The Wanderers Beginning: The Wanderers, Reborn, & Unforgiven (2 page)

             
I hated being judged for the fact that I have money because that’s not what we're about. While I agree I have no problem spending it, I do have a problem with people thinking that’s all I care about. My mom taught us not worry about what other people thought. Just because we may be more fortunate than others doesn’t make us bad people or superior to others. “Always remember to be humble,” my mom would say.

By the time I reached my room, my mom was already in there packing my suitcase. “Mom, I can pack my own suitcase. I’m not five.”

             
“I know dear. I just like to make sure you don’t forget anything, seeing that you like to leave things to the last minute.” I stifled an eye roll and walked over to sit on my bed next to Ginger who had already made herself comfortable.

             
I watched as my mom glided gracefully over the floor to my dresser while humming a tune. I swear she was Mary Poppins in a former life. Her red hair was still a mess from this morning, her petite body was covered up in a sweat suit, and her freshly manicured nails were starting to chip. My mom wasn’t the type to get caught up with her looks. When she needed to look presentable she always outdid herself, but on days like today, it didn’t matter.

             
“Do I have time to shower before we leave?” I asked.

             
She let out a sigh answering, “Quickly.”

             
I hopped off my bed and jumped in the shower. We only had two bathrooms at the cabin, so I shared one with my brothers. I had to share a lot with my brothers. I couldn’t wait to go to college.

             
I barely had time to dry my hair because my mom was rushing us out the door. I quickly threw my hair up into a ponytail and put on jeans and a t-shirt. My mom handed Danni a list of things that needed to be done while we were away as the rest of us loaded our suitcases into the car. I climbed into the back seat with Ginger and put on my head phones to drown out the noise, hoping I could sleep on the way to the cabin.

Chapter two

Once we arrived at the cabin, I checked my phone and saw I had a text from Josie. It said to let her know as soon as I arrived so she could escape her annoying little brother. Her parents owned the cabin down the road from ours and were also spending the weekend there.

              I texted Josie and told her we had just arrived. She replied saying that she’d meet me in five minutes after she ditched her brother. By the time I carried my stuff up to my room, unpacked, and came back downstairs, Josie was at the door with her little brother in tow.

             
Josie and I were complete opposites when it came to fashion. The first thing I noticed was she had switched out her blue streaks for purple and was wearing her favorite red plaid pants, with a black studded belt, and a rock t-shirt with the sleeves cut off over a black tank top. Josie loved the punk rock, glam look and pulled it off very well. Two years ago she had dyed her hair platinum blond after her idle, Gwen Stefani.

             
“Oh thank god!” Josie shrieked, running to me and giving me a hug causing her bangle bracelets to jingle in her excitement.  “I’m so glad you’re here.”

             
“Hi Jake,” I said, waving to Josie’s six year old brother who stood nervously by the door. As usual, his dirty blonde hair was a ratted mess and long overdue for a haircut. His shorts and t-shirt were covered in filth, proving he already spent half the morning playing in the dirt. 

             
“Oh yeah, my mom made me bring him.” Irritated, Josie called to Jake. “Don’t just stand there.”

             
Jake ran over to me and hugged my leg. I patted him on the head feeling something sticky, but was too afraid to ask. I told him my brothers were in the living room and he could go play with them. His pale green eyes lit up with excitement as he took off. I waited to make sure he found them. Josie could have cared less and took off towards the kitchen leaving tiny bits of dried mud in her wake from her dirty Converse shoes.

             
“Hey Jakey boy, what’s up?” Dean said as he slapped him a high five. I knew Dean and Xander wouldn’t care. They liked Jake and didn’t mind him hanging around - probably because they had the same maturity level.

             
When I knew Jake was okay, I proceeded to the kitchen where Josie had helped herself to an apple after throwing her favorite L.A.M.B purse on the counter. “So what’s on the agenda for tonight?” Josie asked, sinking her teeth into the apple.

             
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to get away. We’re supposed to be spending ‘family time’ together,” I said, air quoting the words.

