Gem Stone (2 page)

So what if the men did see her? She was allowed here, too. The men were the ones trespassing on private property, not them.

Misty stuck her chin out and glared at her. "I'm not going to go away. Not this time."

Gem bowed her head, then studied the girl who wanted to be everything and had therefore made herself into nothing. "What's to talk about? This isn't new. You buckled under again. Not to worry. I'll live." The trouble was she knew Misty's methods were going to get them both into major hot water one day.

"That's not fair," Misty protested. "I didn't want to do it. You know what Creepers is like. He pounds and pounds at you until you give him something."

"So you gave him
me
?" After a disgusted look at her friend, Gem adjusted her camera lens.

"Yeah. He won't give
you
the same hell he does the rest of us."

With a half snort, Gem asked, "Sure he does. He'd send me back to juvie in a heartbeat. You know that's the punishment."

Misty gasped then shook her head violently, sending waves of long dark hair flying around her head. "No, he wouldn't do that! He doesn't
want
you back there. He's scared of you."

Gem snickered.
As if…
"Scared, my ass."

"It's true. He says there's something weird about you. You know it. Hell, everyone in juvie thought you were a little odd at first too." Gem's sharp look speared the smaller girl, and Misty backed up in a hurry.

"See.
Like that.
You have a way of looking at us as if we're not here. As if we're nothing. It's not nice, you know." Misty fisted her hands on her hips and tossed her long hair.

Click.

"It's really freaky when you just take continuous pictures. Why can't you get rid of that damn camera and be normal?" Misty kept turning to face Gem as Gem circled the petite Spanish-looking girl.

Click. Click.
Gem focused on Misty's face.
Click.

"Stop it."

"Why? I like it." It also gave Gem an outlet for her irritation and…a bit of payback – she knew Misty didn't like it.
Damn Misty anyway.

"
I don't."
Misty's voice sharpened. "You know I hate it when you crowd me like that. What if I don't want to have my picture taken?"

"Then you're a masochist because you're the one that keeps stepping in front of my lens."

"Damn it, Gem. Stop it." Misty whirled around as Gem crept up behind her. "I know you're pissed at me. I came to tell you, I'm sorry." She paused a moment, her brown eyes perplexed. In a small voice she asked, "Don't you want friends? 'Cause you keep chasing me away."

Gem stilled. She did want to be friends. And they were friends. As much as any two girls who'd spent time together in juvie could be. "Fine."

She studied Misty's face. Even frustrated, the girl had a stunning model look going on. Too bad, she'd started giving away her body for extras in life before she'd been caught stealing one too many times. Probably learned at the knees of her mother and the multitude of strange men who'd drifted in through their front door and right on out the back. Innocence lost. Yes. That's what she'd title this set of pics.

Inspired, Gem adjusted her lens, turned on her flash against the settling dusk and started clicking madly from all angles.

"Shit. You're impossible like this." Misty took off, giving Gem several good pictures of Misty's butt in tight jeans. Even captured the hole beside the left pocket. Perfect synchronicity.

Click. Click.

***

Gemma stood in the doorway to the dingy wallpapered office and studied the tall heavyset man. He sat behind high piles of papers stacked on John's beat up old desk. John, the owner of the house, wasn't the most organized. Yet, his office was the only place to conduct meetings with privacy. Today though, Mr. Crompton – or Creepers, as the kids called him – had come for his regular visit to his pet pilot project, this halfway home, which was a real house. Spacious, it sat on acreage in a rural area yet still close enough walk to the town center if they had to. Even John and Doris, the managers, appeared to be decent people.

For some reason they'd opted to open their home to her and the other kids.

So far, so good. Over the five months she'd lived here she'd learned the life here was
sooo
much better than her old one. She'd promised herself she wouldn't screw up this opportunity.

She wasn't a troublemaker by nature, yet trouble always seemed to find her. And when it came, she didn't back down so well. She'd been problem free since arriving though, and planned to keep it that way. Not only had Gem done her time, but at almost seventeen, she was soon to be released to the wide world. Another year and three months to go.

Then what?
Butterflies kicked up a ruckus in her stomach.

Juvie had been a dream compared to the last foster home. And her vulnerable circumstances there created the only reason she'd tried to steal a car to run away. At the time she figured juvie had to beat molesters – and the foster care system sucked. Big time. She'd experienced a long line of nastiness but that had ended…here. She loved it here.

Damn Misty to hell for putting that in jeopardy.

"Gemma. Come in, please."

Gem took a few steps forward to stand just inside the door. She stared at Creepers, sitting in front of her. Soft chins, soft hands, he was just doughy everywhere. She shuddered. He did give her the creeps.

"Is something wrong, Gemma?"

His soft voice raised the hair on her spine. She stiffened and stared him straight in the eye, a touch of defiance in her gaze. His pale gray eyes were always blank, like no one was inside.

"No, sir."

"I'm hearing some disturbing stories today. Another student has implicated you in a cheating scam. On your chemistry midterm."

Damn Misty.
Forcibly keeping her expression neutral, she struggled to match it to her voice. "I'm sorry to hear that, sir."

"I'm going to ask you once and once only. Did you cheat?"

"No, sir." She didn't need to cheat on exams. School was easy for her.

"Did you help anyone else cheat on their exams?"

At least she could answer honestly again. She looked him straight in the eye. "No, sir."

