The Unloved (6 page)

“I wasn’t aware I was an orphan,” I said, taking another bite of my Salisbury steak.

“This is my boyfriend, Blake,” Emily said, ignoring my comment. “And that’s Tom.”

“’Sup?” Blake said.

I nodded in response to him and once in Tom’s direction; he nodded right back and took a bite of his Salisbury steak. So far I seemed to have something in common with each of them—Blake and I both seemed to share the same taste in music, Emily and I both liked Jules (although it was in different ways), and Tom and I both seemed to like Salisbury steak. I could work with this little group.

“What happened to your face?” Emily wondered, her big brown eyes grazing over my bruises.

I dropped my eyes to my food and shoved a bite of mashed potatoes into my mouth. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Okay.” Emily shrugged. “So, have you talked to Julie yet?”

I swallowed another forkful of mashed potatoes and shrugged my shoulders. “Yeah, some,” I answered, remembering Thursday night a little more.

Emily scrunched up her face. “She hasn’t said a word about you yet, at least not to me.”

I frowned. Was this a bad sign? That Jules hadn’t even told her best friends she’d noticed I’d moved back.

“It’s probably nothing. Julie isn’t one for gossip or any of that crap, so I wouldn’t worry about it,” Emily offered.

Didn’t matter. It still irked me that she hadn’t spoken to her friends about me yet. At all.

“I got an idea,” Blake said. “Drew Carter’s having this party on Friday night. We should all go.”

Emily shoved Blake playfully and a large smile came to her face. “That’s a great idea! Julie hasn’t been to a party with us in ages! You’ll have to meet us there, Nick. Then the two of you can talk,” Emily said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively at me.

I looked to Blake. “I bet this one is hard to keep up with,” I said, pointing to Emily.

“You have no idea.” He smirked. “I’ve definitely got my hands full.”

“Whatever, I’m just excited that’s all,” Emily muttered, looking irritated.

“Don’t believe her,” Quiet Tom said, never raising his eyes from his tray of food. “She’s like this
all
the time.”

I chuckled and took a swig of my milk. Yep, I could deal with having this as my crew. And going to a party on Friday night sounded a lot better than sitting at home again, especially if Jules was going to be there. Well, possibly anyway. Now at least I had something to look forward to—even if it was four freaking days away.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

JULIE

“I don’t know. I’ll have to check and see if I work that night,” I said reluctantly. I didn’t care for parties much.

“Please just ask off if you do,” Emily pleaded.

I smiled at her persistence. “All right,” I promised, wondering why she wanted me to go so badly. I seriously hoped her and Tiffany weren’t secretly attempting to set me up with someone, again.

They’d tried that once. And now the guy was my mom’s pill dealer.

Vincent had been
it
. At least I’d thought. Jet black hair, deep blue eyes, an eyebrow piercing, and arms covered in tattoos. He had also been nineteen with a car. Heaven. That was what I’d thought he was, anyway.

I was stupid to think that a guy like that would actually like a girl like me—a baggy-sweater-wearing girl who liked to keep to herself and had a nervous/shy streak that came out around guys like him. Vincent had been able to see through all of that and see the real me. I’d opened up to him in ways I’d never opened up to any guy besides Nick before. I’d even allowed him to take my virginity. That was when things began to go downhill.

It felt like after he’d gotten what he’d obviously wanted from the start, he changed his mind. I’d been a conquest. Another notch in his belt and nothing more.

Shortly after, he got sloppy with his sales and I’d found out the truth behind who he really was. It had been infuriating, knowing that here I was being the most loyal girlfriend I could possibly be and falling head over heels for this guy, while behind my back he was secretly selling my mom the pills that she craved. The pills were part of the reason she didn’t feed us like she should, being the parental figure and all.

It had been almost three months since Vincent and I broke up. I still see him every now and then when he stops by the house to visit my mom for another deal. It sickens me, but mostly because I know the way that my mother was most likely paying him for his drugs—with her body. Either she was giving him a private dance each time or a Charlotte whore special.

Either way, Vincent was dead to me and also the reason why I didn’t date. I’d learned as a kid that once you let people in, they hold the power to disappoint you, upset you, and break you. Vincent had been a reminder that I was already broken enough from my home life, and that a heart could only handle so much before it gave out.

“How’s your nose feeling?” Emily asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Oh, um, fine.” I shrugged. It was a little sore, but nothing like what I’d expected it to be.

“Good.” Emily smiled, and then gave me a look that I knew all too well. She was up to something. “So, about Friday night…think you could ditch the baggy sweater and hoodies? I mean it is August, not December.”

I pulled the cuffs of the sweater I was wearing down over my hands. Sweaters had been my shields for the last few years, since puberty hit and Nick moved away. I’d wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out the day that I saw his mom drive away with him staring at me from the backseat. Maybe keeping my body covered all the time, no matter the weather, was my way of crawling into that hole.

“I’ll think about it,” I said with a frail smile.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

NICK

Friday night finally came. I stood in my bedroom trying on every T-shirt I owned and staring at my reflection in the mirror above my dresser like a girl. I’d just shaved my head and my face to perfection, and now I wanted a shirt that didn’t have stains on it to wear. I found something wrong with each one I owned.

“Knock, knock,” mom called from the doorway. I hadn’t even noticed her walk up. “You look nice. Going out?” she asked with a smile.

“Yeah, I am,” I answered, pulling the edges of the T-shirt I’d thrown on in an attempt to make it longer. What the hell? How much had I grown since I’d worn this last?

“Well, here. I wanted to give these to you before I headed out for my shift at the diner. Suzie called in, so I’m working for her tonight,” she said, holding out two Wal-Mart bags my way.