             
“Fudge that. This is our last weekend together before we head off to school. Can’t you get out of it?”

             
“Josie, it’s not like we won’t see each other again. We are going to the same school.”

             
              “Yeah, but it’s a big school and we’ll be taking different classes,” she voiced concern.

             
“I’ll see what I can do, but no promises. My mom was really excited about all of us being here together this weekend.”

             
“Yeah, well, that might change. I overheard my dad say they were working on some big deal this weekend that would require most of your dad’s attention.”

             
“Hello Josie,” my mom said as she walked into the kitchen.

             
“Hi Mrs. McCallister,” Josie greeted.

             
“I just talked to your mother and she wanted me to let you know that she would be at the spa all day and your father would be busy working and asked that you make sure Jake gets something to eat.”

             
“Typical. Where else would she be?” Josie groaned.

             
“You and Jake are more than welcome to join us for dinner,” my mom offered. Josie accepted, not wanting to have to spend all day alone with her brother. “What do you girls have planned for tonight?”

             
I looked at my mom questioningly. “I didn’t make plans because I thought we were doing family stuff.”

             
My mom’s shoulders dropped and I could see slight disappointment in her eyes. “Unfortunately your father has some business to take care of tonight but he assured me it would not interfere with the rest of the weekend.”

             
I reached for my mom’s hand and squeezed it gently. My father rarely put his business before his family but sometimes even he couldn’t control it. I could tell my mom was trying not to let it bother her. She knew he would rather spend time with his family than be working.

             
The news of my freedom made Josie perk up. “Good, now we can go to Kevin’s party tonight!” she cheered, a little too enthusiastically.

             
“Kevin’s?” I said skeptical.

             
“Oh, sorry, we can do something else,” Josie said now realizing.

             
“No it’s fine,” I replied not wanting to spoil her night.

             
Kevin was Kyle’s twin brother. I haven’t seen or talked to him since Kyle’s funeral. I knew I’d eventually run into him and I thought it might be a good thing to see him and talk to him. Maybe talking to him would help.

Josie and I spent the rest of the day in my room talking about school. Wondering what it would be like, all the different classes we were taking, the new people we would meet, and so on.

             
After a while we switched topics as Josie started to raid my closet for something to wear tonight. “Seriously Ella, you need to update your wardrobe,” she said as she threw clothes all over my bed and the floor.

             
“What’s wrong with my wardrobe?” I asked a little offended.

             
“None of this is suitable party wear.”

             
“That’s because I didn’t pack my suitcase nor did I plan on going to a party this weekend.”

             
“Well…that settles it. We’re going shopping,” she said, hands on hips, smiling.

             
With a sigh I obliged and asked my mom if she wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on Jake while we went shopping. “No problem honey. Just be back in time for dinner,” she said, reaching into her purse and handing me some cash and the keys to the car. Josie took my hand and pulled me out the door in a hurry.

             
We spent about two hours shopping at the local Mall. Every outfit I picked out Josie vetoed. I told her she would just have to pick out an outfit for me hoping I wouldn’t regret saying that later.

             
Before we hit the next store we decided to stop at the food court to grab some lattes to refuel and that’s when we ran into Kevin. “Hi Ella…Josie.”

             
“Hi Kevin…how are you?” I asked, a little hesitantly.

             
“Good…I,” he started to say until his girlfriend, Marissa, interrupted us.

             
Marissa wrapped her arms around Kevin’s neck and gave him a kiss that said
, ‘He’s mine’
, obviously not realizing who Kevin was talking to. Kevin pulled back and cleared his throat, nudging Marissa.  “Oh hi Ella,” Marissa said, giving me a friendly smile and glaring at Josie.  “I didn’t even recognize that was you.”

             
“I’m sure,” I thought to myself. “You’re coming to the party tonight right?”

 
              I was about to tell her yes, when Kevin butted in, “I’m sure Ella has better things to do than hang out with a bunch of drunks.” I had a feeling he thought me being in that house would be hard.

             
“Actually, I don’t…Josie and I will be there.” I smiled at Kevin trying to let him know not to worry about me so much.

