.

"NO GET AW-"

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" yelled an old man, entering from the back, "FREEZE OR I'M CALLING THE COPS!"

In the little pause, I was able to push out of the ladies grasp. Why did all this crazy stuff happen to me? She groaned loudly, realizing her little show was up. I guess she thought no one else was in here but me? Not smart. Just then, I heard police sirens wailing in the background. He already had called the cops.

It took a few minutes, but by then the cops had taken the girl, which I had found out was named Mack, out to their car, and it seemed everything had calmed down.

"Sorry about all that. Need help with anything?" the old man, who must be in his 50's or so, mentioned over the top of a newspaper he had just grabbed from the counter.

"Nope." I spat a little too harshly. I was shaking and everything that had happened was catching up to me. For some reason every little thing that happened lately was suddenly clinging onto me like a wet bathing suit. I could feel anger bubbling up inside of me. I hated my life.

"You know you have to pay for that." yelled the old man across the room, as I took a bottle of soda and opened the cap.

"That's what you think?" I shrugged, smirking, and brought the cold drink up to my lips waiting. This brought his attention to me, and away from his newspaper.

"Listen you need to pay for that, you hear me? Take one sip and I am going to go out there and tell the police." he looked at me as if daring me to take a sip.

"Oh, big whoop," I rolled my eyes. I looked back, and then took a long, dangerous sip.

His eyes widened and he shouted at me to get out immediately.

"Oh, you like that?" I shout back. I was FED UP with so many people, it was all coming back to me. Was I a doormat? I didn't think so. I grabbed a bag of chips and started to eating them.

"Ahhh. So good!" I said longingly, chewing slowly.

"I'M GETTING THE POLICE!" his face started to turn bright red.

"Good idea! Tell them I've always wanted to ride in a police car!" I smiled innocently and kept munching on chips.

Putting everything that was happening aside, food never tasted better! I just sat there and waited. There was nothing that was going to help now. I continued to sip the soda until the cops came inside.

"Come with us young lady." said a police officer, motioning with his hands to follow him and holding the door open for me. I walked down the aisle of the soda drinks, and towards the door where the two police men then handcuffed me and threw me in the back of the car along with the girl from earlier. This was going to be a long ride.

<<<>>>

"You scared? I'm guessing this ain't your first time." Mack stated while walking next to me into the juvenile delinquent department office.

I nodded and replied, "Yup. Except this time I'm involved because of something I did. Usually it's the other way around. I'm guessing this isn't your first time either?" I looked at her.

"How could you tell?" she winked cattily while making a point in shoving me a little too harshly to the side. I was glad that she didn't question me any further.

"Sit" called the lady behind the desk. She looked seriously overweight and depressed.

"What if I don't wanna sit?" questioned Mack.

"Mack..." she rolled her eyes and moved her finger in a downward motion to tell her to sit.

"Oh so you two know each other?" I laughed.

She just rolled her eyes at me and shifted her seat that she now occupied.

"Mack Reese. Aria Johnson. Come with me." Said the desk lady, leading us into a room behind the counter.

It was a small room, with a table in the middle with a camera set up. The back wall was completely blank for taking pictures.

"We are going to be taking your mugshot now. So stay still and look at the camera. Aria you first" she pointed to the wall and situated behind the camera. "Say cheese!" Mack said sarcastically from behind me.

I half smiled, knowing that in mugshots you're not supposed to smile like someone just gave you ice cream.

"Mack." she said, not looking up from the camera.

"How many times I done this already?" Mack asked standing still in her spot.

"Let's see," the desk lady quickly looked at her sheets next to her without actually taking any care of it. The lady turned back to Mack and said, "Just let me take the damn picture."

Mack didn't say anything, she just crossed her arms, looked at the camera, and the flash went off.

After the pictures, we were lead to the cafeteria, which wasn't that far of a walk. She told us that we got no extra food, and we had to play nice with the other girls. I for one did not see myself as the fighting type of juvie girl.

Next, we went to see our rooms. They were kind of like dorms actually, except I'm sure that dorms smelt much better.

"Mack and Aria, you share a bunk. To your left are Ava and Chloe. To your right are Zoe and Viv."

"Can I get my own room? I ain't sharing with no one"

"Mack, you've been doing this for how long? Just behave." 

and she left.