“We lived in the church,” I muttered.
Henry squeezed my hand, “so why were you in the basement?”
“Can we not talk about this?” I forced out, feeling a bubble of panic, “please? I’m really tired.”
I hopped onto the kitchen stool and pulled out my books, ignoring the glances they shared. The books were second hand, but smooth to the touch. I opened a small black notebook that was labeled ‘planner’. It had come in the package with my uniform and books. I wondered how Jed afforded to send me to school.
“Oh what are those?” I pointed to Anani’s planner. I noticed that he was dressed differently now. A black tank covered his muscular top and a pair of jeans fitted to him covered the bottom. He was the only one who had changed out of the four of us.
“Stickers,” he grinned, “want some?”
“Absolutely,” I responded.
Anani opened a few drawers and pulled out several packs. I sorted through several dark packs before finding one with flowers. I opened them with a delicate touch, then placed them in an even pattern that brightened up the surface. It was stunning.
“You’re sort of a girly girl,” Ledger teased.
I smiled and asked, “what’s that?”
Henry hummed, “it’s like a girl that loves pink and wears dresses, although I’ve only seen you in black. Plus, the concept of being a ‘girly girl’ is a grossly antiquated concept.”
“I’m not retracting my statement,” Ledger grinned.
“I only own some stuff we picked up at the store called Goodwill on the way out here,” I reasoned in reference to his black clothing comment. Anani made a sound that had me looking up.
“What about your clothes before?” Ledger tilted his head that frown line between his brows deepening.
I opened and closed my mouth, “well, I only had two dresses at my old home.” There, that seemed normal enough.
Henry whispered, “and now?”
“My uniform, one pair of PJs, two pairs of sweatpants, a hoodie, and the two dresses,” I listed my fast growing collection of clothes.
Henry pressed his lips together and immediately asked, “do you want more?”
I frowned, “I don’t think mother would like that.”
“What if you kept them here?” Ledger reasoned.
“Maybe,” I sighed distracted by my stickers, “but then I would need to purchase them somehow.”
“Give me your wallet, we can put one of the cards-” Anani demanded. I raised my brows.
“Wallet?”
“Where do you keep your ID, honey?” Henry mumbled quietly.
“I don’t have one of those,” I frowned again.I really hated feeling like I had no idea what the heck was going on.
“Fuck,” Anani muttered with a groan, “sort this out please?” Henry nodded and opened his laptop.
“I don’t need one, I can’t drive,” I explained.
“How have you lived this long without any of this? I mean, you would have had to be locked up your entire life.” Anani’s words brought a flush to my cheeks.
“Something like that,” I mumbled. Ledger hit him in the side while Henry offered me an alarmed look.
“What type of wallet do you want?” Anani asked while pulling up a site on my phone. He offered me an apologetic smile at his outburst. Henry had very much caught what I’d mumbled and I mentally cursed for revealing so much. It was very difficult being around these men and keeping secrets. There was this oddly instinctual part of me that begged me to trust them and to answer their questions honestly. Then there was the rational part of me that knew it could put them in harm's way, or make them not want to be my friend.