AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She stuffs her hands in her pockets, and they walk around us, disappearing together down the hall.
Something about that was so much less satisfying than I expected, and it pisses me off.
“God, did you see her?” Audrey asks. “She has to be the only person on the planet who actually looksworsewith makeup.”
“Fuck off, Audrey.”
“What?”
“I don’t want to hear one more fucking word from your mouth about Ally.”
“But you—”
I turn into the art room, leaving her there alone. I sigh as I make my way down the aisle to my seat—the one behind where Allyshouldbe sitting right now—and get back to work on my project for the artfair.
I thought I was just about finished, but I got new inspiration this morning. I darken the eyelids, make the lashes look thick and matted, and add a dark bruise to the side of the face.
At lunch, I sit with Isaac and Seth and watch Ally sit alone in a corner and eat, then leave the cafeteria. When I can’t take it anymore, I leave them at the table and start looking for her. I check the gym first, surprised to find it empty, then the bathrooms, scanning the halls as I go. I stop when I hear her voice coming from Mr. Parks’ classroom.
“Yeah, I’m eighteen now,” she says, “and so I wanted to start looking for a job, something easy. My aunt and uncle don’t want me working, but I could really use the money, you know? I want to save up to buy a car. You said you lived downtown, right? Do you know of anywhere down there that’s hiring?”
“You’re eighteen, huh?” he asks.
“Yeah, my birthday was yesterday.”
“Hmm, well. There is something you could do to help me out if you’re interested. It’d be easy money; we’d just have to keep it between ourselves because of who your uncle is, and you know…since you’re a student.”
“Yeah, that sounds great,” she says. “What is it?”
“You may not know this, but I’m actually an amateur photographer.”
“Oh, that’s so cool.”
“Yeah, and you look…very photogenic. If you could come by my place sometime this weekend, I’d love to take some pictures ofyou. There’s a big window in the back bedroom that lets in a lot of light and um…I think you’d be perfect for it.” He rips a small square of paper from the corner of his calendar, writes something down, and hands it to her. “You just give me a call when you can get away.”
“How much?” she asks.
“Two hundred,” he says.
“Fine,” she tells him. She stuffs the paper in her pocket and leaves the room.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I say when she rushes past me.
“That’s none of your fucking business,” she says.
“You’re feeding yourself to him,” I say. “Why would you do something like that?”
“I’m out of options,” she says. “You said you don’t give a shit what happens to me. Guess what? I don’t care what happens to me anymore, either. You did that. So, thank you. It’s freeing in a way. And you know what else?”
I have a feeling I don’t want to know, but I don’t stop her, so she keeps going.
“Maybe now, I can finally hate you. Everything that happens to me now can be becauseyoulet it happen—because youwantedit to happen. If I hate you, then maybe I’ll finally be able to move on.”
She opens her locker, pulls a bottle of whiskey from her backpack, and takes a long, hard pull from the bottle.
Holy shit. She really has lost it.
“No,” I growl, grabbing her by the arm and backing her into the doorway of an empty classroom. “You don’t get it, Ally. You don’t get to just leave.”
