CHAPTER ONE
It was a Friday night, two in the morning, and my two best friends were shrieking in drunken laughter behind me. I sighed as I pulled into the gas station. My little Corolla had been chugging near empty for the last few miles. And I'll admit that I'd been worried we would've broken down on the side of the road, not for my car's sake, for my sake. I didn't know if I could've handled walking with Lydia and Jessica. And on cue, Lydia rammed her elbow in the back of my head.
"Oh, Sam!" Muffled laughter. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean—" She dissolved in laughter once more.
Jessica wrapped her hands around the passenger seat and leaned forward. "Can we go to another party?"
"Puh-leaze?"
"No."I unclipped my seat belt and started to get out.
They scrambled out, or tried. Lydia tripped and was nearly clocked by my side mirror. Jessica tumbled after and leaned her weight on Lydia's shoulders so she wouldn't fall while she sidestepped over her.
What a friend.
"Why not? It's our last Friday night before school. Come on, Sam!"
Lydia stood and straightened out her skirt and top. When her boobs were back in place and the skirt barely covered her ass, she turned her pleading eyes on me too. "It'll be fun. Come on! I know where a public party is."
Jessica whirled to her. "Oh! That sounds awesome."
They bounced together. Both wore flowing skirts, tight tops, and brown curls that flung everywhere. When one hit me in the face, I swatted it away.
"I'm taking you guys home. You're both drunk."
"Come on, you're such a loser tonight," Lydia moaned.
Jessica frowned and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Yeah, you are. What's going on with you?"
"Did you and Jeffrey have a fight?" Lydia's eyebrows wiggled up and down. She peeled over in laughter once more.
I gave them my polite f**k off smile and each rolled their eyes. Then Lydia lifted her nose and got a whiff of gas station pizza. Her stomach growled and off they went. As I watched them skip together, holding hands, and giggling over the fact they were drunk, I leaned back against my car.
While the gas was guzzling into my car, I heard Jessica's question again. Was something wrong with me? And I sighed. Only my whole world had changed that afternoon. I could see my mother's face when I had left Jessica's house and went home for the afternoon. We'd all been so happy to go out that night. Even me. Yes, Jeffrey was usually an ass, but a small part of me had wondered if tonight was going to be the night we slept together. He'd been my boyfriend for three years now. He was nice, well, he was a douche at times, but he still seemed to like me. And I liked him too, but while my mother had been happy jumping from bed to bed before she got knocked up with me, I didn't want to end up like that. So I had taken everything slow with Jeff, but when I got home to get ready for the party that night, little butterflies were in my stomach.
They died and burned in flames when I opened my front door. Boxes upon boxes were lined inside and in the middle of them sat my mother. A bottle of wine was half empty beside her as she sat in her silk bathrobe. Tears coated her face, but when she saw me a bright smile was forced out.
"Hey, honey." Hiccup. "How are you?"
I let the door go and it slammed shut behind me. "What happened?"
"Oh." She gave me a dismissive wave. "Nothing. You don't need to worry about a thing."
"Worry about what?"
"We're going to be fine."
I hadn't moved. My purse still hung from my arm. "Mom, what happened?" Boxes were everywhere, even in the kitchen. I saw two empty wine bottles in the sink.
"You and me, honey. We're going to be just fine."
"Where's dad?"
Her hands froze. She'd been taping up a box, but she sucked in her breath and held still.
"Mom?"
She finished the rest of her wine and she almost fell backwards from the effort. When she set the bottle aside, I asked again, "Mom, what's going on?"
She started sobbing. "Oh honey. I'm so sorry about this. I really am."
"Mom! What's going on?"
"Ifellinlovewithsomeoneelsean dwe'releavingyourfather." She hiccupped again and swiped at some of her tears.
"What?"
She took a deep breath. "I…we're leaving your father."
My insides screamed at her. My hands curled into fists and I wanted to launch myself at her. I wanted to pound the hell out of her, but I didn't do any of that. Instead, I collapsed on one of the couches and I listened to everything she said. She'd fallen in love with someone else. She wanted to be with him. She told dad, he kicked us out, and tomorrow we were going to move in with this boyfriend of hers.
"Who?"
"Huh?" She lifted tear-stained eyes to me.
"Who?"
A soft sob and she whispered, "James Kade."
"James Kade?"
She nodded and wiped her arm over her face. "He has two boys your age, honey. You might know them."
Know them? Everyone knew them. Mason and Logan Kade. While they were rich, their dad owned five of the factories that our town thrived on, they chose to go to public school. Everyone knew the Kade brothers. They could've gone to the private school, where most of the rich kids went, or where I went because my dad was the football's coach, but they'd shaken everything up when they chose public school.