Silence.

"That's not what I'm hearing from other sources." He studied her intently as if hoping to read a different truth on her face. "I wouldn't want you involved in anything that would make me reconsider your placement here."

Shit.
Misty was a bitch. The girl would do anything to avoid getting into trouble herself. Including throwing Gem into the mess to confuse the issue. Again.

"People will always talk, sir."

"Yes. They will, won't they? Well, we will leave it for the moment. As long as you realize, that if I receive one ounce of proof that you cheated, your permission to stay here will be rescinded. Got that?"

"Yes, sir." She dropped her gaze to her feet and the almost-too-short jeans. There were a lot of good things happening here. She didn't want to leave. She also didn't dare let him know how much this mattered.

Silence again.

Gemma risked a quick look at him. He was staring at a thick file open in front of him.
Her file.
Gemma groaned silently.

"I see you're still busy with that camera of yours…"

Was that a question? Gemma didn't know what she was supposed to say. "Yes, sir."

"You know better than to take pictures of people and situations that you aren't supposed to, right?" His pale gray eyes lifted from the desk, flicked to the field outside the window then back, catching hers.

Acid bubbled in her stomach.
Did he know?

"We wouldn't want you ignoring other people's privacy now, would we? Even if the pictures don't turn out well, people might think you captured events you weren't entitled to see. Understand?"

A frisson of fear slid down her back.
He couldn't know, could he?
She didn't even know what she'd seen. She gulped and nodded once. "I'm very careful."

"Yes. Careful. That describes you very well. Careful in what you say. Careful in what you do. Careful in how you act. Always. What goes on behind those big brown eyes of yours, Gemma? You're always quiet. Deep. You've been here with the others for several months now and yet, you're still essentially a loner."

And what was she supposed to say to that? She remained silent.

"A word of warning, there will be several new girls arriving over the next few weeks, so expect to go back to sharing your room again." He studied her carefully. "And still you stand there and say nothing." He closed the file before resting his interlocked fingers on top. He stared up at her, a frown creasing his forehead. "I'm not a big fan of mixing boys and girls at your age. Unleashed hormones and troubled kids make for a nasty mess." He narrowed his gaze and added, "Make sure you don't contribute to the problem."

"No, sir. Are we done here, sir?" Gem stared down at her standard-issue running shoe. Like all her clothes. The home provided everything, slightly less institutionalized than at the center, but still generic. Soon she'd be allowed to get a job, then she could buy her own clothes.

He studied her bent head.

"Never an ounce of give in you, is there?"

"Sir?" She eyed him curiously.

"Never mind." He picked up her file and added it to the stack on the right. "Yes, we're done."

She took that as a dismissal. "Thank you, sir." Just before escaping down the hallway, she popped her head back in and said, "I don't cheat."

He looked up in surprise. "I know that. You don't bother reading the textbooks either, do you? But not everyone here has your IQ. Make sure you aren't helping the others cheat. It won't do either of you any good in the long run."

She nodded. She had no intention of helping anyone cheat, but that didn't stop them from cheating off her. Though it would have been easy to point the finger in the right direction, she wasn't Misty. She wasn't going to turn anyone in to make it easier for herself.

Life here hadn't changed the first rule, learned the hard way on the streets and reinforced in juvie. That rule was to keep your mouth shut – no matter what. Or else.

She bit her bottom lip as she raced down the hallway. She didn't want to miss dinner. She'd already outstripped most other girls her age, for height. She could only hope one day, she'd match them for curves. At least she had them all beat for brains.

It was a relief to get out of there, but she'd feel better if she understood what was going on by the creek. And why Creepers cared.

T
he oversized kitchen was busy even though there were only five teenagers in residence at the moment. Along with Gem and Misty, were three always-hungry males. With an apologetic smile at Doris – John's wife and their house mother – Gem took her place at the table and quickly heaped her plate. Misty kept trying to catch her eye, but Gem refused to look at her. She wasn't going to let her off the hook so easily.

The meeting with Creepers was too fresh for that.

The meal of baked ham and mashed potatoes was hot and tasty and she ate with gusto. Now that she'd survived Creepers, her stomach had settled and turned to more important matters. She didn't know why she was always so hungry or why, despite that, she could only tolerate certain foods recently. She had no allergies and would have said a year ago that she could eat anything. That had slowly changed.

Now there were certain things she couldn't put on her plate. Like green apples. Red ones were fine. Green, something about that color, just wasn't any good anymore. Yet green in other foods was great, like spinach. She adored spinach. Hated Swiss chard – it had red in it. Go figure.

"Gem, do you want more potatoes?" Doris asked, standing beside her with the bowl in hand. Food was important to Doris – that fact was underscored by her round figure and double chins.

Gemma eyed the bowl and nodded gratefully, then grabbed two more buns from a different bowl and dumped several pats of butter on her plate to go with them. Doris served her a second helping of mashed potatoes.

As soon as Doris returned to the kitchen, Misty hopped up from the far side of the long table and raced around to Gem. She pulled out the chair beside Gem and sat down. "Hey. Are you okay? What did Creepers say?"

"Nothing much. He knows I didn't cheat." Gem bit into one of the buns, while she slathered butter on the rest of it.

"See. I figured it was all good." Misty watched in fascination as Gem stuffed the last bite of the first bun in her mouth. "How can you eat so much?"