Chapter 8

Wendy followed my directions to my house, but I asked her to drop me off at the end of the driveway. She refused because of the bags that I had to carry inside. She said that they were too heavy for me. So she started driving down the driveway and I was getting even more nervous as we approached the house. I kept my head down as the lights from the house started to appear in sight and I saw Wendy looking out the front window at the house that I was living in. “It’s not much.” I said. “No. But it is home. How do you get to school every day?” She asked. “I walk.” I said. “I’ll pick you up from now on.” She said. And I looked at her really strangely. “No. It’s too far out of your way.” I said. “I have a car. It’s fine.” She said. She helped me get the bags out of the car and I insisted that she just leave them on the patio. I didn’t want her to come inside in case Jack was awake. I definitely didn’t want her to meet that prick. But I was surprised when she hugged me before she walked back down to her car and she left. I opened the door and I went inside quietly and I was so relieved to hear him snoring in the living room. He’d passed out on the couch, so I took the suitcases up to my room and I went back down to the kitchen to get a coffee. While I was making that coffee I saw an opened envelope on the counter so I grabbed it and it had my name on it. I took the letter out and it was from Celie. But when I looked through the rest of the envelope, I saw that the check was gone. That bitch. Marilyn took the check that Celie sent to me. I don’t know why I’m surprised. That’s the only reason why she brought me to Alaska with her instead of abandoning me. So she could keep getting these checks. I went back upstairs and I had a shower and I looked through the new clothes and I pulled out some very warm looking pajamas that felt so soft. It was like nothing I had ever owned before. The next morning when I got out of bed, I walked over to the bags that were against the wall in my room and I started going through them. I picked the clothes that I wanted to wear for the day and I pushed the bags under my bed. Hoping that they would be left alone today. But who the hell knows what happens in this house when I’m not here. I got dressed into a light blue sweater, dark jeans, black jacket and black boots. I looked in the mirror and I knew that I was looking at myself, but it definitely didn’t look like me. It was like I was looking at a stranger who stole my face or something. It was so surreal. I heard Marilyn come home from work and she was messing around in the kitchen before I heard Jack stumble off the couch and he went into the kitchen as well. They both started arguing about something straight away, so I stayed upstairs and tried to stay right the hell out of it. I couldn’t bear being near them when they’re like this. Marilyn finally stormed up to her room and slammed the door. I put all of my school stuff in my bag and I had to try and find a way to get out of this house without Jack seeing me. That was always too hard. It’s like he always knew where I was and what I was doing. But I stayed in my room for as long as I could before I finally grabbed my bag and I headed downstairs. I tried to go straight for the front door but Jack grabbed my arm as I walked past the kitchen doorway. “Don’t you look nice today.” He said, looking me up and down. That same sick look in his eye. “I really have to go.” I said. “Not before you give me a hug.” He said. I looked at his stained clothes and I could smell him from a mile away. I don’t think he’s showered in days and I really didn’t want to touch him. But he pulled me to him and hugged me. And he didn’t waste any time moving his hands down to grab my ass. I managed to push him off of me and I grabbed the door knob and I rushed out of the house and closed the door behind me. I walked down the stairs and Wendy wasn’t here yet, so I walked to the end of the driveway. It was a twisting dirt road, so once I got around the first bend Jack wouldn’t be able to see me through the trees and I finally let out a sigh of relief. When I got to the end of the driveway Wendy was just pulling up, so I got in the car. When we got to school there were a lot of people staring at me, which made me really nervous. Wendy could tell that I was nervous and scared, so she walked around to my side of the car and made sure that she stayed beside me at all times. “Don’t pay attention to any of those assholes. Do you hear me?” She asked. “It’s easier said than done.” I said. “I know it is. Just stick with me and they should leave you alone.” She said. “Why does everyone here do what you say?” I asked. “Not everyone here does what I say. Just the ones that know what’s good for them.” She said, looking very serious as she said it. We walked into the building and we went to Wendy’s locker first before we went to mine. I wasn’t surprised at all when I saw Leia standing on the other side of the hall with her friends. She just seemed to be way too interested in making my life a living hell. I kept my head down and just grabbed my books while Wendy leaned on the lockers next to mine and stared at Leia. After I grabbed my books and we started walking towards our first class, I looked back and Leia was still staring at me with a deathly glare in her eye. “Why are they so scared of you?” I asked softly. “I told you. They know that it’s just in their best interest not to piss me off.” Wendy answered, nonchalantly. “Really? Because you don’t seem that scary to me.” I said. And she looked at me with a big smile on her face. That’s because I like you. They know that I don’t like them.” She said. “Okay then. I guess that’s fair enough.” I said. But it still didn’t really answer my question. I had a feeling that she wasn’t going to answer my question either. It was the second time I had asked her that and she was still giving me the same answer. Wendy stopped suddenly and I looked at her to see if she was alright. But she was just staring straight ahead. I followed her line of sight and she was staring at Principal Stevens who was standing up the end of the hall with another rather large man in his 40’s wearing a very expensive looking suit. The man that he was talking to spotted us and they both walked straight towards us. “Wendy. What’s going on?” I asked. “I don’t know. But I have a feeling that we’re about to find out.” She said. My confusion was outweighing any anxiety that I was having and I watched as the two men approached up before stopping about a foot in front of us. “Ella Winters, Wendy Carter. This is Dean Calvert.” Principal Stevens said. I looked at Wendy and she was still standing there, frozen. “It’s nice to meet you.” I stuttered out. “It’s very nice to meet you too Ella. I’ve heard so much about you.” Dean said. I didn’t know how he could have heard so much about me. I was a nobody around here. A new girl in town with no friends. I don’t think a man of his stature would really worry about someone like me. “Really?” I asked, surprised. “My daughter Sara is in some of your classes.” He said. Okay, that explains it. So, he’s only heard bad things about me. Apparently that’s all that anyone has been hearing about me. I still don’t know why he was bothering to meet me. They seemed like they were interested in coming over to myself and Wendy. And he hadn’t looked at Wendy once since we’d been standing here. “Oh. I don’t think I’ve met her yet.” I said. “Hi daddy.” Sara said, running up to him. “Hello sweetheart.” Dean said, putting his arm around her. “What are you doing here?” Sara asked. “I had to come and see Principal Stevens about a few things. Nothing to worry about.” Dean said. And Sara turned to look at us. “Alright. Well, I’ll see you at home tonight.” Sara said. “Of course you will.” Dean said and Sara left. “We need to get to class as well. It was nice to meet you.” Wendy said, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me away really quickly. Which I thought was really rude, but I didn’t have a chance to protest. “Alright. What was that?” I asked. “I know that man. He’s not a good guy.” She said. “What do you mean?” I asked. And she kept looking behind us as we were walking away. I looked as well and Dean was still watching us but she got us pretty far away from him pretty quickly. “Just trust me. He’s not a good guy.” Wendy said, staring me in the eye. I had never seen her look so serious so I knew that I should probably take her word on this. So far, she was the only person in this town that I trusted. So I was going to have to trust her on this as well. She looked scared when she saw him and she looked serious while talking about him now. It started to make me nervous. And I hated feeling like this. So I agreed that I wouldn’t ask any more questions about him. We kept walking closer to our classroom and instantly my stomach dropped when I saw the twins standing outside the room. It looked like they were waiting for me, and that suspicion was confirmed when they walked up to us as soon as they saw us. “Did you see him?” Tristan asked. “Yeah.” Wendy said. “What the hell is he doing here?” Tristan asked. “What are you all talking about?” I asked. And all three eyes focused on me. But none of them answered me.