NICKNAMES [1], jj maybank

CHAPTER 11

"OK, SO—WHY do you care so much about this?" Sarah and I sit outside the address Pope gave me. The house is so big, bigger than Brandon and Justin's. "It's just a very similar situation to something of mine." I tell Sarah as my eyes stay on the big house.

"Like when Adrien cheated on you?" Oh okay, she knows. I close my eyes and look away. "I'm sorry—that was stupid of me to say but from what you explained it's similar."

"Yeah, it was kind of stupid but you're not wrong." A deep sigh leaves my mouth and I feel Sarah shift in her seat next to me. "I—uh—if it makes you feel any better I don't like Adrien."

"Seems to be a common occurrence." I'm not wrong, we welcomed him in because apparently JJ is into fostering misfits. Adrien was very much a misfit in ninth grade—didn't fit in with Kooks but non-Kooks hate him because he is a Kook. Now he's—a fucking maniac.

Sarah slaps her thighs and smiles at me,"Can we go knock on the door?" The double doors not that far from me sent a shiver of annoyance through me when I think about the house he abandoned his family in. The small shack with splitting wood that probably has memories soaked in between the splits.
"What the fuck do I even say?" I turn to Sarah. I was so sure of myself but now I think I should've listened to JJ, even though he's definitely not listening to me. "Okay so, I don't recognize his name but I might know him by face and if I do—just go with my lie." Sarah sounds so confident that it makes me feel a bit better. She smirks and hops out of her car so I follow her.

"Sarah!" She's going faster than I am,"Slow down!" She doesn't listen, she just speeds up the long driveway. I jog after her. As I jog up I notice the expensive cars lined by the driveway. There's three and each more than the other.

"Hurry up!" Sarah is already at the door.

Everything surrounding us right now is normal for her. I've only been an honorary Kook for like—four months but I grew up with Brandon and Justin—I just don't think I'll ever be used to it. Sarah doesn't even give me a chance to do it myself before she just knocks on the door.

"What if he knows WHO I am?" I didn't even think of that until now but my anxiety is bringing up all these thoughts. "Did you tell Brandon or Justin?"

"No."

"Well—he might." Sarah shrugs her shoulders and as I'm about to open my mouth, the door opens. In front of us stands a middle aged woman who is gorgeous. The highlights in her hair are beautiful, everything is just pristine on her. The blue dress on her is pretty and definitely expensive. It didn't look to be because it's plain but still pretty—and expensive. It looks like she's about to go out because she has heels on or maybe she just walks around like that. Maybe it made her feel more expensive.

"Sarah Cameron?" Oh—so she knows her at least.

The woman smiles a really bright white teeth smile. The kind of smile that makes you wonder how much it cost, just like everything else near me right now. "Diana?" Sarah opens her arms for this Diana woman to hug her. "This is so out of the blue!" I stand there awkwardly as they embrace each other. "Well—Diana—this is my friend Sam!" Sarah introduces me. "Hi—" Before I could finish, Diana pulls me in for a hug and I stand for a second with my hands to my sides. realizing this is normal for her.

I decide to give her a simple pat on the back and call it a day. "I love your septum!" She points at it and it makes me touch my own septum,"Oh—thank you."

Great. This woman is nice. So now I'll feel terrible about trying to confront her husband. "Diana is a friend of Rose! She wanted me to grab the chocolate strawberries for tomorrow's lady night. She's really busy." Sarah looks at me and I realized this is the lie that we're going with. I'm sure there are strawberries and this is the excuse.