             
“Great! See ya tonight,” Marissa said. She glared at Josie again before walking away and shaking her behind as she joined the rest of her friends.

             
I could see Josie’s face was starting to get red and decided to end the conversation. “I’ll see ya?” I directed at Kevin.

             
“Yeah…I’m glad you’re coming,” he said, giving me an awkward hug. He waved goodbye and I watched him as he rejoined his girlfriend. I was more worried about how he was handling everything than I was about me.

             
“That was weird,” Josie said interrupting my thoughts. “You sure you want to go to the party tonight? If not I completely understand.”

             
“Josie it’s fine, really. Besides, someone needs to be there to protect you from Marissa.”

             
“Ha!” she scoffed. “More like someone needs to protect her from me.”

             
“C’mon.” I put my arm around her waist and pulled her in the direction of the next store. For some reason unbeknownst to me, Josie and Marissa despised each other. I only heard the rumors, but Josie denied every one of them. Josie was my best friend so if she said something wasn’t true I believed her.

             
We ended up being very successful in our little shopping trip. The outfit Josie picked out for me was surprisingly my style and definitely something I’d wear.

             
After dinner I showed my mom the outfit I bought and then Josie and I got ready for the party. I slipped on my new jeans and top Josie had picked out for me while she spun in front of the mirror checking herself out. She let me pick out her outfit for tonight. I went with a cute cap sleeved, short, black dress. I think the only reason she agreed on it was because it had a low cut neckline.

             
Once we finished getting ready we took Jake home and then headed to the party. My mom dropped us off and I told her I’d call if I couldn’t find a ride home. I probably could have walked back if I wanted to. It was only about a mile. But no way would my mom let me walk home at night in the woods.

             
I gave my mom a kiss goodbye and then hopped out of the car and waited while Josie fiddled with her dress. “It’s fine,” I groaned and smacked her hand away. If she adjusted the top any lower her boobs would pop out. She rolled her eyes at my disapproving look and dragged me toward the party.

             
I only made it halfway down the walk way when my feet suddenly felt like they were sinking in quick sand. I stood outside the expansive, two floor cabin watching all the other party goers walk inside. I was a little apprehensive about coming tonight. I thought I could deal with being here, but at that moment seriously began having second thoughts. 

             
Josie noticed my hesitation and came to stand beside me. “You can still change your mind if you want,” she said, looking at me sympathetically.

             
I took a deep breath and let it out. “No. I can do this. I should do this.”

             
Josie smiled at me reassuringly and took my hand. “Baby steps.”

             
I squeezed her hand as she led the way inside. The cabin was packed top to bottom with kids from our high school and a few from who knows where. There were drinks and snacks everywhere and the music was blaring. I got a few stares and whispers from some of the kids as we made our way through the house.
“Can’t believe she’s here,”
“Oh my god,” “Wow,”
they said.

             
“Just ignore them,” Josie whispered to me.

             
Halfway through the crowd we were stopped by Marissa. “Ella! So glad you could make it!” she cheered. Stumbling, she gave me a sloppy hug; indicating she had already started drinking. I just smiled at her politely. “C’mon, you need a drink!” She navigated through the horde of bodies and directed me into the kitchen. I looked at Josie, pleading with my eyes to help me, but she was distracted by some cute boy she had struck up a conversation with.

             
We ran into the rest of Marissa’s clan inside the kitchen, and it was obvious they’d already had a few drinks themselves. “Hey guys, you remember Ella,” Marissa said shoving me into the midst of her group. The girls said hi and I smiled back politely. “Okay, Ella needs a drink!”

             
“Um…I’m okay, really,” I said, trying to politely dodge the offer.

             
“Nonsense!” Marissa said, handing me a cup full of god knows what. “It’s a party…drink!”

             
“Why not?” I thought. Maybe it might help me relax a little. I took a sip of the beverage handed to me and regretted it the moment it hit my tongue. I had to hide the disgust on my face. It was the worst thing I had ever tasted.