Pay the Price

Chapter Twelve: I'm In

What?! No, I cannot live with Tony, especially after what happened today. At least we'll have to sell the house first, and that most likely won't happen.

"Ugh!" I huffed and rushed out the door behind Stan. I slammed it with Stan still in my house and hopped into the car.

There was nothing to be happy about, anymore.

-

"Hi, Mom." I said softly. Again, she was sleeping. That what she did most of the time now. "Please, just get better."

I overheard Dad's voice in the hall. He must've followed me. I peeked out the window to see him talking with Anne.

"Anne, how is she?" He asked, his eyes sparkling with faith.

Anne sighed. "I'm sorry, but we've seen a drop in her health. It turns out, she was allergic to the medication we gave her. We're going to have to try something new." She hurried down the hallway to the front desk.

I creaked open the door. Dad had stumbled to the row of chairs on the wall. I sat next to him, and hugged him tight. "We're here for you."

-

Lunch came slowly and I headed into the cafeteria, only to be dragged back into the now empty halls. "What's wrong with you?"

My anger rose when I saw it was Tony. "What's wrong with me? You've got to be kidding." I made him let go of me. "You gave me that long speech about being good friends, then you go and tell my friends how generous you were to donate money to my pitifully poor family!" Now, I was shouting.

Tony stopped my rambling. "Jenn, you don't understand. They-"

"No!" I yelled. "I do understand, and like I said before, you would do anything to get a girl, even my best friends."

Tony chuckled. "Jenn, they asked me about it. They knew you wouldn't have enough money for the hospital, and they had heard that I was at the hospital. I never brought it up."

I could feel blood rushing to my cheeks. So embarrassing! "Sorry, Tony, I guess I should've asked you about it." I twirled a loose stand of my hair.

He glanced down. "And I might have overreacted a little about the Sport Tech thing. I wouldn't want my reputation to be ruined by people finding out I was poor."

"Which you're not!" I squealed. "Why didn't you ever tell anyone your dad owned a famous company?!"

Tony quieted me down. "Things like, what happened to you and Jack. Yeah, I found out about that. Jack told Lane and Lane told me."

"Oh." I said. "Well, Tony, would you like to eat lunch with me?" I mumbled.

Tony smirked. "Of course," we headed into the cafeteria again, "Blondie."

The cafeteria was packed today, and I guess some people thought it was a good time to announce things, one which I had been waiting for.

Lane stood at the front of the cafeteria. "Hello everyone, I would just like to tell you, that we're not keeping it a secret anymore. Karen and I are officially... official."

There was silence, then whistles and shouting. Karen was blushing beside her boyfriend and Lane was squeezing her hand tightly. What I would give to have a relationship like that. Now, everyone just wants to date me because of my stupid lie.

Tony and I hurried up to congratulate them. "Finally!" I squeaked. "You guys are so cute! Don't you feel better now? You don't have anything to hide."

They both nodded and turned to each other, staring intently into the other's eyes. Then, they kissed.

"Woah." Tony turned around. "Get a room." He smirked then pulled me to an empty table.

I slid into a seat across from Tony and took a bite of my apple. Glancing up, I noticed Tony looking at me weird with a smirk on his face.

My face reddened having someone so good- looking staring at me. "What?" I giggled. It was kind of awkward. My apple was almost done before Tony answered.

"You should come up to my cottage tonight, Blondie." He twirled his brown noodles. "It's up in Brookdell by the lake. My dad has some business so I was thinking of staying there tonight."

I didn't really know what to say. "Well... I don't know. I don't really want to leave my mom. That would be nice, though." I paused a bit longer. "I'll ask my dad."

The bell rang to go to third period, so I pushed my garbage into the trash can and said goodbye to Tony.

-

The english room was empty when I got there, since it was now fourth period, except Easton at the back. Ms. Samson was helping him with something and seemed frustrated.

I knocked. "Hello Ms. Samson, would you like me to help?" I asked. English was one of my best subjects so I might as well put it to good use.

She thanked me and left to get ready the next lesson. I leaned over Easton's desk. We were in the poetry unit and he was having a hard time with the rhythm and syllables.

"What you would do is-"

I stopped when students started flooding into the classroom. Ms. Samson told everyone to get to their seats so I just told Easton to meet me out front after school.

"Today, I will be putting you in pairs and what you will be doing, is you and your partner can chose any story of your choice." She paused and glanced around to make sure everyone was listening. "Together, you will right a poem about two characters in the story and their relationship or connection, whether it's hate or love, happiness or sadness."

Now, she went to her desk and grabbed a piece of paper. "Remember who your partner is." Ms. Samson read out a bunch of names that meant nothing to me, then, "Jennifer Miller, you will be working with Easton."

I guess it could've been worse, and now I can help him. I nodded and glanced back at Easton, who was frantically trying to pay attention.

Maybe this project would be harder than I thought.

-

"Dad? Dad, you home?" I shouted, opening the door. Tossing my bag on the ground, I poked my head into the kitchen.

Dad was sleeping, his head rested on the counter, the rest of his body slouched on a kitchen stool. I poked him gently. "Dad, you need to get some rest."

He nodded. "Thank you, Dear. I'll be in my room."

I helped him up. "Before you go, I was wondering if I could go to a friend's cottage this weekend. Just for tonight and come back tomorrow."

"Which friend?"

If I said Tony Anderson he might not let me go, because he's a boy, and he's a bad boy. "Zoya." I lied. "The whole family's going up."

Clyde nodded. "Let me know when you're leaving."

I hurried to my phone and found Tony's number.

Me: I'm in.

.....

That was kind of a boring chapter, but things will be getting more interesting soon! Stay tuned (aha) and I hope you liked this chapter! Oh yeah! And if I keep writing like I have been, this story should be done in two weeks or less!