GUTTER GIRL

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

McKenna

"You didn't kill the prince!"

I spun around and came face-to-face with Trinity, a girl I probably hadn't spoken to since ninth grade gym class. She lightly pushed my shoulder and chuckled. "You totally had me going the other day with that. Very funny." "Please don't touch me."

"Oh, right. I forgot. You don't like that." She chuckled.

"You're so quirky."

I was quirky? Says the girl who, when she was seven, wouldn't eat yellow Skittles because she thought they were bits of the sun and didn't want it to disappear. She'd gotten so pissed at the other girls at Stephanie Wallace's birthday slumber party in first grade when they'd laughed at her for it, too.

Now, she was five foot seven; had stunning, braided black hair that coiled past her shoulder to the middle of her back; and had glowing, deep brown skin that would lead anyone to believe she didn't eat anything bad for her, least of all yellow Skittles.

I stood there beside my locker, totally stunned that she was standing in front of me. Is Trinity seriously talking to me because of KOS? Yesterday, a few classmates had cornered me, but today, a friend of Queen Bee Gretchen was talking to me? What was happening? Did we slip into some kind of alternate universe?

"You know if you ever need any help coming up with ideas, we could always, like, hang and talk, you know?" Trinity offered. She flipped her braids over her shoulder.

"Riiight," I said slowly.

"Okay, well, have a good day." Trinity smiled and walked away, easing into the flow of students down the hallway streaming in from the school entrance.

Ernie rushed over to my locker. "What the hell was that? Did she say anything about me?"

"No, she didn't bring you up in the midst of yet another KOS conversation I had to have on Jace's behalf. Where were you? I totally needed backup." A group of sophomores whispered as they walked by us. A few even giggled.

"My sisters stole all the hot water this morning, so I had to drive to the gym to take a shower." His curls were still damp. "Why my parents thought buying a house with two bathrooms and an old-school water heater for six kids, five of whom are girls, was a good idea, I'll never know."

You should have texted me and used the shower at my house, I wanted to say. But I couldn't.

Mom had been in rare form last night. She'd fallen asleep a few hours ago, but I couldn't risk the chance that Ernie might wake her. There was no telling how she'd react. 

She'd started texting me when I was in the parking lot last night, waiting for Jace to come help get my car started. She was telling me that she needed me to pick up bleach and a mop on my way home from work. I should have known I'd walk into a disaster once I got home.

But somehow, even I had been surprised. The entire house had been torn apart. Every drawer was open, the contents strewn everywhere. Tables, floors, windowsills. Everything was covered. She told me she wanted to reorganize everything, but then she'd gotten tired, so I was the one who stayed up until three in the morning putting just the kitchen back together.

She promised to fix it in the morning, but I knew that wouldn't happen.

I'd tackle the family room and bathroom once I got home from work.

"McKenna! McKenna! Your update this morning was sooooo good," Carlin Summers squealed as she peeled out of the stream of students and made a beeline for me.