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“Oh god, dinner, we need to get home,” Penny groaned and put the van in drive before pulling out onto the road again. We started driving and she told me about the over the top taco night her mom had planned for us. I pretended to be annoyed by Penny’s mom’s gesture, but inside I was actually looking forward to it.
Despite Penny’s parents being religious freaks who kept their daughter on a short leash, her mom was one heck of a good cook. Not that mine wasn’t, but Penny’s mom was a church lady, so she spent her days cooking for the family and church potlucks, perfecting the perfect American meals. The kind that were unhealthy, with oversized portions, and way too much meat and cheese. But hey, I wasn’t about to complain.
When we got to her house it was just before dinner so we sailed in just under the wire. Her mom appreciated the farm produce we brought back, and she even didn’t mind us hanging out alone before the meal was served. Normally we’d have to do our “duties” as girls of the house, and help her set up the table.
I won’t lie, I probably filled up on way too many tacos and ate more than a couple slices of toasted cinnamon bread with butter, but it was a good evening. Penny’s parents were even in great moods, teasing us and asking me questions about going to Covington. Clearly, I didn’t tell them what was really happening at my school, but I told them the glossy magazine cover version of happy kids, big successes, and opportunities out the yin yang.
We even offered to wash the dishes just to keep in their good graces, and they went to bed at exactly ten o’clock like they did every night without suspecting a thing.
The two hours before we snuck out went excruciatingly slow, but we managed to fill the time texting with our respective guys and talking about the usual things you’d get up to with a friend from school. Boys, bitchy girls, binge worthy shows, and what we were going to do at university.
Penny wanted to become a teacher, and I was kicking around the idea of going into biology, maybe even pre-med. If I survived Dirty Kingdom and the Organization, that was.
And just like that, intrusive thoughts popped me back into reality. I was sneaking out to see the Kings, I’d been able to see Ryker earlier that day, I was with my best friend. Everything should be good for me right now. Everything should be exactly what I wanted, my life should be filled with happiness.
And yet it wasn’t. I could only be happy when I shut down half my brain, when I repelled the fear and terror of being under control by the Organization. It exhausted me. It was a different kind of darkness than I had before, where I thought about ending my life for reasons I didn’t even know. I’d known on some level, though, that Reg and Rick were doing things to me. My subconscious would creep through and send me spinning into the endless black hole inside my head.
“Look at that,” Penny announced as we rounded into midnight. “Time to meet Mark and head to Archer’s!”
The plan was to meet her new boyfriend from Oakville, let him drive us to Archer’s place, and hang out with them and my Kings until the wee hours when we’d sneak back into her house. She even snuck a key to the back door of her place for this. We were well prepared.
“Let’s go!” I exclaimed and then dropped my face in horror. I whispered, “Oh god, I hope that didn’t wake your parents up.”
“Are you kidding? They’d sleep through a bomb, I swear,” she laughed.
We changed back into our clothes, just comfortable jeans and tee shirts with hoodies for each of us, and crept down her stairs to grab our shoes. We exited through the back door and walked through her backyard to the street on the other side of her cul-de-sac. Once there, we found Mark sitting in his four-door Toyota in the dark.
Penny slipped into the front seat and I climbed into the back. She kissed him breathlessly and I looked away, but I was thrilled that my friend had somebody that she liked. I hoped he treated her well, or I’d have to kick his ass. Or at least get really mad at him.
“Hey,” Mark said and turned around when they were done. “I’m Mark Edwards. I think we were bio lab partners two years ago.”
“Oh hey, yes! I remember that! I’m so glad it’s you with Penny, now I know I won’t have to worry about her,” I said enthusiastically.
“Oh, of course!” Penny exclaimed. “This is the Mark! The one who accidentally spilled formaldehyde and shut the lab down.”
“Oh god, yeah, that’s me,” Mark groaned and even from here, I could see his embarrassment. He was adorable, a really nice guy with a great sense of humor and a brilliant brain. Other than the few clumsy accidents he had, he was always awesome to work with. He was tall, lean, and had dark red hair with a sprinkle of freckles across the bridge of his nose. He was filling out now, and if Penny kept him around for long enough, he’d probably turn into quite the hottie by his early twenties. He was definitely late bloomer material.
“I can’t believe I’m with Mark from bio lab,” Penny mused. “It’s such a small world.”
“Well, small town and small school, I guess the odds are in our favor,” Mark said, and Penny laughed.
I was so happy for her, especially since I was at another school and hadn’t always been the greatest friend to her. I hadn’t always had her safety and security as my priority, and I would spend the rest of our friendship redeeming myself.
I gave them directions to Archer’s and watched them take in the neighborhood as we got closer. Their mouths were almost hanging open when we pulled into Archer’s driveway and parked in front of his house.
“How do we even have these people in our town?” Penny asked when we walked up the front steps. “Seriously, how did I not know this neighborhood existed?”
“Right?” I said. “I always knew there were nice houses up in this area, but not like this. I guess it helps that you can’t see any of them from the road.”
“The upper class uses their money to buy the privacy that we don’t have,” Mark said. “I could go off on a rant about capitalism and class warfare, but I’ll keep it light hearted tonight.”
“Thank you!” Penny exclaimed. “I love how woke he is, but even leftists are allowed to take a night off.”
We laughed and Mark bristled at first, and then broke down to laugh along with us.
The front door opened just as we reached it, and before I could say anything, three eager, hot as fuck men dragged my ass in and were all over me before I took a breath.
It was great to be loved, it was great to be wanted.
And it was even better because I could finally be free with them without the constant watchful eyes of the Organization.
Penny and Mark followed me inside, we shut the door, and everything was back to normal again in my world.
But only for a moment.