I took them from her fingers and opened one slightly to glance inside. In one there were a few shirts folded with the tags still on and in the other, a few pairs of jeans or possibly shorts. I couldn’t be sure which.

“I know it’s not much, but it’s something,” she said.

I looked at her and smiled. “Thanks, Mom.”

Her eyes, the same hazel as mine, had excitement twinkling within them. “There’s something in the living room for you, too. I’ve gotta go.”

“All right, I’ll see you later.”

“Be home by 11:30, okay?”

“I’ll try.” I grinned. She’d never given me a curfew before. This was new and I liked it. It felt normal; the way things should be for someone my age.

I dumped the bags out onto my bed and stared. A blue and gray T-shirt caught my eye. I peeled the one I’d been wearing off and tossed it on the floor before tugging the new one on. It had a collar and looked a little preppy, but I could deal with that. I left the last two buttons undone so you could see the white tank I wore beneath and glanced at the pile of denim on my bed. There were two pairs of jeans and one pair of shorts. I tugged on a pair of the jeans and glanced at myself in the mirror, then decided I looked like I was trying too hard so I pulled on the worn out pair I’d had on before and pulled the sticker and tag off the shirt.

After applying a thick layer of deodorant, I headed toward the kitchen for something to eat while I waited on Blake and Quiet Tom to get here. I grabbed some Ramen noodles, the only thing we had at the moment that was super fast to make. I put a pot of water on the stove to boil, plopped the noodles in, and went to the living room to see what else mom had gotten me. My jaw dropped at the site of the shinny white box resting on the dingy couch.

She’d bought me a
Wii!

I stuffed down my excitement and shuffled my feet forward, thinking there was no way there was a Wii inside that box. It must have been just a box with something else inside, right? There was no way we could afford that. No way!

I sat down on the couch and pulled the heavy box into my lap. Carefully I undid the stickers they’d placed on all the sides and opened the box up. Sure as shit there was a white Wii gleaming back at me from inside the box. I pulled it out and walked across the room to set it beside our ancient twenty-inch TV. I’d never been one for reading directions, so I tossed them on the floor and pulled out our TV some so I could hook the two up.

Three minutes later there was a loud sizzling noise coming from the kitchen. I’d forgotten about my noodles! That was what I got for cooking on high. I darted to the kitchen, turned the stove off, and set the noodles on a back burner, then headed back to the TV. Suddenly I wasn’t hungry anymore—excitement could do that to a person.

Twenty minutes passed and I still was on my knees attempting to hook the thing up when a knock sounded at my front door.

“Come in!” I yelled, my head still behind the TV.

“Hey, man, you ready?” I heard Blake ask.

“Yeah, just a second. I’ve almost got this thing hooked up,” I said.

“Here, let me help. I’ve been through like three of these,” he said, bending down. I slid out of his way and wondered how he could afford three of these.

Blake worked some magic and in just a few minutes everything was all hooked up. I was amazed. Maybe I should have read the directions.

“I can let you borrow some games whenever, man. I’ve got a ton,” he said.

“Cool.”

“You can borrow mine too if you want,” Quiet Tom said from the doorway.

Seriously, was I the only person in the world who didn’t have a Wii until now?

I nodded. “Thanks. We ready?”

“Yup,” Blake said. “Emily’s just meeting us there. She’s riding with the girls.”

“All right, let’s head out,” I said as I began flipping lights off. I pulled the front door closed behind me and locked it, then climbed in the backseat of Blake’s car.

Unable to help myself, I glanced at Jules’ house before we drove away. I hoped she’d be at the party tonight.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

JULIE

“Ditch the sweater!” Emily shouted at me from the front seat. “I thought you said you were just bringing it for if you got cold later.”

“I’m a little chilly, is that all right with you?” I asked in a snobbish tone. I didn’t feel comfortable in this tight tank top Tiffany had made me wear. At least I’d still gotten to wear my jeans. They were the ones with the holes in the knees and the frayed pockets. It was funny how some people spent fifty bucks on a pair of jeans like these when all they had to do was wear the crap out of them—they got holey all on their own after a few washes, people.

“No way, you did not just snap at me over a flipping sweater!” Emily shrieked.

I chuckled. Seeing Emily all riled up was pretty funny no matter the reason. She was the only person I’d ever known who could raise one eyebrow straight up in the air. “Sorry, I’ll take it off when we get there. Okay?”

“Fine.” She huffed and I chuckled a little more.

“Do I take a right or left?” Tiffany asked as she rolled up to a stop sign.

“Right,” both Emily and I answered at the same time.

Nervous butterflies swarmed around in my stomach as we neared Drew’s street. I hadn’t been to a party in a while. A long while. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy fun, because I did, on occasion; it was just that no fun could ever come out of drunken teenage boys. Not in my opinion anyway.

Tiffany turned down Whitman Street and my heart began to pound. Drew’s house was the last one on the left, but even if I hadn’t known that from the few parties of his that I had gone to over the years, the cars lining the street would have been a dead giveaway.

“Hey, you know who we should have invited?” Tiffany asked as we all climbed out of her car and started toward the house.

“Who?” Emily answered, stepping over the small ditch Tiffany had come close to parking her back tire in.

“Luke,” Tiffany said, bumping me with her elbow.

“Ugh, I don’t think so. Then we’d have to invite Cole and I
so
do not want to hang out with my brother,” I muttered.

“Wait!” Emily shouted and turned to face me. “Sweater. Car. Now.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled it above my head. I’d thought for sure she’d forgotten. She held out her hands and I tossed it to her. Tiffany and I waited while she backtracked to the car.