Chapter 15
Oh no.
My heart dropped into my stomach as I got into my mom's van and I sat down in the passenger's seat, the huge lump in my back pocket reminding me that i had forgotten to hide the iPhone.
Every day before I got in the car I had to remember to tuck it away somewhere deep in my backpack, but today, I must have have been so distracted by my run-in with Casey that I had forgotten to take it out of my pocket.
God, why did I have to pick today to wear my tightest jeans? Once I got up and out of the car, the bulge was going to be impossible to miss.
Dread inundated me for the rest of the ride home. All I could do was sneak carefully out of the car and hope to god she wouldn't notice anything...
My heart began to pound as we pulled into the driveway and my mom put the car in park. She hadn't said a single word to me the whole time, so I hoped that meant she wasn't paying much attention to me.
But, alas, I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. Did I honestly expect to have anything more than horrible luck these days?
I could feel my mom's eyes boring into me as I opened the door and stood up. I tried to turn around as quickly as possible so that my back wasn't to her anymore, but the look on her face told me she had already noticed.
"Raiden," she quietly but sinisterly. "What's in your pocket?"
"Nothing," I murmered, looking down as I slung my backpack over my shoulder and started to head inside, holding my breath, praying she would drop it at that. But noooo.
"Stop right there." She stepped out of the car and I froze, whimpering quietly. Here it comes...
She came up behind me and pulled the phone out of my pocket. I looked down at my feel quietly, bracing myself.
"What the hell is this?" my mother exclaimed, infuriated.
"What does it look like?" I replied sarcastically, instantly regretting it.
She threw it down on the concrete, shattering the screen. My jaw dropped and I stood there speechlessly.
"Broken." She said as she kicked the mangled lump across the ground.
My mom stormed into the house, throwing the door closed behind her. I approached the phone lying pathetically on the ground in a pool of dried gasoline and groaned, absolutely distraught.
What was I going to tell Michael? Didn't my mother have any respect for other people's property? I picked up the phone gingerly and examined it. The screen was cracked in a dozen places and it wouldn't turn back on. I groaned quietly and stuck it in my pocket as I went inside, feeling terrible and stressing over how I was going to break the news to Michael.
I spent the afternoon in my room on my bed, sobbing into my pillow. How was i suppposed to dig myself out of the mess I'd gotten myself into? My whole world seemed to be falling apart. I felt as if I was watching everything in my life crumble around me, and I was powerless to stop it.
At least I have Sam, I thought. Maybe, just maybe, I could get through all this since I knew she was behind me. Maybe, if I knew I had her, this would all be worth it in the end.
*********
"Mom?" I knocked softly on her bedroom door, bracing myself for what I expected to be an irritated response.
"What?" she answered shortly, venom coating her voice.
"Umm..." I cleared my throat, scared to request what I was about to, but aware that if I stalled she would only get angrier.
