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Chapter 4

  I got out of my car as I thought about what Jenna had told me. Was that guy really checking me out, or was she just messing with me? I shook away my thoughts and sighed in relief that Joey wasn't home yet; maybe I could go to Jenna's before he even saw me. I pulled out my phone to call her, but when I unlocked it, I had a new message from and unsaved number. I reluctantly opened it, expecting it to be just what it was. Hi, the message read, I know we haven't met yet, but your friend told me you were Sadie? This is Toph, by the way. I'm new to Freeman.

  Oh. My. God. Jenna hadn't been kidding. But she had failed to mention that she had given this mystery boy my phone number. My initial reaction was to respond to him, but realized that it would be better to meet with Jenna first. I drove over to her house, and she met me at the door.

  "What's up?" She said casually. She had known all along, and she knew it was torturing me.

  "Shut up. I can't believe you gave that guy my number!"

  "That's what friends are for!" Was it? I had never really known... "So did you respond to him?!"

  "Well... no. How should I?"

  "Like uh... I don't know! Just confirm that it's you and stuff!" We argued back and forth about what I should say, and finally I respponded with something like, Hi! This is Sadie, and I think you met my friend Jenna. It was a lame response, but what else was I supposed to say? I left Jenna's at around 7, hoping I would make it back home before dinner.

  I slipped into my house, trying to be as stealthy as possible to avoid Joey. I heard some shuffling in the living room, and I looked up to meet Joey's eyes. "Welcome, home. I'm glad you decided to show." He said, his words slurring as the sentence progressed.

  "I was with my friend, no big deal Joey."

  "Well have fun with dinner, little slut." My eyes burned with anger as I moved my hand to slap him. He caught my wrist, clutching it tightly. "Tsk, tsk, Sadie. Trying to hit the man of the house..." He said, taking his hand to my face this time. My cheek burned as I held back tears. He let go of my wrist, not moving an inch. I tried to walk away, but he grabbed my shoulder. "Now, say you're sorry Sadie-cakes." He said, a menacing look in his eyes.

  "no..." I mumbled.

  "What was that?" He said, raising his hand again.

  "Sorry." I said, pulling away from his grip. I sprinted up the old creaky stairs, locking myself in my room with Cubbie who slept soundly at the foot of my bed. It was annoying how much I had to hide from Joey. I felt like running away and never coming back, but I knew I couldn't. I pulled out my phone and asked Jenna if I could spend the night at her house; of course she said yes. I had been to Jenna's house more than often since we had met, and it turned out her family was actually really nice aside from Dean. Her parents were constantly working, and it really didn't bother them that I was around so often. I threw my stuff in a tote bag and jumped out of my window onto my garage, climbing down the side of my house.

  Joey wouldn't catch me; he was too drunk to walk straight, much less catch his daughter sneaking out. I pulled up to Jenna's house, knocking awkwardly. Unexpectedly, Dean answered the door instead of Jenna.

  "What do you want?" He asked sourly. It was weird how he and Jenna were related, Jenna was so sweet and Dean was so... not.

  "Jenna invited me over, actually." I snapped back.

  "Dean! Go away!" I heard Jenna's voice coming from inside the house as she peeked her head in the doorway. "You can come in, don't worry about him." She said, making a disgusted face. I laughed as she led me upstairs to her room, which was perfectly clean. I set down my bag and took a seat on one of her beanbag chairs.