CHAPTER TWO
Cat
Eleven Years Old – Five Years Later
I was scared.
So scared.
Even though I was going to the same school as some of my friends from elementary school, I would have different classes with kids I didn’t know. Starting middle school was freaking me out. And to top it off, my best friend, Laura was going to a different school because she lived in a different district.
“After school, I’ll take you to get ice cream.”
I looked over to see my mom smiling at me as she drove. “Okay,” I agreed, though getting ice cream after school wasn’t calming my nerves now as we drove to school.
“Cheer up, buttercup. Won’t Victoria and Sammy be there, too?”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “But not Laura. Sucks.” I crossed my arms over my chest. Victoria and Sammy weren’t very good friends of mine. Sure we’d hang out together, but it was nothing like Laura and me.
“I know, but you’ll get to see her this weekend.”
I looked back out the passenger side window, not saying anything. Starting sixth grade was practically becoming an adult. I was, like, halfway done with school and then I’d go off to college and get married and have babies and be just like my parents.
“And don’t listen to your brother. He’s only trying to scare you.”
I rolled my eyes, remembering what my older brother Charlie had told me last night. “The eighth graders are going to bully you. They’ll trip you, pull your hair and make fun of you. When that happens, you tell me, and I’ll beat them up.”
I didn’t want to be bullied. I wanted to skip down the hall with Laura and do each other’s hair before our first dance. I couldn’t wait for my first dance. Charlie had said it was so much fun when he went to his. He’d kissed a girl for the first time there. Now Charlie was a sophomore in high school and had a girlfriend. When my parents were downstairs watching TV while Aurora was over, she and Charlie would kiss on his bed. One time, I saw his hand up her shirt as I walked passed his room.
“So I won’t get bullied?” I asked, looking at my mom.
“Doubt it. Just go and have fun. High school is when you should be nervous. Homework gets harder, and then you’re off to college.”
We pulled up to the school. Other kids were jumping out of cars, waving to their parents and running to their friends. I looked around searching for Victoria, Sammy, or anyone I knew, but I saw no one.
“I’ll see you right here once you get out.” She pulled me in for a hug.
Then I started sixth grade.
I made it through until lunch.
I hadn’t seen Victoria or Sammy in any of my four classes before the lunch break, not even during our break between second and third period. Just when I was about to give up hope, I saw them sitting at a table in the cafeteria. They were laughing and pointing at a girl sitting alone at another table. I didn’t know why they were laughing at her, but at that moment I knew I didn’t want to be their friend anymore. That girl they were laughing at needed a friend just like I did. Maybe her best friend was at a different school too.
I pulled the ponytail of my dark brown hair to make it tighter, arched my shoulders back slightly, and took a deep breath as I walked to the table. “Hi!” I greeted, a huge smile on my face.
Her brown eyes blinked up at me. “Um, hi.”
“Can I sit with you?” I gestured to the table.
She stared at me for a second before responding. “Sure.”
“I’m Cat.” I set my backpack on the table and then sat across from her.
“Joss.”
“Where’s your lunch?”
Pink tinted her cheeks. “I forgot it at home.”
“You can have some of mine.”
“Really?” Joss’s eyes lit up.
“Yeah. I can’t eat it all.”
As I handed her half of my turkey sandwich, I stole a glance at Victoria and Sammy. They were staring at us. Usually, I would wave, but not today. Today they were being mean, and I didn’t like that.
“So does your best friend go to another school, too?” I asked around a mouthful of the sandwich.
“I guess you can say that.”
“What do you mean?”
“He lives in D.C., and I only see him during the summer.”
“He?”
A small smile spread across her face. “Yeah. Seth. We’ve been best friends since I was six.”
“But he lives in D.C.?”
“Yeah. His grandma, Mrs. McKenna, is my neighbor, so he comes to visit us each year. At first, he didn’t really want to be friends, but he had no choice because I go to his grandma’s after school and when my mom goes to work at night.”
“She works nights?” I slid the opened chip bag around, indicating that Joss could have some.
“She works at a diner, I think. For a few months before and after my brother was born she stayed home, so I barely saw Seth’s grandma.”
“I have a brother too. How old is yours?”
“Two.”
