Read Online Breath Of The Heart by Victoria June - Free Book Online Page B

poking me in the shoulder.
    I stepped back. Her touch felt like a tetanus shot. "I'm not moving out."
    "Yeah, you are because Jake is going to tell you to."
    "No, Jake won't."
    "If I tell him I'm going to break up with him if he doesn't get rid of you, he will because, unlike you, he actually likes me. So you can take your sorry ass, nasty self and go back to whatever cave you came from. So save yourself the embarrassment and go away now."
    "I'm not going anywhere."
    Bianca's face tightened as the frustration mounted, mostly because I wasn't getting upset, at least not outwardly. "Newsflash – you are. I know you think Jake gives a shit about you, but I don't think he'd care if you dropped dead. You're like a rash that won't go away. You're this gross, disgusting boil he wishes he could pop. Why don't you do us all a favor and go kill yourself. Pills work fast and I hear it's painless."
    "You're sick."
    "No, you're sick. I think you have some serious mental health issues. Everyone who meets you thinks you're some crazy ass witch. Do you brew things in your cauldron at night? No, wait, I forgot, you'd rather hang around with your pack of mangy stray dogs. Tell me, did you ever have friends, or were you always pathetic?"
    Images and reminders came back to me when I was a kid. I was in grade one, in a different class from Jake, and a girl named Victoria Parry used to make fun of my clothes and hair. She called me stinky and her friends would laugh and so would the other kids in my class. After that no one wanted to be my friend. At the time Dad and I were living alone in an apartment because Grandma and Grandpa wanted to teach him to be responsible. Responsible meant not combing my hair before school, or sending me in clean clothes. It wasn't his fault. He was twenty-two with a six-year-old daughter. He didn't have a clue what to do. School lunch consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and an apple if he remembered to buy them. Ms. Granger, my teacher, didn't treat me much better. Because dad enrolled me late and forgot to buy me school supplies, she always treated me with contempt, like it was my fault. She made me sit at the back of the class even though it was configured in alphabetical order. I hated her because she made me want to cry. At recess and lunch Jake would let me play with his friends, some who were in my class, but when we were back in our homeroom, suddenly they forgot to be nice.
    My only solace that year came when we had meet-the-teacher night. Ms. Granger took one look at Dad and was putty in his hands. I may have been six years old, but I wasn't stupid. She took Dad under her middle-aged wing, flirted with him like crazy and lied to him about how much she adored me. Dad asked her why I was sitting at the back of the class because Dad wasn't stupid either. Ms. Granger claimed it was a mistake and promised to rectify it, which she did the following day. As for the other parents, who were at least five to ten years older than Dad, all the moms chatted with Dad, even horrible Victoria Parry's mom. They loved him, so why couldn't they love me?
    "Uh, freak show, I'm talking to you."
    "Why don't you leave me alone?" Now I was upset. She'd broken me and I had to calm myself down.
    "I will once you disappear."
    "I've already told you that I'm not going anywhere."
    I took a nearby rag and cleaned up the mess she'd made hoping she'd shove off, but Bianca kept talking.
    "Jake told me how in the fifth grade this guy Justin beat the shit out of you. He said that all these kids watched while Justin kicked and punched you. You know how Jake knows? Because he was watching. Bet you didn't know that. And then after Justin beat you up, you sat on the ground like a loser and wouldn't get up. Jake took off before you saw him because he didn't want to help you. Even then he wanted you to go away. Why can't you get the hint?"
    I could barely breathe. He'd told her that story? I'd never told Jake about that. Justin Havers