Eric’s lip curled. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
My hands started to sweat at the thought of ditching school. Or maybe… “Are you close with Headmaster Walton like Christian?”
He shrugged. “Close enough, why? What’s the plan?”
“Follow me.”
“I can’t believe that worked.”
Eric and I jogged to his car after I faked getting sick in our calculus class. Mrs. Simmons allowed Eric, who bravely volunteered, to take me to the office. Headmaster Walton jumped on the opportunity of Eric taking me home since the bus would have taken forever.
“Headmaster Walton likes me because I’m smart, according to Christian. I had a feeling he’d be okay with it, especially since he likes you.”
Eric started up his Range Rover and darted his eyes to the clock. “We have an hour and twenty minutes before we have to be back here for the end of last period. Otherwise, Christian will know.”
“Then let’s go.”
I could hear my heartbeat in my ears the entire drive to the trailer park, even over Eric’s loud, heavy-metal music. He checked his phone a million and one times, and each time, I was fearful that Christian’s name would pop up. He was going to be livid, but hopefully, in the end, he’d understand. I hated doing something without him, and that was a huge change for me. I was independent beyond belief, and now I found myself longing for Christian to be by my side.
“Pull up there.” I nodded my head to an abandoned gravel drive where a few dumpsters sat. I couldn’t even count the amount of times I had to dig through the garbage for something to eat. Far too many to have only lived here a few months before CPS came and got me.
Once Eric and I climbed out of his car, he locked it, and we began walking down the overgrown, weed-infested dirt road lined with broken and ugly trailers.
Eric kept his mouth shut the short walk to my mom’s. We had to have looked strange. We were both in our school uniforms in the middle of the day, the sun directly over our heads, but I highly doubted anyone even knew what time it was. Most of the people in this trailer park were still asleep from the banger they had the night before.
As we rounded the bend where my old home sat, I grabbed onto Eric’s forearm. His sleeves were rolled to his elbows, so my nails dug into his skin. “Try not to say anything while we’re in there. She’s probably going to be nasty to me. I just need you here in case one of her creeps is with her.”
Eric glanced to my hand on his arm and then back up to my face. “I’ve got you. Let’s go.”
With a single nod and hefty breath from my lips, I stepped up onto the broken porch and swung the door open wide.
Here goes nothing.
“What the fuck! Shut the goddamn door and get that light out of here,” my mom yelled from the couch as sunlight streamed through the filthy living room. My nose scrunched up at the smell of urine and old booze, but I kept my shoulders pulled back and my head on straight.
The door slammed behind Eric and me, and we both stood in the small area, staring at my mom on the couch with her hand holding a plastic vodka bottle. “Hayley? Is that you?”
I clenched my teeth. “Yes.”
“What do you want?” She tipped her head back and took a big gulp of the clear liquid, swallowing it without even so much as a blink.
There were dirty-looking bed sheets hanging from the windows in the living room to block out the daylight, and I could see a pile of dirty plates stacked high in the sink. But instead of letting harsh memories of this place come to surface, I got right down to business.
“I want to know what the settlement is.”
I inched inside the trailer a little more, getting closer to her. I watched as her eyes turned into slits. I felt Eric slide up beside me. Thankfully, it seemed my mom was alone, but I knew we needed to hurry before her scummy friends came to pay a visit.
“What do you have to offer?”
Everything had a price when it came to her.
“You know I don’t have money,” I answered, grabbing onto Eric’s arm to let him know I had this under control. “But you can pawn this for some cash.” A soft exhale left my lips as I reached up and grabbed the gold chain hanging around my neck. My heart all but broke at the thought of giving it up. My eyes grew watery, but a locket was materialistic at best. Just because my father had given it to me, and I was giving it away, didn’t mean I’d forget him. It’s just a necklace. That’s it.
My mom waited a beat before I dangled it in fr
ont of her. Then, she angled her head to the side so I’d lay it on the table closest to me. I stepped forward and took in her appearance. Days-old—or maybe even weeks-old—makeup was smeared on her face, and her yellow hair was knotted on the ends and looked as if it hadn’t been brushed in months. She definitely looked worse today than the other day when she had paid me a visit.
“I thought you said you never wanted to see me again.”