Page 15 of Echoes of Us

“It is not my job to be someone’s friend just because Dad pitied her mom. I did not sign up to take in orphan Annie, nor was I even considered by you two when deciding.”

Mom looks at me with sad, disappointed eyes. “I am sorry you feel that way. I really would have hoped I had raised you to be more compassionate.”

I am so over arguing with them. They clearly do not see, or care about, my point of view on this. I go into my closet to find the bag of clothes meant for donations. Over the summer, I put uniforms and other clothes I had grown out of in a large trash bag. Mom has been asking me to bring it down for three months, but I keep forgetting. I look through the bag until I find a set that is really worn down and faded. The collared shirt has a hole in the armpit and a stain on the front. The plaid skirt is super faded, missing two side buttons and has a small rip on the bottom seam.

I throw the bag behind my other clothes to hide the evidence and walk back into my room. Mom is bent over Eli, giving him belly rubs, when she looks at me and then to the uniform.

Frowning she says, “Surely you have something else, Emmaline. I have been asking you to bring down the donation bag for months and the last I saw that bag was full of old uniforms.”

“I took that bag after school a few weeks ago and just forgot to tell you. You had asked so many times I wanted to do it for you,” I lie.

Looking at the worn uniform again, Mom reaches out and takes it, “Well, I guess I can go sew it up and try to get the stains out. Luckily, it is just for tomorrow. Thanks, honey.” She turns and leaves my room.

I crawl onto my bed and pat the spot next to me for Eli to join me. At least I have someone to talk to right now. I begin to rub behind his ears when my phone vibrates. I reach over to where I had thrown my phone. There’s a text from Mills.

MILLS 1:48 PM

Want to do something fun tomorrow? It is that girl’s first day of school, right? I say we make it unforgettable.

EM 1:57 PM

LOL, yeah right. You won’t do anything. You’re such a baby.

After that, I toss my phone down and lie back, staring at the ceiling. My mind starts to wonder to what my mom said. I knew my dad had a rough childhood, but the house he grew up in wasn’t that bad. I don’t think? I try to remember grandma and grandpa’s old house and the house next door. It is just too coincidental that Dad and that girl’s mom were friends. What happened to her mom, anyway? I mean, that sucks she died but why do I have to have my life uprooted for her?

Suddenly, I start to feel guilty about feeling that way. Not because I feel bad for her necessarily, but because my dad is going to such lengths to right some wrong. She must have had a crappy life for him to take this on.

She still needs to get out of my house.

Chapter 15

Teagan

I spent the last few hours watching TV and setting up my new laptop. The TV has an account to every streaming service you can imagine. At Aunt Beth’s, they had Netflix, but Colin always hogged the TV to watch sports. She pretended to enjoy watching and asked me to join them, which is the last thing I ever wanted to do. I scroll through the “Bingeworthy TV Shows” section and discover a show called The 100. I watch a few episodes, getting super into it. I kinda want to stay in to keep watching this. I may hate this living arrangement, but the amenities sure are sweet.

My stomach has been growling for a bit, which is my fault since I ignored both knocks at my door for dinner. I am guessing Emmaline didn’t go to dinner either. Her music hasn’t stopped playing since we came upstairs a few hours ago. Honestly, her taste in music isn’t bad. I expected it to be Taylor Swift or Dua Lipa, but she listens to some alternative stuff I like. A few times, I even pause the TV to listen. Princess would hate knowing that. I smirk at the thought.

I look over at the clock on my nightstand and see it is 10:54 p.m. I might as well go outside to wait for Sean. I grab my jacket and throw my bag over my shoulder. I carefully walk downstairs, making sure I don’t make any noise. I stop for a moment, thinking I hear something come from the kitchen, but then continue to the back door. Luckily, the dog…Elvis or something… is big enough that his dog door is the perfect means of escape.

I push my bag through the dog door and start crawling through. My height is annoying most of the time, especially the days Sean and I lift snacks from local gas stations and get chased by a worker. It is ridiculously hard to reach up and climb the big chain link fences being 5’4. Tonight, I am glad to be short. I get my head and shoulders through the dog door when something hits me hard from behind. I fall forward onto my elbows, grunting as my stomach hits bottom of the dog door.

“What the….” I pull myself back inside and see Emmaline staring down at me furious. “Did you just kick me in the ass, princess??” I groan.

“Yes, I did. Where the hell do you think you are going?” She looks to me and the dog door. “Actually, I don’t care. Get inside now, you aren’t going anywhere.”

I look up at her, my mouth slightly open in shock. “Uhh, since when do you get to tell me what to do?” I ask, pulling myself up to a standing position.

“Since your decisions apparently get me in trouble. I really don’t care what you do, but I have too much going on to get time added to my punishment. So, until my parents realize you are the problem, get it together and stop with your ‘I’m too cool for rules’ facade.”

I gape at her. How is she going to blame me for getting in trouble? Her parents are the ones who grounded her for no reason. I can’t help it that they are strict. “Look, princess, I am leaving and you can go upstairs and pretend to have been sleeping. If I get caught, it is not on you. Win/win,” I shrug.

“Seriously. Stop calling me that,” she says through gritted teeth. Then, she looks at me for a moment contemplating my suggestion until an evil smile creep onto her lips. “Yeah, not a chance.” Before I can stop her, she opens the back door and the alarm goes beep beep beep, echoing through the house.

“Bitch….” I seethe.

I hear a door open and close. Someone begins to walk down the hallway toward us. Emmaline quickly grabs two waters from the pantry and hands one to me. “Take it,” She whispers, shoving the water into my chest.

Mr. Briggs comes through the kitchen door and looks between us, eyes a little heavy. “What are you girls doing down here?”

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