Meat

Ch 20

Hello! Apologies for this not being sooner, there was an incident at my school. Also this is sorta a filler but there will be something slightly important. Thank you for your patience!

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I hear the door close and bounce up out of my bed, ready to see her. I've missed her all day. I leave my room and start walking down the stairs, only to see Quinn standing at the door, crying. 

"Quinn! What's wrong?" I ask going up to her and hugging her. 

"I..I.." She sobs. "I got hit." 

"What!?" I say as I pull back from our hug. I lift up her glasses and move her bangs out of the way. Sure enough, she has a black eye under all her tears. "Who hit you?"

"Chase Middleton." 

"Chase Middleton? What happened?"

"He..hit his girlfriend...Katy Martin...outside of the bathroom that I was in. I yelled at him to stop and then he hit me...he ran away and I talked to his girlfriend...apparently it wasn't the first time, either. And he's just really abusive to her, I had to stop him!"

"Shhh, I know," I said, hugging her once more. I walked her up to her room and put her in her bed. I called Anastasia and told her I was having some family issues, and that she probably shouldn't come over. Then, I called Jim and told him what happened, to which he replied that he would take care of it, but he would be home late. 

I go into Quinns room and lay down next to her. She slowly opens her eyes and looks at me. 

"Aren't you sick?"

Oh shit. "Uh, yeah, but I feel better now."

She closes her eyes and I do the same. We both fall asleep.

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I wake up in the middle of the night with a message from Anastasia.

'Hey. Can't sleep XD did u hear abt Mr. Alberto?'

I sit up in a panic.

'No. What about him?'

I see the little bubble pop up as she starts to reply. What could they have found? I took every precaution. I cleaned the house, wore three different pairs of gloves- what could it be?

'My mom is a police officer. She had to go 2 his house 2 evict him because he wasn't paying his bills. He didn't answer so they issued a search warrant and realized he was gone. Looks like he skipped town!'

Oh good. Shit, that was close.

'Oh wow really?'

'Ya! They found his car near a lake on the outskirts of town. Kinda where you live. They couldn't find anything else tho.'

Looks like my plan worked. I told Anastasia that I was falling asleep and rolled over to sleep.

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I woke up groggy, but hungry. It was finally Friday and I was going back to school today. I woke up and went to the bathroom to shower. I was getting towels from the hallway closet when I heard yelling coming from mom and Jim's room.

"Are you fucking serious Jim!?"

"Jo, it's not a big deal, we'll take care of it next month!"

"You're too focused on your fucking friends. You've been out with them almost every night this week! And when we finally plan to have a date night, they call you on the phone and you stand outside talking to them for half an hour!"

Oh shit. Is Jim cheating?

"They're from work! It was a business call!"

"A business call that lasts half an hour?"

"Yes! It was important! And it was ten minutes."

"Bullshit Jim! It was half a fucking hour!"

"It was not! And it was for work! What the fuck is wrong with you? Why are-"

The door swings open and my mom walks out. She stops when she sees me. Her eyes are red and puffy. She's wearing her robe and a pair of boots. Her hair is in a messy bun. She has a bruise on her wrist and half of her face is red.

"Veronica.." She trails off, realizing that I heard too much.

I look at her and walk into the bathroom. I hear her walk down the stairs and leave, sniffling on her way out.

I sigh and start the faucet. What time is it anyway? I pick up my phone. 4:17 am.

Holy shit it's early. I wonder if that happens every morning.

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School is finally over, and I'm walking home with Anastasia on the side of me and Quinn behind me. Anastasia, or Ana as I've been calling her, is talking to me about her older brother, Damian, and how he's starting his own business. She's very happy for him. I love seeing her happy, I don't know why. Her eyes seem to light up and she has this smile that makes her face curve in just the right-

"V!"

My thoughts were interrupted by Quinn.

"What's up?" I say, spinning around to see her.

"Look." She said, pointing toward our house. My mom and Jim were outside, arguing. It looked pretty heated. I could barely make out what they were saying. 

My mom got back in her car and sped off. I see Jim walk in, looking pissed. I wonder what that was about. Anastasia looks at me, pulling my attention from the house toward her. 

"Are you okay?"

"Erm, yeah. I'm fine." I say, continuing our walk. 

We walk in and Jim is at the kitchen table. 

"Hey, Dad." Quinn shutters. He groans in response. 

We all make our way upstairs and into my room.

I can't help but think..what is Jim doing? What is happening between them? Is he cheating? 

I decide I don't have time to think about this right now. I have a beautiful girl in my room and another meal to plan. 

Chase Middleton, you abusive asshole, here I come.

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