“Two? Wow. My brother is almost sixteen.”
“We don’t have the same dad.”
“Cool. You have two dads?”
Joss shook her head. “No, I’ve never met my dad, and my mom didn’t tell me she was pregnant for a long time. Then next thing I know, I have a brother.”
“Wow. That’s crazy.”
“Yeah, but I love him.” She shrugged nonchalantly.
The more I talked to Joss, the more I liked her because she seemed nice, unlike Victoria and Sammy. I didn’t know why they were laughing at Joss, and I didn’t care. I wanted to hang out with Joss all the time.
“Want to go get ice cream after school?”
“No.”
“No?” Who didn’t like ice cream?
Joss frowned. “I can’t. My mom only lets me go to Mrs. McKenna’s and school.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not allowed to go anywhere, but sometimes Mrs. McKenna takes me to McDonald’s for dinner.”
“I can ask my mom to call your mom, maybe?”
“No, that’s okay.”
The bell rang before I could find out why.
Twelve Years Old
Sadly, Laura and I slowly stopped being friends.
At first, I would see her on the weekends, but then I’d either have plans with Joss, or she had plans with her new friends, and one day we just stopped calling each other. I was sad, but Joss was a good friend. My best friend. We were inseparable.
I’d come to learn that her mom was so mean. That first day of sixth grade, Joss hadn’t forgotten her lunch. Her mom hadn’t made her one. It was weird. My parents always made sure I had a lunch before leaving the house. One time Joss slipped and told me they had no food in the house to eat except cans of Vienna sausages. That quickly changed because Mrs. McKenna—who I love because she plays card games with us—made sure she had something to eat. I can’t recall, but I think Mrs. McKenna found out Joss wasn’t eating lunch because she always came home starving. Some days, I would go over to Joss’s after her mom went to work, and we’d do homework or play with her little brother Bryce. I didn’t mind being in their trailers instead of my two-story house with a pool. It gave me an escape from my brother that was only into girls and football. Plus, if Joss and I were really lucky, Mrs. McKenna let us eat cake before dinner. She made the best chocolate cake.
“I can’t wait for tomorrow,” I exclaimed as Joss and I sat on her steps, painting our nails.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I get to meet the famous Seth.” All school year she talked about Seth, and I couldn’t wait to meet him.
She laughed. “He’s not famous.”
“You talk about him all the time.”
“I don’t talk about him all the time.” Joss rolled her eyes.
It was my turn to laugh. “Yes, you do. Seth knows how to play poker, Seth makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches, Seth—”
“You’re jealous.”
“I am not!” I lied. Joss was my best friend now, but tonight her other best friend was coming into town for the entire summer. What if she didn’t want to play with me anymore? What if she didn’t want to spend time with me?
“Don’t worry. You’re gonna love him.”
“What time do you want Mom to pick you up?” Dad asked as we stopped in front of Joss’s trailer.
“Um … ten?” I knew we had plans to hang out with Seth, and Mrs. McKenna was cooking us dinner.
“Eight,” he affirmed.
If he knew the time, then why did he ask? “Yeah, whatever.” I got out of the car and walked between the two trailers that faced each other. As I got closer to the front doors, Mrs. McKenna’s opened.
“We’re in here. My mom is sleeping,” Joss called out to me.
Of course she was. It was ten in the morning, and Joss’s mom required no less than eight hours of sleep or she’d be even meaner to her. I’d met her a few times, and that was only when she was leaving to go to work. She always seemed annoyed with Jess. I didn’t understand it.
I walked up the two steps and into the trailer. As I passed Joss—who was holding the door open—I expected to see a boy sitting on the couch watching TV. But I didn’t see a boy. I saw a man. And not just any man, but the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen.
“Seth, this is my best friend, Cat.”
“Hello, Kitty Cat,” he said looking away from the TV.
His gaze met mine and I couldn’t speak, couldn’t say hi back. I’d thought Seth was fifteen. Fifteen-year-olds looked like that? Seth had short, dark brown hair that wasn’t styled. It looked as though he’d just rolled out of bed. And his eyes …
His eyes were like the shallow water of a tropical ocean that was green, not blue. I for sure could stare into them for hours. My heart started to beat faster in my chest. God, he was dreamy.