under my hand couldn't hurt matters any. "Me?"
"Yeah, you. You can move your stuff now, just toss Monica's junk in your old room. If you see anything of hers that you want to keep, you might as well take it. I'll back you up."
"Are you serious?"
"She's not home. It's a good time to do it."
I nodded and made my way down the hall. This was too weird, but I wasn't going to make a stink about it. For one thing, Phoebe was at the top of our totem pole and arguing with her was pointless. For another, her room was way bigger than the one I shared with Rachel. And for another … well. I didn't need to think about that other reason I didn’t want to share a room with Rachel. The first reason alone was enough. But I wasn't going to keep anything of Monica's. Had Phoebe even looked at Monica? She was half a foot shorter than me and outweighed me by at least fifty pounds.
I had hardly anything of value, so I went to Phoebe's room first and took Monica's stuff out of her side of the closet. I put it in my old closet and transferred the five cheer uniforms that had been hanging there to my new room. I looked at them hanging up, then took them off the rod and placed them carefully under the bed. For some reason, that felt safer, and I'd learned to trust my instincts in this house. Rachel's clothes filled all the dresser drawers in my old room, so I'd kept my stuff in a beat up plastic laundry basket, which I moved to the foot of my new bed. I stared at the jeans and t-shirts for a couple seconds, then threw caution to the wind and hung everything up. I changed into a long t-shirt and shorts, and put the cheer uniform I'd worn today under the bed too. Next I stripped both beds, old and new, and traded the sheets. Beyond that, there wasn't much else to do. I had no electronics, no CDs. The couple of books I scored here and there always vanished within days of bringing them home. I did have a little bit of makeup. I put that under the bed along with my cheer uniforms.
The work was good for me; it gave me something to think about besides what I'd heard at Grady's youth group, but I finished quickly and before I knew it I was sitting cross legged on my new bed, staring at a tattered old poster of Vin Diesel on the wall. He had a tattoo of three X's on the back of his neck, and of course that reminded me of Derek and the conversation about him that was now burned into my memory.
Dammit . Amy Yates and her friends had stuck to me like glue at first, not talking to me, but making snide remarks that I couldn't help but overhear. The last thing I needed was to get into a shouting match and have Grady come running over to see what was going on with sweet little "Mary," so I kept my mouth shut.
So I'm sure, to Grady, it looked like the cheerleaders were all hanging out together, all BFF's. He kept catching my eye and waving or smiling at me, clearly believing I was having a great time. I think Amy and her friends must have noticed my connection to Grady too, because eventually they backed off. And that's when things got real crappy. Some group leader had put us to work assembling school supplies for a kids' charity thing. I was putting pencils and crayons in plastic bags and handing them down the line while the other girls talked. I tried to tune them out, but when Amy mentioned her boyfriend's name, my ears pricked up. Kaia's story was still so fresh in my mind.
"Chase's parents are out of town this weekend. He's going to take the boat out on Horseshoe Lake. You want to come Ashley?" Amy didn't make any effort to lower her voice this time, since her statement didn't include the "C" word and it wasn't directed at me.
"Sure!" Ashley chirped. "Can I bring Clint?"
"Yeah. Actually you have to. It's couples only. Sorry Hannah, I guess that leaves you out." From the corner of my eye, I saw Amy smile at the girl with the long red hair. Sorry my ass . Amy's insincerity shone like a traffic light.
"Oh I'll be there," Hannah replied. "Derek called
"Yeah, you. You can move your stuff now, just toss Monica's junk in your old room. If you see anything of hers that you want to keep, you might as well take it. I'll back you up."
"Are you serious?"
"She's not home. It's a good time to do it."
I nodded and made my way down the hall. This was too weird, but I wasn't going to make a stink about it. For one thing, Phoebe was at the top of our totem pole and arguing with her was pointless. For another, her room was way bigger than the one I shared with Rachel. And for another … well. I didn't need to think about that other reason I didn’t want to share a room with Rachel. The first reason alone was enough. But I wasn't going to keep anything of Monica's. Had Phoebe even looked at Monica? She was half a foot shorter than me and outweighed me by at least fifty pounds.
I had hardly anything of value, so I went to Phoebe's room first and took Monica's stuff out of her side of the closet. I put it in my old closet and transferred the five cheer uniforms that had been hanging there to my new room. I looked at them hanging up, then took them off the rod and placed them carefully under the bed. For some reason, that felt safer, and I'd learned to trust my instincts in this house. Rachel's clothes filled all the dresser drawers in my old room, so I'd kept my stuff in a beat up plastic laundry basket, which I moved to the foot of my new bed. I stared at the jeans and t-shirts for a couple seconds, then threw caution to the wind and hung everything up. I changed into a long t-shirt and shorts, and put the cheer uniform I'd worn today under the bed too. Next I stripped both beds, old and new, and traded the sheets. Beyond that, there wasn't much else to do. I had no electronics, no CDs. The couple of books I scored here and there always vanished within days of bringing them home. I did have a little bit of makeup. I put that under the bed along with my cheer uniforms.
The work was good for me; it gave me something to think about besides what I'd heard at Grady's youth group, but I finished quickly and before I knew it I was sitting cross legged on my new bed, staring at a tattered old poster of Vin Diesel on the wall. He had a tattoo of three X's on the back of his neck, and of course that reminded me of Derek and the conversation about him that was now burned into my memory.
Dammit . Amy Yates and her friends had stuck to me like glue at first, not talking to me, but making snide remarks that I couldn't help but overhear. The last thing I needed was to get into a shouting match and have Grady come running over to see what was going on with sweet little "Mary," so I kept my mouth shut.
So I'm sure, to Grady, it looked like the cheerleaders were all hanging out together, all BFF's. He kept catching my eye and waving or smiling at me, clearly believing I was having a great time. I think Amy and her friends must have noticed my connection to Grady too, because eventually they backed off. And that's when things got real crappy. Some group leader had put us to work assembling school supplies for a kids' charity thing. I was putting pencils and crayons in plastic bags and handing them down the line while the other girls talked. I tried to tune them out, but when Amy mentioned her boyfriend's name, my ears pricked up. Kaia's story was still so fresh in my mind.
"Chase's parents are out of town this weekend. He's going to take the boat out on Horseshoe Lake. You want to come Ashley?" Amy didn't make any effort to lower her voice this time, since her statement didn't include the "C" word and it wasn't directed at me.
"Sure!" Ashley chirped. "Can I bring Clint?"
"Yeah. Actually you have to. It's couples only. Sorry Hannah, I guess that leaves you out." From the corner of my eye, I saw Amy smile at the girl with the long red hair. Sorry my ass . Amy's insincerity shone like a traffic light.
"Oh I'll be there," Hannah replied. "Derek called
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