Page 6 of Life Blood
I slammed the front door and locked it. As I turned to run up to my room, the smell of mom’s bender wafted across my nose from the kitchen. I was going to be the luckiest girl alive if I got any sleep tonight.
I managed to clean up the kitchen in record time before I headed upstairs again and crawled into bed, my eyelids heavier than they’d ever been. The next thing I knew, the sun peering in through my window woke me up.
I rolled out of bed and stumbled into my bathroom still half asleep. I splashed some water on my face, brushed my teeth, and tugged a comb through my long, brown hair before I headed downstairs.
While shoving a piece of toast in my mouth and finishing the last of my orange juice, I called the hospital to check in on mom. She was still asleep after a restless night. I would have to check on her after my classes, and that’s when we were going to havethe talk…again.
I shouldered my backpack, knowing the city bus would be at the intersection at the end of my street any second, and then I heard a honk outside and the loud exhaust from David’s stupid car.
This bastard finally wants to show up and give me a ride? Could’ve used you last night!
I ordinarily appreciated when he gave me a ride to the campus in the morning, but not today. I wasn’t in the mood to listen to his million and one excuses for being the most unreliable boyfriend on planet Earth.
I walked outside directly past his car, and I pointedly turned and walked toward the bench where the bus would arrive at any minute.
“What’d I dothistime?” David yelled out after me. I ignored him and kept walking. “Fine, have it your way, then!”
Jerk.
Why was I still with this guy? I supposed it was typical for a nineteen-year-old guy to be an immature idiot. I wasn’t a hopeless romantic, and I didn’t expect much of him…maybe showing up to pick me up from work when he said he would was too much to ask. I rolled my eyes when I heard him peel out and away from the curb of my house.
I could get rid of myDavidproblems easily, I just didn’t need his drama over the fallout of our so-called relationship. I had bigger things to worry about right now. The first step toward handling David? Stop depending on his dumb ass when he promised something.
The bus ride didn’t give me enough time to go over the last of my notes for my biology test. I hoped I had everything shuffled together in my brain enough to scrape by with a B.
I breezed through the exam, no problem, thank God. I smiled through the rest of my classes until it was time for math. Time to face Jackson and his douche friends after what they did last night.
I marched over to where they sat in the middle of some stupid jock conversation. Kaley, captain of the competition cheer squad, slanted her eyes at me, and her best friend, Macy, shot me a glare. I waited for a snide remark because I dared to approach their giggling session with the guys. Oddly, it was Jackson who stood up and handed me my phone. The room got so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
“Sorry for what happened last night,” his lips turned up in a smile, “It won’t happen again.”
I nodded, and half smiled in return, “Wow. Yeah, okay,” was all I could say in response. I wanted to scream at him and his friends. How dare they do that to me! But the words wouldn’t come out.
“What are you doing?” Kaley said in a snotty voice, “Jacksonnn!” She practically shouted the blonde-haired jock’s name. Her eyes fell on me as I stood there like an idiot, “You can go now.”
“Right,” I narrowed my eyes at the self-absorbed cheer captain.
I rolled my eyes and walked back to my chair, still surprised that Jackson Cross apologized to me, actually apologized at all—to anyone. He held himself too high for that.
The professor started the lecture and brought my attention back to where it needed to be. I sailed right through math and was shocked to see David standing outside my door at lunch.
“Hey, gorgeous!” he smiled. His sandy-blonde hair caught the sun just enough to show the natural red highlights in it.
“Hey,” I maintained my irritation with him for ditching me and going MIA all night last night. “I need to find Jen, we’re having lunch in the cafeteria today.” I didn’t forget the promise I made to that Banner guy for saving my butt the night before, either.
“Cafeteria?” David laughed, “What about the library, I was actually going to ditch the guys and hang with my girl today.”
I tightened my lips, stopped, and turned to face him, “Listen, I don’t know what happened to you last night, and I’m not in the mood for you or your excuses. Your little kiss ass routine?” My voice jumped an octave as my irritation grew with the silly grin on his face, “Not working. You have no idea the hell I went through from the minute I left work until I fell asleep. I can’t do this right now.”
David caught the inside of my arm as I stormed off to go snag Jen from the library, “Listen, my phone died, and I got caught up in the game. I totally forgot you worked last night.”
My eyebrows shot up at his stupidity, “Really? Last I recalledyouwere the one who dropped me off there.”
“Shit.” He smeared his hand across his forehead, “I’m sorry, Elle, it won’t happen again. What happened last night? Your mom again?”
“Yes,” I said walking toward the library.
“Damnit, I suck, I’m such—”
