Fallen Crest High by Tijan

are you?"
    I waited.
    She gasped.
    She saw my hands.
    "What did you do?"
    When she came over and started to reach for one of them, I jerked away. "I'm fine. It's nothing."
    "Were you in a fight?"
    I fought against the urge to puke. All accusations, all questions I had went down my throat then. I didn't want to hear her lies. I wasn't sure if I could stomach more fake promises come out of her mouth either.
    "I was trying to open this door, it was stuck, and someone banged it shut from the other side. They didn't see my hands."
    "That's it?" my mother asked flatly.
    "What do you mean?"
    "Nothing." She shook her head and plastered on a smile. "The boys are coming home soon. They had practice that ran late, but James and I wanted to have a family dinner. What do you think?"
    "It'll suck."
    She sailed past me. "Do you think they'd like meatloaf? They seem like the kind to like meat, maybe pasta? Chicken and pasta? The chef went home, I asked him to go. I wanted to cook this dinner by myself."
    I scowled and followed her down the hallway.
    She turned into the kitchen. "You want to help, honey? You could make your famous green bean dish. You always made that for Jeffrey."
    "Can I invite him?"
    Her laughter bounced off the walls. "Oh, honey. You're so funny. You must get that from your dad. David could be funny at times."
    As she went into the kitchen, I went to my room. My skin felt like it was stretching off of me. My feet wouldn't stop moving. Dinner or no dinner, I had to get out of there or I'd be bouncing off the walls too.
    When I had changed into my running shoes with my iPod on my arm, I hit the sidewalk. As I ran down the driveway, Mason's black Escalade pulled in. Logan's yellow one came behind, but I didn't look at either of them and started running.
    I'd have to go back. I knew that. I couldn't keep running from my mom or what she'd done to our lives, but for now this was how I was going to deal with the storm that was happening inside of me.
    At that point, I didn't care when I went back home. It could be long past midnight before I returned, preferably when everyone was asleep. I'd slip in, sleep, and sneak back out. I took a deep breath and pumped my arms higher in the air. This was going to be my life, until everything would crash underneath our feet.
    It was only a matter of time.

    CHAPTER SEVEN

    It was late when I hobbled inside. At this point with my bloody hands, the weak legs, and how much I've been running, it was time to admit that I needed to cut back. Making myself numb might not have been the healthiest way to handle recent changes in my life, but I wasn't sure if I dared any other option. Talking had never been my strong suit.
    As I passed a room, the light switched on.
    I could feel Analise's anger from where I was and I hadn't looked yet.
    So I did.
    Her face was white, eyes strained, mouth pinched, and her arms were folded over her chest. My mother never folded her arms, it was deemed unladylike and too confrontational. Then her foot started to tap on the floor.
    Guess I pissed her off.
    "Do you know what time it is?" she clipped out.
    No clock was in sight. I shrugged.
    "It's one in the morning. One in the morning, Samantha." Her leg moved off the other and both feet were now on the floor. They stopped tapping.
    She still remained on her chair.
    I tilted my chin up. "Do you know what's happened to my life?"
    She made a disgusted sound and hissed at the same time. "Are we back to this? You knew my marriage wasn't working out. You should be happy for me, Samantha."
    "Happy?" My voice cooled. "It happened a week ago."
    "Would you rather I were in an unhappy marriage?"
    "How could I tell? You were fake all the time."
    Her eyes threatened to bulge out and she sucked in a dramatic breath. When she talked, it was forcibly controlled, "What are you talking about?"
    "You're the fakest person I know. Why are you really pissed off? Is it because I missed your precious family dinner?"
    "I'm fake ?" She started to