All An Act (Camren)

Chapter Nine

Lauren's POV

"Lauren, wake up." I ignore the voice, but I do flinch when my light is turned on. The sudden brightening of my room causes me to see red spots behind my eyelids.

Fuck.

Annoyingly soft hands are on my shoulder, shaking me gently. And though I'm barely conscious, I'm able to identify the person doing the shaking.

Amber.

Looks like Joy isn't truly pissed off with me. Not that I care, but I can always tell how she's feeling toward me by which one of her brats she sends to my room.

If she's feeling pleasant, she sends Amber. The kid's too sweet for her own good. She'll wake me gently, a guarded smile on her face.

Surprisingly, Amber's the one sent to fetch me the most. I guess you could say Joy's built up quite the tolerance for me over the last twelve years. But when I do manage to piss her off, she sends Riley.

That little grunch always finds the most creative and annoying ways to rouse me. I swear, the only reason she's still alive is because her fearlessness impresses me. I've retaliated in some pretty violent ways toward the kid, but she seems to always bounce back, and with a wicked grin to boot.

Darwin says she should live. So, she lives.

"Lauren, please wake up." Amber begs.

God, this kid is whiny as hell.

I open my eyes abruptly. And on purpose. As I knew she would, she jumps back with a gasp.

She hates it when I do that. It always reminds her of that one scene...the one all the "scary movies" that I've made her watch seem to have. The one where the killer or monster or villain or whatever is laying still, eyes closed after being "defeated." Then the protagonist walks up to the "dead" beast, stupidly puts his/ her face near the monster's, and then wham! The killer opens its eyes abruptly and grabs the idiot.

It's totally classic and predictable as hell. Yet it scares a bucket full of piss out of Amber every time.

I chuckle a little as I sit up. The sight of her paled face is so amusing that I momentarily forget to be pissed about her waking me up in the first place.

"Mom said to make sure you were up because Camila's gonna be here soon." She frowns back at me once she's regained her composure.

And just like that I'm no longer amused. I scowl back at her.

She flinches and apologizes, but I don't let up on my intense glare. I know it's not her fault, but she just reminded me of something that I'm really pissed off about.

I have to ride to school with Camila because Joy took away my wheels.

Now, Joy punishing me is not completely unheard of; so when she angrily barged into my room last Friday, I already knew what was up. There was no way the principle didn't call my stepmother up at work to let her know I'd fucked the hell out of my girlfriend in the janitor's closet. I mean he so much as told me he was going to do so right after giving me three weeks of detention.

And to be completely honest, I was fine with that. With most of it anyway. I expected no less than for the principal to make a call to my "parent or guardian." I expected no less than for Joy to get upset and bitch at me. I even expected her to take my keys. But what I wasn't expecting was for her to go on... and on... and on...about my behavior, and my attitude, and my blah blah fucking blah. By the time she finally got around to demanding for my keys, I handed them over without the slightest bit of my usual arguments and stalling. I wanted her to shut the hell up that bad.