Let Love Win

Chapter 1 - Hadley

"Miss Brian, you're being bailed out," the police officer I knew at Pete said, opening the door to the jail cell.

He just so happened to be the single officer that has arrested me and had to monitor me on every visit I've had here. Yesterday, I'd been pulled into jail for possession of narcotics because the dean found my best friend Mel's stash of joints in her dresser during dorm check. I tried to explain that they weren't mine, but apparently the head bitch at Cal U wasn't going to listen. I didn't even live on campus but since I was the only one in her dorm when the dean came around, I ended up here.

I leaned over and gave Jake, my temporary cellmate, a last kiss before getting up off the bed. He reached out and smacked my ass in the process and I followed Pete out to the front, sending him a wink over my shoulder. Jake and I had a little fun while we were locked up together for the past 14 hours, but nothing more. It never has been, nor will it ever be more to me. I just enjoy a good time.

Monty, the caretaker at the orphanage I was enrolled in, was waiting with the receptionist at the front desk. When she looked at me, she shook her head disapprovingly and I forced myself to stare at the floor to refrain from laughing. I stood impatiently while she signed off the last couple papers for my release and caught some of the conversation that was going on. The receptionist was saying how it was too bad I was always landing myself in here because I was such a good kid; oh puke!

As soon as I saw Monty push the last paper across the desk, I stared to walk towards the exit. However, my advances were immediately ended when Pete reached out and grabbed my arm. "Pete," I said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "You can let go of me now."

"Hadley, I don't want to see you in here anymore. It's a new semester, a new school, a new part of your life; let's keep you out of the cells," he warned. I rolled my eyes and tried again to pull away, but he spun me around to face him. "I'm serious."

"Well if you would stop coming around to the wrong places at the wrong times, maybe we wouldn't see each other so much. They weren't even my joints, but Senora Stuck-Up—"

"I'm talking about the underage drinking and vandalism and B&E."

"Fine. But I should let you know that there's a party tonight so I'll see you later anyways."

He sighed. "I'm not working tonight."

"Damn, and I was hoping we could continue this conversation over tea and biscuits," I retorted sarcastically.

"Just don't go too overboard and I'll tell Mark to avoid that part of town when he patrols tonight. But I cant help it if someone complains so spread the word. We worry about you here, believe it or not."

I brushed him off with a, "whatever," and stormed past Monty and went out to her parked car. They didn't actually care about me, no one does; hence the reason I'm 17 and still living in an orphanage. They probably only care about the money that goes into the countless times Monty has had to bail me out. It paid their bills.

I jumped in the passenger seat and she slipped in beside me behind the wheel. We drove back to the main campus in what I hoped would be silence. Instead, I had my earphones in my ears and my music turned up full blast while she lectured me on how this would look bad after university and all this other crap I really didn't care about. It was always the same speech about the same stuff every time we were in this situation. I'd heard it so many times, I could recite it word for word, forward and backward.

We pulled into the campus parking lot beside my white sports car and Monty cut the engine. I saw her turn slightly in her chair so she was angled more towards me. "Hadley, are you even listening to me?" she asked as I pulled my earphones out of my ears.

"Honestly, no," I admitted. "But I hear the same thing every time you pick me up from the station, which we both know is probably too often to be healthy, so I don't exactly have to."

"Well obviously something isn't clicking, Hadley. You always brush me off saying you get it and you know, but you go back and pull all the same stunts I'm telling you to avoid. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy having you around the orphanage and the boys adore you. But this isn't where you're supposed to be. You belong somewhere else with a loving family, where you're not the last person to eat dinner every night. A loving family where they can give you all of their attention and they can take better care of you than I can."

I scoffed. "Oh come off it. You're obligated to tell orphans that. I'm almost 18 years old, I can handle the truth, Monty. Who's going to come around and look at me and say, 'Yep, she's the one'? I have a shit job at some run down café on my school campus that pretty much only pays for my tuition, my criminal record is a mile long and I'm covered in piercings and tattoos. No one is going to want to adopt the delinquent university student. They come looking for the cute toddlers with pigtails in her hair, and dressed to the nine in a suit and tie. Someone they can mould into the child they never had; their own personal dream child."

Monty opened her mouth as if she was going to say something but closed it. "Hadley," she started.

I held up my hand to stop whatever she was about to say. "Save it, I don't need your sympathy. I have a late shift tonight starting in half an hour and I still have to go back and change."

She reached into the backseat and handed me a plastic bag. "I brought your uniform in case you were working."

"Thanks. I'll stop by around 9 before I go out. I'm also off this weekend so I'll see you sometime tomorrow."

I climbed out of the car and pulled my phone out of my pocket as I made my way up to the doors of the school. I dialled Mel's number and she answered on the second ring. "Where the fuck have you been all day, bitch?" she demanded.

"Getting out of hell," I answered as I made my way through the lobby to the elevators. As I walked by, I was greeted by whistles and winks from multiple male students, but I simply brushed them off.

"They sent you in again? What for this time?"

"Dean Dumbshit found your weed and assumed it was mine. Girl, you gotta either stop doing that shit or find a better hiding place for it. And by the way, you should also start taking the fall every once in a while."

"Whatever, try doing your homework somewhere other than my dorm then."

I laughed. It made sense, but how was I supposed to focus on homework when there would be 9 other boys with unlimited energy running around the orphanage? It's nearly impossible. "Speaking of which, why do you even have the residence? You never use it, and its an extra $6000 every year that you don't have to pay for."

"I don't know, I'll probably cancel it soon. Anyways, anything interesting happen?" she asked with a suggestive sing to her voice.

"Yeah, Jake happened," I replied. "I'll explain later. Leave your door open because I'm coming up to have a shower before work."

I hung up without waiting for an answer and made my way down the hall that lead to her room.