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I’m unsure what to make of this and she must read the confusion on my face because she adds, “Okay, so let’s say Nina over there,” she gestures at a brown-haired girl standing amongst the group of cheerleaders, “Has a thing for Jock head number one,” she points at a blonde-haired guy wearing a jersey, “And jock head number two,” she points to the guy standing next to him, “And she ends up sleeping with both of them. And they both find out and for some dumb reason, start fighting over her. Instead of throwing fists, they declare a racing duel. Winner gets Nina’s heart forever.” Her face pinches in disgust.
I stare blankly at her. “That’s really a thing?”
“Well, not the whole thing about Nina and jock head one and two. I was just giving you an example. But yes, in this hick of a town you’ve decided to declare your new home, we sometimes settle our lame ass problems with racing.”
I mull over the idea. While a drag racing duel seems a bit strange and old-school, getting Blaise to back off does sound appealing. Plus, I’d get a lot of satisfaction in beating his ass in a race. On the other hand, he slit my tires and showed the entire school my family’s fucked up history, and winning him in a race doesn’t seem like much of a payback.
“Just think about it,” Scarlett says then walks off as the bell rings, announcing that yes, once again, I’m late to class.
Needless to say, by lunchtime, I’m pretty tired of the day. So, when I go to meet up with my sisters at my locker and Londyn and Bailey inform me that Payton went home before school even started, I volunteer to go check on her.
“Are you sure?” Londyn double-checks as I put my stuff in my bag. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to miss half a day on our first day of school.”
“I’ll be fine,” I assure her as I bump my locker shut. “It’s not like I’ve never missed a first day of school before.”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean you should continually do it.” Londyn walks down the hallway beside me with Bailey trailing at our heels.
She’s right, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to do it. I don’t like that Payton is home alone upset. Or worse, isn’t home alone upset because our dad came home drunk.
“I’ll see if I can coax her into coming back to school,” I tell Londyn as we reach the exit doors. “I’ll text you if we do. If not, I’ll pick you guys up when school gets out.”
Sighing, Londyn steps back. “Fine. But I’m really starting to hate the Porterson brothers.”
“Me, too,” I agree, thinking about how the duel could end this, if I could just get over my pride and let what Blaise did go.
“Give Payton a hug for me,” Bailey says. “She was really upset when she took off … Those flyers … They said a lot of bad stuff about her—about all of us.”
“I’ll give her ten hugs,” I promise, then wave goodbye and push out the doors.
The drive should take about ten minutes but I manage to make it in seven by speeding and cutting corners. By the time I pull up, I’m fuming mad. Not at Payton. No, I can understand why she was upset and took off. She has one of the worst reps out of the four of us, and that flyer basically declared she was a kleptomaniac.
All because of Blaise Porterson.
I don’t give a shit if he bailed me out of getting detention. He never should’ve messed with my sisters.
My rage only simmers more when I find Payton locked in her bedroom.
“Go away!” she shouts through a sob.
I knock softly on the door. “Come on, Payton. You’re stronger than this.”
“No, I’m not,” she cries out. “Just leave me alone!” She then cranks the music up, the walls vibrating with the bass.
I consider picking the lock, but decide to give her a bit of time to wallow before I go that far.
I send Londyn and Bailey a text that Payton and I aren’t returning to school today. Then I trudge up to my room and work on bottling up my pride while I wait.
Wait until it’s time to go pick up my sisters then I’ll declare a duel and hopefully put an end to this battle with the Porterson brothers that’s making my sisters lives and mine a living hell.
Thirteen
I decide to clean the house while I wait, even though I hate cleaning. But the empty boxes are starting to drive me crazy. I’ve just finished up and am collecting my car keys to head to pick up Bailey and Londyn from school when the grumbling of an engine flows in from outside. Peering out the window, I spot my dad’s truck parked in the driveway.
He hops out with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and peers around sketchily before rushing up the driveway and ducking into the garage/shed.
“Just what are you up to dad?” I debate whether to go out and ask or spy on him.
Since going and asking gives him the opportunity to lie, I decide spying is the better choice.
After being in the garage/shed for only a minute or two, he hurries back outside with a shovel in his hand and makes a beeline for the backyard. I scramble back to the washroom where the window gives a better view of the area, hunker down, and watch as he starts to dig a hole near the back fence. He doesn’t dig for very long before dropping the duffel bag into the hole. Then he covers up the hole with dirt, returns th
e shovel to the garage/shed, and takes off down the road in the direction he drove off in this morning.
I’m about to go out and see what the hell is in that bag—because whatever it is can’t be good—when I receive a text from Londyn.
Londyn: Are you coming to get us? I’d really like to get away from this place ASAP.
Realizing I’m late, I bail on digging up the bag. For now anyway. The second I return home, though, all bets are off.
Before I leave, I knock on Payton’s door and ask her if she wants to go with me.
“I’m never going back there ever,” she shouts at me.
I sigh. “You know you’re going to have to eventually.”
I sigh again when she doesn’t respond.
I rest my forehead against the door and blow out a breath. “Just come with me please. I’m only pulling into the parking lot. You don’t even have to get out of the car.”
When silence is my only response, I give up and back away. But as I step back, the door swings open.
She crosses her arms as she moves into the doorway. “Fine, I’ll go. But we’re stopping at the gas station and getting me a soda on the way back.”
I nod, relieved, but trying not to show it, knowing she’ll just get upset again. “All right, sounds like a plan.”
Nodding, she moves by me and I follow her down the stairs.
“Hey, did you by chance notice dad burying a duffel bag in the backyard earlier?” I ask as we step outside into the sunlight.
She glances at me. “No. Why?”
“Because he was.”
“What was in the bag?”
“I have no idea.”
A beat of silence passes by as our gazes drift to the backyard.
“We should probably go look and see, right?” She returns her gaze to me and pulls open the passenger side door to get in.
I nod, catching her gaze from over the roof of the car. “Definitely. But we need to pick up Londyn and Bailey first.”
