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you do to Alex?”
    I glanced over my shoulder and saw her
storming down the staircase with her cell phone pressed against her
ear. If she hadn’t seen me, I would have run back to the truck and
asked Chase to take me to Grandma’s house.
    “ Alex is a jerk.” I said,
turning to face her.
    “ You are going to march
your little…” she stopped, teetering in her red heels. Her eyes
went round as she took in my dress. “What in the world are you
wearing?”
    I swished the skirt. “Do you like
it?”
    “ It’s hideous.” She
snapped. “What happened to the one I bought you?”
    “ I didn’t like
it…”
    “ Come again?” she closed
her phone. “You didn’t like it? Well, I’m sorry I can’t cater to
your needs better. Dress aside, I told you to fix this. And you
screw it up even more!”
    I backed up a step, my fingers seeking
Chase’s. When I felt his warm grip, I inwardly sighed and felt a
renewed courage shoot through me. “Alex and I are history. I’m not
apologizing. In fact, I’m leaving.”
    “ Briar Elizabeth Thompson,”
I ignored my mother’s shouting and tugged Chase’s arm, pulling him
with me down the sidewalk to his truck.
    “ Where to?” he asked once
we were inside.
    “ Some place safe.” I held
tight to his hand and didn’t look back as we drove away from my
house.
    He chuckled. “Grandmas it
is.”

Chapter 7
     
    Chase
     
    Monday morning came. I went to school
like every day before, trying not to step on anybody’s toes and
staying out of the way. I wasn’t one of those social butterflies,
but it’d be nice to have a friend or two. I hoped when Briar saw me
at school she didn’t high tail it in the other direction. Would she
ignore me so as not to endure any glares or snide remarks from her
friends? Or would she ignore me because I witnessed what happened
between her and her crazy mother? I didn’t think so.
    Peer pressure was a bitch. This was my
first time in a real school setting. The only thing I’d known about
city high schools was what I’d seen in the movies, and that didn’t
seem all that accurate. Over the past few weeks I’d learned it
wasn’t an over exaggeration.
    But I was a cowboy. I herded and took
the lead. Every one of them halfwits could follow each other right
into the slaughterhouse.
    After the first half of my day passed
without incident, I went to my usual spot by the band room and sat
under a tree in the grass. The air was warm, but it smelled kind of
sour and musty like the classrooms. I was opening the lunch I’d
packed, when a pair of black shoes stopped in front of me. They had
lacy pink bows on the toes.
    Shading my eyes, I looked up, and was
slightly shocked to find Briar smiling down at me. “Hi,”
    I nodded, “Hey.”
    She shifted her books, glancing around.
“Uh, mind if I join you?”
    Seriously? I nodded and she sat on her
knees next to me. “How’s your day so far?”
    She shrugged and took a sip of the diet
drink she pulled out of her purse. “Well, no one is giving me a
hard time.”
    “ What about your
parents?”
    “ We’re not speaking to each
other…”
    “ Really?” I thought they’d
be all over her.
    “ Because they are
pretending like I don’t exist, just like everyone in school.” She
laughed, shaking her head. “The people I used to hang out with
won’t even look at me.”
    “ Assholes,” I said. It was
probably best no one could really see us here. We were blocked by a
low wall and walkway. Last thing either of us needed was to be
hassled. “Only two hours left.”
    “ Thank god,” she sighed.
“So what was your high school like back home?”
    “ I was home schooled.” I
opened the paper bag and pulled out a sandwich and a bag of trail
mix.
    “ Sounds nice.” She
smiled.
    It was. I missed it. “Did you bring a
lunch?”
    “ No, I don’t normally
eat.”
    I raised my eyebrows, thinking that I’d
heard everything now. “You had a burger and fries the other
night…”
    “ No, I mean. I